THE PHONE RANG AT A SLOW BABYSITTERS CLUB MEETING, and Stacey went over to answer it.

Pam looked up from her laptop, which was playing Stranger Things.

"And I would go home. And just scream into my pillow."

"But...Tammy Thompson's a girl."

"Steve..."

"Hello! Babysitters club!" Stacey greeted.

"Yeah...?"

Pam stuffed more popcorn mixed with M&M's into her mouth, which Aidan introduced her to. Now, it's apart of her daily meals.

"How many times can you watch that show?" Kristy asked.

"Twelve times." Pam whispered, her eyes glued to the screen.

"She wants to talk to you, Mary Anne!" Stacey smiled cheerfully, handing the phone to the kind girl.

Mary Anne grabbed it and hesitantly brought it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

Stacey went on Claudia's bed and laid next to Pam, leaning on her shoulder and putting a piece of popcorn in her mouth.

"Which part it this?" Stacey asked.

"They got drugged by the Russians and they threw up."

"Ooh~"

"I don't-"

Pam and Stacey sat up and looked at a nervous Mary Anne on the phone.

"No, I mean, yes. I'm free."

Stacey and Claudia gave her a shocked look, while Pam didn't mind her sticking up for herself.

"I think."

'What are you doing?!' Kristy mouthed.

"But the thing is, I belong to a club of babysitters. So I'd have to check if any of them-"

Mary Anne stopped abruptly.

"What's your address?"

Pam clapped silently with a smile of her face, while the rest of the club rolled their eyes.

"Wow." Kristy whispered sarcastically.

"Thank you." Mary Anne said, and hung up the phone.

The girl nervously rubbed her thighs.

"I shouldn't of done that."

"Clients aren't supposed to pick their sitters, Mary Anne! That goes against the clubs entire mission statement!" Kristy exploded.

"I'm sorry." Mary Anne whispered.

"You don't have to apologize. Just try to be more assertive." Claudia told the girl, "Stand yo for yourself."

"Sorry." Mary Anne said, her voice cracking a little.

"Oh no." Pam whispered.

"You don't have to keep saying you're sorry." Kristy scoffed.

"Sorry."

"Mary Anne!" Stacey, Claudia and Kristy groaned.

"Hey! Don't judge her. She was stressed. And anyways, I think Mary Anne with do an excellent job!" Pam said confidently, trying to stop the curly haired girl from crying.

"You have to learn how to advocate yourself better!" Stacey said, ignoring her sister.

"Don't be such a pushover!" Claudia added.

"Do you just want people to ignore you your whole life?!" Kristy exclaimed.

Mary Anne's lip quivered and she looked down, sniffling and beginning to cry.

Pam looked at her with soft eyes, feeling sorrow for the curly haired girl.

"Just leave me alone!" Mary Anne exclaimed, and ran out of the room.

Pam scoffed and stood up.

"How do you guys feel? No, really! You girl made one of the sweetest girls in the world cry because she took a babysitting job that she was nervous about!" Pam yelled.

"Clients can't pick their own sitters, Pam. Remember?" Claudia pointed out.

"Claud, you've known Mary Anne a lot longer than me. If you were her in that situation, and someone said they wanted you as a sitter and no one else, would you panic and say yes?"

Claudia stuttered over her words.

"Be better, you three."

••••

PAM PLACED IN HER COMBINATION TO HER LOCKER, and opened it gently.

She grabbed her lunch bag with peace signs all over it, and gently closed it.

The blonde turned on her heal, causing her two loose braids to move a little bit, and started walking to lunch.

She opened the doors and saw the packed cafeteria.

Now, Richard called the McGill parents, telling them about Mary Anne's little outburst, and Maureen and Edward were quite surprised when they found out Pam had nothing to do with it. So they grounded Stacey and not Pam.

Pam looked around and saw Stacey and Claudia sitting together, and Kristy sitting with the only pair of twins in the school.

"I'm not sitting with you guys." Pam whispered.

She then saw a girl with braids and glasses, smiling at another girl.

Pam walked over and sat next to Mary Anne.

"Hey hon! Sorry I'm late, I knew that I packed a lunch, but I couldn't find it! So I had to call my mom, and she said she put it in my backpack! You know, I relate to Alice in Wonderland a lot." Pam pointed out, as she got out her fruit salad.

Mary Anne giggled at the two girls favorite book reference.

"Hi!"

Pam looked up and saw a beautiful girl with space buns, a plaid shirt and a blue cover up.

"I'm Dawn." The girl greeted the blonde, holding out her hand.

Pam looked her her hand and didn't dare to shake it.

She though she would break it.

She then brought her hand quickly up to Dawn's, and shook it quickly with her eyes glued to Dawn's hand.

"Do you listen to girl in red?" Pam finally asked.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Hm? What?" Pam asked.

Mary Anne stared at the two awkwardly.

"Oh! It's just...a good artist. That I thought you listen to. Cause she dresses like you. Not saying she dresses bad! N-Not saying you dress bad! Haha! So..." Pam trailed off, pulling a loose piece of hair behind her ear to try and cover her pink cheeks.

"Oh! Well..." Dawn looked at Mary Anne nervously, "I'll have to check her out! Thanks for the recommendation!" Dawn smiled.

Pam nodded.

"So, Pam, are you busy tonight?" Mary Anne asked kindly.

"N-No! Why? You you think I'm automatically busy because I'm just nervous right now?!" Pam asked.

"I just wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out with Dawn and I."

"Oh. Oh! Okay! Of course! Yes! I would...ahem...love. That. Idea."

Pam awkwardly fired finger guns at Mary Anne.

••••

"IT'S LIKE THIS. ARE YOU RIGHT HANDED OR LEFT HANDED?" Dawn asked Mary Anne at her house, as the three discussed Bailey.

"Right." Mary Anne answered.

"And you've known this since you were little, right?" Pam asked, lifting up her tank top strap.

"Pretty much."

"And if someone tried to make you do everything with your left hand, it would be super weird, right?" Dawn continued.

"If I tired to use scissors, I'd definitely stab myself." Mary Anne answered, which made the three girls giggle.

"Well, that's how Bailey feels. The same way you know you're right handed, Bailey knows she's a girl. And we all want our insides to match our outsides, right?" Dawn smiled.

Pam looked at the UNO cards carefully, nodding.

"Yeah." Mary Anne agreed.

"And it's rad to have parents and a babysitter who get it. She's really lucky." Dawn concluded.

The raven haired girl picked up a cookie and munched on it.

"You two seem to know a lot about this." Mary Anne pointed out.

"Well, I am from California." Dawn giggled.

"And I am from New York!" Pam cheered.

The three girls laughed at Pam's cheer and continued playing their card game.

••••

STACEY LAUGHED AT WHATEVER WAS ON HER PHONE, as Pam texted Dawn besides Mary Anne.

Dawn🌱

heyo, pammy!

Pamelita🌷

heyo, dawna!

Mary Anne laughed as she looked at the twos conversation.

The phone began ringing, and Kristy swiftly brought her hand to it and answered it.

"Hello, Babysitters Club! This is President Kristy Thomas speaking."

Silence.

"Oh, hi, Mrs.Delvecchio!"

Kristy glared at Mary Anne, as the brown haired girl scratched her forehead.

"This Sunday? Nice, a matinee in the city! I'll see who's available-"

Kristy was cut off abruptly.

"Right. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to. After all, Mary Anne is the best. Thank you!"

Kristy set the phone on the receiver.

"So, special requests for Mary Anne are standard now?" Claudia asked.

"None of us are allowed to leave the house this week, expect Pam." Kristy shot at the girl, who was tapping her phone with her thumbs.

"Maybe if you got your head out of your butt, Kris, then you would get some special requests."

Pamelita🌷 changed Dawn🌱's name to ☀️💛Dawna💛☀️

••••

THAT SAME WEEK, Mary Anne hung out with Dawn. Pam would've too, but she was busy...

Pam slammed her head onto her wall multiple times.

Stacey walked into her sisters room and just stared at her, while she continued to bruise her head.

Pam then stopped.

"You wanna talk about it? Or are you just gonna keep butchering your last 10 brain cells after banging your head on the wall for twenty minutes."

"Are mom and dad home?" Pam asked, flopping herself onto her bed on the floor.

Stacey shook her head no.

Pam sighed and looked at her ceiling, which had little stars on it.

"There's this girl."

"Go on?" Stacey asked, intrigued by what her sister was saying.

"Her name is Dawn. And I think she's really pretty."

"Well, then, you found a new best friend!" Stacey smiled, holding out her arms in a 'hooray!' way.

"Well...not exactly." Pam sighed.

"What do you mean?" Stacey asked.

"You know how...uhm...girls can like..." Pam felt the sweat in her palms forming, "girls?"

"Yeah..." Stacey trialed off.

"I think I might...like Dawn." Pam admitted, basically hearing the Jaws theme song playing on repeat in the back of her head.

Stacey was silent.

"As a friend? Cause if so, cool. You weren't really good at making friends back in New Yor-"

"No, Stace, I might like like Dawn."

"Oh."

Stacey fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"It's just a phase."

Pam shot up out of her laying down position and looked at her sister with a confused face.

"What did you just say?"

"It's just a phase, Pam." Stacey giggled, "You're gonna marry a boy. Besides, you've known Dawn for like a week."

"Stacey, I know what I like." Pam laughed.

"Just saying, being gay isn't a trend-"

"This isn't...pretend, Stacey!" Pam said loudly, getting fed up with her sister.

"Well..." Stacey cringed, "You dated Jack. And I think-"

"JACK MEANT NOTHING. IF ANYTHING HE MADE ME REALIZE I'M GAY!" Pam yelled.

"Woah, you don't need to yell." Stacey defended, holding up her arms.

"Stacey, I am literally coming out to you and you're saying it's just a phase and how I'm pretending to like girls." Pam whispered hurtfully.

"Well...go look at a picture of Finn Wolfhard and tell me he's not hot."

"He's not." Pam said sternly, "But Sophia Lillis is."

"Noah Schnapp?" Stacey asked.

"Try Sadie Sink."

"Jaeden Martell?"

"Ana de Armas."

"Timothèe Chalamet?"

"Saoirse Ronan. I can go on all day."

"Pam. You're not gay. You're fourteen, and you probably are just confused cause you think Dawn is extras pretty. So...just don't obsess over her."

Stacey left the room and Pam had her jaw dropped.

The blonde went over to her door and slammed it shut, letting out an angry groan.

She threw herself onto her twin sized mattress and cuddled a pillow to her chest.

"Stupid straight Stacey."

••••

MARY ANNE WALKED THROUGH CLAUDIA'S DOORWAY and looked at everyone.

"Oh my god, we heard everything!" Stacey squealed, running up to Mary Anne.

Pam rolled her eyes at her sister.

"Your dad called all of our parents again and told them what happened. Mary Anne, your a hero." Claudia said proudly.

"Plus we're ungrounded now. Your dad said he's glad you're in a club with other young women who are such great influences." Stacey explained.

"That's us!" Claudia said.

"Yeah!"

Pam got up and went by Mary Anne, hugging her sideways.

"You did good, my dudette."

"Thanks, lady." Mary Anne giggled.

"What was it like riding in the ambulance? I would have had a literal panic attack." Claudia admitted.

"Not Mary Anne. Fearless under pressure." Stacey joked.

"You made the whole club look awesome too! Right Kristy?" Claudia asked the brunette, who was looking at Mary Anne.

"Yeah. She did."

"We have to celebrate! There are gummy worms in the chair, and for those of you who prefer non gelatin based candy, M&Ms!" Claudia said, pulling out her candy stash.

"Ooh! M&Ms!" Pam said.

Claudia tossed her the bag and the blonde caught it, opening it and eating some.

"Sorry for being such a jerk to you in the cafeteria. To make up for it, I made a playlist called 'Mary Anne is Boss' because you are." Stacey said, getting out her phone.

The blonde pressed the play button, which made music pour out of the phone.

Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne.

Claudia grabbed Pam and Stacey's hands and danced with them.

"So, Pam, who's the girl you were hanging out with?" Claudia asked Pam.

"Oh. That's Dawn. She's cool."

A/N

Dawn to Pam: hi! im dawn.

Pam: 👁👄👁

her last two romantic brain cells: what do we do?!

one of the brain cells: say hello back! but in a...cool way.

the other brain cell: no way! i got this!

pam: do you listen to girl in red?

the smart romantic brain cell: eye-

actual A/N:

so updates are gonna be slow.