BLUE SKIPPED ALONG the sidewalk outside her house, her shimmering brown eyes glinting in the October sunlight. She was chewing a bright orange bubblegum ball, she had a machine at home. The blonde girl popped her gum as her skipping came to a stop in front of the bus stop. 

Through her earbuds, the song, 'Some Nights' by Fun. was playing at full blast. Blue sat down on the bench to wait for the bus to school. After a few minutes of waiting, Blue suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She pulled out an earbud and looked to her right, staring back at her was Elijah. 

"Hey you," she said with a chuckle.

"Hi," the boy replied planting a soft kiss on her cheek. 

The pair were definitely more than friends but they hadn't exactly taken the plunge to full-blown dating. Well...they were practically dating. At their age dating is just: arm-around-eachother-and-cheek-and-forehead-kisses-dating, not, getting-down-and-dirty-and-sneaking-out-dating.

And they hadn't even told anyone - well Blue had told Kristy but that was because it didn't really matter - anyway, they mostly just hung out in Stoneybrook Park and at the bus stop together. But Blue was fine with things the way they were, she didn't need to be in an official relationship.

Blue smiled in response to the kiss, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. Elijah didn't notice the difference. The brunette boy slung his arm over the girl's shoulders and planted a peck on her forehead. Elijah's kisses were...nice. Not great, but Blue could live with that.

"How are you?" Blue asked, leaning back and twirling her hair.

"Fine," he replied, "What's up with you?"

"Nothing much," she responded, slightly shifting in her seat.

"Cool," Elijah said, making the 2 drift into a semi-comfortable silence. Less comfortable for Blue. The girl had an overwhelming urge to push Elijah's arm off her shoulders and slide as far away from him as possible. But she resisted and simply just sat there until the bus came.

"Bye!" Blue quickly waved and sped away onto the bus.

"DID HE ASK YOU TO THE DANCE OR NOT?" Kristy interrogated at the club meeting that afternoon.

Claudia ate her Twizzler whilst Blue picked at her black painted nails.

"Well?"

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

"Here's the thing," Stacey said, "A guy like Trevor Stanbourne isn't going to...show up at your door with a corsage. that's not the way things are done in his kind of circles."

Blue leaned back in her seat, knowing something was about to go down.

"Which are what, exactly?" Kristy questioned her eyes squinting.

"Artistic Circles, Sophisticated circles," Stacey explained.

Kristy shook her head.

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

"I was gonna be a troll doll, but for Trevor, I might have to think of something a little bit more soigne." Claudia grinned and giggled.

"Seriously Claud?" Blue stood up and started to pace. "You're really gonna get all glammed up for some guy who was too chicken to ask you out for real? That's just desperate at this point."

"You're one to talk Blue, you've been hanging with Elijah for a month but none of you actually make it official," Kristy added.

Claudia raised an eyebrow, "Spill!"

Blue sighed, "I have a boy best friend, Elijah. We're kind of seeing each other, but we've only kissed a few times. It's nothing special really."

"How come we haven't seen him at school?" Stacey asked.

"He goes to a prep school in Caper," Blue explained. Caper was a little town about an hour from Stoneybrook. "Anyways...Let's change the subject."

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

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mary Anne lied, her face turning a dark of shade crimson.

"Anyway there's no way my dad would let me go, he's spinning out enough about the phantom caller."

"What's that?" Stacey asked.

"Some weirdo home invader that was on the news," Mary Anne said, "Apparently you get these creepy anonymous phone calls. Then you realize the calls are coming from inside the house," she explained in a low voice, giving Blue the chills.

Suddenly the phone started ringing, making everyone screech and yelp in terror.

Kristy slowly picked up the phone, panic in her eyes.

"Hello, babysitters club."

There was a pause of silence.

"Hold please," Kristy said, pressing the mute button. "Watson needs a sitter for Friday night."

"But that's the night of the dance," Claudia complained.

"Yeah, we're definitely going."

"What about you Blue?" Mary Anne asked.

"I can't, my mom's making me go trick-or-treating with my cousins. And I've already sat for Karen and Andrew 3 times."

"Kristy, this is the 7th time that Watson or your mom has called asking for a sitter. And you're the only one who hasn't gone, and you're the only one they actually want." Mary Anne pointed out.

Kristy plastered an obvious faux smile on her face.

"Mary Anne Spier will be your sitter on Friday, have a wonderful day!"

Kristy slammed the phone down onto the receiver.

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

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

"You get head lice a lot," Claudia added, Kristy shrugged.

BLUE, STACEY, AND CLAUDIA SAT AT THE picnic table the next morning, helping Claudia study for her math test. The 3 girls were all crowded around the paper.

"That's pretty good Claud," Blue said looking at the girl's work.

"Yeah, you've almost got it," Stacey confirmed, because she was the actual math guru, "You just need to divide by 8 and set the factor to 0," Stacey quickly finished the equation, "And...there you go."

"How do you do that?" Claudia asked.

"You can do it too. Just breathe, go slow, and check your work. That's why I love math, you always know when you're right."

Claudia glanced behind her and saw Trevor with his skateboard, starting to walk towards the table.

"Omigod! He's coming over here!" Claudia squealed, making everyone excited.

"Go on, tell them."

The 3 girls looked up to see Kristy and Mary Anne standing behind them.

"I can't babysit for the Brewer's tomorrow night." Mary Anne confessed.

"She was 20 minutes late last night, and her dad grounded her," Kristy said, the 2 girls walked to the other side of the table and sat down.

"My cousins are 8 and 9-year-olds and there's no one else to go with them, I have to go," Blue explained.

"And we're going to the dance," Stacey said.

"First you're mad at Mary Anne for sitting for Karen and Andrew, and now you're mad because she can't. You're being crazy," Claudia pointed out.

"Excuse me! But I am trying to run a business here! It's not crazy to be mad when someone behaves unprofessionally," Kristy looked at Mary Anne.

"You know who's crazy? Richard Spier."

"Kristy, come on."

"He's paranoid! He treats you like some kind of china doll in a box. And this whole thing about the phantom tollbooth-"

"-Phantom Caller," Blue corrected.

"Whatever. he's a psycho, he is not normal-"

"And what would you know about having a normal dad?" Mary Anne exclaimed.

Everyone looked at Mary Anne.

"Kristy...I mean- I-"

Kristy got up and ran away.

Mary Anne sighed, "I'm a horrible person," she said, hurrying after her friend.

"FAIL." CLAUDIA GROANED, presenting her test to Blue and Stacey.

"It's better than last time," Stacey said reassuringly, "Maybe your parents will be like 'Yay! Improvement! '"

"Trevor's gonna think I'm a total loser."

"What about me? I basically know nobody at this school besides you, Blue, Kristy, and Mary Anne! And none of you are gonna be at the dance."

"I'm sorry Stace, I really am."

A lightbulb suddenly went off in Blue's head as she pulled her test out of her bag.

"Take this," Blue handed Claudia her test.

"What's this for?" Claudia asked.

"Ok, I wrote everything in erasable pen, so, why don't you make use of those fancy gummy erasers you have and-" Blue mimicked the use of an eraser "-Just, help yourself out," she finished.

"You mean lie to my parents?"

"No! Of course not! Just...withhold the truth, until tomorrow."

Blue gingerly closed her locker and walked off.

(A/N: Blue's Halloween costume. Just imagine she's wearing an actual skirt, not a piece of paper.)

BLUE AND HER COUSINS sprinted down Blue's driveway and inside the house, each of them giggling excitedly. 

Amber and Nathalie, Blue's little cousins crashed down onto the couch and started munching on candies. The blonde girl sat down on the couch across from them and popped a few M&M's into her mouth.

Suddenly Blue got a notification from the BSC group chat. She looked at her phone.

BSC 👶❤️

Best Treasurer Eva❤️😃

LOOK AT THIS!!!!!

*one video attachment*

Fundraisin'😄💸

WTF is the babysitters' agency?!

1554 words

A/N:  Blue + Elijah = 👎

Blue + Dawn = 🥰