"Oh, Jessi!" said Mallory. "Did you just die of embarrassment when you had to come out barefoot? I would have." 1 admitted that it had been pretty bad. "But the worst thing was that Madame Noelle was mad at me," I said.

    Mary Anne smiled sympathetically. "You really care a lot about what she thinks of you, don't you?" she asked.

    "I know how that is," said Claudia. "It's like if I don't finish a project in time for art class. I hate it when I let my teacher down." "But it all worked out okay, right?" asked Dawn. "I mean, you found your toe shoes and everything. But I wonder about that note." I nodded even though the note didn't have me all that worried. "It's just that I hate starting out a new production with a rehearsal like that," I said. Everybody was being so nice. There's nothing like supportive friends when you're feeling like a total loser. I noticed, though, that Kristy hadn't said anything. Maybe she just wasn't that interested in my ballet stories.

    "Well, it's all over now," I said, getting ready to change the subject. I didn't want to make Kristy mad at me for taking up so much meeting time.

    "Right, Jessi. Next time will be better," said Kristy quickly. "Now listen, you guys. I've got a great idea." Everybody groaned, just to tease Kristy. How can anyone get so many great ideas all the time? No wonder she wasn't interested in my story - she'd been waiting impatiently the whole time, dying to tell us about her latest brainstorm.

    "It seems to me that we haven't done anything really special with the kids we sit for lately," said Kristy. "You know, there hasn't been a big party, or a carnival, or anything - not for a long time." "That's true," said Dawn. "But what can we do that would be new and exciting?" "Are you ready for this?" asked Kristy, grinning. "We're going to have - a pet show!" She looked around the room. "I was remembering that Louie was in a pet show once," she continued. (Louie was this great collie that Kristy used to have. I never met him, though: He died before I moved here.) "It was at the library, and it was really fun. Louie won second prize! I was so proud of him." Everybody loved Kristy's idea.