The Babysitters Club Reunion

a SuperSpecial

CHAPTER ONE

I wasn't really excited for the reunion. I might have been, had I known it would mean yet another mystery to solve, but reunions, on the whole, really aren't my thing. Why should they be? The people in my life are the people I want in my life, and those I don't keep in touch with? Well... I just don't keep in touch with them. Of course, the underlying issue, the one really bugging me, is that I'm ten years out of high school and I haven't really done anything yet. Maybe I'm being full of myself, but I think everyone had really high expectations of me, given how determined, driven, hard-working and diligent I've always been. But when I sit and reflect now, ten years after graduation, I have to shrug. What happened? Where did the time go? When will I get a full time job? It's not that I'm a total failure or anything - I'm not. But I'm definitely not anywhere near where I should I would be, where I need to be or where I could be. Of course, everyone says there's still time.

"Don't give up on your dreams," my mother tells me, "There's still time. You're young." Then, usually, she cries. It isn't that I've given up on my dreams... it's just that I'm not sure what exactly my dreams are anymore. My mother also often says, "Enjoy life! Live for today. We don't really know how much time we have." Perhaps that's why I feel like I need to have everything right now. My mother, as you might have guessed, is a study of contrasts. "You have time," and "We don't know how much time we have," are two of her favorite, albeit conflicting, sayings. She's been like this ever since the accident a couple of years ago. It changed her outlook and, (dare I say it?) affected her brain.

But before I get into that, maybe I should back up and introduce myself. My name is Kristen Amanda Thomas. Not married, no children, thank you for asking. It's always the first question anyone asks, followed by, "but your how old?" to which I reply, "twenty eight," with an accompanying sigh. Then they ask, "Are you engaged? Exclusive? Seeing anyone? Having casual sex?! Nothing?! Oh, you poor girl." It doesn't make sense to me. I was under the mistaken impression that we are living in a time when it's okay to wait. Okay to get married at thirty, have babies at forty, and really enjoy life right up until you're eighty. Of course, I am not necessarily waiting by choice... but again I'm getting off the beaten path! Where was I? Oh, yeah. My name is Kristy Thomas. I am twenty eight years old and I live in Stamford, CT, the nearest city to the town I grew up in, Stoneybrook. I am short, barely five foot one, and I have medium length brown hair that I wear in a ponytail almost one hundred percent of the time, even at work. I am primarily employed by Acer Insurance as a sales representative. I get there at 10am and leave at 2:30, which is when I head to my second (and favorite) job - coaching the girls' softball team at Stoneybrook Day School. From 3:00 to 5:15 I am outside every spring, running drills and heading up games and leading my girls to three private school division championships in a row (I've been there for four years). In the fall I coach field hockey, which I got into in high school. It's not my favorite sport, but they wouldn't let me coach high school football so I take what I can get. Because part time insurance selling and coaching don't exactly pay all of the bills, I also work weekends at South Street Cafe and Grille, or South C&G as it's better known. I am a waitress , doing the breakfast shift from 5:30 to 11:30, bright and early!

It was there that I came up with my great idea - a pre-reunion re-union! Since I hate the idea of a reunion you are probably wondering how this makes any sense. Well, the pre-reunion wouldn't be for all the kids I went to high school with, it would be for a much better group - the Babysitters Club. I founded the BSC when I was in the seventh grade and served as president for two years until the club folded when we went to high school. My friends wanted to move on, "bigger" things, they said, and I tried not to show it, but I was crushed. The BSC was my whole life, OUR whole lives. There were circus's, sleepovers, playgroups, pageants, art camps, vacations, dances, variety shows, solving mysteries, and yes, babysitting.

The club started when my mother couldn't find a sitter for my younger brother, David Michael. I watched her make call after call after call. I thought, what if she could dial one number and just find a sitter? Thus, the Babysitters Club was born. I immediately asked my best friend Mary Ann Spier to join, and we also asked our other close friend Claudia Kishi. She introduced us to our fourth - Stacey McGill. The club would change many times over the years. At its largest we boasted five regular members, two junior officers, two associate members, and an honorary member. We stretched from CT to California and had adventures from Massachusetts to Sea City to Disney World to Hawaii and everywhere in between. As I put an order in (two eggs, over medium, wheat toast and silver dollar pancakes) I mentally recalled the names of all of our members: Me, Mary Ann, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Mallory, Jessi, Shannon, Logan and Abby. Then I started thinking about our former charges: The Perkins', the Prezziosos, the Braddocks, the Pikes, the Newtons, the Hsus, the Papadakis', and so many others. I started to feel far away and nostalgic... then my boss yelled, "Order up, Thomas!" Shook me right out of my reverie. I glanced over at him as I picked up the plates of pancakes and sausages. He had sounded stern, but he was grinning. "Lost in thought, kid?" he asked. I smiled. "Yeah, lost in thought."

I tried to focus on serving customers and waiting tables, but all morning I was focused on one thing - the BSC reunion. It had to happen. It HAD to. I imagined what it would be like while I bussed table twelve. I pictured my friends smiling faces as I set silverware on table nine. How could I not have come up with this before? A Babysitters Club reunion. Simple, yet ingenious. Necessary. Important. We could invite Mal and Jessi, even though they probably wouldn't be in town since they are younger than we are (and neither one graduated from SHS anyway). Actually, I thought as I poured chocolate milk and coffee for table four, I think I heard that Mallory moved back to Connecticut a year or so ago. I hadn't gotten around to looking her up, though. But what better time than the present? I wanted to invite Shannon too, despite the fact that she had attended a private high school. We could have it at my place, I figured, or better yet, see if Mary Ann's parents would loan out their home for the day. It used to be a barn with a secret passage connecting it to their house on Burnt Hill Road, a house that burned down fifteen years ago. Dawn had lived there too, with her mother, before the marriage that made she and Mary Ann stepsisters. Mary Ann. I would have to call her.

I decided to phone my childhood best friend as soon as I got hom from work. Patience is not one of myu virtues. Neither is waiting. I picked up the phone and dialed Mary Ann's number. Though we don't have a lot of time to spend together these days, we do talk, and I know her number by heart. With a deep breath I waited for her to pick up.

"Hello, Kelly residence," I heard her voice say after the third ring. Without introduction I got right to the point:

"Mary Ann? I just had a great idea!"

Author's Note

Some time ago I began writing a BSC fic. I was disapointed by it, both in terms of my writing and the response it received, so I stopped writing it and considered it on-hiatus. I have decided to try again - Hopefully this one will fare better! lol

I am writing this in superspecial style, meaning a different person 'tells' each chapter in his/her point of view.

Let me know what you think! Reviews always welcome, critique is appreciated as long as it is presented in a positive way! :-) THANKS! 3 AL