On second thought, that’s not true. I do know what I’d do, because I’ve been through it with Robert. I’d talk to someone older and I’d seek some help.
By Friday I felt well enough to go back to school. I found a note in my locker from Robert. I hope you’re feeling better and are in school today. Good news. I’m back on the team! Thank you for being the best friend in the world. My dad will drive us to the dance. We’ll pick you up at seven-thirty. Your true friend forever, Robert.
I smiled and stared down at the paper. I took a deep breath and realized I felt as if I’d been out in a terrible storm and just when I thought I couldn’t stand another second of it, it had finally stopped.
I realized something else too. Dealing with Robert had made me sick. It might sound crazy, but in my heart I suddenly knew it was true. I’d been so emotionally drained that I didn’t have the strength left to fight the flu bug when it hit.
My self-portrait wasn’t as well written as it should have been. I didn’t even have to wait for my grade to know that. I usually write two, even three drafts of anything. This had been handed in as it was written the first time, with spelling and grammar errors. I’d simply let Robert take up too much of my time.
I wouldn’t let that happen again, though. This experience had taught me not to lose myself in someone else’s problems. Sure, I could care. And I could help. But not at the expense of my own health and my own work.
In the future, I’d try to be as good a friend to myself as I was to others.
I didn’t see Robert all that day. I didn’t mind. I wasn’t worried about him any longer.
That night, I was ready when the doorbell rang at exactly seven-thirty. I was wearing a sundress with a sunflower print. I’d bought it in Manhattan months ago. “You look great,” Robert said when I answered the door. “New dress?”
“Not really. You’ve seen it before,” I replied.
“I guess I didn’t notice. It’s nice, anyway.”
“Thanks.”
Mom came to the hall and smiled at us. “Have fun, you two,” she said.
“We will,” Robert told her as he held the door open for me. “My dad’s picking us up at ten.”
Did we have fun? Yes. Robert wasn’t the life of the party or anything like that. We danced, though. And we talked. We didn’t talk about anything super-heavy, just about baseball and school and people we knew.
While we were standing by the refreshment table, drinking punch, I worked up the nerve to tell Robert about Ethan.
For a second, Robert just stared into his paper cup, as though he were shocked. Or disappointed. I couldn’t tell. Finally, he looked at me and spoke. “He sounds like a good guy.”
“He is. We have a lot in common.”
Robert nodded thoughtfully. “He doesn’t mind that you’re here at the dance with me?”
“No. I told him we’re friends now.”
“You know, Stacey, I think we really are friends. Finally. I never thought we could be, but it feels as if we are.”
He was right. I felt it too. And, oddly, I felt closer to Robert then than I had ever felt while we were boyfriend and girlfriend.
My heart wasn’t fluttering or racing the way it used to do when I was near him. I simply felt a love for him. A love that was different from romance, but very real.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I began, “but I really love you, Robert.”
He smiled sadly. “I won’t take it the wrong way,” he said. “Because I know what you mean. It’s the same way I feel. I love you too.”
I put my paper cup on the table and hugged him. We stood there holding each other, feeling very happy.
Jacqui Grant walked by with Heather Epstein. I saw them from the corner of my eye. Jacqui glanced at us and smirked. “Well, I guess we know what’s really going on with them,” she said to Heather, in a voice meant to be overheard.
I smiled to myself. She didn’t know at all. She didn’t even have a clue.
* * *
Dear Reader,
In Stacey’s Ex-boyfriend, Stacey wants to help Robert but realizes that she can’t help him alone. At first, she does everything she can to make Robert feel better. But soon, Stacey is letting Robert’s problems become her own. She discovers that Robert needs more help than she can give him.
When helping a friend, it’s always important to know your own limits. Your friend might need to talk to more than one person. Or he or she might need to talk to an adult — a parent, a teacher, or, (as in Robert’s case) a coach. As Stacey found, helping a friend to share his or her problems is sometimes the best thing you can do.
Happy reading,
* * *
The author gratefully acknowledges
Suzanne Weyn
for her help in
preparing this manuscript.
About the Author
ANN MATTHEWS MARTIN was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.
There are currently over 176 million copies of The Baby-sitters Club in print. (If you stacked all of these books up, the pile would be 21,245 miles high.) In addition to The Baby-sitters Club, Ann is the author of two other series, Main Street and Family Tree. Her novels include Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), Here Today, A Dog’s Life, On Christmas Eve, Everything for a Dog, Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far). She is also the coauthor, with Laura Godwin, of the Doll People series.
Ann lives in upstate New York with her dog and her cats.
Copyright © 1998 by Ann M. Martin
Cover art by Hodges Soileau
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, May 1998
e-ISBN 978-0-545-87449-6
Ann M. Martin, Stacey's Ex-Boyfriend
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