#7 Stephanie Strikes Back

There's a new video club at Riverhurst Elementary, and Kate can't wait to join. She finds out about it through Kyle Hubbard, a kid in their class, during an assembly about Amsterdam. Kate loves to watch old movies & foreign films, but is bored with a slideshow about Amsterdam? I've been to Amsterdam and I loved it. Anyway, after school , Wendy, a 6th grader, approaches Kate and invites her to come to her house on Saturday for a meeting of the video club. The Sleepover Friends don't like Wendy because she is snobby and knocked Lauren down during recess in second grade because she wanted to be first on the slide. Stephanie and Lauren are not interested in the club, and Patti can't go because she promised her mom she'd help out at her brother Horace's birthday party. Since Patti hasn't gotten him a gift yet, she, Lauren and Stephanie go to the mall. Stephanie is excited about a jacket she saw in the window at Just Juniors--it's black & white checks.

When they get to the mall, they head to Romano's, which is described as "a gigantic store that sells just about everything, from shampoo and greeting cards to dishes and toys." Sounds like Wal-Mart or Target to me. Patti and Lauren go look at toys and Stephanie heads off to the makeup aisle. Patti had thought about buying Horace a 6 ft. tall inflatable iguana, but Lauren talks her out of it, saying it'll take him all day to blow it up and then what would he do with it? They find some eggs that transform into insects, but they're too expensive. Stephanie shows up with her purchases--two Swingers, which are zinc oxide sunblock tubes that come in bright colors. Stephanie got red and yellow, since they didn't have white. She also bought a book about dreams.

The girls decide to go look around in the mall, and stop for rocky road ice cream with hot fudge sauce. After they eat, they head to Feathers and Fins, where Patti buys Horace an ant farm. They were sold out, so she buys the display model which already has ants in it. Stephanie returns from Just Juniors, where they were sold out of the jacket. Then the girls head to the Pizza Palace, where Stephanie buys the girls each a slice of pepperoni pizza, because she wants to see her latest crush, Michael Pastore. He asks Stephanie if she is going to join the video club and she decides that she will, since he's going to be there.

That night, the sleepover is at Patti's house. When they get there, they find out that the clowns who were supposed to be in charge of Horace's birthday have canceled due to the flu. They provided favors and decorations, but there's no cake or entertainment. Apparently Patti's mom is not good at baking, and she's all stressed out about work, so the girls decide they'll make the cake. Supposedly the bakery has already closed for the night, but don't they have grocery stores in Riverhurst? Can't they just go pick up a pre-made cake? Or at least go pick up a box of cake mix and some ready-made frosting? I don't think my mom ever made a birthday cake from scratch, and she's great at cooking and baking. The girls actually get out a recipe book and find a recipe for Conway's Chocolate Bliss cake. Patti's mom leaves them some "fuel"-- a giant bottle of Cherry Coke (just how giant? Does she mean a 2 liter?), onion dip, shrimp spread, cheese dip and some large bags of chips. The girls get to work on the cake. They decide to increase the recipe by 1 1/2 and put Lauren in charge because she's good at math. Well, when the cake is done, it turns out Lauren miscalculated the flour and they put in too much. There's a huge crack down the center of the cake. Then, they get a great idea! They make some chocolate frosting with a few drops of green food coloring to look like dirt. Then they put little plastic dinosaurs on the cake and make some volcanoes out of paper. Everyone loves it!

While they were making the cake, they put on a home shopping channel. They see a video camera being offered for $759.98. They are surprised at how expensive it is. Then they switch the channel to some old sci-fi movie. Oh & after they finish baking the cake, they sit down to eat the chips & dip, as well as cherry coke floats with fudge ripple ice cream.

Once the cake is done, the girls head up to Patti's room and start playing around with the zinc tubes Stephanie bought. Patti thinks Lauren looks like a puppy and Kate thinks Patti looks like a clown, so Lauren starts barking and the 2 start telling jokes. Then Stephanie gets the bright idea that Patti and Lauren should call themselves Sparkly and Barkly, and perform at Horace's birthday party. They are nervous but agree to do it. They're a hit--the kids love them.

While Horace is opening his presents, a bratty kid named Bruce starts fighting with the other kids and they end up knocking over the ant farm. Patti's mom takes the kids outside while Patti and Lauren clean up. Lauren is under the table when Bruce's sister, the snobby Wendy, arrives to pick him up. She is talking with her friend about how they only invited lowly 5th graders to the video club because they needed more members. She tells her friend that they won't even let the 5th graders near the video camera and she bets most won't even stay in the club.

Lauren tells Kate and Stephanie, but they don't really believe her. However, there's a video club meeting after school on Monday, and it's a disaster. Most of the 5th graders end up leaving because Wendy and her friends are running the show. The club decides their first video will be "A Day in the Life of a Junior High Athlete," starring Wendy's boyfriend, Chuck. The girls are disappointed, and there's only one video camera, so there's nothing they can do.

The girls head to Charlie's Soda Fountain and order their usuals: Patti gets a lime freeze, Kate has a Coke float with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, Stephanie gets a chocolate shake and Lauren gets a banana smoothie (that will be the next thing I make! Look for that within in the next few days!) Wendy and her friends are there, and are being snotty, so Stephanie vows to do something about it.

The next sleepover is at Lauren's house. They are making caramel popcorn. They bring that up to Lauren's room, along with a king-size Dr Pepper, a mound of Lauren's dip and a giant bag of taco chips. Lauren gets a call from a kid's mom, whose daughter had been at Horace's birthday party. She wants to hire Sparkly and Barkly for her daughter's party. She offers them $35 and Lauren says she'll talk to Patti and get back to her. Meanwhile, Stephanie has a surprise for them--she got a video camera. What?! Apparently she bought a used video camera for $364 off that home shopping channel. How is this even possible?? Stephanie says they sent her the camera and a tape, and bill you $30 a month for a year or so. This girl is in 5th grade! I'm pretty sure they don't let 10 year olds buy stuff off home shopping channels and agree to a payment plan like that! The girls decide to keep it from their parents so they don't get in trouble. Just then, Bullwinkle, Lauren's brother's Newfoundland dog bursts into the room. The girls go crazy running around and trying to keep the video camera safe. Roger comes in & gets the dog, and Kate says they are sending the camera back. Stephanie says no way. Lauren mentions to Patti how Mrs. Freedman offered her $35 for them to perform at her daughter's party and Stephanie says they should do it because that will take care of the first payment on the video camera. Lauren asks why they should have to give up their hard-earned money to pay for the video camera, and Patti says they have to stick together. They agree to do the party and then come up with an even better idea--they'll videotape it and call it "Clowning Around."

Kate announces that one of the biggest directors around will be talking to the video club at their next meeting. The girls plan to show their "Clowning Around" video. The party is a success and the video turns out great (no need to edit!) They even manage to catch Wendy's bratty brother Bruce on tape, picking on another kid.

At the video club meeting, Wendy shows the video of her boyfriend and it's boring. The director is not impressed. Then Kate gives him their video and everyone, including the director, loves it! Wendy gets pissed off and leaves.

The final sleepover of the book is at Kate's house. They eat a whole plate of Kate's super-fudge and drink ice cream floats. Stephanie admits she finally told her parents about the video camera and they're cool about it--but if the girls miss a payment, they have to send it back. And the company won't refund their money (well, of course not. I'm surprised they'd even take it back at that point). Kate says Wendy dropped out of the video club and some of the other 6th graders probably will, too. Stephanie is busy calculating how much money they will be making since Roger wants to borrow the camera, and other parents want to hire Sparkly and Barkly. She jokes that they should buy another camera. Um, no. Thankfully Kate talks her out of it and suggests they play Truth or Dare.

Next up: I hope to do #9 No More Sleepovers, Patti? I bought it on ebay but I haven't gotten it yet. If it doesn't come in time, I will do #10 Lauren's Sleepover Exchange, which is my favorite! I also plan to make Lauren's banana smoothie. I'll get to Kate's fudge at some point, but it seems kinda complicated to make. Then I thought--it can't be that hard if a 10 year old can make it! ha