Basically, Veronica wasn't all that interested in doing the introduction chapter for the longest time. because she didn't know how to write it so I sketched out a plot. First, though, I came up with this list that had to be checked off:
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The main plot points and character introductions that seemed important to convey to new readers:
- Lucy and Mike, and their tense relationship (Pick Me Up tells this story pretty well though)
- Augustus coming along, suggesting Daisy be more outward but creeping her out eventually
- Abbey arriving, being a white knight and hooking up with Daisy
- Tess and her relationship with Paulo
- Paulo, his personality, friendship with David, and his interest in Lucy (Pick Me Up again tells this story pretty well!)
- Sandy's relationship to Mike (the call where they decided they were friends, childhood membories)
- David and Sue
- Fears? Lucy's fear of the water, anything else relevant?
- Yashy and the pets
Vero later gathered inspiration for the idea you saw in Starting Over (Jessica and Rachel get introduced to everybody at the table, Lucy has a monologue for a bit) and went with that instead. But I just discovered this in my notes today and thought you might like to read it.
Essentially, it was about Jessica and Rachel trying to return Mike's scarf. They learn about the characters and equip a new reader with knowledge necessary to enjoy the rest of the book.
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Chapter begins in the morning, with Jessica walking along a pathway at school and stumbling upon Mike's scarf. She looks at it bug-eyed and picks it up. Rachel bounds behind her and asks what it is.
There's some discussion about what it is - oh, that's Mike's scarf, the guy in the grade below us. He always wears it. They resolve to find him, but the bell rings.
They split off into classes. Jessica interacts with Augustus and is being mean to him - asks if he's still stalking Daisy. "Wasn't she all into Michael? Do you know if he'll be at sports today?" "No." "Oh, or was that Paulo? Or was that Abbey?"
Augustus gets pissed off, but resigns to tell her that he does know Daisy's schedule and that she'd probably be able to catch them at the end of this period.
The period ends, and they're filing out of the classroom. Augustus gives Jessica a nudge and suggests they go up the hall. He follows along, and he's made a mistake - it's the wrong class.
"Um. I guess I got it wrong." Rachel teases. "You're never gonna kidnap her at that rate!" He responds (THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO EXPLAIN)
"Stop with the stalker talk! What did you even hear?" A line like this accompanies a flashback montage, of Daisy being surprised by Augustus in the water, blushing at his compliments, trying on sexy clothes while thinking hard about Augustus' words, finally going with Mike on the date and forcefully kissing him, while Augustus watched from the background. "I just want her to feel good about herself."
Jessica looks impatient. "That's not the whole story, though, is it?" "Well, no.." A montage of the following sequence shows Augustus comforting a distraught Daisy, Augustus taking advantage of Daisy, Abbey coming in and shoving him to the side. "Well, it got a little awkward when that stupid Abbey got in my face.." Rachel tactlesslessy responds with a grin "And it's even more awkward that they're dating, huh?" Augustus loses his patience and says "Look. You'll have to wait until lunch. There's an assembly today, remember." So they leave and head back to class.
Tess later sees the two and stops them. "Hey! What are you doing with that?" They have a quick fight where Tess explains that it's something she bought for Mike as a replacement for the old blue one. They ask Tess "Are you seeing your little boyfriend soon, then? Maybe you should give it back." She gets angry and explains that he's not her boyfriend. (Can we work in a montage here? What are key Tess x Paulo scenes?) Rachel comments "So many people at this school get pissed off about this relationship stuff, huh?", a kind of fourth wall joke.
At one point they walk past a classroom and Jessica sees Lucy there - strange, because nobody else was left behind to study. In the background, Rachel is holding up the scarf and looking it over. She folds it over her shoulder. "Orange and yellow kinda suits me, don't you think?" She's walking along and all of a sudden smacks against the wall, Daisy has charged up behind her screaming "Mikieee!" She's all embarrassed and unsure after she realises her mistake, and Jessica and Rachel have to console her. "It's alright, it's alright!" while she blushes furiously. She pokes her fingers together and looks down saying that she was trying to catch him so they could study for tomorrow's AP English test the next day. "You're such a geek! Where were you guys, anyway?" She explains that everyone was out swimming. "But not everyone, huh?" "Don't you know? Lucy always skips swimming. Yashy kind of a handful, besides.." Rachel and Jessica look at Lucy, who's wrestling with Yashy as she tries to study. Daisy says "I really need to introduce you to more of my friends." Jessica says "You do! This is Michael's, right? They grey one, green eyes?" Daisy nods profusely.
Sue overhears, budging into the conversation, saying "He got paired up with Paulo. They're getting them to pick up litter all lunch." Daisy looks sad about it, remembering the scene. Sue explains "Wasn't really Mike's fault. Paulo was being an ass to him for the whole hour. You can catch him after assembly, though!
Lucy was overhearing a lot of this, and slumps down on her desk. (The next chapter will tell us more about her relationship, she just has to seem a bit down on Mike in this chapter.)
It's finally after assembly, and they run up to Mike. "Hey! You! This is yours, right?" And he's all shocked and uguu and thankful about it. "Whoa, thanks! I was beginning to feel pretty bad about losing it." Rachel teases "Yeah! Tess told us how sad she was that you'd throw away a gift so soon!" and Mike looks horrified that she found out. "Hey, um, could you go over there and hold that shed door open for me? I have to put this thing away.." It's shown that he has one of those shovel things used for picking up trash.
There's some discussion about what it is - oh, that's Mike's scarf, the guy in the grade below us. He always wears it. They resolve to find him, but the bell rings.
They split off into classes. Jessica interacts with Augustus and is being mean to him - asks if he's still stalking Daisy. "Wasn't she all into Michael? Do you know if he'll be at sports today?" "No." "Oh, or was that Paulo? Or was that Abbey?"
Augustus gets pissed off, but resigns to tell her that he does know Daisy's schedule and that she'd probably be able to catch them at the end of this period.
The period ends, and they're filing out of the classroom. Augustus gives Jessica a nudge and suggests they go up the hall. He follows along, and he's made a mistake - it's the wrong class.
"Um. I guess I got it wrong." Rachel teases. "You're never gonna kidnap her at that rate!" He responds (THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO EXPLAIN)
"Stop with the stalker talk! What did you even hear?" A line like this accompanies a flashback montage, of Daisy being surprised by Augustus in the water, blushing at his compliments, trying on sexy clothes while thinking hard about Augustus' words, finally going with Mike on the date and forcefully kissing him, while Augustus watched from the background. "I just want her to feel good about herself."
Jessica looks impatient. "That's not the whole story, though, is it?" "Well, no.." A montage of the following sequence shows Augustus comforting a distraught Daisy, Augustus taking advantage of Daisy, Abbey coming in and shoving him to the side. "Well, it got a little awkward when that stupid Abbey got in my face.." Rachel tactlesslessy responds with a grin "And it's even more awkward that they're dating, huh?" Augustus loses his patience and says "Look. You'll have to wait until lunch. There's an assembly today, remember." So they leave and head back to class.
Tess later sees the two and stops them. "Hey! What are you doing with that?" They have a quick fight where Tess explains that it's something she bought for Mike as a replacement for the old blue one. They ask Tess "Are you seeing your little boyfriend soon, then? Maybe you should give it back." She gets angry and explains that he's not her boyfriend. (Can we work in a montage here? What are key Tess x Paulo scenes?) Rachel comments "So many people at this school get pissed off about this relationship stuff, huh?", a kind of fourth wall joke.
At one point they walk past a classroom and Jessica sees Lucy there - strange, because nobody else was left behind to study. In the background, Rachel is holding up the scarf and looking it over. She folds it over her shoulder. "Orange and yellow kinda suits me, don't you think?" She's walking along and all of a sudden smacks against the wall, Daisy has charged up behind her screaming "Mikieee!" She's all embarrassed and unsure after she realises her mistake, and Jessica and Rachel have to console her. "It's alright, it's alright!" while she blushes furiously. She pokes her fingers together and looks down saying that she was trying to catch him so they could study for tomorrow's AP English test the next day. "You're such a geek! Where were you guys, anyway?" She explains that everyone was out swimming. "But not everyone, huh?" "Don't you know? Lucy always skips swimming. Yashy kind of a handful, besides.." Rachel and Jessica look at Lucy, who's wrestling with Yashy as she tries to study. Daisy says "I really need to introduce you to more of my friends." Jessica says "You do! This is Michael's, right? They grey one, green eyes?" Daisy nods profusely.
Sue overhears, budging into the conversation, saying "He got paired up with Paulo. They're getting them to pick up litter all lunch." Daisy looks sad about it, remembering the scene. Sue explains "Wasn't really Mike's fault. Paulo was being an ass to him for the whole hour. You can catch him after assembly, though!
Lucy was overhearing a lot of this, and slumps down on her desk. (The next chapter will tell us more about her relationship, she just has to seem a bit down on Mike in this chapter.)
It's finally after assembly, and they run up to Mike. "Hey! You! This is yours, right?" And he's all shocked and uguu and thankful about it. "Whoa, thanks! I was beginning to feel pretty bad about losing it." Rachel teases "Yeah! Tess told us how sad she was that you'd throw away a gift so soon!" and Mike looks horrified that she found out. "Hey, um, could you go over there and hold that shed door open for me? I have to put this thing away.." It's shown that he has one of those shovel things used for picking up trash.
That's all I got to. I still needed to cover Sandy, the events of "Confrontation" and Paulo's aversion to barking.
Either way, I think it was an okay attempt at doing a recap without resorting to monologue or excessive fourth-wall-breaking stuff. I think it needed refinement but it'd be a reasonable alternative to how Starting Over actually panned out.
