At our Monday meeting, Mrs. Braddock called, sounding slightly panicked. “I know it’s short notice but I really need a sitter tonight,” she said when I picked up the phone.

“I’m sure we can find someone for you,” I assured her.

After I hung up and ran the job past Mary Anne, I made a request. “I’d really like to take it if no one else minds,” I said.

“You would?” Stacey asked.

“Yeah. I want to straighten things out with Haley,” I explained. “She and I have always gotten along well. I don’t want this problem to get out of hand.”

“That’s a good idea,” Kristy agreed. “Is it all right with everyone if Claudia takes the job?”

My friends said it was fine, so I called Mrs. Braddock back and made arrangements. Then after the meeting, I grabbed my backpack with my homework inside and headed over to the Braddocks’ house, which isn’t far from my home.

“Thank you for coming, Claudia,” Mrs. Braddock greeted me at the door. Haley wasn’t around, but she lowered her voice just the same. “A friend of mine needs a lift to the hospital to visit her daughter. Her car broke down this afternoon. I’d rather not have Haley and Matt sitting around in a hospital waiting room if it’s not necessary. Normally Mr. Braddock could stay home with them but he’s working late.”

“No problem,” I told her with a smile. “All I have to do tonight is homework, which I can do here.”

“Speaking of homework,” Mrs. Braddock said, “please make sure Haley does hers. No TV until she completes it. She’s been grounded not only because of the fake report, but because of other times she hasn’t done her homework and then lied about it.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Thanks,” she said and then called up the stairs. “Kids, I’m going!”

Haley and Matt ran down to say good-bye to her. Matt saw me and signed “Hi.” Haley looked me over icily.

“Hi, guys,” I greeted them. “Did you eat yet?”

Matt nodded. Haley ignored me and dropped onto the couch, TV remote in hand.

“Your mom wants all homework done before TV,” I said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. “I have homework too. Why don’t the three of us do it together?”

Haley rolled her eyes disdainfully … but she didn’t turn on the TV. “Matt needs help with his homework,” she said. “Why don’t you help him down here and I’ll do mine by myself,” she suggested.

I turned toward Matt. “What do you have to do?”

He shook his head and waved his hands, indicating that he didn’t have homework. Haley signed something to him and he signed back, shaking his head as he moved his hands.

“He’s lying,” Haley said to me. “He claims he doesn’t have any homework, but he does.”

“Do you have homework, Matt?” I asked. As I spoke, I pointed to my backpack to make my point.

He shook his head vigorously.

At that moment, the phone rang and Haley ran into the kitchen to answer it.

I wasn’t sure who to trust. Had Matt caught the lying bug from Haley? Or was he telling the truth? Could Haley be trying to get him into trouble in order to take the heat off herself? I just didn’t know.

Matt had never lied to me. I decided to trust him. He was only seven. It was very possible that he didn’t have homework.

My stomach grumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten supper. I headed toward the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. As I approached I heard Haley talking on the kitchen phone. She mentioned the caller’s name — Vanessa. I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Haley talked. I figured I’d give her a few minutes to wrap it up. But she was still going strong when I’d finished making the sandwich and poured a glass of milk.

“Homework,” I mouthed to Haley. I know she understood what I meant, but she turned her head away from me and stayed on the phone.

This was not a good sign. I didn’t want to rip the phone out of her hand, but I wasn’t going to be ignored either.

Then I had an idea. I went upstairs to Mr. and Mrs. Braddock’s room and picked up their cordless phone, punching into the phone line that Haley was talking on. “Vanessa, hi, this is Claudia,” I said, cutting into their conversation. “Haley has to do her homework now, so you’ll have to end this conversation. She’ll call you back when she’s finished.”

“All right,” Vanessa replied sulkily. “I’d better go, Haley. I wouldn’t want her to get you in trouble again. ’Bye.”

I hung up but kept my eye on the phone’s red light. In less than a minute, it went off.

As I headed down the stairs, I met Haley, who was walking up. “I’m going to do my homework now,” she said in a snippy, irritated voice.

“Okay, call me if you need any help,” I replied, ignoring her tone.

“Not likely,” she muttered as she disappeared into her room.

While Haley worked (or so I hoped), I ate my supper, then played Go Fish with Matt. I was glad we’d found an activity that didn’t involved the TV. Turning it on might have seemed as if we were tormenting Haley for not being able to watch.

After an hour or so, Haley came downstairs with several sheets of paper and a notebook. “This is a math fill-in sheet. And that paper is my written response to a story we read in class today. And in my notebook are some questions about the Antarctic I had to answer.” She handed me another paper with her homework assignment typed on it. “My teacher sends this home now so my parents know exactly what homework I have,” she explained coolly. “You can see it’s all done.”

Glancing at the assignment sheet, I saw that it was all there. “Terrific,” I said, smiling. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“It was bad enough,” she muttered.

“Aw, come on,” I coaxed. “I hate doing my homework too, but everyone has to do it. I know it doesn’t seem very important, but it must have a purpose or they wouldn’t give it to you.”

“Its purpose is to wreck our evenings and weekends,” Haley stated flatly.

There were times I’d thought that myself, but it didn’t seem helpful to admit it just then. Like it or not, homework is given to you and it has to be done. There isn’t much point in not doing it because that creates more problems than it’s worth. In the end, it’s easier just to do it and get it over with.

“Now can I call Vanessa?” Haley asked.

“Sure. Go ahead,” I told her. She went into the kitchen and phoned Vanessa.

Matt picked up TV Guide and pointed to a show he wanted to watch. I turned on the TV and we watched together. The Braddocks have closed-captioned TV. Any spoken words are written on the screen. That way Matt can read them and know what’s being said. I bet it helps him be a good reader. I read along — just to see what it was like — and sometimes I had to read pretty fast.

In about fifteen minutes, I decided to get us each a soda. As I approached the kitchen, I could hear Haley, still on the phone.

“Yeah, Matt and the traitor are watching something on TV now,” she was saying. “No, she can’t hear me with the television on.”

The traitor? That hurt. Was that how she thought of me now?

Obviously it was.

“The little tattletale made me do every drop of homework and then she checked it against the assignment sheet,” Haley went on. “Can you believe that? Claudia used to be so cool. Now she’s changed.”

Had I changed? I didn’t think so. It was Haley who had changed. The little tattletale. That was cold.

I changed my mind about the soda and returned to the living room. I was stunned. I couldn’t remember a sitting charge ever being so hostile toward me. For an hour or two, sure. But not for days. It was especially bizarre coming from Haley, whom I’d known for so long. Vanessa seemed to be angry with me too. I’d known her just as long and as well as I’d known Haley.

I tried to brush the incident off. Haley was just having some problems at school and it was easier to blame me than to look at the real issues. Vanessa was her best friend, so naturally she’d side with Haley. Logically, it was nothing to be upset about. I couldn’t help it, though. The plain fact was that my feelings had been hurt.

Still … I reminded myself that I was the older and more mature person here. I’d rise above it and pretend I hadn’t heard what I’d heard. If I ignored it, the problem would probably just go away on its own.

With that in mind, I acted cheerful and positive when I saw Haley again, even though she ignored me and spent most of the time in her room. When Mrs. Braddock returned around 8:30 Matt jumped up to greet her. She kissed him and told him to start getting ready for bed.

“Haley did every bit of her homework,” I reported as Matt went up the stairs.

“Good,” Mrs. Braddock said. “Haley,” she called up the stairs. Haley came right down to the living room. “Claudia says your homework is done,” her mother began.

“Yes, no thanks to her,” Haley said.

My jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” I said.

“You kept blabbing on the phone to Vanessa, interrupting while I was trying to go over the math with her,” she said.

I thought I was stunned before. Now I was out-and-out astounded. How could she say this?

“Haley, you know I just got on the line to get you off the phone,” I said.

“Yeah, right,” Haley scoffed. “That’s not too believable since you told me you don’t even think homework is important.”

I looked at Mrs. Braddock, desperately hoping she wouldn’t believe this. “I told her that sometimes homework doesn’t seem important, but it has to be done,” I said.

“That’s not what I heard,” Haley insisted.

“Enough, Haley,” said Mrs. Braddock.

Haley glared at me. Then she stomped out of the living room and up the stairs.

“I’m sorry about Haley,” Mrs. Braddock apologized as she took money from her wallet. “Suddenly she’s become a handful. Her father and I aren’t sure what to do.”

Mr. Braddock came in then and offered to drive me home. I said I could walk, but since it was dark, he insisted.

In minutes, I was back at my own doorstep, happy to be away from Haley. She was certainly becoming quite a little liar. She’d lied about Matt’s having homework. And she’d lied about me to her mother — in front of my face!

For some reason, she’d singled me out to be the object of her lies. And I didn’t like it one bit.