BSC HIGH: Sophomore Year

A/N: Book Two in the miniseries.

CHAPTER 1: September--Claudia

It was a Tuesday morning in early September in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I woke to the sound of the radio blaring a public-service announcement, not to mention the alarm telling me to get my ass out of bed. Normally, I would've been filled with dread at the thought of going to school, but not today. Today, I was starting my sophomore year at Stoneybrook High School.

Hey, there. My name's Claudia Kishi. I'm fifteen years old, and I live with my parents and older sister, Janine. She's eighteen, and just started her freshman year at U-Conn, where she's eventually planning to be a doctor. My beloved grandmother, Mimi, used to live wiht us, too, but she died about a couple of years ago, and I miss her very much. In fact, I have something very special in my room: it's a matted picture frame with my seventh-grade school picture (before I had to repeat it, that is) in one corner, and a picture of Mimi at age twelve in another. We look so much alike.

I'm also the vice-president of the Baby-sitters Club, or BSC. The reason why I'm the vice-president is because I have my own phone and phone number, so I take calls during nonmeeting times. Like the vice-president of our country, I have no official duties, unless you count snack provider during meetings. There are two other reasons why I have my own phone and phone number. One, so we don't have to tie up someone's phone line during our meetings, and two, so parents don't have to call all over town just to find a baby-sitter.

Another thing about me is the fact that I'm not the best student in the world. (I said I had to repeat some of seventh grade, remember?) Anyway, repeating some of seventh grade was really helpful, because it didn't take long for me to catch up and go to high school with my friends. I'm also a fabulous artist (not that I'm bragging, of course), and sometimes make my own jewelry.

Okay, on to our loyal president and founder, Kristy Thomas (I'm also a founding member of the BSC, along with Mary Anne Spier and Stacey McGill, but I'll tell you more about them later), who's also fifteen and a SHS sophomore. Kristy got the idea for the club about three years ago when she was watching her mom make hundreds of phone calls, just trying to find a baby-sitter for her little brother, David Michael. Kristy comes from a big, blended family. Her dad abandoned them when Kristy was in first grade, which was soon after David Michael was born. Six years later, her mom married Watson Brewer, then Kristy and her family moved in with her new stepfather.

Kristy's oldest brother, Charlie, is nineteen and a sophomore at NYU. Her older brother, Sam, is seventeen and a senior at SHS. Her younger brother, David Michael, is now nine, and in fourth grade at Stoneybrook Elementary School. Kristy also has two stepsiblings and an adopted sister. Her stepsister, Karen, is almost nine, and in fourth grade, and her stepbrother, Andrew, is six, and in first grade. Both of them attend Stoneybrook Academy. Her adopted sister, Emily, is four, and was adopted from Vietnam when she was two.

Mary Anne Spier is the BSC secretary. She's almost fifteen, but will be a sophomore at SHS. Mary Anne was just a baby when her mother died, and her dad remarried about a couple of years ago. She lives with her father, stepmother, stepsister, and cat in a renovated barn. I'll tell you who her stepsister is in just a minute.

Stacey McGill is the treasurer of the BSC, as well as my best friend. She's also fifteen, a SHS sophomore, and a New York City native. She's also diabetic, and has to watch what she eats very carefully.

Abby Stevenson and Dawn Schafer are our alternate officers, which means that one of them takes over if someone has to miss a meeting. Dawn is also Mary Anne's stepsister (her mom is married to Mary Anne's dad), and she's also fifteen and a sophomore at SHS. Dawn is originally from California, and was only twelve when her parents divorced. When that happened, Mrs. Schafer brought Dawn and her younger brother, Jeff, to Stoneybrook, because it's the town where she grew up. Sadly, though, Jeff never adjusted to life in Connecticut, so he returned to California to be with his dad. Dawn went back for a six-month stay, but she came back.

Abby is originally from Long Island, and moved to Stoneybrook when she was in eighth grade. She's almost fifteen, and will be a sophomore at SHS. She has a twin sister named Anna, and they were only nine when their father was killed in a car accident. Abby never lets it get to her, though.

The BSC also has two junior officers, Mallory PIke and Jessica Ramsey. Jessi is thirteen and in eighth grade at SMS (it seems like only yesterday I was that old, doesn't it?), and Mallory attends a boarding school in Massachusetts, but I've heard that she was thinking about returning to Stoneybrook for high school, so we're really glad.

Mallory has seven siblings, and three of them are triplets. The triplets, Adam, Byron, and Jordan are twelve and in seventh grade. Her sister, Vanessa, is eleven and in sixth grade. They attend SMS, and the others attend Stoneybrook Elementary: Nicky (oh, excuse me, Nick) is ten and in fifth grade, Margo is nine and in fourth grade, and Claire is seven and in second grade.

Jessi lives with her parents, her Aunt Cecelia, who moved in to help when Mrs. Ramsey returned to work, her ten-year-old sister, Becca (short for Rebecca), who's in fifth grade at SES, and her three-year-old brother, John Junior, or Squirt, as Jessi says the nurses in the hospital called him because he was so tiny.

The BSC also has three associate members and an honorary member. We can call on them if there's a job that none of us can take. Guess what? Two of them are guys. Logan Bruno is Mary Anne's boyfriend. He was born in Kentucky, and moved to Connecticut when we were in eighth grade. Shannon Kilbourne lives across the street from Kristy, is in tenth grade at Stoneybrook Day School, and is the only BSC member to go to a private school. Like Kristy, Stacey, Dawn, and me, they're fifteen.

That leaves Jason and Bebe Everett (Bebe's our honorary member, by the way), who are not only stepsiblings, but they're also the only ones not born in this country. Bebe was born in Canada, and came to the United States with her dad when she ws barely old enough to talk, but she has a subtle accent. She's twelve and in seventh grade at SMS.

Jason is my boyfriend. He's sixteen, but will be a sophomore at SHS. He was born in Scotland, and came to the United States with his mom when he was four. (Jason once told me that one of his heroes was actor John Barrowman, who was also born in Scotland, and came to the United States when he was eight.) The interesting thing about Jason is the fact that even though he came to the United States at such a young age, his accent never went away completely. (He said that he liked John Barrowman for his ability to change back and forth between the Scottish and American accents, but Jason's not sure he could do that if he tried.) When I first met Jason, he sounded like a cross between Ewan McGregor (in his pre-Star Wars days, when he made a guest appearance on ER during the show's third season) and Nanny Stella from Nanny 911. Nowadays, he's just starting to sound like the present-day Ewan McGregor, who happens to be one of Mary Anne's favorite actors.

Anyway, back to me. I went into the kitchen, where I found Mom sitting at the table and Dad serving breakfast.

"Good morning," Dad said as soon as I sat down at the table.

"Good morning," I answered.

"Ready for school?" Mom asked.

I nodded as I finished my piece of toast (with peanut butter, which is one of the ways I like it: with peanut butter, apple butter, or regular butter, or butter and cinnamon). "Well, see you later," I said, gathering up my purse and notebook.

"See you," Dad said as I walked out the door.

I walked to SHS, and met up with Stacey and Mary Anne near the entrance. Just as I got there, Dawn was coming back with her schedule.

When I picked up my schedule, here's what I saw:

1st period-Art

2nd period-Remedial Math (whoopity-doo)

3rd period-Japanese

4th period-study hall

5th period-lunch

6th period-Remedial English (again, whoopity-doo)

7th period-World Geography

8th period-Remedial Science (one more time, whoopity-f-in-do)

The bell rang then, and I went to homeroom with Kristy and Jason. After homeroom, I went to Art class. "Hi, Mrs. Howe," I said.

"Hi, Claudia," she answered. "You're in my Art II class this year."

The morning was pretty average. I had first period Art with Mrs. Howe and second period Remedial Math with Mrs. Mayer.

Third period was Japanese. Mr. Hung was the teacher. "Just for the record, I'm no relation to William Hung," he told us. The class laughed.

I thought that Japanese would be an interesting language to learn. You see, Mom was born in Japan, and came to the United States when she was a kid. Mimi was an adult, though, and she'd had a wonderful accent, until her stroke. I even remembered that after Mimi had her stroke, when we were quizzing her with the flash cards to improve her vocabulary, she'd sometimes say the Japanese, instead of the English, word for the object on the card, unless we reminded her to use English.

Fourth period was study hall with Dawn. During the period, I pored over my Japanese textbook to see if there were any words I recognized as ones that Mimi had said.

Fifth period was lunch. Stacey, Dawn, Abby, and I found a table near the one we'd sat at last year. (Honestly, I think the freshmen sit at the same tables every year.) The day's lunch consisted of a pizzaburger, French fries, fruit cocktail, and milk.

"It's a good thing I brough my lunch," Dawn commented. She'd brought a peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich with low-fat chips, and a can of Diet Vernor's. Stacey had brought fruit salad and a bottle of water.

"So, how was everyone's first day back?" I asked, taking a bite of fruit cocktail.

"Fine, Mommy," Abby said. The rest of us burst into giggles.

"I'm looking forward to World Geography," Stacey said, taking a sip of water.

"You'll like it," Abby told her, dipping a french fry in ranch sauce (no ketchup for her, because she's allergic to tomatoes) and eating it. "I had it fourth period."

"Thanks," Dawn said, finishing her sandwich.

At that moment, the bell rang. My friends and I threw away our lunch trash, and went our separate ways.

Sixth period was Remedial English with Mrs. Alden. Seventh period was World Geography with Mr. Wright. Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey, Logan, and Jason were in my class. We were told that we'd be divided into groups, pick a continent, and do a group report, which would be due at the end of the semester. I was in a group with Jason and Stacey, and our report was on Asia.

Eighth period was Remedial Science with Mrs. Martinez. Like some of the other teachers, she reminded us that she was there to help, and not to be afraid to ask for it.

As the final bell for the day rang, I ran to my locker, got out a couple of books, and headed toward the entrance. I decided that this year was going to be a wonderful year.