And we’ve finally made it to the end. Here is the very last episode of the season and all of those fun extras including a special look at the Wakefield family in turmoil, the battle for Liz’s heart, Jessica’s love curse and how Sweet Valley High tried to get serious at the end of the season. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again! (I hope.) 😛
The Perfect Size Six (Continued)
Episode 81 – “Friend Against Friend”: Andy Jenkins is a science genius, in a band, a good student, and an all around nice guy. He’s also black. His best friend is Neil Freemount. One day, Andy and Neil go to Andy’s locker and find it full of trash with a note that says, “Go back to Africa.” Neil is outraged and wants to go to the principal but Andy tells him to just leave it be and let him handle it his own way. Neil tells his girlfriend, Penny Ayala, and Elizabeth Wakefield. Both girls can’t believe something like this could happen in Sweet Valley and are upset. Neil’s dad has his good friend Mr. Cashman over. Mr. Cashman is ranting about their new supervisor and how he was only promoted because of that damn affirmative action. He says a bunch of racist things and Neil is horrified to see his father agreeing with him. The next day, Neil, Andy and their girlfriends, Penny and Tracy, are at the Dairi Burger when Tracy has to leave for work. Andy and Neil go outside first and see Charlie Cashman (Mr. Cashman’s son) and a few of his friends leering at them. Charlie tells Andy he is only getting this science award because he’s black. Andy ignores them and they meet the girls at Tracy’s car. All of Tracy’s tires are flat and Charlie and his goons are laughing loudly and then they take off. Tracy is also black. Neil takes Tracy to work so she won’t be late and offers to come back to help Andy with Tracy’s car, but Andy tells him he doesn’t need help from any white person. Andy won’t talk to Neil and the next week things are tense. Mr. Freemount keeps talking about how their boss is picking on Mr. Cashman who is ultimately fired because he keeps showing up to work late. Charlie comes over to Neil’s in an attempt to get away from his father and Neil feels sorry for him and agrees to go out with him for a drive. When they get back Neil feels guilty for hanging out with Charlie because of how he’s treating Andy. The next day at school Charlie tries to get Neil to hang out with him and his friends but Neil says no. Andy sees this and tells Neil he can’t hang around Cashman and still be his friend, they have a fight and aren’t talking again. The next day, Charlie trips Andy in the hall and they get into a big fight. Mr. Collins breaks it up and asks Neil if Charlie is picking on Andy because he is black. Neil doesn’t say anything. That night Neil and Penny see a movie but leave early because Neil is too upset about Andy. When they get to the parking lot, they see a crowd of guys shaking a car. Penny runs inside to call the police while Neil goes over to the crowd and discovers it is Charlie Cashman and his crew assaulting Andy. By the time Neil gets to them Andy is unconscious. Charlie tells Andy to take a swing because Andy has been treating him like crap. Suddenly, Neil is overcome by all the anger he feels towards Andy and hits him before he can stop himself. Then he freaks out, runs to his car and drives away, stranding Penny at the mall. A few minutes later, Neil pulls over and throws up. Neil is avoiding everyone, worried someone will find out what he did. Then his father surprises him with football tickets and during halftime he tells Neil that Neil shouldn’t have hit Andy when he was down, but he did the right thing. Andy deserved it. Neil is horrified his did is a racist and goes to Andy’s house as soon as they get back to Sweet Valley. Neil plans on coming clean, but when he gets there Andy apologizes for acting like such a jerk and wants to be friends again. Neil chickens out. Jessica’s sociology teacher conducts an experiment where all the students with blue and gray eyes are second-class citizens. They’re forced to sit in back and cannot talk or raise their hands and the other students can treat them however they want to. Everyone realizes how horrible it feels to be discriminated against and how easy it is to discriminate. Charlie approaches Neil and tells him that it’s time to teach Andy another lesson and if he doesn’t help, then Charlie will tell the cops it was Neil who beat up Andy. Charlie’s dad has already given Charlie an alibi. Neil finally comes clean to Andy and Penny and both of them storm off. Penny tells Neil he wasn’t who she thought he was and it looks like Neil just lost his best friend and his girlfriend. He drives around and ends up back at Sweet Valley High just in time to see Charlie and his gang walking toward Andy on the football field. Neil runs to join Andy. He tells Andy he is going to stand by him this time. Andy says it doesn’t change anything and Neil says he knows that, but he is going to always stand by Andy from now on. Neil tells Charlie that they’ll have to beat him up too and this makes them think twice about things and they leave. Neil and Andy walk off in opposite directions and it’s unclear if they’ll ever be friends again. Penny takes Neil back though.
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