#74 - Kristy and the Copycat

Timeline
Spring of their 4th repeat

Plot
Kristy is in a weird rut and she can't figure out why. She thinks the Krusher practices are boring lately, even though no one else agrees with her. Finally she figures out that she misses playing softball, so she decides to try out for the SMS softball team. She makes it, but then she learns about the "initiation" rituals that the team has. She, and the other three new members of the team, have to vandalize the school sports shed or else the team will make them look bad in front of the coach. Also, if they breathe a word of the threat to anyone they will destroy them. The four girls go back and forth forever, but then finally decide to just do it. They sneak out, do it, and then two of the girls start smoking. Kristy refuses and they leave. Later that night, the shed catches on fire and a random man tries to put it out. That man ends up in the hospital in critical condition, and Kristy loses her mind bc she is convinced it was the cigarettes that started the fire.

The team still says if they tell anyone they will destroy the four girls. The baseball team ends up getting blamed for it, and Kristy finally decides she doesn't give a fuck and she is going to the principal. However, before she does, a group of high schoolers come forward and say they actually did it. So the softball team is off the hook.

Subplot is that in order to be on the softball team, Kristy gives up the Krushers. Claudia and Stacey take over her coaching duties, and they are ridiculously bad, so Kristy kind of takes back over.

Also the sub-sub-plot that is literally the title of the book for some stupid reason, is that Karen decides she wants to be 13 and starts copying the older girls. It is literally mentioned like twice in the book. It's no big deal at all, but somehow it is the title of the book.

Takeaways
I'm sorry, but what the fuck. An eighth grade softball team has initiation rituals, like a sorority? Nope. Nope. Nope. Not true.

Also, there is no way the coach wouldn't hear about this.

This entire thing is so out of character for Kristy. She would have never done this.

Why didn't someone from the Babysitters Club (because of course Kristy told the everything) go to the principal anonymously? Or go to the coach and tell her what was going on.

Again, the title of this book makes no sense. It should have been called "Kristy's Bad Decision" or "Kristy's Mistake" or "Kristy and the Ridiculous Situation that Would Never Happen in Real Life".

Best Character
Claudia and Stacey, because they offer to take over the Krushers even though they are not athletes at all.

Worst Character
Obviously those terrible, ridiculous, threatening softball girls.