Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye Read Online Free Page A

(who rarely cries) bit her lip and stared out the window. I didn't do anything except not look at Claudia, but even so I knew she was not looking at me, too.
    After a moment I said, "Your enthusiasm is underwhelming."
    That brought a few smiles, at least.
    Finally Kristy said, "I just can't believe it. You've only been here for ..."
    "A little over a year," I supplied.
    Suddenly everyone had questions.
    "Where will you go to school?" asked Dawn.
    "Are you moving into your old apartment building?" asked Mary Anne.
    "Will your parents let you come back here to visit?" asked Kristy.
    I answered the questions, plus a few more. Claudia was nearly silent the whole time.
    Then Kristy said, "Remember that night you baby-sat for Charlotte and there was a blackout?"
    "Oh, yeah!" I replied, almost laughing. "And we heard noises in the basement, only they turned out to be Carrot." (Carrot is Charlotte's dog.)
    "And remember when you took Kristy's cousins to the movies and they behaved like monsters?" said Dawn.
    "I'll never forget it. What an afternoon."
    "And when we were baby-sitting for all the Pike kids at the beach," added Mary Anne, "and we took them to play miniature golf?"
    "That was the worst!" I cried. I glanced at Claudia.
    "Remember when we met each other?" she managed to say.
    "Of course. First day of school last year. I dropped my notebook and you stepped on it."
    "By accident," she reminded me. "And then we looked at each other and we were both wearing off-the-shoulder sweat shirts and high-top sneakers."
    "I couldn't decide whether to hate you or hope you'd become my best friend," I admitted.
    "Same here/' she said.
    I looked at my watch. "Uh-oh! I have to go. I have to talk to Mr. Zizmore. He knows I'm moving, and he wants to go over some math with me. I might be able to skip into algebra back at my old school. Well, 'bye!" I jumped up. I just didn't want to face any more comments about leaving the Baby-sitters Club or about what good friends we'd all been. It would be too, too sad. And I couldn't talk to Mr. Zizmore if I was crying.
    I didn't find this out until much later when Claudia told me (she tells me everything), but after I left the table, my friends continued to talk about me and the move.
    "You know," said Claudia, "we really have to give Stacey a going-away party."
    "A spectacular one," added Kristy. "Or at least a special one. Not just the five of us sitting around with soda and potato chips in club headquarters."
    "What could we do that would be really special?" mused Mary Anne.
    "A surprise party?" suggested Dawn.
    "A big party with kids from school?" suggested Kristy, adding tentatively, "Boys . . . ?"
    "Maybe," said Claudia, "but I'm not sure how special those ideas are."
    "I know/' agreed Kristy. "They're just regular old party ideas."
    "We may have a little problem/' Mary Anne spoke up.
    "What?" asked Kristy.
    "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of low on money, and I don't think we should use treasury funds since Stacey contributes to the treasury, and it would be like she was paying for her own party. I've got about five dollars, myself."
    "Oh," said Dawn. 'I've got five-fifty."
    "I've got six," said Kristy. She looked at Claudia.
    "Zero," replied Claud. "I just bought a new pair of sneakers."
    "Sixteen-fifty won't go very far if we want to give Stacey a really special party," Dawn pointed out.
    "That's not our only problem," said Kristy. "We're forgetting something. What on earth is the club going to do without Stacey? I know it's kind of mean to think about that right now, but it is a problem. A big one."
    "Yeah," said Mary Anne slowly.
    "I mean, we did all that advertising when school started," Kristy went on. "We got new customers — the Rodowskys, the Papadak-
    ises, the Delaneys, and everyone."
    "And we depend on Logan and Shannon for help pretty often," added Dawn. "Hey, maybe one of them —"
    "No, we've been through that already," Kristy interrupted. "They don't want to be