"He's really going to miss you," Dawn said softly. "But I guess the feeling is mutual."

I nodded. Even though I had a wonderful two weeks at Sea City, this fantastic beach in New Jersey, ahead of me, I knew I would miss Logan. A lot.

"Can we please come to order?" Kristy said abruptly. I glanced around the room as the meeting began. It's amazing how many good things have happened for me because of the Baby-sitters Club. Dawn feels the same way. When we became friends, which was right after she moved here fromCalifornia , I talked the BSC members into letting her join the club. About a year later we became stepsisters. But you're probably wondering how the club got

started, and this would be a good time to tell you a little bit about it.

One day Kristy noticed that her mom was having a terrible time trying to find a sitter for David Michael, Kristy's little brother. Kristy couldn't sit for him, and neither could her two older brothers. So Mrs. Thomas was making calls all over town and getting nowhere. Then Kristy had a great idea. Why not form a babysitters club to solve that kind of problem?

This is how it works. A group of us meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from5:30 to6:00 in Claudia Kishi's bedroom. Why did we pick Claudia's room? Because she has her own phone and her own private number. Anyone who wants a baby-sitter can call us at that time, and they immediately reach seven sitters at once. The idea is perfect — and so simple, we wondered why we hadn't thought of it before.

Kristy is the president, because the club was her idea, and Claudia is the vice-president, since her room is our headquarters. Stacey McGill likes numbers, so she's our treasurer. My stepsister, Dawn, is our official alternate officer. Dawn has to be familiar with the job of every club officer and be able to substitute for anyone who can't make a meeting: She

really likes being an alternate because she gets to take on lots of different roles in the club.