Super Special #15: Baby-sitters' European Vacation
Stoneybrook is charmed af, and so Kristy, Abby, Stacey, Jessi, and Mallory are on a trip to London and Paris. Mrs. McGill is along as a chaperone, and ex-bf Robert’s on the trip too — poor Stacey. Awkward, party of 3!
Jessi’s pals from Dance NY are performing and she gets tickets to their show at the Barbican Center. She goes backstage before the show to say hi to her friend Tanisha, and all of a sudden a younger corps dancer gets injured. Turns out the understudy is sick with food poisoning, so who is the only person who can fill in? Duh, Jessi. She pulls together the courage to go on stage and does a not-perfect-but-pretty-damn-good job. The day the Stoneybrook crew leaves London for Paris, the Dance NYers show up outside the hotel and present Jessi with a statuette of golden ballet slippers “for services rendered above and beyond the call of duty.”
Mallory meets up with her cousin Gillian, who is a professor and writer, so she’s immediately Mallory’s idol. Gillian shows Mallory a big book of their family’s genealogy and guess who Mallory is distantly related to? WILLIAM mo-effin’ SHAKESPEARE. Of course…
Stacey accidentally takes the wrong luggage at the airport and instead of all her cute 90s outfits, she finds A DUDE’S ASHES in the suitcase. She immediately assumes the person has been murdered. #RelatableIcon. She’s also mortified that she has to wear her mother’s clothes.
“Very funny, Kristy. Hilarious. I have stolen a man’s suitcase with a murder victim inside it, the mob is about to close in, I’m making my European debut looking like a cover model for Parenting magazine, and you’re making fun of me!” - Stacey, page 44
Stacey finds out that the ashes belong to a soldier who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and that his friend has promised to scatter his ashes there. After visiting the Cabinet War Rooms, Stacey realizes the significance of D-Day and Normandy, and why someone who’d been there would want their ashes scattered there. Stacey and her mom return the ashes to Louis Anderson, the friend, when they get to Paris. Stacey even gives up a day in Paris to accompany Mr. Anderson to Normandy to bid a final farewell to his friend.
Robert spends most of the trip trying to run away from Jacqui Grant, who is ~on the prowl~ and constantly hitting on him.
Abby is stoked to visit Victoria Kent’s castle, only to find out upon arrival that it’s actually just a normal Tudor-style house. She’s disappointed, natch… until Victoria invites her to stand with her when she meets the literal Queen of England. Then Abby’s disappointment turns into elation. Later, it turns into disappointment again when she arrives and realizes that she doesn’t actually get to meet the Queen but, rather, she gets to watch Victoria meet the Queen. After that, though, she does step on the Prince’s foot! So, she makes her Abby-like mark. (Abby and I are twins because I once stepped on Peter Jennings’ foot.)
Kristy gets paired up with a Canadian student named Michel in an activity, and even though they have ~nothing in common~ the sparks start to fly from all of their banter. Of course, Kristy can’t admit she likes him but Queen Stacey can sense the sexual chemistry a mile away and calls her out. While touring the Louvre, Kristy and Michel get separated from the group and have to kill four hours together before meeting up with the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower. Kristy is at first dismayed and disgusted but agrees to “pretend” to be friends with Michel as they spend the afternoon visiting the Tuilieres (big public garden), an ancient Egyptian monument, a palace containing a science museum, L'Arc de Triomphe, walking along the Champs-Elysees, and walking along the River Seine to the Eiffel Tower. By the end of the day they are no longer “pretending” and clearly Kristy actually likes Michel and lets him put his arm around her. It’s not until Kristy is touring the sewer with Abby that she finally admits she actually likes Michel. On the last night of the trip, she kisses him on a balcony. Ooh la la!
Meanwhile in Stoneybrook…
Mary Anne, Logan, Dawn, and Claudia are counselors at the SES playground camp.
Dawn spends a day moonlighting at the Sunshine Gang Day Camp for kids with special needs and her chapter seems like it’s setting something up but then we… never return to that story?
Claudia feels like her summer is ruined when Janine becomes one of the senior counselors. Janine is nice to the kids and other counselors but really tough on Claud. Eventually everything comes to a head and Claud yells at Janine, but then feels bad. Janine confesses that Jerry (her ex-boyfriend who got her to work at the camp) has been micromanaging her, disparaging her, and making her feel like a worthless idiot all week. She’s been taking it out on Claudia because Claud’s the only person at camp she loves and trusts. (WE ALL DO THIS. IT SUCKS BUT IT’S RELATABLE.)
Mary Anne is having major issues with Cokie Mason, who sucks as a baby-sitter (obv) and only got the job because her mother is on the Board of Ed. Cokie also keeps doing whatever she can to be close to Logan, much to Mary Anne’s chagrin. To quote “Big Brother” winner Rachel Reilly, Mary Anne’s all “NO ONE COMES BETWEEN ME AND MY MAN!” Actually, Mary Anne is too meek to say that so Janine says it for her and stands up to Jerry. GO JANINE! More like Ja-queen, am I right?
