I had to let my mother know I was leav-fjing, so I stuck my head into the kitchen. Only Vanessa was there, thumbing through a mail-order toy catalog. "Where's Mom?" I asked.

    "In the yard with Claire." "Tell her I'm going over to Ben's to work," 1 said. "1 have to get away from the Pike punks before I kill them." "I heard what they were doing," she said sympathetically. "I don't blame you for wanting to murder them." "Tell me about it," 1 said, leaving the kitchen.

    It didn't take long to walk to Ben's house. The Hobarts moved into Mary Anne's old house across from Claudia's. (Mary Anne Spier and Claudia Kishi are both BSC members and my friends. More about them later.) And, anyway, it was better to work at Ben's house than at mine since I had a BSC meeting that day at five-thirty. The BSC meetings are held at Claudia's so all I would have to do is run across the street.

    At Ben's house we were able to sit at the kitchen table and work without being disturbed. His three brothers - James (eight), Mathew (six), and Johnny (four) - are nothing like my brothers. They're actually sweet and well-behsived. They were playing video games in the family den. They didn't bother us even once the entire time.

    At about 5:15, I shut my history book. (We finished the math pretty quickly once we escaped from my brothers.) "Gee, it's so peaceful here," I said with a sigh.

    "Not always," Ben replied. "Besides, I think your house is fun." "Try living there," I groaned as I stuffed my books into my pack.

    Ben stood up and opened the refrigerator. "Hey, it's a miracle! There's chocolate cake left from last night. Want some?" I glanced at the kitchen clock. 5:17. "Okay. But I have to eat and run. Kristy starts meetings at five-thirty sharp." Kristy Thomas is the president of the BSC. Punctuality is very important to her.

    Ben cut me a slice of cake. "That's okay," he said with a smile. "We have to eat fast, anyway, before my Mom comes in and tells me no cake before supper." Mrs. Hobart makes a super delicious chocolate cake. She makes it from scratch, too. Until I met Ben, I thought making a cake from scratch meant you started by opening a box of cake mix! As I sat eating the cake, I thought how great it must be to live at Ben's house. Homemade cake. Quiet, unobnoxious brothers. Heaven! Chapter 2.