"I'm in love," I repeated, "with that gorgeous lifeguard." #8 Boy-Crazy Stacey

Stacey and Mary Anne are the lucky baby-sitters who get to go to Sea City, New Jersey, with the Pikes for their annual two-week vacation as mother's helpers. First of all, I don't think I've ever been on vacation for two weeks before. Even when I went to Mexico on a class trip, we weren't there for two weeks. But according to the Pikes', two whole weeks at the Jersey shore is worth it. I wouldn't know, I've never been there.

Anyhoo, the second they get to the beach, Stacey lays eyes on this lifeguard and immediately dumps Mary Anne with all the little Pikes. She's totally in lust with this guy, who all she describes as having wavy blonde hair and looking like he's about 17 years old. But he's gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Well, on the cover here, he looks about 25. He also looks high-maintenance. Like a pretty-boy. Ok. Stacey's days consist of running errands and getting sodas for Scott the Lifeguard and completely ignoring the kids she's getting paid to baby-sit. Pretty soon, Mary Anne gets pissed off about it, but doesn't really do anything. A couple snide comments is about it. I woulda dumped regular soda into Stacey's glass when she wasn't looking.

Before everyone went on vacation (Dawn went to Cali to see her dad, and Claud went to New Hampshire with her fam, Kristy stayed home), Kristy decided to make Stacey and Mary Anne write about their days sitting, and Kristy would put the "entries" in the BSC Notebook. Dawn agrees too, saying she might sit while back in her old neighborhood. So the majority of the handwritten chapter intros are Stacey's postcards to Kristy and Claudia. Mary Anne has like one or two, and Kristy has one.

Getting back to the main story, Stacey hangs around the lifeguard stand for the first week of their vacay, and then one night on the boardwalk, Mary Anne inadvertently directs Stacey's gaze to see Scott and some gorgeous eighteen year old girl kissing on a bench. They're at the Jersey shore, at the boardwalk, in the eighties. Don't you think they'd be screwing under the boardwalk? Stacey's heartbroken, especially since she just bought Scott the perfect present: a huge, satin-covered heart-shaped box of chocolates?? Umm, ok. Yep, that's perfect for an 18-year-old boy. So Stacey and Mary Anne go back home and Stacey realizes what a jerk she's been. Mary Anne is over it since some guy mother's helper has been helping her deal with the Pikes. She introduces Stacey to the guy's cousin (Alex and Toby, respectively), and Stacey's over Scott in a flash. She finagles a double date between the girls and the boys and ends up in the Tunnel of Luv with Toby and no clothes on her first kiss.


Continuity Issues:

On the way to Sea City, Stacey asks what the "Pike Barf Bucket" is. Mr. Pike says it's for "just in case. We've only had to use it a few times." So Margo was never carsick, bus-sick, airsick, roller coaster-sick before this book?

At the beginning of the book, the gang is all over at Kristy's new house, having a little get together before they scatter for vacation. Stacey tries on some of Kristy's clip-on earrings? I didn't think Kristy cared much about jewelry.

In the Sea City Super Special, Stacey is pissed off because Toby starts hitting on Mallory. She thinks that since he dumped her at the end of their last Sea City getaway, Toby shouldn't be so quick to hit up on a new girl, and Mallory shouldn't be so quick as to accept a date with him. Buuuut, they don't break up, because you can't really break up what wasn't really there. So, Toby's just a dog.

WTF Moments:

The sunburn thing. All the other books say "Mary Anne has such sensitive skin, blah blah." Well, of course you're going to get a sunburn if you don't put on any sunscreen and then sit in the direct sun! Stupid.

Their bikinis. Stacey's is pretty skimpy, and the top is filled out "nicely." Mary Anne has her first bikini ever, and it's not filled out at all. She said her dad let her get one as long as the bottom part was decent. So he doesn't care about the top? I guess it doesn't matter, because it's not filled out at all.

On a rainy day, Stacey and Mary Anne take the Pikes to play mini golf. (I think this is where I formed my love of mini golf.) It's a disaster, mainly because everyone in Sea City thought to do the same thing, and then on top of it, Claire can't hit the ball for crap. Her score is over 200 by the 15th hole. That's like 13 strokes per hole. When Claire hits her ball into the "return" hole, she turns out to be the lucky 500th person to return a ball that week, and wins two free games. 500th? I can see 100th, but not 500th. Are there really 500 people who play mini golf every week in this beach town?

Heh. Back in Stoneybrook, Kristy baby-sits David Michael, Karen, and Andrew while the folks go to an estate auction. They decide to wash Watson's old Ford while David Michael takes Louie to a dog show. One minor emergency later, Karen's showing Kristy what a good job she and Andrew did on the car when Kristy realizes that Karen used steel wool on it. Kristy gets a little chewed out by Watson for not keeping her attention on Karen and Andrew. Take that, perfect baby-sitter.

The Pikes are lucky kids. After Claire wins free mini golf, they go to the Burger Garden, and Nicky wins four free meals from the Enchanted Tree. Vanessa explains that the tree is just like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; it grows chocolate bars that you can buy for a quarter. If the bar has a gold wrapper, you can win something. Nicky wins, and suddenly the triplets are his BFFs.

Mary Anne and Alex, alone during their "double date," find a store where they can have jewelry engraved. So like any other normal 12 year old couple, they get rings engraved with each others' initials. Mary Anne says she'll wear it on a chain around her neck so her father doesn't see it.


All of a sudden, it's time to pack up and go back home. Stacey is disappointed and has illusions that Scott will write letters to her from college. Keep dreaming, honey. Once she gets home and goes through the parental inquisition, she calls Claudia and they are bemoaning the fact that school starts in two weeks. But anything can happen in two weeks! Like, they still have time to have a sleepover at Dawn's and find her secret passage.

(And, right now, I'm in the middle of #10, Logan Likes Mary Anne! This is a landmark book for many reasons.)