The Girl Most Likely

by Suzanne Rand

Conflict erupts between Stacy Harcourt, the popular, beautiful, and bright captain of Midvale High's cheerleaders, and her friends, Gina Damone and Tess Belding, when Stacy starts dating the dynamic Nick Cooper

Genres: Young Adult

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1985

Reviews

[Rob Imes · Rating 3 out of 5]

WINNERS #1: THE GIRL MOST LIKELY by Suzanne Rand was a 3-book mini-series of the Sweet Dreams line of teen romance novels published by Bantam in the 1980s. This book was the first in the series, published in November 1985. Each book is about a cheerleader at Midvale High School, with the first novel being about the captain of the cheerleading squad, Stacy Harcourt. (The next book, which I've already begun reading, is about Italian-American Gina Damone and the last is about Tess Belding, both of whom also feature in this book.) Stacy, a senior in high school, has become bored with her boyfriend Rich and breaks up with him. When Stacy accompanies Tess to a local garage to pick up her car, she meets Nick Cooper, a student at their school who works there as a mechanic. Normally Stacy would never be involved with someone like Nick, who is enrolled in vocational courses unlike her own "college prep" classes. But Stacy finds him "the most handsome boy she'd ever seen" and he gives her feelings that she never felt for her previous boyfriend Rich. The two begin dating, but because they have such different interests and run in different social circles, Stacy spends more time learning about his world rather than bringing him into hers. As a result, she spends less time devoted to cheerleading and hanging out with her friends, which causes some distance between Stacy and Tess and threatens Stacy's re-election as captain in the next semester. Eventually Stacy realizes that her involvement with Nick has a selfish aspect: she's mainly attracted to him because of his good looks, and his being so different from the other boys she knows adds some spice to her life, relieving that boredom she had felt. It turns out, however, that Nick realizes he may be more compatible with someone that shares his passion about cars, especially since he has no interest in the cheerleading part of her life.

I was a little worried at first about how this story was going to turn out, that it was going to send the message that girls shouldn't get involved with boys on "the wrong side of the tracks." Or that a girl needs to choose between sticking with her friends or her boyfriend. But the way that it is written, it all turns out for the best for each of the characters. Stacy may not have a boyfriend at the end, but she knows that she doesn't need one in order to be happy. And Nick is just as happy without her, too, with no hard feelings. The best thing about the book were the scenes showing Nick's life, especially the one about his older sister Cora who was in the same grade as Stacy's sister Sarah. Sarah is away at college now, but Cora had to give up her dream of going to nursing school and now has two small kids to raise. Stacy admires Nick and Cora because of their lives in the gritty real world, unlike many of her college-bound classmates who seem to be engaged in a prolonged adolescence. And yet she finally understands that she may be romanticizing their lives, and that they were denied some of the opportunities for success that she was given. They are making a success of their own lives in their own way, but it's not her own way of living. For example, Stacy would never contemplate marrying as young as Cora did, nor having children of her own, and whenever Nick wanted to be in a more physical relationship with her, she would reluctantly push him away. Despite her excitement at being in his arms, she knew that realistically her future did not involve being his wife and the mother of his children.

The book was a bit slow-going, and I took my time reading it, but it picked up and got more interesting by the halfway point as we saw more of Nick's life and saw how Stacy's life changed due to their relationship. The novel does a good job of depicting high school life and the confusion and emotional turmoil that is felt by teenagers as they try to figure out who they are and who they want to be. I was a little surprised to realize that I was in 10th grade when this book was released in 1985, although I would never have picked it up or even noticed it back then. I'm more open-minded about reading different genres now, so hopefully that is proof that I've changed for the better since those old high school days. I rate the book 3 (out of 5) stars, which means that I enjoyed reading it.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMFG I wanted to yeet the insufferable Stacy Sue out of a high rise window.