#106 Claudia, Queen of the Seventh Grade

Summary

Claudia is pretty well settled into her new seventh grade life. She's getting good grades, she's a got a good group of friends, and she's even been nominated for Queen of the Seventh Grade! The Queen (and King) are in charge of putting on the Seventh Grade prom, along with attendants of their own choosing. Claudia doesn't think she has much of a shot at winning, and her BSC friends don't even think she should run (they still think of her as an 8th grader). Claudia DOES run, though, and she wins. Her king is Mark Jaffe, and other 13 year old 7th grader (her was left back in 3rd grade). He's definitely cute (and has the female groupies to prove it), but he's a total jerk. Claudia isn't exactly thrilled to be paired up with him.

At the first prom-related meeting with the faculty advisor (Mrs. Hochberger), Claudia is a little upset to learn that the King and Queen roles are mostly symbolic; they don't actually have to do much to make the prom happen. She had envisioned actual committees of actual students doing actual work. She gets Mrs. Hochberger to agree to do things her way, but Mark is another story. He was totally fine with not having to do anything, and his lack of ability to be on time for these prom meetings reflects that. Claudia also isn't getting much support from the BSC. They keep making fun of the immaturity of the 7th graders, and don't really take the whole Queen thing seriously. Jessi and Mal are actually the only ones who are suppportive of Claud at first.

Even though Claud isn't getting much help from her King or her friends, she's happy to see that TONS of kids sign up to work on prom committees. It's still an uphill battle, since Mark isn't doing much to supervise the committees that he's supposed to be in charge of. By the day before the prom, he's shaped up a little. He, Claudia, and a bunch of other kids are getting the gym ready for the big day when she suddenly finds herself alone with Mark. She's just about to rush out for her BSC meeting when she trips and falls. Mark helps her out...and then kisses her. Claud definitely kisses back, and by the time she gets home for her meeting, she's really confused. She's hated and been frustrated by Mark all this time, but she didn't totally hate kissing him. She tries talking to her friends about it, but they just keep making fun of 7th graders. Claudia lets them have it. She points out how rude they've been, and how bad it's been making her feel. They apologize, and things are okay in that respect.

Prom time. The King and Queen are supposed to share a dance, and Claudia is not looking forward to it. She hasn't been able to talk to Mark about what happened between them the day before, and she's afraid it will be awkward. It is, kind of, especially when the entire seventh grade starts chanting at them to kiss. They do, and Claudia is officially in love.

Subplot: More Sean Addison drama. This time, he doesn't think he needs baby-sitters anymore, especially since Mel Tucker has been making fun of him at school.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

• Mark Jaffe is SO not good enough for Claudia.
• Claud thinks that kissing someone twice means you're in a relationship. That's almost as good as Stacey thinking that Robert giving her flowers means that their relationship is solid.
• I love that 11 year old Jessi and Mallory are the only two BSC members mature enough to be supportive of Claudia.
• Cover: I wonder if that black kid in the background is Curtis Shaller, the boy Jessi dated for awhile?
• I got the feeling that the Addison parents were kind of excusing Sean's bad attitude rather than trying to do something about it. The kid id still very troubled, and I think he needs more help that he's gotten up to this point in the series.