Thoughts before reading:
I'm very sad that they're going to ruin this friendship. It's been my favorite of the series, and now it's going to be thrown away over a guy, of all things?
The basics:
Stacey's upset because Ethan's taking a new art class on Sundays, and weekends are the only time they can see each other, because of the distance between them. He promises to come visit her in Stoneybrook to make up for it, which makes her feel a bit better, but she still has a vague feeling that something is off between them.
That Monday, Stacey notices a really cute new boy in school. Her and Claudia both end up chatting with him in the lunch line that day, and learn his name is Jeremy Rudolph, and he's just moved from Olympia. They invite him to have lunch with their group, which he accepts. Both girls are instantly infatuated by him. Claudia tries to defer, reluctantly, by saying that Stacey met him first, but Stacey says she's still seeing Ethan, and therefore not available anyway. Claudia's instantly cheered up by the thought, but Stacey feels disappointed even as she's saying it.
There's another new student in school as well, Rachel Griffin. Claudia, Mary Anne, and Kristy are all groaning over the news... they went to SES with her, and she was a real mean girl back then. They were all glad when she moved away after 5th grade. Stacey thinks they're overreacting though... after all, that was awhile ago, and when she meets Rachel she seems perfectly nice. She's in Stacey's English class, in fact, and the two girls end up chatting. They have quite a bit in common, namely that Rachel is also from a city, London, and really misses it.
Ethan backs out of coming to Stoneybrook because he has to cover at work (he still works at the art gallery). He also mentions that he's really busy all around, and maybe they should cool things down for now. Stacey agrees, but still feels hurt and upset. In school the next day, she tells Claudia the news, and is annoyed to learn that Claudia really likes Jeremy and keeps mentioning him. Stacey finally realizes that she also has a major crush on him. After lunch period, Claudia asks Stacey to help her find out if Jeremy likes her. She agrees, very reluctantly. (I remember doing this exact sort of thing in junior high, haha.)
Stacey realizes she needs to put Claudia over Jeremy and bite back her jealousy, because Claudia's her best friend and she just met Jeremy. (This is the #1 most sensible statement I've ever read in a BSC book! Too bad she doesn't hold on to this decision... but based on the book title, we know what's coming.) Stacey invites Jeremy to go hang out at the mall with her and Claudia, then cancels at the last minute so they can be alone. (Claudia knows about the plan ahead of time, of course.) Stacey feels terrible afterwards though, and keeps obsessing over Jeremy.
Since Claudia never calls to tell her how the "date" went, Stacey calls her over that weekend to ask. Claudia tells her it was amazing, and thanks her profusely for helping. Right after they hang up, Jeremy stops by to see how Stacey's feeling. She asks him about the date, and he quickly says it wasn't a date at all, and he'd been really disappointed that Stacey wasn't there... then he asks her out. She's thrilled but quickly feels guilty, and promises to call later with an answer.
Once he leaves, Stacey goes jogging to clear her head, and ends up running into Rachel. They get to talking, and Stacey explains her dilemma. Rachel tells her she has to talk to Claudia, and even though she'll be hurt, hopefully she'll understand. Knowing she's right, Stacey returns home and nervously plans a speech to explain things to Claudia, complete with index cards. The next day though, she finds Claudia sculpting Jeremy's head and chickens out. Stacey ends up telling her before the BSC meeting that same afternoon, but in her nervousness it comes out much more bluntly than she'd intended. Claudia's furious, feels betrayed, and they spend most of the meeting yelling at each other.
The next day, Stacey agrees to hang out with Jeremy after school, and they have a great time. She decides he was worth all the trouble after all. When she gets home, there's several messages from Ethan on the answering machine, but she doesn't see the point of calling him back now.
During school the following day, Jeremy pulls Stacey aside to ask about Ethan... who Claudia's just told him all about. Jeremy doesn't believe it's really over between them, and tells her he needs to think things over. Stacey confronts Claudia about it, and they have a really nasty fight, with cruel things said on both sides. Afterwards, Stacey talks things over with Rachel again, not wanting to put Kristy or Mary Anne in the middle.
After avoiding her for a few days, Jeremy asks Stacey out again. She agrees, Rachel helps her get ready, and just after she leaves, Ethan shows up with flowers. He starts to apologize to Stacey for everything, but then realizes she's dressed up and about to go on a date. Stacey tells him she doesn't want to see him anymore, and her deep feelings for him are gone. They share an emotional, but quick, goodbye.
Right after Ethan leaves, Jeremy shows up. They go bowling, out to dinner, and share a goodnight kiss. Stacey has a wonderful time.
Timeline:
It's fall, 8th grade has begun for the last time.
Misc. thoughts:
*Stacey's studying American westward expansion in history class. That was always one of my favorite parts of history to study. (I'm a history nerd.)
*I'm glad Abby eats lunch with the OG BSC still, and that new people can join the group for lunch without any of that old weirdness.
*Claudia and Josh are still friends.
*Stacey says the club still meets 3 times a week? I thought they agreed to scale back the meetings, but that hasn't been mentioned again.
*Rachel's compared to Lucy von Pelt, Angelica Pickles, and Helga Pataki. It's weird to hear those 90s cartoon references in here, since none of those shows have been mentioned before in the series.
*The girls are still calling Logan about jobs, and he's annoyed about it. They had agreed to just turn down jobs, so between this and the meetings, they already aren't following their new rules.
*Why doesn't Kristy just look for some new members? Just because a few people didn't work out, look at all the ones who did... plus, she's clearly not ready to let go of the club. If they added a few people, they could at least keep up their job load throughout one more school year at least.
*Stacey sits for the Rodowskys in here, and they skip over the whole job! It's awesome.
*Stacey and Claudia pass notes, like actual teenagers! I like that everyone seems much younger in the FF books so far, way more like how they acted at the beginning of the regular series.
*Maureen apparently goes jogging every Saturday morning and forgets her keys? This sounds a lot more like Sharon to me.
*The rule about boys having to stay in the kitchen when Maureen isn't home is mentioned again. Hooray for continuity!
*This wasn't quite as bad as I expected, although still annoying. It is a bad situation, and a messy one, I'll admit. It's not worth ruining a friendship over though. Both girls just met this guy, so it's not like anyone is in love. He's basically a stranger when they begin fighting over him. They're 13 though, so they just don't have the maturity to decide neither of them should date him. I get that, I just really wish they hadn't done this storyline at all. It not only ruins this good friendship, but it makes both girls come across as petty, annoying, and unlikeable.
*Kristy wants to make a chart to assign free time on weekends?! Yikes, she's lucky anyone wants to be in the club still.
*Despite the nastiness of Stacey and Claudia's fight, I couldn't help but enjoy Stacey ripping into her about her spelling. Everyone's always just ignored it before, but it really is ridiculous.
*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.
*This is the only BSC book with two character names in the title. I wasn't completely sure who was narrating until I started it.
*Despite the circumstances, it was nice to see Stacey make a new friend. Everyone had stopped doing that for a long time.
Books mentioned:
*The Midwife's Apprentice, by Karen Cushman
My rating:
2 stars. There was really nothing to enjoy about this for me, and I'm bummed that this story will dominate the FF books now.
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