Hello! This is a snark of Babysitter's Club Book #41, Mary Anne vs Logan, by Ann M. Martin. These books were a huge part of my childhood, but no book is ever perfect, especially when you have such a huge series like this in which a vast amount were...
It's V-Day in the 'Brook. Richard, Sharon, Dawn, and Mary Anne all exchange "silly cards" at breakfast. Sharon puts red food dye in the butter so they can have pink spread on their toast. I bet that Sharon probably didn't even do that on purpose, she was just too high to even realize what she was doing. MA informs us that she had seen the perfect Valentine's Day card for Logan at the store the other day, but of course she didn't buy it. She tells us she "cried a little, right there in the store." Fuck, MA get a grip. You said so yourself, it's not a breakup it's just cooling off. The tears certainly could have waited until you got home, if you really need to cry that badly.
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^ Mary Anne in the middle of the card aisle.
It's a Friday so that means BSC meeting day! The girls head over to Claud's early so that they can have a little party beforehand. Claudia gives everyone ̶d̶i̶a̶b̶e̶t̶e̶s̶ ̶(̶w̶h̶o̶o̶p̶s̶,̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶c̶e̶y̶)̶ massive amounts of red-themed candy. With pretzels for Stacey and Dawn provided, of course. Kristy 'Killjoy' Thomas barks at everyone the second the clock turns to five-thirty and orders them to stop the festivities. Oh, fuck off Kristy. MA mentions to Dawn to remind Sharon and Richard that she's babysitting at the Brunos' tonight. Dawn asks her if she's cool with that, and MA replies: "I don't know if I can face seeing Logan and Olivia leave on their date." Record scratch. The other members of the BSC have been eavesdropping, and they're all like 'wtf? who the hell is Olivia?' MA runs out of the room before she can confess to helping herself to Sharon's crack supply and having severe hallucinations as a result.
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^ The rest of the BSC to Mary Anne
Okay, this is where it gets a bit odd. MA shows up to the Brunos' and is trying to be "an adult" about everything. She knocks on the door and hears nothing. She observes that the house seems dark. Then we get some sketchy descriptions of the scenario:
"Just as I was wondering what could possibly be wrong - and just as I was growing a teeny bit scared - the front door creaked upon. Shadowed against a dim light from the kitchen down the hall was Logan. He was wearing a tux and holding a box containing a wrist corsage." Hmm, this is giving me a weird vibe. Logan wishes MA a happy Valentine's Day and invites her inside. MA keeps her eyes peeled for imaginary Olivia. I guess she snorted something before coming over here.
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The weird vibe continues as MA questions where all the kids are and why it's so dark. Logan tells her that the kids are downstairs in the rec room, where they'll be staying all evening. MA's like 'wtf..?' Logan interrupts MA by "putting a finger to [her] lips." FUCK THAT. Number one, I hate that cringy ass image and number two, FUCK THAT AGAIN. If someone did that to me, I'd bite their fucking finger off. For fuck's sake, it's so belittling and downright irritating.
Logan shows MA the romantic candlelight dinner that he has set up. Mary Anne's dumbass is like 'this is for Olivia, isn't it?' BITCH SHE'S FUCKING FAKE! YOU MADE HER UP! Logan explains (use small words, Logan, MA's apparently not the brightest) that this is a date for the two of them. The babysitting job was just a cover, and now they have the place to themselves. ̶O̶h̶,̶ ̶L̶o̶g̶a̶n̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶o̶r̶n̶y̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶t̶a̶r̶d̶.̶ ̶
Logan gives MA a red rose, and then two presents. One of them is five pounds (!!) of chocolate and the other is a bracelet with tiny hearts. MA feels mega guilty that she didn't buy anything for Logan, but he tells her: "It's okay, eating dinner with you is enough of a gift." (D'awww) Logan serves dinner (lasagna, broccoli with "some sort of sauce on it", and salad) and then they have dessert (chocolate cake and chocolate candy). Wow. I'm impressed. This is a fucking lot for a thirteen year old boy to do for his girlfriend that he's on a break with. I guess Logan's really hoping to get some tonight, if you know what I mean. It's just bugging me how unrealistic this is though. I had a boyfriend when I was thirteen. For Valentine's Day, I think I gave him a card and I remember that he gave me a bag of gummy sharks (I don't even like those). That was it. Maybe my boyfriend just sucked or something, but I wasn't expecting him to go all out for me. We were only thirteen after all.
At the end of the date, MA feels uncomfortable with how fast things are going. Did Logan try to take this to the bedroom..? She speaks up to tell Logan that she meant it when she wanted to cool their relationship. Logan "I Make The Rules And You Just Follow Them" Bruno tells her that they're ready to start "heating it up" again. MA tells us that, "the bracelet on my wrist felt as heavy as an iron chain." Yikes. That sucks. I mean, unless you're into that or something.
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