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Chapter Text

14 year-old Haley Braddock ran down the stairs before even changing out of pajamas or brushing her short blonde hair that was surprisingly messy for the length and volume of it. It was the first day of summer break, and her and her friends were gonna kick it off by playing video games at Karen’s house (who made a surprisingly great addition to the little group Haley had become a part of since fourth grade).

Breakfast was already on the table, so she slumped in her seat, and started shoveling food into her mouth with nothing more than a rushed out, “Morning’,” to her mother (her father and younger brother were nowhere to be seen).

“Good morning, honey. Slow down, you’re going to choke,” her mother greeted and lightly scolded her. After her daughter obliged by slowing down just slightly, Carolyn Braddock sighed softly and continued. “Your dad’s at work, and Matt already left with Buddy to play baseball with some other guys at the playing field.”

“‘Kay,” Haley mumbled out through the pancake in her mouth. She swallowed and explained her plans for the day. “I was going to go over to Karen’s house to play video games with the others. Becca can’t come because she has to watch her younger brother, though. Apparently, her mom couldn’t find anyone else and no one else was going to be home. And he’s sick, so he can’t just go to a friend's house.” Immediately after finishing her last sentence, Haley went back to gulping down her breakfast.

Carolyn sighed. “I’m glad you and Matt were both too old for babysitters when the BSC ended, finding a sitter would've been a lot harder if you weren’t.”

Putting her fork down on her now empty plate, Haley nodded. “Yeah, James and Shea always had to cancel plans to look after their brothers more after they all broke up.”

The phone rang, and Carolyn answered it as Haley put her plate in the dishwasher and ran back up the stairs. She quickly changed into an orange baggy shirt and light blue jeans, before running her brush through her hair a few times and pulling on her shoes.

Going down the stairs and out the back door, Haley heard her mother laughing on the phone and saying something about how Samantha stole Ricky’s lunch? She didn’t keep up with her mom’s work, so she had no clue who those people were. Anyway, Haley hopped on her purple bike that was laid against the side of the house by the garage door and started riding in the direction of McLelland Road.

Once she was on Burnt Hill Road, she saw Jeff getting on his own bike (light blue with golden decals) and stopped next to him. “Hello, Jeffrey,” Haley greeted formally.

“Why must you be this way?” Jeff asked, rolling his eyes at her use of his full name.

“Because,” she answered, acting as if it were obvious. “Besides, you’re just being salty because your boyfriend isn’t able to come hang out with us.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Jeff replied instantly in a robotic-sounding voice. He wasn’t even mad anymore, since Haley bothered him about it all the time. So did Vanessa, Buddy, and Kerry- but not as much, and not nearly as badly.

Haley shrugged. “Whatever you say, lover boy. When you guys finally end up together, I expect to be told first- or I’ll kill you in your sleep for the act of betrayal. I’m also going to be saying ‘told you so’ very loudly and obnoxiously.”

“To quote you literally five seconds ago, ‘whatever you say’. Let’s just go to Karen’s house and not talk about this anymore. Sound good? Great, let’s go.” Jeff didn’t pause once to let Haley respond, and immediately took off on his bike when the last word left his mouth. Haley sped up to catch up with him without another word, but she did stick her tongue out at him as she passed him and started gaining distance ahead of him.

When Haley and Jeff stopped their bikes in front of the Thomas-Brewers’ house, they were both out of breath- as they had been racing since they left the latter’s home. Jeff had ended up being the victor, and bragged in between pants. Haley just huffed and stormed up to the door once she’d caught her breath.

The sound of a doorbell ringing echoed behind the door, followed by the barking and running of Shannon (the dog, if it wasn’t obvious already). Not even a minute later, the door opened to reveal Karen’s younger brother, Andrew.

“Karen’s in the living room, and Charlotte, Kerry, and Betsy are already here. Karen and Betsy are playing each other in Street Fighter, because they beat Becca and Kerry,” he explained, stepping aside to let the two in. He locked the door once they were inside and disappeared in the direction of the kitchen before they said a word.

They walked in the living room to see Karen Brewer and Betsy Sobak taking the game they were playing way too seriously (Karen was sitting on the ground about two feet from the screen, and Betsy was making grunting noises each time her character got hit- or almost got hit), and Charlotte Johanssen and Kerry Bruno watching the fight on the screen intently.

The four were too absorbed to realize that Jeff and Haley had arrived and both sat in empty chairs. Karen finally finished off Betsy’s character, which elicited an excited cheer from her and an annoyed groan from Betsy.

“You only won because Charlotte sneezed halfway through the game and distracted me, so you got another hit in on me,” Betsy asserted.

Having been used to her poor sportsmanship over the years she’d known her, Karen just raised an eyebrow- choosing not to comment on the dismissal of her victory. She finally realized the other two had arrived, and grinned at them. “You guys are finally here!” Karen exclaimed.

“And here I thought Byron was the one who’s always late,” Betsy snarked.

“At least I can take losing at Street Fighters,” Jeff retorted in annoyance.

Kerry grinned mischievously at him. “Aw, are you upset because your boyfriend couldn’t make it?”

Haley put her fists up in the air in celebration. “I said the same thing when I stopped by his house to ride the rest of the way here with him!”

“At least I won the race,” Jeff said.

“We never said we were racing- therefore, that supposed win is invalid,” Haley quickly shot down.

“But it was implied when you sped ahead of me, while sticking your tongue out and being insanely immature.”

“When you call me immature, you’re acting like you’re so much older- and you’re literally one year older than me.”

“Yeah, and it clearly shows.”

“You little-”

“Anyway!” Karen interrupted. “You guys play each other, and then I’ll play the winner,” she stated, in no way indicating it was a request. She got up and handed Haley her controller, before sitting down on one of the two empty couches.

Betsy handed Jeff her controller, a bit too aggressively, and sat back on the couch she was sharing with Kerry.

At that moment, Kristy Thomas (Karen’s older stepsister) and Dawn Schafer (Jeff’s older sister, and one of Kristy’s best friends) came down the stairs and into the living room. Wordlessly, they went to the third (and last) couch and lounged on it while watching the tv.

“You can’t mess up now, Jeff, your sister is watching,” Kerry pointed out, causing a groan to come out of the boy’s mouth.

“I forgot she even slept over here last night,” he commented. “No wonder the house was so peaceful.”

“Hate you, too,” Dawn replied seamlessly, pulling her feet underneath her so she was sitting with crossed legs.

Betsy snorted. “Ah, siblings. The thing that makes me so glad to be an only child- right, Char?”

“Yeah,” she replied softly, causing Kerry to feign dramatically jumping where she sat.

“You’re so quiet, I forgot you were even here,” Kerry teased. “You’re always quieter, but you at least usually participate in conversation. You alright?”

Charlotte nodded. “Yeah, I just wish Becca was here. I was gonna ask her what she thought about that book I told her she should read.”

Suddenly, the words ‘YOU WIN’ came across the screen, and Jeff’s character did a little victory dance. “Hah! Loser!” Jeff screeched at his competitor.

Haley grumbled incoherently under her breath.

“Hey, you actually won- that’s a shock,” Dawn said, smirking at her younger brother.

“Whatever- you go bankrupt in Monopoly immediately,” he retorted.

Betsy interrupted whatever was going to come out of Dawn’s mouth next. “Wait, why isn’t Becca here?”

“She has to watch Squirt- the babysitter her mom had lined up canceled,” Charlotte explained.

“So unprofessional. That never would have happened when we were in our babysitting prime. Clients won’t trust you if you cancel- and you’re very much inconveniencing them when you do that, because they can’t just cancel most of their plans because some teenager decided they couldn’t keep their word of taking care of their child,” Kristy immediately spoke up. Dawn snorted at her business-like manner.

“Kristy,” Karen started. “Are you ever going to stop talking about your ‘wildly successful babysitting career’?”

Kristy smiled widely. “Nope!”

Karen looked at her blankly, until the phone by the doorway started ringing and her subject of interest got up to answer it.

“Hello?” She paused. “Seriously?” Another pause. “Okay, we’ll be there in, like, ten minutes.” Yet another pause. “Bye.”

The girl turned to the seven pairs of eyes on her, focusing on her Californian friend. “Stacey asked us to come over to her house. She wanted to hang out today, since she’s apparently going to New York for most of the summer to spend time with her dad before college. In two days. I told her we’d be over soon- so which one of us is driving?”

Dawn got up from the couch she’d sat on not even five minutes prior, and started walking to where her sandals were by the front door. “I’ll drive- I honestly still need the practice.” She grabbed her keys from where they were on the small table by the window.

“Okay,” Kristy started putting on her sneakers that were tossed in the pile of her siblings’ shoes to the other side of the door.

Just as they were walking out the door, Charlotte called, “Say hi to Stacey for me, please!”

“Will do!” Kristy called back, shutting the door and locking it behind her.

There was a silence after Dawn’s car had driven away. Betsy broke it. “Karen, play Jeff now.”

“Actually, I have an idea brewing,” she responded absentmindedly.

“You, a Brewer, have an idea brewing- that’s so unintentionally hilarious,” Kerry commented.

Ignoring Kerry along with every other person in the room, Haley instead responded to Karen (who everyone else in the room was looking at expectantly). “I think we may have the same idea.”

“A possible business venture?” Karen questioned knowingly.

Haley nodded, and the two shared a look. A look that no one else in the room understood- they all thought the pair were insane.

“Do you two maybe wanna let us in on what the heck you’re talking about?” Jeff asked.

“Yeah, you’re being weird,” Charlotte agreed.

The two blonde girls shared the same look as they had a minute before, and then said in unison, “We want to restart the Baby-sitters Club.”

Chapter Text

“You want to start a babysitting business?” Kerry questioned. “Do you even know how exactly their’s worked?”

“What if it’s a total flop?” Jeff challenged.

“And you’re suggesting we be the members?” Charlotte asked.

“Why would people want us to babysit their kids? We don’t have reputations nearly as good as theirs in that department,” Betsy pointed out.

Karen and Haley didn’t hesitate in answering their rapid-fire questions, with Karen first saying, “Kristy has talked about it so much, I could be an expert- and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me asking her anything I might not know.”

“What if it’s a huge success, we won’t know until we try,” Haley continued, answering Jeff.

“Yeah- plus, Hannie would probably join. Becca, too,” Karen replied to Charlotte.

And lastly, to Betsy, Haley said, “We may not be masters of babysitting, but we’ve all done it many times before without much issue- and it’s not like the original club members had as many clients when they first started. They got more people to come to them once word was spread about them.”

“Come on! You guys know it’s a good idea!” Karen exclaimed, frowning at her skeptical friends.

“We’d make loads of money, and help all the people who sometimes take ages to find a sitter for their kids,” Haley annexed, trying to convince them while sounding like Kristy to a creepy degree.

“Come on, it’ll be a piece of cake,” Karen said, not knowing how false that was. And, not knowing what they were in for, the others all finally agreed to try the idea.

“I would be a way better president!” Karen exclaimed, eyebrows scrunched up as she glared at Haley.

“Would not! You are awful at compromising!” Haley retorted, throwing her hands up in the air. “I would listen to everyone else’s ideas, and you would only listen to yourself.”

As the two went back and forth, the others looked back and forth at them like a ping pong game. It was the next day, Sunday, and they were all at Jeff’s house to work out the finer details of their new club. Everyone else had either not wanted to host, or their house was too chaotic, which led to them all sitting in the kitchen- around the dining table and on bar stools.

“Uhm, can I please be treasurer?” Charlotte asked quietly.

Haley turned to the brunette and nodded. “That'd be great, since you’re so good at math. Thank you for volunteering.” She smiled genuinely, before turning back to Karen with renewed vigor. “See how easy that was?! We already have one position filled, and we’d have two if you’d just let me- the better candidate -be president.”

“How about a vote?” Betsy loudly suggested, getting sick of the arguing that had been going on for what felt like forever to her and wasn’t going anywhere at all.

Not letting the two stubborn girls speak, Kerry said, “Raise your hand if you vote for Karen.” Hannie, Kerry herself, Becca, and Betsy all raised their hands. “Raise your hand if you vote for Haley.” Jeff and Charlotte both raised their hands.

“Yes!” Karen cheered. “Are you gonna argue with democracy?” she asked Haley smugly.

Haley rolled her eyes. “Whatever. When you bomb, you’ll get impeached and I’ll be put into office.”

“Where will we meet?” Charlotte asked.

“My house is out, it’s too far from most of yours,” Karen said.

“That goes for me too,” Hannie agreed absently.

To prevent any future trouble, Jeff offered, “We can meet here. Mom and Richard wouldn’t mind, and Dawn and Mary Anne are out a lot. I’ll have to ask, but I’m sure Dawn will let us use her phone until we get our own line or she moves out and doesn’t use it anymore.”

“Okay, so that’s solved. What about the other positions?” Karen inquired.

“I nominate Jeff as vice president, since we’ll be meeting at his house,” Haley spoke up.

“I second it,” Charlotte said.

Karen nodded at that. “What about the secretary and alternate officer?”

Jeff, returning the favor, pointed at Haley. “I nominate Haley as alternate officer.”

“Seconded,” Becca quickly followed. “And I can be the secretary,” she added.

“Alright- meeting times? Advertising?” Karen asked.

A few moments of silence went by, before Haley suggested, “Why don’t we meet up at the same times that the old club did? It would make it easier for their old clients who still have kids young enough to be babysat. And they made fliers- we should do that, too.”

“Our parents could probably help spread that we’re restarting the club to people they know with kids,” Betsy put in.

“That’s a great idea, Haley, Betsy,” Karen said. “Also, you, Hannie, and Kerry don’t have positions. What do you three think you bring to the club?”

“I think I can handle advertising,” Kerry interjected. “My dad is a manager for a sporting-goods manufacturer, so I know a little bit about that kind of thing. And my mom works in an office in Stamford, so I can ask her to print fliers once we have a design.”

Karen nodded, and waited for Betsy and Hannie to reply. When they did, it was kind of anticlimactic, if Karen was asked.

“I’ll just be a member. We don’t have any other positions, and I’m just here for the money from sitting jobs,” Betsy replied.

“I’m good with just being a normal member, too,” Hannie said.

“Then I think that settles everything,” Karen declared. “Jeff, you ask Dawn about using her phone; Kerry, you check with your mom about the flier thing; and I’ll see about getting a planner for a record book and a notebook to write about jobs in. We meet back here tomorrow to officially start things if everything checks out?”

She got nods from everyone but Haley, who instead asked, “What about the flier design? Are you designing them or appointing someone else to do it?”

“Oh, yeah- Kerry, I think that fits your job, are you up for it?”

“Sure. I’ll get it taken care of,” the girl verified. “Does anyone want to go get ice cream with me? It’s so hot outside and I don’t have to figure out the flier stuff until tomorrow, since it’s only 11 o’clock.”

Haley, Charlotte, Becca, and Betsy all raised their hands, and the five all said their goodbyes and quickly left out the front door. That left Karen, Hannie, and Jeff.

“So, you really think that this will work?” Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow in doubt.

“It has to,” Karen replied confidently. “Proof of concept: Kristy did it with her friends, and it worked out great. I already know what went wrong when she did it because she’s talked about it so much, so I know how to avoid it as president.”

“Yep, this will totally work out,” Jeff said sarcastically. “Not.”

“No need to be such a Debbie Downer,” Hannie retorted.

“Everyone will see I’m right soon,” Jeff commented vaguely.

Hours later, at about 3:00 pm, everyone was dispersed. Hannie and Karen were with their other best friend, Nancy Dawes; Kerry was playing Super Mario World with her younger brother, Hunter; Haley, Becca, and Charlotte were at the public pool with Nicky and Vanessa Pike; Betsy was with Lou McNally and the Arnold twins at the arcade; and Jeff was with Byron Pike in a secluded corner of the public library.

Byron Pike, the one that Haley loved to tease Jeff about. The one who several of their friends repeatedly commented liked each other. The one Jeff denied dating, and sometimes even denied liking. The one Jeff actually was dating- not that he’d ever tell anybody. No, that was too risky- for both him and his boyfriend. The two weren’t even sure about the Pikes’ view on queer people, but they did know that Adam and Jordan (Byron’s triplets) made a lot of jokes that suggested they’d turn on Byron if they found out. And Jeff knew his dad’s opinions on the subject differed a lot from his own, and he didn’t want to deal with that. So, their relationship being kept between just the two of them was the best possible solution.

Byron was reading The Six Wives of Henry Vlll on a small cushioned bench against the wall (hidden to the majority of the library by bookshelves), with Jeff sitting next to him. Closer than just a friend would sit, as the sides of their shoulders and legs were pressed against each other- and Jeff’s head was tilted to rest on the other boy’s shoulder. Jeff wasn’t reading, as it wasn’t something he particularly liked doing, but just enjoying the presence of the person he loved more than almost anyone else. If he’d been with someone else while they were doing something and he wasn’t, he surely would have complained exaggeratedly about boredom. But he didn’t even need to do something when he was with Byron by themselves, he was content to just think and take in the small sounds of pages flipping and the overhead fan spinning in a more open area of the library.

After probably ten minutes of this quietness, Jeff remembered what he wanted to tell the brunette. Talking quietly, as they were in a library, Jeff started with, “You know how Karen and Haley wanted to restart the Baby-sitters Club, and we all met up again this morning to figure everything out for it?” Byron hummed, showing he was listening, and Jeff continued. “Well, Karen is president- so that’s really gonna turn into something bad. She won the vote, but me and Charlotte voted for Haley. If Haley was chosen, I feel like we would’ve had a bit more of a chance of succeeding, but whatever. I got vice president, because we’re gonna meet at my house three times a week for however long this lasts. Dawn said we could use her phone line, as long as we helped pay for it- and Kerry is taking care of fliers. We’re supposed to meet up again tomorrow, and maybe officially start the club. Some of them are so excited, even though the whole thing is obviously gonna fail.”

Carefully closing his book, with his finger holding his place, Byron turned his head slightly to look at Jeff. “Why do you think it’s going to fail?” he whispered back. “You guys can all probably figure it out and do great. You told me you were excited for it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I think it’ll succeed. I think it’d be fun, and that we’d all make good money if we did it well, but I don’t think we’re on track to being a good business. If Haley was president, and everyone in the group were actually committed to being in the club- then maybe we’d have a chance. I was excited that they wanted to include me- I know I’ve been kind of a jerk before -but I don’t know how much I’m actually gonna be listened to and wanted around.” By the end of his explanation, his voice was kind of wavery and sounded a bit broken. Jeff was kind of used to feeling unwanted- since his father had a new family, his mother had Richard, and his sister had her own group of friends that were always there when she needed them -so he tended to think the worst of people who ever tried to include him in stuff. When it came down to it, Jeff never really knew who he could actually count on. But he deep-down knew that the chestnut-haired boy next to him would always listen to him and help him when he had a problem.

Once he heard his boyfriend say those last words, Byron actually put his bookmark in the book and set it on the little space of the bench next to him. He turned to face Jeff and pulled his arms around him. Jeff’s face settled in the crook of Byron’s neck, and his body relaxed in the other’s arms. “Hey, they want you around. Sure, you could’ve been a little nicer in the past, but you acknowledge that and have changed,” Byron told him quietly but confidently. “And even if they end up ignoring you during however long the club lasts, you’ll always still have me- okay?” Jeff nodded into his neck, and they stayed in that position for a little while longer. Byron watched over to where the main area of the library was, making sure nobody was going to come over and see them.

Jeff just savored his embrace as long as he could, feeling a little bit better from his boyfriend’s words. He’d deal with whatever happened at the meeting tomorrow then. And he’d tell himself that they asked him to be a member because they really did want him there until it was explicitly said otherwise. He couldn’t do anything about anything until a real problem actually happened, and while he didn’t want a problem to happen, at least he’d have a reason to feel upset or hurt if one were to happen.

The meeting would go much different than Jeff thought it would’ve, but that doesn’t mean everything would turn out that way farther in the future. Nobody could ever know how something will ever truly turn out until they’ve seen it through- and the remaking of this club is a great example of this idea.

Chapter Text

“So- Kerry, did you talk to your mom?” Karen asked the second the last person (Betsy) arrived at Jeff’s house once again the next day. In front of her was a black planner and red spiral notebook, presumably their new record book and club notebook.

“Yep!” she replied cheerfully. With her was a green notebook, which she took a loose sheet of paper out of and put in the middle of the floor (they were in Jeff’s room, rather than the kitchen/dining room again, as Richard and Sharon were preparing lunch). On it was handwritten information. “Does this look okay?” she asked. “I can always redo it before I get my mom to make copies of it, but I think I got everything on it.”

ⒷⓈⒸ
The Baby-Sitters Club
Same Business as Before - All New Members!
Need a sitter? Then call (203)555-0134 and reach
eight experienced sitters!
Call Times:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:30-6:00 pm
Available:
Weekends
After School
Evenings
**We only sit for kids, not pets!**
ⒷⓈⒸ

“It looks great! And your mom told you she would make copies that we could put up or put in mailboxes?” The other blonde nodded. “Good. Jeff, what about the phone line? Did Dawn say we could use her’s?”

“Yeah. She told us we have to help cover the phone bill for the calls that are ours, but she was fine with us using it. She only talks to, like, four people- so she has no problem with the line being taken for half an hour three times a week.”

“Everything is ready for us to officially start, then. Kerry, let us know as soon as you get the fliers, and we’ll all pass them around town. Until then, this will be our last meeting. We should discuss dues and make sure we’ll all be able to attend the meetings. Just to restate it- meetings are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 5:30-6:00.”

Charlotte raised her hand into the air shyly. “My math club meets on Wednesdays from four to five forty-five, so I’d be late those days, if I were able to come at all.”

“Okay- try to come afterwards for the first Wednesday meeting, so we can see if it’d even be worth it. If it’s not, then you can skip those days and ask somebody afterward what you missed,” Karen easily replied.

“What’s this about dues?” Betsy asked, raising an eyebrow. “How much would I have to pay?”

Dawn pulled her ear away from her brother’s door, realizing she should probably go away before he realized that she was spying on him and his friends (well, some were more of acquaintances). She hurried back down the hall to her room, where she was on a call with Kristy and Stacey (who had arrived in New York just an hour before).

“-being serious?” Stacey was asking when Dawn put her phone to her ear again.

“Yes, they looked traumatized! My mom got so mad at him, though- it was hilarious,” Kristy said back, mirth clear in her voice.

Interjecting suddenly, and eliciting a gasp of surprise from one of them (Dawn was unclear which), Dawn asked, “What are we talking about?”

“How Emily Michelle and Andrew were watching Peter Pan the other day, and David Michael told them about the actual Peter Pan story. Emily Michelle started crying and Andrew just had this emotionally scarred look on his face,” Kristy explained, sounding way too enthusiastic for her words. “But that’s not important. What’s important is you spying on your brother.”

“Yeah, did you hear anything good?” Stacey asked.

The original reason for the call was their old charges restarting the club. Kristy heard from Karen, Dawn from Jeff, and Stacey from Charlotte- who she was still close with, despite not babysitting for her anymore. They all had differing opinions on the subject. Stacey thought they were doomed to fail, while Kristy thought that if they worked hard enough they’d be successful. Dawn wasn’t on one side or the other yet.

“They were talking about fliers, and then schedule altercations. Betsy had just brought up dues when I realized I’d gotten lucky not being caught by Jeff for as long as I’d been standing with my ear to his door.”

“I bet I’d last longer than you if I spied on one of my brothers or sisters,” Kristy piped up competitively.

Dawn paused for a second, shrugging despite knowing that neither could see her do it. “Yeah, probably. You have six, and I only have one. Two if you count Elizabeth Grace, but I don’t ever really see her.”

Stacey snorted. “I’d be the worst, hands down. I have no siblings, and my parents aren’t very observant.” After a few seconds of silence, Stacey continued. “Anyway, do you think they’re actually prepared?”

“I don’t think they’re forgetting any of the basic stuff. And they have our experience to go off of and do some things that will make things run smoother- like the club notebook. And I know that they’ve all had some kind of experience before.”

“But?” Kristy prodded.

Sighing, Dawn said, “I don’t know. It’s just- They don’t have any experience babysitting while running a business of it. We all certainly had our problems and ups and downs.”

“Exactly! I don’t think they’re prepared for the work and organization it takes,” Stacey exclaimed.

“We know all these kids, and I think that they have the determination to work through any problems and make it work. Well, most of them. I’m not sure about Betsy and Kerry. But I’m absolutely certain that at least Karen and Haley will do anything it takes to make the club successful,” Kristy argued.

Dawn leaned back against her headboard and listened to her friends argue. At least it was the kind of arguing friends have, and not the kind that had happened just before the BSC had broken up. A lot had gone down that day, and it was still upsetting to think about some of the things some of the group had said. Especially since she had to look at the main perpetrator everyday- when she went down for breakfast, at school (luckily not anymore), family events, dinner.

Unconsciously, the bright blue-eyed girl sighed again. And, even if she hadn’t realized she’d done it in the moment, the other two girls on the phone had.

“What’s wrong, Dawn?” Kristy asked, concern evident in her voice.

“Nothing,” she quickly supplied, not wanting her friends to know that that day in the past still bothered her. “Just thinking how we’re probably much too involved in the lives of the kids we used to babysit for.”

“Karen’s my sister and Jeff’s your brother, so obviously we’d be involved.”

“Then why is Stacey here and a part of this discussion?”

Kristy, for once out of words, remained silent. Stacey decided to pipe up with, “Did you guys hear that Buddy Barrett asked out Carolyn Arnold?”

“No! How do you know this?” Kristy asked in disbelief. “I thought that she liked James Hobart?”

“Apparently not. Charlotte was complaining to me about how Carolyn only ever spends time with him nowadays, instead of her and their other friends.”

“That’s wild. But! Did you hear that apparently Vanessa is dating Linny Papadakis?” Dawn shot back.

Kristy scoffed. “Who doesn’t?”

Stacey hummed in agreement. “Yeah, I know we’re not really friends with Mallory anymore, but those two are so coupley in public.”

With her smirk clear just through her words, Kristy cheekily asked, “So, Stace, how is it having less of a love life than thirteen and fourteen year-olds?”

“Especially since you used to be so boy-crazy,” Dawn added. Around Junior year, Stacey had become largely uninterested in dating, in contrast to when it seemed like she had either a boyfriend or a crush on a boy at any given point since Dawn had known her. She had really wanted to focus on her education, and on her part-time job at Pizza Express. In their high school years, it had turned out that Mallory was the one really in the dating scene- much to everyone else in the club’s great surprise.

“Yeah, and people change.” Dawn could imagine Stacey rolling her eyes then. “Which you should get, Miss California turned Connecticut.”

“Says the New Yorker,” Kristy said in the middle of a badly faked cough, which got a laugh from Dawn. And even a small, likely involuntary, chuckle from Stacey.

“How did we all last until sophomore year?” Stacey questioned sarcastically.

Kristy snorted. “Our friendship or our business?”

“Either,” the blonde supplied in response. “Let’s just hope that they all stay friends even if the club crashes and burns like ours.”

“They’ll be fine!” Kristy insisted once again.

The muffled sound of arguing came through the wall in the direction of Jeff’s room, and Dawn squeezed her eyes shut and repressed the urge to groan. It seemed as if the new club had done nothing but argue since they got together. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to side with Stace on this one,” Dawn finally decided, much to Kristy’s chagrin.