Line #45 Literature/TheYearOfSecretAssignments


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_year_of_secret_assignments.png]]
2	->''Mr. Botherit is an idiot.''
3	->''What he has to say is that we have now finished Larkin, so ''next week'', we will begin the Famous Ashbury-Brookfield Pen Pal Project. Specifically, we will write letters to students at Brookfield High, and they will become our pen pals. "And this," he says (whispering for dramatic effect), "will kill two birds with one stone!"''
4	->''("Don't you ''dare'' kill any birds," Sasha Perkins said passionately.)''
5	->''Mr. Botherit is holding one finger in the air: "A," he is saying, "it will reduce the hostility between our schools! And ''two''," he holds up a second finger, "and ''two'', it will be our stand against the tyranny of technology! By sending ''letters'', we say no to e-mails! No to mobile technology and texting! And ''yes'' to the ''Joy of the Envelope!''"''
6
7	So begins ''The Year of Secret Assignments'' by Jaclyn Moriarty, a simple book about three girls (Lydia, Emily, Cassie) writing to three boys (Sebastian, Charlie, and Matthew, respectively.) Oh, except there are the aforementioned secret assignments, along with prank calls and falsely-pulled fire alarms and cars getting broken into.
8
9	Also, it's an EpistolaryNovel, and a companion to ''Literature/FeelingSorryForCelia''. In some countries, it's known as ''Finding Cassie Crazy''. The following books are ''The Betrayal Of Bindy Mackenzie'' and ''Dreaming Of Amelia''.[[note]]All the books have been published under different titles, for the record.[[/note]]
10
11	!!This story provides examples of:
12	* AdultsAreUseless: Lydia's parents, while Cassie's mother does her best, as does Emily's father.
13	%%* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Paul Wilson]]
14	%%* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Paul Wilson]]
15	* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Lydia is unimpressed when Seb mentions that he looks after his baby brother, commenting, "I hope you weren't trying to impress me with that baby stuff. I think all guys should know how to look after a baby, especially if your mother's just had one."
16	* BelligerentSexualTension: Charlie and Emily, Lydia and Seb, particularly the latter couple.
17	* BigBrotherInstinct: Seb to his baby brother.
18	* BigDamnHeroes: Cassie, Charlie and Seb bursting in during the climax of the book to save the day.
19	* BigEater: Emily mentions eating a lot, mostly chocolate.
20	* BreakTheCutie: Cassie started off pretty broken after her dad died, but what happens in the book makes it worse.
21	* BrilliantButLazy: Lydia passes her Science exam with 98%. According to Emily, she "does that sort of thing when she feels like it."
22	* BrokenRecord: Emily's third letter to Charlie:
23	--> You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
24	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
25	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
26	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
27	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
28	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
29	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
30	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
31	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
32	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
33	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
34	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
35	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
36	You talk a pile of crap. You talk a pile of crap.\
37	Yours faithfully,\
38	Emily Thompson.
39	%%* BunnyEarsLawyer: Emily, semi-literally.
40	* {{Catchphrase}}: Emily at first has "Don't get me started!" but stops using it after Charlie lampshades and mocks it. Similarly, Charlie uses "Just say the word" before Emily gives him the same treatment.
41	* CelebCrush: Emily asks Cass what her ideal way of being asked out is:
42	-->Cass says that her ideal way would be for the guy to be Brad Pitt and he can just call her up and ask.
43	* CharacterOverlap: Elizabeth and Christina of "Feeling Sorry for Celia" appear briefly.
44	** Also Emily mentions a girl in her year who ran away to the circus when on a rant to Charlie, which was what Celia did.
45	** Bindy of ''The Murder of Bindy [=McKenzie=]'' appears to give misinformation on Matthew Dunlop and to transcribe the pseudo-trial at the end of the book.
46	*** This particular piece turns into GeniusBonus/FridgeBrilliance when you read ''The Murder/Betrayal of Bindy [=McKenzie=]'' as it elaborates as to WHY she's this way in this particular book.
47	* ChekhovsGun: In one of the early letters, Lydia mentions that she has a friend with a talent for locks. This friend's talent comes in handy a lot later, when they need to find some evidence.
48	* CloudcuckooLander: Lydia. The other two girls have this as well, but Emily seems merely energetic whereas Cassie is just a bit distracted.
49	* CoolBike: One of Charlie's brothers has a motorbike.
50	* CrazyPrepared: Emily. The best example of this is when she's trying to set Charlie up with Christina and suggests "practice dates" such as Kicking a Pebble and Gazing Into A Girl's Eyes.
51	* DeadpanSnarker: Lydia and Sebastian. Charlie has shades of this, but mostly because he is the StraightMan to Emily. Cassie has a few moments, too.
52	* {{Determinator}}: When these girls want to accomplish something, they will stop at nothing.
53	* DisappearedDad: Cassie's dad died a year before the start of the novel, and she's still recovering.
54	* EmbarrassingTattoo: Charlie's little sister Jess comes home with a tattoo of barbed wire around her wrist.
55	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lydia suggests a contest with Seb where they have to meet at a cafe and figure out who the other person is before the other person figures out who they are, since they don't know what the other one looks like. To aid this, they're allowed to send a photo of something about them, but isn't of them, and ask three questions. While Lydia's questions could all help identify Seb, [[spoiler:Seb's are pretty esoteric. It's a clue that he doesn't need identifiers, because he already knows what she looks like.]]
56	%%* GenkiGirl: Emily.
57	* GenreSavvy: When the Brookfield/Ashbury 'war' is going on, the pen-pal exchange program is suspended... so naturally everyone just switches to email.
58	* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Lydia's mother. A lot of it has to do with how she's a washed-up actress.
59	* HeroicBSOD: Cassie gets one after she finally meets Matthew Dunlop.
60	* ImaginaryFriend: For a while, Emily and Lydia think Cassie's pen pal is one of these.
61	* {{Jerkass}}: Matthew Dunlop, aka [[spoiler:Paul Wilson]].
62	* KnightTemplar: Lydia is ''not'' happy when she finds out what Matthew Dunlop did to Cassie, and makes every effort to track him down and punish him.
63	* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Cassie mentions in the book that she is trying to stand up on her own without Emily and Lydia's help so much, as she leant on them a lot shortly after her dad died.
64	* LoveableRogue: Seb, who constantly asks Lydia to meet up with him while they are penpals and flirts with her constantly. And when they DO meet up...
65	* {{Malaproper}}: Emily. Charlie even calls her out on it a few times, though no one else does.
66	-->'''Emily:''' The ladies seem to really go for Lydia's dad (Justice Oberman). They love him! :) I have heard tell (from Lydia's mother) that Justice Oberman's name was once a cinnamon for sex god.
67	%%* MamaBear: Patricia, Cassie's mum. Also Emily's mum at one point.
68	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Charlie has at least three brothers and a little sister.
69	* MotorMouth: Emily, which goes with the territory of being a GenkiGirl.
70	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Charlie gets a call about how there's a gas leak at Brookfield High, so he immediately alerts everyone and evacuates the school. However, there is no gas at Brookfield High, which he didn't know, so he winds up getting profusely mocked for it.
71	* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: During the pseudo-trial, [[spoiler:Paul]] says that he doesn't even know who Cassie is, and she could be a psychopath or something. Bindy then leans over and tells him that no, that's Cassie, her dad died last year and they were really close, so he has to be nice to her or everyone will hate him.
72	* ObliviousToLove: Emily manages to miss out on some very obvious hints that Charlie loves her, as she's convinced he's in love with Christina.
73	* PoorCommunicationKills: Bindy [=McKenzie=] says she's heard of a Matthew Dunlop when she's actually confused him with someone else, but this makes it a lot harder for the Lydia and Emily. [[spoiler: Since Matthew Dunlop doesn't actually exist.]]
74	* TheQuietOne: Cassie's letters are nowhere near as long as Emily or Lydia's.
75	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Matthew/Paul]] gives a brutal (and undeserved) one to [[spoiler:Cassie]] a little before Winter Term.
76	* RunningGag: Emily constantly getting words wrong, Lydia confusing her stories for real life, and the secret assignments themselves.
77	* TheShrink: Cassie's therapist Claire is of the "dopey and ineffective" category, so much so that both Cassie and her mother simultaneously agree to stop seeing her at the end of the book.
78	* SitcomArchNemesis: Emily has some kind of grudge against Bindy, even before the aforementioned communication failure. One brilliant example occurs when Bindy is doing the transcript during the "trial" and asks when it finishes:
79	---> '''Bindy:''' When can I stop typing?
80	---> '''Emily:''' ''[sarcastically]]'' Now would be a good time, Bindy.
81	* SmokingIsCool: Lydia seems to think so.
82	* SuddenDownerEnding: In-universe example- all of Lydia's stories end with her suddenly killing off the characters.
83	* TallDarkAndSnarky: Seb.
84	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Emily loves chocolate so much that her nickname is Toblerone.
85	-->'''Emily:''' I think it is an [[{{Malaproper}} angiogram]] of Thompson, actually.
86	* WhamLine: The letters from Seb and Charlie that say that [[spoiler:there's nobody at Brookfield High called Matthew Dunlop.]]
87	* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Lydia's mother, who was in a soap opera and became semi-famous, but her career never went anywhere. She now owns a production studio, but hardly ever does anything with it. She also drinks a lot.

Context Literature / TheYearOfSecretAssignments