"Martin, Ann M - BSC010 - Logan Likes Mary Anne!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

Claudia's number at those times and reach the five of us. They like the arrangement because they're bound to find a sitter.
I leaned back against Claudia's bed, opened Sixteen, and gazed at the free poster.
"Who's that? Cam Geary?" asked Stacey, peering over the edge of the bed at the picture.
I nodded. "Mr. Gorgeous."
"You know who he goes out with?" said Claudia.
"Who?" replied Stacey.
"Corrie Lalique."
"Corrie Lalique?" she shrieked. "The girl from 'Once Upon a Dream'? Does he really?"
"I read it in Young Teen/' said Claudia.
"I read it in Sixteen," I added.
"But she's too old for him," Stacey protested.
"No she's not," Kristy spoke up. "She's fourteen."
Now it was my turn to be surprised. "You're kidding! Have you noticed the size of her Ч the size of her ..."
"Chest?" supplied Claudia. "Well, she is kind of big, but believe me, Kristy's right. She's only fourteen. And she is going out with Cam."
"Boy Ч "I began, but I was interrupted by the phone.
Dawn answered it. "Hello, Baby-sitters
Club," she said. "Oh, hi! ... When? . . . Okay. . . . Okay. I'll call you right back. . . . 'Bye."
Dawn hung up the phone. I was already holding the record book in my lap, opened to the appointment calendar.
"Mrs. Prezzioso needs someone for Jenny on Saturday afternoon, from four until about six-thirty," said Dawn.
This was met by groans. "I'll just check my own schedule," I replied. I'm the only one who likes Jenny at all. The others think she's bratty. Ifs a club rule that a job has to be offered to all the club members (not snapped up by the person who takes the call or something), but I didn't even bother to see if Kristy or Stacey or Claudia or Dawn was free. They wouldn't want the job. "Tell Mrs. Prezzioso I can sit," I said to Dawn as I noted my job in the appointment book.
Dawn called Mrs. Prezzioso back. When she got off the phone, Kristy's mother called needing a sitter for David Michael one afternoon when Kristy had a dentist's appointment. Then Dr. Johanssen called needing a sitter for Charlotte, and Mrs. Barrett called needing a sitter for Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie. It was a busy meeting. With school starting again, business was probably going to pick up a little. Every-
one's schedules seemed to become more crowded.
The meeting was supposed to be over at six, but we all kind of hung around. No one wanted to end our last summer meeting. Finally I had to leave, though. So did Kristy. "See you in ..." (gulp) "... school tomorrow!" she called, and I wanted to cry. Summer was really and truly over.
Chapter 2.
Claudia and Stacey and I walked to school together the next morning, since the three of us live in the same neighborhood. It was the first time ever that Kristy and I hadn't walked off together on day number one of a school year. But Kristy had to take the bus from her new home. (Dawn, who lived not too far away, often took a different route to school, and sometimes her mother drove her there on her way to work.)
I was all set for eighth grade. My brand-new binder was filled with fresh paper; I had inserted neatly labeled dividers, one for each subject, among the paper; and a pencil case containing pens, pencils, an eraser, a ruler, and a pack of gum was clipped to the inside front cover. My lunch money was in my purse, the photo of Cam Geary was folded and ready to be displayed in my locker. (That was what the gum was for. You're not allowed to tape
things up in the lockers of Stoneybrook Middle School, so a lot of kids get around that rule by sticking them up with bits of freshly chewed gum.) The only thing about me not ready for eighth grade was my age. I had the latest birthday of all my friends and wouldn't turn thirteen for several more weeks.
Starting eighth grade seemed like a breeze to me. I'd been a chicken when we'd begun sixth grade, and I was going to be one of the youngest kids in the school. I hadn't been much better when we'd started seventh grade the year before. But now I felt like king of the hill. The eighth-graders were the oldest kids in school. We would get to do special things during the year. We would have a real graduation ceremony in June. After that, we would go on to the high school. Pretty important stuff.
But I couldn't decide whether to be excited or disappointed about the beginning of school. When we reached Stoneybrook Middle School, Stacey and Claudia and I just looked at each other.
Finally Claudia said, "Well, good-bye, summer."
Then Stacey started speaking in her Porky Pig voice. "Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-thaf s all, folks!" she exclaimed, waving her hand.
Claudia arid I laughed. Then we split up.
There were three eighth-grade homerooms, and we were each in a different one. I went to my locker first, working half a piece of gum around in my mouth on the way. "Hello, old locker," I said to myself as I spun the dial on number 132. I opened the door. This was the only morning all year that my locker would be absolutely empty when I opened it. I pulled the poster of Cam Geary out of my notebook and set the notebook and my purse on the shelf of the locker. Then I unfolded the poster. I took the gum out of my mouth, checked the hall for teachers, and divided the gum into four bits, one for each corner. There. The poster stayed up nicely. I could look at Cam's gorgeous face all year.
I picked up my notebook and purse, closed my locker, and made my way upstairs. The hallways were already pretty crowded. Kids showed up early (or at least on time) for the first day of school.
My homeroom was 216, about as far from my locker as you could get. I entered it breathlessly, then slowed down. Suddenly I felt shy. Dawn was supposed to be in my homeroom, but she wasn't there yet. The room was full of kids I didn't know very well. And where was I supposed to sit? The teacher, Mr. Blake, was at his desk, but he looked busy. Had he
planned on assigned seating? Could we sit wherever we wanted? I stood awkwardly by the door.
"Mary Anne! Hi!" said someone behind me.
Oh, thank goodness. It was Dawn.
I spun around. "Hi! I just got here," I told her.
Mr. Blake still wasn't paying attention to the kids gathering inliis room.
"Let's sit in back," suggested Dawn.
So we did. We watched Erica Blumberg and Shawna Riverson compare tans. We watched a new kid creep into the room and choose a seat in a corner without looking at anyone. We watched three boys whisper about Erica and Shawna.
At last the teacher stood up. "Roll call," he announced, and the first day of school was truly underway.
This was my morning schedule:
First period - English Second period - math Third period - gym (yuck) Fourth period - social studies Fifth period - lunch
My afternoon schedule wasn't so bad: science, study hall, and French dass. But I thought
my morning schedule was sort of heavy, and by lunchtime I was starved.
Kristy (who was in my social studies class) raced down to the cafeteria with me. We claimed the table we used to sit at last year with Dawn and some of our other friends. (Stacey and Claudia usually sat with their own group of kids.) In a moment Dawn showed up. She settled down and opened her bag lunch while Kristy and I went through the lunch line. Last year we'd brought our lunches, too. This year we'd decided brown bags looked babyish.
When we returned to the table with our trays, we were surprised to find Stacey and Claudia there with their trays. Since when had they decided to eat with us? We were good friends, but last year they always thought they were so much more sophisticated than we were. They liked to talk about boys and movie stars and who was going out with whom. . . . Had Stacey and Claudia changed, or had Kristy and Dawn and I? I almost said something, but I decided not to. I knew we were all thinking that eating together was different and nice Ч and also that we weren't going to mention that it was happening.
I opened my milk carton, put my napkin in my lap, and took a good long look at the Ston-eybrook Middle School hot lunch.