I went to the hall closet and got my down jacket.

"Are these the ones you mean?" I heard Jeff ask, as I returned to the kitchen. He had found a plate in the microwave. The coupons were stuck to the bottom of the plate.

"Oh. Yes, they are," said my mother sheepishly. She looked at the three of us. Our expressions were somewhere between total exasperation and laughter. My mother is such a scatterbrain.

"Okay, okay," she said, even though no one had said anything. She took the coupons from Jeff. "If it makes you all feel any better, my New Year's resolution is to become more organized."

"A resolution?" asked Jeff.

"Yeah. You know — when you decide to do something differently from the way you used to do it," Mary Anne explained. "People make resolutions on New Year's Eve because it's the beginning of a new year. It's like a new beginning."

A New Year's resolution. That made me think. What kind of resolution did 7 need to make?

Chapter 2.

Kristy Thomas checked the time as Mary Anne and I scooted into Claudia Kishi's bedroom. "You're late," Kristy commented, pointing to Claudia's digital clock. The clock read5:31 . Kristy is a stickler for punctuality. She hates for anyone to be even one minute late for a Baby-sitters Club meeting.

"Sorry, we were shopping for the sleepover tomorrow," explained Mary Anne, who was now perched on the end of Claudia's bed.

"The checkout lines at the grocery store were humongous," I added, as I settled down, cross-legged on the floor.

There was this little bubble of tension in the room. I could tell from Kristy's expression that she was still annoyed. (I knew our being late wasn't the only thing that was bothering Kristy. She gets a little jealous of me sometimes. Before I came along, Kristy had been Mary Anne's only best friend.)

Luckily, Claudia broke the tension. "Now that we're all here I think we should have a pre-New Year's Eve celebration/' she said, sliding gracefully off her bed.