caffeine diary

Round 8 was here.

Once upon a time, if you'll recall, Mary Anne Spier, beloved by all, was in a hot air balloon, falling fast, that was paid for by Watson, certified millionare and Kristy Thomas's stepfather. With her were Kristy herself, Mary Anne's best friend since childhood, and Dawn Schafer, her other best friend, who had blonde hair, almost white, so long she could almost sit on it, and a gorgeous California tan. Not, of course, that Mary Anne had spent any time looking at her...

Dawn and Kristy both, as the astute reader has surmised, had crushes on Mary Anne that were bordering on life-threatening, and neither would have allowed Mary Anne to be the next one over the edge. So while Mary Anne sobbed, her two potential girlfriends (she used to have a boyfriend, but he died all of half an hour ago, fic-time, and she'd quickly forgotten he even existed) fought each other for the honor of dying to save Mary Anne's life.

"It should be me," said Kristy. "Since when do you get to be brave?"

"I do my own thing," Dawn reminded her. "Even when it means potentially being mocked!"

"So that's why you were so mean to Jill?"

"Jill? Why is California Diaries canon creeping into this story? I'm still Stoneybrook-era Dawn, carefree and independent with a streak of cool a mile wide. I'd never dream of ditching a friend I thought was too babyish."

"You know, in California Diaries canon, you get a new best friend who's a lot more interesting than boring old babyish Mary Anne," Mary Anne said through her sobs.

"So you're saying you'd rather have me jump for you?" Dawn asked.

"I'm all confused," Kristy said. "Do we want to stay and comfort Mary Anne, or have the honor of dying to save her?"

"I'm confused too. I thought we were going to escape this problem when Ari stopped writing the Balloon Poll. What happened with that, anyhow?"

"As I mentioned earlier, Ari had a really bad week," Kristy exposited. "But now we're back in business." And she pushed Dawn over the edge.

"Kristy! That was really mean!"

"I know. But I just couldn't wait to get to the snogging."

And they kissed and made out a bit and lived happily ever after till they realized the balloon was still going down...

[Poll #628432]

This round is closed.

"you, Jessi."

"Oh. Well, not too surprising, huh? Not like you'd expect a black girl to make it to the final four."

"Jessi."

"Claud?"

"Look, this probably isn't the best time, since you're about to jump out of a balloon and will probably be dead soon, but, um, not everything happens to you because you're black. I mean, sometimes. Some people just suck. But some people are good. Some people look past skin color, right?"

"The people who are about to throw me out of a balloon?"

"Okay, point taken."

"Can we save the philosophy for sometime when we're not all about to die?"

"Yes, Miss Kristy, Queen of the Universe."

"What did you just call me?"

"I've been wanting to say that for a long time," Jessi said, and, tossing her head to show off her long, graceful neck, she jumped.

"Just us four, huh?" said Dawn. "Pity that we're still going down."

"Yeah..." said Kristy, and pulled another slip of paper from her pocket. "Well, that one says 'Mallory' -- um, Claud? Mallory's name had two l's in it."

"Doesn't matter now," Claudia said. "Who's next?"

And Kristy pulled out another name.
( vote! vote! )

This Round Is Closed.

"Uh oh," Jessi agreed. "This is getting serious."

"I still say --"

"We are. Not. Voting," Mary Anne informed Kristy. "I mean, this is okay. People are sacrificing themselves. I'll go next, and then --"

"No," Dawn told her. "You aren't going anywhere. What would I do without you?"

"Yeah..." Kristy agreed, more quietly than usual. "Right, so that's out." Mallory raised her hand, looking totally petrified.

"Yes, Mal?"

"Well, I hate to say it, but, well, shouldn't loyalty be taken into consideration?"

"That's right," Stacey piped up. "I mean, Dawn's hardly done as much for the club as, say, Claudia and I have."

"Not what she meant," Jessi said. Her voice was oddly cool. "It's not everyone who defected from the club on account of their basketball star boyfriend."

"And their cool, new, cheerleader friends," Dawn said bitterly. "It's not everyone who's shown that kind of loyalty."

"Whoa, whoa -- what are you saying? I'm totally sorry I flaked last year, but the BSC is still my number one priority. And besides, wouldn't it make more sense for someone, um, heavier to go? If we calculate our rate of descent, we can probably figure out how much poundage we need to jettison to --"

"Okay," Claudia said, looking up from the plum-colored nails she'd been examining. "I hate to do it, Stace -- I mean, you're my best friend -- but I don't want to spend the last minutes of my life talking about math."

Stacey looked around wildly. "Is there anyone?"

"Nope," Kristy told her. "Over you go."
( all the thrills of weasels and racing )

There weren't too many votes in the last round, which made me sad, and now things are getting really exciting -- who'll be next?

[This round is closed. Round 4 is here]

Kristy wiped her hands on her jeans and took a deep breath -- maybe no one else was facing facts, and Mary Anne was still sniffling, but she was putting this thing to a vote now before it got too out of hand -- and before Mary Anne decided she had to follow her stupid boyfriend over the edge of the balloon's basket. She silently cursed Watson for having come up with this idea in the first place. "Okay, listen up, guys. We've got a problem, and it's only democratic to..."

"I'll go." Kristy spun around. That was not what she was expecting.

"Abby?"

"No, I'll go. I mean, it's pretty clear that if you put it to a vote, I'd be the one, right? Dawn doesn't know me at all, you guys hardly do -- I mean, I know when I can't compete, and when it comes to lifetime friendships --" she pointed at Claudia and Mary Anne -- "Or lifetime clients" -- and then she pointed to Mal -- "I just can't compete. Comic relief, always the first to go!" She threw an arm across her face dramatically, and Kristy couldn't help grinning a little.

"Well, after romance, that is," Claudia chimed in, and Mary Anne shuddered. Dawn put an arm over her shoulder.

"Okay, guys, this is it! Farewell!"

And Abby was gone.

Unfortunately, the problem was still there.

"Well," Shannon piped up. "This is unfortunate!"
( poll the third )

This round is closed.

So, in the spirit of the VMars and SG-1 balloon polls booster17 just finished up, I bring you the Baby-Sitters' Club Balloon Poll. I wanted to toss the kids in there too, but then I realized there'd be way too many. So, just club members. [My knowledge of canon post-#100 is extremely spotty, so consider this vaguely AU. And OMG, it's a BALLOON POLL, and I'm worried about canon. *officially sucks*]

+++++

"Gosh, this is great, Kristy," Claudia said around a mouthful of jellybeans. "Good food, good friends, and we're practically in the clouds."

"Too bad we couldn't bring the kids with us, though," Jessi pointed out. "They'd have loved this."

"Well, Watson is rich, but he wasn't about to rent hot-air balloon rides for all of Stoneybrook. We're lucky he even let us go."

"It's a special occasion, though," said Mary Anne a bit dreamily. "It's not every day you're about to start ninth grade..." She leaned against Logan, who ruffled her hair.

"Plus, we've got the whole gang back together," Kristy pointed out, motioning towards Dawn, Jessi, and Mal. "So I think this is a perfect time to make a speech."

"Uh, Kristy?" Logan stood up suddenly. "Look."

Kristy looked where he was pointing -- straight down -- and almost fell out of the balloon in her excitement. "Uh oh. That's not good. Guys, we're falling fast. Claudia, junk food, now!"

Claudia was so surprised she didn't even argue, just tossed the jellybeans over the edge. But even after they'd tossed the picnic basket, the Club Notebook ("Why'd you bring that, anyhow?"), and Stacey's special Kid-Kit, the balloon continued to sink."

"Um, Kristy?" Mary Anne said in a small voice. "I hate to be the one to say it, but I think one of us is going to have to jump."
( poll )