Even though 1 have a big mouth and I'm far from shy, Mary Anne and 1 are alike in some ways. For one thing, we look alike. We both have brown eyes and brown hair and are short. I'm the shortest kid in our grade, believe it or not, but Mary Anne has grown slightly. For another thing, we don't care much about clothes. Truthfully, I don't care a thing about clothes. My friends tease me because I always wear a turtleneck, jeans, a sweater, and sneakers. (Well, not in the summer, of course.) And Mary Anne used to have to wear this babyish stuff that her father picked out for her, but now he's not so strict and lets Mary Anne choose her own clothes, so Mary Anne is more interested in what she wears.

Boy, are Mary Anne and I different from Claudia Kishi! Claud is super-sophisticated - and totally great-looking. She's Japanese-American and gorgeous, with long, long silky, jet-black hair; dark, almond-shaped eyes; and a complexion that's to die for. She's funny and talented - you should see her artwork - and

she practically has boys drooling over her, but she doesn't have a steady boyfriend like Mary Anne does. One thing about Claudia that's a problem is that she's a terrible student. To make this worse, her older sister Janine is a true genius. Janine is in high school, but she already takes college courses.

Claudia and Janine live with their parents and their grandmother Mimi. Claudia's special likes are: junk food, mysteries (especially Nancy Drew mysteries), and, of course, her art. Her artistic flair runs over into her clothes. You should see how she dresses - wild! Baggy jeans, skintight pants, miniskirts, odd layers of things, bright colors, and weird jewelry. Also, she fixes her hair differently every day, and she does things like paint her toenails with sparkles. Once, she went to school with glitter in her hair.