Still don't believe me? Okay, let me tell you about the meeting I went to. It was the day after Claudia, Mary Anne, and I had arrived in California. We had been awake almost the whole night before, gabbing. Then we got up and had a Dawn-style breakfast — wholewheat vegetable pancakes with sprouts. (Yes, I am serious, and no, it did not make me barf.) Claudia, Mary Anne, and I visited Dawn in school for awhile (the school allows that). Afterward, we hung out in the school courtyard with Dawn's best California friend, Sunny Winslow.

Then we heard, "Kristy T.! M.A.! Claudi-o!"

It was Maggie, with brand-new nicknames for us. We all hugged and said hi.

"You look sensational!" Claudia said to Maggie.

She did, too. Her hair was in dreadlocks.

Two of them were dyed red and green. She was wearing this crazy neon-patterned jumpsuit, under a tailored cotton jacket with padded shoulders. I'd never seen anything like it before.

The next thing I knew, Dawn was pulling me toward the front of the school, shouting, "Wait!"

We all ran to the line of school buses. Jill Henderson was starting to climb onto one of them. When she saw us, she jumped back down. "Hi!"

"Hi, Jill!" I exclaimed.

More hugs and kisses, "You look greats," news, gossip, blah blah blah.

Then Sunny suggested a meeting of the We V Kids Club.

"Well, Claudia and Mary Anne and I have to get home and help with the wedding," Dawn explained.

"Just for a few minutes," Sunny insisted. "Then you guys can leave."

"Come on," Maggie pleaded.

"Please please please," Jill said.

Dawn looked at us and shrugged. "Okay."

Boom. The We V Kids Club was about to meet. Just like that. No planning, no nothing.

Kristy, be nice, I told myself. I was not going

to roll my eyes. I was not going to lecture them. I was going to be mature. Accepting.