#83: Stacey vs. the BSC
Sophisticated Stacey drama? I have to say I’m here for it. My favorite baby-sitter is getting a little annoyed with some of the other BSC members’ (read: Kristy, Mary Anne, Jessi, Mallory) immaturity. Stacey has a ~lovahhh~ (Robert) who she wants to spend time with, and she’s getting a little tired of how omnipresent BSC business is in her life. She does make a promise to her “almost-sister” Charlotte Johanssen, though: she’ll be front-and-center at the upcoming talent show where Charlotte is (under duress) playing the piano.
Stacey’s getting a little flaky again, though — she asks Mary Anne to cover her sitting job with the Pikes so she can go to Pizza Express with Robert and a few of her new friends. Let’s be honest, though — what eighth-grade girl would want to baby-sit ALL THE TIME?! Does this justify Dawn following Stacey to Pizza Express and spying on her to catch her in “a lie”? Stacey is humiliated when Dawn yells at her in front of everyone, and she wonders if she’s outgrowing the BSC.
The issue keeps gnawing at her when Kristy, Dawn, and Mary Anne sit near Stacey and her new friends at Burger Town and act like children. When Robert decides to have a party, Stacey and her new friends agree not to invite the BSC (except Stacey obv wants Claudia there). This is dicey territory, but there is no rule that you can’t be friends with more than one group, or that all of your friends have to click or get along. I’m Team Stacey on this one (and, yes, on everything).
Okay, maybe I’m not so much Team Stacey on this thing — while she’s baby-sitting for Jamie Newton she starts gabbing on the phone with Robert, doesn’t pay enough attention to Jamie’s cries, and Jamie barfs everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Newton also say they tried to call the house a few times and the line was busy. Stacey knows she was wrong and she knows she’s in deep shit — not with the Newtons, but with Kristy and the BSC.
Things get even dicier when the party has to get moved from Robert’s to Stacey’s. How is she going to have a party and not invite the BSC? She does, and she convinces Claudia to come, but then Mary Anne and Dawn show up at Stacey’s door around nine pm and have their suspicions confirmed. They storm off and then Claudia gets upset at Stacey for dragging her into it, and says she wishes Stacey never met Robert. The next day Stacey avoids the BSC talent show, to try to avoid the drama, and inadvertently breaks her promise to Charlotte Johanssen. She apologizes to Charlotte and smooths things over, but it’s not so easy with the BSC. In fact, Stacey quits.
“I’ve had it! I’m thirteen years old! I want to spend time with kids who act my own age and talk about something besides baby-sitting.” - Stacey, page 127
I mean… preach. Thirteen-year-olds don’t need to be working forty hours a week and answering to their friends about every little thing. Kristy is a dictator and Dawn is a shit-stirrer. It is sad to think about Stacey and Claudia not being friends anymore, but Stacey’s gotta live her life, and she’s having fun getting to know Robert’s friends Andi, Alex, Wayne, and Sheila. Plus, she still makes it to Charlotte Johanssen’s big piano recital. Take that, BSC — none of you were invited.
