I loved our new (old) house right away.

And here's the best part. Our house has a secret passage that leads from the barn in the backyard right into my bedroom! It was probably once part of the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves from the South escape to freedom in the North. How's that for total coolness!

Anyway, even though the house was great, I wasn't too sure about the rest of Stoney-brook. Then I met Mary Anne. It didn't take long for us to become best friends.

At first glance, Mary Anne sure didn't look like somebody who would become my best friend. Her brown hair was in pigtails, and she always wore these awful little-kid jumpers. Since she's on the short side, she appeared much younger than a seventh-grader. Which is what she was. (So was I. Now we're both in eighth grade.)

Mary Anne and I must have made a pretty odd couple. There she was, short and kind of kidlike. And there I was, tall, with long (waist-length) white-blonde hair, and my own style of dressing. (My friends call itCalifornia casual.)

Still, despite looks, there was a lot to like about Mary Anne. She's extremely sensitive and a great listener. Talking to her felt very

natural and easy. And as we got to know each other better, two things happened that I would never have expected.

The first thing was that Mary Anne introduced me to the members of the BSC (Babysitters Club). They were Mary Anne's friends (she was mad at them when we first met, but that didn't last long) and now they're my friends, too. They asked me to join the BSC almost right away, and I've been a member ever since. The BSC has become one of the most important things in my life. It's the reason I eventually came to like Stoneybrook. I'll tell you more about it later.

The second unexpected thing was that Mary Anne and I discovered our parents had dated when they were in high school. More than dated — they were in love! We could tell by the romantic stuff they wrote to each other in their yearbooks. (We found my mother's yearbook first. It was still packed in a box, even though we'd been in Stoneybrook awhile. My mother is not exactly the most efficient, organized person in the world, to put it mildly.)