"Now," my science teacher Ms. Garcia droned, "we were talking about pollution."

But I wasn't listening. My friend Claudia daydreams all the time, but I usually pay attention in school. Not today, though. All morning my brain had been turning to mush (not really, but that's how it felt).

It was Thursday and I was already more than ready for the weekend to come. Weekends are always great, but this one was going to be even more special. My friends in the Baby-Sitters Club (more about that later) and I had been invited to watch Rosie Wilder, a girl we baby-sit for a lot and her cousin Laura (a new charge) perform "The Star Spangled Banner" at Marky's Circus. I couldn't wait. My friends and I love circuses. We even put on a circus camp for some of our charges last summer. It had been a long time since any of us had actually been to a circus, though.

I closed my eyes and thought about the circus. Lions, and tigers and bears. Rosie and Kimberly looking adorable as they perform perfectly. One of our baby-sitting charges (some little sisters of my friends had been invited along) getting picked to ride an elephant. My friends and I laughing hysterically at the clowns…

"Mary Anne? Mary A-anne?" Mrs. Garcia was calling me.

"Hmm?"

Mrs. Garcia sighed. "Never mind."

Fortunately, the bell rang before she could say more. It was time for lunch. I walked through the hot lunch line, and paid the cook.

I looked at my tray. Ravioli, garlic bread, peaches, and chocolate milk. Disgusting.

I sat at the regular table of the Baby-Sitters Club. My friends were already there, eating. I took a look at their lunches.

Like me, Kristy Thomas had the hot lunch. She was examining her ravioli and I knew she was going to come up with some disgusting comment about it. Kristy always makes gross jokes about the hot lunch, even though she knows I don't like her doing this (I have a very weak stomach.) Kristy is not mean, though. She is loud and somewhat bossy and does not always think before she speaks. I love her anyway. She is one of my two best friends.

Guess what? My other best friend, Dawn Schaffer, is also my stepsister. She is quite different from Kristy, both in looks (Kristy—and I—are both short with brown hair and brown eyes, while Dawn is tall with long, long pale blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She's from California) and personality. Kristy is very intense. She is always thinking up these great ideas (like the BSC) and carrying them out. Dawn is much more laid back…except for when it comes to protecting the environment. Dawn is very passionate about saving our Earth and will not stand for people who try to destroy it in any way. Dawn is also very passionate about taking care of herself and eating right. She is a near-vegetarian who never, ever eats junk food (her mother is the same. Since my father and I enjoy the occasional hamburger or ice cream cone, this made for some very tense meals at our house for awhile.) Her lunch consisted of brown rice, a salad(the rice and salad were stored in tupperware containers… Dawn never uses plastic bags), an orange, a slice of cheese, and all natural iced-tea(in a thermos).

"Look at this." She announced, showing us the tote bag she had packed her lunch in. "Don't you ever wonder how many hundreds of lunch bags people waste each day by throwing them away?"

"Not like you do." Kristy cracked. Dawn just shook her head and ate some rice.

As I picked at my ravioli, I noticed my friend Abby Stevenson was only eating an apple. "Don't tell me that's all you're eating." I scolded her.

"I never have time for big lunches these days." Abby said. "I always have to go to practice."

"Oh yeah, that's right." I am usually organized and efficient, but even I have a hard time keeping track of Abby. She's a lot like Kristy—outgoing, athletic, and always active. Abby is also very upbeat and has a great sense of humor. She suffers from asthma (and about a million allergies), but Abby does not let that, or much of anything else, get her down. Abby was madly plowing through her apple, while most of my friends chuckled at her mock-harried expression.

Claudia Kishi, though, was silent. She had an enormous lunch spread out around her: a ham sandwich, a pear, Fritos, Oreos, a peppermint stick, and a Coke (she's a junk food addict, but she never gains weight or gets pimples). Claudia was not eating, though. She was gazing in the distance. Since Claudia is an artist, I thought she might be thinking of a painting.

Abby stopped eating her apple and waved a hand in front of Claudia's face, "uh, Earth to Claud."

Claudia looked up, startled. "Guys, I've been a real space case about this circus stuff."

Stacey McGill, Claudia's best friend, laughed. "Me too. I daydreamed in every single class."

"You?" Abby cried, a mock-horrified expression on her face. "You're much too sophisticated for that, Anastasia."

Stacey laughed again, and so did the rest of us, even though what Abby said was true. Stacey is smart and very sophisticated—not surprising since she was born in New York City (I wish I had been. I want to move to NYC when I am older). She is also beautiful with long, fluffy blonde hair (she gets it permed) and large blue eyes (Claudia, who is Japanese American, is beautiful too. She and Stacey are also the coolest dressers in school. It is not surprising they're best friends). I wish I could be a little bit more like Stacey (I am shy and not nearly as trendy a dresser), but she has something I do not want: diabetes. While the rest of us (except for Dawn) can enjoy all of the junk food we want, poor Stace is not allowed to eat sweets. They can make her really sick. She also has to take shots (ew, ew ICK! I hate needles!) of something called insulin each day, since her body cannot produce it. Like Abby with her asthma, Stacey keeps a positive attitude about her diabetes and about life in general.

"I daydreamed, too." I confessed, and my friends laughed yet again. They were more gentle. I am very sensitive. My boyfriend Logan (yes, shy Mary Anne Spier has a boyfriend) says I cry at sad commercials. I think my friends were worried I might burst into tears right at the lunch table, but of course I did not. I was much too happy.

"Well, just think. Tomorrow we'll be cheering for Rosie and Laura at the circus," said Kristy. She ate a peach.

"Oh say can you see," sang Abby in a high, shaky voice.

We were giggling at that when a voice spoke up from behind me, "Can I join you guys?"

It was Dorianne Wallingford, a sophisticated eighth grader who is mostly a friend of Claudia and Stacey, though we have all started to get friendly with her.

"Were you talking about the circus?" Dori asked, as she sat down with her lunch—a carton of huckleberry yogurt.

"Dori, don't tell me that's all you're eating!" I couldn't help exclaiming. I may be shy, but I am also compassionate and Dori is much too thin to be eating only yogurt for lunch.

Dori gave me a dirty look. "You sound like my mom. She's always bugging me about not eating enough."

"Sorry." I squeaked, stung by her dirty look (see what I mean about being sensitive?) Dori was still looking sad and left out, so I decided to make peace.

"We were talking about the circus." I told Dori. "We're all going tomorrow with some kids. Would you like to come?"

Kristy looked at me with surprise. We don't usually invite non-BSC members to go places with us.

Dori's face looked like a Christmas tree. "I would love to come along!" She exclaimed, and we spent the rest of the lunch period talking about the circus.