\\#4 I've Got A Secret;

Melodrama at it's best: Jessica, Melissa, Tia, and the Rah-Rah Girls (And Will)

Laufeld calls Jessica into her office and tells her not to miss anything like that again, or there will be serious consequences. She then postpones the naming of the captain for another week. Melissa and the Posse aren't happy.

Liz tries to pick up Jessica that afternoon so they can talk about Tia's role in the Pep-Rally Plot. She runs into Tia first who decides to stick around to tell Jess what really happened. They ambush her and Tia explains what Cherie did. Jess starts to cry and Tia comforts her. She then tells her that they're going to get even with Cherie and everybody. Jess smiles.

The next day Will and Melissa and the Posse are sitting in the cafeteria at lunch. The girls get through an entire conversation about cheerleading without talking about the J-word and Will is amazed. He dares to hope that Melissa is getting over it. [the boy's been with liss for three years now. you'd think he'd know better. *tsk tsk*]

That afternoon Tia goes up to Melissa and the Posse and tells them she doesn't like the way they used her and she thinks what they're doing to Jessica sucks. Melissa denies the whole thing and walks away.

Later Will rushes out of the locker room after practice to get home and finds Melissa at his car. She talks about how she can't believe Tia did that in front of everybody and the two have a minute little tiff. Will wants out. He drives her home.

Will is supposed to meet Melissa at Raferty's but he stands her up to play basket ball with Josh and his crew. Melissa calls his house to see if he's alright and gets his mother who informs her of the latter. She calls up Josh's and makes Josh get Will on the phone. He makes a lame attempt to cover the fact that he's standing her up. He tells her he has to stay there because he promised the team and all that guy crap. They hang up and she is very upset.

Will's punishment for standing her up is to spend Friday night at House of Java with Gina and Cherie and he acts as errand boy. They diss Tia and Cherie disses Angel but Liss and Will both come to his defense. [We find out Angel and Will used to play basket ball together. I think they should do a spin off series called El Carro Jr. High about when all the El Carro people were in eighth grade, or one of their junior year.] After a little talk with Jeremy he works up the guts to ditch Liss and the Posse and hang out with his friends. They have a little tiff about his leaving and he forgets to kiss her goodnight and doesn't remember till he's halfway to his car.

Jessica goes to work in Liz's place and gets kind of confused because of all the people. Jeremy helps her out and she calls him Justin. She likes him. Jeremy saves her from killing one of the customers (she was allergic to strawberries and Jess put strawberries on her cheesecake) and they go in back to eat it. He says she can talk to him if something's bothering her, but she thinks he's just doing that because she's supposed to be "Elizabeth." Good ole ex-boyfriend Aaron Dallas comes and is friendly to her and she is happy she gets to be Liz.

The night just gets crazier with all the customers and they need more milk. Jess goes back to get it and Jeremy comes back to help. They crash into each other and the milk explodes and spills all over him. Mrs. Scott tells them to sign out. In the parking lot Jess and Jeremy banter back and forth about whose fault it was about the milk. Sparks fly. He makes a joke about crying over spilt milk. She confesses she's not Liz and he tells her already knew. Compliments her a few times and tells her she got his name wrong. She's very humiliated and he lets her know his real name. They like each other. She thinks he's gonna kiss her but he runs off to his car. Jess is very pleased with how the evening went. She spends time thinking about Jeremy after she gets to Lila's when Liz calls and asks her to do another switch the next morning. Jess happily agrees and hopes that Jeremy's working in the morning, too.

Melissa gets home from Cherie's (where she went after Will ditched her and the Posse) to find that Will left a message saying that they needed to talk.

The next morning Jess happily goes to HOJ. She doesn't know what to do but luckily for her Jeremy shows up with breakfast and helps her. She meets a few more of the workers and she and Jeremy make Corey think they're weird by saying they never met till the night before.

The next day is the big first game and Jess is stuck without a ride. So she winds up getting dropped off by her mother. But, to save some of her dignity, she asks to be dropped off a block away. She tells her mother that they're all meeting over Annie's. [Last I knew, Annie lived next door to the Wakefield's on Calico Dr. I don't believe Calico Dr. was that close to the school.] She tries to avoid people and winds up running into good ole Jerm, who turns to be a football player. The Posse happens to be passing by and Cherie makes a comment to Melissa. Jessica, who just knows that they're going to tell Jeremy all the crap about her, excuses herself, leaving Jeremy staring after his pathetic Cinderella.

The Cheerleaders are all gathered (minus Jess, of course) and Laufeld makes the big announcement. The captain is (suspenseful pause) Tia Ramirez. [I didn't see that one coming] And neither did Melissa. Needless to say, she is not happy about that. Liss has a quick conference with her made rah-rahs and they come to the conclusion that Tia and Jessica must've told Laufeld that they made Jess miss the pep rally. They go to cheer.

Liss is late meeting Will at the car and he's growing very nervous. He's decided to break up with her and keeps going over it in his mind. He goes back in the school to check up on her and finds her in the auxiliary gym crying, surrounded by the Posse. Cherie lets him in like she's Melissa's bodyguard or something. Anyway, Melissa tells him that Tia made captain because Tia and Jessica told on her. Will thinks that Melissa was wrong but doesn't tell her that. Instead, he says he'll always be there for her because he feels guilty for cheating on her and making her this way.

Jessica thought Liss and pals were gonna say something to Jeremy so she skipped the game and walked around downtown in her cheerleading uniform holding her pom-poms. [Yeah, I think Jess has definitely hit rock bottom here.] She's feeling sorry for herself and wonders if Liz is home. She calls up the Sandborns. Mrs. Sandborn, who is drunk, answers the phone and they have a bit of a confusing conversation. Apparently, Liz has been at a party all day. Jess doesn't know what to think of this so she goes to Healthy to find out for sure if her stupid sister actually skipped her shift. She goes in and she gets fired. She is very angry at Liz.

Jeremy

Jeremy is late to work and apologizes. Then Ally--the owner's daughter calls him into her office and announces that he's been working there for a whole year, and so, gets a raise of $1.50 more an hour.

The next morning Jeremy drives to school with almost no gas [Note: he calls his car Debbie]. One of his friends mentions that there are gas stations he could've stopped at and Jeremy lies and says he blew all his money on CD's. [His father lost his job the year before and now he and his family are pretty poor and he and his mother are supporting the family with their jobs.] Jeremy gets jealous of his friends because they have financial security. Jeremy and his friend Trent witness guys act really shallow over a girl. Jeremy doesn't like lying to his friend.

A couple of days later after a football practice Jeremy and his friends are getting pepped up for their game with SVH on Saturday when they are barraged by a gang of stuck-up chicas. The Leader, Stephanie, asks to borrow Jeremy's home jersey to wear to the game. He lets her. After the girls leave the guys talk about hanging out on Friday and Jeremy says he can't. He then takes a rain check for hanging out with them that night.

Jeremy's getting ready for work the next day when his little sister points out yet another leak in their ceiling. [You know, for living in a rich section of town, they sure have a crappy house.] He has a nice little chat with daddy that he's too young to work so much, but Jeremy convinces him he works so much because of a girl he likes works there, too. [Liz, though he doesn't really like her.] His dad also tells him that he needs to keep his mind on his schoolwork and football. Jeremy thinks he's a great actor.

Jessica is covering for Liz at work. Liz told Jeremy this, but apparently she didn't tell Jess that Jeremy knows. He's getting a kick out of watching her act like Liz and calling him Justin. The two are having some fun working together when Lila and Amy show up and Jess runs to the bathroom. Lila is very rude and Jeremy decides he doesn't like her. He helps Jess the whole night and really likes her.

Mrs. Scott calls Jeremy up and asks if he could come in early. He readily agrees after the milk fiasco and picks up breakfast for two (hoping Jess is there again) and goes in. Jess is there and they have a lovely day discussing important topics like the difference between scones and biscotti. He really likes her and everything about her, but can't afford to ask her out, so he doesn't.

The next day at the big game he finds out that she's a cheerleader. Big Mesa loses to SVH and then he feels like a traitor for looking for Jess. The SVH coach comes over to him and tells him it was a good game. He then goes over and says hi to Will. Somehow they get on the topic of girls and Will shows that he's not happy. Jeremy thinks maybe it was a good thing he didn't find Jess.

The Liz and Conner Saga

Liz and Tia go to the Box Tree Café [Now there's a place we haven't heard about in a while] for dinner on Tuesday night. Liz asks Tia for advice about her crush on Conner (not mentioning that the guy she likes is Conner, though, of course, Tia realizes who she's talking about). Tia tells her to just go up to him and kiss him. Liz thinks about that.

The next day Liz and Maria go to lunch after gym. On the way Liz thinks about when she should kiss Conner, completely ignoring Maria. She thinks to herself, "I am such a fake." [You got that right, Liz!] They sit with Conner and Tia and the Gang [which is what I shall be calling them from now on]. Maria insists she prove that she's over Conner and she's not. Liz gets the seat next to Conner and Maria's jealous. They all start talking about how Tia beat Melissa and Conner announces that he's got tickets and free passes to see his guitar teacher Gavin's and (Cosmic Thrush) open for Silver Chair. Maria and Liz are both supposed to work, but…

Later Liz and Jess get together and Jess tells her how the Posse left her alone all through practice. They praise Tia and Liz proposes a switch. She wants to go to the concert and wants Jess to work instead of her. Jess agrees but only if Liz will work for her the next day at the Healthy. Liz agrees and they prime each other for their jobs.

Liz spends a long time on Friday getting ready for the concert and dresses quite un-Liz-like. Everyone compliments her outfit. They all pile up in Andy's minivan and Liz suggests that Conner drives the two of them because they have to go back to the same place anyway (she really just wants to get him alone so she can kiss him) and he says no. They go to the concert. Liz gets to sit between Conner and Maria.

After they get there Conner makes a comment of how he was sick of sitting in the car, subtly gesturing to Liz and Maria. Conner needs to pick up the tickets from the reservation window and doesn't know where it is. Liz mentions that she knows where and goes with him. Tia and Angel get junk food and Andy promises to buy Maria something really unhealthy. They go to the window and Conner actually talks to Liz on the way. Mostly about Gavin and guitar lessons. Liz brings up Maria in her usual tell-me-what's-bothering-you-so-I-can-give-you-advice-and-think-about-how-great-and-generous-I-am way. Conner jumps on her (not literally) and Liz jumps back, saying she just wants to help. Conner tells her that he doesn't need her help. They walk back from the ticket window in silence.

At the concert: Evan has a thing for Liz and is being very gentlemanly. Maria, in a pathetic effort to make Conner jealous, throws herself at Evan, making everybody sick with her desperation. Conner avoids Liz and Maria. Tia, Liz, and Maria wait in line for the girls bathroom. Conner and Evan have already gone to the bathroom and Evan asks if he can get them anything. Maria salivates on him asking for a snow cone. They leave and Tia and Maria head to the boys bathroom. After Liz finally gets to the bathroom she runs into a guy (who gets mustard on her shirt) and then runs into Conner. He grabs a shirt for Megan and asks Liz if she knows how to get mustard out of her shirt. (You gotta love Conner. He's a total ass hole later on but I love him at this point.) She looks and sees the stain and is completely humiliated. She then meets back up with Tia.

Liz can't sleep that night. Maria calls her up late in the evening and asks Liz if she noticed Conner being jealous of Evan and if there's a chance they'll get back together. Even Liz thinks Maria is pretty pathetic (though she never actually says that). Maria says she can't help liking Conner and they hang up. She then calls Jess and gets her to take her morning shift, too.

Andy calls her up the next day and asks if Conner gave her his message. She says no and he tells her that Conner's not the type to take messages. He tells her that he's having a pool party and that he invited Maria (informing her that Maria's now one of their crowd and Liz is not sure she's happy about that) so she has to come. After they hang up she finds a note from Conner informing her of the party taped to her door. She's smitten with joy. She begins to get ready for the party but has this sinking feeling there was something she was supposed to do.

Liz goes to the party. She's kind of unsure of wearing the bikini that she has on and is tempted to live in the car for the rest of her life when Evan comes along and whisks her away. He compliments her and she is happy, but not as happy as she would be if it were Conner. Her and Evan talk to Andy and Maria and Andy and Evan don't think Liz is a dog.

Later on Liz and Maria are talking. Maria's going on and on and on and on about Conner and she won't shut up. She says how she made it clear that she's over him and that he's probably just trying to make her jealous and crap like that. [When did Maria get so neurotic? She seemed so cool in SVH.] Then a girl who works on the art section of the Oracle comes over and wants to tell them about her new idea. Liz excuses herself to get some ice. Little Wendy says she might want to hear it and Liz tells her that the art sections Maria's deal. [You know, that was pretty rude. And irresponsible. You'd think being editor she would've stayed. Liz is starting to really annoy me.]

Anyway, she gets up and goes over to eavesdrop on Conner and his little entourage's conversation, when Andy volunteers her for pool volleyball. She says no and makes up a bunch of little excuses and they decide to throw her in. Well, they throw her in. She breaks the surface, making sure everything is where it should be, and then the laughing begins. Her mascara is all over her face and there are a few comments made. Andy apologizes and steers her and Maria towards the bathroom where she can fix herself up.

Liz is sitting in Andy's house cowering from the crowd out back with Andy at her beck and call. He graciously gets her an orange El Carro High T-shirt. She decides to leave. She then accepts that that kiss with Conner is never going to happen.

Liz gets ready to go and is in the drivers seat in the jeep when Conner comes strolling out of the house to go to his car. He sees her and makes a pit stop. They make conversation and he goes to leave then suddenly winds up in her passenger seat. He asks if Maria's okay because of how weird she's been acting. Liz says that Maria's a good person and that he really hurt her. Conner seems to be having second thoughts about the way he broke up with her. Liz drops her keys. They bump heads going for it and sexual tension is in the air. He gets her keys and kisses her. He then bolts away and leaves, saying he'll see her at home. Liz can't think about anything other than what Tia said about being able to tell everything from a kiss.