Mary Anne Saves the Day Read Online Free

times were days Kristy was home sick; once was when she and her family left for Florida the day before spring vacation started; and once was the day after theThomases announced that they were getting divorced, and Kristy had been too upset to go to school.
    Sometimes Claudia walked with us; sometimes she didn’t. However, since just after we started the Baby-sitters Club, Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and I had been walking to and from school together almost every day.
    I reached the sidewalk and paused in front of Kristy’s house, trying to decide whether to ring her bell and ask to talk to her. In the end, I just kept on walking. Basically, I’m a coward. I didn’t want to have a scene with her in front of her family.
    I walked quickly to school, keeping my eyes peeled for Kristy, Claudia, or Stacey. But I didn’t see them. A horrible thought occurred to me: Maybe they’d all made up, and I was the only one they were still mad at. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I entered school.
    The very first person I saw was Kristy! She was not with Claudia and Stacey, so I began to feel a bit better.
    I waved to her.
    Kristy looked right at me. I’m sure she did. She saw me wave.
    But she tossed her head in the air, turned around, and flounced down the hall. I followedher, since my homeroom is next to hers, but I tried to keep a safe distance between us.
    As I neared my homeroom, I spotted Claudia coming down the hall toward Kristy and me.
    â€œHey, Kristy!” Claudia called.
    Oh, no, I thought. They
have
made up.
    But Kristy ignored Claudia.
    â€œKristy,”
Claudia said again.
    â€œAre you talking to me?” Kristy asked icily. “Or to some other job-hog?”
    Claudia’s face clouded over. “No, you’re the only job-hog I see at the moment.”
    â€œThen get a mirror,” snapped Kristy.
    Claudia looked as if she was preparing some sort of nasty retort, but before she could think of a really good one, Kristy walked into her homeroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
    I wondered whether it was safe to approach Claudia. After all, she had wanted to make up with Kristy. But just then, the bell rang.
    Claudia disappeared into her homeroom; I disappeared into mine.
    The morning passed slowly. I couldn’t concentrate. In my head, I wrote notes of apology to my friends. I realized that I must still be mad at them, though, because some of the notes weren’t very nice:
    Dear Stacey,
    I’m really, really sorry you called me a shy, little
baby. I hope you’re sorry, too….
    Dear Kristy,
    I’m sorry you’re the biggest, bossiest know-it-all in the world, but what can I do about it? Have you considered seeking professional help?
    Dear Claudia,
    I’m sorry I called you a stuck-up job-hog. You
don’t deserve that, and I didn’t really mean it.
I hope you can forgive me.
    Love,
    Mary Anne
    Now
that
was a note I could send.
    In English class, I finished my work early. I carefully removed a fresh piece of loose-leaf paper from the middle of my notebook, and took my special cartridge pen from my purse. The cartridge was filled with peacock blue ink, and the nib on the pen made my handwriting look like scrolly, swirly calligraphy.
    Slowly, making sure each word looked perfect and was spelled correctly, I printed the note to Claudia. Then I waved it back and forth to dry theink, folded it twice (making the creases straight and even), and tucked it in my purse. I would give it to her at lunchtime.
    My knees felt weak as I made my way to the cafeteria a few minutes later. I’d know right away whether Stacey and Claudia had made up, or if they were still mad, too. They always sat with the same kids — a sophisticated group that included
boys
.
    The first thing I did when I entered the cafeteria was look around to see what was what with my friends. I found Claudia and Stacey’s table. There was the usual bunch, or almost the usual bunch: