#51: Stacey's Ex-Best Friend
So Laine has been cool since she and Stacey made up back in the day, but now she's going to be a bitch again? Oh, Laine... No one crosses my queen Stacey and gets away with it!
Anyway, Laine calls Stacey to dish about her upcoming vacation, and about her fifteen-year-old boyfriend King (eyeroll) and how they go to parties together all the time and how he has a ponytail (gag me). Laine is listing off the glam things she could do on vacation, but Stacey suggests coming to Stoneybrook instead and hanging out with the BSC. Laine doesn't sound super enthused, but reluctantly agrees. Still, the BSC is excited to see Laine and to throw a Valentine's Day party for their charges. Mallory and Stacey enlist the Pike kids to make the invitations and Stacey finds out that Nicky has a crush on a second-grade girl but it's a secret from his family. ~DRAMA~
Before Laine arrives, Stacey ~sophisti-fies~ her bedroom and house, hiding anything that she thinks Laine will find tacky or immature, now that Laine has matured soooo much in the past year. When Laine arrives to Stoneybrook, she's like, "where's the town?" Um, ya just drove through it. Then at the sleepover with the BSC, she's like, "what are we going to do?" Um, yer doin' it. So basically she's going to be that girl who suddenly got too cool for kids her own age. Stacey is determined to find Laine a date for the Valentine's Day Dance so they can all go together and have a good time - but Laine has to check with King, her purple-spiky-haired fifteen-year-old boyfriend first.
Claudia baby-sits for the Arnold twins and helps them make V-Day cards for the party. She finds out that Carolyn has a crush on a third-grade boy (I'm guessing Nicky, since he has a crush on a second-grade girl?). Love is in the air... among the children, at least.
Laine insists on calling Stacey by her full name, Anastasia, because it's "more grown-up." Stacey hates it. She's optimistic about bringing Laine to SMS with her for the day, but she shouldn't be. Laine complains about SMS's rules, convinces Stacey to ditch study hall, and acts like a reeeal jerk at lunch even though Stacey has arranged for them to sit with Pete, Rick, and Austin. Pete is infatuated with Laine but she can't be bothered. Oh, and Kristy is pissed because Bart might want to stay home and watch a game on TV instead of going to the Valentine's Day Dance with her. OHHH SHIT.
Pete asks Laine to the dance and she says yes, but Stacey hears Laine on the phone with King and it sounds like she's making fun of Pete and of Stoneybrook in general, which doesn't sit well with Stacey. Is the dance cursed or something? Because Mallory and Ben get into a fight (a really dumb fight, in the library) and now they might not go to the dance together. To top it all off, Mary Anne is mad at Logan because he suggested that maybe she actually dance at this dance. To which her response is pure fury. The nerve! Stacey is getting increasingly annoyed with Laine's snide behavior, her diet ("I really wanna lose five pounds"), and her obsession with her terrible-sounding boyfriend. She just hopes the dance goes off without a hitch.
It starts off okay... the seven BSC members, plus Laine, plus all of their dates, meet in front of the school. Austin and Pete bring corsages for Stacey and Laine, which is sweet, but Laine doesn't seem impressed. Then Laine shits all over everything - the music, decorations, food, sixth graders - because it's not cool or mature enough. She's a real dick to Pete, and ends up blowing him off to dance with some cute seventh-grader. Stacey finally confronts Laine about being an asshole, and Laine demands to go back to New York. Stacey is happy to oblige, so Mrs. McGill picks them up and they send Laine on the 10:40 back to New York City.
At least the BSC's Valentine Masquerade for the kids goes well. Turns out Nicky has a crush on Marilyn Arnold (and she on him); Carolyn likes James Hobart. Stacey decides that she and Laine are probably not going to be friends anymore, so she writes Laine a letter and sends back her half of their best friends necklace (touché). Then she calls her cooler best friend, Claudia, and all is right in the world again.
