Hopkins, Cathy

Nesta, an English teenager, wonders if she can compete for the attention of an upper-class boy.

Izzy finds reasons to be home just in case Mark calls.

Relieved to escape from her fast-moving relationship with Tony, English fourteen-year-old Lucy Lovering sets off on a school trip to Italy with her best friends, Izzie, T. J., and Nesta, and finds herself taken with him and wondering what he feels for her.

Fourteen-year-old Lucy finds herself desperately in need of a self-esteem boost when she is completely stumped by a class writing assignment, gets a bad haircut, and decides her physical development is lacking in comparison with her friends.

Nesta's friendship with T.J. is strained when Luke, the boy whom Nesta has been dating, develops an interest in T.J.

TJ, not wanting to be seen as a two-timer, enlists the mates in helping her decide between new guy Ollie and her old flame Luke, but a family illness makes relationships seem less important.

Nesta, devastated when she has to wear braces, refuses to be comforted by her friends, but attracting Luke's attention goes a long way to restoring her confidence.

British teen Izzy tries to spread her wings but soon finds herself thwarted by her mother, shunned by her friends, and confused and a bit frightened by her older, somewhat wild boyfriend, Josh.

Izzie, always a bit curvy, picks up some pounds over the holidays and becomes so obsessed with losing weight that she forgets all the good things going on in her life.

Desperate to end her losing streak with boys, Becca kisses the next guy she sees, but she soon realizes that she wants more than a passing fling with him and wonders how she can let him know she is really not that shallow.