Class of ’89: Freshman
by Linda A. Cooney

Four girls. Friendly, good-hearted Bets. Laurel, lonely and unsure. Micki, who tries to hard. And Page, who has it much too easy.

Micki wants to make her mark freshman year. She’s pulling the class together and doing all the work. No wonder she can’t stand it that gorgeous Page gets all the credit – without lifting a finger. Laurel’s caught between two friends. One’s the most popular girl in their class; the other’s a boy who doesn’t fit in – which one has to go? Bets just wants to be Doug’s pal… She doesn’t know what to do when he says they should be more than friends.

Freshman year means they can be anyone they want to be. Why is it so hard to find out who they really are? (transcribed from back of book)

Ah, my readers! I am sure you have been longing to get back to the halls of Redwood High have you not? Now that I have found the missing book in the Class of  ’89 series* I can gladly take you there over the next month! Our first stop of course is with the Freshman year of the Class of ’89 and if you were paying attention to my Class of ’88 posts you’ll know that they are the second ever Freshman class to attend the shiny new school! So exciting!

Also the summary on the back of the book is really very wrong compared to what you read between the covers. And this is something I have wondered about since the first time I read the book in the late 80s – what girl is supposed to be which character on that cover?! I have tried once more to try and fit the cover girl with the description of the characters in the book and I am still uncertain. I think that Page is the tiny dark-haired one on the far left of the cover but I’m not entirely sure. The other three? They are interchangeable as far as I am concerned. All of them seem to be blond. Only one apparently has “cornsilk” coloured hair… is that supposed to be blond or red? Gah!

This book also has the most amazing example of how pop-culture references don’t exactly hold up over time – at least not always with the same meaning. *clears throat* and I quote:

But finally on Wednesday, Jason decided to take things in hand. Just moments after the final bell rang, Jason did what had become to be known on campus as his  ’O.J. Simpson’;

Wait… so he murdered a bunch of people and then got away with it? Or, he led the police on what was possibly the slowest car chase in the world?

his energetic sprint from his last class to his locker, where it seemed he dashed over, under, and around about half of the Redwood student body.

Ohhhh! Right! Before 1994 O.J. Simpson was known for FOOTBALL! Riiight. And this book, though written in 1988 was actually set in 1985! My bad!

Bets doesn’t really play a large role in this story, it’s mostly Micki and Page. There are some horrible and mean things these girls do to each other and I felt like this book actually portrays the unknown and trying to fit in feeling that we all have entering the ninth grade – whether it be your first year in high school or your third (like in Quebec). Close-knit groups do not let new people join in the fun and the new people resent the close-knit kids and the close-knit kids generally feel that the outsiders think they are better than them. So sad.

There was this one quote at the end of the 15th chapter that I found really summed up high school to a “T”.

“I don’t understand why the world is the way it is,” Jed said. “School is this bizarre place that we have to go to every day, where all kids seem to care about is who has this and who lives there and wins this and loses that. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with what we feel inside.”

Good ol’ outcast, different Jed. That one paragraph pretty much sums up why I felt so connected to these books. Even if I had nothing in common with the rich kids and California and the age difference was there, there were parts of this book that GOT what I was feeling even if it wasn’t like that in real life. No one admits to feeling different than their classmates. People try so hard to fit in and make an impression and care too much about things that don’t really matter.

Being a teen is hard and it sucks and as cheesy as these books from 1988 are, they got it back then. Books today also get it but I don’t relate to them as much for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t have the same way of thinking as I did when I was 12 or 14. I’m not as passionately emotional about everything I do or say. I still know how I FELT about these things but I don’t react to new things with the same gusto. Second, the emotions may be the same but the technology is different. I’m not saying that I don’t get books that have cell phones and internet in them, I’m just saying that I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to grow up surrounded by all that extra noise. It’s got to feel different than growing up with pen and paper and rotary phones, I know it does. I just can’t put myself in that situation. Likely because it terrifies me.

But I digress!

I remember now that I did not care as much for the Class of ’89 as I did for the Class of ’88. Not sure if it was just that I had no connection to the year or just that the characters were slightly more bland. I’m trying to remember if I read all 4 books back then or if I wasn’t able to find them all to complete the set. I shall see as I continue through the years with this four girls as they prepare to graduate high school.

* I found my missing Sophomore book at BetterWorldBooks and it’s on its way to me! I know this because the book wrote me to tell me it was on its way! I think I might write a post about how much BetterWorldBooks impressed me.

Class of ’89

1. Freshman
2. Sophomore
3. Junior
4. Senior

Class of ’88: Senior
by Linda A. Cooney

Five friends. Nick, the golden boy, Celia the beautiful, Sean the thinker, Allie the wild, Meg the brave.

Meg and Nick have stayed away from each other for four years. Finally they want to be together… and someone’s stopping them. Celia and Allie are trying to be friends again. But they both have a date for the prom – with the same guy. Sean is a BMOC and valedictorian, yet he still wants revenge for freshman year.

In high school they lost some hopes, some dreams, some fears. Now they have to hold on to the one thing they’ve got left – each other. (transcribed from back of book)

Dude. I can assure you I did not buy this book because of the summary on the back. How awful is that to stomach? Yeech. I bought it of course, because it’s the final book in the series. Closure! And it’s SENIOR YEAR! Which means SENIOR PROM! *squeeeeeeeeeeee*

Yeah.

There is so much to say about this book, much of it is how cheesy the story is. Ok, so I never did expect this series to be unpredictable and original. I am fairly certain I remember rolling my eyes at 12 almost as much as I did at 34. I do still relate to the underdogs and their wanting to fit in with the rest of the crowd, though it’s not as passionate and emotional as it was then. I was different. I was the Allie in real life. I recall crying when Allie tells her father she wants to study at Theatre college rather than going to real university. I remember crying when Allie and Celia become friends again (even though I think Celia is a moron). I remember not really caring when Meg and Nick finally admitted they loved each other (so not a spoiler since it’s lead up to pretty heavily from Freshman year). I remember feeling slightly vindicated when Sean gets a job at the, er, stereo/tech shop and realizes the guy that taped him to the flagpole his Freshman year is the janitor.

I liked Brooke. I don’t think I ever really paid much attention to her when I first read the books but she sticks out now as one of my favourite characters even though she’s not one of the original five friends.

At one point I thought I was reading a Lisa Mantchev book:

Allie lifted her paperback copy of Romeo and Juliet. “Ever heard of it?”
“Very funny.” He inched closer. “You know, you remind me of Juliet.”
“Must be my eyes like stars.” She crossed her eyes and giggled again. “Or my star-crossed eyes.”

Ha ha! I never noticed that line before, and of course that was not one of the Shakespeare plays I covered in high school.

Speaking of that scene. I had to love/hate Derek, the dumbass University student that Celia was dating. They describe him has having a light blonde mustache, wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches and – get this – smoking a pipe! A PIPE! Even when I was 12 I thought he sounded like a loser and was trying way to hard to be a “cool” university student. (I have never liked facial hair. I don’t like any body hair to be honest, on your head and eye brows are ok, but other than that? Why the hell do we have so much hair? Ick! Ew! Don’t get me started!)

Derek wants to be a poet and he writes crap poetry and he wants to impress his potential Frat brothers (I have never gotten the concept of Fraternities or Sororities either). Celia is dating him because she’s tired of the immature high school scene and she thinks she’ll make an impression by bringing University Stud to her senior prom. Lame.

Of course then Derek meets Allie outside of her father’s classroom at the university and he thinks she’s a university student and he hits on her, realizes she’s still in high school and is miffed when she doesn’t return his attention. He also thinks that artsy Allie is just what he needs to help is poetry career! So he dumps Celia and asks Allie to the prom with her tickets! Jerk.

He was the lamest character ever, and it was meant to be that way. I have to laugh at how pathetic he is and sounds.

In the end all 5 friends spend one last night in the tree house they used to spend all their time in and think about how they have each other and that’s all that matters as they all go off on different college paths.

And now? There’s a Class of ’89, people! Just waiting for their stories to be heard! Of course I am missing the Sophomore year of that series and I can’t seem to find it online. If I see it on Bookmooch people never send to Canada. If I see it on eBay it’s like $14 to ship! What the hell!? Grr. I need that Sophomore book! I cannot read the next series without it.

Fun Fact!: Linda A. Cooney is actually TWO people!  Linda Alper and Kevin Cooney. Tricky, eh? I just learned that while rereading this series.

Class of ’88

1. Freshman
2. Sophomore
3. Junior
4. Senior

Class of ’88: Junior
by Linda A. Cooney

Five friends. Nick, the golden boy, Celia the beautiful, Sean the thinker, Allie the wild, Meg the brave.

– Summary to be transcribed when I get home and have the book with me. Oops!–

I have to admit that although reading the first two in this series triggered memories of reading the books the first time (in 1987/1988) I don’t recall much about this Junior year of the five friends at all. But what struck me was this – the book fit in very well with a guest post I wrote for a blog this week. It was all about how tough it is to be a teen and the stuff I went through, and that others go through and how hard it is to be yourself in high school and not just the person the “cool kids” think you should be.

Although the cover of this third book depicts Sean and Nick, the book has a large focus on Allie, who after spending 6 months in New York City (because her father was transferred) has come back to Northern California and Redwood High and has changed considerably.

The funny thing I realized as I was reading (and I think I felt similarly when I was 12) was that the way they described Allie’s clothing and look (all black, combat boots, black dyed hair) is similar to the way I dress now (ok so I don’t own combat boots) and the way I have always WANTED to dress and envied when I was a kid (when I had no guts to follow through). Wow that was a long sentence with a lot of parenthesis. Oh, well.

Celia, the blond-all-about-being-popular one, is constantly shamed by her hair stylist mother who wears her hair with blue or purple or pink streaks in it. HOLY COW did I WANT that kind of hair when I was 12 and here is a book that promotes preppy and following the crowd and shuns her. Had they never watched Jem and the Holograms? (I was totally going to be in that cartoon band, by the way.) The fact that most of the kids in these books look down on those whose style and expression is different is a HUGE point in this series. It’s hard being in high school and it’s very hard to walk to the beat of your own drum when 90% of the population is telling you that makes you a loser and uncool.

Allie discovered while she was away that she didn’t like the same things her best friend since they were born liked. She felt because she didn’t like school or dressing in the latest fashions she had no future – a slogan that was printed on her black jacket which she sported daily. Celia shunned her and made it a project to get Allie back in the good graces of the cool and popular, but Allie didn’t want anything to do with it. The only person she could talk to was Sean who went from being bullied and being called a nerd in Freshman and Sophomore years to being respected because he was smart and able to repair computers, amps, tech stuff. He was finally “cool” and because of this almost lost his first girlfriend – a girl named Brooke who was PROUD to be different and quirky and lost his friendship with Allie.

Meanwhile Meg and Nick were on the back burner for this book. They are still in love with each other but won’t admit it and continuously date people they don’t really want just to make the other jealous or have someone. Yawn. Boring.

What struck me the most was how much this book resonated with how I felt growing up and even though this is one of the stories I remember the least in the series, I know that I must have felt the same way when I first read it – EXCEPT! – I would have been way too insecure and shy to be that punk, alternative, new-wave girl that I longed to be. These days? I wear what I want, when I want and I will opt for comfort over fashion 99.9% of the time. I am the Allie that was emerging in this book, only a lot less moody.

Allie does find something she loves to do in the end – acting. She joins the drama club and gets the lead part in a play. She is shunned for this by her now former BFF, Celia because only lame losers join drama and don’t focus on dating college boys, prom, or cheerleading.

Celia has always been my least favourite character in this series. I have always loved Allie and Sean. Nick, although he sounds dreamy (and constantly refered to as “blonde good look” and yet always drawn with dark brown hair and eyes on the covers) and Meg have always just been background, never really thought about characters. Do not like or dislike them. They are just there. Rather bland.

I’m just starting the final book out of the four – we’re about to enter Senior year and finally become the official Class of ’88!

Oh, and I am so sick of basketball ALWAYS being written as “b-ball”. Not once is anyone referred to or the game mentioned as a fully written out word. Did Americans really talk like that in the ’80s? I don’t remember. I am pretty sure that here in Canada we often used the full word. Say it with me now, “BASKET – BALL”. There now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Class of ’88

1. Freshman
2. Sophomore
3. Junior
4. Senior

Class of ’88: Sophomore
by Linda A. Cooney

Five friends. Nick, the golden boy, Celia the beautiful, Sean the thinker, Allie the wild, Meg the brave.

Celia flirts outrageously with Redwood High’s #1 b-ball star. She’s not really using him… she’s just trying to get ahead. Meg’s got a new guy, too. So what if Nick thinks he’s too wild for her? Nick doesn’t know everything about Meg. He doesn’t know everything about his buddy Sean, either. Sean sees more than people think he does – especially about what’s happening between L.P. and Allie.

When five friends make it this far together, why should sophomore year tear them apart? (transcribed from the back of the book)

Well, I have made it to chapter 15 of To Kill a Mockingbird and I have rewarded myself with another high school year in Redwood High. I have once more leaped through time going from 2010 to 1960 to 1986 and back to the future! (Fun Fact! It’s been 25 years since Back to the Future came out. Can you believe that? I feel so old. I’ll bet some of you weren’t even born then. Heck, I was NINE!)

But anyhow… yet more awesome 80s pop culture exploded through the pages of this book. The story starts off with a New Year’s eve party at Nick’s house. These teens welcomed in 1986 with excitement, chips and drama! I love chips. So much that I even got up and got myself a bowl of chips to eat while I read the rest of this book. Chips! Yum!

As I read this book I remembered thinking when I read it the first time “Wow, these girls really whine a lot. Get over yourselves.” And remembered thinking that because I thought it again this time around and had a weird sense of deja-u again. I remember not liking this book as much as the first because for the life of me I couldn’t care less about the shallow life of Celia or the clingy “I have to  be with my boyfriend all the time” Allie. I understood Meg’s desire to be less a goody-goody and dependable and try to be more wild but to be frank the boy she starts to date is a douche. I might not have known that curse/slang word when I was 12 but by golly did I think he was a stupid head!

I also remember thinking “Why won’t Meg and Nick just get together already!” when I know deep down that the point of these stories is to show how friends can have feelings change for each other. It was so obvious to the reader (which in part was due to the writing. These stories aren’t really pillars of subtle text. Everything is BAM! IN YOUR FACE!) and I knew then and now that Nick and Meg were struggling with their feelings for each other and each thought the other wouldn’t return them. But come on, already.

I shall travel back to 1960 now and continue my TKoM journey. No video as of yet as the MacBook Pro is in Ye Olde Computer Shoppe getting its cd drive repaired and I am out of batteries that are charged for my digital camera. Obviously fate does not feel I should make any more videos. I might be ok with that.

Oh, and as a side note – I still have trouble spelling Sophomore. Those fancy words you Americans use to classify grades 9-12 are confusing. It took me a looooong time until I was able to figure out the order. I was down with Freshman and Senior, but the ones in the middle were a mystery to me! Silly outside of Quebec school system.

Class of ’88

1. Freshman
2. Sophomore
3. Junior
4. Senior