ii. chapter two

STACEY AND CLAUDIA sat on the sidewalk laughing as they slurped their slushies that stained their mouths blue after a hard day. "I mean this is just crazy..." Stacey said, referring to the newest child to go missing. Lately the number of calls have been dropping due to so many little kids disappearing, but at the same time the ages of the kids they babysat went up. Just the day before, Mary Anne had to babysit someone nearly her age— which made for a very awkward evening.

Never in a million years would The
Baby-Sitters Club have thought that the downfall of the club would be to a child shortage.

"Argh! Brainfreeze!" Stacey clutched her forehead. Claudia laughed, her eclectic earrings softly jingling.
Stacey ran back in to the shop from which they had purchased them, allowing for Claudia's smile to drop. The girl sighed as she looked over to her book bag that was adorned with assorted pins and patches, haphazardly clustered on. The Manila envelope that she loathed poked out as if it was trying to remind her of her failure.

Passing by was a red balloon, which caught Claudia off guard, but she decided some dumb kid probably lost it anyway. But then Claudia realized that it wasn't even floating up like a real balloon was supposed to. It was just floating, robotically in a straight line as if it had a specific destination.

what was taking Stacey so long?

Suddenly a hand snatched the Manila envelope, a gasp escaping the Kishi girl. It was her mother looking down at her with a look of disgust over the top of her glasses. "Mom?" What was she doing here? But her mother had already seen what was on the report card.
"What. is. THIS!" Mrs. Kishi yelled, making Claudia flinch. "I did NOT raise a stupid girl! This is absolutely disgraceful! Why can't you do one thing right! You said that you were trying!" Claudia's lip quivered at her 'mother's' words.

"I tried! I tried my best!" Tears streamed down Claudia's cheeks. Because that was the truth. Claudia really did promise she would try hard. But her best wasn't enough. Now Claudia's mother looked mad. Madder than she had ever seen her in her life. Mad enough to kill.

"LIES!" Mrs Kishi Bellowed. Claudia trembled as her words dissolved into senseless sobs. Mrs Kishi then smiled a grin that stretched far too wide. "But I know how we can fix it Claudia!"

Claudia's sobs stopped abruptly when her mother grabbed her arm roughly. "You can come with me and Pennywise in the sewers! Then the pain will stop! You won't have to answer to me...or your father...or Janine." But Claudia's mom wasn't Claudia's mom anymore. She transformed into a terrifying clown. The clown let out a wicked laugh.

Claudia inched away, terrified at what she was witnessing. "Make it stop! make it stop! Make it STOP!" Claudia clutched her forehead, repeating it, each time louder than the last.

"You ok doll?"

Richie halted on his bike when he saw Claudia on the sidewalk clutching her head. Claudia didn't even think to tell Richie to not call her doll because of how shaken up she was. The teenager looked around, dumbfounded. She spotted her report card casted aside on the sidewalk. It looked semi-crinkled as if someone had gripped it a little too hard. Then, at that moment Claudia knew it wasn't some messed up delusion.

"Brainfreeze." Claudia blurted out the lie as she looked up at him. However, Richie noticed the way her eyes were a little red, and her cheeks shined from fresh tears. "Oh, and don't call me doll."

"No promises." Richie winked through his coke bottle glasses that made him appear to have bug eyes. Claudia let out a small chuckle. Classic Richie.

"You might wanna leave before Stacey shoos you off...again..." Claudia said referring to a time when Stacey practically shushed Richie out of the room.

"It might be a little too late for that Claud," Stacey said, appearing in front of the shop. "Dude, I told you to not mope around about your grades!" Stacey said, picking up the crumpled report card that laid on the ground.

"Oh um...yeah." Claudia said, taking back the paper, wondering how you tell your best friend and the dirty minded boy who has a crush on you that you just saw a clown try to drag you into the sewers.

CHRISTINA SPEAKS!
Claudia is my fave ok👌😊
Sorry this chapter was really short but I'll make it up to you next time :)