This was always one of my favorite BSC books, must have read it hundreds of times (I even remember many of the outfits). However, I was always confused by the cover image, the book never has Stacey on a sitting job where she is practicing cheers. I'm guessing it is probably Charlotte Johanssen, Stacey's favorite charge, but only a guess.
And, to prep you for this cheertastic recap...
If you were a female teen in the late 90s/early 00s, and don't know that opening sequence by heart, then, well, you're probably not reading this blog anyway, so whatever.
So, Stacey arrives at school one day with Claudia, and gets hit in the face with a snowball, thrown by none other than the star of the SMS basketball team, RJ Blaser (yeah, we've never heard of him before, and likely never will again after this book). RJ is described as being 6 feet tall (in 8th grade? Trying to remember my 8th grade basketball team now...) and wears a varsity letter jacket (letterman's jackets in middle school? Come on, AMM, that doesn't happen, does it? Plus, varsity? Would junior varsity just mean the 7th grade team?). Ahh, snowball to the face, gotta love middle school flirting. RJ invites Stacey to a movie that weekend, "Mall Warriors II." And the rest of the week, all the members of "The Group", meaning the basketball players and the cheerleaders, start to be really nice to Stacey, inviting her to eat with them, passing notes in class, etc.
Stacey goes on her date, several of the cheerleaders and other basketball players are at the movie as well, plus Cokie Mason and Sabrina Bouvier (which is confusing - here she is mentioned as a classmate of Stacey's, but I'm pretty sure that she is contestant in the child beauty pageant that is featured in another book, so...are there two Sabrina Bouviers of different ages in Stoneybrook? Or did AMM/ghost writer just make a continuity error?). They then go out to Pizza Express with several of RJ's friends, and Stacey realizes that she has nothing in common with RJ (she gives the date a 3 out of 10. Ouch, bro...). However, she is feeling some serious sparks with RJ's teammate, Robert Brewster (yes, that Robert, who becomes Stacey's boyfriend for much of the series).
Stacey then attends the next basketball game, which is her first, and apparently the game is packed because the SMS Chargers (the first time I think we've heard what the mascot is) are undefeated (Stoneybrook must be a hotbed of great athletes, because the SMS baseball team was also undefeated, but that's a different story...). Kristy spends the whole game trying to explain the game to Stacey (yeah, she thought they were saying "fowls" instead of "fouls", bless her heart). Oh, and apparently AMM doesn't understand basketball either, because the game is tied with 3 seconds left, and one of the SMS players hits a shot, and they win by one point. Now, I know that is technically possible if he hit a foul (not fowl) shot, but it wasn't written that way, so SMS should have either won by 2 points or 3 points. Sigh... Anyway, after the game, Stacey hugs Robert and the cheerleaders encourage her to try out for the squad - "she's definitely pretty enough" says Sheila to Darcy (more characters you can forget about after this book). Robert asks Stacey out on a date, and Stacey decides to try out (the book keeps referring to this as "auditioning" for the squad, I just never used that term for cheerleading tryouts, not even for dance team, but maybe since I never "auditioned" for either, I wouldn't know...).
Robert and Stacey have their date (which she was stressing about because she had a "hair kink" that day, gosh, that happens to me every day #thickhairproblems). Robert gets all deep, tells her that he doesn't like the status of the jock, because players will cheat off of dorks, not do their assignments and still get Cs, and players and cheerleaders will routinely skip classes for "emergency drills" and not get in trouble.
However, angst aside, Robert and Stacey hit it off, and they continue to go out, hitting up concerts and going on double dates with Mary Anne and Logan.
Meanwhile, Stacey enlists Jessi's help in coming up with a routine for the tryout (I get the Jessi is a great dancer, but is a ballet dancer the best person to prep you for a cheerleading routine? I mean, I guess that's all Stacey has to work with, but that is two completely different styles of dance - Sparky Polastri would not approve).
The cheerleaders take Stacey outside during lunch one day (which is against the rules, and confirms to Stacey what Robert told her) because they want to preview Stacey's routine. Stacey shows them, and apparently they are blown away by her ballet-inspired routine, because their jaws drop and tell her "you are, like, really good." Stacey passes the first round of tryouts, and Sheila tells her that she has nothing to worry about. Then, Stacey overhears some of the other cheerleaders gossiping about her in the bathroom (girls, you always check the stalls before gossiping, always...). They say that maybe she is too good for the squad, and apparently one of them had a crush on Robert and is jealous of Stacey. So, after the final round, in which Stacey is clearly the best (according to Stacey, granted), Stacey gets the shock of her life when they announce that Kathleen Lopez won the spot (you can forget that name too), not Stacey. After the announcement, Corinne, the cheerleader with the thing for Robert, tells Stacey that she was better than the whole squad and that they felt threatened by her. Now, for one thing, that explanation would never happen in real life, most likely the squad would just never mention it and start ignoring Stacey again. Plus, I mean, really? Better than the whole squad? A girl who never had formal dance/cheer/gymnastic training, only practiced for a few weeks before the tryouts, is "better than the whole squad"? I mean, AMM, why do you always make the BSC members be the best at whatever they do? Claudia is the best artist who wins awards, Mallory wins writing awards, Jessi wins roles over older ballet dancers, can't some of the BSC just be mediocre?
Anyway, Stacey goes crying to Robert, he immediately quits the baskeball team out of protest (because, yeah...), and the teachers start to "investigate academic abuses" by the athletes. Kathleen Lopez, the girl who beat Stacey, quits the squad once she learns that she wasn't the best one. The cheerleaders write a snarky editorial in the SMS paper about "jealous people" trying to ruin athletics at SMS, while Stacey and Robert write their own editorial about trying to bring justice and fairness to SMS. Yeah, we know how editorial writing goes at SMS...
Deep Thoughts by Stacey:
* "Ok, time-out- Do I sound hopelessly boy-crazy? I'm not. I may not be boy-crazy, but I'm boy interested." Pfft. There is literally a book called "Boy Crazy Stacey", you keep telling yourself that, girl.
* "I just want a gorgeous, smart, considerate guy who takes my breath away and happens to love me even more than I love him." Seems like Stacey might have a match.com profile in her adult years...
* "Logan is cute with a capital Q"
* "Robert is a 9-1-1."
Cheer Fashion!!
What Stacey Wore: "I had wolfed down my breakfast, put on my new plum-colored corduroy pants and white down jacket for the first time, and taken a nice, slow walk to school with my friend Claudia." When Stacey fell down in the snow in this outfit, her butt left a purple imprint thanks to her pants. Let that purple butt imprint mental image get you through the day...
What Claudia Wore: "For instance, at the BSC meeting she was wearing baggy wool men's pants, gathered at the waist with a black leather band (umm, Stace, that's called a belt, sweetie); a white tuxedo shirt with rolled up sleeves; Capezio-type flats with mismatched white and black socks; and a glittery bow-tie barrette in her hair."
What Stacey Wore (RJ date outfit): "I chose a black-and-white plaid unitard with a tank-style top, covered with a black, oversized cotton knit jersey." Sooo...no skirt or anything over the unitard. That's....interesting. And very Jessie J.
What Claudia Wore (basketball game): "She was wearing a sequined vest over a man's white shirt and bell-bottomed spandex pants."
What Stacey Wore (Robert date outfit): "I decided on a pair of new jeans with a brand new white cotton cardigan with gorgeous floral embroidery and a scalloped, crocheted neckline. On my feet were suede ankle boots. Flat-bottomed suede ankle boots." Umm...I'm confused, is Stacey wearing some kind of top under that cardigan?
