Thoughts before reading:
I definitely don't see Kristy minding her own business anytime soon, haha. I'm excited that there's finally a book with more Charlie in it though. He's one of my favorite characters. Too bad it has to be about him getting a terrible girlfriend though. Hopefully they don't ruin his character.
The basics:
Kristy wins 4 tickets to a Blade concert on WSTO, which is great luck because they're her favorite rock group. Charlie offers to come along and drive everyone, because he likes the group too. When Elizabeth mentions them possibly bringing dates, Kristy finds out that he and Sarah broke up, which he looks crushed about.
At the next BSC meeting, Kristy comes up with the idea to have a Krushers spring clinic (basically extra training and practice, like the pros do). She was hoping Bart would help, but he's having his own spring training with the Bashers. Charlie offers to help out instead, and he says he might even be able to get the Mets third baseman, Jack Brewster, to drop by one of the practices. Kristy happily agrees.
During the first clinic, Charlie turns out to be great with the kids: they listen to him well, and he's a great teacher. Kristy knows she should be thrilled, but instead she feels useless. Some of the kids even listen to Charlie better than her. From the very first day, there's also a pretty girl that Kristy doesn't recognize hanging around, watching things... but mostly Charlie. Her name is Angelica, and it turns out she's the Hsus' babysitter. (Aren't they usually BSC clients? I'm surprised Kristy doesn't hit the roof.) The second day, Charlie shows up late, sporting a brand new haircut, new clothes, and cologne. On the third day, he flirts and shows off the whole time. Kristy's irritated because she thinks he's not being himself, and he never did any of these things with Sarah.
Watson takes Kristy to the mall to replace a bat that Charlie broke while showing off. While there, Kristy runs into Sarah, and decides to try and reunite her and Charlie. She later calls Sarah and asks her to meet up with her to give advice on Charlie's college options, then she invites Charlie out to lunch. When both Charlie and Sarah show up for lunch thinking they're just meeting Kristy, they take one look at each other and make excuses to leave. Then Charlie gets upset, thinking Sarah's playing games. Kristy tries to tell him the truth, but he keeps cutting her off. When she's finally able to tell him, he stops speaking to her. The next day at the clinic, he talks to Angelica the whole time, and even tells her what Kristy did. (Abby overhears and tells Kristy.)
After all this drama, Kristy vows to mind her own business from now on. That same night, Charlie's out late with Angelica. They're both late to the clinic the next day, and show up together. Charlie announces that Jack Brewster is coming in 2 days, then spends most of the practice time goofing off with Angelica (they even play on the swings together, haha). Kristy gets angry that he's not following through on his responsibilities, and accuses him of acting like their dad. (A REALLY cheap shot, in my opinion! There's a vast difference here.)
Kristy gets Mary Anne to fill in the next day until Charlie arrives (which makes for a funny scene). The concert is that night, and Charlie's taking Angelica. Kristy ended up inviting Claudia. Predictably, things get off to a rough start. Angelica acts annoyed that Kristy and Claudia are even coming, although Kristy is the one who won the tickets in the first place. She keeps correcting Charlie's driving too, until finally asking if she can just drive. Charlie lets her, to Kristy's horror. It's not long before they get pulled over. Angelica says she doesn't have a license and wants Charlie to switch seats with her so it looks like he was driving... AND she hits a guardrail while pulling to the side of the road. Watson's car won't start after, so the police take them all to the station.
Watson and Elizabeth come to pick everyone up, furious. Charlie's banned from driving for a month, has to pay for the ticket, and can't see Angelica anymore. (I'm surprised he doesn't have to also pay for the care repairs.)
Charlie ends up flaking out on Jack Brewster coming to practice, because he's way more preoccupied with why Angelica hasn't shown up. Sarah shows up to watch though, and mentions that Jack Brewster is actually her uncle, and Charlie had asked her about him coming, but never followed through. Sarah calls him herself and arranges for him to stop by. Angelica also comes by later and gives Kristy a note to give Charlie. She's acting cold and clearly doesn't feel bad about anything. Charlie reads the note in front of Kristy. It's condescending, and the gist is she thinks Charlie was too immature for her. Kristy's mad, but Charlie thinks she actually has a point, because he's been avoiding seriously looking at colleges, which Sarah has been doing, and he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. He's afraid he'll turn out just like their dad. Kristy's stunned... she had no idea he felt this way about anything, and she reminds him how he held the family together when their dad left. They share a nice moment, where Kristy tells him she tries to think of what he would do when she doesn't know what to do in a situation. Both of them end up misty eyed.
Jack Brewster comes to the last clinic with Sarah, and Charlie starts looking at his college mail again.
Timeline:
It's spring break.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis.
*Kristy is 100% correct that a boy who is forceful is called "strong-willed" or "a born leader", but a girl who's the same way is "bossy". I was happy to see this mentioned in a kid's book.
*Bart put Kristy's name on the mailing list for "Bouncy Bottoms Baby Boutique", haha.
*Charlie's looking into colleges (and probably has been for the entire series...)
*Elizabeth suggests Kristy and Charlie double date with Bart and Sarah for the concert... does she really not know about any of the events from #95? That seems unlikely.
*Claudia has a hair clip shaped like a VCR, which sounds hilarious.
*Charlie eats frosted grapes in here, which are apparently grapes dipped in cool whip? Is this a thing, or is it weird? I've never heard of it before.
*Kristy's worried about Charlie leaving for college, and she already misses him. Aww.
*Mr. Pike actually plays with his own kids in here... could be a series first!
*Claire tries to spit like Charlie, but ends up drooling instead (pg 43). It's a really funny, silly scene.
*Kristy says when she once bought Charlie cologne for his birthday, he used it as a door stop, haha.
*Angelica also smokes, and offers one to Charlie, which strongly implies she's smoking at the clinic? That's pretty messed up... I'm surprised Kristy didn't flip out on her. (She later does smoke at practice for sure, page 72.)
*This book actually has a lot of funny lines and moments, which was refreshing. I also liked the actual teenage dynamics in here, and the sibling drama.
*Blade's latest CD is called Shrunken Heads.
*Charlie borrows Watson's Oldsmobile for the concert to impress Angelica, but it's a very bumpy ride because he's not used to the power steering or power brakes. Then Angelica asks him to please take it easy, because she gets motion sickness, LOL (pg 96). Charlie, in response, turns white. Kristy says this driving experience feels like being in a Cuisinart.
*This was the first car accident involving BSC members since Stacey's in California, I believe?
*Apparently Claudia once flushed a stack of $20 bills of her dad's while playing with Kristy.
*Kristy tries to get the police to drop her and Claudia off at the concert, haha. That's pretty ballsy...
Books mentioned:
None
My rating:
3.5 stars. I was really pleasantly surprised by this one. It was nice to finally have a book with Charlie, as well as all these sibling dynamics. Plus this was funny, a real rarity.
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