#78: Claudia and Crazy Peaches
Claudia starts baby-sitting a new charge, Natalie Springer, who has no friends her own age and is super clingy and obsessed with Claudia. (Naturally; I mean, who wouldn’t want to be friends with Claudia?) Claudia feels bad for Natalie and thinks it’s cute that she’s so excited to have Claudia as a “friend.” But soon Natalie is coming over and calling Claud all the time and it’s a little much. Stacey has a similar experience, and the BSC decides to start a “Friendship Campaign” to try to find some age-appropriate friends for Natalie. May the force be with them.
Meanwhile, Claudia is super psyched because her aunt Peaches, who is not-like-a-regular-aunt-she’s-a-cool-aunt, announces that she’s two months pregnant! Not only that, but Peaches and her husband Russ are going to live with Claudia’s family for a month while they buy a new house in Stoneybrook. Claudia has a blast shopping for all kinds of baby stuff with Peaches, but then she also lets Peaches talk her into going to the movies instead of doing her homework. Another day, she lets Peaches talk her into shopping for, cooking, and hosting a fancy dinner at the Kishi house… instead of doing her homework. Claudia loves how Peaches makes everything feel like an adventure, but it seems like Claudia’s next adventure is going to be failing out of eighth grade. Whoops.
The BSC’s Friendship Campaign for Natalie gets off to a rocky start; Shannon rallies some troops to come over and play, but Natalie is bratty and orders them all around and it’s clear no one wants to play with her. Back to the drawing board, BSC.
Peaches finally takes things a little too far with Claudia. She sneaks her out of the house late on a Friday night to go get pizza and - remember, this is the 90s and no one has a cell phone - forgets to leave a note for Mrs. Kishi, who wakes up and panics when her teenage daughter isn’t anywhere in her home. When Mrs. Kishi lights into Claudia for her questionable behavior, Claudia (justifiably) loses her shit and yells that it’s all Peaches’ fault for being needy AF. Claudia remains a little testy with Peaches, and then Peaches blows up at Claud, saying things like you’re not the only one who has a lot going on!!! and calling her a sulky teenager. Claudia feels bad but she’s still also a little pissed. Holding a grudge is an art form and, as we know, Claudia is an artist.
But during a baby-sitting job with Natalie, who has made friends (Becca and Charlotte) thanks to the BSC’s Plan B of the Friendship Campaign (introduce her to kids she hasn’t met yet so they can get to know her without her being bossy), Claudia and Natalie make a list of the qualities of a good friend. A couple of the ones Claud adds to the list are about admitting when they make a mistake, and saying sorry and meaning it. She decides to make up with Peaches when she gets home. But when she gets home, she finds Janine sitting in the dark crying. Janine tells Claudia that Peaches is at the hospital, and that Peaches lost the baby.
Claudia is devastated and thinks that her fight with Peaches caused enough emotional stress to lead to the miscarriage. She expresses her remorse to Peaches, who assures her that it was not her fault and it was just nature doing what it does. The book winds down quickly, with Peaches and Russ moving into their new home and acknowledging that, while they do still have a baby, they may wait a bit before trying again.
