"Claudia! Claudia!" cried Janine.

I looked up in alarm. Janine is this prim, not-much-fun fifteen-year-old who's a genius. To be honest, she's boring. Dull as dishwater. I'd never even heard her raise her voice, which was why, the minute I heard her cry, "Claudia!" I knew something was wrong.Very wrong.

Unfortunately, I was right.

"Janine! What is it?" exclaimed Claudia.

"This." Janine was waving a paper around. She squeezed past Mimi and thrust it at Claudia.

Claudia took it and Kristy, Mary Ann, and I crowded around. We stared at the paper in horror. This is what we saw:

Need a reliable baby-sitter? Need one fast? Then call:

THE BABY-SITTERS AGENCY

Liz Lewis: KL5-1162

OR

Michelle Patterson: KL5-7548

And reach a whole network of responsible baby-sitters!

Ages: 13 and up

Available: After school

Weekends (until midnight) Weeknights (until 11:00)

Low rates! Years of experience! The ultimate time-saver!

CALL NOW!

The four of us just looked at each other. Even Kristy, who has sort of a big mouth, couldn't say anything. Mary Anne's eyes grew so wide I thought they would pop right out of her head.

"What is wrong, my Claudia?" asked Mimi.

"Competition," Claudia replied stiffly.

Kristy checked her watch and saw that it was onlyfive forty-five , and that we still had fifteen minutes left to our Friday meeting. "1 herebychange this meeting of the Baby-sitters Club to an emergency meeting," she announced.

"We will leave you alone, then," said Mimi softly. "Janine, please help me with dinner." Mimi tiptoed out, followed by Janine, who closed the door softly behind her.

I looked at my three stricken friends.

Claudia's dark eyes were troubled. She was absentmindedly playing with a strand of her long black hair. Claudia is very fashion-conscious and always dresses in the absolute latest trendy clothes, but I could tell that clothes were the last things on her mind.