Friends Forever #12: Claudia and the Disaster Date

Claudia and Alan Gray finally go out on a date. She actually has fun with him, but keeps looking around because she thinks someone might see them together. He brings her napkins for her popcorn so she won’t mess up her jeans, and acts really thoughtful. She won’t let him walk her home though because she’s worried the other members of the BSC might see them.

They ask her a bunch of questions about where she was and she keeps changing the subject. After the meeting, she admits to Stacey that she went out with Alan. It doesn’t help that Kristy keeps bringing up new stories about stupid stuff he did in the past.

Claudia took a job working at the library with Erica. She asks her mom about possibly updating the mural in the children’s room and her mom blows her off. She then mentions it to the head of the children’s department, who thinks that it is a great idea and lets her do it. The event turns into a disaster. The librarian lets the kids get involved, and they go crazy throwing paint everywhere. Her mom interrupts the event and helps them clean up. Then she tells Claudia that she was hired for one job and the mural is on hold.

Alan and Kristy both come into the library at the same time. They get into a fight over Claudia and Alan leaves. Kristy throws a fit at the meeting, and Claudia admits that they are dating. Kristy gets even more pissed off, until Dawn points out that she dated him too. Since everyone keeps talking about his bad points, Claudia starts second guessing herself.

When they go out again, she feels uncomfortable. She can’t figure out what to say to him and just feels awkward. Alan picks up on it, but pretends like he doesn’t notice. Claudia decides that the best way to make everyone get along is with a group date. Alan brings Pete, Cary and a few other guys. Cary puts everyone into twosomes to hit the miniature golf course and pairs Alan with Kristy. Kristy keeps trying to get him to do something stupid, but he acts normal. That pisses her off even more because she doesn’t want to be wrong.

Alan comes back to the library and she takes him downstairs to the old part of the library. Alan starts to make a joke, but changes his mind at the last second. Claudia encourages him to act like he did before, but he’s worried that she won’t like him anymore. She tells him that he just needs to find a balance between the old Alan and the new Alan.

At the end of the book, Claudia and Alan invite all of their friends over to a picnic at her house. Everyone brings something to share and they have fun together. Alan lets some of his dorky/funny side out and they all seem to like him. Alan tells her that while he likes dating the BSC, he really wants just Claudia to be his girlfriend. She calls him her boyfriend and they walk off holding hands.

*Dawn is back and it’s summer time because they mention that most of their clients are on vacation. Yet the next book takes place on Graduation Day and Claudia has yet to go on a date with Alan.

*A lot of people say that Mrs. Kishi is a bitch in this book, but I see her point. Claudia is supposed to do stuff in the children’s room like filing and arranging books. She goes behind her mom’s back to get permission to update the mural, and then makes a huge mess. The library probably had money in the budget to get help for the children’s room, but not to update the mural. The mural is probably the last thing on her mind with all the kids coming in for books in the summer.

*Claudia passes out chips, mixed nuts and cheese filled pretzels. Dawn grudgingly eats the pretzels, but claims they are still junk food. Stacey eats the pretzels too, but given how strict her diet is supposed to be, that doesn’t seem like a healthy choice.

*Claudia wears blue socks folded down over tennis shoes and a tie dyed shirt. Sometimes I wonder if she is color blind?

*Does anyone else think it’s weird that Kristy went to dances and parties with Alan in the early books, but hated him with a passion in the later books?

*Kristy is such a brat in this book! She keeps arguing that Alan is a horrible person and won’t listen to anyone when they try to change her mind.