BLUE SAT ON CLAUDIA'S PINK chair wrapped up in a blanket.
She was talking with Dawn and Mallory.
"So, Malls, how are you liking the BSC so far?" Blue asked.
"It's amazing! You guys are awesome!"
Claudia was passing around a tray of candy, Blue grabbed a bag of peanut M&M'S and started eating.
Claudia tossed Dawn a snuggly pillow, to which she effortlessly caught it.
"Dawn, I checked our schedules and we have 4 classes together this year!" Blue cheered.
"Yes!" Dawn clapped, Blue let out a little giggle.
Dawn loved the sound of Blue's laugh.
"SO, WE HAVE 2 NEW members, and we need to integrate them properly according to our individual strengths and weaknesses to harness our corporate synergy," Kristy explained.
She had given everyone some weird personality tests.
"Another corporation, just what America needs," Dawn added, making Blue laugh.
"These personality tests will help us maximize our growth potential by helping us understand what we can each bring to the table. Watson uses them in his company. He's "The Cheerleader"."
Blue scanned the questions, "What the?"
"Do you pay quarterly taxes or prefer to leave finalized numbers until the end of the fiscal year?" Mary Anne read, sounding just as confused.
"Should the club be paying taxes? Do I need to look into this?" she exclaimed.
"Not if we're a corporation. We could hoard our profits until we're bailed out by the disappearing middle class," Dawn explained.
"You're such a weirdo," Blue giggled, giving Dawn a side-hug.
Dawn smiled and let out a happy laugh.
"Think of it this way," Kristy went back to the topic of the questions, "Do you finish your homework right away or wait 'til the last minute?"
Everyone understood now.
Blue quickly circled the questions, then handing Kristy her paper.
"Done," Jessi handed Kristy her quiz, "I know myself."
Dawn passed her paper to Kristy.
"I don't. I don't know how to answer any of these questions," Mallory worried.
"It's all good Malls. Just do what you can," Blue reassured her.
"It's not as simple as that. I mean, would I tell a harmless lie if I'd help land a client? Would I return a stapler if I accidentally took it home?"
"Mallory, just be yourself," Claudia advised.
"That's easy to say when you're you."
"Done! I need water. Does anyone want anything?" Stacey asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
Kristy skimmed everyone's tests, "Hm. Interesting."
"AH, I SEE," SAID KRISTY once she was done with everyone's results.
"What do you see? What is it? Tell us," Mary Anne demanded.
They were interrupted by Stacey coming back in.
"OMG. Claudia, did you know you have a celebrity in your kitchen?"
"What? Who?" Claudia questioned.
"Spill the tea!" Blue exclaimed.
"Ashley Wyeth! Only the coolest girl in all of Stoneybrook High."
Everyone's jaws dropped.
"No way! Doesn't she have like 5 million followers?" Jessi asked.
"Uh-huh."
"And I heard designers send her free clothes to wear!" Blue cheered.
"And her speech at the New Haven March For Our Lives went viral," Dawn brought up.
"What's she doing at your house?" Mary Anne exclaimed.
"Who's Ashley Wyeth?" Kristy asked.
Blue's jaw dropped and she stood up.
"Did you just say that you don't know who Ashley Wyeth - my future wife - is?"
"Uhm...uh..." Kristy stuttered.
"Thought so."
Claudia bolted up, "Ok, I need to go see this!"
Blue squealed as Claudia ran off.
"THE RESULTS ARE IN," KRISTY announced.
Everyone was laid down, waiting for Claudia to get back.
Claudia plopped down next to Stacey.
"First among equals. Me. The Captain. A born leader. Brave. Determined. Will never willingly leave her post."
"Casually emotionally manipulates people," Blue added.
"You. Shush," Kristy said, pointing to her, "Next up, Claudia. My beloved veep. The Individualist. Marches to the beat of her own drum. Goes her own way, and never follows the crowd."
"Yep. Sounds about right," said Claudia.
"Stacey is the Overachiever. Good at everything she sets her mind to. Precise in actions and decisions. She'll always solve any problem."
"Yeah, that's me," Stacey grinned.
"Mary Anne is the Philosopher. Contemplative. Wise. And at peace when in deep thought."
"Namaste," Mary Anne added, making Kristy chuckle.
"Dawn, you're the Revolutionary. Fearless and always looking to make change for the better. Undeterred by conflict."
"I think what La Capitana is trying to say would be known as, nerd." Blue said coughing the last part.
Everyone laughed.
Dawn smacked Blue's arm, "Hey!"
"Jessi is the Warrior. Stoic, Goal-Oriented, and always fueled to put more wood behind the arrow."
Jessi put her hands up in the motion of using a bow and arrow.
"Blue is the Mage. You've got some kind of magic that always leaves others happy. You're not afraid to state your opinions. And you love helping others."
"Yup. That's me."
"Cool synergy!" Mary Anne cheered.
"We're unstoppable!" Dawn added.
Everyone giggled.
"What's Mallory?" Jessi asked.
"Right. Mallory isn't anything," said Kristy.
Everyone shared looks.
"Her results were inconclusive because she left so many questions blank," Kristy explained.
"Well, I didn't know what the right answers were," Mallory defended.
"There's no right or wrong. That's the point," Dawn added.
"Maybe you can try again later, when there's more time," Mary Anne suggested.
"Sorry. I wish I was an individualist, like Claudia."
Everyone looked over at Claudia.
Claudia didn't say anything.
"So...who wants to watch romcoms?" Blue asked.
BLUE SAT AT CLAUDIA'S KITCHEN island the next morning.
There was food as far as the eye could see.
"Everything looks so pretty. Almost too pretty to eat. What is it all?" Mallory asked.
"Waffles," Claudia stated.
Everyone laughed.
"Yeah, I...I know that, but what's the other stuff?"
"Lychee. Passion Fruit. Dragon Fruit," Mimi explained, passing a tray of Dragon Fruit to Mallory.
"Dragon Fruit. That sounds so fancy," Mallory laughed.
Blue, who was sitting next to Mallory, grabbed a piece of Dragon Fruit and popped it in her mouth.
"Is that like a Japanese thing?" Mallory asked.
Suddenly Ashley and Janine appeared behind Blue.
"Actually, Dragon fruit and passion fruit are both indigenous to the Americas, and Lychees were first cultivated in Guangdong province in Southeastern China in the 11th history."
"Gee, I didn't know I was in a History class," Blue muttered, nobody heard.
Claudia turned to Ashley, "Hi, I'm Claudia. I saw you last night."
"Sure. Uh, did you guys have a fun night last night?" Ashley asked.
Everyone laughed.
"Yeah."
"Are you staying for the waffles?" Claudia asked.
"Ah, I'm sorry. My ride is outside," Ashley pointed to the door.
"And I need to continue preparing for our organic chemistry examination. Goodbye."
Janine turned around and walked upstairs.
"Well, it was nice meeting you all. See ya."
Everyone said good bye to Ashley.
"She is so nice!" Mary Anne exclaimed as soon as Ashley left the room.
"Of course she is. This isn't like an '80s movie. Coolness and cruelty are no longer synonymous," said Dawn.
Blue lightly giggled. Even Dawn's presence was enough to make her smile.
Suddenly Stacey's phone beeped.
"This is app?" Mimi asked.
"It's my new pump. I just gave myself insulin so now I can have a little syrup," Stacey explained, grabbing the syrup container.
"Modern medicine. Wonderful. If could fix my brain to mouth," said Mimi.
"Here, Mimi, have some berries," Claudia passed Mimi a wooden bowl.
"Thank you."
"It's delicious. You're amazing, Mimi. All the Kishi's are amazing. You guys are awesome. We're all awesome," Mallory gushed.
Suddenly Kristy walked downstairs.
"Good morning, sleepyhead..." Mary Anne trailed off when she noticed Kristy's sickly state.
Blue shielded her plate of waffles under the kitchen table.
"Are you ok, Kristy?" Blue asked.
"You don't look too good," Mary Anne added.
"There no way I'm sick. It's just allergies," Kristy explained, even though her voice was extremely nasally.
Mallory and Blue moved away from Kristy a little.
Kristy poured herself some orange juice and gulped down the entire thing.
Everyone looked at her.
"I'm fine!" Kristy exclaimed, putting her hands up.
"I'm the captain. Remember?"
Blue got up and walked over to Dawn with her plate.
"I now pronounce you, Waffle Protector," Blue placed her plate next to Dawn and walked over to Kristy.
"Yeah. You're going home."
"No! Blue!"
Blue ran upstairs and grabbed Kristy's things.
She came back downstairs and shoved Kristy's things into her hands.
"Blue!"
Blue pushed Kristy towards the front door.
"I'm fine!"
"No you're not!"
"What just happened?" Dawn wondered out loud.
BLUE WALKED THROUGH THE HALLS of Stoneybrook Middle School, one earbud was in her ear, the other tucked into the waist of her skirt so it wasn't flopping around.
Electric Love by BORNS was playing.
Baby you're like lightning in a bottle i can't let you go now that i got it...and all i need is to be struck by your electric love!
Suddenly Blue passed the bulletin board and she stopped to look at it.
There were various flyers for different clubs and sports.
Blue fiddled with her rainbow phone charm as she looked at the board.
Suddenly one flyer caught her eye, it was for the girl's soccer team.
Blue used to play soccer a long time ago (well, not that long ago, it was around 6th grade), but when her dad lost his job she had to drop out to save money, but for some reason she never went back to playing.
Blue was still pretty good at soccer, she and Eddie always played in their backyard.
Suddenly a girl walked over to Blue, "You thinking of joining soccer?"
Blue took her earbud out of her ear, "What?"
"Are you thinking of joining soccer? You seem interested in it. Do you play?"
The girl in front of her had very short, dark hair, it barely brushed past her shoulders. Her eyes were also quite dark, almost black. She seemed nice.
"Well, I used to, like, 2 years ago. But, I'm not that good, I probably wouldn't make the team, even if I tried."
"You should try out, I'm on the team, we're pretty desperate since we're down a few players."
Blue smiled, "Thanks. Maybe I will."
"Great. I'm Minnie by the way," the girl introduced herself.
Blue giggled, "Like the mouse?"
Minnie laughed, "Yeah, I get that a lot."
"I'm, Blue," Blue grinned.
"Nice to meet you, Blue," said Minnie.
Blue suddenly got a text from her dad, saying that he was here to pick her up.
"Oh, I gotta go. I'll see you at try-outs though. Bye!" Blue waved.
Minnie waved back as Blue left the school, "Oh, bye!"
BLUE RAN INTO CLAUDIA'S ROOM that day.
"Sorry, I'm late! There was some traffic on Chereb Road!" Blue called as she ran inside.
Everyone was just sitting there, not speaking.
"What's the matter with you guys? What are you, zombies?"
Blue was cut off by the phone ringing.
Dawn grabbed the phone, "Hold that thought."
Dawn sat down on Claudia's purple chair, "Babysitters club. This is Dawn."
Blue sat down next to Jessi on Claudia's bed.
"Hi, Ms. Papadakis!" Dawn cheered.
"Ok! Um...oh."
Blue crossed her legs, "Is anyone gonna tell me what's going on?"
Everyone stayed silent.
Blue groaned, "Ok, whatever."
She pulled out a pack of rain-blo, "Who wants some illegal bubblegum?"
AS IF THE LAST BSC meeting wasn't weird enough the next one was even worse.
Dawn kept on listening to Natalie Barrett vent about her problems over the phone and she didn't have the guts to just hang up.
"Mhmm. Yeah. I hear you. That would trigger me too. But he's trying to push your buttons you need to be the strong one."
Blue was practically sleeping at this point, she sat beside Mary Anne in Claudia desk chair which she had pulled over.
"It's been over 20 minutes," Mary Anne groaned.
"She's rewarding bad behaviour. It's textbook codependency," said Stacey.
Blue got up, "That's it. I can't take it anymore."
Blue went over to Dawn, ripped the phone out of her hand and put it up to her ear.
"Hi, Natalie! It's Blue. We need to speak with other clients. You have a sitter. Buh-bye."
"Wait!-"
Blue slammed the phone down on receiver and fell back into Claudia's purple chair.
"Seriously?" Stacey asked Dawn.
"I know. I'm sorry. But Natalie's ex-husband took the kids to a pumpkin patch with his new girlfriend, and it's hard hanging up the phone on someone sobbing like that," Dawn explained.
"Dawn, I've been thinking about your new dues idea where we all pay a percentage of our earnings instead of a fixed amount. But if I work more, I'm covering for other people," Stacey mentioned.
"Oh, well that's how progressive taxation works. Those who have more, give more."
"And I can't work as much as you since I can't sit as late and I ballet. So when I pay the same amount, it's a way bigger percentage of my earnings. How is that fair?" Jessi asked.
"And if no one's paying dues and we're still having club meetings, I'm paying for all the food on my own, unless we don't want snacks," Claudia added.
"And another thing, if we start paying a percentage of our dues to charity, who gets to pick the charity? You? And is it gonna be the same charity every time?" Mary Anne asked.
Everyone started arguing.
Blue could see that Dawn was overwhelmed, she couldn't bring anyone to her attention.
Blue sighed as she watched everyone shouting.
"Oh, brother..."
THAT NIGHT, BLUE WAS HANGING out at Dawn's house.
She sat on Dawn's couch as Dawn paced around the room.
"It feels like everything is falling apart!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Everyone's arguing, I feel like I have no control over anything, I don't know what to do! It's all so stressful!" Dawn whined as she kept on pacing back and forth.
Blue got up and stopped her from walking, "Stop that! It's ok, Dawn. Nobody's perfect. Leading an entire group of people is hard. Nobody expects you to be a master."
Blue and Dawn sat down on the couch.
Dawn put her head on Blue's thighs.
"I'm just so stressed out!"
"And I get that. But now you need to just calm down and relax."
Dawn sat up and pecked Blue's lips.
"You always know what to say, don't you?"
Blue giggled, "That is one of my many talents. Now sit down, we're watching 'The Half of it'."
BLUE SAT ON CLAUDIA'S BED as the first bsc meeting with Kristy back started.
"I hereby call this meeting to order," Kristy beamed, slipping on her visor.
Blue smiled, thankful that everything was back to normal.
Claudia brought over a tray of candies, Blue took some skittles.
"Now, I've looked over the minutes that Mary Anne was instructed not to take."
"Mary Anne!" Dawn groaned.
"I'm sorry, ok? I had to. They're important for record-keeping. I tried to write down as much as I could remember," Mary Anne defended.
"No, and it's a good thing you did. Because, I have to say, Dawn, there's a lot I like about your administration," Kristy admitted.
"Really?" Dawn asked, Blue noticed how much she perked up.
"-I mean, thanks," Dawn slightly laughed.
"I've read over your ideas, and I would like to propose the following. Everyone will pay a small and manageable amount of dues each week for club fees. After that, dues will be 10% of each individual sitter's earnings. So, on good weeks you pay a little more, and bad weeks, you pay a little less. Fair," Kristy explained.
Blue nodded, agreeing with Kristy.
"Oh, charity. We will donate 50% of our dues, after expenses, once a month to one charity. And rather than debating, we just take turns picking."
Kristy pulled out a bowl with everyone's names.
"Stacey."
Stacey smiled joyfully.
"After that, it'll loop back around again alphabetically, so the next person would be Mallory."
"I choose JDRF. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. They fight for a cure for type 1 diabetes and have great resources for kids like me," Stacey decided.
Everyone applauded.
"That's amazing. And, Dawn, you found flaws in the system and brought important issues to light. Job of a true revolutionary. I'm proud of you," said Kristy.
"And you made decisions that took everyone's needs into consideration. That's leadership. Which is why you're the captain," Dawn smiled.
"Oh, next on the agenda. Training. How did it go?" Kristy asked.
"Loved it. Even when Lenny Papadakis put glue in my hair," Jessi replied.
Everyone giggled.
"Jessi's a natural. My work is done," said Mary Anne.
"That's great. Claud?"
There was a pause.
"I have to go to the bathroom," said Mallory.
"Well that was awkward," Blue said once she left.
She munched on some skittles.
BLUE SAT IN EDDIE'S CAR as they pulled up to Stoneybrook Middle School.
Blue twiddled with her fingers in anxiety, "Eddie, I'm nervous. What if I mess up?"
"What do you have to be nervous about? Sports are in your blood, Enya does 5k's every week, I play football, you literally played soccer for 6 years. You don't forget six years of practice."
Blue smiled, "Thanks."
"Now, let's go ace this try-out. If you don't ace this try-out I will personally buy you a Stoneybrook Twister from Chelsea's Ice cream."
"The one with 4 too many toppings?"
"Hell yes!"
Blue giggled as she and her brother hopped out of the car.
Blue quicky tied her hair into a ponytail as she walked onto the field.
Suddenly Minnie saw her and ran over.
"You came!" Minnie cheered.
Blue chuckled, "Of course, I did. I'm not made of steel."
Both girls laughed.
"Me and some friends were warming up over there. Wanna join?"
"Duh! Let's go!"
Blue giggled and joined Minnie.
It was funny. She had no idea what on earth Minnie Oleson would bring.
3059 words
A/N:
Blue and Dawn: *practically dating*
Minnie: I'ma do what's call a pro-gamer move