I hadn’t seen the tie yet, but Kristy was probably right. Making fun of people was Alan and Cary’s favorite thing to do.
But as I walked toward them, I saw that they seemed to be having a serious talk. Neither of them noticed me until I was right next to them. I tapped Alan on the shoulder. “Hi,” I said.
He turned — and when he saw me, his whole face changed. His eyes lit up, and he gave me a huge smile. “Claudia!” he exclaimed.
Then he looked around. “Where’s — where’s Jeremy?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I think he’s dancing with Emily.”
Alan gave me a curious look. “And that’s okay with you?” he asked carefully.
“Totally. Totally and completely okay.”
The smile reappeared. “Cool,” said Alan. “Cool.”
Cary gave him a little shove.
“Um, so, do you want to dance?” Alan asked.
The DJ had just put on another slow song, a really romantic one. The lights were low in the gym by then, and lots of couples were on the floor, swaying to the music.
“Yes,” I said. “I’d love to.”
Alan led me onto the floor. Then he put his arms around me and we began to move to the beat.
I could feel people staring at us. And I knew what they were thinking: “Claudia and Alan Gray? Is she crazy?”
Maybe I was.
But I didn’t care.
The author gratefully acknowledges
Ellen Miles
for her help in
preparing this manuscript.
About the Author
ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.
Copyright © 2000 by Ann M. Martin
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, 2000
e-ISBN 978-0-545-87503-5
Claudia Gets Her Guy Page 8
