Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Disoriented
By Niki | Season 3 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.10.2002
The next morning, Grace fakes being sick so she can avoid her humiliation. Lily, concerned, touches her forehead and insists that she feels normal. "Not from in here," Grace mopes. Lily studies her for a second and then asks whatever happened with Spencer Lewicki. Grace thinks her mother just might be insane. "Nothing happened to him. He's gay," Grace says. Lily absorbs this for a second and then asks if he's in the club, too. Grace rolls her eyes and speaks slowly, "No, Mom, because sometimes people don't know they're gay. Spencer Lewicki is one of those people." Lily muses for a few seconds. Grace graciously offers to explain it better if Lily lets her stay home. No dice.
Downstairs, Lily finds Rick on the phone with a doctor, getting advice on Jessie, who has also come down with a raging case of Avoidenitus. Lily feels like a jerk for not believing that Grace is sick, too.
Creepitri's pacing around his classroom, trying to nudge a reaction -- any kind of reaction -- from the students. The silence makes it painfully clear that Grace's nose is no longer wedged in his crack. He lobs another question and is met with blank looks. Desperate for some interaction, he calls on Grace. She raises her eyes and fires off a round of stink-eye. He repeats the question for her. She glares. The bell rings. She grabs her things and, still glaring, makes a break for the door. Katie grabs Grace to ask what happened with the letter. Grace says nothing happened. Katie's relieved, thinking that Grace didn't give Jessie the note. Grace has a hard time keeping her eyes off Creepitri, but she tears herself away long enough to let Katie know that she did deliver the letter. Katie doesn't understand how Jessie couldn't have said anything. Creepitri walks over and asks whether Grace is ready to make her pitch to the vice-principal. Grace snaps that she is, and he says he'll meet her at the end of the day. Grace tries to spare Katie's feelings, saying that Jessie was really upset after visiting her mom at the hospital, so she may not have even read the letter. Katie's relief is palpable. She throws her arms around Grace, burbling, "Thank you! I love you!" Grace looks guilty as she watches Katie rush off.
Fade in to Grace in Creepitri's classroom, in the midst of her pitch for funding. She manages to work in a public service message, saying that "a gay kid is twice as likely to attempt suicide" as a straight kid. She also manages to work in a guilt trip for Creepitri, who's leaning in the doorway, by saying, "If it's within your power to give someone hope, and instead, you just turn your back on that person, I just think that's really horrible." She casts a glance his way, to be sure he gets it. He does. The vice-principal shakes Grace's hand, praising her presentation. Grace scrambles to get her scarf and coat on and rushes out of there without so much as a goodbye. Creepitri, miffed, trails Grace into the hallway, but she doesn't turn around. The vice-principal observes that Grace is "quite something, isn't she?" Yes, she is. I believe it's called "jailbait." Right, Creepitri?