We meet the Bonomo sisters, Margaret and Elizabeth, when Gizmo introduces Scott to the kids gathered for the first baseball game of the season at Dalriada.
Gizmo tried to get the attention of a girl in an Operation Ivy t-shirt listening to a Walkman on headphones. “Beeboo! Beeboo!” No response. “She’s the best pitcher in the league,” he explained to Scott. Margaret Bonomo, aka Beeboo, who will be a high school student in the fall, disgustedly removed her headphones and glared at Gizmo. Of all the kids, she was the most committed to punk/emo/grunge culture, had DIY pink and purple hair, and wore a studded leather dog collar.
“What!?” she snapped.
“Have you met Scott?”
She eyed Scott disgustedly. “No. And I never will,” she replied, putting her headphones back on.
Beeboo’s younger sister, Elizabeth, known to one and all as El-Beth, smiled and waved perkily. “Don’t mind her. She’s getting in her warrior zone for the ball game. I’m El-Beth.” She was a cute and sassy contrast to Beeboo’s suburban punk angst.
Beeboo boasts an extensive collection of band t-shirts reflecting her punk culture aesthetic. Her hair color changes at every whim. She’d certainly have some piercings and maybe some “tasteful” ink if her parents would relax their “over my dead body” opposition. This change in her persona is fairly recent, part of a conscious effort to appear older and more hip when she enters high school in the fall so she won’t be lumped in with the herd of icky, clueless junior high grads.
Meanwhile, El-Beth is undergoing a change of her own, moving up to junior high from the elementary grades. The sisters are at an interesting point in their relationship. El-Beth idolizes her older sister but is trying to establish her own identity, separate and distinct from Beeboo. She’ll defend and oppose Beeboo with equal intensity, a difficult transition to navigate. Underneath it all, El-Beth depends on her sister to help her settle into a role in the group, and Beeboo is careful not to damage that.
With the arrival of Scott on Riverside Place, El-Beth has a fresh boyfriend candidate to experiment with. The sisters quickly enlist Scott’s sister, Holly, to test his openness to some amateur flirtation. Holly gains some points with the Bonomo sisters for her espionage and El-Beth scores her first kiss, a rite of passage for them all.
“How did you get a nickname like ‘Beeboo’?” he asked.
“‘Beeboo’ isn’t a nickname,” she said with disgust. “‘Margaret’ is my nickname.” Then she said, “Turpico puella naso,” loudly enough for everyone to hear. El-Beth burst out laughing, and there was snickering from a few other kids.
“Non pote non sapere qui se stultum intellegit,” added El-Beth.
The Latin non sequiturs are just the sort of smarty-pants playfulness that can erupt between younger teenagers eager to show they belong to the Dalriada crowd and are not to be confused with ordinary kids. Doubtless, Beeboo is to thank for this high-brow snarkiness.
The initiation of Scott and El-Beth into the Dalriada clan is the perfect example of the sisters’ relationship. Beeboo knows full well that El-Beth will balk at the ceremony, maybe even make a scene, yet she doesn’t prepare El-Beth and, in fact, relishes the chance to see her little sister squirm.
“What’s this toast we have to do?” El-Beth turned angrily to her sister. “You never told me about this!” Beeboo was unperturbed in her black Reel Big Fish t-shirt, black skirt, fishnet stockings, Doc Marten boots, and Glengarry. Donny produced two glasses from his courier bag and created libations for the two initiates.
When it comes to defending Dalriada from Xander, the sisters are in synch. Nobody threatens the special experience they all have, individually and collectively, without fierce resistance from Beeboo and El-Beth.
Beeboo was livid. “How can he get away with that? Troll, did the police even talk to you?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s it? ‘Yeah.’”
“I answered all their questions. What am I supposed to do?”
“Maybe tell the truth,” accused El-Beth. “Maybe speak up for the rest of us.”
“Maybe not kiss Xander’s butt,” growled Beeboo.
“What do you get out of defending the creep?” asked El-Beth.
“He thinks he can get away with it because of you guys!” attacked Beeboo, pointing at Troll, T-Bone, Derrick, and Donny.
With this one shared Dalriada summer, Beeboo eases El-Beth into a unique, personal role in the junior high group, confident and independent, while Beeboo turns her focus to meeting the unknown challenges of high school head on.
What Then? 