brother Jeff. But then Mom and Dad got divorced, so Mom moved Jeff and me all the way across country to this little town, which is where she grew up. I like Stoneybrook, but I'm a California girl at heart. I like hot weather, not cold, and health food, not junk. And I dress with style, but ifs my own style. I'm very independent. Maybe you're wondering what I look like. Well, I have long, long (waist-length) pale blonde hair and blue eyes. I get freckles if I stay out in the sun too long. And here's something else you should know. Our house in Stoneybrook is almost two hundred years old and has a secret passage. That's the truth.

Okay. Our new members are Mallory and Jessi. They're younger than the rest of us - eleven years old - and for that reason they are junior officers. (They haven't even been made official club members. That will happen today.) Mallory is the oldest of eight kids, so she knows a lot about handling children. She has dark curly hair, wears glasses, and is getting braces. She desperately wants pierced ears, but her mother says no. She and Jessi (Jessica) are alike in a lot of ways, except that Jessi is black. Jessi also wears glasses (just for reading) and thinks her parents treat her like a kid. (She's not allowed to have her ears

pierced yet, either.) Like me, Jessi is new to Stoneybrook. She and her parents, her eight-year-old sister Becca (short for Rebecca), and her baby brother Squirt (nickname for John Philip Ramsey, Jr.) have only lived in Stoneybrook for a few weeks. Jessi is a super-talented ballet dancer. (She has these incredibly long legs and a thin, graceful body.) She and Mallory both like horses and reading.

Now you know about us club members, so let's get back to the meeting.

After a lot of pencil-rapping and ahem-ing, Kristy finally got our attention and we quieted down.