Chapter Six - Jessi
2787 words on this chapter!
*bows proudly*
Man. I need to start getting out more.
Chapter Six - Jessi
Kristy, I know we're supposed to be using this journal to write about what happened with the Short Takes class, but what happened for Abby and me at the Pikes' really did have an impact on everything.
Yeah. If not on the actual class (and related events), at least on my sanity.
And Abby's sanity is questionable to begin with.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Can I continue?
Sure. Sorry.
Anyway, it was raining outside. Which was not really very helpful to the "Occupy the Pikes Individually" plan Abby and I had cultivated.
I was willing to play touch football in the rec room, but I didn't think Mal's parents would really appreciate it.
Cute, Abby.
I try.
Abby finally gave up and went outside to play ball with Nicky, Adam, and Jordan despite the pouring rain. I stayed inside with the girls (minus Vanessa) and Byron. (I think we both thought we had the easier job.)
On the plus side, I have a much better idea of what's going on with Byron. On the negative side, I don't think it's going to get any better before it gets much worse...
Abby, Mal, and I met right after school. It was cloudy and gray outside. Mal's baby-sitting job was at three thirty at the Hobarts, so she wanted to grab her Kid Kit before going over there. Abby and I went home with her, so that we'd have a little time to talk to Mrs. Pike before she left at three fifteen.
"This weather is awful," Mal observed. "I don't know how I'm going to manage to entertain three hyper boys if it rains."
"You're worried?" Abby teased. "We've got four of your brothers."
"Mom should offer combat pay," Mal agreed good-naturedly. "But at least you have each other. If any of the kids seriously injures the other, one of you can call nine-one-one while the other treats the injuries." At the looks on Abby's and my faces, she grinned. "I'm kidding. Don't worry. Look, it's gray, but it's not too bad. It probably won't even rain."
At that, a giant thunderclap caused all three of us to jump, and then run to Mal's house, trying not to get too soaked.
Mal's mom met us at the door. "Hi, Jessi. Hi, Abby. Thanks for being on time," she said. "Mal, I thought you had a job?"
"I wanted to grab my Kid Kit," Mal explained again. "It seemed like a smart idea until it started pouring."
Her mother glanced warily at the storm. "If Abby and Jessi don't mind staying an extra five minutes in charge, I could drop you off at the Hobarts'," Mrs. Pike offered.
"Sure," Abby said cheerfully, but it was obviously a facade. Not that I blamed her. I wasn't feeling particularly perky myself. Two hours at the Pikes' without being able to release the kids into the wild (otherwise known as their backyard)? I think I'd go crazy.
"Why not go get your stuff, then, Mal," Mrs. Pike said to her, "and I'll talk to the armed guards of the day."
I don't know about Abby, but I was just a little bit worried about how much everyone was relying on that metaphor.
"All the kids are home," Mrs. Pike said to us. "If the weather gets any better, they can play outside or inside. It's Friday, no one's grounded, so really whatever they want. They're all grabbing food now, so no snacks unless anyone claims to be starving. If any of them want to have some friends over or want to go to someone's house, that's okay with me, but if it's not okay with you, say no, and Mr. Pike and I will take responsibility. If you're feeling particularly motivated and could get Claire and Margo to clean their room, great, but don't worry about it. And I should be home with plenty of time for you to get to your meeting tonight."
We nodded. The Pikes are incredibly lenient, which is great for us baby-sitters; we basically just need to make sure no one kills each other.
Speaking of which.
"Mrs. Pike?" Abby said, bold as always. "What's going on with the triplets?"
She sighed. "Hopefully just another argument that'll blow over in a few days. But for now, we're just trying to keep them from getting into any serious fights."
Mal came up behind her mother then and snorted. "Right. And then maybe you can solve world peace."
Mrs. Pike grinned. "Come on, Mal. Let's not discourage your friends until after they see the kids."
"But it's so easy!" Mal protested. She was laughing too. "Bye, Abby. Bye, Jess. I'll see you guys in a few hours."
"Of course," we both said.
And then Mrs. Pike and Mal were gone, and we were on our own.
"Wish I'd taken the job at the Hobarts'," Abby murmured to me. I laughed. Then we both walked into the kitchen.
Where, predictably, there was chaos.
Nicky was having peanut butter on a pumpernickle bagel. Vanessa had taken the peanut butter and was putting it on apple slices. Margo and Claire had wanted Rice Krispie treats, I guess, but they didn't have any pre-made, so they had spooned a large helping of fluff onto a plate and were pouring cereal into it. Adam and Jordan were eating spam. Byron was sitting at the counter thoughtfully, staring at his bologna sandwich without taking a bite.
Abby whistled loudly, the way she's probably seen her coach do at soccer practice, and everyone looked up at us.
Most of them said hi to us. I noticed Byron didn't. Claire hurled herself at me, squealing "Jessi-Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo!" and hugging me tightly, and Margo started telling Abby about how well she did in school during a soccer game in her gym class.
It was good that they were excited, because everyone else seemed to be in a pretty foul mood.
"Rain, rain, go away," Vanessa grumbled, "So we can run and skip and play." Vanessa is not normally one to want to play outside, so she must have been really annoyed by the weather.
"Mal said you'd help us with our football," Adam said crankily. Jordan and, to my surprise, Nicky nodded as one with him. I guess, with them so mad at Byron, Nicky had found his place with his big brothers.
I'd never thought I'd ever wish that Nicky would feel left out again, but I just felt even worse for Byron than I already did.
Byron didn't say a word. He just stared at his sandwich.
"Can I go to Charlotte's house?" Vanessa asked. "Becca and Haley were going to ask and then we were going to try to come up with new cheers for the Krushers."
"Becca's going to cheerlead?" I asked. I knew that Haley, Charlotte, and Vanessa were the three cheerleaders for Kristy's softball team. I also knew that my sister absolutely loathes being in front of people, and if she were going to cheerlead, she would have discussed it at dinner many, many times by now.
Vanessa shrugged. "Charlotte does it, so Becca said she'd come too. Please, Jessi?"
I glanced at Abby, who shrugged. "Can Haley's mom or Aunt Cecelia drive you?" I asked. "It's kind of rainy to walk."
"I can call Haley right now," Vanessa said, and jumped up to grab the phone.
"Hold it," Abby said to her. "Jessi or I have to talk to Haley's mom before we say okay."
Vanessa shrugged. "Sure." Then she ran upstairs to dial.
Claire and Margo exchanged a look. "Can we have friends over?" Claire asked me.
"Who?"
"Marilyn and Carolyn?" Margo suggested.
"Mariah and Gabbie?" Claire offered. "And Laura, I guess."
"I think five is a bit much," I said, smiling. "And don't you guys have a room to clean first?"
"What about Patsy and Laurel?" Margo asked. Patsy and Laurel Kuhn are sisters, who are five and six years old. Their older brother, Jake, is Nicky's friend. All three of them (as well as Nicky, Margo, and Claire) are Krushers.
"Abby!" Vanessa yelled. "Haley's mom is on the phone!"
"Tell you what," I said to the younger girls. "If you guys clean your room, then we can call the Kuhns."
Abby gave me thumbs up as she jogged into the other room.
"Okay!" Claire said happily.
"Jessi, will you help us?" Margo asked.
"Sure," I said. "But why don't you guys get started on your own?"
"Okay!" Claire said again. Then she giggled. "Room-cleaning-silly-billy-goo-goo..."
I watched the girls go upstairs, then turned back to the boys. "What about you?"
"I want to play football," Adam said.
"Me too," Nicky said.
"Me three," Jordan piped up.
Nothing, said Byron.
I sighed.
"What about playing the Wandering Frog People?" I suggested. That's a game that always keeps them occupied for hours.
"Nah," said Jordan.
"Nah," said Adam.
"No, thanks," said Nicky.
Byron didn't say anything.
Surprise, surprise.
Everything I suggested was met with the same response: Apathy, apathy, apathy, and silence. No one wanted to read books, or draw pictures, or write letters to their Zuni pen pals, or tell scary stories, or play their new video game, or play with Pow in the garage, or build a maze for Frodo (their pet hamster), or even (Kristy would kill me for suggesting this, and I hated it too, but I was running out of ideas) watch TV. The Pike boys are always doing something, and usually it's exciting. Watching them being bored was even stressing me out.
Then Abby and Vanessa came downstairs. "Everything's cool," she said to me. "Mrs. Braddock will pick her up in about five minutes."
"Awesome," I said.
"And why are all the boys sitting here apathetically?" Abby asked.
"There's nothing to do," Nicky said.
"Yeah," Adam said.
"Yeah," Jordan said.
Now Abby ran through a list of things to do. Play with their Legos, build a fort, practice piano (at that, Jordan, the only Pike who plays, made a face), even start their homework.
Nothing.
Finally Abby looked outside. The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't thundering anymore. It was muddy and messy, but, well, these were the Pike boys. "Would you guys want to practice some touch football in the rain?" Abby suggested.
Well. The silent, obedient Pike boys suddenly erupted into noise. If it were just me, I would have given up and let them be miserable if that was what they wanted, but I think Abby wanted to play outside as much as they did.
So after laying down the law (if it got too cold, they were going inside, no protests; "touch" football did not mean "tackling each other into the mud" football; that kind of thing) and making sure everyone was wearing rain coats and boots, Abby led Adam, Jordan, and Nicky into the Pikes' backyard.
"Are you going to play?" I asked Byron.
He turned to me, startled, as though I hadn't been talking to him and his brothers for twenty minutes. "What?"
"Football. With Abby."
"Oh. Um, no thanks. I don't really want to."
I frowned. "Okay. If you're sure. Want me to help you with anything?"
He grinned at me, and for a minute he looked like Old Byron, who was pretty hard to discourage. "I think I'm okay. But thanks."
"No problem. I'm going to go see how your sisters are, but I'll be there if you need me, okay?"
"Sure." Byron turned back to his sandwich, and as I walked away, I heard him take a bite.
At least some things were like normal.
Margo and Claire's room was, to put it mildly, a disaster. If Becca's room were half that bad, Mama would have grounded her until she could at least see the floor. But Margo and Claire were at least trying to fix it.
The entire floor was covered in Barbie paraphernalia (isn't that a great word?), both real stuff (the dolls, which were passed down from Mal and Vanessa, so they've got a bunch) and any other toys they thought might fit, including G. I. Joes Margo and Claire had nabbed from their brothers and a potholder of their mom's that appeared to be doubling as a bed for two half-naked dolls.
"Wow," I said.
"Jessi!" Margo exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're here!"
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I didn't think Margo meant to be this melodramatic. "Why's that?"
"I can't put my dolls away if they're not dressed," she explained. "But I can't get this shirt on Skipper."
"I can help with that," I said easily.
"Yay!" Claire cheered. "Jessi-Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo, you're my hero!"
I giggled. "I try." I jiggled the Skipper doll until the shirt was on her correctly. "This good, you guys?"
"Perfect!" they chorused. I grinned. The Pikes are a lot of fun to sit for. Once Margo and Claire realized how much they had to clean, they stopped asking if they could have Patsy and Laurel over, and started making it a game, trying to come up with plot-related reasons for the characters in their game to all end up in a big pink trunk.
I helped them dress and dispatch the Barbie dolls for almost an hour before I noticed the house was pretty quiet. "Hey, guys?" I said.
"Yeah?" Margo's eyes turned to me, but her hands were still making two Barbie dolls dance.
"I'm going to go check on Byron for a minute. Will you keep cleaning if I'm not here?"
"Mmhmm," Claire said, but she was distracted by her own dolls.
I figured that, even if they didn't put a lot away, at least the mess wasn't getting worse.
I checked the boys' bedroom, the rec room, and the living room. No Byron. I started to get worried, but forced myself to stay calm, searching anywhere I could think of. I finally found him in the kitchen, right where I'd left him, staring out the window longingly at Abby and his brothers, who were playing football like pros.
"You could go out there with them, you know," I said gently.
Byron spun around to see me. "What?"
"You want to play, don't you?"
Shrug.
"Byron," I said, "I can see you watching. You're allowed to want to play ball."
Another shrug. "They don't want me to play."
"Sure they do."
"They started already."
"I'm sure Abby would let you get in on the game, if you wanted."
Byron stared blankly at me for a few moments. Then, "I can't play with them."
I sat down opposite him. I noticed tha thte bologna sandwich wasn't even half-eaten, which was a bad sign. All of the Pikes love food (even Margo, who's a picky eater), and out of all them, Byron's the one who likes food the most. "Why not?" I asked.
He eyed me carefully. "Promise you won't tell?"
"I won't tell your brothers," I said, which was true. I didn't promise I wouldn't tell anyone, because I might have to tell his parents, and I'd definitely want to write it in the BSC Notebook and tell the other club members; this could be important.
That seemed to be good enough for him, though. It all came out in a rush. "Because they only want to play with me because I'd want to play football," he said. "So it'd seem like I'm giving in and playing football because I always want to, but I don't always want to, and if I do I'll be saying that they're right and because we're brothers we should always want to do what the others are doing, even though sometimes, I don't want to play football, and I don't see why it's such a big deal."
So Byron was tired of feeling pressured by his brothers. Well, I could understand that. "It must be hard," I said carefully.
"It is." He sounded miserable.
"Playing football now wouldn't be saying you always want to play football," I pointed out.
"They haven't apologized for anything," Byron said. "And they're being really mean to me. I don't want to play with them if they're going to be like that."
I nodded. He made sense. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Byron looked so sad that my heart almost broke. "I don't know. Maybe."
Well, that was an improvement. "Hit me."
He grinned at me. "Could I have some spaghetti?" he asked.
I laughed. "Eat your bologna, Byron," I said.
As I went upstairs, I made a mental note to tell the Baby-Sitters Club that some emergency Pike-watching was in order. If we didn't act soon, this type of fight could only get worse.
*bows proudly*
Man. I need to start getting out more.
Chapter Six - Jessi
Kristy, I know we're supposed to be using this journal to write about what happened with the Short Takes class, but what happened for Abby and me at the Pikes' really did have an impact on everything.
Yeah. If not on the actual class (and related events), at least on my sanity.
And Abby's sanity is questionable to begin with.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Can I continue?
Sure. Sorry.
Anyway, it was raining outside. Which was not really very helpful to the "Occupy the Pikes Individually" plan Abby and I had cultivated.
I was willing to play touch football in the rec room, but I didn't think Mal's parents would really appreciate it.
Cute, Abby.
I try.
Abby finally gave up and went outside to play ball with Nicky, Adam, and Jordan despite the pouring rain. I stayed inside with the girls (minus Vanessa) and Byron. (I think we both thought we had the easier job.)
On the plus side, I have a much better idea of what's going on with Byron. On the negative side, I don't think it's going to get any better before it gets much worse...
Abby, Mal, and I met right after school. It was cloudy and gray outside. Mal's baby-sitting job was at three thirty at the Hobarts, so she wanted to grab her Kid Kit before going over there. Abby and I went home with her, so that we'd have a little time to talk to Mrs. Pike before she left at three fifteen.
"This weather is awful," Mal observed. "I don't know how I'm going to manage to entertain three hyper boys if it rains."
"You're worried?" Abby teased. "We've got four of your brothers."
"Mom should offer combat pay," Mal agreed good-naturedly. "But at least you have each other. If any of the kids seriously injures the other, one of you can call nine-one-one while the other treats the injuries." At the looks on Abby's and my faces, she grinned. "I'm kidding. Don't worry. Look, it's gray, but it's not too bad. It probably won't even rain."
At that, a giant thunderclap caused all three of us to jump, and then run to Mal's house, trying not to get too soaked.
Mal's mom met us at the door. "Hi, Jessi. Hi, Abby. Thanks for being on time," she said. "Mal, I thought you had a job?"
"I wanted to grab my Kid Kit," Mal explained again. "It seemed like a smart idea until it started pouring."
Her mother glanced warily at the storm. "If Abby and Jessi don't mind staying an extra five minutes in charge, I could drop you off at the Hobarts'," Mrs. Pike offered.
"Sure," Abby said cheerfully, but it was obviously a facade. Not that I blamed her. I wasn't feeling particularly perky myself. Two hours at the Pikes' without being able to release the kids into the wild (otherwise known as their backyard)? I think I'd go crazy.
"Why not go get your stuff, then, Mal," Mrs. Pike said to her, "and I'll talk to the armed guards of the day."
I don't know about Abby, but I was just a little bit worried about how much everyone was relying on that metaphor.
"All the kids are home," Mrs. Pike said to us. "If the weather gets any better, they can play outside or inside. It's Friday, no one's grounded, so really whatever they want. They're all grabbing food now, so no snacks unless anyone claims to be starving. If any of them want to have some friends over or want to go to someone's house, that's okay with me, but if it's not okay with you, say no, and Mr. Pike and I will take responsibility. If you're feeling particularly motivated and could get Claire and Margo to clean their room, great, but don't worry about it. And I should be home with plenty of time for you to get to your meeting tonight."
We nodded. The Pikes are incredibly lenient, which is great for us baby-sitters; we basically just need to make sure no one kills each other.
Speaking of which.
"Mrs. Pike?" Abby said, bold as always. "What's going on with the triplets?"
She sighed. "Hopefully just another argument that'll blow over in a few days. But for now, we're just trying to keep them from getting into any serious fights."
Mal came up behind her mother then and snorted. "Right. And then maybe you can solve world peace."
Mrs. Pike grinned. "Come on, Mal. Let's not discourage your friends until after they see the kids."
"But it's so easy!" Mal protested. She was laughing too. "Bye, Abby. Bye, Jess. I'll see you guys in a few hours."
"Of course," we both said.
And then Mrs. Pike and Mal were gone, and we were on our own.
"Wish I'd taken the job at the Hobarts'," Abby murmured to me. I laughed. Then we both walked into the kitchen.
Where, predictably, there was chaos.
Nicky was having peanut butter on a pumpernickle bagel. Vanessa had taken the peanut butter and was putting it on apple slices. Margo and Claire had wanted Rice Krispie treats, I guess, but they didn't have any pre-made, so they had spooned a large helping of fluff onto a plate and were pouring cereal into it. Adam and Jordan were eating spam. Byron was sitting at the counter thoughtfully, staring at his bologna sandwich without taking a bite.
Abby whistled loudly, the way she's probably seen her coach do at soccer practice, and everyone looked up at us.
Most of them said hi to us. I noticed Byron didn't. Claire hurled herself at me, squealing "Jessi-Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo!" and hugging me tightly, and Margo started telling Abby about how well she did in school during a soccer game in her gym class.
It was good that they were excited, because everyone else seemed to be in a pretty foul mood.
"Rain, rain, go away," Vanessa grumbled, "So we can run and skip and play." Vanessa is not normally one to want to play outside, so she must have been really annoyed by the weather.
"Mal said you'd help us with our football," Adam said crankily. Jordan and, to my surprise, Nicky nodded as one with him. I guess, with them so mad at Byron, Nicky had found his place with his big brothers.
I'd never thought I'd ever wish that Nicky would feel left out again, but I just felt even worse for Byron than I already did.
Byron didn't say a word. He just stared at his sandwich.
"Can I go to Charlotte's house?" Vanessa asked. "Becca and Haley were going to ask and then we were going to try to come up with new cheers for the Krushers."
"Becca's going to cheerlead?" I asked. I knew that Haley, Charlotte, and Vanessa were the three cheerleaders for Kristy's softball team. I also knew that my sister absolutely loathes being in front of people, and if she were going to cheerlead, she would have discussed it at dinner many, many times by now.
Vanessa shrugged. "Charlotte does it, so Becca said she'd come too. Please, Jessi?"
I glanced at Abby, who shrugged. "Can Haley's mom or Aunt Cecelia drive you?" I asked. "It's kind of rainy to walk."
"I can call Haley right now," Vanessa said, and jumped up to grab the phone.
"Hold it," Abby said to her. "Jessi or I have to talk to Haley's mom before we say okay."
Vanessa shrugged. "Sure." Then she ran upstairs to dial.
Claire and Margo exchanged a look. "Can we have friends over?" Claire asked me.
"Who?"
"Marilyn and Carolyn?" Margo suggested.
"Mariah and Gabbie?" Claire offered. "And Laura, I guess."
"I think five is a bit much," I said, smiling. "And don't you guys have a room to clean first?"
"What about Patsy and Laurel?" Margo asked. Patsy and Laurel Kuhn are sisters, who are five and six years old. Their older brother, Jake, is Nicky's friend. All three of them (as well as Nicky, Margo, and Claire) are Krushers.
"Abby!" Vanessa yelled. "Haley's mom is on the phone!"
"Tell you what," I said to the younger girls. "If you guys clean your room, then we can call the Kuhns."
Abby gave me thumbs up as she jogged into the other room.
"Okay!" Claire said happily.
"Jessi, will you help us?" Margo asked.
"Sure," I said. "But why don't you guys get started on your own?"
"Okay!" Claire said again. Then she giggled. "Room-cleaning-silly-billy-goo-goo..."
I watched the girls go upstairs, then turned back to the boys. "What about you?"
"I want to play football," Adam said.
"Me too," Nicky said.
"Me three," Jordan piped up.
Nothing, said Byron.
I sighed.
"What about playing the Wandering Frog People?" I suggested. That's a game that always keeps them occupied for hours.
"Nah," said Jordan.
"Nah," said Adam.
"No, thanks," said Nicky.
Byron didn't say anything.
Surprise, surprise.
Everything I suggested was met with the same response: Apathy, apathy, apathy, and silence. No one wanted to read books, or draw pictures, or write letters to their Zuni pen pals, or tell scary stories, or play their new video game, or play with Pow in the garage, or build a maze for Frodo (their pet hamster), or even (Kristy would kill me for suggesting this, and I hated it too, but I was running out of ideas) watch TV. The Pike boys are always doing something, and usually it's exciting. Watching them being bored was even stressing me out.
Then Abby and Vanessa came downstairs. "Everything's cool," she said to me. "Mrs. Braddock will pick her up in about five minutes."
"Awesome," I said.
"And why are all the boys sitting here apathetically?" Abby asked.
"There's nothing to do," Nicky said.
"Yeah," Adam said.
"Yeah," Jordan said.
Now Abby ran through a list of things to do. Play with their Legos, build a fort, practice piano (at that, Jordan, the only Pike who plays, made a face), even start their homework.
Nothing.
Finally Abby looked outside. The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't thundering anymore. It was muddy and messy, but, well, these were the Pike boys. "Would you guys want to practice some touch football in the rain?" Abby suggested.
Well. The silent, obedient Pike boys suddenly erupted into noise. If it were just me, I would have given up and let them be miserable if that was what they wanted, but I think Abby wanted to play outside as much as they did.
So after laying down the law (if it got too cold, they were going inside, no protests; "touch" football did not mean "tackling each other into the mud" football; that kind of thing) and making sure everyone was wearing rain coats and boots, Abby led Adam, Jordan, and Nicky into the Pikes' backyard.
"Are you going to play?" I asked Byron.
He turned to me, startled, as though I hadn't been talking to him and his brothers for twenty minutes. "What?"
"Football. With Abby."
"Oh. Um, no thanks. I don't really want to."
I frowned. "Okay. If you're sure. Want me to help you with anything?"
He grinned at me, and for a minute he looked like Old Byron, who was pretty hard to discourage. "I think I'm okay. But thanks."
"No problem. I'm going to go see how your sisters are, but I'll be there if you need me, okay?"
"Sure." Byron turned back to his sandwich, and as I walked away, I heard him take a bite.
At least some things were like normal.
Margo and Claire's room was, to put it mildly, a disaster. If Becca's room were half that bad, Mama would have grounded her until she could at least see the floor. But Margo and Claire were at least trying to fix it.
The entire floor was covered in Barbie paraphernalia (isn't that a great word?), both real stuff (the dolls, which were passed down from Mal and Vanessa, so they've got a bunch) and any other toys they thought might fit, including G. I. Joes Margo and Claire had nabbed from their brothers and a potholder of their mom's that appeared to be doubling as a bed for two half-naked dolls.
"Wow," I said.
"Jessi!" Margo exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're here!"
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I didn't think Margo meant to be this melodramatic. "Why's that?"
"I can't put my dolls away if they're not dressed," she explained. "But I can't get this shirt on Skipper."
"I can help with that," I said easily.
"Yay!" Claire cheered. "Jessi-Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo, you're my hero!"
I giggled. "I try." I jiggled the Skipper doll until the shirt was on her correctly. "This good, you guys?"
"Perfect!" they chorused. I grinned. The Pikes are a lot of fun to sit for. Once Margo and Claire realized how much they had to clean, they stopped asking if they could have Patsy and Laurel over, and started making it a game, trying to come up with plot-related reasons for the characters in their game to all end up in a big pink trunk.
I helped them dress and dispatch the Barbie dolls for almost an hour before I noticed the house was pretty quiet. "Hey, guys?" I said.
"Yeah?" Margo's eyes turned to me, but her hands were still making two Barbie dolls dance.
"I'm going to go check on Byron for a minute. Will you keep cleaning if I'm not here?"
"Mmhmm," Claire said, but she was distracted by her own dolls.
I figured that, even if they didn't put a lot away, at least the mess wasn't getting worse.
I checked the boys' bedroom, the rec room, and the living room. No Byron. I started to get worried, but forced myself to stay calm, searching anywhere I could think of. I finally found him in the kitchen, right where I'd left him, staring out the window longingly at Abby and his brothers, who were playing football like pros.
"You could go out there with them, you know," I said gently.
Byron spun around to see me. "What?"
"You want to play, don't you?"
Shrug.
"Byron," I said, "I can see you watching. You're allowed to want to play ball."
Another shrug. "They don't want me to play."
"Sure they do."
"They started already."
"I'm sure Abby would let you get in on the game, if you wanted."
Byron stared blankly at me for a few moments. Then, "I can't play with them."
I sat down opposite him. I noticed tha thte bologna sandwich wasn't even half-eaten, which was a bad sign. All of the Pikes love food (even Margo, who's a picky eater), and out of all them, Byron's the one who likes food the most. "Why not?" I asked.
He eyed me carefully. "Promise you won't tell?"
"I won't tell your brothers," I said, which was true. I didn't promise I wouldn't tell anyone, because I might have to tell his parents, and I'd definitely want to write it in the BSC Notebook and tell the other club members; this could be important.
That seemed to be good enough for him, though. It all came out in a rush. "Because they only want to play with me because I'd want to play football," he said. "So it'd seem like I'm giving in and playing football because I always want to, but I don't always want to, and if I do I'll be saying that they're right and because we're brothers we should always want to do what the others are doing, even though sometimes, I don't want to play football, and I don't see why it's such a big deal."
So Byron was tired of feeling pressured by his brothers. Well, I could understand that. "It must be hard," I said carefully.
"It is." He sounded miserable.
"Playing football now wouldn't be saying you always want to play football," I pointed out.
"They haven't apologized for anything," Byron said. "And they're being really mean to me. I don't want to play with them if they're going to be like that."
I nodded. He made sense. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Byron looked so sad that my heart almost broke. "I don't know. Maybe."
Well, that was an improvement. "Hit me."
He grinned at me. "Could I have some spaghetti?" he asked.
I laughed. "Eat your bologna, Byron," I said.
As I went upstairs, I made a mental note to tell the Baby-Sitters Club that some emergency Pike-watching was in order. If we didn't act soon, this type of fight could only get worse.