Valerie: Female given name derived from the Latin, valēre, to be strong. *** Valerie's not afraid of anything. Her best friend Stevie worries about everything. A flipped Jeep the Saturday before senior year might just change all that. When Valerie flips her cool Jeep Wrangler, her parents insist she drive the household's semi-retired 1996 Dodge Ram Conversion as punishment. But what is and isn't punishment is a matter of perspective. To golden girl Valerie, the van is no big deal. To self-conscious Stevie, it's social suicide. After all, high school is already hard enough for a Riverdance-fan-girl who can't even make eye contact with her biggest crush, blond band-geek Jesse. Determined to prove that the world isn't as awful as Stevie assumes it is, Valerie designs a pact. Each girl must perform five 'feats of courage' that range from the absurd to the daring to the legally-murky. This quirky game of dares may bring Stevie some confidence, but it also brings to light some big secrets, including one Valerie would rather have kept hidden. Senior year's going to be a bumpy ride. Valerie and Stevie will need a little more than a few feats of courage, a blond drummer boy, and a traveling Irish stage show.

All Ed needed to become the Internet's latest boyfriend was a chili-pepper costume. But getting sunny foreign-exchange student Audra to prom will take a lot more than that. Ed doesn't know he's beautiful. But he is. Even when his crazy boss forces him to wear an "extra-spicy" chili pepper costume as part of a May 5th promotion. It was only meant to be an after-school job at a low-key Mexican restaurant; Ed never signed up for abject humiliation. And when a lovestruck girl snaps a covert picture of Ed while he serves her an enchilada, he couldn't possibly have anticipated becoming the internet's latest imaginary boyfriend. The fame is immediate and disorienting, but if it helps Ed convince quirky foreign exchange student Audra to attend prom with him, being "Enchilada Ed" might not be so bad. (Formerly Ignorance, Bliss, and Mexican Food)