"Babysitters Club 037 Dawn And The Older Boy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

"I know you are," Mary Anne apologized.
"But I think the Brewers expect us to show up for breakfast. We shouldn't be lounging around in bed all morning when they're trying to feed sixteen in the kitchen." I hated to admit it, but I decided Mary Anne was probably right. I also thought that my stepsister was the only person in the whole world who would worry about something like that.
"Mmm, I think I smell bacon cooking," Mal said. She wriggled off her air mattress and stretched. "I agree with Mary Anne. We should all go downstairs."
Jessi gave a gigantic yawn. "I've decided to have breakfast in bed," she said sleepily. "Just leave a tray outside the door for me."
"Ha! Fat chance!" Claudia yelled, tossing a pillow at her. "If we get up, you get up."
Mary Anne yanked open the drapes, and the room was flooded with harsh yellow sunlight. Everybody really woke up after that, including Kristy, who had burrowed like a mole under her fluffy pink quilt.
"Hey, Kristy," Stacey asked, "do we have to get dressed to go down to breakfast?"
"On a Saturday morning? Are you kidding?" Kristy grinned and jammed her feet into a pair of fat down slippers. "That's the great part about weekends. You can wear
whatever you want, and Mom and Watson won't care. Honest."
Claudia glanced in the mirror. Her hair was a mass of tangles and her mascara had smudged over her cheekbones in two dark shadows. She looked like someone straight out of Night of the Living Dead.
"Claudia, you look awful," Kristy said cheerfully.
"You don't look so terrific yourself," Claudia retorted. She wasn't in the least bit offended because the truth is we all looked awful.
"I know. Isn't it fun?" Kristy grabbed her favorite baseball cap (the one with the collie on it) and plunked it on her head. "But who's going to see us at breakfast except for Karen and Nannie and Mom and everyone?"
A few minutes later we had our answer. Who was going to see us? Only the cutest guy in the whole world!
Talk about having a panic attack. All seven of us had trooped downstairs, looking our absolute worst, when we realized there were boys sitting around the kitchen table! Two of them were Kristy's older brothers, Charlie and Sam, and the other looked like a movie star. Sandy brown hair, deep blue eyes, and a smile that
I knew I would never forget. Claudia was in front of me, and she skidded to a stop just like the Road Runner in that Saturday morning cartoon show. Naturally, I bumped into her, and she lurched against the back of Sam's chair.
"Oh, Claudia. Hi there." He glanced at Kristy. "I figured you were going to sleep all day." Sam took a quick peek at the rest of us, and his jaw dropped open. Why hadn't we .taken a few extra minutes to brush our hair and put on a little makeup? (Or at least take off the old makeup?) I know I looked terrible. I have very light skin and, as I've said, my hair is so blonde it's practically white. Can you imagine what I look like first thing in the morning, especially with mascara smudges under my eyes?
I tried to duck behind Stacey, who immediately caught on and started inching her way back toward the hallway.
"Hey, don't run away," Charlie teased her. "Kristy, I want you and your friends to meet someone." He waved a hand at the fantastic-looking boy at the table. "Travis, meet my sister and the rest of the Baby-sitters Club. Travis just moved to Stoneybrook," he went on.
Travis half rose out of his chair and smiled at everyone. (He could afford to be cheerful. He looked terrific, and the rest of us were wrecks.) The other kids in the family were at the table with him. Emily was spooning up cornflakes with David Michael, Karen, and Andrew, but I barely looked at them. I couldn't take my eyes off Travis (and I couldn't stop wishing I were invisible)! Why did I have to look my absolute worst?
Travis was too polite to look shocked, though, and I thought I would drop through the floor when he reached across the table and shook my hand! No one my age shakes hands (do they?), but somehow it seemed just right when Travis did it.
I could feel a little ripple of excitement go through the group, even though most of us were busily staring at our toes and wishing we were on another planet. There was this incredibly long silence while everyone waited for someone else to think of something to say, and Travis and I just stood and stared at each other.
Without thinking, I blurted out the first words that came into my head. "Is that granola you're eating?" Not the brightest remark in the world, but you have to realize that this
was a crisis situation. Think how you would feel if you happened to be wearing a tattered old nightgown and a three-sizes-too-big terry robe at a time like this. It was enough to make anyone tongue-tied.
"That's right," Travis said easily. "It's practically the state food in California." He was from California! "Why don't you join us?" He gestured to an empty seat beside him, and it was all I could do not to throw myself into it. Then I remembered my shiny face (and morning breath) and decided against it. ' "Oh, we'll get something to eat later," I said, trying to sound totally cool and in command of the situation. (I wasn't in control at all, and my heart was beating like a rabbit's.)
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," he said teasingly.
"I know that," I replied, nodding. If he wanted to talk nutrition, that was fine with me. Mom and I are fanatics about eating healthy food, and we even make our own breakfast cereal.
Kristy, as usual, took charge. "I really think we should be heading back upstairs," she said firmly.
"Yeah, that's right." Claudia was stepping sideways toward the door.
"Without having breakfast?" Sam said, looking amused, as if he knew exactly what we were up to.
Claudia shrugged and pushed her long black hair out of her face. "Well, actually, we . . . uh, left our electric curlers switched on in the bathroom."
"Oh, that's right," Mary Anne piped up. (I should tell you that Mary Anne is a terrible liar.) "Gee," she added, "if we don't get back upstairs right away, the curlers might overheat and burn the house down." Charlie snickered and even Travis looked a little amused.
Without another word, all seven of us stampeded toward the door. I had time for one last look at Travis, and when his blue eyes zeroed in on mine, I felt a funny little flutter in my chest.
Upstairs, I took a quick shower and spent the next hour fiddling with my hair and makeup. I decided that I wanted to look casual (but gorgeous!) and finally settled on a pale blue ten-button top with my favorite jeans. (Not that I had much choice, since I'd only packed for an overnight.)
When we went back downstairs it was almost twelve o'clock, and guess what. The boys were still there! I couldn't believe my luck. I
made sure that Travis noticed me and slid onto the bench next to him.
"You must be starving," he said, pushing a bowl of fruit toward me.
"Ravenous," I replied, taking a tiny bite of an apple. Who could think about food at a time like this?
"Hey, Travis," Charlie spoke up, "did I mention that you and Dawn have something in common? She's from California, too."
"Really? That's fantastic." Travis looked like he had been waiting all his life for this bit of information. "Do you miss the ocean? We lived right on the ocean, and I used to go for long walks on the beach every night after dinner."
"You did? We didn't live on the ocean, but I used to take long walks, too." I was so excited I nearly dropped my apple. Have you ever met someone and felt like you've always known that person? That was the way I felt about Travis.
"There's a place just above Malibu," Travis began, "and when the sun sets, it looks like it's dropping right into the ocean."
"I know. I went there once." I felt almost giddy. Travis and I talked nonstop for the next
half hour and I have never met anyone whose feelings were so close to my own. We could have been twins.
"You know, you should always wear blue," Travis said, gently touching my sleeve. "It brings out the color of your eyes. Just like the ocean. . . ."
What an unbelievable morning! I couldn't get Travis off my mind for the rest of the day, and I practically drove Mary Anne crazy talking about him.
"Mary Anne, do you believe in love at first sight?" I asked her the minute we were back home.
"I think so," she said slowly. "Look at your father and my mother. I think they fell in love at first sight in high school. It's just that it took them all this time to get together."
Remember that romantic story I promised to tell you about our parents? This is it. My mom dated Mary Anne's father in high school (we didn't know this when I first moved to Stoneybrook) and they went steady. They were madly in love with each other - but now comes the sad part. My grandparents (my mom's mother and father) disapproved of Mary Anne's father and didn't want my mom
to keep dating him. Why? Because he didn't have a lot of money. My mom comes from a wealthy family, and I guess they always thought she would marry someone rich. I'm glad to say that the story has a happy ending. My mom and Richard did find each other again (with a little help from Mary Anne and me), and now they are happily married and we all live in my house.