Friends Forever #7: Claudia Gets Her Guy

Claudia comes home from a sitting job at the Rodowsky house, to find a message from Mary Anne. She goes over to her house the next day and learns that Jeremy and Stacey broke up. She spends the rest of the day trying to pick out the perfect outfit for school the next day. Janine helps her pick out a silk kimono with a black skirt. She’s shocked when Jeremy barely looks at her and only says a few words to her because she thought they were destined for each other.

The big dance is coming up and she wants him to take her, but it’s kind of hard when he won’t even look at her. She decides to write him a note and stick it in his locker at school. After writing it out, she gets Cary to help her put it in his locker without Jeremy seeing it. Kristy and Erica wait with her to watch for him, but he doesn’t see the note. Later she realizes that she put it in the wrong locker.

Alan Gray pops up and she realizes that she put it in his locker. He reveals that he’s trying to change and act a little more grown up, but she was the only one who noticed. He thinks she wrote the note for him. Claudia feels bad but can’t figure out how to tell him the truth so she agrees to go with him to the dance. Even though they’re supposed to go out as friends, Alan acts like he wants more from her.

He starts leaving little notes for her, presents and even gives her a huge bouquet of flowers. Then he arranges a special table for her at lunch and sneaks in Burger King. The other members of the BSC think it’s kind of cute, except for Kristy. Kristy thinks it’s part of some scheme and that he’s going to pull a big prank. She starts getting confused because he’s being so sweet. It doesn’t help that Jeremy is being an asshole. He won’t talk to her and acts really cold. Then he asks someone else to the dance. Cary is also on her case too because he knows the note wasn’t meant for Alan and he’s worried about his best friend getting hurt.

Claudia and Alan go to the dance together and have fun, but she feels uncomfortable when she sees Jeremy and his date. Then she realizes that they’re dancing together as friends and feels a lot better. They dance together and she discovers that they dance as friends too. They talk and agree that they never got their timing right and decide to stay friends. Then she grabs Alan and as they dance, she realizes that she wants to be with him. The book ends with her thinking that everyone is probably wondering about them or whispering, but she doesn’t really care.

*Claudia is also working in an ESL program, tutoring a family from Japan. They all go to a museum and the little girl gets in trouble for touching a painting. That makes her realize that communication is important, so she actually talks to Stacey and they clear the air.

*Stacey is kind of surprised that Claudia doesn’t want to talk with her about Jeremy. That seems kind of out of character.

*Jeremy is a total dick! She tries to explain to him about the note and he won’t listen. Then he gets pissed that she’s going with Alan, even though he had multiple chances to talk to her or ask her out.

*She writes out the note and then puts it in the computer to spell check it, but the program can’t find a suggestion for Jeremy’s name because she spelled it so wrong. If you can’t spell the guy’s name, then you probably shouldn’t be dating him.