"That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen!" I scoffed after watching The Babysitters Agency's ad.

"Tell me about it." Kristy added.

"Those girls are definitely in high school." Claudia pointed out, "why don't they loiter at the mall like normal teenagers?"

"I'm a teenager. This is just depressing!" I exclaimed.

"No ones gonna wanna hire them instead of us, right?" Mary Ann asked nervously.

Kristy had a worried look on her face.

"Stacey?" Mary Ann asked.

Stacey gave her a frown, "N-No! Definitely not."

"Oh god." I panicked.

"Madam Secretary, will you please read our upcoming jobs?" Kristy asked Mary Ann.

"Stacey is sitting for Charlotte Johanssen Thursday, Bubbles is FINALLY getting to babysit little Holly next week, Claudia is with the three youngest Pikes, I'm with the Marshalls Saturday and Sunday, plus the Newton's new baby is on its way any minute!" Mary Ann cheered.

I clapped my hands.

"More children!"

Everyone started smiling and letting out responses.

"Ahem." Kristy cleared her throat, grabbing our attention.

"Kim said last month she's really gonna rely on the club to watch Jamie in the early days." Mary Ann mentioned.

"So, then we're thriving! The Babysitters Agency doesn't stand a chance. It's just proof of our success! They're trying to get a piece of our action, so we need to differentiate ourselves from the competition." Kristy explained.

I could practically see the gears turning in her head.

Her eyes got wide and she stood up.

"Kid kits."

No one responded.

"'Oh Kristy, what's a kid kit?' We'll I'm so glad you asked!" Kristy pulled out a box from Claudia's desk, "Mary Ann, why do I love going over to your house so much?"

"Because it doesn't smell like teenage boy?" She asked.

"I like that scent." I smiled.

Stacey got my shoulder playfully.

"Fair, but no. Because your dad has every board game known to man. And Stacey..."

Kristy stopped putting things in the box.

"Well, I haven't actually been to your house before. But Bubbles! Why do I love your house so much?" Kristy asked me.

"I dunno. Maybe cause it's really...white?" I responded.

"No. It's because I love the amount of things there is to do in there. You could get lost for ages in that house."

I nodded my head.

"And Claudia. The mother load. Imagine if Claudia brought all of her awesome stuff every time we came to play. I mean, hangout." Kristy corrected herself.

"Genius." Mary Ann said in awe.

"So we fill the boxes with old toys, and we'd use club dues to supplement for what we don't have. We'll bring the boxes to every job, and the kids will be so excited to see what we've got." Kristy explained.

"We HAVE to decorate them!" Claudia cheered.

I didn't get up, I stayed sitting by Stacey.

She looked sad.

"Hey," I asked, "You okay?"

••••

"Diabetes?"

Stacey nodded her head.

Currently she came over to my house to tell me her secret.

"How long?" I asked with sad eyes.

"A couple months." She told me honestly.

"Oh Stace. That doesn't change the way I see you." I whispered.

I stood up and I gave her a bear hug.

"What if the other girls don't wanna hang out with me?" She shakily cried into my shoulder.

"Then they would have to be the craziest girls in the world to not hang out with you, Stacey McGill."

••••

"Cmon Bubbles!" David Micheal cheered.

I was babysitting him and Louise at the time.

I grabbed his little hand and my sisters little hand.

"Wanna go to the park?" I asked.

"Yay!" They cheered.

We walked down the sidewalk three blocks.

"No way, Louise! Wonder Women is better than Superman!" David Micheal argued to my little blonde sister.

"Nuh-uh! Superman!" She bickered right back to him.

"Okay, we're at the park! Stop fighting, and play!" I told them, letting go of their hands.

They laughed at me and ran over to the playground.

I sat on a bench and watched them.

I reached into my pocket and grabbed a granola bar.

Lately, my appetite was coming back. My mom said the was great, because I was getting closer to beating anorexia. So I always carried a granola bar in my pocket.

I opened it and munched on it.

On the playground, I saw a little kid fall off of the slide.

"Oh goodness!" I exclaimed, running over to the child.

"Are you okay?" I asked him once I got there.

"Yeah! I'm okay!" He smiled at me.

"Where are your parents? I should find them." I told him, worried.

"My parents aren't here, but my babysitter is over there!"

I looked over and saw a teenager handing out balloons to David Micheal and Louise.

"Can you come with me?" I asked the boy.

"Yep!" He smiled, grabbing my hand.

I walked over to the girl.

"Hey!" I yelled at her.

She turned around and saw me.

"Well, hello! I see you found the kid I'm babysitting!" She shouted at me, chewing her gum obnoxiously.

"Yeah. He fell off of the slide. And I helped him." I told her with a 'girl are you serious' face.

"Well, he's fine, isn't he?" She asked.

"Yes, he's fine, but shouldn't you be watching him?" I asked.

"My mistake. Whoops!" She giggled.

"I told you two not to take stuff from strangers!" I scolded the two kids I was watching.

"Sorry." They both whispered.

I turned around to the girl.

She walked off and the little boy followed her.

I grabbed the two balloons.

I stomped over there.

"Hey! Goody-Two-Shoes!" I yelled at her.

She turned around.

I grabbed one balloon and popped it in her face.

She let out a shriek.

I grabbed the other and I stomped on it.

"How ya like dem apples, sweetie?" I smirked.

I walked away and threw the remanding balloon pieces in the trash.

(We love a global queen)

"That was so cool!" Louise smiled in shock as I grabbed her and David Micheal's hands.

"Yeah! You were like Wonder Women!" David Micheal cheered.

"Ya know what, David Micheal," I asked him, "I WAS like Wonder Women."

••••

I ran into Kristy's room.

"I RAN HERE AS FAST AS I COULD! WHERE'S THE EMERGENCY?" I yelled.

"Good! You're here!" Kristy smiled.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"There's no emergency?" I asked.

"Nope. Emergency MEETING." Mary Ann told me.

"You just said it was an emergency." I looked up at Kristy, who was standing on her bed.

"Whoops! I knew you'd run faster if I said that." She smirked.

I placed my hands on my knees.

"Do you know what five blocks DOES to a fourteen year old? That's a lot on your knees!" I breathed out.

"Come sit you old lady." Stacey laughed at me.

I sat down on the chair next to her.

"Okay, the Agency is moving in on our plan. We can't loose this club. It's the best idea I've ever had." Kristy continued to share her plan.

"It's practically the only reason my dad lets me leave my house." Mary Ann told her.

"It's practically the only reason I interact with kids other than my sister." I added.

"I need the money." Claudia added, "I've grown a accustomed to a certain quality of life. Sable paint brushes." Claudia finished in a day dream voice.

Sam walked through the door.

"SAMMY!" I laughed, pointing at him.

"BUBBLES!" He pointed right back at me.

(Okay I watch the episodes while I write this shit and when Sam walked through the door my stomach fr went: 🦋🦋)

"Hey, dummy, do we have any soda?" He asked his sister

"I don't know, check the fridge. I'm not your butler." Kristy scoffed.

"Flowers, Kristy!" I reminded her my way of calming down.

She sighed and began drawing a flower in her palm.

"Chill. Vibe." I told her with my arms slightly up.

Sam started playing some notes on his guitar, but I wasn't paying attention to that.

I was paying attention to Stacey.

Sweat formed on her forehead.

Her knees became a little weak.

'And...this is the part in the movie where the main character falls for her friends crush.'

'Jesus Christ can anything go right?'

"Hi!" Stacey waved to him.

"Oh god." I smiled, placing my hand up to my mouth.

I could FEEL a set of giggles in my throat.

'You were out of my league!'

The song played in my head.

'Got my heartbeat racing!'

I tried not to laugh.

'If I die don't wake me! Cause you are more than just a dream!'

"Hey." Sam told Stacey.

"Sam, this is my friend Stacey. Stacey this is my brother Sam." Kristy introduced.

Kristy gave him a disgusted look and he gave one right back to him.

"Where have our been keeping him?" Stacey asked in lala land.

I can't-

I burst out laughing.

"I CAN'T-" I laughed loudly.

I fell out of my chair and I laughed on the ground.

"OH MY GOD!" I laughed.

I looked up at Stacey.

"HE'S WAY OUT OF YOUR LEAUGE!"

I continued laughing on the floor.

"H-High school?" Kristy answered Stacey's question.

"Did I say that out loud?" Stacey asked.

"YOU DID NOT STUTTER, BABY!" I laughed, tears running down pink cheeks.

Stacey looked down at me in concern.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Just try to tune her out. She gets like this sometimes." Mary Ann told the confused blonde.

"Well, if you go to Stoneybrook High, you must know some of the Agency girls. What can you tell us about Lacy Lewis and Michelle Patterson?" Stacey asked Sam.

"Uhm...they started that babysitting business, right?" Sam asked.

I stopped laughing and sat up.

"You did not just say that."

"They make a lot of money. It's a pretty impressive idea, actually." Sam said, quieting his voice when he saw the look in my eyes.

Kristy went over and punched his shoulder.

"That's our club, idiot! The copied us!" She yelled at him.

"Thank you." I laughed quietly.

"We are the ones that babysit in a group!" Kristy finished.

"Is that why you dragged Bubbles down the stairs that one time?" Sam asked.

"Yep!" I gave a thumbs up.

"Oh! That's what your club is! I thought you just sat around and talked about babies." Sam laughed.

He started to walk out of the room.

"Oh no you don't." I whispered.

I stood up and went over to him.

I turned him around and held his shoulders tightly.

"That same day when Kristy dragged me down the stairs, you said I'd look hot with a baby, didn't you?" I asked.

I could feel the girl's eyes on us.

"Well, yeah-"

"If you ever want to see me with a baby, do you know what you have to do, Sam Thomas?" I asked him.

He thought for a couple seconds.

"Wait," I said, putting a finger to his lips, "you're a teenage boy and I'm asking what you have to do to see me with a baby. I know what the answer is and it is NOT that. You have to help us save our club."

"Okay, okay!" He surrendered.

"Perfect!" I smiled, taking my fingers off his lips.

Stacey came over and headed out the door.

"Stace. Where are you going?" Kristy asked.

"I have to walk my dog." She answered quickly.

"Since when do you have a dog?" Claudia asked.

"I just got him. He's...round." Stacey answered.

I gasped.

"Round dogs are the best!" I cooed.

"Especially corgis." Sam said.

"Yes!" I smiled.

"Nice, seeing you. Bye." Stacey waved, leaving.

Oh!

Diabetes!

Yep!

...

I should go help her.

I clicked my tongue.

"Well, I have to go home too because my mom wants me to...polish her jewelry." I lied.

"All of it?" Mary Ann asked.

"Yep."

"Oof. Good luck." Kristy cringed.

I smiled and waved goodbye to them.

As I was about to walk out the door-

"Hey Bubbles!"

I turned around and saw Sam.

"Oh. Hi Sam!" I waved.

"Yeah uhm..." He hesitated.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

He gently grabbed my chin and placed a kiss on my cheek.

I batted my eyelashes in shock.

"Oh, wow. Okay." I laughed in shock.

"Well, bye!" He waved.

I awkwardly smiled and I headed out the door.

Once I closed the door I did a little happy dance on the porch.

••••

"I mean, be honest with me."

"Okay."

"Do you like him? Or the thought of him?"

"I dunno." I answered my little sister.

She insisted on giving me a therapy session.

She had glasses on the end of her nose, her hair in a messy bun, loose clothes, and a lot of necklaces on.

She looked like a real therapist.

"Well," she wrote down in her sparkly notebook, "I have all the information I need."

"And what is the answer, Therapist Louise?" I asked.

"No! My name is not Louise. It is Marigold Anastasia Lopen Mortest Frappuccino." She scolded me.

I put my hands up in a 'surrender' way.

"I think it's time for marriage!"

"And I'm out" I laughed, getting up from my chair and leaving.

••••

"So, we didn't get any new business from the sandwich boards, but at least we got our steps in!" Claudia told the group while walking.

I heaved my white backpack onto my shoulder more.

"Sorry I couldn't be there guys." Stacey apologized.

"Me too." I added.

"Another trip to New York in your dad's black Porsche?" Kristy asked Stacey.

"Ha! That's rhymes! I think." I whispered the last part.

"We understand." Kristy finished.

"Should we even have a meeting today? We all know we aren't going to get any calls, and I have a ton of math homework to slog through." Claudia told everyone.

"Do you just want to cancel?" Kristy asked.

"We don't have any news jobs on the horizon. Only Bubbles." Mary Ann spoke up, "plus, I don't think I have it in me to sit and watch the phone not ring."

"Woah. What is that?" Kristy stopped us.

There sat little Jamie, sitting in the road playing with a truck.

"Oh goodness!" I called out, running to the little boy.

All of us ran over to him.

"What are you doing? You can't be in the street all alone!" Kristy scolded him.

"My new babysitters told me to come out here and play alone." Jamie frowned.

"No no no. I feel tears coming." I told myself, trying not to cry.

Kristy glared at the house.

••••

I picked open the lock of the house.

"Have you no decency?" Kristy asked the teenage, who I popped a balloon in her face.

"Ew, what?" She asked.

"Is what you say everything you look in a mirror!" I shot at her, swinging the broken bobby-pin around my finger.

"You left Jamie outside, and he almost got hit by a car! You call that babysitting?" Kristy yelled at them.

"I dunno what you're talking about. He's fine." The girl snarled.

"Go up to your room and play, okay?" Claudia told the little boy.

"Kids shouldn't trespass." The girls boyfriend scoffed.

"And babysitters shouldn't bring their dumb boyfriends to a job!" I yelled at them.

"Kim left me in charge, so it's my right to protect this property with whatever means necessary." The girl told us.

Stacey pulled out her phone.

"Okay, little miss priss." I told the girl, walking close to her, "my friend Stacey is gonna call up Kim right now and tell her what just happened. And boy!" I laughed, "you're not gonna have a babysitting job for the next decade!"

"Okay, Leah Wish." She shot at me, "I know everything about you and little Stacey over there. You're going to regret this."

••••

"No no no." I cried into my knees, looking at my phone.

A video of Stacey having some medical problems was leaked.

And a edited photo of me was shown.

I had my wrists slit.

I had my ribs showing.

And I was smiling.

"That's not true. No." I shakily cried into my knees.

IS THIS REALLY WHO YOU WANT BABYSITTING YOUR KIDS? A SEIZURE GIRL AND A SELF-HARMING ANOREXIA TEEN?

"That's not true." I continued crying.

The doorbell rang.

My mom and sister were out grocery shopping.

I headed down the stairs and opened the door.

There stood Sam with his phone.

It had the picture of me.

"Is this true?" He asked.

My lip quivered.

"No." My voice sounded like it could break out into sobs any second.

He looked down at my wrists and saw nothing.

He looked at my stomach and saw it was normal.

"What did I do wrong, Sam?" I asked him.

"You didn't do anything wrong." He told me, coming into my house and closing the door.

I wiped the tears that had fallen from my eyes.

"I'm so stupid." I whispered.

"You're not stupid." He told me, "Jazz is stupid."

"JAZZ IS STUPID!" I sobbed, "I MEAN, JUST PLAY THE RIGHT NOTES!

He wrapped his arms around me and I sobbed loudly into his shoulder.

"It's gonna be okay, Bubbles."

••••

"The video you saw was of me going into insulin shock, shortly before my diabetes was diagnosed in April. It was sent to you by the Agency to try and convince you not to trust our club. I know it looks bad, but I'm much better now." Stacey explained the video.

"And that picture of me? That was edited," I showed the families my wrists and I turned to the side so they could see my stomach and chest, "I am anorexic, though. But believe me, I am going to kick it's butt. I've already started feeling better. It started around the first grade, when I just stopped eating. But now, I'm getting better and better each day."

"We know how to take care of ourselves, and we know how to take care of your kids." Stacey finished.

"I am so sorry that happened to both of you, but I need to know my kids won't wind up in an unsafe situation. Medical equipment and meals." A women spoke up.

"It could be dangerous if a child came in contact with the medical equipment and we need our children to eat." A man added.

"I guess the question is, can we be sure about wanting these two to babysit for us?" The same women spoke again.

All of the families started chatting.

"Okay. The truth is, I haven't given up on eating." I told them, "I just, only eat a meal a day. But I make sure the kids eat snacks, breakfast, lunch, dinner, you name it. Your children are very, very important to us." I told everyone.

"And no, we cannot be sure I won't have another episode. If you don't feel comfortable with Leah or I as a sitter, we'll understand." Stacey spoke for the both of us, "but don't punish the Club for it."

"Maybe we can't stay out as late as the Agency, or drive anywhere. Though, I am getting my temps next year, but guess what? We care. We care about your children." I finished.

"And if it makes you feel any better, both Leah and I can resign from the Babysitters Club." Stacey sorrowfully spoke.

"I don't think that's necessary. Hi. I think I know most of you. I'm Peggy Johanssen. I'm Charlotte's mom. I'm also an endocrinologist at Stamford Presbyterian, and I notice Stacey's insulin pump right away. I also noticed that Leah would always bring granola bars. Granola bars are used a lot by anorexic people, and she had all the symptoms for it. I've witnessed the two manage their conditions while looking after my daughter. If anything, these two are more mature than kids their ages, given their conditions, and Charlotte is always asking when they're coming back to play, with their kid kits." Peggy finished.

"Which is something all of our sitters bring to each of our jobs. It's part on what makes the Club so special." Kristy explained.

"When Claudia sits for Eleanor and Nina, we always come home to see some art project they made, or hear about the books Mary Ann read to them, or hear about all the bubbles they blew with Leah."

"Every time Kristy sky's for my son Jackie, the run soccer drills in the park. One time, I told him to go to bed, and he said 'You're not the boss of me! Coach Kristy is.'"

"We just needed someone who could stay late sometimes, so that's why we use the Agency."

"How late?" I asked.

"Around eleven or twelve." The women answered.

"I can do that." I told her.

She smiled at me.

"Well, we have a deal."

"And all of us will work on the curfew thing. Not just Leah, our oldest of the group. Right mom?" Kristy asked her mom.

"We'll discuss it." She smiled.

"We're still offering special rates for our loyal customers." Kristy joked, which made the room laugh.

That's when I knew.

Everything was gonna be okay.

We were all so happy that day.

It's funny how things can turn upside down in a week.

••••

At the next Babysitters Club, we waited for the phone to ring.

It rang.

After a couple weeks.

I stumbled out of Claudia's bed.

"Babysitters Club!" Kristy greeted.

A smile grew into her face.

"Yes Kim, we would love to."

••••

"I wanna hear the whole brith story! My mom said I came at eight A.M, eyes wide open, observing everything." Claudia told Stacey and I under an umbrella, walking to Kim's house.

"Consider yourself lucky. My birth lasted two days." I told them.

"How?" Stacey asked.

"I dunno! Ask my mom!" I laughed at her.

We walked into the house.

"Meet Lucy." Kim told us, once we got settled in.

I gasped.

Kim handed them baby to me.

I started sniffling.

"Man, ya know? Babies." I laughed nervously.

Everyone laughed at my reaction to holding Lucy.

"Welcome to Stoneybrook, Lucy." Stacey smiled at the baby.

"Man. These allergies." I sniffled, tears falling from my eyes.

Everyone laughed at me once again and Mary Ann wiped my tears away.

••••

A/N:

Next chapter!

Leah and Sam: Adventures in Babysitting.