"Oh, Stace, I can't believe you didn't at leasttry for the jacket!" she cried. (Claudia loves clothes as much as I do. Maybe even more.)

"But wait'll you see my sunglasses. They're to die for, I'm telling you."

We talked for awhile until my mom called up the stairs to let me know that it was time to get off the phone.

" 'Bye Stace! See you in school tomorrow," said Claudia.

"And at the meeting, too," I reminded her.

Claudia and I, along with our other Stoneybrook-best-friends (all five of them!) belong to the Baby-sitters Club. The club is really a business — a baby-sitting business, of course — but I'll tell you more about it later.

As soon as I hung up the phone, I headed up to bed. I was beat! Those "Fun-Filled Action-Packed Weekends" sure can take a lot out of you.

Chapter 2.

I'd been planning to walk over to Claudia's for the Baby-sitters Club meeting the next day, but for some reason I'd been running late from the second I got up that morning. I guess I'm not used to going back and forth between my two "worlds" — New York and Stoneybrook. It takes me awhile to readjust every time I come back from a weekend away.

I started out the day by oversleeping. I gobbled my breakfast, threw on any old outfit I could find (the same white .jumpsuit with apink shirt and — oops! — red socks), and practically ran all the way to school. It seemed as though I was rushing around all day, and now here it was, almost 5:30, dub meeting time, and I was still at home.

I grabbed my bike and hopped on. I knew I could still make it on time if I pedaled fast. As I rode, I thought about everyone I would see over at Claud's. I'd really been lucky to

find so many great friends when I moved to Stoneybrook. If it hadn't been for the Babysitters Club, my life would sure be different.