Party Time (Book 21) 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 was a total bitch in this book. Because you know at least one of them was.

Tag Line: Will Jane's roommates spoil the party?

From the Back of the Book: Everything is going wrong. Jane doesn't understand. Her friends should be honored to attend the Barrett Landing Party, the very formal annual celebration of the arrival of the first Barrett in Boston in 1663. But Toby and Andy are not exactly up on the rules of high-society etiquette and they are in trouble from the moment they arrive for the weekend. And with Jane's boyfriend Cary behaving his most outrageous, things do not look good for Jane's keeping her friends - or her boyfriend. Meanwhile Meredith Pembroke, the new housemother, is finding new rules and reasons for giving out demerits - until Toby takes matters into her own hands. How will the girls in 407 cope with the Barrett party and Meredith's strictness?

This blurb is a mess. Cary wasn't very outrageous at all. He was himself. Jane was never in danger of losing her friends OR boyfriend but she really should have been. And Toby didn't take anything into her own two hands at all. Sheesh, blurb writers. However, the cover artists were ON POINT this book. Those are the exact outfits described in the book. I might expire from the shock.

This book was published in 1987. When I was 12, I loved the cover of this book. I just thought Jane looked so pretty and I was super jealous of her dress. Looking at it now, I wonder what Toby and Andy were thinking. Jane looks super formal and they look super casual. Andy in particular looks dumpy and under-dressed. Maybe that's part of the conflict in this book. I don't remember it at all beyond the cover.

The ghostwriter for this book is Carol Anshaw. I looked her up and the Wiki page I found listed her as a teacher, painter and short story novelist. Also, she was heralded as an important feminist. Which leads me to think that this is not that Carol Anshaw. I can't imagine a feminist writing for this series.

Canby Hall Catch-Up: So you all know the drill. We have three protagonists (Jane – high society princess, Andy– urban ballerina and Toby – small town ranch girl). Jane is doing the “just friends” thing with Neal-the-blueblood but she still thinks of him as her boyfriend half the time and doing the “dating” thing with Cary-the-rock-god but forgets this fact any time he's out of direct sight. Andy is dating Matt (maybe). Toby wishes she was dating Randy who has magical aging powers. In the last book, Jane and Toby flew to Chicago over Christmas Break to help out at Andy's family's restaurant. Jane proved to be a lousy waitress but an excellent cheater as she picked up a guy named Zach (long live Canby Hall Cheater Fever) on the plane. Too bad Zach hated rich people and Jane had to pretend she was poor. Andy also picked up a guy – a waiter named Steve. They agree to date when Andy's home on break which is fine as long as Matt is good with it (as if she's going to tell him). Toby, as usual, was awesome – at waitressing and life in general. At the end of the book she made a date to make a date with Jane's favorite blueblood Neal.

This book picks up about a week after the Christmas break restaurant fiasco. Our protagonists are back at Canby Hall and under about a foot of snow. Toby is hopelessly out of her element. Andy thinks the weather is trying to help them keep Alison (the housemother) from leaving. As you might remember, she got married around Thanksgiving time and is now ready to finally start her new life as a wife. The girls are on their way to the dining hall for Alison's going away party.

We get our standard paragraph about how the girls are so different but really good friends.

The girls of Baker House do skits and read poems and sing tributes to Alison. A good time is had by all. The 407 girls prank her with a fake cake made out of a rock. Oh, the hilarity. After they have real cake and ice cream, Alison introduces her replacement to everyone.  Has she just been standing in the corner waiting for this moment, listening to everyone say how they want Alison to stay 4eva?  Awkward.

Meredith Pembroke is the exact opposite of Alison. She's dressed formally in a skirt suit and scarf tie. Her hair is pulled back severely in a bun. She's pretty but hard looking. Naturally, everyone pretty much hates her on sight and she's not going to have a chance with this crowd. She further alienates the girls by saying they're all past curfew and, while she won't give them demerits this time, if any of them take longer than 15 minutes to get back to Baker House, they'll be written up.

Way to make a good first impression, Meredith.

We hop ahead a day (or 12 – who knows?). Cary, Jane, Andy, Matt, Toby and Randy are all tobogganing down the hill. Randy is 20 in this book. I can't remember how old he was last book. It changes because the ghostwriters really can't keep track. We're treated to THREE PAGES of how unlikely of a couple Jane and Cary are. She's stuck up and preppy and a bitch while he's friendly and a rock god and has an earring. They both come from old Boston money which Jane loves and Cary doesn't.

They have a snowball fight, drink cider and engage in a sing-a-long in the back of Randy's truck on the way back to campus. You can't really get anymore wholesome than that. After the girls are dropped off, Jane tells them that she has something important to talk to them about. In a few weeks it will be time for the “Barrett Landing Party” {delicate sniff} and she wants them to come. Every year her family hosts a “semi-formal” party to celebrate when their ancestors landed in Massachusetts. Toby and Andy are immediately skeptical. Andy thinks there won't be any other people of color there and Jane rushes to announce there will be three. Wow. Three. Diverse. Toby makes a crack about there not being any ranch people there and Jane gets exasperated with them. It's one weekend at her home and one party Saturday night. Surely they can handle that.

Why, no, Jane. No, they surely can't. If they could, we wouldn't have a book.

Also, Jane clearly told them it was a "semi-formal" party.  So why did they bring the outfits they are wearing on the cover?  Neither of those outfits are "semi-formal".

Andy and Toby don't want to go especially and they're sure they'll be super out of place, but they like Jane and they want to be there for her. Toby vows to get a book on etiquette to brush up on rich people manners. She's such a good friend.

We didn't spend any time worshipping the old girls from afar last book, so the ghostwriter makes up for it in this one. Andy decides she needs to call Faith because only Faith could understand the problems of a “black girl in a white girl's school”. For those who don't remember, Dana (sophisticated New Yorker), Faith (urban photographer) and Shelley (rural actress-wannabe) used to live in room 407. They were different but the best of friends. Sound familiar? They're also fairly awful and I hate them but the series LOVES them so much it can't let them go.

Andy explains her apprehension about Jane's party and Faith says it will be fine because “there will be other blacks there”. I'm not making that up. It's in the book. Faith reminds her that “black is beautiful” and says if she could go to Shelley's hometown in Iowa where a black person was so rare that she attracted crowds on the street (this is a fucking untrue statement – I remember that book and nothing like that happened – I hate Faith) then Andy can go to one little Boston party.

Andy heads back upstairs feeling better. WHY? All Faith did was tell her black is beautiful. I guess that was enough. Meredith stops her before she can reach 407 and gives her a demerit for making a call after 11 pm which is against house rules. Andy thinks she's joking at first because Alison never gave out demerits but Meredith assures her that things are going to be very different from now on.  And our B-plot is born.

We get three pages of room description that I'm going to skip because who cares? The tea bag is mentioned along with the fact that it was one of the greatest mysteries of Baker House because Toby refused to explain it. TELL ME WHY YOU TAPED A TEA BAG TO YOUR CEILING, TOBY!!! I keep naming you Queen of the Book. You owe me this.

Jane is getting ready to go out with Cary so it must be a new day. She wants to ask him to go to the landing party with her but she's pretty sure he'll refuse. Cary is really trying to make a break from Bostonian “society” and Jane knows he won't want to go to such a thing. As she gets dressed, she does a lot of bragging to the other two about how a Barrett was at the Boston Tea Party and it was a Barrett who gave Paul Revere a fresh horse on his famous ride. Andy makes a crack about a Barrett being at the signing of the Declaration of Independence (which is funny how?) and Jane gets pissed. She asks Andy where she gets off making fun of such an important historical family. {delicate sniff}

By the way, Jane is described as wearing dark designer jeans, a powder blue ski sweater, a pink beret and a burgundy vest with an upturned collar. The other girls think she's a snazzy dresser but the vest part is killing me.  Do vests even have collars?  Okay, I Google Imaged it and it turns out that some vests do, indeed, have collars.  Blogger 0, Ghostwriter 1.

After Jane leaves, Toby and Andy go to the dining hall with Maggie and Dee from the room next door. The ghostwriter makes sure to remind us that Maggie is only important because she's sainted Dana's little sister. There's a lot of talk about how awful the food is, which is a running thing throughout the series. I have a tough time believing that an expensive, prestigious, private school would have awful food.

Andy bitches and whines about the party and Dee says to just stick her tongue out at all the guests because that's so incredibly mature. Toby proves her wonderfulness yet again by saying they care for Jane and they would never want to do anything that would hurt her. They're going to go and do their very best to fit in.

We hop to Jane who is just finishing up dinner at Pizza Pete's. She hasn't mustered the courage to invite Cary yet. Hopefully she's learned her lesson from Alison's wedding (she invited Neal because he was more socially acceptable and then invited Cary because he was who she wanted to go with and they BOTH ended up showing up). After dinner, Cary suggests they head back to his dorm. Once a month, Oakley Prep allows residents to have their friends or girlfriends over as long as they keep their dorm doors open. Jane is a little weirded out by Cary's anti-social roommate Stu and Cary's supreme neatness but she agrees to go.

Jane comments how weird it is that Cary rejects high society but he keeps his room neat as a pin.

Huh?

Are those two things ACTUALLY related? What a bizarre thing to say.

Cary reminds her that he was taught neatness way before he became a “rebel” and that prompts Jane to launch into this massive paragraph about how much it means to her to be a Barrett and how connected she feels to her ancestors throughout history. She brings up the landing party and Cary is actually excited to go. But not for any reason that Jane feels acceptable. He has an assignment for anthropology class to observe some sort of societal ritual. He thinks the landing party will do nicely. Jane gets hella pissed. She wants him to want to go because he thinks the Barretts are the most amazing thing since canned tuna, not because he wants to study them.

Cary reminds her that they met because she was studying HIM for a class assignment about a new and interesting experience. He points out that there's no difference in what she did and what he wants to do. She can't accept this reasonableness so she literally stomps off like a three year old. I hate Jane.

TEAM CARY!

Jane stomps all the way back to her room where Andy, Toby, Maggie and Dee are playing Clue because they're adorable. She throws a massive fit about Cary and then explodes when the girls just keep playing their game. She yells that her family has been insulted and she can't believe they're not at the door with torches and then she stomps out of the room again.

Bet you can't guess who will be the Bitch of Baker House for this book.

Dee asks Toby and Andy if they can knock Jane off her high horse because she's driving everyone up the wall. They reply that they're just going to have to live with it until the party is over. Bleak but probably accurate.

Jane is awful in the remaining days before the party. She continually spouts historical Barrett facts at every given opportunity. Toby and Andy are sick of hearing about the perfect Barretts {delicate sniff} but, like good friends, they bite their tongues and hope it will pass after the party. Meredith continues to be a pain in the ass, giving out demerits for rules no one knew existed. Because Faith wasn't worshipped enough during the phone call, there's several pages of Andy writing her a letter to tell you everything I just said in four sentences.

On the day before the party, Jane takes the train to Boston so she can help her mother with some last-minute things. Cary volunteers to drive Andy and Toby AND agrees to show them around town on Saturday because he's awesome and you should all love him as much as I do. Cary is charming on the drive. He kids around with Toby and Andy and shows he can handle being teased and is capable of laughing at himself.  Unlike someone we know.  He tells them that he finds Boston high-society suffocating and he thinks Jane's parents aren't going to like him much. Toby and Andy reveal they've had the same fear. Cary says they're all awesome and if the Barretts can't see that, it's their problem.

They arrive in Boston and the girls are impressed with how pretty Jane's neighborhood is. Cary gives them some background about the area and then pulls up to Jane's house. Toby admits she's nervous to go in and Cary tells her just to go in there like she belongs and knows what she's doing. He tells her that goes for the whole weekend. Andy gives him an affectionate arm punch and tells him he's pretty amazing. Which should have been obvious from the beginning.

TEAM CARY!

Toby and Andy ring the bell and are ushered into the south parlor by Bernice the maid. They explore the room a bit and then see a rope hanging in the corner. Toby pulls on it, pretending to be a train engineer or something and, to their surprise, a butler appears. He asks them if they want tea and the girls seem to assume it's a joke and Andy says they'd love tea and crumpets. Toby pipes in that she'd like scones. She doesn't know what they are, but she knows people have them with tea. Andy adds in cherries jubilee and the butler bows and leaves.

Andy then goes over to a chessboard by the window and starts moving pieces around.  Who does that?  Has she never been a guest in someone's home before?  Toby stops her and tells her that someone might have been in the middle of a game. Andy panics because she can't remember where the pieces were. They're trying to figure out what to do when the door opens again. An overweight young woman walks into the room.  Andy is stunned to find out it's Jane's older sister Charlotte. Jane raves about her sister and Andy expected someone cool, not this fat lump.

Fuck you, Andy.

Charlotte asks about their trip and welcomes them to the house. She's about to show them to their room when Walton the butler comes in with the tea tray filled with scones and crumpets and cherries jubilee. Charlotte sarcastically replies that she's glad the girls are making themselves at home. Toby and Andy are suitably embarrassed and they invite Charlotte to join them but she replies that dinner is in an hour and she doesn't think it's appropriate to eat so much food now. {delicate sniff} She tells Walton to show them to their room after they've finished their feast and she leaves.

The room the girls will be staying in is beautiful but simple. Andy notices that Toby is a little teary and she gently asks why. Toby reveals that she's always wanted a room like this but growing up on a ranch with only men around, she's never had the chance to do any kind of decorating. Andy realizes that's why Toby only has an army blanket on her bed and no real decorations. She promises Toby they'll go second-hand shopping when they get back and they'll find her some simple, beautiful things. It's a really nice, true moment between friends. Good job, ghostwriter.

Andy jokes that they can even find a cozy for the tea bag and then asks if Toby will ever tell her why it's there. Toby actually opens her mouth to tell.....................and Jane walks in and interrupts.

DAMN YOU JANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jane is there to bring them down to dinner. She then drops the bombshell that they're expected to “dress for dinner” which means a skirt or dress. Shouldn't she have told them this before they packed? How were they supposed to know. It's already been established that Jane is taller than Andy and a size bigger than Toby which means sharing clothes is more complicated. So they can't exactly borrow a dress from her. Although technically, the dress could be long on Andy and baggy on Toby and still be appropriate. Toby has a denim skirt which Jane says will have to do. {delicate sniff} Andy is already wearing a skirt but Jane asks her to change her Tina Turner sweatshirt for something more proper. {delicate sniff}  When Andy looks offended, Jane rushes to say that she wouldn't care what they wore to dinner but her parents will assume they don't care about making a good impression if they don't “dress”.

Ugh.

Toby and Andy get changed and go downstairs where everyone is seated around the dining room table. Andy thinks Mr and Mrs Barrett look like stereotypical socialites. Of course they do. Everyone is a stereotype in these books. Mr Barrett fancies himself a wit and cracks bad “dad jokes” at them. Dinner has many courses and Toby manages to bungle them all. She doesn't know how to eat artichoke or soft-shell crabs and she drinks her finger bowl. Mrs Barrett corrects her constantly and Mr Barrett mocks her, thinking he's being funny. Charlotte is silent through the entire two-hour meal.

Later that night when Toby and Andy are in their beds laughing about the horrible evening, Jane comes in. She tells them that Cary meeting her parents was pretty much awful. He didn't even try to suck up – he just acted like he always does. This infuriates her, of course, as she expected him to act more like Neal.

You know who acts like Neal, Jane? Neal. If you want a Neal, you can have a Neal. Stop trying to turn Cary into Neal.

Jane drops another bombshell on them. All the men at the party will be required to wear Pilgrim hats and all the women will be required to wear Pilgrim bonnets. They're personalized. Andy's will have a tiny ballerina on the edge and Toby's will have a horse. Neither girl is thrilled and Toby blurts out “no way” before she can think better of it.

Then we get this from Jane:

“Suddenly she wheeled around and lashed out at them. 'You are so incredibly selfish! I've had it with all of you! Cary shows up looking like Keith Richards and you two display the table manners of cave dwellers. And now you're balking at the honor of wearing Pilgrim bonnets to the Barrett Landing Party?! Sometimes I think that with friends like you...well, as they say, who needs enemies?”

Jane can suck an egg.

The next morning, Bernice wakes the girls with coffee and croissants on a tray. There's a note from Cary “Let's do Boston. Call me. Cary.” Toby couldn't be more excited to leave the Barrett house. She calls Cary immediately and makes arrangements for him to pick them up in half an hour.

Cary takes them to an old-fashioned marketplace first. It's set up like a street bazaar and has pretty much anything a person could want. Toby reveals a deep love for rainbows when she sees a rainbow shop and ends up buying a bedspread, rug and mobile there for her side of the dorm. A mobile? Like you hang over baby cribs? Odd. They roam around, having a great time. Andy buys a chocolate bar in the shape of a ballet slipper and Cary picks up a present for Jane even though she's being a complete bitch.

The next stop is a diner that serves authentic British fish and chips. Then Cary takes them on a driving tour of all the important landmarks. He stops at the museum so they can see the Barrett family collection and then even escorts them to his sister's favorite bargain shopping spot. When they get done with that, Andy stops at a payphone to let Jane know they're headed home. Jane comes to the phone screaming about how they sneaked off without telling her where they were going and how dare they when there was a party to prepare for. Andy reminds her that she set the thing up in the first place and Jane coldly says she doesn't remember doing that. Of course you did, bitch. It's YOUR boyfriend. You're the only one who really could set it up.

Andy apologizes for the miscommunication and says they'll be home soon. Jane mentions that her parents and Charlotte are VERY UPSET that Toby and Andy haven't been helping set up for a party they are supposed to be guests at. Seriously. They aren't family and they aren't hired help and NO ONE EVER ASKED THEM TO HELP. Andy is miffed. She thinks Jane ought to explain that JANE set it up for Andy and Toby to be gone. Jane says she might if she can catch anyone but they're pretty busy.

I call bullshit.

These people would HIRE help to set up. They wouldn't be doing it themselves.

Jane meets them at the door when they arrive. There are caterers and florists and maids bustling about but there's also Mrs Barrett up on a ladder hanging crepe paper.

Bullshit.

Mr Barrett is yelling on the phone about the chess game Andy fucked up. Apparently he's been playing with some guy in another country via telex. Telex is like.....the 80s version of texting. He has no idea Andy moved the pieces and he thinks the other guy is cheating. Nice. Jane rushes them up to her room to see her fancy party dress. While they're in there, Charlotte drops by to borrow some makeup and they have an odd conversation about why Charlotte doesn't have a date. Later, in their room, Toby and Andy discuss it and Andy predicts that Charlotte is having a “secret tragic romance”. I don't remember much of this book and a part of me hopes it's with a woman but I know that wouldn't fly back in the 80's.

Toby and Andy begin to get ready. Toby never unpacked and her outfit is horribly wrinkled. Andy suggests hanging it in the bathroom and turning the shower on hot so the steam will take care of the wrinkles. It doesn't work. They decide to go looking for an iron. Andy suggests they take the back stairs because they probably lead to the servant's quarters. As they're going down the stairs, Toby stumbles and falls into the wall. To their surprise, a secret door opens. Toby wants to keep going down the stairs, but Andy can't resist the allure of a secret passage.

The girls go through the passage and find another set of winding stairs that go down further into the house. They can smell lilac perfume so they know the stairs have been used recently. The stairs dead end. Andy suggests Toby “fall” into the wall again, so she does and a door clicks open again. They find themselves in a closet. On the other side of the closet door is McNulty's room. McNulty is the driver and they stumble onto him and Charlotte making out. Charlotte panics. She's been secretly seeing McNulty for over a year and her parents would never approve. Toby and Andy swear to keep her secret. Charlotte says they can tell Jane. She's been trying to figure out how to tell her for awhile now. McNulty offers to help them find an iron and all is well again.

The party is as dull as predicted. Toby and Andy are having a terrible time. Cary is getting plenty of notes for his research. In respect to Jane, he's dressed in a suit and tie and isn't wearing his sunglasses. Neal shows up and asks Toby to take a walk with him through the conservatory. They flirt a bit and Neal opens up about how trapped he feels in his life. His family has huge expectations of him and he's not sure he wants to follow the path they're laying out for him. Toby compares it to being handed a script of your life and having to just accept you'll be reading lines other people have written for you. Neal likes the way she thinks and they go through a compliment/blush cycle for a few pages before he tells her he wants her to meet his mother. You remember her – the woman who called Jane and begged her to take Neal back.

Toby and Neal leave the conservatory just as Jane and Cary go in. Cary pulls Jane behind the orchids for some smooching. Jane is glued to his face when her mom walks in. Mrs Barrett is very disapproving. She asks what people would think if they walked in there. Cary says they'd be very shocked to see mild-mannered Clark Kent, reporter, in such a situation but that's only because they don't realize he's really.....here he rips open his blazer to reveal superman suspenders......SuperCary!! Jane is mortified but her mom bursts out laughing. She tells Cary that she can see what Jane sees in him. Duh, lady, we ALL can.

Meanwhile the party is failing. Everyone is bored and several people have already left. The teens get together and decide they have to save this party.

You know.....this party that they have EVERY SINGLE YEAR exactly the same way and that everyone has previously enjoyed enough to KEEP COMING BACK. But THIS time....this year....it needs the kids to rescue it.

Sigh.

Cary talks to the band and they are going to shake things up and play something with a beat. They even have an extra guitar so he can show 'em how it's done. Jane is dubious. She isn't sure it's a rock crowd. Andy hops on stage and bellows into the microphone that she's going to give everyone "disco madness" lessons.

Oh, Lord.

At first, the crowd just stares at her, rather horrified. The teens and Charlotte rush forward to fill the dance floor and, to their surprise, several elderly people join them. Cary theorizes that the older people don't care so much about maintaining their stuffy reputations anymore. He gets the band started and Andy gets the group dancing by telling them to “merge their bodies with the music and get behind the sound”.

Oh, Lord.

Naturally this is a raging success and soon the whole place is dancing with wild abandon. The teens have saved the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

The next day Cary drives them all back to Canby Hall. The girls are met by Meredith who gives them each a demerit for signing out in pencil instead of ink. We still have about 50 pages to go so I'm guessing we're moving on to the B plot.

Sure enough, the next several pages are just a laundry list of things the girls do to get demerits (kissing Cary, having a goldfish, using a hair dryer, messy room, etc). Andy finally says they need to go see PA. PA is the principal or headmistress or president or whatever of the school. They think she might be able to talk Meredith into being more reasonable.

The girls go to see PA who invites them into her study to talk. She hears them out and admits they aren't the first girls to come and complain. She tells them that Meredith is new and sometimes when someone is new they try way too hard to make sure they do the job right. Technically Meredith is doing exactly what she's supposed to do and making sure everyone follows the rules. PA admits that Meredith is being strict but she feels like the “dust will settle” and things will resolve themselves. She thinks that will be better than her coming down like a hammer on a person who is trying to find her footing in a new situation. I can see her point. It's not the answer the girls want, though, and they glumly leave.

In the midst of all the Meredith drama, Toby gets a letter from Neal. He's coming up on Saturday to take her to Pizza Pete's and she's pretty moony over it. Saturday morning she gets up early to take a ride at Randy's to work off some of her nervous energy. She's sitting on the front steps eating a donut for breakfast when Meredith pulls up with a friend. Toby is shocked to see that Meredith's friend is hip and punk and awesome. The two of them are laughing as they get out of the car but Meredith turns all business when she sees Toby.

Technically girls aren't allowed to leave the dorms that early in the morning. Especially if they are headed off campus which Toby admits she's doing. Meredith says she's giving Toby two demerits. Toby says fine and then starts to leave. Meredith asks her what she's doing and Toby replies that since she already got the demerits despite not having actually left campus, she might as well earn them by actually leaving campus. Part of me cheered for her, but most of me knew this was a hugely bad decision. Sure enough, Meredith grounds Toby to her room until Monday (except for the dining hall).

As Toby walks away, she hears Meredith's friend (Rachel) ask “Merry” why the hell she's acting like a witch. She reminds Meredith that Meredith broke every single rule at their school and the administration even had to add new rules to the books to cover some of the things Meredith did. Meredith hurriedly hushes her.

Toby goes in the front door and out the back door. She runs all the way to the ranch. Randy comes out to the barn as she's saddling Maxine and asks her if she's sure she's ready to ride in the snow. It's something she won't be used to, being a Texas girl. She's in a bad mood and snaps at him for treating her like a kid. Then she tells him she thinks she's in love with Neal. He asks how long she's been seeing Neal and she admits that they haven't even gone on their first date yet. Randy tells her that what she's feeling is attraction. Love takes time to grow. She doesn't want to hear it and she takes off at a full gallop.

Toby rides for a bit and then decides to head back. Unfortunately, Maxine gallops into a snow drift and throws Toby off in her panic. Toby hits her ankle on a tree and can't walk. She tries calling for help. Time passes. She begins to lose consciousness from exposure. She's about to drift off when she hears Randy yelling for her. She tries to yell back, but can't manage much sound. Remembering her red scarf in her pocket, she pulls it out and waves it. He finally sees her and comes to the rescue.

Randy puts her on his horse and swings up behind her. The infirmary at Canby Hall is the closest place to get her medical attention, so he heads there. On the way, he gets flagged down by Meredith who threatens to give him a demerit for having livestock on campus. HE DOESN'T EVEN GO THERE! He's like 20. Or 23. Or maybe 19. Sometimes he's 21.  AND HE'S A BOY!  When she sees Toby on the horse, she flies off the handle and threatens her with extreme punishment. When Toby just nods, Meredith realizes something is wrong and orders Randy to take her to the infirmary. HE WAS GOING THERE ALREADY YOU IDIOT.

Jane, Andy, Randy, Dee and Maggie crowd the waiting room of the infirmary waiting to hear from the doctor. He finally appears and tells them that Toby is going to be fine. Her ankle is severely sprained and she'll need to wear a soft cast and walk with a cane for awhile. Randy asks to go up and see her. While he's gone, Meredith shows up with Rachel demanding to talk to Toby. The nurse refuses to let her but makes her come into the office to sign some paperwork. While she's gone, Rachel joins the girls and tries to strike up conversation.

It's clear that Rachel expects the girls to like Meredith and she's surprised to hear they all hate her. She says that Meredith was the wildest girl on campus in college and she was worried when she heard Meredith got this job because she was afraid she'd be too lenient. Andy and Jane think that is probably the problem. Meredith doesn't want to be too lenient so she's being too strict. Meredith reappears and tells them she'll be back because she has something important to tell Toby.

I hope someone calls Neal and tells him Toby is sedated and won't exactly be going to Pizza Pete's.

Time passes. It's evening now. Toby wakes up to find her room full of balloons. Apparently someone DID call Neal because he brought a rainbow of balloons with him from Boston. He's also been down in the waiting room all afternoon waiting for her to wake up. He comes up and they reschedule their date for the next Saturday. He kisses her before he leaves.

Andy pulls out a white bag and says they got Chinese so Toby wouldn't have to eat the cafeteria food. Um. Like when? They had no idea when she'd wake up. Has it just been sitting there all afternoon? Are they trying to kill her? They're eating when Meredith comes in. She's wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and she just seems....different.

Meredith explains that she realized she'd gone overboard when she saw Toby on the horse and instead of wondering why, she was trying to figure out what kind of demerits she could give out. She tells them about being wild and crazy through her school years. Her dad died and her mom got sick and there was suddenly no money and she had to stop being wild and grow up. She needed a job and her family was friends with PA so PA offered her this one. But PA knew about her wild past and Meredith felt the need to prove she'd changed. She realizes she's gone too far and she wants to make a fresh start but she doesn't know how now that she's the most hated person on campus.

The girls suggest she call a house meeting and explain everything like she just did to them. She could hold an amnesty day on the demerits and start everyone out with a clean slate. Meredith thinks it's a good idea but doesn't hold much hope.

However it all turns out perfect because this is Canby Hall. “Merry” is accepted into the fold and all is perfect and pretty and wrapped up in a neat bow.

Hey.

NO ONE CHEATED ON ANYONE IN THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm........stunned.

Queen of the Book Award: Um. I should change the name of this.

Introducing.........

The Least Annoying Person in Greenleaf Award: I'm giving it to Cary. He was amazing in this book. He was understanding of Jane's altered state. He was good to her friends. He put on a suit for her party and he saved the day with a borrowed guitar.

The Bitch of Baker House Award: Jane. Was there ever any doubt. She was insufferable in this book and Cary should have dumped her ass in that conservatory.  Why did they all just let her get away with acting like that?  Someone should have roasted her for how she talked to all of them.  PLUS she interrupted Toby when we were about to find out about the tea bag!!!!!!!!!

Coming Up Next: Someone is making trouble for the girls in 407. Does this mean it's NOT the girls from 407 screwing up for once?