Author's Note: Thanks again, everyone, for the reviews and support. I'm having a blast writing this story. Please continue to give any comments, questions, critiques, etc. – I'm happy to receive them! Thanks!

Claudia hadn't slept well the night before; this morning, she had hit the snooze button on her alarm six times before finally getting up. The prospect of merely getting up and getting dressed on so little sleep seemed impossible to even consider. As she rushed around the room, pulling on a pair of black dress pants, she was dismayed to see that they barely fit her anymore. Janine had always warned her that her junk food habits would catch up with her (and once even went so far as to make a chart that listed the chemical breakdowns of the additives in junk food, which Claudia quickly crumbled and promptly forgot about). Still, she never quite believed Janine; she always thought she had a quick metabolism and could eat all the Kit Kats that she wanted. So, even though the pants situation was dismaying, it didn't stop her from eating a Ding-Dong and some Fritos for breakfast.

She washed down her delicious meal with a Diet Coke, hoping to counteract some of the negative effects of the sugar. Maybe I should start working out or something. Too bad Kristy won't talk to me, or I'd see if she would take me running with her.

Claud grabbed her multicolored book bag and ran down the stairs, stopping to grab a cinnamon roll for the walk to school. As she flew past her kitchen table, she stopped and did a double take. There, sitting with the Kishi family and reading the comics section of the paper was Alan.

"Hey Claud," he smiled at her, and she didn't know whether to punch him or hug him. "These are for you." He handed her a small bouquet of flowers, tied prettily with a large bow. "I even picked them out myself!"

"Thanks," she mumbled, trying to hide her embarrassment. Janine, already elated from finishing the New York Times crossword puzzle before school, gave Claudia a suggestive wink. Though Janine was still the same genius that she always was, she had matured into a less dorky, less annoying one. And at Columbia, Janine was considered popular and sought after, mainly because her reputation preceded her.

"I have to go," she stuttered, pulling on a pair of pumps and fumbling for the doorknob.

"No kidding. That's why I'm here to give you a ride."

While dating, Claudia had found out that one of the reasons Alan was so immature was that he was self-conscious about being left back a grade in grade school. Ever since, he had had trouble fitting in with his classmates, so he tried to use his sense of humor to make friends, which worked for the most part. The other perk was that Alan had been the only sophomore allowed to take Driver's Ed, so he ended up having his license before anyone else.

"No thanks, I'm walking!" Claud decided.

Mrs. Kishi shook her head and frowned. "Alan drove all the way over and waited for you, Claudia Kishi. You will happily accept a car ride."

For some reason, her parents had always liked Alan. Sure, they found him to be a bit juvenile at times, but they thought he was a good match for their funky, creative daughter.

If only they knew, Claud thought to herself.

"Fine," she sighed. "Come on, Alan, let's go."

As they walked to his pickup truck, Alan tried to gallantly open Claud's door for her. "I've got it, Alan. Just get in."

As he pulled out of the driveway, he casually dropped his arm behind her seat to get a better vantage point. As his fingertips lightly brushed her hair, Claud felt a shiver as she remembered what Alan was like, before the Stacey incident.

"So, you're probably wondering why I picked today of all days to pick you up," Alan said.

"Not really," Claudia replied, feigning disinterest.

"Claudia, I'm going to be honest with you. Whatever you saw, whatever you thought about me and Stacey, well…it wasn't what you think. And nothing happened, I swear. I never had any interest in her, other than friends."

"Let's not talk about this," she replied.

"No, let's. We have to, Claud. We're supposed to be together."

Claudia sat in silence, flashing back to the day that she caught Alan and Stacey together. She was supposed to meet up with Stacey at the mall but thought that she could surprise her at her house instead. She had just painted this fabulous new painting of New York and wanted to surprise her with it, knowing how much that Stacey had missed the city. As she let herself into the McGill house, she could hear insistent whispers coming from Stacey's room.

When she walked in, she found Stacey lying on her bed, with Alan right next to her. They both sat up quickly, fumbling for words. Horrified, Claudia had soundlessly run out of the house. Her biggest regret was that she didn't come up with some sort of snappy comeback, but she reminded herself that she was never quick with words. Why would anything change as she was getting her heart ripped out?

After two days of incessant calls and messages, Claudia finally answered Stacey's call. She wanted to tell off her best friend and be done with this. She pushed aside the mounds of candy wrappers and pulled out a list of things that she wanted to say to Stacey, but all she could concentrate on were Stacey's tears.

"Claud, you have to listen to me. Please," she murmured.

"I really don't have anything to say to you."

"You don't have to say anything, just listen. When Alan showed up at my house the other day, I thought he was just coming by to talk to me about you. I mean, I know you guys were having problems, and I thought I could help. I was cleaning my room, so I invited him to come upstairs with me. But as soon as we started talking, he tried to kiss me.

Claud, he forced himself on me. I tried to push him off, but he's a big guy. He tried to tell me he was lonely and needed me and was attracted to me, and I didn't know what to do. But I didn't want to kiss him. Then you came in, and –"

Claudia hung up the phone. She had heard all that she wanted to hear. However, she did crumble her list of frustrations.

It took her weeks, months, just to get back on speaking terms with Stacey. Of course, their relationship had revived itself a bit since Stacey moved. But now, with Alan trying to get back into her life, Claudia found herself angry all over again.

"Claudia?" Alan asked, snapping her back into reality.

"What?" she snapped, momentarily dismayed as she remembered that she was riding in his car.

"I was asking you a question."

"Fine."

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Claudia thought back. Through the course of their relationship, she had never caught Alan in any sort of lie. If anything, he was brutally honest. She thought that this might be the reason that he and Kristy had alternated from getting along well to butting heads. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Look, this has been bothering me for ages. After you walked in at Stacey's, you only listened to her side of the story. You never returned my calls, never even bothered to try and listen to me. So, I needed to get you alone to tell you what really happened that day."

He paused and sighed. "Stacey called me and invited me over that day. She told me that she had plans with you later but that I should stop by so that she could give me some relationship advice. I was going to get you a present for our anniversary, and I thought she could give me some ideas. While I was over there, she started flirting with me. Hardcore, Claudia. Telling me I was cute, asking me how she had never noticed me before, you know. The next thing I knew, she was tackling me onto her bed and kissing me. And then you showed up."

Claudia just stared at him incredulously.

"I know what it looked like, and I know you would take her side over mine any day. But I thought that you needed to know the truth. Claudia, Stacey McGill isn't who you think she is anymore. She's small and conniving. New York is still too close for her to live."

Claud hadn't even noticed that they had pulled up at school. "And that's the truth, Claud. Take it as you will. But I thought you needed to know what sorts of people you were aligning yourself with."

Alan gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and got out of the car, shoulders slumping as he walked.

What was she even supposed to think of this? Stacey, her best friend? There was no way. But as she thought of how Stacey had changed over the past two years, she hesitated. Maybe there was some truth to what Alan was saying. But Claudia didn't have time to think. Mary Anne, looking better than she ever had in her life, was waving Claudia over.

Claud knew she should talk to someone about this, but now was not the time. Instead, she hugged her friend and prayed that this newfound friendship would prove to be strong.

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Mallory Pike positively cackled as she furiously typed on her laptop. This was her time to shine. She would show Kristy once and for all how her belittling had affected Mal and Jessi all of these years.

When the BSC first began, Mallory felt the isolation that came with being a younger member. She felt ostracized and alone. Often, the club members pointed out that she wasn't much older than some of their charges. So she developed ways of coping and pretending that she loved being a group member.

What the BSC didn't know is that Mal had cataloged all of their meetings from the time she became a member. What began as a personal journal quickly turned into a slam book denoting all the crimes and atrocities that Mal believed the club had committed. Of course, she had embellished some of the details, but who was to know?

Since there was such a rise of tell-all books in the publishing world, Mal thought that her writings had a chance. Writing under a pen name, she planned to send her "fictional" tale of babysitting gone wrong and babysitters gone wild to as many publishing companies as possible. Of course, she'd change all the names, but the guilty parties would know who they were.

Mal giggled to herself again as she read over her supposedly fictional friends. There was Misty Thompson, the bossy bitch who might secretly be a man, based on the clothes she wore (though no boy would ever dare find out). Carrie Lynn Spears, a baby who was years behind in development and would never give it up to her boyfriend, who suffered a permanent case of blue balls. Tracy Lill, a snobby (but please, call her "sophisticated") New Yorker who only used her math skills to add up her shopping bills and used her medical condition to get non-stop attention. Sky Smith, who just might self-destruct from eating anything with meat (though Mal had laughed a few times to herself when she switched Dawn's boca burger with the real thing). And Cloud Hu, who played up her minority status and had a serious eating disorder that was just beginning to catch up with her.

However, Mal and Jessi came out on top, of course. "Stephie" was a beautiful gymnast, heading for the pros, if only the stupid club would stop scheduling her for so many jobs and would give her a chance to practice. Stephie's struggle was outlined poignantly, with her getting home late at night from sitting and doing tour jetes and twirls while holding a textbook. The rest of the club's preoccupancy with race was also highlighted, as the other girls in the club always seemed to pinch themselves as a reminder that Jessi was black.

Of course, Mal came out sounding the best of all. She described her gorgeous cascading locks, beautiful smiles, and sparkling eyes brilliantly. At least she thought so. And she mentioned how the others always looked down upon her because she was younger, yet she was significantly more mature than the other girls, a better babysitter, and a better worker. She was trying to think of ways to get copies of the girls' report cards so that she could add those in as well.

For the longest time, Mal had been having a severe case of writer's block. She would stare at her computer, knowing that something was missing. Sure, she had highlighted all of the ridiculous club events that she had participated in over the years. She had gone to great lengths to describe the girls, but there was one thing she lacked: more insight.

However, babysitting with Kristy the other night had changed everything. Now Mal had a new direction to take her prose. After Kristy had tried to out Mal, Mal paid close attention to Kristy. She noticed the ace bandage wrappings on her arm and the casual way that Kristy had been picking at them; from this, she thought she could reveal to the world the depths of Kristy's psychological traumas.

But no, what she got that night was even better. As Mal had hugged Kristy, she had casually reached into Kristy open tote bag and grabbed whatever notebook was in reach. Even if it was chemistry notes, she wanted to try to get a sense of Kristy. But what she had was even better.

Specifically, she didn't need to have Kristy. She could have easily focused on any of the club members. But Kristy was the club originator. When Adam broke his arm and Mal needed an extra sitter, she had hoped for Kristy. She knew it would add more depth to her story than she could have anticipated.

Mal kept typing, faster and faster. She wanted to have this done by tonight so that she could start sending it out first thing in the morning. And as she thumbed through Kristy Thomas's secret journal (dating back from 8th grade, which was perfect), she mused that maybe it was finally her own chance to shine.