Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye Read Online Free

only four?"
    "I better phone Kristy," I said. "We'll have to have an emergency club meeting as soon as possible. I guess tomorrow at lunchtime."
    Claudia nodded. Then she picked up her phone and handed it to me.
    I dialed it with shaking fingers. "Hello, Kristy?" I said. "It's Stacey. Emergency club meeting tomorrow in the cafeteria."
    Chapter 4.
    I managed not to tell Kristy, Mary Anne, or Dawn the news about my move until we were actually sitting at our usual spot in the cafeteria with our food in front of us. That morning, Mom had taken pity on me and driven me to school (I usually walk with Claudia and Mary Anne), and then somehow I just hadn't seen any of my friends until lunch.
    By the time fifth period rolled around, Kristy was so curious about the emergency meeting that she hustled everyone through the lunch lines and didn't even bother to make gross comments about the hot lunch, which she and Mary Anne always buy. Usually she sits at the table for a few minutes saying stuff like, "I've got it! Fungus — that's what this salad smells like!" or "Remember those gym socks I lost last week? I think they're right here in my succotash." She says these things to bug us,
    but when she didn't say anything on the day of the emergency meeting, I suddenly realized that I would really miss Kristy and her comments after I left Stoneybrook.
    "So," said Kristy briskly the second we were settled, "why did you call this meeting, Stacey?"
    "Well, I called it because I have to tell you guys some very important news, and it's going to affect the club."
    I looked around at the four faces that were watching me intently: Mary Anne's serious one, framed by her wavy, brown hair; Kristy, just as serious, chewing on the end of a pen; Dawn, her pale blue eyes wide with curiosity; and Claudia, exotic as ever, looking pained because she knew what was coming.
    I cleared my throat. "I have to ... You're not going to like this news."
    "Are you sick?" asked Mary Anne suddenly. "Do you have to go into the hospital?"
    "Oh, no," I replied hastily. "I —"
    "Did something happen to one of your parents? Wait! No, don't tell me. They're getting divorced, right?" said Kristy, who knows much too much about such things. Like Dawn, Kristy's parents are divorced, only it wasn't a very nice divorce and Kristy never hears from her real father. But things are getting better
    for her. Last summer her mother remarried this rich guy, Watson Brewer. That's why Kristy doesn't live in our neighborhood anymore. She and her older brothers, Charlie and Sam, her little brother, David Michael, and her mom moved into Watson's mansion across town. Kristy is so lucky because in the process she acquired an adorable stepsister and stepbrother, Karen and Andrew, who live there part-time. (The rest of the time they live with their mother.)
    "No, it's not a divorce," I told Kristy.
    "Are you —" Dawn began.
    But Claudia interrupted her. "Just let her talk, okay?" she said crossly.
    "Okay, okay," said the others.
    "We're moving," I said flatly. "Back to New York. In a month."
    When Mom and Dad had told me the news, the kitchen had become silent. My friends' reaction was noisy.
    "Moving!" exploded Kristy. "You can't move!"
    "Why are you moving?" Dawn demanded to know.
    "Aughh!" shrieked Mary Anne in a much louder voice than usual. "You're not! I don't believe it!"
    "We are," I said, willing myself not to cry.
    "Dad's company is transferring him. And it's definite. My parents like Connecticut, but they like New York, too. They've already put our house up for sale and they're looking for an apartment in the city. Everything's going to happen really fast."
    If we hadn't been sitting smack in the center of the Stoneybrook Middle School cafeteria, I'm sure all five of us would have started wailing away. As it was, we were pretty close. Mary Anne (who cries easily) picked up her napkin and kept touching it to the corners of her eyes. Dawn put her fork down and began swallowing hard. Kristy