Thursday

Today me and Jenny had a big sitting job at the

Cassendeny's. It was Jaki's birthday and she had invited her five other friends. Jenny and me had our hands full and no offense, Jenny made a lot of mistakes you shouldn't make while baby-sitting. Jenny, you need to try a lot harder at baby-sitting. You sometimes act like you have never seen a kid before, gosh.

The next day, Thursday was a bad day for baby-sitting. I felt really bad for Nina and Jenny. When Nina told me all about her job, and when she wrote it in the notebook, both versions sounded bad. Jenny badly needed to take baby-sitting lessons.

Nina told me she and Jenny rode over early to help out and they brought cards for the birthday girl, Jaki who was turning eight. All her other friends would be their too. Six kids in all. Mrs. Cassendeny was glad to see them both early, so the girls set to work decorating the livingroom and diningroom with an overly excited Jaki. Nina helped her get dressed into a yellow party dress with a silky white sash, Mary Janes, white tights, and a plastic gold birthday girl tiara. Then they helped set out party food and snacks in the livingroom. Mrs. Cassendeny was very grateful for their help.

At one o'clock the guests began to arrive and Nina instructed them to put their gifts on the coffee table and all that. Jenny was standing idly by the whole time looking very bored and like she'd rather be anywhere but at that birthday party. Nina ran over to her.

"Help get them ready to play telephone." Nina whispered to her. Jenny let out a deep and aggravated fake sigh, folded her arms, and said, "That's a baby game."

"No, it is not. Tell them to sit in a circle and get ready." Nina sat down on the floor and everyone followed. Jenny didn't say anything. She sat down on the floor too though, much to her own dismay.

"Okay, everyone. Jenny's going to explain what we're playing." Nina said cheerfully. She looked over at Jenny, who was twisting some pink gum she had been chewing around her finger.

"Really?" said Jenny, without any clue as to what was going on.

"Jenny!" Nina whispered quickly. Jaki and all her party guests (which were all girls) stared at Jenny expectedly. In the end, Nina explained the game and they played for quite a long extent of time. Jenny played along too, but really didn't want to. She still thought the game was babyish and she hated sitting on the floor with her new designer white pants.

Next, Mrs. Cassendeny decided it was time for cake and ice cream. Nina herded everyone into the diningroom and took her seat next to Jaki. Jenny sat across from her at the table. She looked extremly bored. She let out a fake yawn that made Nina cringe. "Okay, let's all sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jaki." said Nina when Mrs. Cassendeny set the beautifully decorated french vanilla cake on the table. Everyone sang, except Jenny. Mrs. Cassendeny took lots of picutres the whole time. While everyone else ate their cake, candy, and ice cream, Nina pulled Jenny aside in the kitchen.

"Jenny, what's your deal?" asked Nina.

"This is so boring. Little kids have the worst birthday parties. Ho hum." Jenny told Nina. Nina clapped a hand to her forehead.

"Jenny, please work with me." Nina said. Jenny didn't say anything, but she did yawn once again. Nina despertly hoped that Mrs. Cassendeny or Jaki weren't picking up on Jenny's behavior. The next thing they did was watch Jaki open her presents. Jenny kept making snide comments under her breath as Jaki opened all her gifts. She got quite an assortment of gifts, stuffed animals, Hello Kitty toys, a Strawberry Shortcake doll, videos, and lots of cards and even a $50 bill from her grandparents.

After the party, Mrs. Marshall drove Jenny home. Nina didn't say anything to Jenny the whole time they were riding together.