kacperbieda

this book was pretty disappointing. stacey's "problem" is that her dad is marrying his girlfriend, samantha, & stacey is worried that her mom is really bummed about this. i'm sure stacey's mom is at least a little bit bummed--it always sucks when your ex moves on faster than you did, especially when said ex is a selfish narcissistic workaholic who is dating a former model a good fifteen years younger than him (not to be all girl-hating--it's just a little difficult when that kind of thing happens), but it's hardly stacey's problem. of course, stacey makes it her problem. she plots with her BSC buddies to get her hands on some video dating tapes with designs on finding a boyfriend for her mom. yuck. she panics at the thought of being in the city visiting her dad when her mom is going on a date with someone from work, & is concerned that her mom will fall to pieces if stacey isn't around to process & help pick out clothes. i guess maybe stacey does have a problem if she thinks her mom is really this helpless. when i was 13, i still thought adults were pretty much superhumanly capable & confident. in fact, i am 29 & years of personal experience being an adult fuck-up have yet to completely diasabuse me of this notion. anyway, it all works out in the end. turns out that mrs. mcgill (who is changing her name to ms. spencer in order to reclaim her identity) has just been distracted with plans to open her own clothing boutique. all the BSC girls are wicked psyched & volunteer to work for her, but i guess the ghosties finally had a chat with a lawyer because ms. spencer informs them that she can't hire underage employees because it's against child labor laws. hear that, rosebud cafe? why do you have 13-year-old bus boys? the subplot is that mallory is home from boarding school for the summer (like three months before stoneybrook schools end for the session) & is feeling jealous & displaced because the younger kids don't seem to be that psyched to have her around again. byron helps them with their homework now & vanessa makes up mean rhymes about how mallory shouldn't expect people to fall down at her feet just because she's home again. it's pretty weird. also, mallory lets her nerd flag fly by going on & on about this new invention she is discovering at school: the internet. she offers to design a website for ms. spencer's new boutique. it's pretty embarrassing. you know mallory has a long life of internet dating ahead of her. she will eventually settle down with a LARPer. & i know, i know, it's 2009, internet dating is socially acceptable now. i just can't wrap my head around it. i'm old-fashioned that way.

2023-02-10 15:35