Mary Anne and the Playground Fight Read online

  We also have a BSC notebook in which we write about our jobs. A lot of members think the notebook is a big pain because it’s like homework, but I really enjoy writing in it. The notebook helps keep us up-to-date on what’s happening with our baby-sitting charges. Also, we can look at past entries to help us solve baby-sitting problems. Chances are, whatever the situation, one of us has seen it before and has written it up in the notebook.

  The BSC is successful because we’re organized, reliable, and have good ideas (such as the notebook and Kid-Kits), and because the members are very different from one another, yet work well together.

  To begin, there’s Kristy, our super-organized and daring president. These are excellent qualities for running the BSC, I think. They also come in handy in Kristy’s large, noisy family. Like me, Kristy is part of a blended family. Hers, however, is a much bigger one than mine. You would not believe all the people who live in Kristy’s house: one mother, one stepfather, one grandmother, two older brothers, one younger brother, one adopted younger sister, and (when they’re not living alternate months with their mother) one younger stepsister and one younger stepbrother, plus assorted pets.

  Luckily, Kristy lives in a mansion, so there’s plenty of room for everyone. (Her stepfather, Watson Brewer, is a millionaire as well as a really great guy.)

  Claudia, our vice-president, graciously hosts all the meetings. She was under her bed at the moment, frantically searching for her wallet.

  “I know I left it in my backpack,” she said, her voice muffled. Claudia emerged from under her bed with her handmade red wallet in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other.

  One thing you should know about Claudia is that she has an incredible talent for art and an incredible appetite for junk food. Claudia can sculpt, paint, sew, draw, and make gorgeous jewelry. She also puts together the most striking outfits I’ve ever seen. On this day she was wearing an oversized black jumpsuit over a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, plus white socks and black high-top sneakers with silver laces. The laces matched her silver nail polish, silver earrings, and the rings she wore on every finger, even her thumb.

  “Just in case we run out of food,” Claudia was saying, “here’s an extra bag of chips — sour cream and onion, my favorite.”

  The rest of us laughed. No one in Claudia’s room was ever likely to go hungry. Claudia manages to stash away more bags of chocolate candy, chips, cupcakes, and soda than the local grocery store. To look at Claudia, you would never think she’s a junk food addict. She’s very thin, with a creamy complexion, dark brown eyes, and jet-black hair. Claudia also loves Nancy Drew mysteries, which she also keeps hidden since her parents equate Nancy Drew with junk food. Both are forbidden in the Kishi household.

  Claudia’s sister, Janine, is a certified genius with a high IQ score to prove it. But Claudia, who excels in art, doesn’t like school and had to go back to seventh grade for a while. Luckily, she did well enough to return to eighth grade — our lunch table wasn’t the same without her.

  Our club treasurer, Stacey, is Claudia’s best friend. They share a love of clothes and fashion, though Stacey tends to wear more urban, store-bought clothes than Claudia. Stacey honed her fashion sense in New York City, where she was born and raised.

  Unlike Claudia, Stacey cannot eat most junk food. That’s because she has diabetes, which means her body can’t process refined sugar. So Stacey has to watch what she eats very, very carefully and even give herself insulin injections to make sure she doesn’t get sick.

  Stacey handles her diabetes with the same assurance and efficiency with which she handles everything else. Maybe that’s why she seems older than the other members of the BSC. Also because she’s gorgeous and always well dressed. What’s more, Stacey is a math whiz. She recently joined the math team at school and became the state champ.

  Stacey’s parents are divorced. They split up after Stacey’s father was transferred back to New York City, so Stacey visits her dad there often.

  Abby, our alternate officer, is the newest member of the BSC. She took Dawn’s place when she moved to California. And just in time, because we were swamped with business.

  Abby (short for Abigail) moved to Stoneybrook from Long Island with her mother and her twin sister, Anna. (Abby’s father died in a car accident when she was only nine.)

  Abby and her twin could not be more different. Like Kristy, Abby is outgoing, energetic, and, lest I forget, extremely athletic. I think soccer is her favorite sport, but she also plays softball, basketball, and volleyball. Last summer, she was on a Unified Special Olympics Team.

  You won’t find Anna on a sports field. Anna is more like me — quiet, thoughtful, and unathletic. I was hoping she would join the BSC too. We invited her, but she said she didn’t have the time. She practices the violin several hours a day and hopes to becomes a professional musician. Anna wears her dark brown hair shorter than Abby’s and with bangs, while Abby’s hair cascades in long ringlets around her face.

  One more thing I should tell you about Abby is that she has asthma and is allergic to almost everything — dust, dogs (but not cats), tomatoes, shellfish, milk, cheese, and pollen. Her backpack is filled with tissues, antihistamines, inhalers, and her asthma medicine, but she doesn’t let her asthma get her down. Luckily, it doesn’t interfere with her sports.

  Jessi and Mallory are junior members of the BSC because they’re in sixth grade and can’t baby-sit at night unless it’s for their families. Each is the oldest kid in her family and is enlisted to do a lot of baby-sitting for her siblings. This makes them great members, since they have so much sitting practice.

  Mallory, who has seven siblings, including a set of triplets, has reddish-brown hair, pale skin with freckles, and — to her despair — wears glasses and braces. (I think she looks great in glasses, but she wants contacts as soon as possible. And she can’t wait to lose the braces.)

  Mallory and Jessi are best friends, and they have a lot in common. They share a passion for horses and horse stories, especially books by Marguerite Henry. Both of them know exactly what they want to do when they grow up. Mallory wants to be a writer; her stories have already won prizes in school. And Jessi, our ballerina, gets up at 5:29 every morning to practice at the barre her parents set up for her in their basement. She also studies ballet at a school in Stamford, the biggest city near Stoneybrook.

  Jessi moved to Stoneybrook from New Jersey with her mother, father, younger sister, and baby brother. (Her aunt now lives with the family too.)

  Jessi already looks and acts like a ballet dancer. She is one of the most graceful people I have ever met, and she often wears her hair in a dancer’s bun at the nape of her neck. She also loves to dress in leotards, which she wears with pants, skirts, and under sweaters and jackets. Jessi is perfect dancer height, has brown skin, dark brown hair, and huge brown eyes.

  Our associate members are Logan Bruno (my boyfriend) and Shannon Kilbourne. Associate members don’t have to attend meetings, but both happened to be at that day’s meeting, which is unusual. Logan always seems to have track or softball practice. And Shannon? Well, Shannon is a member of the French Club, the Astronomy Club, the Honor Society, the debate team, and she acts in school plays, when her schedule permits. (Isn’t it a good thing associate members don’t have to attend meetings?)

  Shannon is the only member of the BSC who doesn’t go to Stoneybrook Middle School. She attends a private school, Stoneybrook Day School, with her two sisters. When Shannon is not in her school uniform, she likes to wear preppy, kind of casual clothes. And she loves red, which looks great with her thick, curly blonde hair.

  By now, Stacey had collected dues and Claudia had fielded three baby-sitting phone calls.

  “Any other business?” Kristy asked.

  This was the time for me to speak up. “There’s a problem with Victoria Kent,” I said.

  “There is?” Claudia held her Yodel in midair. In fact, as soon as I said Victoria’s name everyone stoppe
d eating and stared at me. Everyone in the club likes Victoria. Mallory finds her “fascinating” and is writing a story about her called “The Real Princess.”

  “Well, as you know, she’s moving back to England at the end of the month, but she doesn’t want to. She feels Stoneybrook is home now.”

  “And she’s acting more American than most Americans,” Logan added, telling everyone about our encounter with Victoria and Miss Rutherford.

  “Unbelievable,” said Claudia. “And this from someone who used to think all Americans sounded like cowboys.”

  “She was only like that at first,” I pointed out. “It didn’t take her too long to get used to everything here.”

  “Yeah,” Logan agreed. “Don’t you remember that last fall she wanted to go to more football games than I did? And that’s saying a lot.”

  “No kidding,” said Claudia dryly. Logan grinned.

  “Well, we’ll have to be extra sensitive to Victoria’s feelings when we sit for her,” Kristy said.

  “Right,” I said.

  “Right-o,” echoed Claudia in her best English accent.

  Kristy leaned back in her chair. “Speaking of traveling abroad, I do have some news. It just so happens that I heard there’s going to be another school trip this summer.”

  “You mean like the one to Hawaii?” I asked.

  “Yup.”

  “Cool!” said Stacey. “Where to?”

  “Oh, I hope it’s someplace like Hawaii,” Abby interrupted. “Someplace with lots of sun and great beaches.”

  “And gorgeous surfers,” Stacey added.

  “I hope this time we go to a big city, maybe someplace like Paris,” said Claudia.

  “I’d settle for the Wild West,” Logan interjected.

  “Which isn’t all that wild anymore,” Jessi reminded us.

  “Where did you say we were going?” Stacey asked again.

  “I don’t know,” Kristy admitted, laughing. “We’ll probably hear more tomorrow at school.”

  We could hardly wait to find out.

  “I can’t believe Ms. Frost is introducing logarithms now, only two days before the final,” Abby grumbled. (Abby and I both have Ms. Frost for math, even though we’re not in the same math class.) We were in the locker room, getting ready for gym.

  “I know,” I said. “But at least she said they won’t be on the final.”

  Abby pulled out her sneakers and gym bag and slammed her locker door closed. “She told us that too. But why isn’t she just reviewing the material that will be on the final, the way most teachers do?”

  “Abby, cheer up,” Stacey said. Her locker is near ours, and she had heard most of the conversation.

  “Easy for you to say, Miss Math Whiz,” said Abby, but she was smiling.

  Stacey grinned. “You know the school trip Kristy was telling us about?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Abby and I answered in unison.

  “Well, Ms. Levine says it’s official.” (Ms. Levine is Stacey’s homeroom teacher.) “All the homeroom teachers are going to give out the information this afternoon.”

  “Girls, hurry, I want you in the gym by the time the second bell rings,” Mrs. Rosenauer, my least favorite gym teacher, interrupted.

  “Right,” said Abby, who was already dressed for class. (Gym is Abby’s favorite subject.)

  “Coming,” I muttered as I pulled my T-shirt over my head.

  Stacey was not the only one who had heard about the class trip. During the warm-up exercises, Cokie Mason told Erica Blumberg she thought the school was going to offer a trip to Alaska.

  “Alaska?”

  Cokie nodded.

  Erica looked disappointed. “I was hoping for, I don’t know, maybe Europe or something.”

  “What?” said Cokie, who couldn’t hear Erica over the sound of the class doing calisthenics. “One-two-three-four. One-two-three-four,” we chanted.

  “I said Europe,” Erica repeated, panting. “One-two-three-four.”

  “We’re going to Europe?” Cokie sounded very surprised.

  “Quiet!” Mrs. Rosenauer blew her whistle. “How many times do I have to tell you girls not to talk during the warm-up exercises? You need to concentrate on your breathing. Now, fifty sit-ups, please.”

  I groaned.

  Luckily, we were not kept in suspense about the trip for long. A special homeroom period was scheduled after gym to talk about the trip and other “summer opportunities.” As soon as I walked into my homeroom with Abby, I saw a stack of shiny brochures on our teacher’s desk.

  “Class, please take your seats,” Mr. Blake was saying. “I have some exciting news.”

  Abby gave me a thumbs-up sign before we rushed to sit down.

  “I know you have heard rumors about a school trip,” Mr. Blake was saying as he held a stack of brochures. “Well, it’s true. If you sign up by July first, you can travel to …”

  We all leaned forward in our seats.

  “I’ll give you a hint,” said Mr. Blake. The class groaned.

  “Oh, just tell us,” pleaded Katie Shea.

  Instead of answering, Mr. Blake began to hum something that sounded like an anthem.

  “Switzerland?” guessed Mary Sherwood.

  “Close,” said Mr. Blake, obviously enjoying himself.

  Close to Switzerland, I thought. “Spain?” I squeaked.

  “Canada!”

  “The French Alps.”

  “Chez Maurice in downtown Stoneybrook!”

  Everyone cracked up.

  Mr. Blake rolled his eyes. “All right, class. I was humming ‘Rule Britannia,’ as well as France’s anthem, which is ‘La Marseillaise.’”

  “La what?” asked Brad Simon.

  “England and France! The class trip is to England and France!” I blurted out. I was so excited I barely realized I had called out until Mr. Blake congratulated me. Then I turned bright red.

  “Correct, Mary Anne, England and France it is, specifically, London and Paris.”

  “London! Paris! All right!” shouted a bunch of kids.

  “Well, it’s not going to be as sunny as Hawaii,” Abby whispered to me, “but it should be exciting. I’ve always wanted to go to Europe.”

  “Me too,” I agreed.

  “Will we get to see the dweebs with the furry helmets?” asked Rodge Somerset. (Rodge is a good friend of Alan Gray’s. Need I say more?)

  “If you are referring to the guards at Buckingham Palace,” answered Mr. Blake, “yes, you will.” He flipped through the brochure.

  “What about the Queen?” Kate asked.

  “If she is in residence, you might see her.”

  “I wonder if she gives autographs,” Rodge muttered.

  “Now, class,” Mr. Blake was saying, “the procedure for this trip will be similar to last year’s, meaning fifty students can sign up by July first. If fewer than fifty students sign up, the school will take names from the waiting list of nonstudents.”

  “How much does this trip cost?” Brad asked.

  “For students, counting the discount, it will be four hundred dollars per person. All the information is in your brochure.”

  “Wow, that’s cheaper than going to Hawaii,” Abby pointed out.

  Mr. Blake nodded. “Yes, because the airfare is less.”

  “It’s still a lot of money,” Brad muttered.

  I nodded. I was excited about London and Paris. The brochure made the cities look so exciting with its photos of rose gardens, palaces, stone towers, and narrow winding streets. But I was worried about two things:

  One. The trip cost a lot. Last time, it had been a stretch for my family to send Dawn and me, even though we did raise half our fare.

  Two. What about Dawn? Would she be able to be taken from the waiting list? (Last year, her name came up at the last minute). Judging by how excited my homeroom sounded, there might be more interest in London and Paris than in Hawaii.

  As soon as homeroom was over, Abby cried, “Oh, Mary An
ne! I’m soooo excited about London, especially. My mom spent her junior year of college at London University. She still talks about what a great time she had there, and the theater, galleries, and especially the bookstores.” (Abby’s mother works as an editor for a big publishing company in New York.)

  Luckily, Abby was too excited to notice how worried and quiet I was, which was just as well. Unlike her, I still wasn’t sure I wanted to go.

  * * *

  “But Mary Anne,” Kristy said at the Baby-sitters Club meeting the next day, “if all your friends are going to Europe, you have to want to go.”

  “Let the girl decide for herself,” Claudia said as she handed me a bag of salt-and-vinegar potato chips.

  “I’m not trying to decide for her,” Kristy said sharply.

  I bit into a chip. “It’s Dawn I’m worried about,” I explained. “If she can go, I’ll go too.”

  Kristy frowned. That was not the answer she’d been hoping for. Luckily, just at that moment, the phone rang. Claudia snatched it up.

  “Hello. Baby-sitters Club,” she said. “Oh, hello, Mrs. Simon.”

  The rest of us sat up and looked at one another. Why was a teacher calling us?

  “Really,” Claudia was saying, “I’m sure we would all be interested.”

  “What?” Kristy mouthed.

  “I’ll talk to them and call you right back,” said Claudia as she put the phone down.

  “What was that about?” asked Stacey.

  Claudia grinned and leaned back against her big red pillows.

  “That,” she answered dramatically, “was Mrs. Simon.”

  “We know,” said Kristy.

  “Well, Stoneybrook Elementary School is going to have a playground camp this summer for kids from the neighborhood.”

  “What a great idea,” Abby commented.

  “They need counselors,” Claudia continued. “Mrs. Simon was wondering if any of us would be interested.”

  What a question. We were all interested — very interested.

  Claudia lost no time calling Mrs. Simon back. “Ask her if they need a softball coach,” Kristy whispered, while Claudia listened to Mrs. Simon.