world had said that at some time or other.

"Well, I will tell you something that I have often told my Claudia. If you do not like the way things are, you must change them yourself."

"But I've tried!" I exclaimed.

"Perhaps you have not found the right way yet. If this is truly important to you, then there is a right way to change it. And I know that you, my Mary Anne, will find that way."

At that moment, Claudia burst into the kitchen.

"What did you just say?" she asked accusingly.

"Claudia, you are finished baby-sitting already?" said Mimi.

Claudia ignored the question. "I heard you!" she cried, glaring at Mimi. "You called her/' she switched her glare to me, "my Mary Anne."

"Why, yes I did," Mimi said quietly.

"But I'm the only one you call yours. You don't even say 'my Janine.' ... I thought I was the only one."

I had rarely seen Claudia so upset. Not when she got bad grades, and not when we thought the Baby-sitters Agency was going to put our club out of business. But she was standing in front of us with tears running down her cheeks.

Then she turned and ran. I could hear her feet pounding up the stairs and along the hall to her bedroom.

"Oh, no," I said to Mimi.

"Please do not worry/' she told me. "That was my fault. I was not thinking. I will talk to Claudia and repair our misunderstanding." Mimi stood up.

I rose, too. "Thank you, Mimi," I said.

Mimi gave me a hug, then headed upstairs. I let myself out the front door.

What was the right way to change things? I wondered. I knew that I would have to discover it myself.

Chapter 8.

Wow. Was Claudia ever mad. Mimi had apologized and tried to explain things to her,

but Claudia stopped talking to me anyway, which meant that once again, not one of the members of the Baby-sitters Club was talking to the others.