"Babysitters Club 094 Stacey McGill, Super Sitter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

I smiled, embarrassed but pleased. "I doubt it."
"You could be," Robert insisted. "You're pretty enough. You're more than pretty, you're beautiful. You already look like a model."
"Thanks," I said.
I don't think I'd want to be a model. It
sounds boring. I'll probably do something with math, which I'm really good at. But I was very happy that Robert thought I could be a supermodel if I wanted to be. "That's really nice to hear," I added.
Robert leaned forward, bringing his face closer to mine.
And then . . . the phone rang.
Robert laughed and pulled back away from me. "Better get it."
Rolling my eyes, I stood up and answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Can we afford more glue?" It was Kristy. I know her voice.
"Hi, Kristy. And how are you?" I teased.
"Sorry. Hi. Do we have enough money for glue? Mary Anne and I are at the mall. I was thinking it would be fun to make valentines with the kids but we need glue. Can we afford it?"
"How much glue are you buying?" I asked.
"Let me ask Mary Anne," said Kristy.
I suppose I should explain. I'm treasurer of a business called the Baby-Sitters Club (or BSC, for short). Kristy is the president and Mary Anne is the secretary. I'll tell you more about it later.
Kristy got back on the phone. "Mary Anne says five bottles of glue should do it. They're a dollar fifty each."
I did a quick mental tally of the dues I'd collected, and subtracted the club expenses we still had to pay out. I added the dues I'd collect next Monday to that sum. "Go for it," I told Kristy.
"Thanks," she replied. "See you tomorrow."
"That was Kristy," I told Robert as I hung up. "She wanted to know if we could afford glue."
"She's the president. Why doesn't she just go ahead and buy it?" Robert asked.
"You know Kristy," I said. "She does everything by the book."
Thanks to Kristy, the romantic mood between Robert and me was broken. We opened our math books and started going over our homework. We had moved on to computer science homework by the time I heard Mom come through the front door. "Hi, you guys," she said cheerfully, rubbing her hands to warm up as she entered the kitchen.
"Hi, Mrs. McGill," Robert said.
"Hi, Mom. How was work?" I asked.
Mom started taking food for dinner out of the cupboards. "Zooey. Can you believe we're already ordering summer clothing from the factories?"
"That's encouraging," I said. "It means spring will come someday."
"I know what you mean," Mom said. "It sure seems far away right now."
Robert and I worked for another half hour until he had to go home for dinner. "So long, Mrs. McGill. 'Bye, Stacey."
" 'Bye." I walked him to the door, then returned to the kitchen.
Mom handed me a head of lettuce and I began breaking it up into the large wooden salad bowl. I love this time of day when Mom and I prepare supper together. We talk about the day's events and how we feel about things that have happened. I'm lucky to have such an understanding mom. I can discuss anything with her. She's a parent but she's also a friend. We do a lot of things together and usually have a great time. Since the divorce I think Mom has been kind of lonely, so she looks forward to the time we spend together, too.
"Mom, can you believe Robert has never been to a Broadway play?" I asked thoughtfully.
Mom smiled. "A lot of people have never been to Broadway."
"I bet he would love it," I said. "Especially a musical."
Suddenly I had a brilliant idea. Robert's birthday was next month. I'd been racking my brain trying to think of the perfect gift for him. So far, I'd come up blank. But now I had it!
"I'm going to take Robert to a Broadway musical for his birthday!" I told Mom excitedly.
"Nice idea, Stacey, but have you checked out the price of a ticket lately?" Mom asked. "They're awfully expensive. Two decent seats will probably cost you over a hundred dollars."
I swallowed hard. I hadn't realized it was that expensive. But I really wanted to take him. I knew he'd have a great time, and it might even change his opinion of the city.
"I'll talk to Mary Anne," I told Mom. "I'll tell her I want as many baby-sitting jobs as possible." Mary Anne is in charge of assigning the jobs.
I was determined to show Robert the time of his life in New York City. I'd need the money fast, though, so I could be sure to get good tickets.
I couldn't wait until the next club meeting. I was ready, willing, and able to earn as much money as I could in the shortest amount of time possible.
Chapter 2.
As I walked to our Wednesday afternoon BSC meeting, I was psyched to earn money. I crossed my fingers that the phone would ring and ring and ring for the entire half hour with customers calling in need of a sitter.
Of course, I couldn't just gobble up all the jobs. That wouldn't be fair. But I hoped everyone would be super busy with other activities so no one would mind if I took most of the baby-sitting assignments.
Maybe I should back up a bit so you have some clue as to what I'm talking about. The Baby-sitters Club is a group of friends who meet for half an hour three times a week. During those meetings we take calls from parents who need baby-sitters. That way, instead of making seven different phone calls in search of a sitter, they can make one phone call and get in touch with seven qualified sitters at one time.
Neat idea, huh?
It's more like a business than a club, really. But we call it a club because we're all friends as well as coworkers.
The BSC was Kristy Thomas's idea. She thought it up one day while watching her mother go crazy trying to find a sitter for her younger brother. She told her great idea - of having one number where people could reach several sitters - to her best friend Mary Anne Spier. They told their other friend Claudia Kishi and she suggested I join them, too. Claudia has her own phone and her own phone number, so that was perfect for us. We put up fliers advertising our business all over Stoneybrook.
The club was an instant success!
It was such a success that we needed more help. That's when we invited Dawn Schafer, who'd just moved here from California, to join.
Things went great for a while, then my dad's company transferred him back to New York City. I felt all mixed up when that happened. I love Manhattan (as you already know). But I'd also made close friends here in Stoneybrook. I hated leaving them. There was nothing I could do about it, though. Off we went, back to Manhattan.