Previously on Rebelde Way: Mauro was voted off the island. Mia and her friends formed a Clue Crew, but didn’t actually solve any mysteries, as Pilar joined said Clue Crew to throw them off her trail. That’s still more progress than Nico the Boy Detective has made, though. On the other hand, Nico started to figure out that Manuel is creeping, which no one else (except Mia, slightly) has noticed yet. Marizza managed to avoid getting kicked out of school for sticking her tongue down Mauro’s throat, but Pablo erroneously accused her of writing Pilar’s newspaper of death and threatened to sic the Argentinian Mafia on her. Pilar promptly wrote another edition of said newspaper, which means that this may be Marizza’s last episode. (Just kidding! She’ll never die. Like a cockroach.) Luna is still boring. Marcos realized that he could not simply walk into Mordor. No, jk, he’s not doing anything either. And we’re still hanging around on the beach. Go back to school already!
(We do actually go back to the school in this episode. Thank God. All the bikini shots were making me feel like the FBI was watching me.)
Opening narration: Everyone’s afraid of not being loved. I don’t know, Manuel doesn’t really seem to care that even Nico hates him at this point.
We begin pretty much exactly where we left off last time. Pilar is reading ~the curious case of Pablo’s guitar in the river~ out loud. Everyone gasps in shock that Pablo owns a guitar. I’m confused. Was he a secret guitar player? Did no one in his boarding school ever hear him practicing? They didn’t notice him carrying a guitar in his luggage? Whatever. Pablo (who at this point had been holding Marizza’s arm in a death grip) lets go of her to stalk over and snap that yes, it’s true — he plays an instrument! WHAT OF IT? Marizza takes this opportunity to bolt. For a second it looks like Pablo is going to stumble upon the truth: “The only ones there were you [Pilar] and — ” but then he turns around and sees that Marizza’s run off, and gets so mad that he forgets how suspicious Pilar is. Will nobody ever figure out that Pilar writes the newspaper? She is SO OBVIOUS.
On some grassy cliff — and suddenly it’s like the middle of the day, even though they were just sitting down to dinner — Marizza runs up to Dunoff and gasps out — well, actually, first there’s a slightly funny moment of Marizza shrieking “ASTHMA! ASTHMA!” (“Can you get asthma? I THINK I’M GETTING ASTHMA!“) and Dunoff being all, “BREATHE! BREATHE!” — but then Marizza’s like, “You have to call my mom! She needs to take me back to Buenos Aires now!” and Dunoff’s like, “No, she never told me you had asthma, I can’t help you!!!” (what, so you’d just let her suffocate?) and Marizza’s like, “She doesn’t want anyone to know I’ m sick!” and ohhh, Marizza is just faking it so she can get away from Pablo and his crazy eyes. I get you.
We fast forward to…some time later. I guess Vacance Club is over, since Luna is back at her house, reading her ~adventures~ to Flor. I realize it’s kind of heartless of me, but I really can’t stand Luna and Flor. It’s all melodramatic and twee and I am so very not here for that. Anyway, Luna tells Flor that Marizza is super fun and not afraid of anything! Whatever. To quote the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch: “Nice kid. Baaaaad judge of character.” Luna cries to Flor that Lujan and Marizza hang out with her but don’t really ~like~ her, because Luna is kind of dumb and not very violent. Also, school starts tomorrow! Wait, did we just skip like three months? Crazytown.
Over in Papa C’s new office, Mia is on the phone with Feli, when she discovers…a picture frame? I think it’s one of Mama C’s things that Peter didn’t throw out for 14 years, but I can’t remember if Papa C took the picture out or not. There’s some ominous music, then Mia just sort of shrugs and flips the frame back over and puts it away. O…kay, then. Also, Papa C’s office is now in their house instead of just near the school. Anyway, Papa C comes back and Mia hangs up on Feli. Mia squeals to her father how much she likes being home and how she wishes she could stay. Aw! Papa C shoots her down quick, though — not unkindly, but he does point out that she has to go back to boarding school for her future and “the maid’s mental health.” Hee! Mia says that she already had to fire one of the cooks (also hee!) and Papa C is like, “Why would you do that?!” and Mia’s like “She cooked with fat! You’ll turn into a pig!” Oh, and no worries, Mia’s already called the agency and had another cook hired. I LOVE HER. Then she brings out the picture frame, which appears to be empty after all. She asks her dad if it belonged to her mother, since it has Mama C’s initials (MC for Mama Colucci and/or Marina Caseres) on it. Papa C hems and haws but admits that yes, it was of the Mother Colucci. I feel like he could’ve pointed out that MC could be anybody, including Mia herself. She begs Papa C to let her keep the frame, and also whatever picture was in it. “THERE’S NO PICTURE,” snaps Papa C. “Okay, so just give me another one!” “THERE ARE NO PICTURES!!! Why are you asking me for pictures?!?!” I know, there’s absolutely no reason for Mia to have an interest in her dead mother! It’s both sweet and incredibly sad how desperate Mia is for anything of her mother’s, and how Papa C is always shutting her down about it. Anyway, Papa C says that he suffered a lot when Mama C died, but now Mia is all that he needs to be ~happy. Mia immediately perks up and tells her dad that she’ll start looking for a girlfriend for him. Peter overhears this and a scare chord goes off. I’m not sure if that means there’s something up with the Mama C situation, or if Peter is secretly in love with Papa Colucci. Could go either way. Aaaand it’s time for Mia to leave! Peter brings in all her bags and Papa C is like, “Good Lord, you know you wear a uniform at school, right?” Mia tells him that Fridays are “clothes free,” (in English) and Peter snarks that isn’t that kind of inappropriate? Heh. Mia’s like no, silly, it means we can wear our normal clothes. (By the way, I wore a uniform for 12 years, and the correct term is “free dress,” if you want to know.) Anyway, let’s go, Peter! Papa C stops her, though, and tells her that he’s coming along to drop her off at school this year: “As part of the changes I promised.” AWWWWW.
(Do you think, possibly, Manuel is going to feel like a dick when he finds out about Mia’s family issues?)
(Probably not tbh.)
So hey, it’s the first day of school! This episode is aaaall over the place. I’m all confuzzled. Sonia makes her grand entrance with, like, a dead squirrel (or two) on her head. Possibly a chinchilla. Marizza gets out of the limo and is like, “Mom! Get back in the car, you are HARSHING MY COOL.” Or something to that effect. She tells Sonia that if Sonia walks her into school looking the way she does, everyone will make fun of Marizza for the rest of her life. Wait, I thought Marizza was so edgy she didn’t care what the other kids thought of her? May her days of being insufferably arrogant be coming to an end, amen. Before Marizza goes in, though, Sonia says that she lied to the principal (re: Marizza’s fake asthma) for her, and she wants the truth: “You never run away from problems, so it must have been something big. You can tell me!” and you know, I’d say that in some ways, Marizza is actually more sheltered/spoiled than Mia & Co — as much as Marizza fights with Sonia, Sonia does care about her and actually shows it. As far as I can tell, nobody in Mia’s group of friends (apart from Guido, although I don’t know that I’d count him as being in the group) actually has decent parents. I mean, Papa C is making an effort, but that’s still like 14 years of emotional distance he’s trying to make up for. Just saying.
Anyway, Marizza’s hope of Sonia not embarrassing her is promptly destroyed when a bunch of paparazzi come up and start taking pictures. Nice.
Over in the Coluccimobile, Mia is slathering on the makeup, because “everyone is waiting to see [her]!” Either Mia has an inflated sense of self-importance, or there’s a weird hierarchy in this school where a sophomore is somehow the Queen Bee. Maybe a bit of both. And then she says the immortal line, “¡Qué difícil es ser yo!” It’s the line most closely associated with her in this series, although she only says it three or four times. Anyway. The car stops unexpectedly and Papa C is like, “Peter, the fuck are you doing?” but see, they can’t move because…Sonia is posing for pictures outside. “Oh. My. GOD!” Mia says, in English. HEE!
Colucci vs. Rey/Spirito Bitchfight Round #1052. Mia gets out of the car and snips to Sonia that this is a school, not a circus, and Sonia bitches right back that if Mia is a student, then clearly the school isn’t as ~elite~ as they say. Mia is being massively impolite here, but really, Sonia? Fighting with a 15-year-old? Then Papa C rolls up and is like, “Miss Rey! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for the flowers!” Sonia immediately starts panicking all, “THIS is your daughter? Oops.” Indeed. They convince her to move her car, and she does, only to promptly back up into the Coluccimobile. Oh, Sonia. (Also, the paparazzi have caught this all on photo.)
Inside the school, Marizza runs into…Pablo! A scare chord goes off (I love this show and its choices) and Pablo says, “Well, well, well. Long time no see, eh?” CREEPY. He very casually tells her that he ~always gets what he wants~ and right now, he wants her out of the school. Marizza is sweatdropping everywhere but tells him that he doesn’t scare her, because he just hides behind Papa B and his money/mafioso ways, and Pablo pins her against the wall and is like, “I promise you won’t finish the year here!” And all the other kids are just walking by like Pablo pushing their classmates against the wall ain’t no thing. Then again, it probably isn’t. Marizza snaps that look, if she were going to publish a secret newspaper about him, there is way shadier shit than Pablo’s guitar-playing, song-writing ways. Pablo’s about to defend his totally non-embarrassing pursuit of the musical arts when who should roll up but Papa B! Oooh, is this like that Meg Cabot book where that businessman kidnaps the main character from her school and sets her up with a pair of cement boots? Because that would make this episode 10000% more interesting. Pablo introduces Marizza as his “great friend,” and Marizza coos that she likes Pablo even though he’s a total freak. Hee! Papa B is amused by this, anyway. Still, he’s not quite thrown off the scent, and asks if something’s going on. “Ask your son!” Marizza says, running off and leaving Pablo alone with his mafioso dad. Pablo’s all, “Heh, what could be ~going on~? Uh, let’s go get a drink!” and they squirrel off.
And hey, it’s Lujan! Hi, Lujan! Every scene is improved at least 5x over with Lujan. Marizza asks where Luna is and they dash off to get her. I’m not sure why, since she’s just going to bring down the mood whenever they want to get violent.
Sonia and Papa C are still going at it, “it” meaning yelling at each other and pretending like they’re not going to hook up in 100 episodes. “DON’T BE RIDICULOUS, CULOCCI!” “IT’S COLUCCI!” I love these two, I don’t even care. She wails that she would never crash into his car on purpose and Papa C’s like, “Well, to be fair, you’ve done a lot of weird shit since we’ve met!” HEE! He also snaps that btw, sending flowers to a man is totes inappropriate! Sonia, God love her, just starts laughing at his outdated gender role expectations, as she should. She teases him about the massive stick up his ass and then flounces away in her limo with the press still plastered to the windows. LOVE HER.
(Papa C: “That woman has mental issues.”)
Over in Mia’s room, she, Vico, and Feli are doing the dance of being reunited. Mia complains about Sonia — “She’s even tackier than her daughter, if that’s possible!” Oh, how difficult it is to be Mia, and exist in a world with these plebes. Vico can sympathize: “It’s hard to be me too! It’s been two days since I last saw Pablo!”
VICO. HONEY. YOUR STANDARDS. RAISE THEM. YOSAFFBRIDGE WOULD NEVER.
Feli, meanwhile, has gotten Manuel a watch to celebrate the one-month anniversary of their relationship, which you will recall is built on lies and a freaky obsession with Mia. This can only end well. “It was the best month of my life!” Oh, Feli. I mean, it’s not like Manuel knew about her self-esteem problems or her clinginess, but you can’t help feeling like he’s a dick for leading someone with as many issues as her on. Mia scowls that she’s sick of talking about Manuel, as always, so they change the subject: Feli’s brought the invitations for Mia’s “American Fair” (that thing she does where she gives away her old clothes to the lessers). They squeal and do their finger-gun thing, and I had to mute my speakers for a second otherwise my eardrums were going to burst.
Outside, Manuel runs up to Papa C, who still doesn’t remember him. Now, see, I can understand Papa C not immediately recalling Manuel from over the phone, but in person? That’s kind of harsh. Manuel plays it off like a joke although we all know that inside he’s probably adding another mark to his “Reasons to Hate Franco Colucci (v. 9.0)” list. He tells Papa C that he’s doing a school project on a person he admires, and Franco is the lucky subject! I don’t know why Franco doesn’t pick up on the fact that it’s actually impossible for Manuel to be doing a school project, because the first day of school hasn’t even started yet. Papa C is like, “But I’m just an ordinary dude,” and Manuel’s like “Not to me.” Manuel, you creeper. Papa C tells Manuel to call him anytime, and Manuel says that he did, but he didn’t pick up. “Maybe you didn’t know my name? I’m Manuel Aguirre.” Some creepy music plays as Papa C apologizes, saying that he didn’t recognize the name Aguirre. That’s right: Papa C doesn’t even remember the name of the guy he killed! Except we already established that last episode. And the episode before that. I mean, I’m not saying I expect a telenovela to be up on its continuity, but they could at least keep track of what happened literally yesterday.
Over in Marizzaland, Lujan is doing sit-ups, because she is a walking stereotype. She growls that she needs to win a gold medal this year, except we also already established that Elite Way doesn’t participate in sports competitions. Come on, show. Even Sweet Valley does better than this. Marizza, of course, isn’t listening to Lujan: she’s wondering where Luna is. They both run off to find her, apparently not considering that their love of violence has possibly alienated her from their company.
Over in the Misty Mountains, Gollum Marcos is playing a video game, because he too is a walking stereotype. Then Manuel storms in and says something that sounds like “Kyou” and I had to take a minute to wonder why they were suddenly speaking Japanese. Anyway, he asks where Nico is, and Marcos twitchily answers that he’s probably buying the school’s uniform. Manuel stops short: “Uniform?” Yes, Manuel. Private schools wear uniforms. It’s kind of a thing. Marcos says it’s in the school handbook and Manuel’s like, “What handbook?” You know, the first episode implied that Manuel’s been planning this revenge for years, but I think it’s pretty clear that he has no idea what the hell he’s doing.
But no worries, Luna’s aunt to the rescue! She buys Manuel’s uniform along with Luna’s, and Luna pouts that she feels bad that her aunt is spending money on her. Blah blah Luna has low self-esteem blah. Sandra coos that Luna needs to make friends and see the world (except Luna gets married at age 15 and drops out of school, so whatever), and Luna mumbles that she’s not like the other girls at Elite Way either — she’s not rich like Mia, sociopathic like Marizza, or violent like Lujan. She’ll never fit in! Just then, Marizza and Lujan burst in looking for her, and Luna dives under a desk to avoid them. Sandra tells them that Luna just left, and they hop off to continue the search. Sandra’s like, “Really? And you think no one likes you?” Luna says that she’s right, she’ll go talk to them. Sandra beams and leaves, and Luna immediately turns around and asks Gloria for a room switch. Wait, what?
Manuel, meanwhile, is counting out his money. He has…twelve dollars! (Pesos?) Yeah, he’s probably not going to be able to afford that uniform. I think my uniform shirt cost about $22, and I went to Catholic school, which is supposed to be a cheap alternative to private school. Anyway, there’s no problem, because Sandra busts in and presents him with the uniform she bought. She doesn’t even knock! Marcos, at least, looks sort of weirded out by this. Manuel asks how much he owes her, and Sandra tells him that it’s a gift. “I don’t like gifts,” Manuel says. Sandra shoves him and tells him to knock it off, and Manuel sort of looks sheepish and says he’ll walk her out. And then the weirdest thing ever happens: once they leave the room, Marcos shuts the door and starts counting the money Manuel’s left on his bed. “Only twelve pesos?” Uh, wasn’t Marcos in the room this whole time? Didn’t he see Manuel counting his money earlier? Whatever. And then Nico walks in, sees Marcos my-precious-ing over Manuel’s money, and backs away slowly. Wow, there’s like a whole plethora of crime to solve in this school. Nico, Secretly Jewish Boy Detective, is going to be busy!
Back in Gloria’s office, Marizza bursts in and is like “Luna! We were totally just in here and we didn’t see you!” Luna mumbles that she was just buying her uniform when Gloria returns and says, “So, I talked to the principal about the room change — ” and Marizza’s like, “Who wants to change rooms?” Luna says she does, but Gloria says that Dunoff refused. Sucks to be Luna! She runs out of the room and Marizza tries to follow her, but Gloria makes her stay while Gloria gets her uniform. Foiled again, Marizza! Luna’s not in the room when Marizza manages to get back, either. She and Lujan wonder why Luna’s avoiding them and decide to lie in wait for her: she has to come back eventually! I want to sympathize with Luna because, you know, I think we’ve all been there with thinking that no one likes us. And I too went through a time where I found it hard to believe that my friends weren’t just hanging out with me because they pitied me or for some other ridiculous reason, so I don’t want to judge her there. But all Luna does mope and make the other characters run around after her, and it makes her really annoying. Anyway.
Over in Manuel’s room, Nico’s about to leave when Feli busts in. Again with no knocking! One of these days, these kids are going to see something unfortunate. Anyway, Feli tells Nico that she’s here to leave Manuel a present. “It’s a surprise!” She shows Nico the watch and lots of Very Ominous Music plays as Nico examines it. “This watch must have been very expensive,” he muses. I have no idea why Nico is so concerned. I mean, I know he’s a scholarship student, but Feli is rich as hell; it’s not like she’s wasting her life savings on Manuel. She says that nothing’s too much for Manuel before squirreling out. Nico looks perturbed. I can’t tell if it’s because he knows Manuel is leading her on or because that’s just his default expression.
Pablo’s room. Guido is talking about how ~hungover~ he is: he drank two whole bottles! It’s a wonder he didn’t die of alcohol poisoning! Pablo comes in and tells Tomas that they need to talk. Guido: “Oh, okay, I’ll close the door!” Pablo: “Uh, actually what I meant was get out” and Guido skedaddles. But he doesn’t go very far, because obviously there’s eavesdropping to be done. And then who should creep up behind him but Pilar! “Are you spying?” She’d know all about that. Guido lies and says that he was changing the lock (you know, without any sort of locksmithing tools whatsoever) and Pilar tells him that he doesn’t have to pretend: she knows he’s new to the school, and it’s not easy fitting in. And then you become bitter and hate your classmates and write a secret newspaper about them…or something. She tells Guido that Pablo and Tomas might act like they accept him, but they never ~really~ will. Yeah, but it’s not like Pablo and Tomas are even pretending that they like him, so whatever. Guido panics and asks what she means by that, but she runs away. Oh, Pilar.
Bless.
Meanwhile, Mia is planning out her American fair. I still have no idea why she calls it that. If it’s because she thinks that giving things away for free is the American way, she is sadly mistaken. She goes off to give out the invitations, and Vico says she’ll come along so she can see Pablo. Mia’s like, “How about no, also seriously, shut up about Pablo” and Vico’s like “But I haven’t seen him in two days!!!” Oh my God, we know. Mia points out that if Pablo really wanted to see her, he’d come to her. Feli agrees: “That’s why I left my gift for Manuel when he wasn’t in his room!” Yikes. Mia and Vico do their finger-gun thing, but as Mia leaves, Vico glares after her.
Manuel’s room. Manuel apologizes to Nico for flipping out on him while they were at the beach and Nico just sort of mumbles “Sure” and walks away. Aw, Nico. Forgiveness is an act of compassion, as Rupert Giles would say! Marcos tells them that he’s going to sell his old uniform — I guess he had a growth spurt or something? — so if either of them are interested…Nico says he has money from his dad, and Manuel says he doesn’t have any money at the moment — but hey, maybe he’ll get a job, and if Marcos doesn’t sell it by then, he’ll take it. Doesn’t Manuel already have a uniform? I mean, I guess it’s better to have more than one since he has to wear it every day, but why doesn’t he just wash it? Also, how is a high schooler living in a boarding school going to find the time to have a job? Why do I bother asking these questions? Anyway, Marcos says if they know anyone who’s interested, it’s going for 12 pesos. Nico’s head immediately snaps up: so that’s why Marcos was counting Manuel’s money. Manuel is thrilled: he has 12 pesos, and immediately buys the uniform. I get that Marcos is a bit weird, but why is Nico so freaked out? Manuel clearly hates accepting gifts, so this was probably the most tactful way Marcos could think of giving him his uniform. Whatever. Nico’s probably just naturally suspicious. It comes with the territory when you’re a Boy Detective.
Pablo’s room. Guido is rambling on to Pablo about his weekend home and how everyone there thinks Elite Way is super cool and Guido’s told them all about how awesome Pablo and Tomas are, blah blah blah. Again: I totally get why Guido acts the way he does, and so like Luna, I don’t feel like I can really hate him for it. But he just doesn’t do anything else, and it gets so annoying. Anyway, Tomas comes in and tells Pablo that he did it. “Did what?” Guido asks, and Pablo and Tomas shuffle him out of the room. Guido snaps that he’s tired of this, but he still leaves and will probably be sucking up to them tomorrow. Anyway, once he’s gone, Pablo and Tomas return to their mutton: “Did anyone see you?” Tomás says no, and Pablo smirks. “I bet you $200 that she won’t start school tomorrow!” Well gosh, I wonder who “she” could be?
Over in the hallway, Pilar pops up to kick Guido while he’s down. She pretends to be all shocked: “Guido, what are you doing here? Did your friends kick you out of the room?” Bless her. Guido snaps that nobody kicks him out! He left because he needed air! “Oh. Okay.” Hee! Guido asks her to explain what she meant earlier, and Pilar grins evilly. “Of course!”
Not that we get to see that, of course. It might actually explain the plot, and we can’t be having that! Outside, Mia tosses her invitations into the air and flounces off while a bunch of girls dogpile on each other to get one. She goes off to lean on a rail and think about how awesome her life is when she hears crying. It’s Luna, of course. I guess she’s just been on the lawn, bawling the whole day? She tells Mia that she misses her sister, and Mia somehow twists that to mean that Luna hates her roommates. Luna says Marizza and Lujan aren’t mean (lies!) and Mia shrugs: “Not mean, sure, but Lujan looks like a firefighter.”
I’m not sure I see the resemblance.
She continues that Marizza is willing to rip out her stomach to get attention, which honestly isn’t exactly a lie. Then again, Mia would probably do the same thing, so…anyway. Mia asks Luna why she’s not wearing the clothes she gave her, and Luna says she gave them to her little sister. You know, the one that never leaves the house. Nice. Mia says it doesn’t matter, since she’ll just give Luna some more new ones at her American fair. Luna’s like, “What’s that?” and Mia tells her that it’s when she gives her old clothes away to girls that can’t afford them. I kind of love Mia’s complete lack of tact.
Over in the boys’ side of school, Manuel asks Nico if he can lend him some binder paper. Nico’s all pissy about it, and snaps that he’s figured out Manuel’s game. Yes, that’s right: he’s compiled the evidence and interviewed the suspects, and now this is the part of the Nancy Drew game where he confronts the culprit and possibly traps them under a chandelier. Nico says that Manuel acts like a victim to get what he wants, and he clearly did something to Marcos to convince him to sell Manuel that uniform for only twelve pesos. “Do you think I’m dumb? I passed my scholarship exam without studying! My mind works!” Except for the part where he’s drawn the entirely wrong conclusion for this whole thing, but whatever. Or did he forget that he walked in on Marcos secretly counting Manuel’s money? Oh, wait, he brings that up, too, but assumes that Manuel wanted that to happen, and he planted the idea by constantly talking about his financial situation, or something. Oh, and why does Manuel have Mia’s dad’s business card? “Is that your next move? Going out with a millionaire’s daughter?” And why would Feli have bought him such an expensive watch? Manuel’s like, “Dude, I have no idea,” and Nico snaps that it’s obvious that Manuel is with her for her money. I think it’s kind of gross for Nico to assume that — the audience knows that Manuel’s using Feli to get to Mia, obviously, but as far as Nico knows, Manuel really could like her for who she is — Nico’s just assuming that he’s using her because Feli’s not as pretty as Mia or Vico, and I think that says more about Nico than it does about Manuel here. Anyway. Manuel tells him as much and Nico’s like, “Look me in the eyes and tell me you love her!” and Manuel looks away. Nico crazies that he’s right, he knows he’s right, Manuel is a gold-digger, PRECIOUSSSSS. Or maybe Manuel doesn’t want to say that he loves a girl he’s only been dating for a month, especially when they’re both teenagers. I bet if Nancy Drew met Nico, she’d be horrified by his lack of common sense. The Hardy Boys would never!
Aaaaand then they get into a fistfight. Yup. This rooming situation is working out great.
The cafeteria. Marizza walks in and the camera lingers for a moment on this weird guy in a cap that watches her. Uh…okay. He comes up to her and it turns out he’s a journalist who needs her to confirm something about Sonia’s love life. What is with this school and its lack of security? The journalist guy promises Marizza he’ll give her anything she wants if she’ll tell him the name of the guy Sonia’s dating. He says he’ll get on her TV, the magazines, whatever. Marizza says that her father doesn’t want her to be exposed to the media until he dies. The journalist just kind of shrugs and gives Marizza his card and leaves. Well. I’m glad we spent time on that scene, to be sure.
Manuel and Nico are still fighting. Marcos walks in and freaks out, as you do. “Fights are against the rules!” he squeaks. Oh, Marcos. But he’s too late: Manuel shoves Nico, and Nico goes flying, goes over his bed — which tips over — and hits his desk, and falls to the floor. DEAD. No, just kidding. But probably concussed.
Back in the hallway, Pilar has apparently explained everything to Guido. It’s nothing we didn’t already know, though: Mia and Pablo lead the popular girls and boys, and they don’t let anyone else into their circles. “They act like they accept you, but you’ll see, they’ll end up using you.” Huh. I’m kind of suspecting now that they did the same thing to Pilar, and that’s why she’s so bitter. If this ends up with Guido joining forces with Pilar and the two of them running around terrorizing everyone, that would be the best. Pilar says that luckily, there are people around to “set them straight.” (I’m assuming she’s referring to herself and her newspaper of death, but poor dumb Guido doesn’t get the hint.) He asks if she’s referring to the Society, and she kind of rolls her eyes like, “What are you, new?” The Society, as we already know, only deals with scholarship students. Like Guido. Oops. Well, if it’s not the Society, who is it? Pilar decides to just spell it out for him: “The people who write the newspaper about everything they do.” Like Gossip Girl! You know you love me, XOXO Pilar. Guido: “Oh, you mean Marizza!” At this point, I’m not sure how Pilar has resisted the urge to hit him. “Not Marizza! That girl doesn’t have the brains to do anything. SOMEONE ELSE.” Guido frowns and says that Pilar must know who it is. She smiles and tells him that it’s a secret and they’re not really friends, so she can’t tell him. “But if you ever get sick of them treating you like crap, come talk to me! Bye bye!”
I’m…starting to love Pilar? This is an odd feeling.
In Dunoff’s office, Manuel watches over Nico’s unconscious body while the doctor shows Dunoff some X-rays. Does this school have its own hospital? I actually would not be surprised. There’s no internal damage, which is lucky for Manuel. And then Nico wakes up! Dunoff tells Manuel to watch him, because, you know, it’s not like there’s a teacher or a principal or literally anyone else that can look after the kids. Bless.
Luna returns to the girls’ room and Marizza and Lujan jump on her. Marizza won’t let her leave until she explains herself. Lujan, weirdly, is the one to point out that Luna’s been invited to Mia’s American fair, to which Marizza responds that she doesn’t care if Luna’s been invited to Shakira’s wedding, she wants her explanation and she wants it now. Luna hems and haws but finally admits that when the Pablo incident happened, Lujan and Marizza made her feel like an idiot. “Well, that’s because you sometimes are!” Marizza says helpfully. If I were Luna, that would be my cue to walk out, but Luna caves and says that she is, she’s a coward, and she cares a lot about Marizza and she was scared for her. Marizza: “If you care about me so much, why don’t you want to hang out with us?” Luna says it’s because “[they] can never be friends.” Uh…
Marizza says that Luna’s not really a coward, because she was scared of Pablo too. “I left because of him. I don’t know if it was the right thing to do.” Then Luna sort of looks at Lujan and Lujan’s like, “No, that was stupid. I’m not scared of Pablo,” because Lujan is the best. They all hug and make up and shoo Luna off to the American fair. I try to care.
Over in the boys’ hallway, Guido rolls up to Pablo and Tomas once again. At first they try to blow him off, but then Dunoff and Gloria show up, and they end up dragging Guido back into the room with them. Gloria goes into the room opposite the boys’, and Tomas says that “she” should get ready to leave the school. Assuming that this is Marizza (because who else would it be?), why is the girls’ room directly opposite the boys? That’s terrible planning. Pablo and Tomas cackle with glee and then send Guido out to try and get them beer. As he walks down the hall, he hears Pilar saying, “Sooner or later, they’re going to start using you…” He still goes to get the beer, though. Guido is very weak-willed.
Marizza, of course, denies stealing anything, and Lujan asks who was robbed. Pablo, of course. Marizza rolls her eyes and says she would never go in Pablo’s room. Dunoff says it’s still their job to investigate, and asks if they can look through Marizza’s things. She’s like, “Whatever,” and she’s being remarkably flippant considering how crazy she knows Pablo is. And of course, the wallet is in her desk drawer. They really ought to put locks on these kids’ doors.
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