#50 - Dawn’s Big Date

Timeline 

New Years Eve (yes, they skipped the entire holiday season), their 2nd 8th grade year

Plot

It’s New Years Eve and the girls have a slumber party. They all make resolutions, but Dawn makes a secret resolution to make herself more attractive to boys. Then MA tells her a few days later that Logan’s cousin Lewis, who Dawn has been penpals with for awhile, is coming to visit. Dawn decides to test some things out on Lewis. She changes her look, her attitude...everything. She kind of loses her mind. MA encourages the behavior and basically tells Dawn it’s time to change. Then Lewis comes and Dawn sucks, so he doesn’t like her. MA is still acting like a bitch so the girls fight. And the rest of the BSC is annoyed with Dawn acting like a psycho. 

Dawn really wants to use Lewis to figure out how to make boys like her, so she invites him over. About five minutes into the second date she realizes how much her new life sucks and confesses to Lewis that she was changing to impress him. He is like oh thank god, and Dawn changes her clothes and becomes herself again. And he and Dawn fall in love. 

Takeaways 

I think the copy of the book I have is my original from when I was a kid. It literally fell apart in my hands, and I read this book a lot growing up. I loved it. 

Dawn and MA get all these dating tips out of magazines. I remember reading them as a kid and tucking them away into my memory. Like compliment boys, say their names, have “you directed” conversations. 

Dawn is always portrayed as the “easy going, doesn’t care what people think, casual”type person, but almost every book proves that is not true. 

On their first date, Lewis and Dawn and MA and Logan go to see Gone With the Wind. It seriously sounds miserable to sit through that movie on a first date when you’re 13. MA picked it of course. When Dawn picks their second date they go bowling which sounds so much more fun. 

During the first date MA pinches Dawn every time she thinks she does something stupid. It’s so fucking rude. 

Best character

Lewis definitely wins. Dawn is a nutcase and a horrible date, but he still agrees to give her another shot and then tells her how great she was just the way she was. 

Worst character

Dawn and MaryAnne are pretty much tied for this one.