BSC #41 Mary Anne vs. Logan (Chapters 6-10)
Round two - the fighters take their places in the ring, with Jenny on the sidelines
Chapter 6:
Mary Anne is home early from her date with Logan. It did not go well. Oooh, tell us all about it, Mary Anne.
Mary Anne wanted to order grilled cheese and a vanilla milkshake. She’s been fantasizing about this meal all day. Change that shake to chocolate and it sounds absolutely perfect, so I’m totally with her. When they get to the restaurant, Logan puts her in her place and decides that she’ll have a cheeseburger and Coke, just like him. She protests after the waiter leaves, and to Logan’s credit, he does offer to get the waiter back. But Mary Anne lets it go. I’m not sure why; I would have been pissed about not getting my milkshake.
So this interaction sets the tone for the whole date. Logan decides that they’re going to see Halloween 3. Which is rated R, so they can’t even get in. It was also released in 1982. But I’ll let this slide, because at least Ann was trying to be more modern.
Mary Anne does not want to see the Halloween movie. And get this, Logan actually asks her if she’s already seen it. Logan, you do realize that this is Mary Anne you’re talking to, not Pete? She’s not exactly a blood and guts kinda gal.
Mary Anne wants to see The Music Man, which I know nothing about, but apparently it’s a kids’ movie. At least it’s not a Leave it to Beaver appreciation marathon on the big screen.
Instead of trying to compromise, Logan gets all pissy and calls his parents to pick them up. This book was released in 1991, and it’s around Valentine’s Day. They could have watched The Never-ending Story 2 or Sleeping with the Enemy (OK, maybe just The Never-ending Story 2). Or they could have gone bowling or roller skating. But nope, compromise is not a Logan trait, so they head home.
When Mary Anne gets home, Richard wants to have a heart-to-heart with her. He thinks that Logan and Mary Anne are spending too much time together. Richard misses her and wants to spend more time with her. He’s also noticed that she doesn’t seem happy lately. And she got a C on her English test! Since he doesn’t want her doomed to a life of misery and academic failure, he proposes that Mary Anne cut back on the amount of time she’s spending with Logan. Richard is such a good parent. He doesn’t say that Logan and Mary Anne need to break up, he doesn’t berate her for getting a bad grade, he just wants her to be around more. And not get C’s on tests. Richard should change careers and become a parenting coach - the other parents in the ‘Brook need you, Richard!
Mary Anne’s feelings are validated by their conversation and she agrees with her dad. She decides to call Logan and talk to him about reducing the frequency of contact.
Unfortunately, Dawn and Sharon arrive home right at that moment. And Mary Anne decides that she wants to talk to Dawn about her Logan problem. Why??? Can’t you just cry into your pillow and not involve the shrieking wench????
Of course not. Because life is cruel and unkind.
Dawn points out that Mary Anne let Logan walk all over her. Which is true, but way to add insult to injury. Then Mary Anne tells us that Dawn is smart. NOOOOOOOOO! You’re just upset and not thinking clearly right now, Mary Anne! Dawn is a moron; she just has an annoyingly high level of self-confidence so she’s able to make it sound like she knows what she’s talking about.
Dawn proceeds to prove her idiocy in the next few lines of dialogue by making Mary Anne feel bad about herself for not committing to marriage at thirteen. Go to hell, Dawn. And take Karen with you.
Mary Anne calls Logan, and being the ass that he is, Logan assumes that she’s called to apologize. Mary Anne shuts that down immediately. She tells him that they need to cool their relationship for a few weeks. That he’s overtaking her life and acting like a real creep. She says it’s just a trial separation and that they can heat things up again after they’ve had some time apart. Logan seems pretty stunned, so he agrees to it without argument.
And then Mary Anne cries into her pillow. See, we didn’t need Dawn to be involved at all.
Chapter 7:
It’s early morning at SMS and Mary Anne and Dawn are walking to her locker. Dawn asks Mary Anne if she’s OK.
Dawn, I’m going to slap you. Mary Anne has just cooled off her relationship with the first boy she’s ever liked. And her main character trait is sensitivity. And you live with her, so you’ve seen her all weekend. Do you really think she’s alright???
Logan walks right past them without a glance. There’s also no note in her locker from him - though I’m not sure why he’d leave a note when Mary Anne wants to not spend time with him.
For reasons unexplained, Mary Anne hasn’t told the other sitters about cooling things off with Logan. It gets a little awkward at lunch when Kristy asks where her parasite is, but Mary Anne makes an excuse that he needed some guy time. Heh, with Pete of course.
Logan starts up the stalking again by waiting for Mary Anne by her locker after school. But all he does is awkwardly say hi and walk off. Logan - king of the nice guys.
At home, Mary Anne obsesses over Logan. She even hallucinates his face while looking at a picture of William Penn. Sharon must have shared the carob brownies.
Instead of doing anything even remotely useful, she calls Dawn over so that they can have another talk. Vomit. I’ll begrudgingly give Dawn a point for reminding Mary Anne how badly Logan had been treating her and reinforcing that this was the right thing to do. Even a blind squirrel stumbles upon an acorn once in a while.
Chapter 8:
Mallory babysits the spoiled brat. Hey, if my parents wanted to bribe me with new clothes and toys so I’d be happier about my new sibling, I would have been all over that. And so would the BSC chicks, even if they won’t admit it. So I don’t get why they’re so indignant about this. I have three younger siblings and got jack shit when each of them was born. Jenny is rationally acting in her own self-interest.
Jenny is also acting like a normal four-year-old, worrying that her parents won’t pay attention to her anymore. She doesn’t act up for Mal, and they actually have a good conversation about being older sisters. Mal does well here; she even shows some sympathy for Jenny. Shocking!
Chapter 9:
Mary Anne has spent most of the afternoon crying over Logan. She shows up early to the meeting looking all cried out. Of course, Kristy is already there. She definitely stole the spare key to the Kishi house, but Claudia is too stupid to notice. Kristy acts like an actual best friend for a moment and asks if Mary Anne is OK. Mary Anne decides it’s time to come clean about her and Logan, but she doesn’t want to repeat the story 75 times, so she waits until meeting time. Kristy allows this non-business topic to be discussed, most likely because she can’t have one of her sitters operating at less than optimal efficiency.
Mary Anne tells them all about cooling her relationship with Logan. Jessi acts like a goober and gasps! She thought that they were going to be together forever. Dawn lays more on top of this, talking about marriage and kids until Stacey intervenes because Mary Anne is crying. Again, Dawn. Go. To. Hell.
The BSCers discuss all the times they’ve been “in love” and I’m sitting here wondering if I was a weird teenager. I never thought that I was “in love” with any boy at that age. And I certainly wasn’t thinking about marriage. Maybe I’m just cold-hearted and cynical because I didn’t experience true luv when I was thirteen. Oh well; we all have our crosses to bear.
We then get this gem: “Ow, ow, ow!” said Jessi. (We looked at her as if she were crazy.) “All this separating,” she explained. “All this hurting. Ouch!”
What the…? Jessi is young, but has she always been this much of a nimrod? I don’t remember; I only read a few of her books because I didn’t care about ballet and that was her primary character trait. Jessi, you’re descending to Dawn-level annoyance in this chapter. Knock it off!
Fuckity fuck. Just when we can’t get any more irritating, Karen calls, asking for a sitter for some of her stuffed animals. Of course, the BSC must drop everything and cater to Sociopath Jr. Not like the phone line is needed for legitimate business. Nope, not when we have Queen Karen on the phone.
Then we get some more drama! Logan calls, asking for Mary Anne to babysit on Valentine’s Day. His parents are going out and he has a date, so he needs someone to babysit his siblings. And they want Mary Anne! I personally think she should stay home and reach new levels of consciousness with Sharon, but she agrees to take the job.
Chapter 10:
Mary Anne babysits Bratzilla. Who is pretending to be a baby. Considering all the other crap that these little hellbeasts put the BSC through, Jenny acting like a baby seems pretty mild.
Mary Anne appears to have had some kind of psychotic breakdown though, so maybe it’s not the best idea for her to be watching a small child right now. She’s constructed this whole fake fantasy world where Logan has a hot new girlfriend named Olivia. And I’m all like, hell yeah:
But this Olivia is blonde. So more like:
Which is definitely more Ann’s speed.
Jenny does do one bratty thing - she trashes the baby’s room. But when Mary Anne tells her to clean it up, she does it right away. So, not really a problem then.
Mary Anne uses some reverse psychology on Jenny and treats her like an actual baby. Jenny realizes that strained peas and poopy diapers really suck, so she quits the baby act.
And that's all for this round. 11-15 will be up soon!
Chapter 6:
Mary Anne is home early from her date with Logan. It did not go well. Oooh, tell us all about it, Mary Anne.
Mary Anne wanted to order grilled cheese and a vanilla milkshake. She’s been fantasizing about this meal all day. Change that shake to chocolate and it sounds absolutely perfect, so I’m totally with her. When they get to the restaurant, Logan puts her in her place and decides that she’ll have a cheeseburger and Coke, just like him. She protests after the waiter leaves, and to Logan’s credit, he does offer to get the waiter back. But Mary Anne lets it go. I’m not sure why; I would have been pissed about not getting my milkshake.
So this interaction sets the tone for the whole date. Logan decides that they’re going to see Halloween 3. Which is rated R, so they can’t even get in. It was also released in 1982. But I’ll let this slide, because at least Ann was trying to be more modern.
Mary Anne does not want to see the Halloween movie. And get this, Logan actually asks her if she’s already seen it. Logan, you do realize that this is Mary Anne you’re talking to, not Pete? She’s not exactly a blood and guts kinda gal.
Mary Anne wants to see The Music Man, which I know nothing about, but apparently it’s a kids’ movie. At least it’s not a Leave it to Beaver appreciation marathon on the big screen.
Instead of trying to compromise, Logan gets all pissy and calls his parents to pick them up. This book was released in 1991, and it’s around Valentine’s Day. They could have watched The Never-ending Story 2 or Sleeping with the Enemy (OK, maybe just The Never-ending Story 2). Or they could have gone bowling or roller skating. But nope, compromise is not a Logan trait, so they head home.
When Mary Anne gets home, Richard wants to have a heart-to-heart with her. He thinks that Logan and Mary Anne are spending too much time together. Richard misses her and wants to spend more time with her. He’s also noticed that she doesn’t seem happy lately. And she got a C on her English test! Since he doesn’t want her doomed to a life of misery and academic failure, he proposes that Mary Anne cut back on the amount of time she’s spending with Logan. Richard is such a good parent. He doesn’t say that Logan and Mary Anne need to break up, he doesn’t berate her for getting a bad grade, he just wants her to be around more. And not get C’s on tests. Richard should change careers and become a parenting coach - the other parents in the ‘Brook need you, Richard!
Mary Anne’s feelings are validated by their conversation and she agrees with her dad. She decides to call Logan and talk to him about reducing the frequency of contact.
Unfortunately, Dawn and Sharon arrive home right at that moment. And Mary Anne decides that she wants to talk to Dawn about her Logan problem. Why??? Can’t you just cry into your pillow and not involve the shrieking wench????
Of course not. Because life is cruel and unkind.
Dawn points out that Mary Anne let Logan walk all over her. Which is true, but way to add insult to injury. Then Mary Anne tells us that Dawn is smart. NOOOOOOOOO! You’re just upset and not thinking clearly right now, Mary Anne! Dawn is a moron; she just has an annoyingly high level of self-confidence so she’s able to make it sound like she knows what she’s talking about.
Dawn proceeds to prove her idiocy in the next few lines of dialogue by making Mary Anne feel bad about herself for not committing to marriage at thirteen. Go to hell, Dawn. And take Karen with you.
Mary Anne calls Logan, and being the ass that he is, Logan assumes that she’s called to apologize. Mary Anne shuts that down immediately. She tells him that they need to cool their relationship for a few weeks. That he’s overtaking her life and acting like a real creep. She says it’s just a trial separation and that they can heat things up again after they’ve had some time apart. Logan seems pretty stunned, so he agrees to it without argument.
And then Mary Anne cries into her pillow. See, we didn’t need Dawn to be involved at all.
Chapter 7:
It’s early morning at SMS and Mary Anne and Dawn are walking to her locker. Dawn asks Mary Anne if she’s OK.
Dawn, I’m going to slap you. Mary Anne has just cooled off her relationship with the first boy she’s ever liked. And her main character trait is sensitivity. And you live with her, so you’ve seen her all weekend. Do you really think she’s alright???
Logan walks right past them without a glance. There’s also no note in her locker from him - though I’m not sure why he’d leave a note when Mary Anne wants to not spend time with him.
For reasons unexplained, Mary Anne hasn’t told the other sitters about cooling things off with Logan. It gets a little awkward at lunch when Kristy asks where her parasite is, but Mary Anne makes an excuse that he needed some guy time. Heh, with Pete of course.
Logan starts up the stalking again by waiting for Mary Anne by her locker after school. But all he does is awkwardly say hi and walk off. Logan - king of the nice guys.
At home, Mary Anne obsesses over Logan. She even hallucinates his face while looking at a picture of William Penn. Sharon must have shared the carob brownies.
Instead of doing anything even remotely useful, she calls Dawn over so that they can have another talk. Vomit. I’ll begrudgingly give Dawn a point for reminding Mary Anne how badly Logan had been treating her and reinforcing that this was the right thing to do. Even a blind squirrel stumbles upon an acorn once in a while.
Chapter 8:
Mallory babysits the spoiled brat. Hey, if my parents wanted to bribe me with new clothes and toys so I’d be happier about my new sibling, I would have been all over that. And so would the BSC chicks, even if they won’t admit it. So I don’t get why they’re so indignant about this. I have three younger siblings and got jack shit when each of them was born. Jenny is rationally acting in her own self-interest.
Jenny is also acting like a normal four-year-old, worrying that her parents won’t pay attention to her anymore. She doesn’t act up for Mal, and they actually have a good conversation about being older sisters. Mal does well here; she even shows some sympathy for Jenny. Shocking!
Chapter 9:
Mary Anne has spent most of the afternoon crying over Logan. She shows up early to the meeting looking all cried out. Of course, Kristy is already there. She definitely stole the spare key to the Kishi house, but Claudia is too stupid to notice. Kristy acts like an actual best friend for a moment and asks if Mary Anne is OK. Mary Anne decides it’s time to come clean about her and Logan, but she doesn’t want to repeat the story 75 times, so she waits until meeting time. Kristy allows this non-business topic to be discussed, most likely because she can’t have one of her sitters operating at less than optimal efficiency.
Mary Anne tells them all about cooling her relationship with Logan. Jessi acts like a goober and gasps! She thought that they were going to be together forever. Dawn lays more on top of this, talking about marriage and kids until Stacey intervenes because Mary Anne is crying. Again, Dawn. Go. To. Hell.
The BSCers discuss all the times they’ve been “in love” and I’m sitting here wondering if I was a weird teenager. I never thought that I was “in love” with any boy at that age. And I certainly wasn’t thinking about marriage. Maybe I’m just cold-hearted and cynical because I didn’t experience true luv when I was thirteen. Oh well; we all have our crosses to bear.
We then get this gem: “Ow, ow, ow!” said Jessi. (We looked at her as if she were crazy.) “All this separating,” she explained. “All this hurting. Ouch!”
What the…? Jessi is young, but has she always been this much of a nimrod? I don’t remember; I only read a few of her books because I didn’t care about ballet and that was her primary character trait. Jessi, you’re descending to Dawn-level annoyance in this chapter. Knock it off!
Fuckity fuck. Just when we can’t get any more irritating, Karen calls, asking for a sitter for some of her stuffed animals. Of course, the BSC must drop everything and cater to Sociopath Jr. Not like the phone line is needed for legitimate business. Nope, not when we have Queen Karen on the phone.
Then we get some more drama! Logan calls, asking for Mary Anne to babysit on Valentine’s Day. His parents are going out and he has a date, so he needs someone to babysit his siblings. And they want Mary Anne! I personally think she should stay home and reach new levels of consciousness with Sharon, but she agrees to take the job.
Chapter 10:
Mary Anne babysits Bratzilla. Who is pretending to be a baby. Considering all the other crap that these little hellbeasts put the BSC through, Jenny acting like a baby seems pretty mild.
Mary Anne appears to have had some kind of psychotic breakdown though, so maybe it’s not the best idea for her to be watching a small child right now. She’s constructed this whole fake fantasy world where Logan has a hot new girlfriend named Olivia. And I’m all like, hell yeah:
But this Olivia is blonde. So more like:
Which is definitely more Ann’s speed.
Jenny does do one bratty thing - she trashes the baby’s room. But when Mary Anne tells her to clean it up, she does it right away. So, not really a problem then.
Mary Anne uses some reverse psychology on Jenny and treats her like an actual baby. Jenny realizes that strained peas and poopy diapers really suck, so she quits the baby act.
And that's all for this round. 11-15 will be up soon!