Stacey's Ex-Best Friend (RS#51)

Original Publication Date: 1992

Ghostwriter? No

Synopsis:

Laine has a weeklong break from school, and Stacey convinces her to spend it in Stoneybrook. SMS still in session, so Laine comes to classes for a day. There, Pete Black sees her and falls in lust. Lucky for him, there's a school dance for Valentine's Day on Friday...the thirteenth.

No, seriously. Mallory, Kristy, and Mary Anne get in fights with Ben, Bart, and Logan, respectively. More importantly, Laine and Stacey get in a fight after it simmering all week. Laine has matured much faster than Stacey in many ways, but not in such a way that she can avoid being a snotty brat to Stacey and her friends. She's acts rude and superior the whole time, which finally culminates in her and Stacey leaving the dance early so Laine can catch an earlier train back to New York. After thinking about things, Stacey realizes she and Laine have grown apart. She writes Laine a letter explaining her feelings, and includes with it her half of the best friends necklace Laine gave her when she moved back to Stoneybrook.

The BSC charges have a nicer Valentine's: the BSC puts on a masquerade for them and all goes well.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Snickers under her pillow, Fritos in her desk drawer, fruit pie in her backpack

Stacey likes home shopping networks, and patronizes them. And Claudia decides to join her.


Their Families: nothing new


The Club:

The Hobarts' Australian accents are fading.


SMS:

Students: Ron Belkis (7th), Dave Griffin (8th), Curtis Shaller (7th)


PSA time: nothing new

Misc:

There's another mention of global warming coupled with the appearance of snow, just like in SS#7.

I agree with Stacey. "Babe" is a weird pet name for a significant other. I'm also not a fan of "baby" unless I'm referring to an infant.

A thought occurs...the Pike triplets were possibly born via C-section. In the 80s and 90s, VBACs were rare. Most doctors recommend no more than five C-sections for a woman...triplets, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, Claire. Makes sense Claire is the last one.

Ugh, "it takes two to tango." I had a teacher who would say that when punishing students for talking even if it really was just one student trying to talk the other and the second student ignoring the first.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 3

Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2

Summers after 8th grade: 2

BSC Fights: 6

SMS Staff: 23

Students (other than the BSC): 66; 44 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 10 sixth-graders, nine unspecified

Clients: 28

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 53 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)

Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-2 (Curtiis Shaller, Quint Walter)