The Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever #3: Mary Anne’s Big Break-up (5 page)

and he’s developing gingivitis. So I am supposed to brush his teeth every other

day.”

“You can really buy toothbrushes for cats?” I asked.

“Apparently.”

“Wow. What does your mom think of al this?”

“Oh, who knows. All she cares about is where her next pairs of shoes is

coming from. I think she and her friends must be having some sort of contest to

see who can buy the most expensive clothes. And Dad thinks I’m crazy , of

course. He says when he was my age he had already started making films.

Amateur ones, but still. He can’t believe I want to be a vet. Oh, look. Feline

toothbrushes.”

Sure enough. There they were. Maggie tossed one into her basket, which

already held the fish food, water bottle, and bel toy. Then she added a couple of dog toys and a box of catnip. Maggie has unlimited money, but you never know it

except for when she’s generous to the rest of us – and to her pets.

“Where are Sunny and Jil ?” Maggie asked a few minutes later. “Are they

together somewhere?”

“I don’t know. They’re not a good combination, are they?”

“Not lately.”

I glanced around the store. Sunny and Jill were standing side by side,

looking into a cage full of hamsters. Like old times.

Like last month.

Later Saturday afternoon 10/4

Well, I have to leave for Jill’s soon, but I haven’t finished writing about the

mall trip. So I’ll add some more here, before Carol takes Sunny and me over to

Jil ’s.

After World of Pets we looked in a couple of clothing stores and then Jill

insisted we go into this one store called The Bear Necessities. I’d never seen it

before, but Jil seemed intimate with it. It was ful of – guess what – teddy bears.

And accessories for teddy bears and things with teddy bears on them and books

about teddy bears and kits for making teddy bears. There was also a huge

section of dolls and stuffed animals.

Jil was in heaven. When we left the store (with much eye-rolling on

Sunny’s part), she was carrying a bag containing a strip of eddy bear stickers, a

pair of teddy bear barrettes, and a plastic perfume bottle shaped like a pony (with a sparkly blue mane).

“Let’s eat,” I said. “I’m starved.”

“Cool,” replied Sunny. “I mean, cool, let’s eat, not cool, you’re starved.

Want to go to Rico’s?”

“Do they have salad at Rico’s?” asked Maggie.

“Do they have lemonade?” asked Jill.

We went to Starburst’s, which has everything.

We sat at a booth, we ordered our food, it arrived quickly, and we were al

sitting around eating and gabbing and sampling each other’s lunches when

suddenly Sunny burst into tears.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her, alarmed.

“Did they give you the wrong meal?” asked Jil .

“Do you really think she’d cry because they brought her the wrong meal?”

asked Maggie, giving Jill an odd look.

“Besides, she’s been eating it for ten minutes,” I pointed out.

“Well…” said Jil .

Maggie put her arm around Sunny. “What is it?” she asked.

Sunny tried to smile. “Oh, it’s so stupid. I was just, like, thinking about my

mom? And I remembered the last time I visited her in the hospital. Thursday, I

guess. And she had said she was actually hungry, that for once she was looking

forward to her dinner, even if it was a hospital meal. And then her food came and

she couldn’t eat it after al . She just looked at it. Then she said the smel was

making her sick, so Dad took her tray out in the hall.” Sunny paused. “And here I

am stuffing my face. It is so unfair. Mom weighs like a hundred pounds. She

looks like a stupid skeleton.”

We all said sil y, soothing things then. And I reminded myself to be extra,

extra, EXTRA nice to Sunny.

I wonder if “extra nice” extends to navel rings.

I CANNOT believe it, but sometime after we had finished lunch, Sunny

said to the rest of us, “I’ll meet you guys at the main entrance in half an hour,

okay?”

“Where are you going?” Jill asked her.

“You’ll see.” Sunny ran off.

Half an hour later, she met up with us like she’d promised. She was

smiling smugly.

“Okay. What did you do?” I asked.

Sunny pulled her shirt up a few inches.

Glinting on her belly button was a gold ring

“You pierced your navel?” I hissed. I couldn’t say the words out loud.

“Cool, huh?”

“What are your parents going to say?” Jil whispered. Guess she couldn’t

quite speak either.

“Nothing. They’ll never see it. I’ll just keep it covered up when they’re

around. Come on, let’s go,” Sunny turned and headed for the doors.

I wanted to yell after her, “What about bathing suits?” but I didn’t. Maggie

and Jill didn’t say anything either. We just followed Sunny out the door, our

mouths open.

Sunday night 10/5

So much has happened since that last night diary entry that I hardly know

how to begin writing it all down. It’s going to take forever. I hope I can explain things. This is the first spare moment I’ve had since I left for Jil ’s house

yesterday. That was only twenty-four hours ago. But it might as well have been

two years ago.

I feel like a different person.

A very scared, nervous, confused person.

I guess I should start with yesterday when Carol drove Sunny and me to

Jil ’s house in her red convertible. Jeff was with us That was because he and

Carol were going to go out for dinner before they went to King Hotshot to play

miniature golf. I kept looking at Carol. I was surprised that she was going out to eat and then to play miniature golf. I mean, most women are sick to their

stomachs al the time when they’re first pregnant. Plus, they get real y, really

tired. But here was Carol on her way to eat Mexican food and play golf with a

ten-year-old.

This was when I began to wonder if everything was al right with Carol’s

pregnancy. Maybe there was a problem after al . Maybe that was why Carol

didn’t seem so excited. I wish I could talk to Sunny about Carol, but Carol has

sworn me to secrecy. Besides, Sunny has enough problems of her own.

We drove out to Jill’s house with Jeff making annoying duck noises the

entire way. He was sitting in the front seat wearing a Donald Duck mask. Sunny

and I sat in the back with a bag of gorp between us. It was our contribution to the sleepover. We also had our sleeping bags and overnight bags.

“Remember when we would go to slumber parties and our overnight bags

held candy and stuffed animals?” Sunny asked me.

“Yeah,” I said fondly.

“This time I packed clothes and makeup. Like I was going on a business

trip. You know what Lorna Tobias took to her last slumber party?”

“What?” I asked.

“A cell phone.”

“Quack, quack,” said Jeff.

“I feel so old,” I said.

“Me too,” said Sunny.

“Here we are,” called Carol.

“Thanks!” said Sunny and I as we scrambled out of the car.

“We’l call you tomorrow!” I added.

“Okay. ‘Bye!” cal ed Carol.

“Quack, quack,” said Jeff again.

“He is so weird,” Sunny said as we walked to the Hendersons’ door.

Jil flung the door open before I could ring the bel . “Hi, you guys!” she

cried. “Come on in. Maggie just called. She’l be here in about twenty minutes.

Something to do with their chauffeur. That’ll be perfect timing. I just ordered the pizzas. They should get here about when Maggie does. Too bad the pizza guy

couldn’t pick her up on his way.” Jil seemed to think this was very funny.

Sunny smiled politely. I nudged her. The second Jill turned her back for a

moment, I elbowed Sunny. “Be. Nice.” I mouthed this to her. She got the point.

The thing is, Sunny and Jil used to be close friends. Just like Sunny and

Maggie, and Sunny and me. This is just one of the many things that are

changing.

It nearly made me cry.

Twenty minutes later, just as Jill had predicted, the pizza guy and Maggie

arrived at the same time. The pizza guy arrived in a white van with PAPA’S PIZZA

painted on the side, only you could see where it had once said ARACE: FOR ALL

YOUR SEASONAL FURNISHINGS AND DECORATIONS.

Maggie arrived in a sleek black limo.

“Whoa,” said the pizza guy.

Maggie ignored him. She breezed into the house, scowling. I knew what

was wrong.

“I hate that!” Maggie cried. She meant arriving in the limo. She thinks it’s

pretentious. She’s also afraid that people will only like her because of her money and her father’s connections. “At least Lena was driving, and she was on her

way home so she was just wearing jeans and a sweater. The worst is when they

wear the suit with the cap.”

Out on the front porch I could hear the pizza guy ask Jil , “:Is she famous

or something?”

“No,” said Jill. “But her father is a producer. He knows John Travolta. And

Demi Moore. Gwyneth Paltrow too.”

“No kidding?” said the guy.

“Yes, she is kidding!” Maggie yelled, even though that was the truth. “I’m

nobody!”

“Oh, Maggie,” I said.

“I cannot wait until I’m a vet. I’l drive around in an old station wagon,

rescuing wounded animals and finding homes for them. And I’l live in a normal

house and no one will think twice about me. Except my parent.”

“You could change your name to Dr. Dolittle,” said Sunny.

“Very funny,” said Maggie, but she was smiling.

Jil ’s mom wouldn’t let us take the pizza upstairs to eat in Jill’s room, but

she did leave the kitchen so we could eat there in privacy. As soon as the dishes

were cleared away, though, Jil said, “Now let’s go upstairs. I’ve got a bog

surprise there for you.”

The big surprise was that Jil had wheeled the TV and the VCR from her

mom’s room into her room. Plus, her room was al decorated.

“What’s this?” asked Sunny.

“I decorated. For us,” Jil said.

“Oh…Very, um, festive,” I told her.

Jil ’s decorations consisted of pink and white streamers, a pink and white

string of letters that spelled out BACK TO SCHOOL!, and bunches of pink and

white balloons.

“It looks like a birthday cake,” added Sunny. This time I couldn’t tell if she

was being mean or trying to be nice.

Jil couldn’t tell either. “Wel …thanks,” she said final y. “Okay, are we ready

to party?”

Late Sunday night 10/5

I should definitely be asleep now, considering what is going to happen

tomorrow. I mean, what is probably going to happen. I’m sure Ms. Krueger is

going to want to see Sunny and me. And Ducky. In her office. Which is why I

can’t sleep. Anyway, I need to catch up with myself. I’m still writing about last

night – and there’s been a lifetime between then and now.

Somehow, I don’t think that the person who coined the phrase “Are we

ready to party?” meant with pink and white bal oons, popcorn, and a selection of

Disney videos for the VCR. I’m pretty sure he or she had something more

sophisticated in mind.

But when Jill asked that question last night, I called out cheerfully, “Yeah!

Par-TY!”

Sunny looked at me like I was crazy. Then she yawned. “What are we

going to do all night?” she whined.

“What are we going to do?” Jil repeated. “Well, we can watch any of these

Disney movies. Look. I have Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid and” (she saw

our interest waning) “and some older ones that aren’t cartoons. Mary Poppins

and Pollyanna.”

“Oh, Pol yanna,” said Maggie. “I haven’t seen that since I was little.”

“Great! We’l watch it now,” said Jill.

“Oh, no, no. That’s okay. I didn’t mean that. I meant…I just meant…let’s

watch something older.”

Jil frowned. She looked through some other videos. “Wel ,” she said at

last, “ I have Babe.”

“You know what?” said Sunny. “I’m not in the mood for a movie.”

This was too bad. Sunny should not have opened her mouth. Guess why.

Because Jill had about a thousand other plans for the evening, each of them way

worse than watching one of the movies.

First she forced a game of charades on us. When that excitement died

down, she said, “Okay, now let’s goof-call the neighbors. Oh, wait. We can’t do

that yet. We’ll have to wait until Mom and Liz leave.”

Sunny’s head snapped up. “Your mom and sister are leaving?” she asked.

“When? Soon?”

Jil looked at her watch. “Yup. In about fifteen minutes.”

“Really?” Sunny looked like a scientist with an important new piece of

information. “Hmmm…”

Jil didn’t seem to notice Sunny. “Okay! Let’s play Cootie!”

This time even Maggie couldn’t help herself. “Cootie? Get real! We’re not

going to play Cootie,” she exclaimed.

“Oh, please,” added Sunny. (She said it in exasperation.)

Jil bit her lip. “Um, okay. Then how about…makeovers?”

Sunny snorted.

That was too much for Jill. “All right. What do you want to do, Sunny? You

go ahead and run the party.”

Sunny didn’t say anything. For a moment I thought she was gathering her

courage to apologize to Jil . But she just kept scowling, and finally a strange

expression came over Jill’s face. “You don’t want to be here, do you, Sunny?”

she said. “You didn’t really want to have a sleepover, did you? You think they’re

babyish. You just went along with the idea because you can’t go to the other

party. Isn’t that right?”