Claudia and the friendship feud Book

Claudia is still nursing emotional wounds from the Stacey fight in Stacey vs. Claudia. Her version of the story is that she saw (and dated) Jeremy first, but Stacey stole him. They avoid each other in school and give each other the silent treatment in BSC meetings.

Cause-of-the-fight Jeremy, now firmly established as Stacey's boyfriend, suddenly starts going out of his way to talk to Claudia and call her on the phone. Jeremy and Claudia have intense conversations which seem to revolve solely around how much Jeremy now wants to make this friendship work, for unclear reasons. Claudia still has a crush on Jeremy, and gets a thrill out of talking to him. Stacey is not pleased with this turn of events and marks her territory, speaking to Claudia for the first time in weeks just to tell her to stay away from her boyfriend.

When Stacey and Claudia are the only two people available for a Pike job, Stacey suggests calling in Erica Blumberg to go in her place. Claudia and Erica bond while sitting for the Pikes, and Claudia takes her out shopping. Erica bewilders Claudia with her lack of interest in fashion, but she likes shopping for art supplies, and helps Claudia find supplies for her her Thanksgiving centerpiece. Erica is all in on the new friendship, trading painful life stories, going for a BFF photo booth session, etc., but she realizes she is a "rebound" (her words) when Claudia calls her "Stace." Claudia realizes she misses Stacey more than she let on.

Vanessa Pike contrives to get Claudia and Stacey sitting at the same time, hoping they'll make up. They start to, both confessing that they miss each other, but when Stacey reiterates that everything will be fine as long as Claudia stays away from Jeremy, Claudia is insulted. She realizes that instead of trying to make Erica more like Stacey, she wishes Stacey were more like Erica. She decides to give up on Stacey and decides to patch things up with Erica instead.

We end on a hopeful(?) note with Jeremy getting transferring into Claudia's English class, a development which she describes as "very interesting."

I enjoyed this more in 2016 than when I originally read it in April 2013 (when I gave it one star); I think I was annoyed by the obnoxiousness of the extended "Stacey and Claudia fight over a boy" storyline, but having reconciled myself to the plot development, I actually think it's kind of clever how fight becomes something bigger than both of them. Both clearly want to reconcile, but they force each other into corners that prevent that from ever happening. Stacey offers terms that hurt Claudia's pride: demanding that she promise to stay away from Jeremy seems reasonable to Stacey, but Claudia justifiably sees it as a small, mean, mistrustful act.

With that said, I have to agree with my original main criticism of the book:

"This is one of the most vague and first-drafty BSC books I've read. Half the words might as well be 'fill something in here.' Mary Anne can't sit at the Pikes' because she has 'that thing with Sharon' (WHAT THING? I can think of several things she might be doing with Sharon but none of them would be described that way in natural human language). Byron gets upset when Jordan "mutter[s] something under his breath" but we never find out what it is, not even a hint. Jeremy and Claudia's life-changing conversations are mostly glossed over. We do get details on some things - just the wrong things. Jeremy has cousins in Boulder, Colorado. Who cares? We also get a ton of details about how Erica was adopted and is looking for her birth parents, which doesn't play into anything, and seems like the author suddenly realizing, 'Shit, Erica's been sitting here listening to Claudia's Stacey drama, better give her some drama of her own.' Just sloppy, sloppy work."

Lingering Questions:

1. So, is Erica Blumberg just an associate now? If not, why not? (And why not sooner?) Clients have called her before when the BSC can't or won't sit (like in #101 Kristy's Worst Idea and #117 Claudia and the Terrible Truth), and she seems to be a good sitter and to enjoy it, so why isn't she already in the BSC?

2. They've all known Erica for years (hers is one of the names that is always in the background in the school scenes, though to my recollection they have never developed her character much before). So why do she and Claudia keep referring to each other as new friends? Is it that obvious that they could not possibly have been friends before, as BSC members Are Only Friends With BSC Members? Did this draft originally contain a new character, but they hastily changed it to someone the BSC trusts in order to avoid the whole elaborate new-sitter screening process?

3. Jeremy: what is your game, friend? Out of the blue, he starts going out of his way to strike up conversations with the lovestruck-to-silence Claudia. He tells her he want to still be friends, but they never really were friends, were they? She went on an unsuccessful date with him, and they can't have gotten very close if she was this nervous and shy with him before. It seems like the type of effort you might make to get to know someone in advance of asking them out, but why is he suddenly interested in her when he never was before? Does he feel trapped with possessive Stacey? We get mixed messages about whether he and Claudia are actually good together as friends (Or More); he remember some details she's told him, but forgets others; he seems willing to sneak around behind Stacey's back to see Claudia, but when Claudia brings up the Stacey subject, he's all, oh, of course, she's my girlfriend, you and I are just friends. I don't know, you guys, I don't think he's worth it.

4. A question for Claudia: boyfriend-stealing: okay, not okay, or only okay when you (are planning to) do it? (Not that I see Stacey as a boyfriend thief, since Jeremy was never Claudia's boyfriend to begin with, and since that is not a thing; but Claudia, delusionally, does.)

5. Claudia's centerpiece sounds like a complete disaster, right?

Slash Watch: Claudia describes her rift with Stacey as a "break-up" and seems more concerned with Stacey than with Jeremy; when she sees them at the movies together, for example, she notes that Stacey looks pretty and is wearing a cute outfit, but doesn't notice anything about Jeremy at all. Erica is giving me strong vibes here as well; despite constantly reminding Claudia that she's not interested in clothes & doesn't wear jewelry, she is totally willing to go look at necklaces in the mall anytime Claudia wants, as long as it means they get to spend time together. Her patience with Claudia going on and on about her ex bespeaks a careful effort not to chase the beautiful girl away before she gets in her pants. Claudia calling her by the wrong name in a moment of passion (shopping) is the last straw, though.

Timing: November, around Thanksgiving.

Revised Timeline: November of third academic year post-grad (age 24 or so). Since it's irrelevant that Erica is someone they all know from way back, it makes just as much (if not more) sense if Claudia is out in the world trying to turn a new co-worker or acquaintance into Stacey after they (naturally, healthily) grow apart.