\\#75 Amy's True Love;

We open with the Wonder Twins in line for lunch. Jessica complains that Amy is turning into a total flake, standing her up for lunch, and has gone, like, totally boy-crazy. Elizabeth bares this with a wry grin. Jess then sees her friends at a nearby table and makes haste to go sit with them to find out the juicy details about the rumors that Jean West and Tom McKay had broken up. Liz goes to meet Todd in the library.

Jessica Wakefield and her loyal followers listen with a sympathetic ear as Jean West goes on about her relationship woes. She describes how the romance fizzled out a while ago and they agreed to be friends, and that Tom seemed grateful that it was she who did the breaking up. Then along comes Amy Sutton asking tactlessly if they really broke up, and if she did was she crazy because he’s so cute, and then confesses she has a tiny crush on him and asks if Jean’d mind if she went after him. Jean excuses herself and several of the girls go after her. Jessica then let’s Amy had it. Amy is utterly clueless. Then Jess and Lila decide to give Amy the cold shoulder for a few days.

In sociology class Jean receives a failing grade on an essay. Ms. Jacobi, the teacher, suggests instead of redoing the essay from reading, she could do the research from volunteering at Project Youth. Amy, desperate to get herself out of this situation, agrees. She then goes to find Jess to invite her to go to the mall, but she gives her the cold shoulder. She then goes home, images of Tom on her mind.

At home, her mother (a sportscaster) is still at work and her father (a photographer) in the basement. She watches TV when her father comes up, giving her news that he’s publishing a book. He tells her her mom’s going to be late that night and asks if she just wants to order pizza. She wants them to eat together as per tradition and insists on making dinner for all of them. Her mother comes home in time to help her and she cooks chicken she forgot to defrost.

Over dinner her parents talk about their wonderful careers and she feels very insignificant, and they go on to talk about making a joint trip to New York. When they’re done they turn to her, asking about her day. She tells them two boys who like her got into a fight over who was going to sit next to her in art. They don’t find it very funny.

That night her mother comes to have a heart-to-heart and tells Amy she needs to start thinking about her future. Amy is annoyed by this and thinks that if she had a boyfriend they would think she was more mature, and once again focuses on Tom McKay, vowing to make him hers.

The next day at lunch Enid shares that she and her mother were doing some heavy duty cleaning for when her cousin, Jake Farrell, came to visit that next weekend. Lila and Jessica join them, cooing over Jake’s picture. Amy joins them and Lila makes a crude remark about keeping Amy away from him. Amy’s annoyed, saying she’s a much different person now. Lila and Jessica have a laugh at that.

They brainstorm ideas for what to do while Jake is there. Lila and Jessica make several snide comments to Amy, including listing names of a bunch of guys she’s dated, which upset her and even cause the others tell Jess to cut it out. They proceed and Amy feels like everyone is ignoring her. She feels again that if she had a boyfriend it would make her more credible. Tired of them, she goes to the library, which she knows Tom is at because she overheard him make a comment that he would be catching up on some homework. There she makes some small talk with him.

After school she heads over to Project Youth, where she instantly feels at ease and secure in it’s friendly homey atmosphere. She immediately likes the head of the department, Kathy Henry, who pairs her up with Barry Rork, a shy tennis player who wears glasses. She takes her first phone call and finds she enjoys it and Barry congratulates her on a job well done.

On Wednesday, after being ignored all day, Amy heads over to the tennis courts to watch Tom practice. He happens to be playing with Barry, who is infatuated with Amy. He goes to make a small mention of Project Youth but Amy cuts him off, saying to Tom that she needs help with her backhand. He tells her he’s pretty booked up and Amy asks if he could just spare a few for her and he makes mention of promising Enid to play her cousin that weekend. Barry offers to help Amy, relieve Tom, but Amy says she’ll wait for Tom and heads away, annoyed with Barry.

On Thursday Amy goes again to Project Youth and realizes she really likes volunteering there and she and Barry discuss it. She then confesses to Barry that she doesn’t say what she means, she acts like a flake, and she’s got a major crush on Tom. Amy enjoys talking to Barry and feels very comfortable with him. She then asks him if he could put in a good word for her with Tom.

On Friday night everyone finally meets the famous Jake Farrell who’s everything Enid said he was. He’s charming, good-looking, intelligent, and a lovely tennis player. They hang out at the Dairi Burger and Lila and Jessica oogle him. The next morning Jake, Enid, Liz, and Tom all go to play tennis. It eventually turns into Jake vs. and Tom, which Jake wins though narrowly. They then head to Guidos, where Tom and Jake talk and find they have an amazing amount in common, including jazz and science fiction.

Saturday morning leaves Amy feeling very depressed and abandoned. Her parents are busy working and she can’t get in touch with either Lila or Jessica. When Kathy calls asking if she could possibly help out at the center she jumps at the opportunity. Kathy later tells her she’s got a real talent with helping people and offers her a low paying job.

That night Jess dresses skimpillly for the get-together at the Beach Disco. Amy calls and they hear her voice on the machine telling her she was going to wait until seven-thirty for Jess to call her back or she was just going to go by herself. Jessica acknowledges that she and Lila are giving Amy the cold shoulder and Liz scolds her by saying what Amy was doing was no different than something Jessica would do.

At the Beach Disco Lila and Jessica hang all over Jake and Amy follows Tom around, who constantly declines any invitation to dance with her. She winds up dancing with Barry and asks him to help her get Tom to dance with her. Jessica and Lila compare notes about Jake, and later, on the way to the bathroom Jess overhears a conversation between Tom and Barry. Tom doesn’t see anything in Amy and wants her to leave him alone and Barry really likes her but won’t give him the time of day. Jessica is surprised by this, remembering that Barry is a really nice guy and that he must see something in Amy no one else did.

The next day Tom and Jake have another go at tennis and Tom spills his woes about Amy. The two play, each winning a set and Jake says he’ll see him later because he doesn’t have time for a third now. Tom really wants to play the third set and has a funny feeling in his chest as he thinks about Jake leaving.

Sunday afternoon brings Amy to the beach alone to brood things over. She thinks about the rejection from her friends and Tom and it strengthens her resolve to make Tom her boyfriend. Barry shows up and joins her and the two have a pleasant conversation. He asks her if they could dance together again at Enid’s party that night. She agrees.

Later that day Jean goes over to Tom’s to return some of his stuff to him. They talk briefly about their relationship and about why neither understand what was wrong and Tom holds her one last time before she leaves.

Liz heads over to Enid’s early to help set of for the party which is going to be a barbeque. Enid seems out of sorts, leading Liz to believe something happened between her and Jake. Enid says it’s OK and that she’ll tell Liz some other time. Jess and Li arrive in style, Jess having bleached her tightest pair of pants and sat in them with hot water to make them tighter. You know you want to hear these kinky details. They discuss the fact that Jake hasn’t taken an interest in either of them (well, Lila says) and wonder if Amy will make a fool of herself again chasing after Tom, also discussing that they would make a truce with her.

Amy makes a go at Tom as she arrives and he hastily disappears into the crowd. Barry invites her to dance but she turns him down in a harsh way and they get some yum yums. Jess makes another play at Jake and he turns her down in the nicest way possible and he invites her to dance.

Jake sneaks out of the party to catch a breather. Tom gets him in his eyeline and follows, saying he needs one too. The boys take a walk and make awkward conversation including telling each other they liked spending time together. Jake then confesses that a lot of people don’t like him, especially after they find out he’s gay. Tom says it shouldn’t matter and then feels even more awkward. Jake then asks him if he’d like to go back to the party.

The following Tuesday at lunch Liz beats Enid over the head and drags her unconscious body to the front lawn where Enid recovers and confesses to Liz what’s bothering her. Well, you know what I mean. Enid confesses that Jake’s gay and her first reaction was horrible. Then she goes on to make a heart-warming monologue about how Jake’s just Jake and she loves him for who he is and wants to protect him from the cruel cruel world blah blah blah. Very touching. Liz comforts her.

Tom thinks of what Jake told him and his reaction, and realizes that he must’ve reacted so intensely because he might be gay, too and really wants someone to talk to. He decides to go talk to…dundunDUN…Eliz-nope, not yet, it’s MR. COLLINS. (who has just finished telling Liz to head over to Project Youth for an article) He confides in him his reaction to Jake and how he’s starting to wonder about himself. Mr. Collins gives supportive advice and gives him the number to Project Youth and to see if the clinic can help him. Tom decides to figure out who Tom McKay really is and that maybe one day he would write to Jake and tell him how much their time together meant.

Liz goes over to the clinic and interviews Kathy Henry who informs her that Barry Rork and Amy Sutton are the two volunteers from SVH. Liz is more than a little surprise to hear Amy’s name. On the way out she finds Tom sitting in the lobby reading a pamphlet about teens and homosexuality. He and Tom then have a heart-to-heart, making him feel better and leaving her wondering how SVH would react if Tom came out of the closet.

Afterwards he meets up with Barry to throw a few balls around (heheheh…I love stupid puns) and Barry brings up Amy and asks Tom if he likes her at all. Tom informs him he’s just not interested in girls. Period. Barry gets the message and they talk a bit, and then go back to playing, Tom feeling much better because Barry didn’t overreact, also telling Barry that he should tell Amy how he feels.

Lila and Jessica once again discuss Amy and how they’re going to give her one more day of the silent treatment and then take her back, sharpening their claws in preparation to tell her "I told you so."

Amy’s mother apologizes for not being home so much and Amy takes this chance to ask her advice about Tom. Dyan Sutton tells her she needs to get to know the guy first and supports Amy in her decision to invite Tom to a concert. She goes to buy concert tickets and runs into Barry and tells him she’s going to invite Tom to go with her. He let’s her know gently that he doesn’t think Tom’s interested and she’s hurt and annoyed wondering if Tom said something to him and ignores Barry the rest of the afternoon.

The next day at school Lila and Jessica are talking to her again and ask her how things are going with Tom. Amy says they’re fine and tells them she got tickets to a concert to see Number One, and let’s them know she hasn’t invited him yet. They invite Tom, Barry, and Kirk "The Jerk" Anderson to sit with them and push Amy into asking Tom. She does, he turns her down, and she practically begs him. Then Kirk makes a dumb blond remark and Amy leaves, not wanting to talk to anyone.

Amy relives that scene again and again throughout the day, thinking everyone must be laughing at her. She finds a note in her locker from Tom apologizing telling her he’s going through a rough time and that he and Barry took care of Kirk, then Jessica catches up with her and let’s her know everything’s ok and not to worry about what Kirk said. She also informs Amy that Barry’s got it bad for her and Amy kind of smiles at this. She then tells Jessica that she’s been volunteering at Project Youth and they make plans to go to the mall later with Lila. And Jess does make a comment that Barry’s not so bad…

That night when Amy goes home her parents want to go out to dinner to celebrate her dad’s book and they talk about how they need to spend more time together. Amy tells them she wants to feel like they respect her and they insist they do. She mentions what happened at school about being called a dumb blond then thinks about how she labeled Tom as a jock and had never really known him and just liked him for his image. Then her mother mentions Liz Wakefield and that she left a message because she wants to interview her about Project Youth and Amy tells them all about it and about how much she likes social work. As they leave a bouquet of flowers is delivered to Amy from Barry and Amy think she might like Barry more than she thought.

She goes to the beach with Jessica and Lila, who send Amy on an errand to get ice cream. She runs into Barry (I think he’s starting to stalk her) and he asks her out. They decide to go to the concert together. She comes back with the ice floating on thin air and the two other girls ask who she is going to take to the concert and both make not-so-subtle hints that they’d like to go. Amy then tells them she’s going with Barry and that Barry is very nice.

On Monday Liz announces there’s going to be a beauty pageant (cheap next-book tie-in) and is very indignant about it. Then Tom comes over and asks Enid if he can get in touch with Jake because he wanted to apologize for something. After an awkward lunch Enid slips off and Tom and Liz talk about what a great guy Jake is and how Tom admires him for having the guts to be himself and he’s glad he can talk to Liz.

Liz does the interview with Amy and Amy’s getting used to the idea that everyone will know what she does and tells Liz that she’s happy she’s doing the story.

Amy, Jessica, and Lila discuss the beauty pageant and Li’s less than thrilled with them. Jess and Amy both decide to enter. Amy talks to Barry about it and he’s very supportive and says if she thinks it’ll be fun, she should do it.

And the moral of this story, kids, is Don’t be afraid to be yourself and never label people. Go early-nineties-after-school-special-put-in-book-form!! Woohoo!