Looking for Alibrandi

Two days after Mama meets Michael Andretti, it’s the annual Have a Say Day in Martin Place. The plan is for Sera to drive Josie and their two friends, Anna and Lee. The four girls are all misfits who don’t fit into any other cliques at school. Anna is blond and gorgeous, but nervous. Sera is brazen, promiscuous, and the only other Italian in the group (though her family is wealthy). Josie doesn’t like her much, but since they’re both Italian, they accept each other. Lee just wants to hang out with surfers and drink. Lee and Josie have a weird relationship; they pretend they have nothing in common but can talk easily. Lee’s family uses slurs like “wog,” but she’s also a middle-class scholarship student like Josie.

It’s impossible for Josie to befriend the “snobs” at St. Martha’s, which is why she detests the school captain, Ivy (whom she calls Poison Ivy). Poison Ivy is wealthy, blond, and highly intelligent. Josie loves the times when she scores higher than Ivy in class; Josie is “immature and vain about [her] brains.” But most of the time, Josie and her friends are in the middle of the class in terms of grades.

Back in the present, Sera finally has enough hairspray in her hair and leads Josie, Anna, and Lee outside. Sera reveals that they’re not taking her car: her boyfriend Angelo Pezzini is driving them. Josie shouts that she won’t ride with him but gets in the backseat anyway when he pulls up. Sera sits in front and dances to his bad, loud music, while Josie, Anna, and Lee clutch each other in the back. Finally, Angelo crosses three lanes of traffic and stops the car short in front of Martin Place.

As soon as the girls get out of the car, Anna points to Sister Louise and Poison Ivy. They both look livid. Sister Louise reminds Josie that she’s late and tells her that she’ll have to give a speech on something of her choice. The purpose of Have a Say Day, Josie explains, is to give students a chance to “gripe” in a public place; it’s been going on for 10 years now. Sister Louise heads toward the amphitheater in the square and shows Josie her seat. As Josie watches her friends talk to attractive guys from St. Anthony’s, she curses Sister Louise. She’s seated next to Jacob Coote from the public school Cook High; when they were 10, he and some friends threw rotten food at Josie.

Jacob tries to engage Josie in conversation, but Josie brushes him off. Students on the stage speak about careers, the environment, and the homeless. Josie decides to use one of her debate speeches to talk about sex education and the AIDS crisis. When she returns to her seat after her speech, Jacob pulls a condom out of his pocket and says he’s going to show people how to use one. Josie is mortified but also curious. But when Jacob gets up, he tells the audience he’s going to talk about voting. He’s a surprisingly compelling speaker and receives a standing ovation.

Josie whispers to Jacob that she’s impressed when he sits back down. He reveals that he watches current events shows on TV and was forced to speak because he’s his school’s captain. Josie shares that she’s her school’s vice captain and is speechless when he jokes that “It could have been beautiful between us.” She thinks about his arms instead of listening to the other speeches. When the speeches are over and Josie rejoins her friends, Lee says she’s in love with Jacob and Josie should be in love with him too. Josie says he’s not her type, and Lee accuses her of being a snob because Jacob goes to public school. Josie refutes this. But later, as she watches the news broadcast of Poison Ivy asking the Premier questions, she admits she wants to be upper-class and accepted, like her.