The Baby-Sitters Club belongs to Ann M. Martin

I was asleep on a Saturday morning when my younger sister, Vanessa Pike, who share a room with, was starting singing in rhythm. She wants to be a poet and she's nine.

"Time to get up. It's a brand new day to do things all day. I always knew it's sunny out today," sang Vanessa.

"Oh, alright, I'll get up," I said as I got up.

I'm Mallory Pike. I'm the oldest of eight kids at age eleven. It's true that I have seven siblings. Vanessa is one of them. Let me tell you about the rest since I already told you Vanessa's nine and would love to be a poet. She also shares a room with me.

Jordan, Adam, and Byron are ten-year-old triplets. They share a room with Nicky, who is eight. The last two to share a room are seven-year-old Margo and five-year old Claire.

That's the whole crew of my siblings. When I baby-sit them all, we usually get a second sitter. Sometimes my best friend, Jessi Ramsey helps me out during the afternoon.

She only has one sister Becca and one brother, Squirt. She's also African-American. She and her family moved here from Oakland, New Jersey. Boy, did she have a hard time fitting in! After that, the family got settling in and we became best friends.

We're both the oldest in our families, we're talented: I love to write and Jessi loves to dance, loves horses, we're great sitters, but we can't baby-sit at night unless it's for our siblings.

We're going to be in the seventh grade at Stoneybrook Middle School while our friends are entering the ninth grade at Stoneybrook High School. Our friends are Mary Anne her stepsister Dawn, Kristy, Stacey, Claudia, and our newest members, Kayla and her twin, Kaylee.

At eleven a.m., the doorbell rang as I went to answer the door. It was Jessi. We had planned to go out for lunch with the others.

"Mom, I'm leaving," I called out to her.

"Have fun, honey," Mom called back.

Outside, Stacey came through the fence to join us.

"Hi," said Stacey.

"Hi, Stacey," we both said.

"Hi, Claudia," said Jessi.

"Where are the rest?" I asked.

"They're not here yet, but we can save a seat for them," said Claudia.

Then, Kristy arrived when her oldest brother, Charlie brought her.

"Hi," I greeted her.

"Hi," said Kristy.

"Logan is going to join us as well along with Mary Anne and Dawn," said Claudia. "Kayla and Kaylee can't make it. They had to watch their younger siblings for a few hours."

Then, Logan showed up with Mary Anne and Dawn.

"What are you doing after lunch?" Logan asked Mary Anne.

"I'll be going to the mall with my dad," said Mary Anne.

"Oh, I was going to take you to the movies," said Logan.

"We can always wait until tomorrow," said Mary Anne.

"That's fine," said Logan.