You know what else? My brother, Jeff, lives

inCalifornia with my dad. He did move here originally with Mom and me, but he wasn't happy at all. He started having trouble in school and being really moody, and we finally realized he was homesick for Dad (andCalifornia ). So after a lot of arguing and crying, my parents decided to let him live with Dad. I really, really, really miss him. He's ten years old, and I don't know, I feel weird not being around to see him grow up. I've been thinking about visiting Dad and Jeff again a lot lately. I have been out there a few times. It's fun, but boy, is it hard to say good-bye. Plus my dad has this girlfriend named Carol, which makes things complicated. At first I didn't care for Carol. Okay, the truth — I couldn't stand her. She was always trying to act super-young, as if she could be my age, but she's like thirty-two or so. Actually, I don't mind her now. She acted her age once, and I was pretty impressed. I mean it, too. It happened when the whole Baby-sitters Club went out there to visit. (The BSC is a club I belong to. I'll tell you about it later.) One of our members, Stacey McGill, got a crush on some guy and started hanging around with him and his friends. Well, they were pretty wild — wild enough to wind up having a car accident. Nobody was hurt, thank goodness. But when Carol found out, instead of keeping it a secret (to be cool

and get on our good side), she told my dad. I know it may sound weird, but I respected her after that. She was acting like a responsible grown-up.

Dad's thinking of marrying Carol, and that's another reason I want to go out there so badly. I mean, if she's going to be his wife (my stepmother) I should get to know her a little, right?

Anyway, that's the western side of my family. As for me and my mom, well, we haven't exactly let the grass grow under our feet.