I've hardly gotten to know any of the kids here. When we first moved into Watson's house

it was summertime, the beginning of July. Most of the kids my age had been sent to fancy camps for the summer. (I would kill Mom if she ever did that to me.) Plus, I'm president of a group called the Baby-sitters Club. All my friends are in the dub, and they live way across town - where I used to live - so I spent a lot of time with them over in my old neighborhood last summer. What I'm trying to say is that school had started again before I met any of the kids on my street.

My first encounter with the snobby kids was on a Monday morning. My alarm clock went off at6:45 as usual. I rolled over and tried to ignore it.

"Please, please be quiet," I mumbled.

But the clock didn't obey. It went right on buzzing.

"Oh, all right, you win," I told it.

I reached over and shut it off, then sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"Louie!" I exclaimed. Our old collie was stretched across the foot of my big bed. Louie mostly sleeps with David Michael, but lately, he's been taking turns sleeping with all of us, even Karen and Andrew on the weekends they visit. I thought it was nice of Louie to share himself.

"You are such a good dog/' I whispered, leaning over to him. I stroked the top of his head between his ears. The fur there is almost as soft as rabbit fur. Then I took one of his paws in my hand.

"Oh, your pads are cold," I told him, rubbing the pink pads on the bottom of his paw. "It must be getting chilly at night. Poor old Louie."

Louie licked my hand and gave me a doggie smile.

"Thanks," I said.

I got up and looked through my closet, as if I had a really big decision to make about what to wear. Ever since school began I've been wearing the same kind of outfit almost every day - a turtleneck, a sweater, jeans, and sneakers. I don't care about clothes the way my friends Claudia and Stacey do. They always look really cool and put-together.