\\#5 If You Only Knew

Will's Dilemma

Melissa is a wee bit upset about Tia being captain so Will continues to comfort her for hours. He feels guilty about thinking of breaking up with her.

Monday afternoon he goes to talk to Angel. He tells him his problem and Angel tells him to "dump the manipulative ball and chain and go for the blond." Will chews on that one.

Will goes to meet Liss and the Posse at HOJ and is startled by the site of Jessica working behind the counter. He debates whether or not he should try to talk to her before Melissa gets there and decides not to. Just as he steps out of line Liss and the Posse step through the door. Before Liss can get in any Jessica cracks he leads her to a table and listens to the Posse's plan their weekends. He wonders how they find their way to school in the mornings without Melissa to lead them.

On Friday they go to a party at Trent Maynor's house in Big Mesa. Will's about to drag Melissa over to hear about sports stuff when, loa and behold, she spots Jessica. Will stops her, but her dogs are on the prowl and insult Jess. Will tells her to call them off or he leaves. Melissa's not the type to bow down to anyone and doesn't give an inch. Will leaves. Trent appears and orders them to get out. They leave.

Jeremy and the Pursuit of Jessica

Jeremy thinks that Jessica's mad at him about something because of the way she rushed off that afternoon. He tries calling but gets Lila, who obviously won't give Jess the message. When he goes home he finds that his mom is putting their house up for sail. He has a fight with his mother about why he wasn't told in advance and wishes he could tell his father what he really thinks of how he's acting.

Jeremy can't sleep that night because he's angry at his mother. So, finally, at six a.m. he goes out for a run and mows the lawn. He then heads down to HOJ. He asks Ally for more hours and she says she'll try but she can't promise anything. While leaving he runs into Jessica and she informs him that she's now working there because Liz decided to be irresponsible.

The next day at practice he gives his team a pep talk and once again thinks of what a great actor he is. He works that evening and Jess makes a special trip there just to see him. He works up the nerve to ask her out, and she seems kind of happy about it but she turns him down, making him think he was wrong and that she's not interested.

The next evening Ally calls and asks him if he can work the shift the next day since he wanted the extra hours, but it would mean cutting football practice. Jeremy knows it's wrong to cut them, but he needs the money so he agrees.

Jeremy and Jessica work together the next day and he works up the courage to ask her out again. She turns him down for a project for drama. She has to make a collage describing who she thinks she is and is having a problem with it. When he goes home he and his mom make up and he does Jessica's project for her.

The next day he talks to his friends about the party, Stan's unrequited love for Linda, and a bit about Jessica. That afternoon he shows her the collage and she's so moved by the fact that he sees her like that she starts to cry. She consents to go to the party.

At the party people keep looking at her because she's just soooooooooo beautiful and all the guys want her. Jessica even manages to get Stan dancing with Linda. Everyone thinks she's absolutely amazing, blah blah blah blah blah.

Melissa, Will, and the Posse show up for the party. They call her a slut in front of everyone. [Gina has a line!] Jessica runs out of there. Jeremy yells at Cherie and Gina and Trent tells them to leave. Jeremy runs after Jessica, but as he gets outside he sees his mother running towards him. She collapses in his arms and tells him that his father had a heart attack, which, I would hope, takes precedence over Jessica.

Maria and Ken

Maria is assigned to have Ken as a partner on a project for A.P. History. She gets him to agree to meet her after school in the library. He doesn't show. After an hour she is tired of waiting and decides to go to Andy's for a get-together he's having over there. When she gets to the parking lot she discovers that her front tire is completely flat. Luckily for her Conner is there to save the day! He gives her a ride to Andy's. She makes a crack about him liking Patsy Cline and they ride in an awkward silence. Conner drops her off.

The next morning at school she chews him out for ditching her and he tells her very coldy not to expect any help from him on the project. She figures if she's working on her own she'll know that at least everything will be right.

Maria is working the next day at First and Ten [Note: Jade Wu works here, too] and sees Ken sitting by himself staring at the TV watching SportsCenter. She goes over to make conversation and try to get him to open up and he tells her to get out of his face.

On Thursday Maria writes a note to Ken telling him to meet her in the library or she's telling Mr. Ford to flunk him. At lunch that day she looks through Liz's notebook to find the English assignment and finds Conner's name written all throughout the book along with her really bad love poetry. Maria doesn't know what to think.

Maria thinks about Conner and Liz all day. She comes to the realization that Liz has liked him from the very beginning because she tried to talk Maria out of going out with him. She is very angry about this. She goes to the library preparing to do all the work for the project herself, but poor Ken actually showed up and she vents her anger on him. But he takes her by surprise by giving her advice. He tells her to tell Liz how she feels.

The next day Maria avoids Liz. Ken comes up to her and asks if she's told Liz how she feels. She hasn't. He talks her into it, but she insists he come with her. They find her and Conner looking kind of cozy. Maria thinks something just happened between them. They see Conner pick up Liz's book and Ken insists that's all it was. Maria wants to find out what's going on.

The Liz and Conner Saga

Tia, Andy, and Maria go to the movies after the party. Maria, trying to act cool and over Conner, make herself look pathetically uncool and not over Conner. After the movie Tia comes right out and tells Maria that she and Conner will most likely not be getting back together. They make plans to meet for coffee the next morning and Tia says she might give Conner a call, but after that she's never doing anything to help get the two of them in the same room again.

Meanwhile, at the Sandborn's pad, Liz and Megan are scrounging around for something to eat when Liz mentions Guido's. They plan on a pizza or two and playing Monopoly, and Conner gets suckered into this arrangement. Well, Conner wins, and Liz insists that given more time she could've made a comeback. Megan goes off to bed and Conner and Liz are alone. Lust is in the air when Liz is going to ask Conner something about her, she winds up asking what time his mother will be home. Conner is instantly annoyed at the mention of his mother and her drunken habits and goes up to bed, leaving Liz wondering if her subconscious is trying to sabotage her chances with him.

Tia, Andy, Angel, and Maria meet at HOJ that morning for coffee. Conner shows up but Maria makes a fool of herself and makes him very uncomfortable and leaves. Tia invites her on a mall run but Maria opts for homework because she has a project to do with Ken "Night of the Walking Dead" Matthews.

Wednesday afternoon Conner and Liz swap sarcastic remarks and he gives her a ride to his house. The next day Conner's doing laundry, reading a western. Liz spills grape juice on her white shirt and goes down to try to save it. Conner tells her the good thing about westerns and asks Liz what she's writing about and she tells him he'll have to hear it with the rest of the class.

The next morning Liz and Jess meet over at the Sandborns for breakfast and discuss the families. Liz ponders aloud why she never sees Mrs. Sandborn. The two vow to spend more time together and march on to school when they hear Conner's radio go on.

Liz reads her poem about Conner to the class on Friday. Conner just stares at her. After class he asks what it was all about. She says what was what all about. And he says that her poem was about him. She kind of denies it and he tells her to read it to his face. She tries, but they wind up kissing and all her books tumble to the floor.