#23: Dawn on the Coast
In general, I'm not a huge fan of Dawn. She seems like a pretentious know-it-all sometimes. But I was always jealous that she's from California, because I've always loved CA, even before I ever went there. So you've got that going for you, Dawn.
The BSC is hosting a going-away slumber party for Dawn before she heads to California for spring break to visit her dad and her brother. Dawn nearly ruins the party by asking for broccoli on her pizza (are you kidding me with this shit, Dawn?) but she manages to keep her friends. Despite an annoying flight with a bad flight attendant, Dawn makes it to California where her dad, her brother Jeff, and her California best friend Sunny are waiting to greet her at John Wayne Orange County Airport.
Back at her California house, Dawn wakes up in her old room and has a delicious breakfast prepared by the housekeeper, Mrs. Bruen, hired by Mr. Schafer when Jeff moved back. The first thing they do? Go to Disneyland, of course! They have a great day and then, that night, Dawn goes to her friend Sunny's house for a surprise. What's the surprise? Sunny and two classmates - Jill and Maggie - have started their own baby-sitting club called the We <3 Kids Club. It's similar to the BSC, but way more laid back. And they serve apple slices at their meetings instead of junk food, and they all love ghost stories. Dawn's in heaven.
Dawn's having a great time in CA, and kind of resenting the fact that Jeff gets to live there and she has to live in cold and boring Connecticut. But she also loves her friends and her mom and the baby-sitters ... she's having a lot of mixed emotions and feeling a little confused, especially after the spends a fun day baby-sitting her old charges Clover and Daffodil and doesn't think once about her mom, or Connecticut, or her friends in the Baby-sitters Club. She's even starting to think she doesn't want to go back to Stoneybrook at all.
After going back and forth (and even getting permission from her dad to stay in California if that's what she wants), Dawn ultimately decides that she belongs in Connecticut now. (BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT WON'T LAST!)
Mr. Schafer does, however, tell Dawn that she can come back anytime and she can bring the Baby-sitters Club! Cue Super Special #5, coming up in about a month!
