She has long, silky black hair, and lovely almond-shaped eyes. (She's Japanese-American.) Claudia's natural beauty is set off by her unique fashion sense. You see, Claudia is extremely artistic. She paints, sculpts, makes jewelry and pottery, sketches - you name it. And her clothing reflects her artistic nature. She combines colors and styles in an original way which really works. For example, today she wore wide-legged maroon corduroy pants, a yellow paisley-print blouse with ruffle sleeves, and a yellow-and-maroon-striped vest. Her hair was fixed in two braids and she wore a black brimmed fisherman's cap. On her feet were heavy-soled black Doc Marten shoes with bright yellow laces. It might sound a little strange, but on her it looked spectacular.

Looking at Claudia's creamy skin and slim figure, you'd never guess she's~ a junk food fanatic. Bags of snacks are stashed all over her room, because her parents disapprove of this habit. They also disapprove of the Nancy Drew books Claudia adores. (Those are hidden all over the place, too.) Claudia's parents would like her to read more "challenging" books, and be more like her older sister, Janine. Janine is an authentic genius, with an I.Q. of 196. Claudia is smart, too, but there's no way she'll ever be like janine. For one thing, Claudia isn't much of a student. She does just enough work to get by and no more.

Claudia's best friend is Stacey McGill, another BSC member. Stacey is our New York girl. She's a real live native New Yorker, and she loves everything about New York City. Like Claudia, Stacey also has a great fashion sense, although she isn't quite as original. Her blonde hair is permed and she has the biggest blue eyes.

As I mentioned, Jessi and I joined the BSC when Stacey moved back to New York. While they were there Stacey's parents decided to divorce. Soon afterward, Stacey moved to Stoneybrook once again with her mother, and rejoined the BSC.