Stacey vs. Claudia

  He was the first to leave the table. “I have to go see the guidance counselor to find out why I’m in an English class for foreign students,” he explained, rolling his eyes.

  “Here in Connecticut we think of Washington as a foreign country,” Abby said.

  He laughed at that. “It seems so far away now that I feel that way too,” he told us, smiling. “Thanks for letting me sit with you guys. See you later.”

  We said good-bye and watched Jeremy leave the cafeteria. “He is too adorable,” Claudia remarked when he was out of earshot.

  “He’d be perfect for you,” Mary Anne said. I sat back in my chair, jolted by Mary Anne’s words. Why was Jeremy perfect for Claudia? Why not perfect for me? I’d seen him first. I was the one who was interested in him! Then I remembered — Ethan. Claudia was free to date; I wasn’t. Not long ago, Claudia had broken up with her boyfriend, Josh Rocker. Now they were attempting the “just friends” thing and doing better than most kids who try it.

  “You saw him first,” Claudia said to me.

  “I know, but I’m seeing Ethan, remember?” I tried not to sound as disappointed as I felt.

  Claudia’s face brightened. “That’s true,” she said. Then she frowned as a thought occurred to her. “Maybe he’s already got a girlfriend, though.”

  “Yeah … back on Mount Olympus,” Abby said. “Even if he does have a girlfriend there, those long-distance romances never work.”

  “Mine is working,” I protested.

  She shrugged. “Well, most of the time they don’t.”

  “You should ask him out,” I said, egging Claudia on.

  She sat back in her seat and rubbed her cheek thoughtfully. “Maybe I will…. I don’t know,” she murmured.

  I hoped she’d do it.

  If I’d been free, it’s exactly what I would have done.

  That afternoon I arrived at Claudia’s house fifteen minutes before our five-thirty BSC meeting. My friends and I meet to take phone calls from baby-sitting clients every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for half an hour. We used to be very strict about this, but now we’re more mellow. At the end of the summer, Abby, Logan, and our friend Jessi decided to leave the club to do other things. Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and I — the four remaining members — decided to ease up a little too.

  I walked into Claudia’s room. She lay stretched out on her bed, working intensely with a pencil and pad. She heard me come in and lifted her head from her sketch. “Who does this look like to you?” she asked, tilting her pad to show me the drawing.

  I knelt by the bed and studied it. “Is it … Jeremy?” I asked.

  She grinned. “Good! You could tell! When you draw a face from memory it doesn’t always work.”

  “This definitely does,” I assured her. “Though I think his hair is a little longer in the back.”

  Claud scrutinized her work. “You’re right,” she agreed after a moment, then quickly added more hair at the nape.

  “I guess you really like him,” I said.

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “You’re alone in your room sketching his picture!” I replied.

  She laughed. “Oh. Well, you know how I am. I see a new face and I instantly want to draw it. I don’t really know him, so I don’t know if I like like him yet.”

  I wasn’t sure I believed her. If he was on her mind that much, then she like liked him. (I’d been thinking about him too, but, in my case, it didn’t matter, since nothing could come of it.)

  “How come you’re here so early?” she asked.

  “No reason.” I sat on her bed. “I figured we could hang out a little before everyone got here.”

  “Cool,” she said, still drawing. “Do you want to go to the movies this weekend?” I was about to reply but she cut me off. “I forgot. You’ll be in the city, won’t you?”

  “No, Ethan signed up for an art class that meets on Sunday afternoons, so I decided not to go. But he’s coming here Saturday.”

  She stopped drawing and looked at me. “Why would he do that?”

  “Why shouldn’t he? Now I don’t have to go to the city —”

  “No. Why would he take Sunday art classes? The only time you guys have together is the weekend.”

  “Tell me about it. I don’t know. He had some excuse, like, he thought I could see Dad at that time, but Dad’s busy a lot too, and it doesn’t always work out.”

  Claudia sighed. “Well … I guess he just goofed.”

  “It does seem strange to you, though, doesn’t it?”

  “Sort of,” Claud admitted. “Definitely. It’s strange. Is everything all right between you two?”

  “I think so,” I said uncertainly. We hadn’t had an argument and he was coming up to see me, so I suppose that meant things were fine. But as Claudia and I spoke, that uneasy feeling came over me again.

  I suddenly wanted to change the subject.

  It was changed for me when Mary Anne arrived. She was early, since she lives next door now, in the house her family temporarily moved into after their old house was destroyed in a horrendous fire.

  “Oh, wow! You did a drawing of Jeremy,” she said. “It’s great, Claud. We were in class together after lunch. He’s nice, isn’t he?”

  “Really nice,” Claudia agreed. “I saw him again on the way to my locker and we talked. He’s not all weird around girls like some guys. I like that he’s so natural and relaxed.”

  As she spoke I began wishing I’d been with her when she ran into Jeremy. Why was I so fascinated by him? Maybe I was just looking for something new. Unlike New York City, Stoneybrook isn’t exactly a whirlwind of excitement. Something or someone new is a big deal around here. “What did you guys talk about?” I asked.

  Before Claudia could reply, Kristy came swinging through the door. “She’s baa-aack,” she sang out, like the little girl in Poltergeist.

  “Who’s back?” Mary Anne asked.

  Kristy took a dramatic pause, then replied, “Rachel Griffin.”

  Claudia and Mary Anne groaned loudly.

  “Who’s Rachel Griffin?” I asked. I’d never even heard her name before.

  “You don’t want to know,” Kristy replied as she sank into Claudia’s director’s chair, her usual spot.

  “She’s like Lucy Van Pelt, Helga Pataki, and Angelica Pickles rolled up into one,” Claudia said.

  I laughed. It was funny even to think of a person really being like those bossy, crabby cartoon characters. “But there’s something oddly lovable about all of them,” I pointed out.

  “Believe me,” Kristy said firmly, “lovable is not a word you would use to describe Rachel.”

  “She moved away from Stoneybrook in fifth grade,” Mary Anne explained. She turned to Kristy. “That was three years ago. She might have changed since then.”

  “Her looks have changed,” Kristy admitted. “I saw her in town today when I was shopping with Nannie. She’s not a little butterball anymore. Actually, she looks pretty good. Better than you’d have expected her to turn out. But I don’t think someone’s personality changes that much in three years.”

  “Did she ever do anything to you guys?” I asked.

  “She just existed, that was bad enough,” Claudia said. “If you were around her, she was in your face telling you what was wrong with you, or what she wanted you to do for her. And it was always something dumb or dangerous. I remember she kept calling me a wimp because I wouldn’t climb a certain tree. Day after day — ‘Claudia is a wimp.’ So, finally, I climbed it and got stuck. She just went home and left me up there. Luckily, Janine came along and got Mom and Dad. After that, whenever I saw her on the sidewalk, I’d duck into someone’s driveway and hide until she was gone.”

  The idea of Claudia hiding from this girl made me laugh. “It kind of makes me want to meet her,” I said. “Just out of curiosity.”

  “You don’t want to meet her,” Kristy assured me.

  “Wait a minute,” I said suddenly. “I think sh
e might live near me. New people moved in two houses down from us this weekend. Mom and I went to say hello and I met the daughter. I think her name is Rachel.”

  “Poor you,” Kristy muttered.

  “No,” I disagreed. “She seemed very nice. I was even looking for her in school today but I didn’t see her.”

  “Please let her go to a private school,” Kristy prayed.

  The new girl I’d met didn’t fit this picture at all. She was pretty, with shoulder-length brown hair and intense blue eyes. She wore a perfectly nice sweater and jeans. There was nothing odd or annoying about her. “I liked her,” I insisted.

  “Wait,” Claudia said. “Once you get to know her, you’ll see what we mean.”

  “People change,” Mary Anne reminded them as she sat cross-legged on a corner of Claudia’s bed.

  “They don’t change that much,” Kristy insisted. “Rachel would have had to change a lot in order to become a normal human being.”

  The phone rang then and Claudia snapped it up. “Hello, Baby-sitters Club,” she answered.

  It was one of our regular clients, Mrs. Pike, wanting two sitters for the next night. Claudia told her she’d call her back.

  Mary Anne, as club secretary, then looked in our record book, which is where she keeps everyone’s schedule. She was the only one free that night.

  “What about Logan?” Kristy asked. Even though he’d left the club, I could tell Kristy was hoping — not for the first time — that he’d sub in a pinch.

  “Forget Logan,” Mary Anne grumbled.

  “What do you mean, forget Logan?” I asked.

  Mary Anne sighed deeply. “Oh, he annoyed me the last time I talked to him. He was complaining that we call him too much. As if he can’t be bothered to take sitting jobs anymore.”

  “We have been calling him more than usual,” Claudia reminded her. “Even though he said he wanted out.”

  “Did you get into a fight about it?” I asked.

  Mary Anne shook her head. “I didn’t even realize I was annoyed until later.” She shifted position on the bed. “Everything seems off lately,” she said. “It’s as though somehow the world isn’t the way it used to be.”

  “It’s the fire,” I told her. “You’re in a new house and all.”

  She shook her head. “It’s more than the newness of the house. It’s like — if my entire house and all my stuff could just vanish, then …” She hesitated.

  “Then what?” Claudia prodded gently.

  A shiver seemed to run through Mary Anne and she shook slightly. “Then … who knows? … I don’t know.” She smiled a tight, uneasy smile. “Who knows what I’m even talking about? It’s just a feeling. I can’t describe it any more than that.”

  “It’s the shock of the fire,” I said again. “Everything will go back to normal again soon.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  A weird uneasiness came over me too — as if Mary Anne’s indescribable feeling were contagious. Things were changing fast. Old friends changing and new kids in school. It felt as if people and events were moving all around me.

  I didn’t like the feeling. If Mary Anne’s house could disappear, then anything was possible.

  Rachel Griffin transferred into my English class the very next day. I’d heard so much about her I felt as if I already knew her.

  Yet the person I saw wasn’t the person I’d heard about. I didn’t care what my friends had said; Rachel seemed okay.

  She listened attentively to the teacher. She smiled when someone said something funny. Her comment about the book we were reading, The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman, was intelligent.

  I can say all this about her behavior because I barely took my eyes off her during the class. I was searching for signs of the other Rachel Griffin. The horrible one. The one my friends had warned me about.

  After class I approached her desk. We were neighbors, after all. And it didn’t hurt to be friendly. (Although my real reason was total curiosity.) “Hi, Rachel,” I said. “How’s everything going?”

  She smiled. “Fine, I guess.”

  “Do you remember everyone from before you left?” I asked.

  Her eyes narrowed warily. “How did you know I used to live here?”

  “My friends Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne remember you. Do you remember them?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  I couldn’t tell if that was a fond uh-huh or a not-so-fond one. Her tone didn’t give anything away.

  “Did Claudia tell you she used to hide from me?” Rachel asked.

  “Well —”

  Rachel smiled. “She told you. I can tell from your expression. It’s okay. Your friends weren’t exactly crazy about me.”

  “I moved away and returned too,” I told her. “My family moved to Stoneybrook when my dad was transferred here. Then he was transferred back to New York. While we were in the city my parents split up and I came back to Stoneybrook with Mom.”

  “I moved from here to the city and back again too,” she said. “Only my city was London. My dad was also transferred.”

  “London!” I cried. “That is so cool!”

  “It was. I loved it. The people, the theater and movies … the styles!”

  It seemed we had a lot in common. I am a total Broadway fanatic. And I love movies too. And everything about fashion.

  Rachel shook her head sadly. “Coming back has been a weird experience.”

  “I know what you mean,” I said. “You don’t know if your friends will still be your friends.”

  “Or if the people who couldn’t stand you then still can’t stand you,” she added.

  I hadn’t experienced that problem. And, again, I didn’t know what to say.

  The classroom was almost empty and we had to get going before the next period began. “Oh, who cares what other people think, anyway?” I replied. It might have been a dumb thing to say since, of course, most people care, at least a little.

  But her expression brightened. “You’re right. I’m going to try not to think about it anymore.”

  “Good idea,” I said with a smile. We parted in the hall. It felt like the beginning of a friendship.

  For the rest of the afternoon I wondered if I could convince my friends to give Rachel another try. Especially Claudia. Since she was my very closest friend, I really wanted her to like Rachel.

  By the end of the school day I was dying to talk to Claudia about her. I hurried to Claud’s locker. But I stopped short before I got there.

  Claudia stood at her locker talking to Jeremy. They were having an intense conversation — laughing, nodding, really enjoying themselves. What interesting thing was he telling her?

  A flash of disappointment swept over me. It made no sense. Why should I mind if Claudia talked to Jeremy? Sure I liked him. But if I couldn’t be involved with him, I should be glad Claudia was getting to know him.

  I started walking down the hall toward them, then stopped. Suddenly it didn’t seem like the right thing to do. After all, Claudia had been sketching Jeremy’s picture. What if she was trying to start up a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of thing? It wouldn’t be very best-friend-like of me to barge into the middle of it.

  The odd thing was … that was exactly what I wanted to do. I had a strong urge to jump smack in between them.

  Why?

  I didn’t know.

  As I said, it made no sense. But it was definitely how I felt.

  Maybe it was that I just liked Jeremy a lot — as a friend. I’d enjoyed meeting him the other day. He was fun and nice. There was no reason I shouldn’t have been able to enjoy his friendship, even if Claudia was interested in him.

  Still, I knew I should let her have the time alone with him.

  It was confusing.

  I imagined myself as one of those cartoon characters with an angel on one side and a devil on the other. My angel was saying, leave. My devil was saying, stay.

  I was about to listen to my angel when Claudia spot
ted me. “Stacey!” she called cheerfully, waving to me.

  Happily, I hurried to join them.

  “Jeremy was just telling me about this English teacher in his old school who would come to class wearing flowered cutoffs, sandals, and sunglasses,” Claudia said, laughing.

  “The guy was at least fifty,” Jeremy added. “He had this big gray beard and no matter what you asked him he’d say, ‘If it’s cool with you, man, I dig it.’”

  I just knew Jeremy was incapable of dullness. “Did you learn anything in his class?” I asked.

  “You know, we did,” Jeremy replied. “He gave us the best books to read and then he’d let us sit around and talk about them. It was fun, and the other kids had some good stuff to contribute….”

  He continued telling his story, but I lost track of what he was saying. For some reason I couldn’t stop staring at his face. I noticed he had a dimple in his right cheek. His brown eyes were flecked with green. They were almost like marbles. I’d never seen such unusual eyes.

  I thought of the expression the eyes are the windows of the soul. It made sense to me now as I looked into Jeremy’s amazing eyes. He was different from anyone I’d ever met. Somehow I just knew he was thinking intelligent, insightful thoughts.

  “Oh, that’s so funny,” I heard Claudia remark. She touched my arm, rattling me out of my near trance.

  I didn’t want to admit I had no idea what he’d just said. “Yeah,” I nodded, smiling. “It’s funny how some people are.”

  “That’s for sure,” Claudia agreed. I glanced at her face. She seemed happy, but not all dreamy-in-love. It wasn’t what I’d expected. I’ve seen her when she has a crush on a guy. She gets mushy and starry-eyed. That wasn’t how she looked now.

  So maybe Claudia wasn’t feeling romantic about Jeremy at all.

  It bothered me that this idea made me so happy.

  * * *

  After school I went directly home, had a snack, and got to my homework. I needed to get it done because I had a sitting job that evening. It was for some of our regular clients, the Rodowskys. Those kids are so active that I knew from past experience there was no way I could do homework there.