The Finale of Mystery #29: Stacey and the Fashion Victim
Chapters 1-3 Chapters 4-6 Chapters 7-10
Finally, the thrilling conclusion! Here we go...
Chapter 11 begins with Stacey having a hot bath (She's exhausted after the day's activities). While she's bathing, she realizes that no pranks were pulled that day and is "almost tempted to tell myself that everything had been blown out of proportion, that nobody was after me, that it was all just a series of silly pranks-and that the prankster had finally become bored."
WRONG! "Then Friday rolled around and I was nearly killed." That's an exaggeration, of course, but what happened was pretty scary, so I'll forgive her for that.
Anyway, Stacey and co. had promised to keep searching for clues to help solve the mystery (Mal was hoping to find more clues that would connect “the weapon” to whoever it was who had sliced, diced, and shredded [Dude. No. Scissors were used, not a freakin' food processer.] those pj’s. Claudia was going to continue to keep on eye on Roger Bellair, even though she was pretty sure he was innocent. (“Jerky, but innocent,” was how she put it.) Mary Anne was still thinking that Dylan Trueheart might be behind the pranks. There was just something sneaky about the way he operated, according to her. "And me? I was going to concentrate on my fellow models, wondering which one might be ambitious enough to be willing to terrorize the rest of us."). So they split up, as usual, and Stacey goes to the dressing room to get her hair and makeup done for the day's photo shoot. But she isn't paying attention to that--she's "checking out" (her words, mind you) the other models. Harmony and her mother are having a disagreement about the outfit ("a neon paisley miniskirt, white go-go boots, and a fluffy white jacket made of very fake fur.") that Harmony's wearing. Her mom thinks the skirt is too short, but Harmony says it's fine. Mama Skye is not convinced, and Harmony ends up stomping off.
Oh, and the other models? Sydney is just chatting away on her cell phone, Cynthia is reading a pamplet for a school (Ah, so she's planning on quitting and going back to school. Good call.), Blaine is talking with Dylan Trueheart when Cokie inserts herself into their conversation. Of course she does. Anyway, Heart Boy isn't too happy to see Cokie (Sorry, hon. You're not his number one client anymore. Perhaps a bad-luck charm would fix that?).
Mrs. Maslin walks in (with her daughter Emily in tow--wait, did I mention Emily? I may have forgotten to do that. My apologies if I did.) to check on the girls (At least I think that's why, anyway. The book doesn't specify why she walked in, so I'm going with my best guess.) The models are very polite with her (and they're being nice to Emily, too). Well, until she leaves, anyway. Then it's back to the cutthroat stuff. Stacey isn't paying attention to that (She has a mystery to solve, dammit!). Mrs. Maslin walks in again, and it's time for the shoot! On the roof! Well, I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong with that!
Harmony and Stacey are in the first shot. The initial plan is to have them sit in lounge chairs ( Why? Well, Julio [the art director] says “It’s a tar beach kind of feeling, You know, that’s what city people call the roof. Tar beach. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, it’s groovy." Stacey thinks "Whatever." I'm with you, hon.), but Harmony says she wouldn't lie on a lounge chair in her outfit. She suggests that she and Stacey stand near the balcony. Mrs. Maslin is fine with that, so the girls walk over to the balcony. They're about to turn around and ask what they should do next when the balcony's railing falls. Harmony and Stacey fall with it. End of chapter.
It's Chapter 12! Thankfully, they don't fall very far, just about a foot down to another part of the roof. However, they are injured (though not seriously): Stacey hurt her wrist because she stuck out her hand to break her fall, and Harmony has some scrapes and scratches. Harmony apologizes for what happened, Stacey replies “Why? It’s not your fault the railing broke.” The girls are helped back up, then Claudia (she'd come over with everyone else right after the fall) gives Stacey a hug, makes sure she's OK (Stacey says she's fine) and then asks Stacey if she (Claud, I mean) should go find her (Stacey's, I mean) mom.
Just then, Harmony's mom comes over ("as if she’d been summoned by the word 'mom,'” Stacey narrates), makes sure Harmony is fine (she says she is) then says she's going to sue the store. Harmony says that it isn't the store's fault and that someone is after her. Mrs. Skye and Mrs. Maslin are doubtful, and Mrs. Skye says “Harmony has a very active imagination.”
Mrs. Maslin decides to finish the shoot in the studio (Or, y'know, you could've just started the damn thing there in the first place! Yeesh.). While the crew brings everything back to the studio, Mrs. Maslin tells the girls that she's going to have a meeting with them--she's going to announce the assignments for the show. There's a "murmur' (as Stacey puts it) among the girls as they head downstairs (they're anxious to find out who gets what assignment, especially Fresh Princess Bellair). Stacey, however, isn't thinking about that--she's wondering who loosened the screws on the railing ("It seemed pretty obvious to me that someone had deliberately tampered with them. Someone who wanted to give a couple of models a really big scare. But who? And what would that person do next?").
Mrs. Maslin calms the girls down, then she announces the assignments. After she finishes with the regular assignments, it's finally time for the big one--who will be Princess Bellair? "Harmony Skye!” Harmony is not pleased (Stacey says that her face fell after she heard the news), but she smiles as the other girls applaud her.
So they finish the shoot, but Stacey is still thinking about Harmony's initial reaction to being selected to be Princess Bellair ("Once I’d seen that expression cross her face I couldn’t forget it. Why on earth would Harmony be disappointed to hear she’d been named Princess Bellair?") She's even pondering it as she's being driven to Kristy's ZOMG MANSION~! for a pizza party (The BSC had decided to get together that night because Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne and Mallory hadn't been able to attend that week's meetings. Wait, BSC members missed meetings without Kristy having a fit? Who has she been replaced with, and can we keep her?).
The BSC pigs out on pizza for a half-hour (Oddly enough, we had pizza for lunch today. Ain't that a kick in the head? Anyway...), then they discuss the mystery. Kristy is still suspicious about Roger Bellair. Claudia's not convinced--she'd kept an eye on him all day, and she knows he wasn't anywhere near the railing because he was with her while the shoot was being set up. Mal points out that he could have loosened the screws days before the shoot was shot, and says that everyone is a suspect at the moment. Jessi then offers her idea: maybe Dylan Trueheart is working with Cokie! The other girls all ask "What?" Jessi then points out that Cokie has pulled tricks before. Kristy says "But Cokie wouldn’t actually hurt anybody.” Jessi replies, “That’s just it. Has anybody actually been hurt? No. I think somebody’s just trying to scare the models. Why, I don’t know. But my guess is that Cokie may be that somebody.”
After that, Abby announces her own theory: Julio is responsible! The other girls' reactions are essentially "What?! No, it's not him! and "Who's Julio, anyway?" Abby reminds everyone that Julio's the art director and adds "[A]s far as why, well-why not? It could just as easily be him as anyone else. So I picked him, just for fun.” Ha ha. You so funny (*side-eyes Abby, because really*). The other girls think this is hilarious, except for Stacey, who's still thinking. Mary Anne asks Stacey if something is wrong. Stacey says nothing is wrong, announces that she think she knows who's responsible for the pranks, and says "[I]f you’re willing to help me. I think we can solve this mystery before it’s too late." End of chapter.
(GodDAMN, that got long. Moving on...)
It's Chapter 13! Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne and Mallory hide in the women's bathroom. Calm down, everyone--they just want to catch the suspect red-handed. Uh-oh, someone's coming! The girls quickly stop talking. Stacey peeks into the space between the door and the frame. She can't see very much, but she's sure that someone is standing by the mirror. She then hears a "snick" and sees some sort of motion. She opens her stall--and catches Harmony writing a message ("TONIGHT’S THE NI---"). Busted!
Harmony "tonelessly" says "So, you caught me." Stacey says "Yeah, I guess I did." Harmony says she didn't mean to hurt anyone. Stacey says she knows that, then adds, "But you scared a few people, me included." Harmony whispers an apology, then says “What are you going to do? Tell everyone? It’s my word against yours, you know. You can’t prove anything.” Stacey points out that she does have witnesses, and tells the other girls to come out of their stalls. Nope, you're not getting out of this one, sweetheart.
Claudia starts to clean the mirror. While she's doing that, Mary Anne asks Harmony if she's OK. Harmony starts to cry, and then asks how Stacey knew she was the culprit. Stacey says the thing that tipped her off was Harmony's reaction to being named Princess Bellair. She goes onto say, "You’re sick of modeling, aren’t you? Just like Cynthia. But your mom won’t let you quit. So you tried to convince her that modeling could be very, very dangerous." Harmony nods, then Stacey continues, "I remember the first time I saw you. Cokie pointed you and your mother out, and told me that your mother wouldn’t rest until you were a top model. But I never had the feeling that a modeling career was that important to you. I mean, you never seemed psyched about the clothes, or the great assignments Mrs. Maslin gave you, or anything."
Harmony confirms Stacey's theory: "I liked it at first. It was even fun, for awhile. Then I lost interest in it, but by then she-my mom-was really excited about me being a supermodel." And since this post is getting long, and I still have two chapters to go--I'll get to the point: Harmony was the one responsible for all of the pranks (and yes, she even poisoned herself). Harmony tells her mother that she's quitting modeling. Mrs. Skye isn't pleased, but hey, Harmony was honest about her feelings! Problem solved! Oh, wait, it's not. Harmony has some work to do...
It's Chapter 14! Oh, the subplot again. The smokeout went well. Fabulous. I'm moving on now.
And finally, Chapter 15! OK, my fingers hurt, so I'll summarize. The show was a success, Harmony convinced her mom to let her quit modeling, Blaine became the new Princess Bellair, and Stacey is looking forward to going back to her usual activities. The End.
And that's that!
Finally, the thrilling conclusion! Here we go...
Chapter 11 begins with Stacey having a hot bath (She's exhausted after the day's activities). While she's bathing, she realizes that no pranks were pulled that day and is "almost tempted to tell myself that everything had been blown out of proportion, that nobody was after me, that it was all just a series of silly pranks-and that the prankster had finally become bored."
WRONG! "Then Friday rolled around and I was nearly killed." That's an exaggeration, of course, but what happened was pretty scary, so I'll forgive her for that.
Anyway, Stacey and co. had promised to keep searching for clues to help solve the mystery (Mal was hoping to find more clues that would connect “the weapon” to whoever it was who had sliced, diced, and shredded [Dude. No. Scissors were used, not a freakin' food processer.] those pj’s. Claudia was going to continue to keep on eye on Roger Bellair, even though she was pretty sure he was innocent. (“Jerky, but innocent,” was how she put it.) Mary Anne was still thinking that Dylan Trueheart might be behind the pranks. There was just something sneaky about the way he operated, according to her. "And me? I was going to concentrate on my fellow models, wondering which one might be ambitious enough to be willing to terrorize the rest of us."). So they split up, as usual, and Stacey goes to the dressing room to get her hair and makeup done for the day's photo shoot. But she isn't paying attention to that--she's "checking out" (her words, mind you) the other models. Harmony and her mother are having a disagreement about the outfit ("a neon paisley miniskirt, white go-go boots, and a fluffy white jacket made of very fake fur.") that Harmony's wearing. Her mom thinks the skirt is too short, but Harmony says it's fine. Mama Skye is not convinced, and Harmony ends up stomping off.
Oh, and the other models? Sydney is just chatting away on her cell phone, Cynthia is reading a pamplet for a school (Ah, so she's planning on quitting and going back to school. Good call.), Blaine is talking with Dylan Trueheart when Cokie inserts herself into their conversation. Of course she does. Anyway, Heart Boy isn't too happy to see Cokie (Sorry, hon. You're not his number one client anymore. Perhaps a bad-luck charm would fix that?).
Mrs. Maslin walks in (with her daughter Emily in tow--wait, did I mention Emily? I may have forgotten to do that. My apologies if I did.) to check on the girls (At least I think that's why, anyway. The book doesn't specify why she walked in, so I'm going with my best guess.) The models are very polite with her (and they're being nice to Emily, too). Well, until she leaves, anyway. Then it's back to the cutthroat stuff. Stacey isn't paying attention to that (She has a mystery to solve, dammit!). Mrs. Maslin walks in again, and it's time for the shoot! On the roof! Well, I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong with that!
Harmony and Stacey are in the first shot. The initial plan is to have them sit in lounge chairs ( Why? Well, Julio [the art director] says “It’s a tar beach kind of feeling, You know, that’s what city people call the roof. Tar beach. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, it’s groovy." Stacey thinks "Whatever." I'm with you, hon.), but Harmony says she wouldn't lie on a lounge chair in her outfit. She suggests that she and Stacey stand near the balcony. Mrs. Maslin is fine with that, so the girls walk over to the balcony. They're about to turn around and ask what they should do next when the balcony's railing falls. Harmony and Stacey fall with it. End of chapter.
It's Chapter 12! Thankfully, they don't fall very far, just about a foot down to another part of the roof. However, they are injured (though not seriously): Stacey hurt her wrist because she stuck out her hand to break her fall, and Harmony has some scrapes and scratches. Harmony apologizes for what happened, Stacey replies “Why? It’s not your fault the railing broke.” The girls are helped back up, then Claudia (she'd come over with everyone else right after the fall) gives Stacey a hug, makes sure she's OK (Stacey says she's fine) and then asks Stacey if she (Claud, I mean) should go find her (Stacey's, I mean) mom.
Just then, Harmony's mom comes over ("as if she’d been summoned by the word 'mom,'” Stacey narrates), makes sure Harmony is fine (she says she is) then says she's going to sue the store. Harmony says that it isn't the store's fault and that someone is after her. Mrs. Skye and Mrs. Maslin are doubtful, and Mrs. Skye says “Harmony has a very active imagination.”
Mrs. Maslin decides to finish the shoot in the studio (Or, y'know, you could've just started the damn thing there in the first place! Yeesh.). While the crew brings everything back to the studio, Mrs. Maslin tells the girls that she's going to have a meeting with them--she's going to announce the assignments for the show. There's a "murmur' (as Stacey puts it) among the girls as they head downstairs (they're anxious to find out who gets what assignment, especially Fresh Princess Bellair). Stacey, however, isn't thinking about that--she's wondering who loosened the screws on the railing ("It seemed pretty obvious to me that someone had deliberately tampered with them. Someone who wanted to give a couple of models a really big scare. But who? And what would that person do next?").
Mrs. Maslin calms the girls down, then she announces the assignments. After she finishes with the regular assignments, it's finally time for the big one--who will be Princess Bellair? "Harmony Skye!” Harmony is not pleased (Stacey says that her face fell after she heard the news), but she smiles as the other girls applaud her.
So they finish the shoot, but Stacey is still thinking about Harmony's initial reaction to being selected to be Princess Bellair ("Once I’d seen that expression cross her face I couldn’t forget it. Why on earth would Harmony be disappointed to hear she’d been named Princess Bellair?") She's even pondering it as she's being driven to Kristy's ZOMG MANSION~! for a pizza party (The BSC had decided to get together that night because Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne and Mallory hadn't been able to attend that week's meetings. Wait, BSC members missed meetings without Kristy having a fit? Who has she been replaced with, and can we keep her?).
The BSC pigs out on pizza for a half-hour (Oddly enough, we had pizza for lunch today. Ain't that a kick in the head? Anyway...), then they discuss the mystery. Kristy is still suspicious about Roger Bellair. Claudia's not convinced--she'd kept an eye on him all day, and she knows he wasn't anywhere near the railing because he was with her while the shoot was being set up. Mal points out that he could have loosened the screws days before the shoot was shot, and says that everyone is a suspect at the moment. Jessi then offers her idea: maybe Dylan Trueheart is working with Cokie! The other girls all ask "What?" Jessi then points out that Cokie has pulled tricks before. Kristy says "But Cokie wouldn’t actually hurt anybody.” Jessi replies, “That’s just it. Has anybody actually been hurt? No. I think somebody’s just trying to scare the models. Why, I don’t know. But my guess is that Cokie may be that somebody.”
After that, Abby announces her own theory: Julio is responsible! The other girls' reactions are essentially "What?! No, it's not him! and "Who's Julio, anyway?" Abby reminds everyone that Julio's the art director and adds "[A]s far as why, well-why not? It could just as easily be him as anyone else. So I picked him, just for fun.” Ha ha. You so funny (*side-eyes Abby, because really*). The other girls think this is hilarious, except for Stacey, who's still thinking. Mary Anne asks Stacey if something is wrong. Stacey says nothing is wrong, announces that she think she knows who's responsible for the pranks, and says "[I]f you’re willing to help me. I think we can solve this mystery before it’s too late." End of chapter.
(GodDAMN, that got long. Moving on...)
It's Chapter 13! Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne and Mallory hide in the women's bathroom. Calm down, everyone--they just want to catch the suspect red-handed. Uh-oh, someone's coming! The girls quickly stop talking. Stacey peeks into the space between the door and the frame. She can't see very much, but she's sure that someone is standing by the mirror. She then hears a "snick" and sees some sort of motion. She opens her stall--and catches Harmony writing a message ("TONIGHT’S THE NI---"). Busted!
Harmony "tonelessly" says "So, you caught me." Stacey says "Yeah, I guess I did." Harmony says she didn't mean to hurt anyone. Stacey says she knows that, then adds, "But you scared a few people, me included." Harmony whispers an apology, then says “What are you going to do? Tell everyone? It’s my word against yours, you know. You can’t prove anything.” Stacey points out that she does have witnesses, and tells the other girls to come out of their stalls. Nope, you're not getting out of this one, sweetheart.
Claudia starts to clean the mirror. While she's doing that, Mary Anne asks Harmony if she's OK. Harmony starts to cry, and then asks how Stacey knew she was the culprit. Stacey says the thing that tipped her off was Harmony's reaction to being named Princess Bellair. She goes onto say, "You’re sick of modeling, aren’t you? Just like Cynthia. But your mom won’t let you quit. So you tried to convince her that modeling could be very, very dangerous." Harmony nods, then Stacey continues, "I remember the first time I saw you. Cokie pointed you and your mother out, and told me that your mother wouldn’t rest until you were a top model. But I never had the feeling that a modeling career was that important to you. I mean, you never seemed psyched about the clothes, or the great assignments Mrs. Maslin gave you, or anything."
Harmony confirms Stacey's theory: "I liked it at first. It was even fun, for awhile. Then I lost interest in it, but by then she-my mom-was really excited about me being a supermodel." And since this post is getting long, and I still have two chapters to go--I'll get to the point: Harmony was the one responsible for all of the pranks (and yes, she even poisoned herself). Harmony tells her mother that she's quitting modeling. Mrs. Skye isn't pleased, but hey, Harmony was honest about her feelings! Problem solved! Oh, wait, it's not. Harmony has some work to do...
It's Chapter 14! Oh, the subplot again. The smokeout went well. Fabulous. I'm moving on now.
And finally, Chapter 15! OK, my fingers hurt, so I'll summarize. The show was a success, Harmony convinced her mom to let her quit modeling, Blaine became the new Princess Bellair, and Stacey is looking forward to going back to her usual activities. The End.
And that's that!