DISC: I DO NOT own any of the chars from BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin. I Do however own anyone you don't recognize!
Enjoy!

"Kristy's Big Decision"

CHAPTER 2

The morning started off like any other at a house with nine people and two pets in it.

Even though it was the last week of school for everyone five and older, it felt like the first day.

"Where's my book report?" Karen practically wailed as she ran into the kitchen. She was dressed and her hair was in a French Braid.

I had done it for her earlier that morning after breakfast.

"Did you check your folder?" I asked.

"I checked everywhere!" Karen insisted.

"I'll help you look." I offered. With that, I guided Karen back into the living room and we began searching for her missing book report. (Can you guess what book she read?)

Karen's missing book report wasn't the only disaster that occurred that morning.

Pumpkin got locked in the hall closet downstairs and David Michael couldn't find his gym shoes.

By the time we found Karen's book report and Mom had recovered David Michael's tennis shoes from behind Pumpkin's litterbox, we were running late.

As we ran out of the house, Karen stopped suddenly. This meant I almost bumped into her.

"What is it?" I asked. "You didn't forget something else, did you?"

Karen shook her head.

"No. Look! It's a moving truck!" She pointed to the house next to Abby's on the right.

Sure enough, a moving truck was pulling into the driveway.

"New neighbors!" Exclaimed David Michael excitedly. "Cool! Maybe they'll have a kid my age."

Karen glared at him and planted her hands on her hips.

"Maybe it'll be a girl. You never know." She challenged.

I was about to break up the argument, but was saved the trouble by Hannie Papadakis running over from her driveway and pulling Karen towards the school bus.

Karen and Hannie go to the same school and are best friends.

Once Karen and Hannie were gone, I waited until David Michael had joined Linny before running across the street to mete Abby Stevenson.

Abby is a good friend of mine and another member of the BSC.

I'll tell you about the club later, I promise.

"Hey!" Abby called as she ran to greet me. "What's up? Ready to ride the bronchitis bus?"

I gave her a strange look.

Abby was used to this by now. She's always cracking puns and jokes. She has some funny ones every now and then, but most of them just fly over my head.

"We rode the weez wagon for the first half of the year." She informed me. "The last part of the year it'll be the bronchitis bus."

I nodded, finally understanding the joke.

"Come on." She said. "We don't want to miss it."

I ran after her towards our bus stop.

As we gained the sidewalk, I glanced back in time to see a red mini van pull behind the moving truck.

Abby saw me staring and turned to look herself.

She grinned.

"Vell, vell," she said while adopting Dracula's accent, "some new blood."

"New clients." I said hopefully.

"Kill joy." Abby grumbled. She tapped my shoulder before running ahead of me.

You would never know just by looking at her that she has asthma, along with allergies to just about everything ever created.

This includes dogs, cat litter, but not cats themselves, shell fish, cheese and milk.

Despite this, Abby is as energetic as they come. She doesn't let her health problems stop her from doing anything.

Despite her determination and persistent nature, she carries in inhaler with her just in case an attack is really bad. She's only had to go to the hospital twice since she's been here.

Abby and her twin sister, Anna live with their mother in a house just across the street from ours. Their mother is a publisher of some kind and Anna is a serious musician. She practices the violin as seriously as I take sports.

Abby and Anna's father died in a car crash when the twins were nine. Although Abby doesn't talk about him much, I can tell she still really misses him.

Speaking of sports, Abby is the assistant coach on my team called Kristy's Krushers.

I created it for those kids who are either too young or too scared to join little league.

And before you ask, yes, that includes the walking disaster.

Although to Jackie's credit, he has managed to hit a few home runs.

Unfortunately, he's managed to break a few windows as well.

By the time I caught up with Abby, she was grinning at me.

"What took you so long?" She asked. "Then again, you haven't had a Crusher's practice in a few weeks. A little out of shape?"

I glared at her. I bent down and picked up a clod of dirt and aimed it at her like I was throwing a curve ball.

Unfortunately, Abby ducked and it hit someone else instead.

"Hey!" A familiar voice said. "I spent an hour on this hair style."

I glanced up and frowned when I saw my target.

"Sorry, Claud. " I said with a smile. "I was trying to hit speedy over there."

Claudia grinned.

"No problem. " She said. "SO how was your sitting job with your sisters?"

And just like that, the conversation was started.

As we boarded the bus, my mind started to wander back to our street and the new neighbors.

While I Had to agree with Abby that having new blood was a change of pace, I was growing curious as to whom the new family was. Would they have kids? And if they did, would they need a baby-sitter?

I knew that last question was silly. Of course they would need a baby-sitter.

Again, I started thinking of the club and what it would be like to start it again.

Abby broke me out of my thoughts.

"Hey, fearless leader!" She said, waving her hand in front of my face. "We're here."

"Thanks." I said. "And we wont' be here for much longer."

Abby grinned.

"I know. I can't wait! Four months of sunning, swimming and…"

"Sitting." Claudia finished.

I gave Claud a strange look.

Where had that come from?

"Did the job at the Rodowsky's mess with your brain?" I asked.

"No." Claudia replied. "But now that you mention it, math might do that."

"Math's not that bad." Abby said as she jogged up to her locker, which was right beside mine.

"That's easy for you to say." Claudia said. "You're a math whiz."

"NO I'm not." Abby said. "That's Stace…" Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was about to say.

Claudia gave her a small smile.

"It's okay." She said. "You can say her name. It's not like we're fighting or anything. And she did say she would be back sometime this summer."

Abby nodded.

Just then, we were joined by Mary Anne Spier. She's my best friend. She had come back from a short stay in Philadelphia.

She was moving into a new house that was being built for her and her family.

"When did you get in?" I asked after I hugged her hello.

"Last night." Mary Anne replied. "Late last night. I decided to come to school for the last week. I wanted to be with you guys and Logan."

I nodded.

Logan was Mary-Anne's boyfriend. Or at least he used to be. They broke up a few months ago, but they're still friends.

For the rest of the day, I couldn't think of anything but the new neighbors.

One other thing kept invading my mind as well. What Claud said about sitting had me thinking…

That afternoon, I was making a snack for Emily when Karen ran into the room with a grin a mile wide on her face.

"Guess what! Guess what!" She shouted.

"Indoor voice." I reminded her gently.

Karen nodded. She didn't even notice the apple slices and peanut butter I had set out for her.

"There's a new girl in our school!" She announced. "Her name is Alexandra Springer. She likes to be called Alex. She says that's what everyone calls her. She's seven and in Ms. Colman's class!"

"That's great!" I said. "Is she one of the new neighbors?"

"Yes!" Karen replied excitedly. "She said she has a mother and an aunt. And guess what!"

"What?" I asked.

"Her mother's name is Anastasia!" Karen exclaimed.

"Really?" I asked.

Karen nodded.

That didn't seem too strange. All families were different. Maybe she lived with her mother and her mother's sister.

"Aren't you going to eat your snack?" I asked.

Karen shook her head as she jumped out of her chair and ran for the front door.

"I want to see if Alex's home yet." With that, she dashed from the room.

"Be careful!" I called after her. "Watch for cars before you cross the street!"

"I will!" Karen called back.

Shaking my head, I waited until Emily was done her snack before suggesting we play outside.

Emily agreed right away.

I took my baby sister's hand and led the way to the front yard.

Emily was going through a stage where she wants to walk everywhere on her own.

She'll let Nannie or Mom carry her, but she wants to try new things every chance she gets.

When we got outside, Emily ran right for the bucket of sea ponies that was sitting near the picnic table.

While Emily played, I glanced over at the house next to Abby's.

When I didn't see Karen in the yard, I figured Alexandra had been home and the girls were playing in her room.

Still, a good baby-sitter always makes sure her charges are safe, especially when they're playing with new kids.

I stopped as this thought crossed my mind. Why was I thinking like this?

Before I had a chance to figure it out, the front door of the house opened and Karen ran out of it, smiling. She was followed by a girl who looked seven. She had light brown hair and brown eyes.

"Come on!" Karen was saying. "I want you to meet my sisters and our dog, Shannon! It'll be fun!"

The little girl nodded. She smiled excitedly at Karen before following her across the street.

"Okay!" She replied excitedly.

As both girls joined hands and looked both ways before crossing the street, the door opened for a second time. A teenage girl a year or two older than me came out. She had red hair and blue eyes.

"Alex!" She called. "Be careful, sweetheart."

Alex turned and nodded at the teenager who had just addressed her.

"Okay, Mama." She replied. "I will."

When I heard the little girl address the teenager as 'Mama, I figured that had to be Anastasia.

I watched to see if Karen had heard what Alex had said. I'm sure if she had, she would have turned around and started talking Anastasia's ear off.

But when I saw the girls cross the street, I decided Karen hadn't heard her.

Anastasia smiled at the two girls as she watched them cross safely over to our yard.

I waved to her to let her know Alex and Karen were okay.

She waved back and gave me a friendly smile. She went back into the house a minute later.

"Kristy! Kristy!" Karen shouted excitedly. "This is Alex!" She introduced. "Alex, this is my big sister, Kristy. She's really nice and a lot of fun!"

Alex gave me a big smile.

I smiled at Alex in return.

"Hi Alex. Do you like playing Softball?"
Alex nodded, which surprised me.

"Yeah." She replied. "I wanted to join a team before we moved, but the coach wouldn't let me. He said I was too small."

I smiled at her reassuringly. She was a little shorter than Karen, but not by much.

"Well you know what?" I asked.

"What?" Alex replied.

"I coach a softball team." I told her. "It's called Kristy's Krushers. Would you like to join?"

Alex's brown eyes lit up.

"Really? I can join your team?" She sounded hopeful.

"Sure!" I replied.

"Thanks." Alex said sweetly.

"You're welcome." I replied.

Just then, Emily came up to us. She had Baby Wavedancer in her hands.

"Kristy, play, please?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Sure!" I said. "Emily, I want you to meet someone. Em, this is Alex. Alex, this is our little sister, Emily. Can you say hi?" I prompted Emily.

"HI." Emily replied.

Alex grinned.

"Hi." Alex replied. "I love My Little Pony too!" She told Emily.

Emily's brown eyes lit up with excitement.

"Play, please?" She asked.

"Sure!" Alex said.

Karen frowned.

Fortunately, Abby came over just then with Hannie and Linny, so she was distracted for the moment.

I introduced Abby and the Papadakis' to Alex.

They all seemed to get along really well.

As Alex sat down to play with Emily, I sat down to talk with Abby.

Before I knew it, Abby and I were in full baby-sitter mode. We had even organized the kids-minus Emily into a practice game.

Abby volunteered to watch Emily while I coached the kids.

"Can I try out now?" Alex asked me.

"Sure!" I replied.

As the game got under way, more Krushers' teammates showed up.

Before long, we had a big practice game going on.

It was a good thing Watson had such a big backyard.

As Alex poised the bat, I grinned at her encouragingly.

David Michael was the pitcher for this inning.

I cautioned him to be gentle since Alex was a little smaller than most seven-year-old's.

He nodded and threw the ball.

The minute the ball made contact with Alex's bat, we all heard a crack!

We cheered along with her as the ball sailed over the trees and over the notebook Abby had put down for home plate.

Alex ran and slid into home.

Everyone continued to cheer.

The game ended in a tie. It had been fun and I was happy the Krushers were eager to keep practicing.

As everyone started heading home, I gathered my team around me for a small pep talk.

"Well, first, I want to say that was a great game!" I said enthusiastically.

"It was fun!" Karen agreed.

I nodded.

"Also, I want you all to welcome Alex to our team."

Alex's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"I made it?" She asked. 'I really made it?"

"Yup!" I replied. "That home run was incredible! You could give Matt Braddock a run for his money."

Alex and Karen started jumping up and down and squealing.

Once they had calmed down, Alex spoke up.

"I can't wait to tell Mama and Aunt Sara!"

I exchanged a look with Abby. I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

It looked like we had a mystery on our hands.

As far as I was concerned, a practice game and a new mystery was a great start to summer vacation.