CHAPTER 2: October—Dawn

I left school on the first Friday in October. I was supposed to meet Bebe Everett for a baby-sitting job at the Rodowskys'. Today was her test to see if she could qualify as a BSC member.

The Rodowskys have three boys: ten-year-old Shea, eight-year-old Jackie—who's affectionately known to us BSC members as a Walking Disaster, because he's such a klutz—and five-year-old Archie. Today, Shea would be at a piano lesson and dentist appointment, and Archie would be at tumbling class, so there would just be Jackie.

"Now, Bebe," I began, "I should warn you that Jackie's pretty accident-prone, so don't be alarmed if something should happen, like if he gets his hand caught in the drain or in a drawer, something like that. Believe me, we've baby-sat for the Rodowskys' plenty of times, and if we can do it, so can you."

"Okay, Dawn," Bebe said. She sounded a little apprehensive, but I also knew that she could take comfort in knowing that I'd be there.

During the job, I mostly sat back and watched, just like those nannies on the reality shows when they observe the family dynamics before drawing up their game plan. Nothing unusual happened, other than what you'd expect at the Rodowskys', and Bebe handled it very well.

After Mrs. Rodowsky paid us, Bebe and I headed up the street. "Why don't you come with me to the BSC meeting?" I suggested.

"Really?" she asked. "Wow, thanks!"

At that moment, we arrived at Claudia's house. We used to ring the doorbell, but since we're now such frequent visitors, we don't have to anymore.

During the meeting, I gave my report on our job, then Kristy got down to business. "So, Bebe," she began, "you've heard how well you did. Would you like to join the BSC?"

"Yes!" Bebe exclaimed, bouncing around the room and hugging all of us.

"I'll be right back," Claudia said.

A few minutes later, Claudia and Janine returned with armloads of soda. I chose the Crystal Light, Stacey chose the Diet Coke, and everyone else chose either Coke or Pepsi.

"To the newest BSC member," Kristy said, raising her can.

Bebe blushed. I could tell she was really flattered to hear that.

At the end of the month, Mary Anne and I were getting ready to go to the Halloween dance at SHS. Since no one had asked me, I decided to go stag. I dressed up as Alice in Wonderland, and saw that Mary Anne was Snow White. I think we made good costume choices based on our complexions.

"Is Mr. Bruno picking us up?" I asked.

"Yup," she answered. Just then, I heard a car horn honk outside. "Oh, here he is now."

The two of us ran outside and got in the Brunos' car. Logan got out and let me have the front seat. When he did, I saw that he was dressed as Prince Charming.

About ten minutes later, Mr. Bruno let us off at the door, where we saw our friends. Here's what I saw: Kristy was dressed as a baseball player (what else?); Claud and Stacey were dressed as gypsies, even though Claudia looked more like Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Abby was dressed as an old-fashioned nurse; and Jason was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera.

"Well, shall we?" Kristy asked, and the eight of us headed into the SHS gym. (I'm hoping Kristy doesn't think I'm a total nutcase for saying this, but after she said that, I very softly started singing the last line of "Happy Birthday".)

When we got inside, Kristy found Cary Retlin, who was dressed as a hunter, and they started dancing. Before too long, Claudia and Jason joined in, and Sam, who was dressed as Kurt Russell's character from Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., started dancing with Stacey.

I could understand why Mary Anne and Logan didn't start dancing right away. You see, last year, at the first school dance of the year, Mary Anne and Logan were dancing when Mary Anne's shoe flew off and missed Mr. Kingbridge's head by an inch. Ever since then, she's been too embarrassed to dance, so she and Logan usually walk around and talk to people.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, and when I turned around, I saw Price Irving. "Hi, Price," I said.

"Hi, Dawn," he smiled. "Want to dance?"

"Sure," I answered. And isn't it a coincidence that the song that happened to be playing was "The Best of Times" by Styx?

As we danced, I couldn't help thinking that this was the best night ever.