#63: Claudia's Freind Friend

Man, I gotta figure out my winter footwear situation. Yesterday I made the mistake of wearing my campus boots, which have no traction whatsoever. I slid around a lot and stumbled/half-fell while trying to scale the rock-hard lump of snow and ice between the sidewalk and the bus. So this morning I was all "well, I won't repeat THAT mistake!" and decided to wear a pair of Doc Martens. On my walk to the bus stop, I realized they weren't much better than the campus boots. "Be careful getting on the bus, self," I warned.

I never listen to me.

Yeah, I fell. And not a little bit. I nearly slid all the way under the damn bus. (And I lost my hat, which I didn't realize until I got to work. I'm bummed - it was a cute knitted hipster-beret from h&m and it was the perfect shade of rust orange.) Some people, after suffering such a humiliation, would probably put it out of their mind and try not to think about it. I, on the other hand, whipped out my phone and started texting people about my grace, elegance, and snow-covered ass. And now I'm blogging about it.

Maybe later I will perform some dramatic reenactments.

This would never happen to Claudia . . . but if it did she'd probably make a collage about it.

"I guess you could say I am a student of fashion, too. I like clothes: colors, textures, surprises. (Which makes me a sort of ongoing work of art, I guess.) But I do think I have a unique style, and a good one, too. In fact (although this may sound conceited [you've earned it, no worries]), except for one other person at SMS, I think I am the fashion czar, or czarina, or whatever. This other person is Stacey, who is my best friend and the treasurer of the Baby-sitters Club."

There's no competition, Claud.

"I jumped down the last two front steps of the school and landed by Stacey.

She gave me a sideways glance and then said, 'If I got a pair of purple high-tops, could I do that?'

'Only if you have ankle socks with lavender lace trim.'"

Did your mom make you wear ankle socks with lace trim? Mine did.

"I was giggling at the memory of the perfume disaster* when Kristy said, 'Dress up? What do you mean, dress up?' Kristy is a full-fledged tomboy, and a dedicated casual dresser. She almost always wears jeans, a turtleneck shirt, and sneakers.

I looked thoughtful.

'Well, I was thinking of a long dress, some high heels, maybe doing something really special with my hair.' [More special than the Pebbles ponytail?]

Stacey caught on right away.

'Excellent idea, Claudia. I've got a terrific three-quarter length ballerina skirt and this cool crop top jacket.' [Oh you do, do you?]

'Skirts! Heels! I was thinking maybe a special shirt to go with my good jeans.'

Kristy, our fearless BSC president, looked so alarmed that we couldn't help ourselves, and we started laughing. After a moment, she laughed, too.

'You got me,' she admitted**."

What Claudia wore to babysit the Rodowsky kids: "basic jeans and big old shirt. It's my spill-proof, accident-proof outfit, and when you baby-sit for Jackie . . . that kind of fashion planning is key."

Nannie Thomas is supa fly: "Nannie was wearing a pink silk dress with a wide twisted silver and pink sash, sparkly silvery earrings, and these really cool flat pale silver slippers."

"On Saturday afternoon I stood in my closet, staring at my clothes. Normally, I don't mind being in the closet. [Neither does Zac Efron.] But the usual closet rules that make it interesting - avoid wearing the exact same outfit twice [Adult Claudia probably has a lot of credit card debt], be outrageous [truly, truly, truly outrageous], and look cool AND terrific - didn't exactly apply today."

I wonder what Claudia's rules say about falling over in front of a bunch of strangers. I tried my best to look cool AND terrific.

* Reference to the Shadow Lake trip - Karen and company doused themselves with (quote) "Lovely Lady perfume", basically smelling up the entire lake with Eau de Baby Prostitute. God, Karen was so annoying. Even as an 8 year old I could recognize that she was a total pain in the ass.

** Ghostwriter missed an opportunity here: Kristy spent the rest of the chapter contemplating revenge. No one 'gets' Kristy Thomas!