Books like Stacey's Ex-Best Friend

this one opens with laine calling stacey from new york & gusuing about how much she's looking forward to her winter vacation. she gets a whole week off school & she doesn't know if she should go to florida or europe or hang around new york city or what. she is being really fucking obnoxious, calling stacey "anastasia" because she thinks it sounds more sophisticated, bragging about how she's allowed to fly alone, & describing her lame-sounding 15-year-old boyfriend king. first of all, his name is king. second of all, his hair is kind of long & he dyes the tips purple & then mousses it into a bedhead kind of look. i bet he also reads the "dragonlance" novels & dresses up like dr. who every halloween. what a nerd. but laine thinks he's cool because he's in high school. laine's staring down the barrel of a teen pregnancy, that's for sure.for some reason, stacey thinks it would be "totally distant" if laine used her vacation to visit stoneybrook. stacey will have school that week, but she imagines that laine would just LOVE to go to school with her, go to babysitters club meetings, maybe even come on sitting jobs! because laine has showed so much enthusiasm in the past for visiting stoneybrook & hanging out with members of the babysitters club? the club & laine have interacted several times before, & it seems to always result in either huge fights or cold, indifferent tolerance. laine is clearly not pumped about this idea, but she caves to stacey's excitement & everything is arranged.prior to laine's visit, stacey races around the house, organizing everything & hiding anything that laine might find childish. such as the china clown that stacey bought off a home shopping show. or the rag doll claudia left behind the last time she spent the night. or stacey's extensive collection of stuffed pigs. but no attempts at sophistication prevent stacey from wearing one of those tacky hair ornaments made out of shoelaces. i know they were popular in the early 90s, but surely laine wouldn't approve?stacey gives laine a guided tour through stoneybrook on the way back to the house. laine asks where the town is & what people do for fun. stacey's feelings are hurt. but seriously. stoneybrook...new york city. they are kind of two completely different worlds. i am reminded of the vague depression i felt when i moved to kansas from boston. it's just kind of a letdown, you know?anyway, laine continues to act snooty & superior. she doesn't seem to have too much fun at the BSC sleepover stacey arranges, asking what the girls are going to do for fun when they are clearly already having fun. she scoffs when claudia says she thinks a seventh grader is cute. when stacey brings laine to school, laine wants to leave campus & walk into town during lunch, which is against the rules. she asks why only one kid at a time is allowed to go to the bathroom. like these are completely crazy rules that just do not exist in new york city. at lunch, stacey arranges to sit with boys, thinking that will be more laine's speed, but the boys are playing with their food & laine is surely thinking about how king would never do this because he spends his lunchbreaks reapplying his nail polish & reading "the sandman" series. it makes him more mysterious. pete black inexplicably falls in love with laine & tells her that she has hair like gossamer. she laughs at him.there's a valentine's day dance coming up at the end of the week, & all the babysitters have dates. stacey encourages laine to go to the dance with pete. laine says she can't, because pete is a dweeb, & what will all the other people at the dance think if they see her with him? plus, king might think she is being unfaithful. just then, king calls, probably to let laine know how his debut as dr. frankenfurter at the nightly live-action stage version of "the rocky horror picture show" went. laine shoos stacey out of the room & stacey goes. she overhears laine say something something about someone being "childish" & assumes that laine must be telling king about some of the BSC's charges. she smiles & is glad laine is there. because she's a fucking dumbass.then pete black calls to ask laine to the dance. she accepts, without a lot of enthusiasm.also, B plot: the babysitters are arranging a "valentine's day masquerade" for some of their charges. it's basically a big party in dawn's barn, & the kids are all making homemade valentines & signing them with code. the babysitters are all excited because nicky pike has a crush on a second grade girl, & carolyn arnold has a crush on an "older" (third grade) boy. the sitters realize they must like each other & they think it's really cute. these girls really do need to find lives. maybe king can introduce them to a local dungeonmaster or set them up with a vampire: the masquerade league.laine is still being snooty & snobby. she makes fun of stacey for wanting to wear red to the dance. she mocks stacey when stacey admits that she bought her nail polish from a home shopping show. such forth & so on. also, some of the babysitters have been having issues with their dates (bart almost bailed on kristy to stay home & watch a game on TV, mallory & ben had their infamous argument over how to most efficiently utilize the library card catalogue, & mary anne's feelings were hurt by logan when he dared suggest that it might be fun to actually dance at the dance). stacey hopes everyone can pull it together & not embarrass her in front of laine.the dance happens. pete is nervous around laine & drops the corsage he bought for her. it is trampled by other students. laine says the decorations are babyish & the refreshments (heart-shaped cookies, punch) seem more appropriate to a kindergarten snack time. pete steps on laine's feet while they dance, & then she blows him off to dance with a cuter boy. stacey loses her temper & pulls laine aside to confront her about her rudeness. laine is oblivious. stacey yells at her. laine says she wants to go home--to new york, tonight. stacey calls her mom to come pick them up. stacey & laine yell at each other, stacey's mom & laine's mom yell at each other, & laine is packed on to a train back to new york. stacey is sad but relieved.she talks to claudia the next day, & claudia suggests that stacey might feel better if she writes laine a letter. so stacey does, letting laine know the friendship is over. she includes her half of their best friend necklace in the envelope. then she invites claudia, her REAL best friend, over to hang out. good riddance, laine!oh, also, the babysitters discover at the party that nicky got mixed up & actually liked MARILYN arnold. & she likes him too. carolyn had a crush on one of the hobart boys, which is reciprocated. nicky & marilyn even hold hands for a minute, which does seem bold for eight-year-olds. what about cooties?