“Knock, knock,” said Karen again.

     “Who’s there?” I replied.

     “Hey, Karen! Come here!” It was David Michael, yelling down the hail.

     “What?” Karen yelled back.

     “Come look at this bug!” (David Michael just loves bugs.)

     Karen was off my bed and out of my room in a flash.

     I smiled. I really like my family, especially when Karen and Andrew are here. The bigger, the better. Sometimes I think of my friends as family, too. Is that weird? I don’t know. But my friends do feel like family. I guess I’m mostly talking about my friends in the Babysitters Club. That’s a club I started myself. Actually, it’s more of a business. My friends and I sit for families in Stoneybrook and we earn a lot of money.

     Here’s who’s in the club: me, Claudia Kishi, Mary Anne Spier, Dawn Schafer, Mallory Pike, and Jessi Ramsey. We are six very different people, but we get along really well (most of the time). That’s the way it is with families.

     For instance, I’m pretty outgoing (some people say I have a big mouth), and as I mentioned before, I like sports and couldn’t care less about clothes or boys. My best friend is Mary Anne Spier (she’s our club secretary) and we are so different. Mary Anne is quiet and shy, hates sports, is becoming interested in clothes, has a boyfriend, and comes from a very small family. She lives with just her dad and her kitten, Tigger. Her mom died a long time ago. Mary Anne and I have always been different and have always been best friends. We lived next door to each other until Mom married Watson, so we practically grew up together.