(If you click the cover, you'll see it bigger.)The Cover: Once again, the who’s who part is easy. From left to right: Patti, Stephanie, Lauren in the back and blonde Kate. Kate always looks about like this in my mind, though it’s not the best cover for the other three girls. Stephanie again is out of her color scheme. This is cute for Patti though. She goes through the most artistic changes, I think.
CHAPTER 1:
Friday night sleepover time again! Lauren is the narrator, as she will be for quite awhile. We’re at Kate’s house, watching some desert movie. Stephanie and Lauren both proclaim thirst.
“Water…water…” the guy on the screen croaked as he stumbled down a sand dune.
“Doctor Pepper…Doctor Pepper…” Stephanie croaked, clutching her throat and staggering around.
I always liked this moment for Stephanie. I thought it was one of her more light-hearted ones. Anyways, Kate still wants to watch the movie, even though she’s seen it a gajillion times. It’s suddenly interrupted by a weird commercial. A band called Boodles is doing a music video in Riverhurst and if you can guess the location, you can be in it. Stephanie is excited and does a few dance steps, then gets on the subject of the band guy’s cuteness. Patti also comments. Kate is less amused.
“For people who were dying of thirst three seconds ago, you certainly recovered fast,” Kate interrupted. “Do you want to go downstairs or not?”
The girls head downstairs with a reminder from Kate not to wake her dad and to watch out for the squeak in the third stair. That triggers Lauren going into backstory mode. (See the post on book #1 for the backstory. I’m not retyping it every time. The only thing of note is that Lauren says HER dad dubbed them the Sleepover Friends. That was actually Kate’s dad in the first book.) The girls pass Melissa’s room and we find out she’s in second grade. Don’t think that was clarified in #1. Lauren’s naturally hungry again and finds some fancy chocolate mousse. Kate determines that one side is higher than the other, so they can each have a small taste. Patti asks what the purple things on it are and they turn out to be crystallized violets. There are extras, exactly four left, so each girl tries one. They make popcorn, get drinks and return upstairs. The movie is over and it’s WBRM request time. The girls like to listen and try to figure out who the requests are for, because a lot of them are high schoolers. Stephanie produces a bunch of red plastic fake fingernails. Patti is in awe.
For someone who grew up in the city, Patti doesn’t know much about makeup or beauty tips or fashion. Stephanie is just the opposite. She’s always coming up with new ideas about clothes and style, like wearing her sweatshirt upside down with the sleeves over a pair of bright tights on her legs instead of her arms.
Yeah, that one always made me curious about what she did with the neck hole.
The girls do their nails and another Boodles ad is heard, this time on the radio. Everyone but Kate is getting into the video fantasizing. Kate is instead wondering how the fake nails would look in Sunset Pink.
“Sunset Pink?” Stephanie said, completely grossed out. “Really, Kate!”
And a couple lines later…
She [Stephanie] stretched out her long red nails. “I feel like Alexis Colby.”
“More like Queen of the Vampires,” Kate said. “I still think they’d look better in pink.”
Heh.
And we get out first recognizable dedication: Todd Schwartz to Mary Beth Young, a high school football star and his chick. Lauren goes down to the kitchen for a drink refill and sneaks another bit of mousse. She returns for a conversation about a “to Michael P. of
CHAPTER 2:
Each girl confesses to sneaking more samples, even Kate. Patti suggests they make another mousse, but Kate is doubtful. It’s not easy. The girls head to the kitchen and examine the mousse. There’s definitely too much gone to just smooth it over, so they get the cookbook and get to work. Lauren attempts separating eggs and fails, so Stephanie takes over and does it with no problem.
“You ought to be a cook when you grow up,” Patti said admiringly.
“Are you kidding?” Stephanie grinned. “I’m going to have a cook when I grow up!”
Ah, Stephanie. The girls have difficulties though, including burning a batch of chocolate and having to use Hershey’s Kisses instead. As they go through more eggs, Lauren laments.
“I guess we won’t be having omelettes for breakfast after all,” I said sadly. Even Patti glared at me.
I love Lauren. She doesn’t seem to have much personality, but I find her more likeable than Stephanie and Kate. Patti’s nice, but a little too shy for me, so it’s Lauren.
The girls manage to finally get the eggs yolks and chocolate decent. Then Kate tackles doing the egg whites with a beater. She ends up jerking the electric beater out of the bowl without turning it off…shooting egg whites everywhere. At
CHAPTER 3:
Lauren is so worn that she forgets about the McBride house until lunchtime, when she asks her parents about it. It comes out that she was outside at
“Are you sure ‘sleepover’ is the right word?” Roger stuck in. “There doesn’t seem to be any ‘sleep’ involved. The ‘Sleepless Friends’ would be more like it.”
I [Lauren] ignored him. Well, first I sneered at him, then I ignored him.
Heh. Lauren’s dad says he’ll mention it to a police officer that patrols their area and Lauren’s mom says she’ll check around the neighborhood.
Later that day, Stephanie calls and asks if Lauren wants to go for a bike ride. The girls head to the mall via
CHAPTER 4:
Stephanie’s solution falls into her lap. The 5th grade play is announced that Wednesday in school. Lauren and Kate are not thrilled, as they don’t want to be on stage, but Stephanie’s all about the play. She’s been in plays before, when she was in school in the city. She tries to convince everyone to try out. Kate says no, as she wants to assist the director. She wants to be one herself, so this is good experience. Lauren also ixnays, but Stephanie cons Patti into it.
The Friday night sleepover is at Patti’s and they’re going to Mimi’s Pizza for dinner. Unfortunately, Patti’s bratty cousin Lester is visiting. He’s obnoxious and a bad influence on Patti’s little brother Horace. His parents are off on a business trip, so the Jenkins family is stuck with him for the weekend. At Mimi’s, the girls and Mr. Jenkins (Mrs. Jenkins had to go to a meeting) head for the salad bar. When they get back, the drinks and pizza have been served. Stephanie and Lauren dig in, only to regret it. The pizza is too spicy! So they dive for their drinks and swallow greasy liquid. The boys crack up. Patti hands Lauren her drink, but Lauren spots a big glob of olive oil in it. Kate examines the pizza and sees red pepper sprinkled all over it.
CHAPTER 5:
An angry Mr. Jenkins demands apologies from the boys. Horace apologizes immediately, but Lester doesn’t. Mr. Jenkins sends them off to wait in the car. He and the girls order more food. When they get back to Patti’s, the boys are sent straight to bed. The girls flop down on the couch and find a Boodles clue on the TV. Stephanie is again excited at the idea of being in a video, while the other girls try to figure out where it is. Stephanie suggests practicing for the play audition, which worries Patti enough that Lauren asks her again if she’s sure she wants to do the play. Stephanie answers for her and they head up to the attic. Naturally, Stephanie’s trying for the lead part, a woman named Laura who’s betrothed to the villainous Sir Monty. But Laura loves Alex Doright, a penniless art teacher. Patti’s going to try for Laura’s cousin Sara, who doesn’t have many lines. The girls have forgotten their scripts (how do you forget something that important?) so they go to Patti’s room. Stephanie opens her bag and screams. There’s a rat in there! The girls are terrified (*sigh* typical) and Mr. Jenkins runs in.
“A good whack with a broom handle should take care of the rat…permanently.”
But then Lester runs in and declares the rat his.
CHAPTER 6:
Mr. Jenkins is mad, but Patti is totally pissed. She rages at Lester and Stephanie tells her to remember her anger for when she’s acting. Lester gets the rat and taunts the wussy girls with it. (I expected more from at least one of them. Scientific Patti or sporty Lauren, maybe.) Lester is once again banished. Mrs. Jenkins comes home from her meeting and tells the girls about some snacks, then heads to bed. The girls go up to the attic, which is huge. The door to the attic stairs is also right beside Horace’s room. Plot point. The girls go through an amusing scene with Stephanie acting well, Patti stammering and Lauren putting on a deep voice as a stand-in for the male character. Patti gets worse and worse until Lauren suggests a food break. However…Lester has locked the girls in the attic. Patti’s parents’ room is too far away to hear the girls and Lester won’t let Horace unlock the door, so the girls’ only hope is for one of them to climb out the third floor window into a tree. Patti makes it down the tree, but suddenly an alarm goes off. The cops come and both sirens stop wailing. Lester unlocks the door and the girls are free. Apparently, Patti set off the burglar alarm trying to climb inside the kitchen window…the burglar alarm which Patti’s parents don’t use. The switches just happen to be near Horace’s room.
CHAPTER 7:
After everything has settled down, the girls are downstairs watching TV. Another Boodles clue comes on. Once again, the girls can’t guess. Stephanie suggests they rehearse again, but Kate says no. But Stephanie makes Patti do it all weekend and Monday.
Wednesday afternoon arrives and it’s audition time. The auditions go on and Stephanie ends up having to audition with Michael! Stephanie freezes, while Patti is so worried about her that she nails her audition. Stephanie flees. Lauren goes after her and returns to this:
“Patti Jenkins was really good as Laura,” Sally Mason reported. “Does Michael Pastore like her?”
Uh oh! I thought. “Not that I know of,” I said. “Why?”
“He smiled at her the whole time.” Sally added a dab of paint to a window frame. “And I don’t think he was acting.”
CHAPTER 8:
The next morning, Stephanie apologizes to Patti for making her try out. Everything seems okay until the end of the school day, when Mrs. Mead announces that two people in the class will be in the play. One is Mark Freedman as the villain. The other…is Patti! She gets the role of Laura and will play opposite Michael. Outside the classroom, Michael finds Patti and suggests they practice scenes together. Stephanie’s heard enough and she takes off. Lauren calls her later about the sleepover at the Hunter house the next night. Stephanie won’t go if Patti’s there. Patti thinks the whole thing is ridiculous. She only tried out because Stephanie wanted her to and she doesn’t like Michael, as he’s too short for her. Stephanie acts pissy all day in school, even sitting with Lauren’s most-hated Jenny Carlin at lunch.
That night at the sleepover, the girls try to call Stephanie, but she won’t talk. Despondent, the other three eat Chinese food and see another Boodles ad. They try playing Mad Libs and telling ghost stories, but nothing is fun. Then they hear a noise coming from the backyard. The girls investigate and see a light on at the McBride house. They take Bullwinkle the dog as protection and get closer to the house. Bullwinkle goes after someone near the house…Russell Gartner, the Boodles main guy!
They call Stephanie the next morning, instructing her mom to tell her they’re going to be in the video. That does it! Everything is back to normal with Stephanie telling them not to move, she’ll be right over and they have to practice dance steps.
CHAPTER 9:
On Sunday afternoon, the girls are ready to shoot. They’re in the house along with Boodles and a ton of video-making people. Here’s what they’re wearing:
-Kate: black jeans, red and white sweatshirt
-Patti: red and black tee, white sweatpants
-Lauren: red sweatpants, black and white sweatshirt
-Stephanie: black and white jumpsuit, dangly red earrings
The sweatpants again. Ugh. Bullwinkle is also present, because he matched the color scheme, but he howls along with the music and has to be taken home. Patti, Lauren and Kate all agree that Boodles really aren’t very good, but they keep it up for Stephanie’s sake. Here’s the ending scene:
“The longer Boodles played, the worse they got!” she [Kate] groaned with her fingers in her ears. “I bet they never make it to Video Trax!”
“Of course they will,” I said, looking at Stephanie. “And Michael will love it.”
“Michael?” asked Stephanie. She sounded as though she’d never heard of him.
“Michael Pastore?” I reminded her.
“Oh, that Michael,” she said. “I think Russell Gartner’s a lot cuter, don’t you?”
And cue facepalm. This book has an insane number of sequences that are pretty outlandish. The series starts off wild like this, but I think it tones down more later. I still enjoy the first two chapters though. I think they’re fun. Lester is a bit much. He deserves some serious punishment, but we never see him get it. The biggest disappointment is never seeing Patti in the play. She can’t drop out so she must go through with it, but we don’t get to see her do well. The book just ends with Stephanie off on another silly crush. Oh, well.
No comments:
Post a Comment