Mayson Thomas xx Stacey McGill

Claudia and the Phantom Caller

Mayson POV:

"Did he ask you to the dance or not?" Kristy asked Claudia at the meeting. "Well?"

"He asked me if I was going and said he'd see me there. So he basically asked me. We'll be there together, basically." Claudia replied.

"Here's the thing, a guy like Trevor Sandbourne isn't gonna, like, show up at a door with a corsage. That's just not how things are done in his kind of circles." Stacey said.

"Which are what exactly?" Kristy asked.

"Sophisticated circles. Artistic circles." She replied.

"Are you gonna wear a costume?" Mary Anne asked.

"I was gonna be a troll doll, but for Trevor I might have to think of something a little more soigne." She replied.

"Totally." Sacey said.

"Seriously?" Kristy asked. "You're gonna get all dressed up for some boy who couldn't be bothered to ask you out for real?" She added.

"Kristy, I don't want to look like a baby." Claudia said.

"What's babyish is this stupid dance, giving boy's yet another way to be disappointing, setting up girls for a lifetime of making excuses for them. I wouldn't go if you paid me." Kristy said.

"Mayson, you going?" Claudia asked.

"I might." I said, I planned on asking Stacey to go with me.

"What about you, Mary Anne? That cute boy Logan might be there. The one you're always staring at who volunteers at the library?" Stacey asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied. "Anyway, there's no way my dad would ever let me go. He's been spinning out enough lately about the Phantom Caller." She told us.

"What's that?" Stacey asked.

"Some weirdo home invader that was on the news. Apparently, you get these creepy anonymous phone calls. Then you realize that the calls were coming from inside the house." Mary Anne explained. Then the phone rang.

"He heard us." Stacey said. Kristy cautiously picked up the phone.

"Hello, Baby-Sitters Club." She said, then relaxed. "Hold, please. Watson needs a sitter on Friday." Kristy told us.

"But that's the night of the dance." Claudia said.

"Yeah, we're definitely going." Stacey added.

"Kristy this is like the 7th time since the club started that mom or Watson has called in with a job. I've already went, multiple times. You're the only one who hasn't." I told her.

"Mary Anne Spier will be your sitter on Friday. Have a wonderful day." Kristy said into the phone.

"So does that mean you're going to the Halloween Hop after all?" Claudia asked.

"I'd rather have head lice, again." Kristy replied.

"You get head lice a lot." Claudia said.

My shoulder was healed, but my headaches have gotten worse, I've lost weight, I've been pale, and sick a lot, and I've had pain in my right arm. All indicators my cancer could be back. Did I tell anyone though? No.

Stace<3

MayMay<3: I would ask you in person, but the others would find out. So, Stacey Elizabeth McGill, will you go to the Halloween Hop with me?

Stace<3: Yes, Mayson Elizabeth Thomas I will.

Yeah we have the same middle name.

I sat at a table with Claudia and Stacey with my head down, because I didn't feel good and had a migraine, while Stacey taught Cladudia math. I sat up when I heard my sister say,

"Go on, tell them."

"I can't babysit for the Brewers tomorrow night." Mary Anne said.

"She was 20 minutes late last night, and her dad grounded her. Now I'm the one who's gonna have to sit for stupid Watsons stupid kids, unless one of you decides not to go to the dance." I put my head back down, my sisters ranting making everything 10x worse.

"Absolutely not." Stacey told her.

"First you're mad at her for sitting for Karen and Andrew. Now you're mad she can't? You're being crazy." Claudia told her.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to run a business here. It's not crazy to be mad when someone behaves unprofessionally." Kristy replied, turning to Mary Anne. "You know who is crazy? Richard Spier." She added.

"Kristy, come on." Mary Anne said.

"He's paranoid. He treats you like some china doll in a box. And this whole thing with the Phantom Tollbooth." Kristy started.

"Phantom caller." Stacey corrected, putting her hand on my back.

"Whatever. He's psycho. Even my mom thinks so, he's not normal." Kristy said.

"And what would you know about having a normal dad?" Mary Anne snapped, that made me look up to see my sister running away. "I'm a horrible person. Sorry, Mayson." She said then followed after Kristy.

"Okay. Wake me up when the bell rings." I told Stacey and Claudia and put my head back down.

Stace<3

Stace<3: are you okay? You've looked a little sick recently.

MayMay<3: Yeah. I'm good.

That night Mary Anne tried to use our flashlights to talk to Kristy, but Kristy just shut the blinds. The next day, Claudia failed her math test, so it was just me and Stacey going to the dance.

"Hey." I said when I got to the dance.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale." Stacey asked. I nodded and we went into the dance. Halfway through we found out about the Baby-Sitters Agency. "What are we?" Stacey asked at the end. I shrugged.

"Girlfriends?" I asked.

"Girlfriends." She determined, and we smiled at each other.