Making Friends (Book 18) by "Emily Chase"

**This blog contains adult language.**

Warning:  Contains Spoilers!!!  This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself.  Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know which girl cheated on her devoted boyfriend under some hay this week.

Tag Line: There are three new roommates in Room 407.

From the Back of the Book:  Opposites don't always attract.  Jane Barrett, a proper Bostonian, likes classical music, conservative clothes and - most of all - privacy.  She wasn't expecting to share a room this year.  Now she's got two roommates!  Andy Cord, a black girl from Chicago, is from a big, loving family and is used to having lots of people around.  Toby Houston has seldom been outside the Texas ranch where she grew up, and is happier with animals than people.  Three girls couldn't be more different if they tried!  There are bound to be big problems in Room 407 this year.  Will friendship ever be possible?

This book was published in 1986 and I absolutely read it right after it came out. I feel like I got it at a school book fair or something similar. I was immediately hooked. I couldn't wait for each new book to come out. These books made me want to go to boarding school so bad. I'm so excited to be reading them all again. I hope I don't end up hating them. Although, let's face it, I probably will.

I should mention that Emily Chase doesn't really exist. “Emily Chase” is the name given to a rather large group of ghostwriters who wrote the Canby Hall series. I didn't know that as a child but it does explain the weird continuity errors that would pop up from time to time. The copyright page says that this book was written by Carol Stanley. A quick Goodreads search tells me that she wrote a few Wildfires (teen romance series) and at least one book in the Cheerleaders series but I've never read them.

Also worth noting, this book was written way before political correctness was even a thing. It's a tad stereotypical and traditional as books in this time period tended to be. We're all just going to have to wear our big girl panties and vow not to be offended. I'm going to use the terms “black” and “white” because those are the terms used in the book. Don't roast me for it. It was 1986, y'all.

To catch you up on books 1-17, three roommates named Dana, Faith and Shelley lived in room 407 Baker House at Canby Hall. They went through a gazillion boyfriends and had a gazillion fights. There was a kidnapping, a movie shoot and a case of meningitis or something and then they all graduated!! Do you feel caught up? Good. Starting with book 18 we meet the new set of girls moving into Room 407 Baker House.

And finally the recap can start. Whew. That was the biggest intro ever.  I'm exhausted.  Maybe I'll take a nap before diving in.

We begin with Toby. Her full name is October Houston and she lives on a ranch in Texas with her dad and her horse Max. She spent her last night at the ranch sleeping outside under the stars. She's headed east to boarding school and she's not thrilled at all. She thinks Massachusetts is tiny and claustrophobic and she wishes she didn't have to go, but her dad won't change his mind. He worries that she'll grow up wild if she continues to live on the ranch without a female influence. It took me a minute, but I realized he's worried she'll grow up without knowing how to be a “lady”, not that she'll start knocking off liquor stores and setting fire to cacti. Toby is the redhead on the cover. I'm sure you couldn't guess that by the cowboy hat, so I thought I'd help you out. I'm a full-service recapper.

Next we meet Andrea Cord. She's riding to Massachusetts on a train from Chicago and she's a little apprehensive. Andy is black and from a predominantly black neighborhood but she knows that Canby Hall is predominantly white and she's worried she won't fit it. It was her idea to go to school at Canby. Her family is large and loving and a little suffocating and she just wants to see who she is apart from them.

Our last roommate is Jane Barrett. She's already in room 407 trying to cover up the black walls with blue paint. Don't ask me why Dana, Faith and Shelley painted it black. They thought it was cool. I can't believe the school let them do it. In my dorm we had a choice of cream or green. Anything else led to a hefty fine. Anyway, Jane has big plans for the room which involve an antique cross stitch quilt, ivory curtains, a gray persian rug and a pale rose velvet sofa. After a hellish roommate experience her freshman year, Jane is under the impression that she'll be living in room 407 alone and her bubble is about to be burst. Bursted? Hmmmm. Popped. Her bubble is about to be popped.

The bubble popper takes the form of Andy who shows up with her luggage at Jane's door. She introduces herself and offers to help clean up the tarps and brushes. Jane is flabbergasted. She can't figure out what this girl in a cheerleader's jacket is doing in her room. Andy produces a printout with her room assignment and Jane's gast gets even more flabbered when she sees a third name listed. She tells Andy there's been some horrible mistake and then she stomps out of the room in search of the housemother.

The housemother's name is Alison Cavanaugh and she's the earthy type. Lots of denim and hemp and bare feet. She lives on the top floor of Baker House in a room decorated with tons of floor pillows and neon colors. Jane introduces herself and tells Alison the problem. Alison recognizes the name immediately. Jane's grandfather donated an entire building to Canby Hall {delicate sniff} and it's named after him. Alison looks through the room assignments and notices that there's a note from the headmistress on room 407. Patrice Allardyce (PA) has noted that enrollment is at an all-time high and the dorms are overcrowded. There will be no single rooms this semester.

Jane is livid. She says that she's going to go see PA herself. If her grandfather can give the school an entire building {delicate sniff}, than the school should be able to give her one fucking room. Alison warns her that she won't be successful, but Jane doesn't listen. PA isn't in her office, so Jane is forced to go back to her room. Andy asks her what the verdict is and Jane tells her that nothing has been settled but she wouldn't get too comfortable because she's sure it will all be cleared up soon and Andy will be moving elsewhere. Andy isn't too concerned with this and decides to unpack anyway.

Jane takes one look at Andy's earth-toned bedspread in her pastel haven and bursts into tears. Later that night, they are fighting a battle of the stereos (Andy is playing Tina Turner and Jane is playing Beethoven) when Toby finally arrives. She doesn't introduce herself. She doesn't say a word. She unrolls a green army blanket on top of her bare mattress and goes to sleep with her clothes on.

The next morning Jane and Andy attend the mandatory orientation in various states of misery but Toby skips it altogether. She needs to get outside in nature immediately. She finds a quiet, isolated place and just sits, listening to the birds and the wind. It's pretty there. Not as wild and open as Texas, but pretty. When she first hears the hoofbeats, she thinks she's imagining things. A beautiful white horse appears out of nowhere being pursued by a man on a Palomino. She admires the way he looks in the saddle, judging him to be older than she is with longer hair. She can tell that there's no way he's going to catch the horse and she makes a hasty decision to help.

Fearlessly she jumps on the white horse's back and eventually manages to bring her to a halt after a few tense moments. The man is grateful and introduces himself as Randy Crowell. Randy is actually no stranger to this series. He appeared periodically in books 1-17. In fact, he dated Dana off and on (and Shelley once, I think). Dana pretty much ground his poor cowboy heart into dust. I remember liking Randy from the earlier books.

Toby hasn't had much experience with men and someone as attractive as Randy makes her pretty nervous. They chat for a bit about horses and Toby's ranch experience and then Randy asks her if she'd like to help out at his ranch. Toby reveals that she's only 15 and going to Canby Hall and Randy instantly becomes more distant. He's 20 at this point (although I'm pretty sure he was 23 a couple of books ago which makes him magic or something) and really not interested in getting close to anyone from that school ever again but he's still a nice guy and he tells Toby she can stop by and hang out with the horses anytime. Before he leaves, he asks her if she wants to name the white horse since it's brand new and hasn't been named yet. She decides on Maxine after her horse Max at home which is truly an awful name for a horse. Maxine, not Max. Max is fine but Maxine is the least horsey name a horse has ever been given in the whole history of horses.

We switch back to Jane who is waiting outside the auditorium for PA after the orientation. While she waits, she thinks about how awful her roommates are. Andy is frightfully cheerful and never really stops talking. Toby, on the other hand, never says a word. On top of that, after breakfast, Toby taped a tea bag to the ceiling over her bed with absolutely no explanation whatsoever.

The tea bag!!! I remember it so well. In fact, that tea bag is the reason this blog exists. I never got to read the end of this series and I never found out what the tea bag meant. All these years later, I decided to reread to find out. And I'm making you all find out with me!! Because I'm evil like that!!

Anyway, Jane talks to PA about the room mix up and PA tells her there's nothing to be done. The new computer program goofed and over-enrolled the school. All the rooms are doubled or tripled up and one room even has four girls in it. Jane smugly plays the trump card of her last name. {delicate sniff} PA considers it for a minute and then tells Jane that the Barretts have always been excessively generous with the school. Because of that, she knows that Jane will be just as generous and if another student arrives in the next few days, PA will be sure to put her right in generous-Jane's room.

Game, set and match to PA.

Andy morosely returns back to Baker House. She isn't sure how she's going to get through the year with two roommates who won't talk to her. She's lost in her own thoughts when suddenly she finds herself knocked flat on her back. Diedre Adams, a blonde with a great tan, helps her to her feet and apologizes for knocking her over. She invites Andy back to her room (409) where Andy meets Dee's roommate Maggie Morrison. Maggie is the infamous Dana's younger sister.

Andy mentions that she's having roommate problems and the three of them discuss Jane and Toby for a bit. It's a little on the catty side but not too hateful. Maggie tells Andy that her sister had issues initially with her roommates too but they ended up the best of friends. Andy thinks that Dana, Faith and Shelley couldn't possibly be more different than she, Jane and Toby. Which is hilarious because they're pretty much the EXACT SAME PEOPLE. Dana was rich, stylish and a bit snobby (Jane), Faith was a black girl from a big city (Andy) and Shelley was a small town farm girl (Toby). It's like the series got tired of the first three but didn't want to confuse the poor ghostwriting team by creating three entirely different people, so they just recreated the ones they'd had before and gave them different names.

Somehow it's suddenly Monday morning. Time moves differently in Massachusetts I guess. Dee is all ready to start her first day as doughnut maker for the cafeteria. She's made a few practice doughnuts and they aren't perfect but nobody has died yet. The first person through the line is Toby. Dee makes the doughnut and then picks up what she thinks is the powdered sugar shaker. It's not until the entire doughnut is covered with black powder that she realizes she picked up the pepper instead. Right then her boss comes over and just when it looks like Dee might get fired or something, Toby pipes up and says that she asked for a peppered doughnut because that's how they eat them in Texas. She then takes a big bite to convince the dietitian that all is well.

Dee comes over to thank her later and tries to make small talk but Toby is pretty silent. Dee gives up and leaves and Toby feels bad that her shyness chased away a perfectly nice girl. She returns to the dorm to find Andy on the phone with her family. Andy's family isn't taking the separation well at all and phone calls with them are pretty dramatic. Toby can't really relate and her social awkwardness makes it impossible for her to reply when Andy tries to talk to her.

Toby leaves and Andy is on her way out when she realizes Jane is still asleep and class starts in 12 minutes. She wakes Jane up who is frazzled and grumpy when she realizes she overslept. She panics about finding her clothes and Andy makes a joke about teaching Jane what a drawer is so she can actually put things away where they belong. Jane takes it completely wrong. She thinks Andy is making fun of her and she snaps and snarls a bit. Later she realizes she was a bitch but it's too late to say anything.

Jane goes to creative writing class. Her instructor Lily MacArthur encourages them all to try something new and exotic and then write about it. Jane's former roommate Gigi is also in the class and the two girls get into a snark fest after class. Gigi thinks Jane should come to a dance at Oakley Prep (the boys' school) to hear a new punk band called Ambulance. It's not proper-Jane's scene and they both know it. {delicate sniff} After Gigi leaves, Lily Mac encourages Jane to go as her assignment.

That evening Jane calls her boyfriend Cornelius Worthington III to tell him about the concert assignment. Neal thinks the very idea of proper-Jane {delicate sniff} going to see a punk band is hilarious. She asks him to come along but he tells her he'll be racing his sailboat that day and she's on her own. Neal and Jane have been a couple since grade school. She thinks they'll be together forever. Which pretty much means one of them will be seeing someone else by the end of the book. Canby Hall girls tend to have problems with fidelity. Books 1-17 included a lot of stepping out on boyfriends. Just ask poor Randy.

So....we seem to have entered a time blip here. Maybe Jane called Neal from the TARDIS or something. The book clearly tells us that Jane called him “that night” but then the next chapter picks up right after classes that day. No, it's not a new day because Jane apologizes to Andy for snapping at her that morning. So I feel like Canby Hall is set in an alternate universe where time does not flow linearly and that explains SO MUCH.

Anyway, back in time, Jane and Andy end up in the dorm room after class and Jane apologizes to Andy. Andy is still pretty miffed but a tearful phone call from her overly-attached family snaps her out of it. As soon as she hangs up, a huge care package is pushed into 407 by a girl from another floor. Andy is immediately apprehensive about it. She knows it's from her family and she's worried that it might contain something hideously embarrassing. Jane finds all this fascinating and begs her to open it.

Andy pulls out footie pajamas and rolls of toilet paper. There's an entire box of barbecue sauce which mystifies Jane. Andy explains that her family owns a barbecue restaurant and makes the comment that she wishes she could make ribs in the room. Jane gets angry at the thought of her sanctuary being turned into a rib joint and her haughtiness returns. She tells Andy she's never had ribs, thankyouverymuch, unless it was PRIME rib. {delicate sniff} Andy teases her about being so stuck up and Jane is butthurt. Andy realizes she's being “smugly black” in response to Jane being “smugly upper class”. I'm not exactly sure what the hell “smugly black” is, but whatever.

To change the subject and dispel some of the awkwardness, Andy asks Jane what she thinks is up with that teabag. Jane says maybe it's a Hickville talisman to ward off the evil coyote. Andy counters with “killer tumbleweed”. Toby is, of course, behind them and overhears them making fun of her. She gets into bed and pulls the covers over her head. They try to apologize but she ignores them.

Jane decides to grab her bikini and head outside to work on her tan. Andy gets all butthurt because Jane doesn't invite her along. Although I'm not sure why she'd think Jane would. They aren't friends.  They're barely on speaking terms.  Anyway Jane makes a tense situation worse when she replies that she didn't think black people sunbathed.

The next morning, Toby wakes at dawn and heads outside. She wanders around a bit and then ends up at the Crowell ranch. Randy comes outside to meet her and she's struck again by how handsome he is. She notices that Maxine seems anxious to stretch her legs and Randy tells her that no one has been brave enough to try to ride her yet. She's just too wild. Toby wants to ride her and he says he'll go get a saddle and bridle. She tells him she wants to ride bareback and he says it's too dangerous for a “young girl”.

That get's Toby's dander up and she launches into a huge page of dialogue about how she's the best rider under the sun and there's not a horse alive that she can't handle. Randy calmly lets her ramble and then says she can ride without the saddle if she wants but he wants to put a bridle on because the horse needs to get used to wearing one. She concedes the point.

Randy gets his palomino and they take off for a ride. After galloping hard for a bit, they slow down to walk through the woods. Toby tells him how much she likes being outside and how much she hates being stuck inside for classes. She makes it sound like this is the first time it's ever happened but surely she went to school for the last ten years. And surely her school had a roof and walls. She laments that the only class she gets to move around in is aerobics and then it's only jumping around like a bunch of idiots. Randy asks her why she took the class if she hates it so much and she blushes when she replies that she thought it had to do with flying planes.

Randy talks briefly about Dana and his resolve to stay away from prep school girls. Toby doesn't take it personally because she doesn't consider herself a prep school girl. She thinks the age gap between them isn't too big at all and something could maybe happen between them someday. Um, Toby.....you're 15 and he's 20/23. What you're thinking about is illegal in most states and would have poor, nice Randy registering. The gap between 15 and 20/23 is not about the actual math. It's about the maturity and there's an ENORMOUS difference in that.

They arrive back at the ranch to find that Toby is already 5 minutes late to class and it's a 20 minute walk back to campus. Randy pulls her up behind him on the horse and they gallop away. Holding on to him puts Toby all aflutter and she's never ever felt that way before. Randy delivers her safely to her building and then rides off into the.....well sun, I guess.

The week passes and the girls of 407 settle into a silent routine. Mostly they spend all their time away from the room, only returning to sleep. If they happen to be in the room together, they just ignore each other. Toby spends most her time outside, Andy lives in the ballet studio and Jane hangs out with her friends from the previous year. Only Maggie and Dee venture to visit the room, being friends with both Andy and Toby.

Friday night arrives and Andy is excited to go to the Oakley Prep dance. She loves to dance and just wants to get out on the floor and boogie. She impulsively invites Jane and Toby to go with her. Jane replies that she's thinking of going for the “cultural experience” {delicate sniff} and Andy is aghast that Jane has never been to a dance that didn't involve the country club and a string quartet.

Jane and Andy make it to the dance and Andy thinks Ambulance is really good while Jane just pronounces them to be loud. Andy is mortified when Jane takes out a little notebook and starts to jot down her impressions of everything. Of course, Andy has no way of knowing that Jane is there as an assignment for creative writing class because Jane never bothered to tell her that. Andy decides to ask a boy to dance which stuns Jane. She still thinks a girl has to wait for a boy to ask. She tells Andy that she's going to watch and takes notes on the process which is kind of cute and endearing for a character that makes me want to choke her most of the time.

Andy is, of course, the best dancer on the floor because our protagonists are always just the best. Toby is the best rider and Andy is the best dancer and Jane is the best.....well, Jane exists.

Jane gets tired of taking notes on dancers and decides to move closer to take notes on the band. The musicians are an eclectic bunch. The drummer is chubby and clad in beach wear. The keyboardist is a beanpole in a pink tuxedo jacket. The bassist is “normal” which to Jane means he's wearing khaki's and a polo shirt...which isn't really normal for a punk band, Jane. The lead guitar player/singer is the anti-bassist. He has long hair – much longer than sheltered Jane has ever seen on a boy before (which means it's just above his shoulders). He is wearing horn-rim sunglasses, black pants, a leather vest and black boots with pointy, upturned toes. And....prepare yourself for this.....HE HAS AN EARRING. I need the smelling salts, y'all. I have just developed the vapors. {delicate sniff} There is jewelry in this boy's ears. Call the press. Call the principal. Call the paramedics because proper-Jane is about to go into shock.

By the way, the guitarist?....sexy as hell and I LOVE him. I mean, I did in 1986. And that's notable because as everyone knows, I'm usually all about the drummer. They have amazing hands.

The guitarist notices she's writing in her little notebook and on the next break in lyrics he leans down and asks her if she's writing his biography. She's hideously embarrassed and retreats to the back of the room where she can watch him from afar. She decides he's one of those scruffy, self-obsessed musician types and decidedly NOT on Neal's level. {delicate sniff} The band takes a break but Andy is immersed in a crowd on the dance floor teaching a bunch of people some dance. Jane decides to head to the girls' bathroom. She figures she can hang out at the mirrors and eavesdrop on everyone so she can get some actual quotes for her paper.

Not that that's CREEPY OR ANYTHING, JANE. Sheesh.

On her way, the guitarist catches up with her and asks what she was writing. She tells him it's a paper about a strange and exotic experience and he's a little surprised that a school dance is a strange and exotic experience for her. She decides he's being rude.....he really isn't....and keeps walking toward the bathroom. In her mind he's a conceited rock god and she's not going to give him a chance to prove otherwise. Rock god senses her irritation with him and he apologizes. He tells her that most people he knows wouldn't view a dance as exotic and asks her what places aren't exotic to her. Jane snottily replies museums and libraries are more her speed {delicate sniff} and he grins and says he's aware of their existence and has even ventured inside a time or two so they really have more in common than she thinks.

She starts to dismiss him with extreme prejudice but he surprises her by mentioning they were in a ballroom dance class together when they were much younger. He introduces himself as Cary Slade and now Jane's completely confused. All her instincts are to treat him like a filthy, leather-wearing, ear-holed, dirt monger but he's one of the elite in disguise. It short-circuits her simple little class-based brain and before she can pick her jaw up off the gym floor (ew.....you should wash that....boy sweat and sneakers and ick....) some rando girl comes up to spirit the rock god away.

Jane is mortified. She figures he thinks she's just some stuck-up, proper Boston princess {ahem...moment of extreme self-awareness}. She isn't supposed to care but, for some reason, she does. She begins to cry and runs out of the building. Which seems like a bizarre reaction. As she walks home alone (which is totally against the rules) she reminds herself how lucky she is to already have a steady boyfriend because you never have to worry that someone you like might not like you.

Hmmmm. That really doesn't bode well for yacht boy.

It's Saturday now and Jane is waiting for Neal to arrive on the train. I thought he had some kind of yacht thing going on, but whatever. She's anxious to see him after being parted for an entire week. She's having trouble remembering his face in her mind because every time she tries, she sees Cary's face instead. When he finally gets off the train, Jane thinks he isn't as happy to see her as she imagined he would be. He gives her a quick hug and then asks if they can get coffee.

Jane leads him to the Greaf Diner (it used to be Greenleaf Diner but most of the letters burned out). She's stunned when they go inside because Cary is working behind the counter. He gives her a grin when he sees her with Neal (he's wearing a tweed jacket, creased jeans, a button-down shirt and a rumpled tie on a Saturday morning) and she just knows he's judging her for being with such a preppy boy. She tries to play like she doesn't know Cary but he ruins it for her when he asks if she got what she needed for her story.

Jane breezes through the awkward moment with a lie about Cary giving her background information on the history of rock and roll. Neal buys it and Cary doesn't call her on it. He leaves to go put their orders in. Neal launches into a hugely boring story about the race the evening before. Do they really do yacht races in the evening during the fall? Wouldn't it get dark? I'm so confused by this whole yacht-racing concept being that the closest thing to a yacht I've ever been on is an inflatable pool raft. When the check comes, Jane sees that there's something written on the back. She grabs it before Neal can see and takes it to the register. Cary has written a little note saying he'd like to get to know her better and, despite the fact she's in a steady relationship with a boy she intends to marry someday, she nods her agreement to him.

I think there's something in the water at Canby Hall that makes girls cheat on their boyfriends.

Jane and Neal spend the day together and she notices that her feelings for him are more friendly than romantic. She wonders how long that's been the case. She spends the entire day thinking about Cary and hating it. When she gets back to the room after Neal leaves she can immediately tell something is wrong. Andy is upset and Toby is trying to comfort her with hot cocoa. Jane wonders what she's walked into.

Andy explains that her family doesn't believe that everything is going well at Canby. They think she's sad and they plan to visit the next weekend to check things out with their own eyes. If they find that things aren't hunky dory they are going to pack Andy right up and take her home. Jane proposes that they put on the greatest act ever and just act like they're the best of friends for the weekend. Then Andy's family will be fooled into thinking everything's okay and Andy will be able to stay.

Sunday night Dee throws a surfing party in the bathroom. She has lamps all over to simulate sun. The inside of the shower room is covered with thick mats from the gym on both the floor and the walls. They put some detergent on the mats and turn on the water and have an instant slip and slide situation going. Andy attends enthusiastically. Toby attends reluctantly (not wanting to insult Dee who is her only friend). Jane skips it entirely. {delicate sniff}

While Jane is in her room working on her paper, the phone rings. It's Cary asking her out for pizza. She declines and then about ten minutes later she hears music coming from outside her window. Cary is standing on the front lawn serenading her. Not only does time work differently at Canby Hall but so does architecture. At the beginning of the book the room faced the back of the building and the trees. Now, Jane can see Cary on the front lawn which either means their dorm room is HUGE and takes up an entire floor, or Ms Ghost Writer can't remember what she wrote 100 pages ago.

The serenading is an incredibly romantic thing in theory. Unfortunately the writer can't write song lyrics and she has poor Cary singing this:

“Hey, Jane, Jane, Jane,

Can you come out and play?

Can you let down your hair?

Or will you just stay up there in your tower?

Hey Jane, Jane, Jane,

What's this game we're playin'?

How come you're not sayin'

What you really mean?”

Poor Cary. The things this writer is making him suffer through.

Jane is embarrassed and can only think of how foolish she must look to everyone who is looking out of their window right now. Cary shouts up that he's got more verses or she could just come down and get pizza with him. She agrees to the pizza to shut him up, but she changes into something super cute before she goes downstairs which says a lot. When she reaches Cary's car he tells her that he's not into kidnapping so she doesn't really have to come along if she doesn't want to. But she clearly DOES want to. She tells him she'll go if he'll take off his sunglasses. His eyes are blue and she likes them.

Cary ends up being charming and sweet and not at all conceited like she expected. When he asks her about Neal she lies and tells him that she and Neal are just friends. Cary deserves better, y'all.

Over the next week, the roommates work on their “we're the best of friends” act for Andy's family. By the time they arrive, the girls think they have the matter well in hand. They've redecorated the room to make it look more homey and tacked pictures of Andy's hometown up everywhere. There's a “conversation nook” in one corner that basically consists of floor pillows. Jane lays it on thick when she tells them that they have a nightly “sharing hour” where they talk about their joys and frustrations. They even lie about the horrible food in the cafeteria saying that lobster tails are usually served on Friday nights.

By Saturday night, Andy's mom calls their bluff. Andy admits that the perfect show they are putting on is fake and things have been a little rough. Her mom tells her to hang in there because obviously Jane and Toby are good people to want to help Andy out like this. She thinks there is real friendship under the fake veneer. Sunday they all leave and Andy's future at Canby Hall is safe again. Things seem to be going well and then this comes out of her mouth:

“I mean, so what if I think you're a little bit of a slob and a snob, Jane? And so what if Jane thinks you're from Hicksville, Toby?”

She was intending it to be a statement about how they're all different but they can still be friends. Instead, both Toby and Jane are deeply insulted and they walk off in separate directions leaving Andy standing in the parking lot alone.

Jane ends up in the broom closet scrawling a letter home to her sister. She asks for advice about her roommates but most of the letter is about Cary. Andy goes to the dance studio to dance off her frustration. Toby runs to Randy's ranch. She finds him up in a hayloft pitching hay down into the stalls. Before he can say much, she bursts into tears. He doesn't say anything. He wraps an arm around her and sits with her on a hay bale. From time to time he brushes away her tears with his calloused hand.

These books write the guys so much better than the girls.

Toby eventually spills out the entire story and he tells her that Andy is probably feeling pretty stupid right now. He says he thinks they'll get over this if they can all stop being so over-sensitive and build some trust. Toby calms down and then invites him to go to a movie with her. Randy declines. He tries to tell her it's not that he doesn't care for her, because he does....as a friend....he just doesn't think it's a good idea for them to get involved because he's so much older. She runs off again.

When Dee gets back to her room after skateboarding, Maggie tells her that Toby left a note on her desk. The note asks if Dee wants to come see the best ocean with her and Dee is sure Toby can't be talking about the Atlantic because no one would call that the best. She goes to room 407 where Jane is cleaning up and asks if Jane's seen Toby. Jane says that she was taking a walk with Cary in the woods earlier and they saw Toby cross the path, but she didn't speak to them. Dee notices that Toby's tea bag is gone and she's sure Toby has run away.

Later that evening Jane and Andy are sitting in 407 in silence. Andy is nervous and Jane is hurt. Toby is missing. Dee comes running to tell them that Toby called her from town and she's planning on catching a train west. Almost immediately the phone rings and it's Cary telling Jane that Toby is sitting in the diner with a train ticket. At first Jane and Andy don't want to do anything about it. They think it's Toby's life and they have no right to interfere. Dee screams at them that Toby is basically calling for help and they're awful people for not even trying to help her.

Jane and Andy realize she's right but there are problems. Curfew is at 9:30 and it's already almost 9:00. They ask Dee and Maggie to hide in the downstairs laundry room so they can open the window when the time comes. Jane asks Cary to stall Toby as long as possible and then she calls Randy to tell him the situation. Then she and Andy take off for town. Proper-Jane is a a little excited to be doing something so naughty and it's endearing all over again.

When they get to the diner, the place is closed and Cary's mopping the floor. Andy is surprised to see him doing menial labor because he's even richer than Jane, but Jane explains that Cary just wants to be a regular person and not let his life be dictated by his wallet. They knock on the window and Cary tells them that he did his best but Toby has headed for the train station and the train is due any moment.

Jane and Andy run to the platform where the find Toby waiting. She's surprised to see them. The girls have a full-fledged Full-House-gentle-music-moment where they tell Toby how much she means to them and how they're all going to work really hard to be good roommates from now on. They hug it out and agree to make things work back in 407.

Randy arrives as the train leaves. Cary runs up to join them and see how it turned out. Randy offers to smuggle them all back onto campus. Only....Cary should be cleared to be out, right? Since he has a job? I sincerely doubt he's sneaking in and out all the time to work.  And wouldn't he have taken his car into work earlier?  Especially since he knew he'd be working late?  This makes zero sense, Ms Ghost Writer. 

Randy orders them to all get in the back of his truck and cover themselves with the hay. Sounds....rustic.  And itchy.  While under the hay, Jane and Cary have their first....and second....and fifteenth kiss. Jane realizes it might be time to decide what to do about the Cary/Neal situation. Seems like she maybe should have done that BEFORE making out with Cary under the hay while her roommates are a foot away.

Randy lets the girls off on campus. They signal Dee and Maggie with a flashlight and crawl through the laundry room window. Before they can sneak back to their rooms, Alison finds them. She decides to look the other way this once and all the girls head to bed. They decide that they are going to be very best of friends just like Dana, Faith and Shelley and the book ends.

Final Thoughts:  The head-hopping makes this book a challenge to recap. Not gonna lie.  In a single chapter you might be in three or four heads.  It feels a little excessive.  The characters are all a little cartoonish and exaggerated and the plot relies heavily on misunderstandings and over-sensitivity.  But there's a campy kind of fun in there too and it sucked me at age 11 and age 41.  I actually can't wait to read the next one, but I promised my manager that I wouldn't neglect the other blog in favor of this one, so it's going to have to wait until April.  I hope you'll come back to join me.