#67: Dawn's Big Move
As heavily foreshadowed in the previous book, Dawn is extremely homesick for California, and has been thinking about her dad and Jeff a lot. Meanwhile, Richard has signed the Spier-Schafers up to participate in this town-wide charity event called Run for Your Money. A lot of the BSC members and their families are signing up, too - but the Spier-Schafers are practicing for an underwear race. (Is that even a thing?) I guess the point is to race to the finish line while peeling off your clothes, and cross the finish line in just your underwear. Seems pretty risqué for ol’ Stoneybrook! Dawn, Mary Anne, Sharon, and Richard are practicing in the backyard and having a great time when suddenly Dawny Downer blurts out that she wants to move back to California for six months. Womp womp. Sharon and Mary Anne are both sad and a little hurt, but they can tell how badly Dawn wants to go.
Dawn convinces her mother and father to discuss it, which they do, and they eventually consult with her school guidance counselors and decide that it’s okay for Dawn to move back to Cali for six months. Cue Phantom Planet’s “California.” Dawn leaves in three weeks, and she’s stoked - but not everybody is. When she tells the members of the BSC at their next meeting, Kristy is like “how the hell are we going to handle all our jobs while down a sitter?!” Dawn promises to help find a replacement before she leaves, and Kristy agrees to postpone her murder plans… for now.
Actually, Kristy decides the BSC should throw a going-away party for Dawn. It’ll be held the day after the Run for Your Money event. At the event, the Spier-Schafers win one event and lose two, and the baby-sitters team up to win a dance relay race and a Mondo Ball competition. The next day, Dawn arrives at Kristy’s and finds a surprise party thrown for her by the BSC and a bunch of sitting charges. (After she spends much of the morning being miffed that there hasn’t been a surprise party yet.) There’s a big California-inspired mural, letters from the kids begging her to write to them, a banner that says BON VOYAGE, DAWN! and party food. Vanessa Pike reads a goodbye poem for Dawn, and everyone starts crying. At the last minute Dawn changes her mind and decides she wants to stay in Stoneybrook, but her family convinces her she is being overly logical and not listening to her heart. It’s settled: she’s going to California.
