The Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever #3: Mary Anne’s Big Break-up by Whitney Shimmell Read Free Book Online

Jil said.
    “Oh…Very, um, festive,” I told her.
    Jil ’s decorations consisted of pink and white streamers, a pink and white
    string of letters that spelled out BACK TO SCHOOL!, and bunches of pink and
    white balloons.
    “It looks like a birthday cake,” added Sunny. This time I couldn’t tell if she
    was being mean or trying to be nice.
    Jil couldn’t tell either. “Wel …thanks,” she said final y. “Okay, are we ready
    to party?”
    Late Sunday night 10/5
    I should definitely be asleep now, considering what is going to happen
    tomorrow. I mean, what is probably going to happen. I’m sure Ms. Krueger is
    going to want to see Sunny and me. And Ducky. In her office. Which is why I
    can’t sleep. Anyway, I need to catch up with myself. I’m still writing about last
    night – and there’s been a lifetime between then and now.
    Somehow, I don’t think that the person who coined the phrase “Are we
    ready to party?” meant with pink and white bal oons, popcorn, and a selection of
    Disney videos for the VCR. I’m pretty sure he or she had something more
    sophisticated in mind.
    But when Jill asked that question last night, I called out cheerfully, “Yeah!
    Par-TY!”
    Sunny looked at me like I was crazy. Then she yawned. “What are we
    going to do all night?” she whined.
    “What are we going to do?” Jil repeated. “Well, we can watch any of these
    Disney movies. Look. I have Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid and” (she saw
    our interest waning) “and some older ones that aren’t cartoons. Mary Poppins
    and Pollyanna.”
    “Oh, Pol yanna,” said Maggie. “I haven’t seen that since I was little.”
    “Great! We’l watch it now,” said Jill.
    “Oh, no, no. That’s okay. I didn’t mean that. I meant…I just meant…let’s
    watch something older.”
    Jil frowned. She looked through some other videos. “Wel ,” she said at
    last, “ I have Babe.”
    “You know what?” said Sunny. “I’m not in the mood for a movie.”
    This was too bad. Sunny should not have opened her mouth. Guess why.
    Because Jill had about a thousand other plans for the evening, each of them way
    worse than watching one of the movies.
    First she forced a game of charades on us. When that excitement died
    down, she said, “Okay, now let’s goof-call the neighbors. Oh, wait. We can’t do
    that yet. We’ll have to wait until Mom and Liz leave.”
    Sunny’s head snapped up. “Your mom and sister are leaving?” she asked.
    “When? Soon?”
    Jil looked at her watch. “Yup. In about fifteen minutes.”
    “Really?” Sunny looked like a scientist with an important new piece of
    information. “Hmmm…”
    Jil didn’t seem to notice Sunny. “Okay! Let’s play Cootie!”
    This time even Maggie couldn’t help herself. “Cootie? Get real! We’re not
    going to play Cootie,” she exclaimed.
    “Oh, please,” added Sunny. (She said it in exasperation.)
    Jil bit her lip. “Um, okay. Then how about…makeovers?”
    Sunny snorted.
    That was too much for Jill. “All right. What do you want to do, Sunny? You
    go ahead and run the party.”
    Sunny didn’t say anything. For a moment I thought she was gathering her
    courage to apologize to Jil . But she just kept scowling, and finally a strange
    expression came over Jill’s face. “You don’t want to be here, do you, Sunny?”
    she said. “You didn’t really want to have a sleepover, did you? You think they’re
    babyish. You just went along with the idea because you can’t go to the other
    party. Isn’t that right?”
    “Well…” Sunny said.
    “I knew it!” exclaimed Jill. “I knew it!” She turned angrily to Maggie and me.
    “How about you guys? Did you guys want to have a sleepover? Did you?”
    “Well, sleepovers used to be fun,” Maggie replied.
    I thought that was a very diplomatic answer, but it made Jil burst into
    tears.
    “Jil ,” I said. “Come on.”
    I started to put my arm around herm but she jerked away. “Leave me
    alone. Just