Young Adult Revisited

Let's get the Toby/Anna story out of the way because it is easily the most boring of the group. They both got cast in West Side Story, but Toby is super busy trying to be a huge star. He keeps getting distracted by Anna because she is so beautiful and he just can't concentrate on learning his lines. Anna thinks that he isn't interested in her, especially since they are dating but he hasn't kissed her yet. Then he does kiss her and she's suddenly fine. The lead in the play gets sick and since they apparently don't have understudies, they decide to move Anna up. She has like two weeks to learn all of her lines and get ready for the show. Toby starts getting super annoying. They fight over who is the better singer, and he keeps acting like a big star. They fight all the time until her mom calls them out on it and they try to calm down. They make up just in time for the first performance and they naturally do a great job and everyone loves them.

There are three major storylines here, and Salvatore's is the least interesting so let's start with him. His parents live in Germany because his dad is a military man stationed at a base there. They come back to California for a visit, and his mom acts like he is a kid and his dad treats him like a soldier. He decides to hang out with the guys to be the kind of son his dad wants. Elizabeth and Anna think that he's avoiding him and feel like crap. He acts really obnoxious, shoots rubber bands at people, including Elizabeth who he hits, and generally behaves like a teenage boy. His dad keeps lecturing him on joining a team and acting like a man. His mom takes him to the natural history museum, and he and his dad share a moment when they remember buying and playing with plastic dinosaurs. His dad buys him a new one and when he starts goofing around like a kid, his dad yells at him. His parents want to take him shopping for clothes, and he brings along the girls. El

Jessica won free tickets to see Melody Power in concert, and she took Elizabeth with her. She cannot wait until school the next day when she can tell her friends all about it. They stay up late talking about the show, and Jessica can barely get to sleep because she's so excited. The next day, Elizabeth goes downstairs for breakfast and Jessica makes a dramatic entrance covered in scarves and necklaces like Melody wears. She tells her family that she wants to be a rock star when she grows up, which leads to Steven teasing her because she can barely sing. She goes to school and brags about the concert but mainly just wants everyone to know that she's going to be a star. Conveniently, Bruce, Aaron and some random guy just formed a rock band and need a lead singer. Jessica decides to go to the auditions, and she spends hours getting ready. Elizabeth notices that her twin keeps singing in this weird gravely voice and tells her that she should use her own voice. Jess

Mallory has a big new project coming up at school, which surprisingly enough isn't part of the Short Takes classes. Their teacher wants them to create a project that has something to do with their future career. Mallory knows that she wants to write children's books, and since she has a new found interest in plays, she decides to write a play. She goes to the kids' drama club and convinces them to put on her finished play. She writes up a report and hands it in to her teacher, but the teacher wants her to do something more because apparently writing and performing a play just isn't enough. Since she is obsessed with Henrietta Hayes's books, she decides to write the author a letter. She gets back a form letter, but decides to keep plugging away at it. Mallory goes to her teacher and suggests that she meet with the writer and write a paper about it. The teacher agrees even though she has no connection to the author . Luckily though, Mallory discovers