Monday, October 23, 2017

#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. 

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