#38 - Kristy's Mystery Admirer

Timeline: 
Halloween Hop time! (again) 2nd Halloween of their 6th grade/8th grade year.

Plot:
Kristy's Krushers beat the Bashers and it's absolutely the best thing in the world. Kristy also has a huge crush on Bart, the coach of the Bashers, and it seems like he has a crush on her too. He walks her home from that game and tells her he wants to see her soon, like before the next game. Kristy is swooning.

Then, Kristy starts receiving what can only be described as love notes - "I love you, I love you, I love you..." "You're as beautiful as a snow covered mountain"....things like that. Kristy takes all the notes to school to discuss them with her friends, and they all think they are from Bart, but Kristy isn't so sure. She asks Bart to be her date to the Halloween Hop, and they decide to have their softball teams play another game, but they make it a huge deal and call it a "World Series" even though it's only one game.

Then the notes start getting creepy...pretty much  threatening to kill Kristy. She even gets sent an envelope of fingernails, saying "that's the only thing that will be left of you". For some reason, now, Kristy decides they have to be from Bart and that he is a creep, or he's trying to psych her out for the World Series. She quits speaking to him and Shannon does too (Shannon and Bart go to the same private school).

Finally Bart is like WTF and he shows up at her house demanding to know why she's being mean to him. She confronts him about the notes. He admits to writing the gooey gooey ones, but not the creepy ones. So they call Shannon over and they try to figure out who is behind the creepy notes, but they've got no ideas.

The next day is the World Series, and the KRUSHERS win! Also, Cokie Mason (the girls' nemesis) is there and she accidentally quotes one of the notes, so Kristy is all "WTF" and Cokie is all "Well I hate you bitches". Cokie overheard the BSC talking about the notes during lunch and decided to pull a little prank. So that's that about the notes.

Bart and Kristy go to the Halloween Hop as lobsters and he gives her some lip on cheek action. She's in love. The end.

Takeaways:

I realize I say this all the time - but Gabbie Perkins is 2.5 years old and she's coordinated enough to play softball?! NOPE.

I do not understand why Kristy decides to just be weird to Bart instead of just telling him about these creepy notes she is getting and seeing how he reacts. Also, why doesn't she tell her freaking parents what is happening? The amount of things these girls try to keep from their parents is astounding to me. 

Shannon is in this book a lot, like way more than any other book so far. 

Best character: 
I think Bart is the best character of this book. He is super into Kristy, always offering to walk her home and dropping hints that he wants to see her more often. Then he writes her love notes. Then he just confronts her and is like seriously why the fuck are you ghosting me? Then he comes up with these amazing lobster costumes (aw, he's her lobster...) (pop culture crossover) for them to wear to the Halloween Hop.


Worst character:
Obviously the fucking bitch Cokie is the worst.

#37 - Dawn and the Older Boy

Timeline: 
No time line was mentioned, so I assume it's near Fall of their 2nd 8th grade/6th grade year.

Plot:

The girls are having a slumber party at Kristy's house and when they go downstairs in the morning there is some dude named Travis having out with Kristy's brothers. He is the most magnificent human being Dawn has ever seen, and she becomes obsessed with him. It seems like just a little 13 year old girl crush on a 16 year old, until Travis randomly shows up at her house with a barrette set for her. Then he shows up at the middle school and takes her on an afternoon shopping adventure, where he buys her earrings.

Then Kristy mentions in a club meeting that Travis is dating a lifeguard and Dawn loses her shit. She sneaks over to the high school and follows him and his lifeguard girlfriend. She sees them kissing and loses her goddamned mind. So then she follows them again and actually talks to them, where she gets insulted by the girlfriend (she refers to her as a "little girl") and Dawn leaves, feeling defeated and embarrassed. She goes home, talks to her friends about it and decides she needs to actually break up with him. So she calls him and does that, and he's all like "I think you're blowing this out of proportion" and she's like "Bye Felicia".

Sub plot is that James Hobart is writing a play for him and his neighbors, the Perkins girls. When some bully kid in town, Zach, finds out about it, he makes fun of James and keeps convincing him to ditch the girls. James bends to Zach's will, and everyone is disappointed that he is being such a pussy. Then MaryAnne realizes Dawn acted the same way towards Travis and writes some cryptic message to her in the club notebook.

Also, at the very end of the book Dawn becomes penpals with Logan's cousin, Lewis. They are flirty and planning on going on a date when Lewis comes to Stoneybrook.

Takeaways:

There is so so so so so much wrong with this book. 

First of all, a three year age difference is not that big of a deal when you are an adult. When you are 13 and 16, that is NOT OKAY.  Travis is a CREEP. WHY IN THE WORLD would a 16 year old want to hang out with a 13 year old?

Travis reminds me so much of this dude I was hanging around with in my early 20's. He was always telling me how cool he is, how talented he is, how everyone loves him. He told me how to dress and things I needed to change about myself. I was exactly like Dawn and did whatever I could to please him. I was so obsessed with him! Luckily, like Dawn, I broke it off with him in a mature fashion (JK - I let it go on for years, ended up sleeping with him, was broken hearted when he started dating someone else, rekindled it a few years later and THEN decided to take charge and end it for real). 

When Jessi is babysitting for the Hobarts and is first introduced to the play, Dawn says she had "the best afternoon of her life". That is not saying much for the rest of Jessi's life. 

Best character: 
I'm going to go with Richard Spier, because he loses his mind when he finds out his 13 year old stepdaughter is hanging out with a 16 year old hot rodder.


Worst character:
Duh. Travis, the biggest creep in the world. 

#36 - Jessi's Baby-sitter

Timeline: 
No time line was mentioned, so I assume it's near Fall of their 2nd 8th grade/6th grade year.

Plot:

Jessi's mom has decided to go back to work, and Aunt Cecilia's husband just died, so what a great time for Aunt Cecilia to come live with Jessi's family! Right? NOPE. Jessi and Becca don't like her because she's bossy and overbearing. So, before she even moves in, they pull some pranks - short sheet her bed, put shaving cream in her slippers, put fake spiders in her bed - they make a whole list of shit to do to her.

So she comes, and they were exactly right - bitch ain't cool. She tells the girls what to eat, how to dress, when to do to bed - she completely takes over as a parent, and a pretty terrible one at that. Jessi comes home late from a babysitting job, and Aunt Cecilia won't let her go to her BSC meeting. Jessi's parents seem to be completely absent and fine with Aunt C raising their children.

While all this is happening at home, the elementary school is having a science fair, and Jessi is helping Jackie Rodowsky. Well, helping isn't the right word - Jackie wants to make a working volcano, and Jessi just does it for him. And she does all the research and then gives him a speech to memorize. She doesn't even let him make his own sign for the table, she does it. Kristy also helps David Michael, Stacey helps Charlotte and Mallory helps Margo, but they are all normal about it and let the kids do the work.

Jackie loses at the fair when he can't tell anyone anything about his own project. Then Jessi realizes what she has done and how overbearing she was, and how she was acting just like Aunt Cecilia. So she begs her parents (who for some reason went to the fair) to go home so they can talk, and Jessi FINALLY tells them all the problems with the aunt. So then they call the Aunt in, they have a family conference and everything is fine. Aunt Cecilia tells about the pranks, but then tells the parents not to punish them. Then she pranks them back. Everyone magically loves each other. The end.

Takeaways:

Jessi's handwriting is so annoying.

This book makes no sense on so many levels. One, Jessi is not an overbearing asshole, Kristy is. It makes no sense that she would act that way with Jackie. And Jessi always talks about how close she is with her parents, yet she can't be like "hey, Aunt Cecilia is being an asshole, can you talk to her?"

There is one creepy part, when Aunt C goes into Jessi's room and tells her she needs to start wearing her hair differently. It was very Flowers in the Attic, when the grandma chops off the granddaughters hair. 

The Pike kids make an actual working library with all of their books. Fucking awesome. 

Best character: 
I would have to say Mallory. I think Mallory is my secret favorite sitter. Margo wants to be in the science fair and asks Mal to help her, and Mal is all "I'll help, but I'm not doing it" and Margo makes some ridiculous project involving Barbie dolls and the moon. But Mal is like, whatever, she's having fun and learning.

Worst character:
I mean, Jessi is an asshole thoughout this entire book. She is mean and bossy to Jackie. She doesn't even attempt to be mature about her aunt. And then at the end all of a sudden everything is fine? And she also does not look like an 11 year old on that book cover.