Stacey and The Missing Ring Chapters 6-15
Chapter 6
Stacey’s mom wakes her up because Mrs. Gardella is on the phone for her. Stacey wonders if something is wrong with Tara or the animals. Yeah, I’d have been like, “Shit, did I do something wrong? Am I going to get yelled at for child or animal endangerment or something? What did I do?” My first reaction would be that I’d done something wrong or that I’d left something at their house. Mrs. Gardella is calling to say that her diamond ring is missing. She had it on her dresser in her room and she forgot to put it on. Now the ring isn’t there.
Mrs. Gardella asks if Stacey borrowed the ring to show her friends. I guess she doesn’t want to outright accuse Stacey of stealing the ring. I don’t like to accuse people of things unless I have cold hard proof. I might think they did it, but I’m not the type to go up to someone and accuse them of something when I have no proof that they did. Mrs. Gardella said they searched for the ring but they didn’t find it. I guess you would search harder for a diamond ring, but there is the chance that you may have missed a spot. I lost one of my favorite necklaces for months until I decided to try and retrace my steps and found it. I also found one of my lucky rocks after it’s been missing for a few years. It was under my bed.
Stacey denies taking the ring, saying she wasn’t even in Gardella’s bedroom. Mrs. Gardella asks to speak to Stacey’s mom. Mrs. McGill tells Mrs. Gardella that her kid isn’t a thief and Mrs. Gardella isn’t buying it. She asks to speak to Stacey again and says that she’s pretty sure Stacey stole the ring and she doesn’t want Stacey babysitting for her again. She also won’t hire the rest of the BSC and she’s going to tell the rest of the BSC’s clients about this. How does she know the rest of the clients? Do some of them run in the same social circles? I know later in the book the Gardellas and the Prezziosos are at a party together, so I guess they know each other. Now I’m a little interested in knowing if some of the adults run in the same circles. Also, if Mrs. Gardella is so certain that Stacey stole the ring, why isn’t she demanding that Stacey give the ring back? If someone stole my ring, I’d be like, “Give me my ring back.” And I probably would think that Stacey may have stolen the ring since the ring is missing and she was the only one in the house.
Stacey bursts into tears. I’d be pretty upset too if I got accused of something I didn’t do. She thanks her mom for defending her. Stacey calls Kristy. Kristy calls a meeting of the BSC. I’d be scared to tell Kristy that Mrs. Gardella thought I stole the ring in case she blamed me. I wouldn’t have put it past Kristy to yell at Stacey for causing them to lose clients, but I guess since this is the first mystery, Kristy hasn’t gone totally batshit yet.
Chapter 7
Stacey goes to the emergency meeting and apologizes. Kristy is actually reasonable and says that Stacey doesn’t have anything to apologize for. I’m sure in later books Kristy would have been glaring at Stacey like it was all her fault and making her feel worse than she already did. Stacey tells the others what happened. They discuss what they should do. They think about telling the other clients that the Gardellas are liars, but they figure it will look suspicious if they go to their clients and say, “The Gardellas are going to call you to say that Stacey took a ring. Stacey didn’t take the ring, okay?” These girls are actually being pretty level headed right now. I’m used to them acting like the sky is falling and that every minor problem is the equivalent of a death curse or something like that. But now they’re like, “I’m sure our regular clients will know that we’d never steal.”
It’s a slow day on Monday. I would probably be a little paranoid if I knew that someone was going to call around to say that I stole a ring. But I’d probably also try to reassure myself that my regular clients know I’m not a thief and that maybe there’s a logical reason why the phone isn’t ringing nonstop. I mean, Kristy took out a hit on all the other babysitters in town and the neighbors are scared of babysitting after seeing what the BSC did to that one neighbor who babysat at the last minute, so unless the parents want to watch their own kids, they have to call the BSC.
Mrs. Braddock and Mrs. Addison call to arrange sitting jobs and Stacey wants to know if they sound any different. They don’t. Mrs. Newton also calls. Stacey wonders if it’s a coincidence that today was so slow and decides to just wait it out.
Chapter 8
Mary Anne says there’s a new kid on the block who is more trouble than Jackie. Given that these girls act like Jackie actually did break his mom’s back because he tripped on a crack, my reaction was, “I doubt he’s that bad. These girls are probably just exaggerating again.” Mary Anne has to babysit for Jenny. Of course there is the usual bullshit about how Jenny is a brat because she likes thing done her own way. Don’t lots of people? Dawn throws a tantrum when someone does something different than her and acts like people aren’t allowed to have opinions unless they agree with her. Kristy doesn’t allow the club to talk about non club business during a meeting, tried to tape one of her lists on Claudia’s wall and would probably make Claudia ask for permission to go to the bathroom during a meeting. The Pikes would probably each want something special for lunch and served on a certain dish and Karen is Karen. But Jenny’s the brat. Sure. You guys will take the Pikes’ bullshit and Karen’s bullshit, but when Jenny doesn’t want to do what you want-she’s a brat. But you’ll pick olives off the Pikes pizza, no problem.
Mary Anne and Jenny decide to have a fake birthday party for Jenny. Jenny thinks her birthday is around the corner and she’s going to be thirteen. Little kid logic is pretty funny sometimes. Mary Anne says Jenny will turn five before she turns thirteen and Jenny frowns. Mary Anne decides to throw Jenny an imaginary birthday party to avoid a scene. Maybe Jenny was just trying to work out what you said, Mary Anne. I could just see the BSC making snide comments about Jenny’s real birthday party, such as comments about the decorations, how Jenny is dressed, and who would want to come to Jenny’s birthday party because she’s such a brat.
They go outside and some kid named Joey comes over. He and Jenny play tag until Mary Anne goes to put Andrea down for a nap. Mary Anne sees Joey is spraying the front hall with water from the house. Like the Pikes haven’t tried to do that before. They probably decided it would be cool to have an indoor pool or maybe they decided they were going to turn their house into the Lost City of Atlantis. I’m sure they would think it was cute if Karen did it. I would be pretty annoyed about what happened to be honest. Mary Anne sends Joey home and mops up.
Chapter 9
Mary Anne tells the BSC about what happened at the meeting and how it was bad for her nerves. I’m imagining Mary Anne fainting during a sitting job because she’s so high strung. I’m just imagining the BSC going into full panic mode when the kids don’t want to do what the babysitters want to do and they can’t convince them otherwise. Stacey realizes that something is wrong because the girls are talking about something that doesn’t involve babysitting and Kristy isn’t telling them to either talk about babysitting or shut up. Stacey figures she’s worried about the situation.
Mrs. Sobak calls to cancel a job because Betsy’s uncle is in town and he wants to take her to the zoo. I’m sure that if Kristy wasn’t so worried about the club, she’d be yelling that Betsy’s uncle has no right to take her to the zoo and he’s stealing club business. There’s some suspicion as to whether Mrs. Sobak is lying or not. I would have believed her. Mrs. Addison cancels because she’s sick with strep and she can’t be out in public because it’s so contagious. Claudia is upset because she’s broke and really needed the money. The club reminisces about bad times they had (the huge fight they had after Kristy accidentally booked a job at the Newton’s without offering it around, and the Babysitter’s Agency) and how they managed to pull through, so they’ll pull through this.
Chapter 10
Jessi babysits for Becca and Squirt. She doesn’t get to do it very often because Aunt Cecelia thinks she should be looking after the kids since she’s the adult. Ridiculous, huh? Anyway, can’t Jessi hang out with her siblings even if she isn’t babysitting for them? Can’t she just play peekaboo with Squirt or something? I guess these girls can only hang out with their siblings if they’re babysitting them.
Jessi and Becca play a game where they hide things and Jessi realizes that the ring could have been misplaced. I would have searched the house thoroughly if I lost a diamond ring, but Jessi is right when she says that diamond rings are small. Even if I searched the house top to bottom, there could be a chance that I may have missed a spot or didn’t consider a certain place. One time in college I thought I lost my phone at the library. I went back to the library and looked around the chair I was sitting in and the area around that. I retraced my steps from where I’d left the library. I looked in my bag, but my phone wasn’t in the usual compartments. I reported my phone missing after lost and found. A few hours later, I hear my phone ringing. Turns out it was in the compartment where I keep my tissues. I didn’t even think of checking there. I felt pretty stupid. And relieved that I still had my phone, of course.
Jessi hears on the radio that there’s a burglar on the loose. Her first reaction is to call the adults to get them to come home, but apparently calling them would prove she’s too immature to babysit and she won’t get to sit for Becca and Squirt anymore. I’m not sure how calling your parents when you think there’s a robber on the loose is immature. I wouldn’t want to be babysitting by myself if there’s a damn robber on the loose and I’m twenty-three. Jessi’s eleven! I’d have been on the phone so fast and begging my parents to come home. Jessi turns on the lights, hides the jewelry, and plays some music. Jessi thinks that the robber could have been in the Gardellas house with Stacey. Stacey may have heard him breaking in and moving around in the house. And even if she didn’t, the dog would kick up a racket and I’m not sure the robber would have been fast enough to get the dog to shut up. Now I just had the image of Stacey inviting her boyfriend over and them having sex and it totally drowns out the sounds of a thief sneaking around.
Chapter 11
Claudia babysits for Jenny. She calls Jenny a pain. I think they just call Jenny a pain out of habit. Jenny doesn’t do anything really bratty. She does tell Claudia that’s not how her mom does it while Claudia is getting Andrea ready for bed. Then again, the BSC acts like anyone suggesting that they might not know everything about childcare is the most offensive thing on the planet, even if they have twenty more years of experience. Jenny pretends to be a baby and then she wants to play shark attack. The Prezziosos come home early because the Gardellas were talking about Stacey. Mrs. Prezzioso said that she knows Stacey didn’t steal the ring, but they decide to leave the party because of what Mrs. Gardella was saying. The Prezziosos can’t pay Claudia for the full three hours, but they round up and pay her for two hours.
Chapter 12
That same night, Stacey is hanging out with her mom. She tells her mom that business is slow and Mrs. McGill assures her that it’s probably just a coincidence. They decide to rent a movie. I remember going to Blockbuster with my family to rent movies when I was a kid. Claudia calls and wants to come over. They go up to Stacey’s room and Claudia goes through Stacey’s stuff. She’s so busy going through Stacey’s stuff that she’s basically just grunting while Stacey talks.
Stacey realizes something is up when Claudia says she didn’t notice what Mrs. Prezzioso is wearing because Claudia not noticing what someone is wearing is like Dawn not complaining about hamburgers (if there isn’t a cute guy to distract her) or Mary Anne not crying at when they killed Bambi’s mom or when they shot Old Yeller. I never actually saw Old Yeller, so I can’t say how sad it is. I probably would have cried too if I had to read about someone shooting a dog. I was reading this one book last night and getting sad because the protagonists’ dog got hit by a car and dragged himself away and there was a trail of blood.
Stacey figures out that Claudia came to see if she had the ring. She’s pretty mad at Claudia. Claudia basically accuses Stacey of stealing the ring because she wanted a diamond ring and now Mrs. Gardella’s diamond ring is missing. There are lots of things I want, but I don’t go out and steal them. Stacey is rightfully upset that her best friend thinks that she’s a thief. These girls have no faith in each other. Mary Anne thinks Claudia cheated on the test, Jessi thinks Mallory fakes being sick, and Claudia thinks Stacey stole the ring. I thought best friends were supposed to trust each other.
Claudia says she’s pretty sure that Stacey didn’t take the ring. Stacey calls Claudia out for not trusting her and tells Claudia that she wouldn’t keep the ring in her jewelry box because someone could find it there. Yeah, what would be the point of Stacey stealing the ring? It’s not like she can wear it without drawing lots of questions. I’m pretty sure Stacey would want to wear the ring so she can show it off? How is she supposed to wear the ring when she stole it? Is she just going to walk around wearing a diamond ring and pray that no one brings it up? Was she just going to hide the ring and then put it on alone in her room and pretend there’s a huge audience admiring her ring?
Stacey tells Claudia to search her whole room if she wants and Claudia says she doesn’t want to be here. Claudia really doesn’t have a leg to stand on. She’s the one who came over and basically accused her best friend of being a thief. I’d be mad too if my best friend called me a thief. Claudia really shouldn’t be upset that Stacey is upset at her for not trusting her. Stacey tells Claudia to get the fuck out and Claudia says, “You can’t fire me, I quit!” Then she slams the door and storms off.
Chapter 13
Stacey is lonely without Claudia. She thinks about calling Claudia before she decides that she’s not making the first move. If I’m in a fight with someone, I don’t mind making the first move when it comes to apologizing because I’m not always the innocent party. There are times when I’ve overreacted or said something when I shouldn’t have or allowed things to escalate too much. And sometimes it might be best to put aside your pride to keep a relationship. But in this case, Claudia is blatantly in the wrong. She’s the one accusing Stacey of being a thief and getting mad when Stacey is upset that her best friend doesn’t trust her. If anyone should make the move to apologize, it should be Claudia.
Stacey ignores Claudia at the BSC meeting. She offers to babysit for the Gardellas until the cost of the ring is paid off. How long would that take? I’m sure diamond rings cost more than what the BSC makes. Who knows how long Stacey will be working for them? Also, why would the Gardellas let you babysit? They think you stole the ring. If you thought someone had stolen from you, would you let them back in the house when you weren’t going to be there? Mrs. Gardella decides to let Stacey babysit to pay off the cost of the ring, but she’s wary of having Stacey alone in her house. Stacey says Kristy can babysit with her. I thought Mrs. Gardella had decided that the entire BSC was a gang of thieves and was informing everyone?
Chapter 14
Stacey and Kristy still think it’s weird that the Gardellas talk to their pets as if they’re people. I do that. I talk to my dog like he’s a person all the time. Stacey gives the cat some toys and the cat keeps coming back without the toys. Stacey goes to investigate. It turns out the cat has a bunch of hiding places and the cat hid the ring under the rug. Stacey decides to leave the ring where it is so she can show it to the Gardellas and say she isn’t a thief.
The Gardellas believe Stacey when she says the cat took the ring and hid it. I guess they’re used to the cat doing this. I’m sure a more suspicious person would have been like, “You were in my house and the ring disappeared. Now you’re in my house again and the ring reappears. This seems to be too convenient.” Maybe Mrs. Gardella is just happy to get her ring back and she doesn’t have any legitimate proof that Stacey did take the ring. Mrs. Gardella does say they were stupid not to check Mouse’s hiding places because they lose a lot of little trinkets that way. Mrs. Gardella also didn’t tell the other clients about what happened because Bird was sick, so she didn’t have time. So the slow days were just a coincidence.
Chapter 15
Claudia apologizes to Stacey off screen. There’s a reason why the clients haven’t been calling-some of them were on vacation. You’d think Mary Anne would have made a note of it so she could go, “Oh, most of our clients are on vacation. That’s why business is slow.” Now the parents are back in town and ready to call the BSC the next time they need to take a dump.
Charlotte was sick and her mom didn’t want to expose the girls. Buddy, Suzi, and Marni were away on a trip. But now they’re back. Buddy is missing Mallory and wants her to be his sitter. I think they bonded when she was helping him with his reading. I always thought the Barretts were closest with Dawn. Maybe the Barretts got sick of her preachy attitude. There are only a few more pages left in this book, so I guess that’s the reason the club isn’t throwing a huge tantrum that Buddy requested Mallory because kids aren’t allowed to have favorite sitters. I’m also shocked the BSC didn’t take the time to be shocked that someone would actually request Mallory to be their sitter.
Stacey says her parents might pool their money and buy her a diamond birthstone ring for her birthday, Christmas, or another special occasion.
Stacey’s mom wakes her up because Mrs. Gardella is on the phone for her. Stacey wonders if something is wrong with Tara or the animals. Yeah, I’d have been like, “Shit, did I do something wrong? Am I going to get yelled at for child or animal endangerment or something? What did I do?” My first reaction would be that I’d done something wrong or that I’d left something at their house. Mrs. Gardella is calling to say that her diamond ring is missing. She had it on her dresser in her room and she forgot to put it on. Now the ring isn’t there.
Mrs. Gardella asks if Stacey borrowed the ring to show her friends. I guess she doesn’t want to outright accuse Stacey of stealing the ring. I don’t like to accuse people of things unless I have cold hard proof. I might think they did it, but I’m not the type to go up to someone and accuse them of something when I have no proof that they did. Mrs. Gardella said they searched for the ring but they didn’t find it. I guess you would search harder for a diamond ring, but there is the chance that you may have missed a spot. I lost one of my favorite necklaces for months until I decided to try and retrace my steps and found it. I also found one of my lucky rocks after it’s been missing for a few years. It was under my bed.
Stacey denies taking the ring, saying she wasn’t even in Gardella’s bedroom. Mrs. Gardella asks to speak to Stacey’s mom. Mrs. McGill tells Mrs. Gardella that her kid isn’t a thief and Mrs. Gardella isn’t buying it. She asks to speak to Stacey again and says that she’s pretty sure Stacey stole the ring and she doesn’t want Stacey babysitting for her again. She also won’t hire the rest of the BSC and she’s going to tell the rest of the BSC’s clients about this. How does she know the rest of the clients? Do some of them run in the same social circles? I know later in the book the Gardellas and the Prezziosos are at a party together, so I guess they know each other. Now I’m a little interested in knowing if some of the adults run in the same circles. Also, if Mrs. Gardella is so certain that Stacey stole the ring, why isn’t she demanding that Stacey give the ring back? If someone stole my ring, I’d be like, “Give me my ring back.” And I probably would think that Stacey may have stolen the ring since the ring is missing and she was the only one in the house.
Stacey bursts into tears. I’d be pretty upset too if I got accused of something I didn’t do. She thanks her mom for defending her. Stacey calls Kristy. Kristy calls a meeting of the BSC. I’d be scared to tell Kristy that Mrs. Gardella thought I stole the ring in case she blamed me. I wouldn’t have put it past Kristy to yell at Stacey for causing them to lose clients, but I guess since this is the first mystery, Kristy hasn’t gone totally batshit yet.
Chapter 7
Stacey goes to the emergency meeting and apologizes. Kristy is actually reasonable and says that Stacey doesn’t have anything to apologize for. I’m sure in later books Kristy would have been glaring at Stacey like it was all her fault and making her feel worse than she already did. Stacey tells the others what happened. They discuss what they should do. They think about telling the other clients that the Gardellas are liars, but they figure it will look suspicious if they go to their clients and say, “The Gardellas are going to call you to say that Stacey took a ring. Stacey didn’t take the ring, okay?” These girls are actually being pretty level headed right now. I’m used to them acting like the sky is falling and that every minor problem is the equivalent of a death curse or something like that. But now they’re like, “I’m sure our regular clients will know that we’d never steal.”
It’s a slow day on Monday. I would probably be a little paranoid if I knew that someone was going to call around to say that I stole a ring. But I’d probably also try to reassure myself that my regular clients know I’m not a thief and that maybe there’s a logical reason why the phone isn’t ringing nonstop. I mean, Kristy took out a hit on all the other babysitters in town and the neighbors are scared of babysitting after seeing what the BSC did to that one neighbor who babysat at the last minute, so unless the parents want to watch their own kids, they have to call the BSC.
Mrs. Braddock and Mrs. Addison call to arrange sitting jobs and Stacey wants to know if they sound any different. They don’t. Mrs. Newton also calls. Stacey wonders if it’s a coincidence that today was so slow and decides to just wait it out.
Chapter 8
Mary Anne says there’s a new kid on the block who is more trouble than Jackie. Given that these girls act like Jackie actually did break his mom’s back because he tripped on a crack, my reaction was, “I doubt he’s that bad. These girls are probably just exaggerating again.” Mary Anne has to babysit for Jenny. Of course there is the usual bullshit about how Jenny is a brat because she likes thing done her own way. Don’t lots of people? Dawn throws a tantrum when someone does something different than her and acts like people aren’t allowed to have opinions unless they agree with her. Kristy doesn’t allow the club to talk about non club business during a meeting, tried to tape one of her lists on Claudia’s wall and would probably make Claudia ask for permission to go to the bathroom during a meeting. The Pikes would probably each want something special for lunch and served on a certain dish and Karen is Karen. But Jenny’s the brat. Sure. You guys will take the Pikes’ bullshit and Karen’s bullshit, but when Jenny doesn’t want to do what you want-she’s a brat. But you’ll pick olives off the Pikes pizza, no problem.
Mary Anne and Jenny decide to have a fake birthday party for Jenny. Jenny thinks her birthday is around the corner and she’s going to be thirteen. Little kid logic is pretty funny sometimes. Mary Anne says Jenny will turn five before she turns thirteen and Jenny frowns. Mary Anne decides to throw Jenny an imaginary birthday party to avoid a scene. Maybe Jenny was just trying to work out what you said, Mary Anne. I could just see the BSC making snide comments about Jenny’s real birthday party, such as comments about the decorations, how Jenny is dressed, and who would want to come to Jenny’s birthday party because she’s such a brat.
They go outside and some kid named Joey comes over. He and Jenny play tag until Mary Anne goes to put Andrea down for a nap. Mary Anne sees Joey is spraying the front hall with water from the house. Like the Pikes haven’t tried to do that before. They probably decided it would be cool to have an indoor pool or maybe they decided they were going to turn their house into the Lost City of Atlantis. I’m sure they would think it was cute if Karen did it. I would be pretty annoyed about what happened to be honest. Mary Anne sends Joey home and mops up.
Chapter 9
Mary Anne tells the BSC about what happened at the meeting and how it was bad for her nerves. I’m imagining Mary Anne fainting during a sitting job because she’s so high strung. I’m just imagining the BSC going into full panic mode when the kids don’t want to do what the babysitters want to do and they can’t convince them otherwise. Stacey realizes that something is wrong because the girls are talking about something that doesn’t involve babysitting and Kristy isn’t telling them to either talk about babysitting or shut up. Stacey figures she’s worried about the situation.
Mrs. Sobak calls to cancel a job because Betsy’s uncle is in town and he wants to take her to the zoo. I’m sure that if Kristy wasn’t so worried about the club, she’d be yelling that Betsy’s uncle has no right to take her to the zoo and he’s stealing club business. There’s some suspicion as to whether Mrs. Sobak is lying or not. I would have believed her. Mrs. Addison cancels because she’s sick with strep and she can’t be out in public because it’s so contagious. Claudia is upset because she’s broke and really needed the money. The club reminisces about bad times they had (the huge fight they had after Kristy accidentally booked a job at the Newton’s without offering it around, and the Babysitter’s Agency) and how they managed to pull through, so they’ll pull through this.
Chapter 10
Jessi babysits for Becca and Squirt. She doesn’t get to do it very often because Aunt Cecelia thinks she should be looking after the kids since she’s the adult. Ridiculous, huh? Anyway, can’t Jessi hang out with her siblings even if she isn’t babysitting for them? Can’t she just play peekaboo with Squirt or something? I guess these girls can only hang out with their siblings if they’re babysitting them.
Jessi and Becca play a game where they hide things and Jessi realizes that the ring could have been misplaced. I would have searched the house thoroughly if I lost a diamond ring, but Jessi is right when she says that diamond rings are small. Even if I searched the house top to bottom, there could be a chance that I may have missed a spot or didn’t consider a certain place. One time in college I thought I lost my phone at the library. I went back to the library and looked around the chair I was sitting in and the area around that. I retraced my steps from where I’d left the library. I looked in my bag, but my phone wasn’t in the usual compartments. I reported my phone missing after lost and found. A few hours later, I hear my phone ringing. Turns out it was in the compartment where I keep my tissues. I didn’t even think of checking there. I felt pretty stupid. And relieved that I still had my phone, of course.
Jessi hears on the radio that there’s a burglar on the loose. Her first reaction is to call the adults to get them to come home, but apparently calling them would prove she’s too immature to babysit and she won’t get to sit for Becca and Squirt anymore. I’m not sure how calling your parents when you think there’s a robber on the loose is immature. I wouldn’t want to be babysitting by myself if there’s a damn robber on the loose and I’m twenty-three. Jessi’s eleven! I’d have been on the phone so fast and begging my parents to come home. Jessi turns on the lights, hides the jewelry, and plays some music. Jessi thinks that the robber could have been in the Gardellas house with Stacey. Stacey may have heard him breaking in and moving around in the house. And even if she didn’t, the dog would kick up a racket and I’m not sure the robber would have been fast enough to get the dog to shut up. Now I just had the image of Stacey inviting her boyfriend over and them having sex and it totally drowns out the sounds of a thief sneaking around.
Chapter 11
Claudia babysits for Jenny. She calls Jenny a pain. I think they just call Jenny a pain out of habit. Jenny doesn’t do anything really bratty. She does tell Claudia that’s not how her mom does it while Claudia is getting Andrea ready for bed. Then again, the BSC acts like anyone suggesting that they might not know everything about childcare is the most offensive thing on the planet, even if they have twenty more years of experience. Jenny pretends to be a baby and then she wants to play shark attack. The Prezziosos come home early because the Gardellas were talking about Stacey. Mrs. Prezzioso said that she knows Stacey didn’t steal the ring, but they decide to leave the party because of what Mrs. Gardella was saying. The Prezziosos can’t pay Claudia for the full three hours, but they round up and pay her for two hours.
Chapter 12
That same night, Stacey is hanging out with her mom. She tells her mom that business is slow and Mrs. McGill assures her that it’s probably just a coincidence. They decide to rent a movie. I remember going to Blockbuster with my family to rent movies when I was a kid. Claudia calls and wants to come over. They go up to Stacey’s room and Claudia goes through Stacey’s stuff. She’s so busy going through Stacey’s stuff that she’s basically just grunting while Stacey talks.
Stacey realizes something is up when Claudia says she didn’t notice what Mrs. Prezzioso is wearing because Claudia not noticing what someone is wearing is like Dawn not complaining about hamburgers (if there isn’t a cute guy to distract her) or Mary Anne not crying at when they killed Bambi’s mom or when they shot Old Yeller. I never actually saw Old Yeller, so I can’t say how sad it is. I probably would have cried too if I had to read about someone shooting a dog. I was reading this one book last night and getting sad because the protagonists’ dog got hit by a car and dragged himself away and there was a trail of blood.
Stacey figures out that Claudia came to see if she had the ring. She’s pretty mad at Claudia. Claudia basically accuses Stacey of stealing the ring because she wanted a diamond ring and now Mrs. Gardella’s diamond ring is missing. There are lots of things I want, but I don’t go out and steal them. Stacey is rightfully upset that her best friend thinks that she’s a thief. These girls have no faith in each other. Mary Anne thinks Claudia cheated on the test, Jessi thinks Mallory fakes being sick, and Claudia thinks Stacey stole the ring. I thought best friends were supposed to trust each other.
Claudia says she’s pretty sure that Stacey didn’t take the ring. Stacey calls Claudia out for not trusting her and tells Claudia that she wouldn’t keep the ring in her jewelry box because someone could find it there. Yeah, what would be the point of Stacey stealing the ring? It’s not like she can wear it without drawing lots of questions. I’m pretty sure Stacey would want to wear the ring so she can show it off? How is she supposed to wear the ring when she stole it? Is she just going to walk around wearing a diamond ring and pray that no one brings it up? Was she just going to hide the ring and then put it on alone in her room and pretend there’s a huge audience admiring her ring?
Stacey tells Claudia to search her whole room if she wants and Claudia says she doesn’t want to be here. Claudia really doesn’t have a leg to stand on. She’s the one who came over and basically accused her best friend of being a thief. I’d be mad too if my best friend called me a thief. Claudia really shouldn’t be upset that Stacey is upset at her for not trusting her. Stacey tells Claudia to get the fuck out and Claudia says, “You can’t fire me, I quit!” Then she slams the door and storms off.
Chapter 13
Stacey is lonely without Claudia. She thinks about calling Claudia before she decides that she’s not making the first move. If I’m in a fight with someone, I don’t mind making the first move when it comes to apologizing because I’m not always the innocent party. There are times when I’ve overreacted or said something when I shouldn’t have or allowed things to escalate too much. And sometimes it might be best to put aside your pride to keep a relationship. But in this case, Claudia is blatantly in the wrong. She’s the one accusing Stacey of being a thief and getting mad when Stacey is upset that her best friend doesn’t trust her. If anyone should make the move to apologize, it should be Claudia.
Stacey ignores Claudia at the BSC meeting. She offers to babysit for the Gardellas until the cost of the ring is paid off. How long would that take? I’m sure diamond rings cost more than what the BSC makes. Who knows how long Stacey will be working for them? Also, why would the Gardellas let you babysit? They think you stole the ring. If you thought someone had stolen from you, would you let them back in the house when you weren’t going to be there? Mrs. Gardella decides to let Stacey babysit to pay off the cost of the ring, but she’s wary of having Stacey alone in her house. Stacey says Kristy can babysit with her. I thought Mrs. Gardella had decided that the entire BSC was a gang of thieves and was informing everyone?
Chapter 14
Stacey and Kristy still think it’s weird that the Gardellas talk to their pets as if they’re people. I do that. I talk to my dog like he’s a person all the time. Stacey gives the cat some toys and the cat keeps coming back without the toys. Stacey goes to investigate. It turns out the cat has a bunch of hiding places and the cat hid the ring under the rug. Stacey decides to leave the ring where it is so she can show it to the Gardellas and say she isn’t a thief.
The Gardellas believe Stacey when she says the cat took the ring and hid it. I guess they’re used to the cat doing this. I’m sure a more suspicious person would have been like, “You were in my house and the ring disappeared. Now you’re in my house again and the ring reappears. This seems to be too convenient.” Maybe Mrs. Gardella is just happy to get her ring back and she doesn’t have any legitimate proof that Stacey did take the ring. Mrs. Gardella does say they were stupid not to check Mouse’s hiding places because they lose a lot of little trinkets that way. Mrs. Gardella also didn’t tell the other clients about what happened because Bird was sick, so she didn’t have time. So the slow days were just a coincidence.
Chapter 15
Claudia apologizes to Stacey off screen. There’s a reason why the clients haven’t been calling-some of them were on vacation. You’d think Mary Anne would have made a note of it so she could go, “Oh, most of our clients are on vacation. That’s why business is slow.” Now the parents are back in town and ready to call the BSC the next time they need to take a dump.
Charlotte was sick and her mom didn’t want to expose the girls. Buddy, Suzi, and Marni were away on a trip. But now they’re back. Buddy is missing Mallory and wants her to be his sitter. I think they bonded when she was helping him with his reading. I always thought the Barretts were closest with Dawn. Maybe the Barretts got sick of her preachy attitude. There are only a few more pages left in this book, so I guess that’s the reason the club isn’t throwing a huge tantrum that Buddy requested Mallory because kids aren’t allowed to have favorite sitters. I’m also shocked the BSC didn’t take the time to be shocked that someone would actually request Mallory to be their sitter.
Stacey says her parents might pool their money and buy her a diamond birthstone ring for her birthday, Christmas, or another special occasion.