Waiting for the next Baby-sitters Club meeting was exhausting. I could barely concentrate throughout the next two days of school. And when I saw one of the club members at school, I would attack her with a million new ideas or questions about the club. Waiting days are long days.

So during these long days, I found other things to think about. Such as getting out of gym class and into the drill team prep class instead. When I talked to my counselor, I found out that the class hadn't even begun yet. And it would be six weeks until I could transfer out of gym into the class. On top of all that, I had to try out. So if I didn't make it, I was facing a year of volleyball, basketball, and track. I am terrible at all of those sports, especially track. It would be torture.

I talked with Jessi and she offered to prepare me for auditions, which was very nice of her. I wouldn't try out for another month, but I was going to start stretching, and Jessi was going to teach me how to do her incredible high-kicks.

What I really wanted to do more than anything, more than high-kicks, was baby-sit. I wanted a job. I was suddenly jealous that Haley got to sit for the Tiners instead of me. Which is why I could not wait for the next meeting. And somehow, my waiting days were finally over as Haley invited me in to her home on Wednesday at 5:20 for our second meeting.

She greeted me with a worried look.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Its Charlotte," she said. "She's in my room, and she's really upset. Jake broke up with her today."

"Today?" I exclaimed. "But school just started. And they've been going out all summer."

"I know," Haley said glumly. She turned and walked to her room. I followed, still in disbelief. Jake Kuhn was a guy we had all known since we were nine. He used to be...well, short and fat. But he's changed a lot since then. He'd grown a lot in the seventh grade and lost weight. Plus, he'd always had nice eyes and dark curly hair which made him quite handsome. We all thought Charlotte had the perfect boyfriend. Until now, I guess.

"Jake the Snake," I noted. Haley agreed.

Really! How mean! To top it all off, Charlotte was crying. Becca was sitting on the floor next to her, stroking her hair and talking softly to her.

"Sorry Char," I couldn't think of much to say. Charlotte bit her lip and nodded, her eyes overflowing. I felt bad for Charlotte, but I had a feeling that several other guys would be waiting in line to get a chance to date her. I knew better than to say so right now, though.

Instead, I sat down in the chair by Haley's computer and stuck a pencil behind my ear. The doorbell rang and Haley went to answer it. She came back with Marilyn and Carolyn, who both appeared to have been informed about Charlotte and said pretty much the same thing I did. Again, there just wasn't much we could say. It seemed to me that Charlotte was overreacting just a bit. Afterall, it wasn't like he died or anything. Then again, maybe I'll understand if I ever have a boyfriend.

"Our second meeting is about to begin," I stated, trying to get things started early even though it wasn't quite 5:30. We needed to distract Charlotte.

"Check this out," Becca said as she retrieved from her backpack a large, white canvas scrapbook. She had written "The New Baby-sitters Club" across the front in her silver and blue paint pens. The neat thing about the book was that on the cover there was a place for a picture. I knew Becca planned to put the picture of the New BSC with the Old BSC on the front.

Everyone passed it around, examining it and making comments. Becca slipped Carolyn a receipt for the book. Carolyn nodded and slipped it into a manila envelope marked "BSC Treasury."

"Dues," Carolyn reminded us. "We forgot to pay them Monday so we said we would today, remember?"

Everyone nodded and Carolyn collected a dollar from each person and one from herself. We now had six dollars in the treasury.

"One more thing." That was Charlotte, who had dried her tears. "I got the record book." She handed me a notebook with dividers. I passed that around too, even though it wasn't much to look it.

"And I've got something," I said. "Here's the new club notebook. Each of you will be responsible for writing about your jobs AND reading what other people write."

To that, I received groans. "What's this?" I asked.

"Sounds like a lot of work," Becca complained. The others nodded.

I shrugged. "It worked for the old BSC. It'll work for us."

"Complaining about the notebook, are we?" The voice came from the doorway. We all looked up to find Claudia standing there. "Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't knock, Haley. Matt was opening the door to go outside just as I was about to come in. I think I startled him. He asked me if I knocked and I said I didn't. For some reason he burst out laughing."

Claudia looked extremely cool, as usual. She had on a creme-colored sleeveless turtleneck. With that, she wore a dark green corduroy skirt that fell just above her knees with a slit in the front and tall, brown leather boots. She also had on tan fishnet hose, something I'd never seen anyone wear. Her hair was pulled up in a bun with chopsticks and she was wearing three earrings.

"What's up?" She asked, after we greeted her. "I see the meeting has officially started." She noted that the digital clock now said 5:30.

"Yes," I confirmed. "It has."

"Good. Because I've got some business for your club."

"Oh, you do?" Haley said. "Great! What is it?"

"Well, my sister Janine is in town with *James* and his brothers. Aunt Peaches and I thought it would be fun to throw her a baby shower this weekend."

"How far along is she?" Marilyn asked.

" I think she's at 34 weeks. Only about 6 more weeks to go."

"Oh, goody," Charlotte said. She seemed to have forgotten her guy troubles.

"I haven't seen her much since the wedding. Maybe a couple of times. I haven't seen her pregnant at all." I commented.

"She's very cute," Claudia smiled thoughtfully. "She's still the same old Janine. She dresses a little more trendy now, thank goodness. But its funny to see her still talking like Webster's Dictionary while she's patting her tummy."

We all laughed. "Anyway, what was my point?"

"Business for the club?" Carolyn prompted.

"Right," said Claud. But before she could get in another word, the phone rang. More business!

Becca, who was the closest one to the phone, picked it up and answered. We all grew quiet, and I was still wondering what business Claudia had for us.

Janine, as Claudia said, is pregnant. And in an indirect way, Haley and I were responsible for putting her together with her husband in the first place. Maybe I should start at the beginning...

It was five years ago. Haley and I were in the same cabin at camp Mohawk and Claudia was our CIT (Counselor In Training.) Claudia was interested in a certain Japanese guy, but she didn't know his name. Well, Haley and I, along with a few of our cabinmates, tracked down this guy and found out that his name was Will Yamakawa. Claudia met Will at camp dance and they hit it off.

Claudia and Will became penpals. They wrote letters back and forth for about a year. Then they lost touch for a year. Then Will sent Claudia a Christmas card that included his email address. They began emailing each other, but just as friends. Will and Claudia were both seeing other people. However, Claudia discovered that Will had an older brother who was three years older than Janine. After a bit of discussion, Claudia decided that despite the age difference, Janine and James (Will's brother) were perfect for each other. So Will and Claud arranged for their older siblings to meet. The rest between the two of them is history.

Janine met James when she was eighteen, and by that time, Claudia says Janine was already ahead in many aspects of her life. She graduated early after the fall semester of her senior year and started college. She had already completed most of her first year of college by earning dual credit and taking summer classes throughout high school. In just two and a half years, she earned a bachelor's degree in physics with a minor in chemistry. She got married when she was 20 years old. (Claudia was the maid-of-honor and her little cousin Lynn, then four years old, was the flower girl. I was there.)

Now, she's twenty-one. I think she's earning her master's degree. And she and her husband are expecting their first child. Claudia says at first this was almost frowned upon in the Kishi household. Her parents weren't completely supportive of James and Janine's decision to start a family before Janine had finished school. Janine disagreed. According to Claudia, this is one of the few things Janine's ever done that went against her family's wishes. Now Claudia says things have smoothed over.

Becca was hanging up the phone. "Charlotte, that was Mrs. Marshall. She needs a sitter for Nina, Eleanor, and *Toby* on Friday evening, the same time Haley's sitting for the Tiners. Who's free?"

Charlotte looked horror-stricken. "No one! I was free, but now I'm not."

"Wait, wait! " Marilyn saved the day. "I'm free, now! It's okay. I'll take it."

Whew! We all felt relieved. But that was almost too close to call.

Marilyn called her back to say she'd be sitting and we all relaxed a little. I was starting to wonder if we had enough members in the Baby-sitters Club.

"Now can I tell you about the business I bring you?" Claudia asked.

"Yes!" Marilyn and Carolyn said, in unison.

"Kay," Claud grinned. "Well, while Aunt Peaches is helping me throw the shower, she needs someone to look after her kids."

Oh boy! Claudia's aunt has some pretty cute kids. There's Lynn Benedict, whom I've mentioned, the adorable five-year-old; *Russell Benedict Junior*, the three-year-old boy; and little *Kira Benedict*, the eighteen-month-old baby.

"What day?" Charlotte asked.

"Saturday. From 12:30 to 3:00. Aunt Peaches needs the sitter for longer than it will take to hold the shower since she's got to help me set everything up and get everything cleaned up afterwards."

Charlotte skimmed the book. "Haley, Vanessa, Becca, and Carolyn are all free."

Uh-oh. We hadn't ever had so many people free on the same day. Then again, we had only received three jobs in the history of the club. For a moment, it looked like none of us would back down. Then, finally...

"I've already got a job Friday," Haley said. "One of you take it."

Now it was Becca, Carolyn, and me. Again, we were silence. Finally, someone else spoke.

"Either you or Becca take it. Marilyn has a recital on Saturday afternoon. I think I'll be a good sister and go watch it." So Carolyn had backed down, too. She and Marilyn exchanged a small smile. I was still waiting to see if Becca would say something. For awhile, she was quiet. I suppose something in my eyes made her change her mind because she said:

"Vanessa, you really want the job, don't you?"

I nodded slowly. "Well, then, it's all yours," she said.

Beaming, I thanked her and accepted the job. Charlotte wrote me down for the job.

"Great," said Claudia. "Aunt Peaches will be thrilled to have a sitter from the new club. When I told her about you guys, she got really excited. I think she'll be calling you a lot."

We all beamed when she said that. It looked like we might already have a regular client. I made a mental note to see to it that the next time Becca was available to sit for the Benedicts, she got the job.

Guess what? We got more jobs during the meeting. Becca got a job sitting for the Prezziosos, nine-year-old Jenny, six-year-old Andrea, and three-year-old *Kaylee* on Sunday afternoon. Charlotte would be baby-sitting Sunday evening for Jamie and Lucy Newton, who are nine and six, respectively. Carolyn was the last to get a job, and she was thrilled. Hers was for a new client, the *Hutchisons*, with a seven-month old baby named *Seth.* Carolyn just loves babies.

The meeting ended at 6:30, with the phone ringing off the hook until 6:23. The fliers that we had circulated around the neighborhood most definitely had done the trick. It had been a bigger success than any of us could have imagined. We all had our first official jobs of the Baby-sitters Club lined up. Charlotte said this day should go down in baby-sitters history. She was smiling when she said it; Jake had obviously been forgotten.

And as for me, I was exhilarated! My first official job of the Baby-sitters Club. Sitting for Claudia's adorable cousins! My waiting days were over.


Author's Note: Remember, the *astericks* around a characters name means this is my original character. So far, I have mostly created younger siblings for some of Ann's characters. (As well as older siblings. There are still more characters yet to come.)

Special thanks to everyone in the BSC Legacy Club for giving me the information I needed for the next chapter! CNJ, Daisy, and Brandy... thanks a bunch!