"Well," I said as Claudia's digital clock clicked over to five-thirty, "I guess I hereby call this meeting to order." As if on cue, the phone rang. Claudia answered it. "Baby-sitters Club," she said. "Can I help you?" She listened for a few seconds. "Sure, Mrs. Newton. We'll call you right back, okay?" She put down the phone.
Mary Anne reached for the club record book, where she keeps track of our schedules. "What day?" she asked.
"Next Friday night. She needs a sitter while she and Mr. Newton go to a play in the city." Mary Anne ran her finger along the page she'd turned to. "Stacey and I are free." "Um," said Stacey, glancing at Claudia, "I'm not actually free. I - I have plans." We all knew what that meant. Stacey had a date with Jeremy, but she didn't want to make a big deal about it in front of Claudia. Even though they weren't best buds anymore, they were making an effort to be civil to each other.
I snuck a glance at Claud. She was concentrating on her bead-stringing, pretending not to listen.
"Well, okay," said Mary Anne. "No problem. I'll be glad to take the job. I haven't spent time with Jamie and Lucy in ages." She wrote her name in the book.
Claudia called Mrs. Newton back to let her know Mary Anne would be the sitter. After she hung up, there was an awkward silence in the room.
"So - " I said.
"I heard about - " Stacey started speaking at the same time.
"What?" I asked. "Go ahead." "No, you." I sighed. "I was just about to say that Claudia and I had a cool English class today." "That's what I was going to mention," said Stacey. "I heard that Ted gave your class an interesting assignment." From the way she was speaking, I knew she'd heard it from Jeremy. And I was sure Claudia knew that too. So Stacey probably already knew that Claudia and Jeremy were partners. And she probably wasn't happy about it. Stacey doesn't seem too comfortable with the fact that Claudia and Jeremy get along really well. I decided to ignore that issue and bring up my own problem. "Did you hear who my partner is?" I asked.