#112: Kristy and the Sister War, Chapters 7-11
Chapters 1-3
Chapters 4-6
Five chapters! Man, I'm feeling ambitious today...
Chapter 7
Ugh, sub-subplot! For goodness sake, I do not care about Claudia setting Kristy up with a date, so I'll just summarize this chapter and then do some bullet points.
Summary: Claudia and Kristy head to the mall to get a date outfit for Kristy. Claudia enjoys herself, Kristy? Not so much. So anyway, Kristy gets "a flowered skirt, a soft fleecy vest, and a silky cream-colored blouse," which actually sounds pretty cute (note to self: make Sims outfit that looks similar). After that, Kristy gets made up ("I looked at myself in the mirror Lana held up and saw a thirty-five-year-old woman who looked as if she should be reporting the seven o’clock news.") and gets a new pair of shoes ("black strappy things with a chunky heel").
- Claud, really? You know Kristy doesn't like to shop. You couldn't have humored her and let her do something she enjoyed while at the mall?
- Claudia outfit, yay! She was wearing a jumper "made out of an old pair of overalls, and it was decorated with embroidered birds, animals, suns, moons, and stars."
- “It’s not a store, it’s a boutique.” Well, ex-cuuuuuse me, Miss Technicality (or, since this is Claudia talking, Miss Tecknikalitee).
Chapter 8
Oh, no, the kids' dance subplot.
Blah-de-blah, the kids argue about who will do what, T&M are mad at each other again, the kids are feeling like they have to have dates for the dance (And really?! Not one BSC member said "Don't worry, you don't need a date for the dance"? Not one? Geez!)
Oh, wait, Abby tells them not to worry about dates. Thank you, Abby. Gracious. Are my veins throbbing? They might be.
Anyway, the kids are happy again, and they go back to dance planning. Chapter over.
Chapter 9
What, we're still not back to the main plot? Great. OK, it's summary/bullet point time again.
Summary: Claudia and Kristy have their double date, which doesn't go so well (for Kristy, anyway), and when Steve (Kristy's date, and I did forget to mention that earlier. Sorry about that.) asks if Kristy wants to go the dance, Kristy's non-committal (she couldn't think of a nice way to say "Oh fuck NO!").
- Another Claudia outfit, woohoo! For the double date, she wore "a pink corduroy miniskirt with a lime green sweater" and also "pulled her hair up into a ponytail, wrapped a lime green scrunchie around it, and spiked out her bangs with gel" IDK about those gelled bangs, hon. Or that skirt.
- "Within five minutes of meeting Steve, I knew he was not Mr. Right. He wasn’t even Mr. Okay-for-the-Time-Being. But, being the gracious [Ha!] and open-minded [Double ha!] person I am, I stuck with the date and even tried my best to have a good time." Oh, that just fills me with confidence and excitement (and not "exitmint," Claudia!).
Look! Look how I excited I am!
- Steve "was wearing a Dallas Cowboys cap, a blue satin Yankees warm-up jacket (the kind that costs a lot), jeans, and a Chicago Bulls T-shirt." Bro, pick one sport and stick with it!
- "It’s always fun to find out who likes what on their pizza." Fun? Coming from someone who freaks out when Dawn wants broccoli on her pizza? Uh-huh. Sure. I believe you.
- Steve's pretty much a poser when it comes to sports. Or, as Kristy put it: "I had a feeling Steve wouldn’t know a fly ball if it smacked into his nose - unless Mickey Mantle’s autograph was on it, in which case he’d probably contact a card dealer immediately." Ouch.
- "Steve hadn’t asked me one question about myself." Tsk tsk, Steve. Not cool.
- WTF Steve?! You didn't think to ask if Kristy wanted to see "Death Zone" (she didn't)? I kinda want to slap you right now on Kristy's behalf. And I don't even like Kristy that much.
Chapter 10
WE INTERRUPT THIS SNARK TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bob Roberts. I--
*gimere removes Bob from his chair*
WTF is wrong with you, Bob?! This is a Baby-sitters' Club book, not a national emergency! Get the fuck out of here!
*Bob runs like hell*
A-hem...where was I? Oh, right, the end of the Sister War.
T&M are still pulling pranks, namely emptying some of Shanny's shampoo and re-filling the bottle with purple hair dye (“It was mega-purple!” shouted Maria.), washing Shanny's new sweater and consquently shrinking it and finally, dumping raspberry Jell-O (yum!) on Shanny's head via the old bucket above the door trick.
Oh, and they're not done, so we continue on (Sorry, Janine.) to:
Chapter 11
"Spaghetti. Cooked spaghetti in her backpack. The girls had outdone themselves."
Yeah, they sure did.
Shanny is pissed at this point. She's about to confront T&M but Kristy stops her because "I knew a confrontation right now was not a good idea. Not with Shannon this angry, and the girls so pleased with themselves. The Sister War had gone far enough. If I could just help Shannon cool down a bit before she yelled at them, maybe the three of them could talk things over and make up."
Kristy starts to say something, but Shanny cuts her off, snapping "Whose side are you on, here, anyway? And, by the way, what kind of baby-sitter lets two little kids go around pulling pranks like this?” Then she shakes the spaghetti in Kristy's face (WTF?). Kristy steps back, Shanny apologizes for her outburst, sits on the stairs and then puts her head in her hands. While she's still holding the spaghetti. "Oh, ew," she says. Then she starts laughing, and Kristy joins in.
After that, Kristy and Shanny head downstairs to have some cocoa, and Shanny pours her heart out to Kristy (who actually listens!):
"I just feel so tired all the time,” Shannon said. “And overwhelmed. I guess I’ve just taken on too much, but I don’t know what to do about it. I mean, I like all the things I do. French Club, Honor Society, the school play, the dance committee - all of it. It’s fun to be involved.”
Kristy correctly surmises that Shanny doesn't have much time to relax. Then we get to the other issue at hand--T&M's pranks. Shanny realizes that the pranks are T&M's way of getting attention because they miss her. Shanny ponders the situation and Kristy "had a definite feeling that the Sister War would not last much longer."
OK, that's it for now. The last four chapters will be up soon, perhaps tomorrow.