AIDEN THREW A CHIP AT Pam's face, which made the blonde stick her tongue out at the older blonde.

"Okay...your tab is all payed for!" Mable concluded, smiling at the blonde in front of the counter.

"Yay! New year, new tab! That's the new rule." Josh declared.

"Of course." Avi said, looking at Amaryllis' book.

"Okay, I'm going to get myself a slushee!" Pam cheered.

Josh laughed at the girl and ruffled her hair, as she turned around to get a slushee.

Her phone started ringing.

Incoming call from ✨💿weirdo💿✨...

Pam got her phone out of her pocket and pressed the green button, bringing the phone up to her ear.

"Hey Stace! What's up?"

"Hey, Pam! Where are you right now?"

"Uhm..." Pam said, grabbing a slushee cup and putting it under the dispenser, "At 7/11. Why? What's up?"

"Well...something happened."

"Yes?" Pam asked, lifting up her slushee to her mouth.

"Mimi had a stroke."

Pam choked on the slushee in her throat.

"I KNOW CPR!" Avi yelled assuringly to the blonde.

"I'll be right over." Pam said.

••••

(oaky if y'all are confused af by this picture {which i was} the black thing is an overall skirt. those laces go on the shoulders. i was loosing brain cells when i looked at this. OAKY BACK TO IT-)

"SO WE TALKED TO ALL THE GIRLS THIS MORNING, AND WE HAVE ALL OF YOUR JOBS COVERED FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS." Pam assured Claudia at the small girls house.

"And we'll give you the money anyways." Stacey added, as Pam nodded.

"Honestly, I just want everything to be normal as possible. Mimis gonna be fine!" Claudia said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

The girls looked up and saw Janine.

"What do you want, Janine?" Claudia asked.

"Merely to disabuse you of the notion that Mimi's recovery will be swift and/or complete." Janine informed her sister.

"Wait I'm slow." Pam whispered, trying to process what Janine said as Stacey rubbed her back assuringly.

"You're saying she won't get better?" Claudia asked.

"Mimi is 83 years old. Her likelihood of recovery is low. We shouldn't delude ourselves." Janine further explained.

"You think I'm delusional, you think Mimi's gonna give up, but I know better than that, and that's why she loves me more than you!"

Pam's eyes widened and she looked at the kitchen tiles awkwardly.

Janine held a hurt look in her eyes, and rushed up the stairs.

••••

PAM, STACEY AND CLAUDIA LOOKED AT THE raven haired girls artwork.

"Needs more room at the bottom so it doesn't distract the judges." Stacey said, as Claudia grabbed a piece of paper.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Pam assured the two.

She walked up to the door and opened it, revealing the Thomas'.

"Hi...Pam? Is it? We've never formally met. I'm Elizabeth Thomas, Kristy's mother. Claudia's parents called and asked me to check up on her. I have pizza!" Elizabeth cheered, coming into the house.

"Great!" Pam giggled.

"Oh! We're here too. No one called us, but we have casseroles." Richard said, coming through the door.

"Oh! Hello Mr. Spier!" Pam smiled.

"I'm so happy you guys are here." Claudia gushed, as she rushed over to give Richard a hug.

"What kind of casserole?" Elizabeth asked.

"Healthy. What kind of pizza?"

Pam giggled at the two adults and saw Mary Anne coming towards Claudia and her.

"She's gonna be okay, right?" Mary Anne asked.

"Absolutely." Claudia assured the curly haired girl.

"She's already recovering." Pam smiled.

"Hey." Sam waved to the girls.

"Hi Sam." Pam smiled.

"Hey." Stacey said, her cheeks turning pink.

"I have more chemistry with my pillow." Pam muttered to herself, looking at her sister and friend eye each other.

The boy went into the kitchen to help his mother, and Stacey rushed over to the girls.

"I'm staying for dinner!"

"Stacey!" Kristy scolded, as everyone giggled.

••••

🥺Pammy✌️

hi dawn! im just texting to see if you wanted to come over to the kishis house. we're having dinner and after we're gonna make cards for mimi!!

DAWN SMILED DOWN AT HER PHONE and giggled silently, looking at all the explanation marks Pam used.

💛☀️Sunrise☀️💛

of course! i never turn down a good opportunity to hang out with friends! oh, and free food.

Dawn clicked off her phone and got off her bed, heading towards the door.

"Oh! Wait!"

The raven haired girl turned around and paused the girl in red song playing on her computer.

"Now let's go."

••••

THE DOORBELL RANG, and Pam shot out of her seat to open it.

Once she did, Dawn was revealed.

"Dawn!" Pam cheered.

"Pam!" Dawn cheered.

The two gave each other a quick hug and laughed.

Dawn came into the house and Pam shut the door.

"I'm so happy you're here! You can sit next to me. We're having pizza, but we also have salad and casseroles..."

••••

"OH MY GOD, NO!" Claudia laughed, as Sam blew bubbles with his nose with two straws into the water.

All the girls laughed at the boy, as he continued to be the funny guy he is.

••••

ALL THE KIDS GATHERED INTO CLAUDIA'S ROOM, making cards for Mimi.

"I'm done." Sam announced, holding up a blender.

"Is that a blender?" Stacey asked.

"I was gonna say it's a dishwasher, but your assumption is better, Stacey." Pam sassed, continuing to draw her picture.

"It's this thing I draw." Sam told Stacey.

"Oh, cause nothing says 'get well soon!' like a blender." Kristy sassed to her brother.

"Well, I think it's cool!" Stacey defended.

"I might make one that covers my whole wall, once we're at Watson's house." Sam informed him.

Dawn and Pam watched as the two talked, looking at how they stared at each other.

"Are you getting excited to move?" Stacey asked kindly.

Kristy scoffed.

"Kristy's worried that if our mom isn't stressed about money every single second of her life, she's gonna stop being a feminist or something. So it's better that we live on top of each other and go into crazy debt for collage rather than compromise our values,"

Mary Anne let out a laugh at Sam.

"-by letting mom marry a chill guy that totally loves her. Isn't that right, Kristy?" Sam asked innocently.

(period king, you tell em!)

"Well, when you put it that way." Kristy muttered.

Everyone laughed and began working on their artwork again.

Dawn leaned over to Pam.

"I'll bet you five dollars that Sam and Stacey will kiss before we graduate high school." Dawn whispered.

Pam scoffed.

"I'm not betting on something as stupid as that."

"Oh." Dawn whispered, and began working on her picture again.

Pam leaned down to her ear.

"Cause I think they will before we graduate middle school."

Dawn smiled and Pam stuck out her hand.

"Deal?"

Dawn smiled at it and shook it gently.

"Deal."

••••

"SO, ARE YOU LOVING YOUR NEW ROOM?" Claudia asked Mary Anne.

"Oh! Yes! Totally. I just..." Mary Anne stuttered and trialed off.

The girl looked around the room with a octopus plush in her arms.

Kristy raised her eyebrow at her.

"...I don't know. I think I just need to get used to it." Mary Anne finished.

"That makes sense." Claudia smiled.

"Claudia?"

Everyone looked up at Elizabeth.

"Your mom called from the hospital. Mom woke up."

Claudia gasped and smiled.

"Really?"

"Thank god!" Mary Anne breathed out.

"I knew it." Pam said.

"You didn't know it. You said she was gonna wake up tomorrow!" Dawn defended.

"Well, it's like, nine o'clock right now." Pam said in a 'duh' tone.

"There's still three more hours until midnight." Dawn pointed out.

"Well, when did YOU think she was gonna wake up?"

As the two girls bickered over something they would get over in the morning, Sam leaned over to Stacey.

"Five dollars saying they end up together."

"I'll bet on that." Stacey smiled, shaking the boys hand.

••••

EVERYONE IN THE BSC CROWDED AROUND CLAUDIA'S ARTWORK, waiting for the show to begin.

Dawn had on Pam's sunglasses, which the blonde allowed.

"These are so good, they almost make me forget that refunded sugar is legal poison!" Dawn said happily.

"Yeah! And they actually look like something! Instead of just scribbles that you can't even tell what they're supposed to be." Kristy complimented.

"I believe the word your looking for is 'abstract.'" Stacey said confidently.

"Hey, I like what I like." Kristy smiled.

"Here they come." Trevor warned Claudia.

Claudia looked over at the judges.

"That's Paola in the glasses. The one that I told you about."

"Good luck Claud!" Kristy smiled.

"Good luck." Mary Anne smiled.

"You got this!" Pam smiled, as she winked at the smaller girl.

Dawn held up two thumbs.

"Let's go look at artwork!" Pam told Dawn.

"Of course! Stuff we don't understand!" Dawn agreed, as the two girls looked at some pieces of purple art.

Mary Anne and Kristy followed the two girls.

Until Logan started walking towards the girls.

Pam saw and grabbed Dawn and Kristy's hands, leading them away from the art and leaving Mary Anne.

"What are we doing?" Kristy asked, as the my hid around the corner.

"It's Logan!" Pam whispered.

"Hi." The boy said.

Mary Anne turned and looked at him.

"What are you doing here?" Mary Anne asked.

"My sisters showing her pottery," Pam, Dawn and Kristy leaned around the corner, "You like this one?"

Mary Anne looked at the basket of eggs.

"What? This? What is it?"

"Oh boy." Kristy cringed.

"Um, I...I think it's a basket of eggs."

"Eggs..."

The two stared at each other.

Mary Anne exhaled awkwardly and started going around the corner.

"Bye!"

The girl rushed over to the three waiting for her.

"Um, you spoke! That's progress!" Dawn pointed out, Pam's glasses on the edge of her nose.

"Why am I like this? New hair, new clothes, new room, and still-"

"You didn't just magically become Stacey and Pam overnight! Mary Anne, can I ask you something? Do you even like your new room?" Kristy cut the girl off.

"...I-I do..."

The three girls raised an eyebrow at her.

"...in theory," Mary Anne sighed, "I don't know. I guess it just doesn't feel like...home."

"Maybe there's something that can fix that!" Pam smiled assuringly.

"Yeah! Maybe there were just some things you weren't quite ready to leave behind." Kristy added.

Mary Anne smiled at the girls.

••••

"YOU'RE HOME!" Kristy cheered, hugging Mimi.

"Yay!" Pam cheered.

"We're so happy to see you." Dawn smiled.

"I made you an Afghan! But I ran out of yarn. So I guess it's a scarf!" Mary Anne told the woman, wrapping the green yard around her neck.

"Thank you! Beautiful!" Mimi smiled brightly, as Claudia came down the stairs.

"Hi Mimi!" Stacey said, hugging her, "I'm so glad your better."

"You okay Mimi?" Claudia asked.

"I...tea." Mimi said.

"Call me when it's ready and I'll bring it upstairs." Claudia answered.

"Oh, I missed Mimi's tea." Pam smiled from besides Dawn.

"She's doing great." Mary Anne said.

"Yeah. She is." Claudia smiled.

The phone began ringing upstairs.

"Was that a phone?" Kristy asked.

"What?" Stacey asked.

"The phone!" Kristy exclaimed, rushing up the stairs.

"Oh! The phone!" Pam giggled, following her.

Kristy made it into the room first with Pam behind her and everyone else behind Pam.

"Hello! Babysitters club!" Kristy greeted the other line.

"Hi Miss Pike! Sea City? Uh...are you serious?" Kristy stuttered.

Everyone's eyes widened.

"I mean, we'll have to ask!"

"Oh my gosh!" Dawn squealed, grabbing onto Pam's arm.

Kristy sat down and began writing all the details of the trip.

"Now, I know what you're thinking." Claudia narrated, as she looked at her friends from her desk.

"'Oh, now we're going to learn about the Sea City Trip!' Well, yes, but..."

A rainbow light shines on Pam's face, the light coming from the glass hung up on Claudia's ceiling.

"There's a part before that story."

Dawn and Pam smiled at each other with wide eyes.

"And it involves a rainbow flag."

A/N

stacey trying to argue that pam's too young to declare her sexuality: a.ham.

pam saying that she's been feeling this for a while: a.burr.

stacey: a.ham.

pam: a.burr.

stacey: A.HAM.

pam: A.BURR.

dawn actually listening to girl in red for the first time in her room: AND PEGGY!

if you know where that's from ily.

Actual A/N:

next up is an original chapter!!