Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Acknowledgment
About the Author
Also Available
Copyright
I’ll probably always remember that Wednesday as The Day I Found Out It Was Going to Be an Interesting Summer. It was a hot day — a very hot day, with no breeze and a sky that looked almost white. I was baby-sitting for David Michael and Emily Michelle, my little brother and sister, and the three of us were sitting on the front stoop eating sandwiches.
“It’s hot,” complained David Michael, wiping his forehead with a jelly-smeared hand.
“Hot!” repeated a pink-cheeked Emily Michelle, who was sitting between David Michael and me.
“I know.” I sighed. “It sure is.” Summer vacation had only started a couple of weeks ago, and already I was starting to think school wasn’t such a bad thing. I mean, it’s nice to have a break from classes, but sometimes summer vacation can seem awfully long and boring. Long and boring and hot.
My name’s Kristy Thomas, or if you want to be formal, Kristin Amanda Thomas. I’m thirteen, and I go to Stoneybrook Middle School, which is in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I’ve lived all my life in Stoneybrook, and it’s a nice little town. But guess what? It can be boring.
Oh, I keep pretty busy. I’m president of this terrific club, for one thing. It’s called the BSC, for Baby-sitters Club, and it’s really more like a business than a club. But more about that later. I also coach a softball team, Kristy’s Krushers, for kids who are too young or otherwise not ready for Little League. And I also stay busy baby-sitting for my younger brothers and sisters and keeping track of the rest of my family, which is pretty humongous and complicated.
I have two older brothers, Sam and Charlie. Sam’s fifteen, and Charlie’s seventeen, and they’re okay as far as big brothers go. They’re both involved in their own things, mostly school activities. Otherwise, Charlie mainly works on his car, which we call the Junk Bucket (it’s not exactly new, as you might’ve guessed), and as for Sam, well, he’s mostly interested in girls.
David Michael, my younger brother, is seven and a half. He has dark hair, like the rest of my family, but his hair has these soft little curls that are the envy of all my friends. David Michael is a great kid: he’s serious and deliberate and he’s a little klutzy at sports, but he’s also very loving and has a terrific sense of humor.
When David Michael was just a baby, my father walked out on our family. I remember my dad, but not all that well. He was never very involved as a parent, and I guess that’s partly why he left — he just wasn’t interested in being a daddy. He hardly stays in touch with us at all. In fact, I’m not even sure exactly where he is. Last I heard, he was in California, but for all I know he could be in Alaska or Japan by now.
I don’t think my mom has ever forgiven my father for what he did, but she never sat around whining about how badly he treated us. My mom is a very strong woman, and when my dad left she knew she wouldn’t have any spare time to spend complaining. Instead, she worked hard to raise my brothers and me by herself, and I’ve always admired her for doing it as well as she did.
After years of being a single mother, my mom finally got a good break. She met and fell in love with a really nice guy named Watson Brewer, who happens to be mega-rich. Watson is now my stepfather, and while I wasn’t totally crazy about him at first, he’s really grown on me.
Now Mom still works, and my brothers and I live in his huge house (it’s more like a mansion, really), which is way across town from where I used to live. Our family has grown, too. I now have a sweet little stepbrother named Andrew, who’s four, and a seven-year-old stepsister named Karen. She’s a real bundle of energy. Karen and Andrew live with us every other month now. (It’s a new arrangement.)
My other new sibling is Emily Michelle, who’s two and a half. Mom and Watson adopted her not that long ago. Emily, who’s Vietnamese, is awfully cute, with her shiny black hair in bangs across her forehead and her pudgy cheeks. She’s had a hard time learning to speak English, but she’s coming along with it lately.
After Mom and Watson adopted Emily, my grandmother Nannie came to live with us, too, just to help out. Nannie probably has more energy than the rest of us put together; she never sits still. She has this great old car we call the Pink Clinker, and she’s always taking off in it. She goes bowling, to aqua-aerobics classes, poker tournaments — you name it, she does it.
So that’s my family! Oh, I almost forgot to mention the non-human members of the Thomas-Brewer clan: we have a Bernese Mountain dog puppy named Shannon, and a cranky old cat named Boo-Boo. Plus, Karen and Andrew have a rat and a hermit crab, which travel back and forth with them, and a couple of goldfish.
Anyway, you can see how my family and my other activities might keep me busy. But somehow, on that hot summer Wednesday, I was worried that I wasn’t going to be busy enough.
“I’m bored,” said David Michael, popping the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “Let’s do something.”
“Sure,” I said. “What do you feel like doing?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed, leaning back. “Just something.”
“Play Candyland?” asked Emily Michelle hopefully. She loves that game, but none of the rest of us can stand it.
“No way, José,” said David Michael. He spotted yesterday’s paper, which I had brought outside. “Read us the funnies, Kristy,” he said, picking it up and giving it to me. “You always do the voices so good.”
“So well,” I said, correcting him automatically as I took the paper. I turned to the funny pages and glanced through the comics. None of them seemed especially hilarious, but I started to read aloud anyway. “What are you doing, Sarge?” I began, showing David Michael and Emily the page so they could see Beetle Bailey. I went through that one and three others, and then I started to lose interest. I usually love the comics, but on a hot summer day, even they can be dull. My eyes wandered over the page until suddenly something in the “Around Stoneybrook” column, which is always at the top of the comics section, caught my eye.
“What’s this?” I said. “ ‘Stoneybrookites are in for some excitement this summer,’ ” I read out loud, “ ‘as Hollywood comes to Connecticut. It’s all very hush-hush so far, but keep your eyes and ears out for that Lights, Camera, Action.’ Hmmm. Wonder what that’s all about.”
“They’re making a movie here,” said David Michael, as if it were old news. “Didn’t you hear about it?”
“No!” I said. “How do you know about it?”
“Linny told me,” David Michael said. Linny Papadakis is a neighborhood boy who’s a good friend of David Michael’s. “His dad knows all about it. He heard about it down at the hardware store.”
A movie! Now that sounded interesting. “When are they going to start? Who’s in it? What’s it about?” I was dying to know more.
David Michael shrugged. “It’s just a movie,” he said. “That’s all I know.” He didn’t seem too excited — in fact, he seemed as bored as ever.
“Read more!” cried Emily Michelle just then, pointing to the funny pages. I noticed that her hands, like David Michael’s, were covered with jelly.
“Okay,” I said, “but first it’s time to get you cleaned up.” I herded her and David Michael i
nto the kitchen and helped them wash their hands. Then I spent a little time cleaning up the mess we’d made putting together our sandwiches. As I wiped down the counter, I wondered about the movie. Would there be any big stars in it? Why were they making a movie in Stoneybrook? Would they be hiring any locals to work as extras? The idea of a movie crew coming to my little town suddenly made the summer seem a lot more promising.
By the time I finished cleaning up, Emily Michelle was busy playing with her troll dolls and David Michael was involved in digging up a corner of the yard where he’s convinced there’s buried treasure. He digs there every once in a while, but so far he hasn’t found a thing.
I sat on the porch steps, watching them both and trying to figure out how I could learn more about the movie. I was so deep in thought I didn’t even notice Mary Anne’s arrival until Emily Michelle squealed, “May-Anne!”
Mary Anne Spier, my best friend, is a big favorite of Emily Michelle’s. Mary Anne and I are about as different as two people can be, but somehow it’s never gotten in the way of our friendship. She’s shy and very sensitive, while I’m like “a bull in a china shop,” as Watson would say. That means I kind of charge into things without thinking about the consequences. Mary Anne and I have always had looks in common — we’re both short for our age and have brown hair and eyes — but recently Mary Anne has started to pay a little more attention than I do to clothes and haircuts and things. I hardly ever even look in the mirror, and I wear the same sorts of things every day: jeans (or shorts, when it’s as hot as it was that day), running shoes, and a T-shirt.
Anyway, that afternoon Mary Anne had ridden up on her bicycle and hopped off before I even noticed. But as soon as Emily Michelle spotted her, I did, too. “Mary Anne!” I said. “Guess what?”
“Guess what?” she said at the same time, as she bent to hug Emily Michelle. “They’re making a movie here!”
“That’s what I just heard,” I said. “Do you know anything about it?”
“Not much,” she said. “Just that they’re filming part of it at a house near mine.”
“Really?” I asked. “How cool! We can go over and watch.”
“And that it’s a TV movie,” Mary Anne continued, “and it’s going to be called Little Vampires.”
I grinned. “Little Vampires?” I repeated. That sounded like fun.
Mary Anne nodded. “It’s about a group of boy vampires,” she said. She looked thoughtful for a minute. “Do you think Cam Geary might be in it?” she asked hopefully.
Cam Geary is a TV star, and Mary Anne has had this major crush on him for what seems like forever. “Oh, Cam Geary,” I said dismissively, rolling my eyes.
“Kristy!” said Mary Anne, looking hurt. “This might be my big chance to meet him!”
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Maybe he’ll be in it. Who knows? The important thing is, they’re making a movie here. That means the summer can’t possibly be as dull as I thought it was going to be.”
Mary Anne and I hung out on the porch for a while, speculating about the movie and playing trolls with Emily Michelle. About an hour later, Charlie turned up, and he started talking about the movie, too. The news was all over town, he said. He showed us an article in that afternoon’s paper. “And I’m going to get a job on the crew,” he announced importantly. “I’ll be a gofer, an extra — anything. It says here they’ll need local workers.”
Charlie wasn’t the only person who was excited about the movie. I definitely was, and I was sure all of my other friends would be, too. In fact, I knew right then that we’d be talking about nothing else that afternoon at our BSC meeting.
As soon as our meeting crossed my mind, I realized Mary Anne and I were going to be late for it if we didn’t start moving. Charlie was ready to go (he drives me to our meetings), so we threw Mary Anne’s bicycle into the back of the Junk Bucket and took off, rattling and lurching down the street.
I checked my watch anxiously as we drove. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s being late for things. In fact, I always like to be a little early, especially for BSC meetings. I mean, I am the president, and it wouldn’t be right for me to be late.
The whole idea for the BSC was mine, which is why I’m president. See, one day when my mom was trying to track down a sitter for David Michael, I realized that parents would love having one number they could call where they’d be sure to find a reliable sitter. So I got some friends together and we formed the BSC, and it’s been successful right from the start.
We meet three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from five-thirty until six. Parents can call during those times to set up sitting jobs, and they’re practically guaranteed a sitter. Not to boast, since it was my idea, but the whole thing works so well we hardly ever have to advertise anymore.
Charlie pulled the Junk Bucket up to the curb, and with a cough and a sputter it stopped. He hopped out and lifted Mary Anne’s bike onto the sidewalk. “See you soon, Nerd-Brain,” he said to me.
“Later, Mush-Mouth,” I answered.
“Thank you for the ride, Charlie,” said Mary Anne politely, ignoring our rude exchange. She grew up as an only child, and she doesn’t always understand brother-sister relationships. She parked her bike in the Kishis’ driveway, and then she and I headed inside and up the stairs.
BSC meetings are always at the Kishi house, in Claudia’s room, which is equipped with a handy private phone line. Claudia and Mary Anne and I have all known one another since we were in diapers (I used to live across the street from Claud, next door to Mary Anne’s old house, before I moved to Watson’s), so the Kishi house feels almost like home to me.
I checked my watch again as we ran up the stairs, and realized that it was only 5:20. “Whoops!” I muttered. That happens to me a lot: I rush so much to be on time that I end up arriving early.
But when we walked into Claud’s room, it turned out that most of the other BSC members were already there. “Kristy!” said Jessi, who was sitting on the floor next to her best friend, Mal. “Guess what! They’re going to be making a —”
“Movie!” I finished. “I heard. Isn’t it awesome?” So that was why everybody had gotten there so early: to talk about the movie. “What do you all know about it?” I asked, setting into the director’s chair by Claudia’s desk, which is where I always sit.
“It’s called Baby Dracula,” said Claud, knowledgeably. She was sitting on her bed, trying to open a bag of Oreos with her teeth. “My dad heard about it from the plumber.”
Mary Anne cracked up. “Little Vampires,” she corrected. She had sat down next to Claud, and was checking out the club record book. As our secretary, she’s responsible for keeping it up-to-date.
“Right,” said Claud agreeably, popping an Oreo into her mouth and offering the bag around.
“I heard it was going to have all these big stars in it!” said Shannon, helping herself to a couple of cookies.
Mary Anne started to get that Cam Geary look in her eyes again, but before she could say anything, the phone rang. At the same time, Stacey walked in. Our meeting hadn’t officially started yet, but now that Stacey had arrived, the entire BSC was on hand, so I answered the phone the way I do during meetings.
“Baby-sitters Club!” I said. “How can I help you?”
That one phone call explained a lot. By the time I hung up, I had learned much more about the movie. The call was from Mrs. Masters, the mother of two boys named Derek and Todd. Derek’s eight, and Todd is four. Derek happens to be a big TV star, and the Masterses live in California while his show, P.S. 162, is being shot. But they have a house in Stoneybrook, too, which is why we count them as regular clients.
“Listen to this, guys,” I said, as soon as I hung up. “Derek’s in the movie! In fact, the whole reason the movie’s being shot here is because the Masterses suggested Stoneybrook as the perfect small town setting.”
“I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” said Claud.
“You did?” asked Stacey, raisi
ng her eyebrows.
“Well, not really,” Claudia admitted. “But I should have guessed.”
“So what else did she say?” asked Mary Anne. I could tell she was dying to know whether Mrs. Masters had mentioned Cam Geary.
“Not much,” I said, acting cool. “She just wondered if any of us might be interested in working on the set every day.”
“WHAT?” everybody asked at once.
“There’s supposed to be somebody on the set with Derek at all times,” I explained calmly, even though I was just as excited as everyone else. “And Mr. and Mrs. Masters won’t be able to be there every day. Plus, Todd has a small part, too, so they’ll need somebody to watch him. Not every day, though.”
“Me! Me! Me!” shouted Jessi, waving her hand as if she were in school.
“I’ll do it!” said Stacey.
“Hold on, hold on,” said Mary Anne, who was checking the record book. At a glance, she can tell which of us is available for a job, since she keeps track of all our schedules in the book. “I know we all think this job sounds great, but the fact is that most of us already have a lot of commitments for the summer. We’re really booked up for daytime work, since all the kids are out of school. In fact, the only person who could possibly take on the job with Derek is —” She flipped a couple of pages, and I could swear that every member of the BSC was holding her breath. “Kristy,” she finished.
“Yess!” I said, throwing my fist into the air.
“And Claud could take the job with Todd,” Mary Anne went on.
“All right!” said Claudia, through a mouthful of Oreos.
“The rest of us might be able to visit the set now and then, at least,” said Mary Anne.
“Oh, I hope so,” said Jessi. “I’d hate to miss the whole thing.”
I called Mrs. Masters back to tell her the job was all set, trying to keep the call brief since it was long distance. We pay Claudia’s phone bill with money from our treasury (we also pay Charlie to drive me to meetings), and I knew Stacey would get antsy if she saw me frittering away our precious dollars. As club treasurer, she collects dues (every Monday, without fail), and she keeps a tight hand on the money we accumulate.