# 87 Stacey and the Bad Girls

[Deleted]

OK, there needed to be a thread devoted to my favorite BSC story arc- Stacey falling in with the hilariously dorky "bad crowd."

I'm sure I said this on TWoP and the other board, but I think the Bad Girls had a serious impact on my look. It took me a long time to get over flannel. I thought I was a super hardass as a kid and absolutely loved these characters- especially the one that had a nose ring. In elementary school I used to wear one of those magnetic earrings in my nose (God, I probably swallowed a few) and in junior high I pierced it myself. I just had this intense association- nose ring = badass. Nose ring = badass. I've since had it professionally done, and I adore it. And it's totally the Bad Girls' fault that I have this hole in my face.

[macca]

Stacey was also hilariously dorky in this one. Naive, too. I couldn't believe it when she thought the bad girls wanted a job at Bellairs after hearing about her 10% discount. And then she was horrified at the prospect of buying stuff on their behalf.

It should've been one of those "peer pressure" books in which Stacey does something naughty to impress her friends and then has to suffer the "consequences". I mean, this was a girl who practically put the moves on her teacher.

That's cute about the Bad Girls impression on you, enjoyallison. I have to admit, I was somewhat shocked about the nose ring character - not because I think nose rings are so hardass, but because it's just not something you expect in a BSC book. I mean, in BSC Land, ear-piercing is dibbly controversial!

[Deleted]

I mean, in BSC Land, ear-piercing is dibbly controversial!

HAHA! Didn't Sunny have a navel piercing or something? The more screwed up the character the wilder the piercing!

[buffykay70]

ooo, those girls were so BAAAAD. sneaking wine into a concert, hahhaha. and coming over each day and eating all of the peanuts, tut tut.

stacey is such a loser. and naive too.

[booboobrewer]

I found it weird that Stacey's mom found her friends lazing about (that part's not weird, I'd have been annoyed with those girls - they ate all the blue corn chips and left a plum stain on the wall!), and that when she did she immediately requested Stacey find a job. They go to the supermarket and look at the bulletin boards and stuff...but...she's 13. How many options did they think she would find? One of her possibilities was as a caretaker for an elderly woman...I wouldn't even consider calling to inquire about that if I was 13, I'm pretty sure the person hiring wouldn't want me.

I think at one point Stacey pulled a WWKD (what would Kristy do?), and thought that Kristy would most likely make up a flier that said something like, "bright, smart, creative 13 year old able and willing to do anything." I didn't think much of it when I was a kid, but now I see that you could probably interpret that in a variety of ways...lol.

[macca]

^ that's not the first time I've had to take my mind out of the gutter on these boards! My childhood innocence!! ;D

Where I live, until you're 15 (or 14 and nine months, can't remember) you cannot be legally employed unless you're working for a family business. Also, what's the big deal if 13 yr old Stacey just hangs out with her friends over the summer? She was only a kid after all.

[Deleted]

Where I live, until you're 15 (or 14 and nine months, can't remember) you cannot be legally employed unless you're working for a family business.

Same here. And it's very difficult to get hired if you can't drive. Man, then didn't Stacey end up working at the kid center or something? I'm 19 and I can't find a d**n job. Stacey probably took all the good ones.

[jen]

Yeah, Stacey ended up working at the Kid Centre at Bellair's. When I read it as a kid, 13 seemed super old and mature, and I didn't think anything of it. But now that I think about it, it does seem strange that a parent would force their kid to work at 13. But 13 seems a lot younger now than it used it.

[aln1982]

When I was a kid (and even now), I pretended that the members of the BSC were older (at least 15). For some reason, they just didn't seem like 13 and 11 year olds to me. Maybe it made more sense to imagine them as being older because they seem so much older than the 10 year olds (Pike triplets, Jeff Shafer)

[macca]

I think ideally they should've been about 15, but I guess the writers wanted to keep them wholesome and not deal so much with the inevitable "teenage" stuff which would be harder to avoid if the girls were older.

I just finished Get Well Soon Mallory, and there is a scene where the Pike triplets are playing hide and seek in the barn. Hide and Seek! While Jessi - one WHOLE yr older - is strolling around NYC unsupervised and meeting up with strange boy ballerinas who tip her chin and kiss her gently by the elevators!

[jen]

The Pike triplets do lots of "immature" things, though! Remember the Wandering Frog People? Remember when they try to be baby-sitters, but end up not able to deal with dirty nappies and screaming kids?

[macca]

Another strange aspect about the Pike triplets was the fact that their sister Mallory was one yr older than them and they actually accepted her as an authority figure.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I had enough trouble getting my two-and-a-half-years younger brother to listen to me.

[macca]

Something along the same lines, but not quite, was the Simpson's episode where Lisa was reading The Baby-sitter Twins. There was obviously a fair bit of research done, because many of the comments and subtle jokes would only appeal to those familiar with BSC books.

I liked the scene where Lisa told Bart to wash up for dinner telling him "it will be like giving your fingers a bubble bath!" - Bart's response? "You are so dead" ... far more realistic that the absolute compliance from the BSC's younger siblings.

[Deleted]

Jeff's a hell of a lot older than his chronological age; he's the kind of kid who would have run away to the Haight in 1967...