Free The Truth About Stacey by Ann M. Martin Page B

people.”
    â€œHow old’s the youngest kid you ever sat for?” asked Claudia.
    â€œAbout nine months,” said Leslie.
    â€œSame
(crack)
here,” said Janet.
    Kristy was watching us nervously, her eyes traveling back and forth between the new members of the club and the old members.
    â€œHow many kids can you sit for at one time?” I wanted to know.
    â€œOh, three or four, I guess,” answered Leslie.
    â€œYeah,” said Janet.
(Crack, snap.)
    Kristy must have decided it was time to impress us. “How late can you stay out?” she asked.
    â€œEleven o’clock on weekdays,” they replied at the same time.
    â€œOn Friday and Saturday nights
(crack)
I can stay out until midnight
(snap),”
added Janet.
    â€œI can stay out until any hour on the weekend as long as I tell my mom first,” said Leslie.
    My jaw dropped open. “How old are you?”
    â€œFourteen,” she replied.
    â€œI’m thirteen,” said Janet.
    I began to feel the tiniest bit impressed.
    Kristy looked around triumphantly. “I think what we ought to do now is let our clients know about our new members.” She pulled a copy of our old Baby-sitters Club flyer out of a folder she was carrying. “We’ll add Janet’s and Leslie’s names and ages to this, and the times when we can sit. Then we’ll print out the new version ofthe flyer and distribute the copies as soon as possible. Who can help me tomorrow after school?”
    â€œI can,” said Claudia, Mary Anne, and I.
    We looked at Janet and Leslie. They were looking at each other.
    â€œWell,” said Janet (
crackle, crackle),
“we’d like to help you, but we have baby-sitting jobs tomorrow
(crack).
You know, previous commitments.”
    Kristy glanced at me as if to say, See how responsible they are?
    â€œAll right,” said Kristy. “Here’s the plan of action. Tomorrow, we distribute flyers. We’ll also call our best customers personally to tell them the news. Friday, we meet again.”
    We followed Kristy’s plan. And at the Friday meeting, we got four baby-sitting jobs. Two were last-minute late-night ones for Janet and Leslie over the weekend. We couldn’t wait for our Monday meeting to see how things had gone.
    The Baby-sitters Club seemed to be back on its feet.

Monday, December 8
    Today Kristy, Stacey & Mary Anne all arrived early for our Baby-Sitters Club meeting. We were all realy excited to find out how Janet and Leslie’s siting jobs had gone on Saturday. When it was 5:30 we kept expecting the doorbell to ring any second. But it didn’t. Soon it was 5:50. Where were they. Kristy was getting worried. Write this down in our notebook, somebody, she said. Something’s wrong. Unfortunately, Kristy was right.
    It turned out that something was very very wrong. And it was part of the awful thing with the Baby-sitters Agency.
    Wow. What happened on Monday was one of the worst events in the war between the Baby-sitters Club and the Baby-sitters Agency. As Claudia mentioned, the four original club members gathered early for our Monday meeting. We couldn’t wait to talk to Janet and Leslie.
    Despite the fact that Claudia’s digital clock flipped to 5:35 and the new members hadn’t shown up yet, the meeting got off to a good start. First, Mrs. Marshall called, needing a sitter for Wednesday afternoon. Mary Anne took the job. Then Watson, Kristy’s future stepfather, needed a sitter for an early evening job on Wednesday. Kristy took that one, of course. Then Mrs. Newton called! She wanted someone to watch Jamie on Wednesday afternoon while she took Lucy to the pediatrician for a checkup. I took that job, since Claudia has art lessons on Wednesdays. We were so busy taking calls that it was 5:50 before we looked at the clock again and realized Janet and Leslie were late.
    â€œThey could have at least called to say they weren’t going to