History Literature / JessicaDarling

* CoolLoser: Jessica gets called out on being one by a lot of other students in college, who were ''genuine'' losers in high school and aren't impressed by the fact that while she was objectively pretty successful, she still always ''[[TheEeyore felt]]'' pathetic and miserable.

** Mr. Pudel, Jessica's seventh grade woodshop teacher, claims to have [[AmbiguousDisorder a condition that prevents him from learning people's names]] and therefore assigns his students nicknames, most of them embarrassing. Jessica gets off relatively easy by being called "Clementine" (as in, "oh my darling...").

* AccidentalAthlete: Sort of - Jess becomes an Accidental ''School'' ''{{Mascot}}'' by messing up her cheerleader tryouts. It turns out that [[SlapstickKnowsNoGender she's got a rare knack for looking hilarious while falling on her face.]] Later played more straight as she gets recruited to the track team when the coach sees how much speed she can pick up while [[ItMakesSenseInContext fleeing from a lovesick goose wearing a fifty-pound seagull costume.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Hyper-aware of details but frequently blindsided by unexpected developments, poor social skills but high intelligence, deeply introverted, prone to over-thinking and depression... it's easy to get the impression that Jessica is mildly autistic.

** Len manages to lose his zits between junior and senior year. To Jessica's surprise, it turns out that there was a complete hottie hiding beneath them. The effect is somewhat ruined by [[{{Nerd}} his personality]] remaining the same, though.

** [[{{Nerd}} Len]] speaks in fragmented sentences with a lot of "uhm"s and "er"s.

-->'''Mom:''' You're both [[ThePerfectionist perfectionists.]] You're both hardheaded. You both [[NoSocialSkills have trouble dealing with people]]. You both get depressed when things don't go your way. You both think too much. You both keep your feelings inside, then [[RantInducingSlight explode at inopportune moments.]]

* MoodWhiplash: Quite often. In one notable example, Jessica has been working as a tutor for a group of neurotic high school overachievers to help them choose and get into the right university. Finally, after one too many snotty comments about how [[IvyLeagueForEveryone anyone who didn't go to Harvard has failed at life]], she [[RantInducingSlight snaps]] and goes on an absolutely ''magnificent'' rant about how none of what they think is important now is going to matter in a few short years, how their problems and concerns are [[FirstWorldProblems ones that only spoiled upper-middle-class brats care about]], and how even if they by sheer accident make all the right life choices they might still end up failing or dying, because LifeIsntFair. Then, right at the heels of that, the chapter ends with:

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Jess and Hope were ''extremely'' close, to the point where Hope moving away throws Jess into a year-long depression. Despite that, Jess is surprised and annoyed that anyone [[MistakenForGay would think]] that she's a [[UnusualEuphemism "vagitarian."]]

* HappyEndingOverride: The main theme of the third book. The second book ends with Jess finally graduating from the [[HighSchoolIsHell high school she thought was hell]], about to leave the small town where she felt SurroundedByIdiots to move to the big city and attend the college of her dreams, and in a relationship with a guy she's crazy about. Then RealityEnsues and life after high school turns out to be even harder and more confusing, just in other ways. Jess spends a lot of time in the third book ruminating on just how stupid she was to think that everything would be smooth sailing from now on.

* RealityEnsues: Quite often. In one notable example, Jessica has been working as a tutor for a group of neurotic high school overachievers to help them choose and get into the right university. Finally, after one too many snotty comments about how [[IvyLeagueForEveryone anyone who didn't go to Harvard has failed at life]], she [[RantInducingSlight snaps]] and goes on an absolutely ''magnificent'' rant about how none of what they think is important now is going to matter in a few short years, how their problems and concerns are [[FirstWorldProblems ones that only spoiled upper-middle-class brats care about]], and how even if they by sheer accident make all the right life choices they might still end up failing or dying, because LifeIsntFair. Then, right at the heels of that, the chapter ends with:
-->I got fired, of course.

* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler: Manda, supposedly. Jessica suspects that her sudden turn from [[ReallyGetsaround boy-crazy]] to lesbian is just the latest version of Manda's habit of [[StrawFeminist using her sexuality to make a questionable political statement]].]] Of course, she could just simply swing both ways and even explicitly describes herself as "omnisexual" (a term meaning "attracted to all genders" that wasn't well-known at the time and still isn't) on page 132 of Fourth Comings, but NoBisexuals seems to be in effect here.

* {{Adorkable}}: Jess claims to prefer guys who are "geeky-cute." Her actual dating track record [[UnreliableNarrator casts some]] [[SlapSlapKiss doubt on]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys that, though.]] Len fits this trope to a T, but when he and Jessica are dating she's constantly bored out of her skull because he's too much of a goodie-two-shoes NiceGuy to provide the sort of [[SnarkToSnarkCombat intellectual challenge]] that she actually seems to want from a guy.

* DoYouWantToCopulate: Len tells Jess out of nowhere in the third book that he thinks they should have sex. He ''means'' for it to come across as suave and laid-back, but though she finds it somewhat charming, it's for [[{{Adorkable}} other reasons.]]

* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler: Manda, supposedly. Jessica suspects that her sudden turn from [[ReallyGetsaround boy-crazy]] to lesbian is just the latest version of Manda's habit of [[StrawFeminist using her sexuality to make a questionable political statement]].]] Of course, she could just simply be bi, but NoBisexuals seems to be in effect here.

** Scotty and Marcus are respectively the Betty and Veronica for Jessica's Archie in the first book. Marcus wins.

* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler: Manda, supposedly. Jessica suspects that her sudden turn from [[ReallyGetsaround boy-crazy]] to lesbian is just the latest version of Manda's habit of [[StrawFeminist using her sexuality to make a questionable political statement]].]]

* HesAllGrownUp:

* RealityEnsues: Quite often. In one notable example, Jessica has been working as a tutor for a group of neurotic high school over-achievers to help them choose and get into the right university. Finally, after one too many snotty comments about how [[IvyLeagueForEveryone anyone who didn't go to Harvard has failed at life]], she [[RantInducingSlight snaps]] and goes on an absolutely ''magnificent'' rant about how none of what they think is important now is going to matter in a few short years, how their problems and concerns are [[FirstWorldProblems ones that only spoiled upper-middle-class brats care about]], and how even if they by sheer accident make all the right life choices they might still end up failing or dying, because LifeIsntFair. Then, right at the heels of that, the chapter ends with:

* StrawFeminist: Manda tends to justify her questionable behaviour with feminist rhetoric, to Jessica's disgust. Jessica also considers herself a feminist, mind you, but in a more rudimentary girls-are-worth-as-much-as-boys way that doesn't use as much dogma and name-dropping.
* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler: Manda, supposedly. Jessica suspects that her sudden turn from [[ReallyGetsaround boy-crazy]] to lesbian is just the last version of Manda's habit of [[StrawFeminist using her sexuality to make a questionable political statement]].]]

* LikeFatherLikeDaughter: Jessica's mom claims this about Jessica and her dad.

* TheObiWannabe: Bethany in the prequel series would like to think that she's a CoolBigSis dispensing sage advice for how to succeed in junior high. The problem is, the items on her "[=IT=] Lists" are not only of questionable value, but are also written as [[IceCreamKoan cutesy one-liners]] that could ''really'' use some explanation for what they're supposed to mean. Jessica actually [[GenreSavvy figures that out]] by the end of the first book, but she still decides to continue going along with the lists, because at least they make her life interesting.