Episode Report Card Niki: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT If You Love Something, Let It Run Free
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 18 | Aired on 04.03.2001
Cut to the girls' locker room. The camera pans across rows of lockers and benches, with girls in various states of undress. The camera finally settles on Jessie, who's sitting on a bench pulling off her running shoes. Grace rushes down the aisle and hops on the bench behind Jessie. She smiles and seems genuinely friendly as she asks whether Jessie would like to help with the book fair. Jessie says sure, and Grace rhymes off the work schedule to get it organized. Jessie's eyes glaze and she seems to zone out for a few seconds, like she's having trouble focusing on what Grace is saying. She catches herself, squeezes her eyes shut for a second, and then says she "can do that." Grace asks if she's okay. Jessie says she is, and repeats, "Monday and Wednesday? I'll be there." Grace says, "Great!" and takes off up the aisle again, running past some chick she seems to know who's standing there in her underwear. The camera hangs on the panty queen far longer than it needs to. Seriously, I know the show's a little pinched for ratings, but please. I'm pretty sure fourteen-year-old boys are not really its target demographic.
Jessie watches Grace go and then stands up to start changing. The camera angle slides kind of sideways, and zooms in on Jessie as her eyes roll and she collapses. Her friend Marney rushes over to see if she's okay, and Jessie pushes herself up, looking woozy and disoriented but insisting that she's fine. The camera pans the other girls in the room, who are staring at Jessie with expressions of "oh my god!" and "what the fuck?" The panty queen stares along with the rest of them. Jessie moves unsteadily to the bench, saying she just needs to sit for a minute. She almost freaks when Marney suggests getting a teacher. Marney backs off, and the camera pans back to Panty Queen, who is still staring at Jessie, even as she finally -- finally! -- pulls a shirt on. So you know this is getting back to Grace immediately.
Right on cue, Panty Queen -- now fully clothed -- walks down the hallway. She heads straight for Grace's locker and blurts, "That Jessie girl fainted!" She sounds oddly thrilled about it. Gossipy bitch. Grace is shocked, and doesn't immediately register what she's just heard. The chick next to her does, though, and comes over to get the full story. Panty Queen thinks that Grace isn't answering immediately because she's having trouble figuring out who Jessie is, and reminds her that Jessie is her "mother's boyfriend's daughter." Nosy Beeotch butts in to correct her: "Fiancé." Panty Queen gets confused, and Grace gets fed up. "Is she okay?" she asks, grabbing Panty Queen's arm. P.Q. says she guesses. Grace looks pissed with her nonchalance. P.Q. says Jessie got "dizzy or something" and then "passed out in the locker room." "Just now?" Grace asks, looking over P.Q.'s shoulder. "What is up with her?" P.Q. snipes, rolling her eyes at Jessie's pathetic display. She and Nosy Beeotch start off down the hallway, as N.B. bitches, "It's obvious. I mean, just look at her. She's so anorexic!" Wow, what a stunning display of sympathy. Grace watches them skank off down the hallway, and sighs heavily. She looks like she could, just maybe, cry.