BSC #74, Kristy and the Copycat: Mighty Kristy Had Struck Out

March 15, 2011

BSC #74, Kristy and the Copycat: Mighty Kristy Had Struck Out

Karen's shirt has Krushers with a C! Yay for continuity! Yaaaaaay!

Summary: Kristy misses playing softball, so she decides to try out for SMS’s team. She makes it, but the girls who are already on the team aren’t very happy to welcome her and the three other new players, Bea, Tonya, and Dilys. The new players are told that they’re going to be hazed, or the girls already on the team will make them look like bad players in front of their strict coach. Kristy and the other new girls reluctantly agree to the initiation, which involves spray-painting an old equipment shed on school property. The girls do it, and Bea and Tonya celebrate by smoking cigarettes. The next morning, they all discover that the shed burned down overnight, and a man who tried to put out the fire was badly injured.

Kristy feels horribly guilty about the fire, especially since she can’t find her can of spray-paint and worries that it contributed to the fire. The other girls just don’t want to get caught. They all get I Know What You Did Last Summer-like notes, then notes demanding money, which makes Kristy feel even worse about the situation. And then she feels worse again when the boys’ baseball team is accused of starting the fire.

Kristy eventually tells the BSC girls what happened and announces that she’s going to confess. But before she can, some high schoolers come clean, admitting to setting the fire on purpose. And it turns out that Dilys sent the threatening notes, trying to get the girls to ‘fess up, so no one other than the four little vandals and the BSC girls knows what they did. They decide to keep quiet, which isn’t really the kind of message you want to send to this book’s audience, but whatever. And Kristy isn’t sure if she wants to keep playing softball, partly because it takes time away from coaching the Krushers (more on that later).

The book title actually comes from the B-plot. Karen wants to be a 13-year-old, so she starts imitating the BSC girls, mainly Mary Anne (yes, really) and Stacey. It’s kind of annoying but mostly pathetic. Kristy gets mad at her for hanging around all the time, then tells her to stop trying to speed things up so much because being 13 sometimes sucks beyond the telling of it (TM Buffy).

The C-plot involves the Krushers: Claudia and Stacey volunteer to take over coaching for Kristy. They suck at it.

Thoughts: Claudia has sunglasses with round wire frames and square green lenses. Wouldn’t those be annoying to look through? Wouldn’t you see the sides of the lenses in your peripheral vision?

Shannon’s still around. For some reason, I thought she was filling in while Mallory was sick; I forgot it was because Dawn left.

Karen’s quick series of questions for Mary Anne makes me think of Vanessa Bayer as Miley Cyrus on SNL. But I guess that’s pretty cool.

Claudia’s Krushers practice outfit: “a red satin baseball cap, purple sweatpants that were cut off just below the knees, purple high-tops with neon pink laces, red-and-white-striped socks, and a red and pink tie-dyed crop top shirt.” There is not one item of clothing on that list that sounds attractive.

Stacey wears a white shirt over a black bra. I can’t believe her mom let her out of the house wearing that. She also wears a Dodgers cap, which I find strange. Wouldn’t she wear a Yankees cap?

I really like how Sam and Charlie treat Kristy in this book. They’re very encouraging and helpful with their softball tips. It’s nice to see Sam not being an annoying older brother for once.

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