CHAPTER 7: March—Abby

It was the last week of March. In just two weeks, I would be seeing the all-school play, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and the weekend after that, I would be playing Ida Strauss in the senior class play, Titanic: Tragedy and Trial.

I'd seen Gypsy at the Civic Center a couple of weeks ago, which was their final performance. Everyone had done a great job, and we even got to see the DVD at the cast party, which had been at Kristy's house. She'd been allowed to invite us, and we had a sleepover that night.

"Have you gotten the DVD yet?" I asked Kristy at our Monday meeting.

"Not yet," she answered. "We will soon, though."

"I hope so," Mary Anne said. "It was a great live performance, but the DVD should be even better."

"Thanks," Kristy said. Then she changed the subject. "Oh, I called Karen at her mom's last night, and asked her and her friends to come to Wednesday's meeting."

"I'll remind Margo," Mal said.

"Are we going to induct them?" Claudia asked.

"I'll more than likely inaugurate them into the offices they'll hold when we go to college in the fall," Kristy answered.

"Oh, I see," Claud said.

I couldn't wait for the next meeting.

The following Wednesday, I saw Margo and Karen, as well as Karen's friends, going up the sidewalk to Claudia's house. "You guys nervous?" I asked.

Karen shook her head. "In fact, Kristy called me last night, and told me what to expect."

"Good deal," I said.

I opened the door for them, and led them up the stairs to Claudia's room, where we found places to sit. Before the meeting actually started, I saw Kristy going around to Nancy, Hannie, Margo, and Natalie, whispering something in her ear, and they answered. I had no idea what was going on.

The meeting started at 5:30 on the dot. Kristy picked up the BSC notebook and said, "It's time for the meeting to begin."

The ceremony went like this. While holding the BSC notebook, Kristy asked each individual girl (Karen, Nancy, Hannie, Margo, and Natalie) to stand on her right, place her left hand on the notebook, raise her right hand, and repeat the following oath: "I, Karen Amaryllis Brewer/Nancy Jane Dawes/Hannah Louise Papadakis/Margo Elizabeth Pike/Natalie Lynn Springer, do solemnly swear to uphold the office of Baby-sitters Club president/vice-president/secretary/treasurer/alternate officer, until such time that I need to pass the torch on to someone else."

Each girl repeated the oath, and we BSC members were struggling like hell not to laugh. You see, Kristy was using a shortened version of the Presidential oath. I'm just glad she didn't make the mistake of saying, "I, state your name," because we all know what would've happened next. And guess who would've been the only one to actually find that funny?

I know, I've seen Blazing Saddles too many times, right?

After Natalie sat down, having had her turn to be sworn in, Kristy turned to face the girls and said, "Now, you understand that your offices won't take effect until after the first of July, right?"

Margo nodded. "We won't let you guys down," she said.

"I know," Kristy said solemnly. "And don't forget what you learned when you took that baby-sitters training at the Y."

"We'll remember," Karen promised. "And I, for one, learned not to get myself so excited that I pass out. I still can't believe I didn't hit that high note from The Fantasticks."

Upon hearing that, I turned to the other BSC members and said, "Okay, all together now..."

"WATER!" we all sang. As luck would have it, that's when it started raining.

"Damn, it really does work!" Jessi exclaimed.

I was proud of those girls, and I knew the BSC would be in good hands with them in charge.