Looking for Alibrandi

Josie admires her reflection in the mirror in preparation for her date with Jacob. But then she puts on her glasses and “reality set[s] in.” As she comes out of the bathroom, she tells Mama again about Jacob’s speech, that he’s school captain of Cook, and that he’s “meaningful.” Mama raises her eyebrow when the doorbell rings and assures Josie that she’s always nice to Josie’s friends. Josie is shocked and disappointed when she sees that Jacob is wearing old jeans and a sweater with holes. He hasn’t shaved, either. Mama looks shocked—and then perplexed that Jacob grunts his hello to her.

Embarrassed, Josie runs to her room for her coat. Mama follows and hisses that Jacob looks like someone who rides a motorcycle. Josie assures Mama that Jacob just resents having to meet Mama and is doing this on purpose, but Mama says that Nonna would be aghast. Mama wants to keep Josie home, but relents and says she wants Josie home as soon as the movie is over. Josie assures Mama that she’s not sure she wants to go out with Jacob again after this.

Josie leads Jacob outside and ignores him until he grabs for her hand. Then, she yells at him for dressing so poorly, speaking poorly, and grunting. They continue to shout at each other as they get on Jacob’s motorcycle and ride downtown. When they get to the theater, Josie suggests they see Pride and Prejudice, but Jacob says he’s not seeing “a pansy movie.” He wants to see a “normal movie” and grouses that he gave up his Saturday for this. Josie accuses him of acting like a jerk because she made him meet Mama, but Jacob says that this is who he is—and he’s never “had to go out with an ethnic girl” before.

Josie shouts that she’s not “an ethnic,” and Jacob retorts that she called him an Australian like it was an insult the other day. He tells Josie to “go back to [her] own country” and they stare at each other in silence. Then, Josie storms outside and walks toward home, thinking that Mama will kill her. She becomes aware that there’s a car trailing her and screeches that her father’s a cop—but from the car, Michael says that Josie’s father is a barrister. Josie gets in, says she doesn’t want to talk about why she’s out on her own, and asks what Michael is doing. He says he’d like to get to know Josie, since she’s clearly not going away.

Josie agrees to get pizza with Michael. They go to a warm pizza place and Josie can’t help it—she loves sitting across from her father, and she also can’t stop looking outside for Jacob. After a few minutes, Josie tells Michael everything about Jacob. She realizes that when they’re not both being hostile, talking to him is fun, and conversation flows easily. When they’re finished with their meal, Josie offers to pay since she just got a job. Michael frowns when he hears Josie works at McDonald’s at night; he insists it’s not safe. He offers Josie a job working for him in the afternoons. Josie is excited—she can tell people she’s doing legal work, even though she’ll just be photocopying. She can one-up Poison Ivy with this job.

Michael drives Josie home and suggests she date John instead of Jacob. When they get to Josie’s house, Josie shyly asks if Michael ever wondered if Mama went through with her pregnancy. Michael says he wants to be honest: he’s not sure he can love Josie, but he does want to get to know her. When pressed to answer Josie’s question, he admits that he and Mama discussed abortion. Michael didn’t think Mama would stand up to Nonno, who was a “bastard.” He adds that he can’t promise Josie he would’ve come back if he’d known Mama had continued her pregnancy. Josie says he would have and walks away.

When Josie gets inside, she nervously tells Mama about her night. Rather than being angry, though, Mama hugs Josie. Later, Josie asks Mama about her relationship with Michael. Mama says she loved Michael as much as she could at age 16. After a minute, Josie says that Mama looked nice the day she went out with Paul—and Mama is more beautiful than other women. Mama sends Josie to bed and, before Josie goes, notes that anything could’ve happened to Josie out on the streets. Josie says she understands. As she lies in bed later, she wishes Jacob would call and apologize and even checks the phone three times. He doesn’t call.