The Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever #3: Mary Anne’s Big Break-up (6 page)

“Well…” Sunny said.

“I knew it!” exclaimed Jill. “I knew it!” She turned angrily to Maggie and me.

“How about you guys? Did you guys want to have a sleepover? Did you?”

“Well, sleepovers used to be fun,” Maggie replied.

I thought that was a very diplomatic answer, but it made Jil burst into

tears.

“Jil ,” I said. “Come on.”

I started to put my arm around herm but she jerked away. “Leave me

alone. Just – “

“Ji-ill!” I heard Mrs. Henderson call from downstairs.

Jil opened her door. “What?”

“Your sister and I are leaving now. We’l be back around midnight. You

girls have fun. If you need anything, the Bergens are home. Mrs. Bergen said

they’ll be up late tonight.”

“Okay!” Jill called. “ ‘Bye!”

“ ‘Bye, honey.”

A moment later I heard the front door close. Then I heard a car start and

pull out of the driveway.

I was about to say something to Jil , to try and make up with her, when

Sunny said, looking thoroughly sneaky, “Well, now’s our chance.”

“To do what?” I asked.

“To go to the other party. The real party,” she couldn’t help adding. When

no one said anything she want on, “We could walk over there. We couldn’t have

from our neighborhood. But here at Jill’s we’re halfway there.”

“It’s still a real y long walk,” said Maggie. She looked excited, though.

“But we can do it. Easy,” Sunny hurried on.

“Well…I guess we could.” Guess who said that. Me. I was surprised to

hear those words coming out of my mouth.

But not as surprised as Jill was. “Dawn!” she said with a gasp.

I barely heard her. I looked at Maggie and Sunny. “Should we?”

“Of course!” exclaimed Sunny.

“Wait a sec,” said Maggie. “Just let me think. Okay. The party begins at

ten. And Jill’s mom will be back at midnight. We can get to the party in half an

hour: She checked her watch. “And it’s only nine now. We could stay at the party

for an hour and easily be back before Mrs. Henderson gets back.”

“Cool,” said Sunny.

“Great,” I said.

“No way,” said Jill.

We all look at her. “But Jill,” said Maggie.

“No way,” Jill said again. “What if we get caught? What if the Bergens call

to check on us and no one answers the phone?”

“Are the Bergens your baby-sitters?” asked Sunny.

“No!” cried Jill.

“Well, we want to go to the party,” said Maggie.

Jil crossed her arms. “Okay. If you guys want to go, then go.”

“Okay, we will,” I said.

And we did.

Monday 10/6

Well, it is now 5:30 Monday morning. I got about four hours of sleep last

night. I tried to sleep. I just couldn’t. I lay in bed and my thoughts whirled around.

I actually tried counting sheep. When I reached 5,000 I gave up. What a stupid

idea.

My alarm clock was set for 6:30, but I already turned it off. At about 5:20

my eyes flew open. I knew they wouldn’t close again. Not without help. Glue or

something. So finally I turned on my light.

We didn’t leave Jill’s house that very second. First Sunny and Maggie and

I all had to go to the bathroom and then we had to get a few things together.

Plus, I tried to be nice to Jill.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” I said to her. “It’ll be fun.

An adventure. You like adventures. Please?”

Jil relaxed a little. She smiled at me. But she shook her head. “No. I can’t

go. Maybe I do like adventures. But not this kinds.”

“Okay.”

“Do you promise you guys will be back before midnight?”

“Promise,” I said.

“Cross your heart?”

I crossed my heart.

When Maggie and Sunny and I left awhile later, we were each carrying a

purse, and our purses were fatter than usual. Two of us were carrying flashlights

in case we had to walk down any road that didn’t have streetlights. And Maggie’s

sandals were in her purse. She wanted to wear them at the party but said they’d

give her blisters if she hiked around in them.

The walk to the party seemed to take forever, and some of the streets

were pretty dark. We got out our flashlights four times. Sunny was the only one of us who knew where she was going, and I was glad she did.

“How do you know your way around out here?” Maggie asked her.

“From taking bike rides with my parents. Before, you know, before Mom

got sick.”

“Oh,” said Maggie and I.

“Let me see the invitation again,” Sunny said then. Maggie pulled hers out

of her purse and handed it to Sunny. “Thanks. Okay. We should be almost there.

It should be down that road.”

We were in an area on the outskirts of Palo City that I’d never been in

before. The houses were huge, but their yards were huger. There were only a

few houses on each road – and a lot of woods between them.

“What time is it?” I asked.

Maggie looked at her watch. “Twenty after ten.”

“Perfect,” said Sunny.

Suddenly I could hear voices. “Listen,” I hissed.

We listened.

“Party time!” cried Sunny.

Sunny had found the house, all right. It was dark (and locked, as I found

out later), but the yard was lit with lanterns and strings of lights. Two spotlights lit the pool area.

“Whose house is this?” I whispered. Mostly to stall for time. I was

beginning to feel nervous.

Sunny shrugged. “Who knows? That’s part of the secret, I guess. Come

on.”

The yard was fil ing with kids. Only a few were in the pool because it was

chilly. Plus, the invitation hadn’t said to bring a bathing suit. I noticed that the kids who were in the pool were swimming with their clothes on. Wel , okay, to be more

accurate, they weren’t swimming. They were making out on floats.

“Do you guys see anyone you recognize?” whispered Maggie.

“Actual y, I do,” I replied. “Quite a few.”

Quite a few older kids too,” added Sunny.

The eighth-graders were easy to tell apart from the upperclassmen. They

were the ones who looked total y uncomfortable as they sipped from plastic cups

or tried to light cigarettes.

“What do you suppose they’re drinking?” I asked. On a table near the pool

was a huge bowl filled with some kind of pale liquid. It seemed to be the only

thing to drink. I didn’t see any food at al .

“I don’t know, but I plan to find out,” replied Sunny. She started to march

across the lawn toward the pool.

“Wait!” I cried.

“What?” said Sunny. “Why?”

“Just…wait. I mean, don’t leave us yet. Let’s stick together for a few

minutes. I want to, you know, check things out.”

“And don’t we have to tell someone we’re here?” asked Maggie. “Who’s

giving the party? Shouldn’t we find them and say thanks for inviting us? We

should at least introduce ourselves.”

“I don’t know.” Sunny looked doubtful. “I don’t think this is that kind of

party. That sounds like a cocktail party for old people. This one is more cool.”

“Well, just stay with us for a few minutes,” I begged Sunny. “Okay? Then

you can go.”

“Okay,” agreed Sunny.

We stationed ourselves near a lounge chair not far from the pool and took

a good look around. Music was playing loudly – but I wasn’t sure where it was

coming from. Someone must have set up speakers or boom boxes somewhere.

Kids were clustered throughout the yard. One strange thing: I had sort of thought

that the purpose of the party was for the upperclassmen to get to know us eighth-

graders, at least us select eighth-graders. But I didn’t se much mingling going on.

I saw lots of little groups of older kids, and lots of little groups of eighth-graders, but hardly any mixed groups.

And now, as the sun rises slowly in the east, I hear Carol’s clock radio

going off, so I’ll have to stop here for awhile. It’s time to get ready for school.

School. Dum-de-dum-dum.

Thank goodness I’l have my journal to turn to today.

Monday 10/6, in study hall

Maggie and Sunny and I were standing in a tight knot just trying to get the

feel of things. I noticed that the group of older kids were a little more animated than us eighth-graders. They were laughing and talking loudly. One guy kept

throwing kids in the pool. And they were al drinking whatever was in that bowl on the table. A lot of them were smoking, too. They seemed to have an endless

supply of cigarettes. The cigarettes kept appearing out of people’s sleeves,

pockets, shirt cuffs, and purses.

“Okay,” said Sunny after a few minutes of watching things. “Now I’m going

to go. I want to talk to people.”

“We’re people,” I said, but Sunny didn’t hear me.

“I’m coming with you,” Maggie said.

“So am I.” I could hear those butterflies in my stomach.

Sunny made a beeline for the table with the punch. Maggie and I were at

her heels. Sunny had just reached for a cup when a very cute guy (I think he’s a

junior) stuck a pack of cigarettes under her nose. It was al fixed so that two

cigarettes were sticking out, one a little further than the other. Very cool. Sunny was supposed to take the one that was sticking out the furthest. I have seen this

in movies many times.

But this was not a movie, so things didn’t go quite as planned. Sunny

wanted to be cool. And she reached for the cigarette – but with just the slightest hesitation.

“Is something wrong?” asked the guy.

Sunny turned on an absolutely charming smile. But I knew she didn’t want

the cigarette. I also knew why.

“Oh,” I said to the guy. “She doesn’t smoke. Her mother’s dying of lung

cancer. Thanks anyway.”

“Whatever,” the guy said, and left.

I watched Sunny. I have never seen so many emotions on a person’s face

at once. She was aghast at my rudeness. And she was in shock. Neither one of

us has ever actually said that her mother is dying. But I could also see that she

was trying not to laugh.

So was Maggie. “I can’t believe you just said that!” she exclaimed.

“Me nei-“ I started to say. But at that moment two girls walked over to us,

each carrying several cups of punch. They handed one to me, one to Maggie,

one to Sunny.

“Here you go. Try this,” one said. Then they walked away.

I looked down at the cup in my hand. I sniffed at it. I could smell something

vaguely fruity. Also something strong.

“Well, down the hatch!” said Sunny. And she chugged her entire cup, her

head tossed back.

Maggie took a sip of hers. “Interesting,” she said slowly.

I took a sip of mine. I spit it out. “Oh, ew! That is disgusting! Sunny, how

did you drink yours? It tastes like strawberries and insect repellent.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if my throat had caught on fire. How had Sunny drunk hers?

In all honesty, Sunny’s eyes looked sort of watery. But that was it. Her

head wasn’t spinning around or anything. In fact, in a vaguely hoarse voice she

said, “I think I’ll go get a little more. See you guys. Ciao.”

That was the last I saw of Sunny for quite awhile.

I looked at Maggie. “What do you think this stuff is?” I asked her.

Maggie considered. “Strawberry wine?” she suggested.

I shrugged.

Maggie set her cup down. I set mine down too. It was a good thing we’d

eaten at Jil ’s house.

“Blech,” I said. We left the mostly full cups and wandered away from the

pool. Suddenly Maggie gripped my arm. “Hey! Is that Justin Randal ?” she

whispered loudly.

I peered at the guy she was, pointing to. “I don’t think so,” I said.

“Oh.” Maggie sounded disappointed.

We stood around then for awhile. A long while. Until…

“Dawn? Maggie?” I heard someone say. It wasn’t Sunny. I turned around.

Standing behind us was an eighth-grade girl I sort of recognized. The new girl.

The one who might be named Amelia. Or Amalia.

“Hi,” I said. “Um…”

“It’s Amalia?” she said. “Amalia Vargas? I’m in your study hll?”

“Oh, sure,” I replied. “Hi. I’m…well, I guess you know us.”

“Kind of.” Amalia looked as nervous as I felt. “So you got one of the

invitations too.” She looked around at the party. “This is kind of weird, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Did you come by yourself?”

“Yeah. I was supposed to meet-“

Amalia stopped talking. She was stopped by someone who grabbed her

arm and then burst out laughing. Very, very loudly.

“What – “ Amalia started to say.

“Sunny!” I cried.

“Oh, Dawn. How nice to see you!” Sunny exclaimed. She wobbled slightly.

“Isn’t this fun?”

Oh, man, I thought. “Sunny-“

“Well, I need another little drink,” said Sunny.

“No, you don’t” said Maggie.

Sunny looked directly into Maggie’s eyes. In a slow, careful voice she said,

“Yes, I do. You see, I am very, very firsty. Thirsty.”

Sunny turned and walked away, listing to the right.

I looked at Maggie and Amalia. Suddenly Amalia grinned. “She’s sloshed!”

she cried. “I’m sorry, but it’s a little funny.”

Maggie was smiling too. “She’s not sloshed, she’s shloshed.”

“She’sh slossed,” said Amalia.

“Shlossed,” I said.

“See? We can talk like that without drinks,” said Amalia.

I decided I liked Amalia.

Maggie and Amalia and I hung out for half an hour or so, goofing off on

people, gossiping, turning down drinks and cigarettes..

Finally, just when I realized we better pay attention to the time, I heard a

pathetic voice say, “Dawn? It’sh me, Shunshine. Do you know where the