Episode Report Card Niki: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Scarlet Letter Jacket
By Niki | Season 1 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.04.1999
Inside the school, Lily's leaning against an abandoned desk in the hallway. Grace emerges from her hiding spot, unaware that Lily's still there. Lily says her name, and Grace retreats into the classroom. Lily follows, asking whether she's okay. After a few snarky answers from Grace, Lily asks, "Is this about that boy?" "No, Mom, it's about Bosnia," Grace snots. Lily misinterprets Grace's motivation with Eli, apologizing and saying that Grace doesn't have to feel like she should be friends with Eli just because Lily is dating his father. Grace's hands are shoved in her pockets and her shoulders are slumped as she pouts, "Of course I have to spend time with him. We're in the same school, we're in all the same things together, I love him." But not the last part. Lily suggests that Grace just ignore him. "I don't want to ignore him!" Grace blurts. She examines her nails, adding, "He's a junior. He's...cute. He's a boy!" Lily sits in one of the desks with a sympathetic, "Honey..." Grace says, "I know there's no chance." She slumps into the desk next to Lily with a sigh and adds, "And anyway, what if you and The Dad...I don't know. He's a boy, and he's nice. And now, all these people have watched me make a complete fool of myself." Lily quickly asserts that Grace is not a fool. Grace's eyes fill with tears. "If you go after something and you have no right to expect it, then you're a fool," she says angrily. Lily distinguishes that Grace didn't go for it -- she wanted to go for it. "People can't make you a fool for wanting something," she insists. "These people can," Grace chokes. Lily studies her for a second and then says she thinks that Grace should go back to the booth. Grace is filled with terror: "They all know! I can't face it." She looks up at Lily with big sad eyes, and Lily relents with a quick and easy, "Okay." Lily says that it's almost time to go, anyway, and tucks a loose chunk of hair behind Grace's ear. Grace looks grateful, and actually grabs Lily's hand when she offers it.
Soliloquy Lily continues her tale of heartbreak and woe, recounting that, a few months after the big blowout, Deb and Robby broke up. By then, they'd all graduated, and Lily was worried about college, not Robby. And of course, that's when he called. He said he couldn't stop thinking about her, and she didn't know what to do....
Back in the school hallway, Lily's doing some heavy thinking. Naomi saunters up and grabs an old wooden desk chair. Spinning in it, she gives Lily the update: "Looters have stripped the abandoned popcorn and balloon booths of all prizes. The National Guard has been called in." Now, hang on a second. I thought the booth jobs were only supposed to last an hour. How come everyone concerned got roped into working them all day? Where the hell was their backup? Yes, I'm being nitpicky, but it really makes no sense. If the writers wanted the added drama of all-day jobs, abandoned booths, and looted prizes, why not just set up the schedule that way in the first place? Naomi scoots her chair over to Lily's side of the hall and asks whether she found Grace. "She was hiding in shame, like her mother," Lily says. Naomi says, "I think it's my duty to tell you that Karen, my ex-best friend, figured it all out." Lily says she's sorry. "Well, you should be," Naomi says, adding, "I mean, who are you to be sexual at your age?" Go Naomi! She's like a precursor to Dr. Wise-Ass, isn't she? "What do you mean, 'sexual'?" Lily demands, getting her back up. "I'm sneaking around like a mouse, but I can't go out with anybody?" Naomi looks at her and says, point blank, "No. You have to live in shame and misery and loneliness, so all the other mothers know they made the right choice." "What choice?" "Domestic bliss! To stay and care for our kids and our husbands and give up any romantic notions we ever had." Lily gets up and storms away, sniping, "I didn't abandon my kids! And Jake left me. I didn't choose to be in this situation!" Naomi wheels after her, scooting along in the desk chair. "Lily! This has nothing to do with you! Dontcha see, in their minds, you broke away from the herd. And god forbid you should actually be thriving out there in the wild! You find this great-looking guy who's already abandoned one of us --" Lily angrily spins to confront Naomi: "She kicked him out!" Naomi laughs at Lily's naïveté: "It doesn't matter. They hate you for it...I hate you for it." Lily groans, "I don't want to be hated. I'm not built for that! I just...." She trails off, rubbing her hands over her face.