Thirteen Plus One
Say Out Loud What I Want Out Of Life
Winnie wakes up remembering her past birthdays. Although this birthday will be the best one yet because
it's her 14th birthday! The only thing that Winnie is worried about is high school. In two months it will be subootyholemmer vacation and then she will be a freshman in high school. Sandra, Ty, and Winnie's new sister Maggie come into her room to wish her a happy birthday. Winnie asks Sandra for advice about high school. Sandra tells her to stop worrying and that she needs to change the way she looks at the world. She tells Winnie to stop obsessing over it and live in the now.
At school Winnie finds her locker decorated with streamers, balloons, and mini marshmallows. Cinnamon and Dinah did all that for her. When Winnie asks why they put marshmallows up, Cinnamon replied saying that they made your boobs bigger. Winnie starts pelting Cinnamon with marshmallows when one hits Dinah. Cinnamon grabs Winnie and Dinah and Cinnamon sing happy birthday while pouring the marshmallows on top of Winnie. They all sank to the floor, and Malena came over. Malena asks if Dinah and Cinnamon made Winnie a cake, and not in a nice way. Winnie wasn't friends with Malena, but Dinah and Cinnamon tell Winnie that they didn't get a chance to make a cake. They ask Winnie if there will be cake at Winnie birthday party sleepover. Winnie says yes and Dinah is excited because it will be hers and Cinnamon's first times seeing baby Mags. Winnie still is a little upset that Dinah and Cinnamon didn't make her a cake, but she grows excited again because she now thinks that Lars will bring her a cupcake.
At lunch Winnie tries to throw hints at Dinah and Cinnamon that she knows about Lars getting her a cupcake. When she finally asks them about it, Dinah and Cinnamon are unsure. But they assure her that he probably has something really nice planned.
But he didn't. Lars gave her a Starbucks card. He gave it to her after school in the parking lot. Winnie left to go home with Sandra dissapointed. At home Winnie finds out that her mom didn't bake her a cake either because she was too busy with the baby. Winnie's mom asks Winnie if she could call her dad and ask him to pick up a cake from whole foods. Winnie goes to look for her mom's phone, but instead she finds an iPhone. She opens the note icon and writes a "To Do Before High School" list.
Have A Deep Moment With Sandra
Cinnamon's and Winnie's teacher come together to let both classes watch a movie together. The movie was the Black Widow. It was about a woman who marries one rich guy after another, murdering them all and inheriting their money. Since Cinnamon was still bitter from her breakup with Bryce, she calls the black widow her hero. Winnie thinks that Cinnamon needs a better boyfriend and that she should be nicer and not put forks in her hair. Winnie and Cinnamon see Dinah talking to a girl named Mary. When Mary spots Winnie and Cinnamon, she whispers to Dinah "don't tell." Winnie asks Dinah what Mary told her but Dinah brushed it off. Winnie tells Dinah that she shouldn't tell the whole world but at least her best friends. But when Dinah refuses to tell, Winnie types up "Find Out What's Up With Mary Woods!!!" on her iPhone notes. Then Sandra texts Winnie if she wants to go get a smoothie with her. Winnie said yes, and they went to Smoothie King. Winnie vented to Sandra about her problems with Cinnamon and Dinah. Sandra brings up how Amanda outgrew Winnie, but then she asks Winnie if she would take the chance to switch identities with Amanda. Winnie says that Amanda doesn't really seem too happy. Then Sandra tells Winnie that she takes back the advice that she gave Winnie three years ago about Winnie and Amanda outgrowing each other. Sandra also tells Winnie that she realized how little time she spent with Winnie.
In the car ride back home, Winnie finds out that Sandra is both scared and excited to be graduating, but she also doesn't want to stay in Atlanta, and she tells Winnie that when it's her time she should also leave. Winnie gets annoyed because first Sandra tells her not to let her friends slip away, but now she is saying that her friends aren't the only ones and that she should go. Sandra rethinks and says "Don't give away what you have, but don't let what you have be all you ever have." Sandra also tells Winnie that she can't fix other people's problems.
Sandra pulls into the driveway, and Winnie tells her that she likes it when Sandra is nice to her. On the verge of tears, Sandra tells Winnie that she will miss her and Winnie says that she will miss Sandra as well.
Do Something Scary
Winnie goes looking for Dinah because she was mad at Cinnamon and finds her in the library with Mary. Dinah refuses to let Winnie know whats going on so Winnie storms away. Winnie is also mad because she hasn't spend time with Lars in a long time. She decided that she was going to call him, and that would be her "doing something scary." Lars wanted Winnie to do all the work and they were both really busy all the time. The phone call ends because Winnie's mom calls her to go make Ty his bath. Winnie and Lars did not agree on any plans. Ty was afraid to take a bath alone because Winnie made up a fake "Bathroom Lady" that lived in the sewers. But the reason Ty wasn't taking a bath was because he took a baby penguin home with him from the aquarium he went to. Winnie got Sandra to help her sneak back the penguin to the aquarium without telling their mom. While they were at the aquarium, a security guard caught them. Winnie amused the security guard, so he took the penguin and let them go. Sandra was shocked because she froze, while Winnie was fearless. Winnie tells Sandra about how unbrave in love she in and Sandra tells her they discussed this last year when the Lars and Brianna (nose-ring girl) thing came up. So Winnie asks Sandra if she can take her to Lars' house. There Winnie lobs pebbles at his window and Lars comes downstairs. Winnie kissed him and asked him to go have brunch with her on Sunday. He agreed and they kissed again.
I Stand Corrected
Winnie finds out that Dinah has been suspended from school. Unopened makeup was found in Dinah's locker. Winnie called her and Dinah said that Mary stole everything and was using Dinah to hide it. Cinnamon and Winnie went to visit Dinah after school, and Dinah admitted that she feels lonely inside. Winnie and Cinnamon agreed that they get the feeling too sometimes. Dinah then confessed everything to them and she asked them if they accepted her apology for being her. Dinah said that she doesn't want to be the girl that Winnie pats on the head and says "oh Dinah." Then Winnie apologizes to Dinah. This was something on her "to do before High School list." To admit it when she's wrong. Then Dinah, Winnie and Cinnamon make a pledge to stay together through thick and thin.
Practice Being Older
Dinah calls Winnie and Cinnamon over in a panic. It turns out that Dinah's dad wants her to go to a struggling teens boot camp. Dinah's dad wants her to go there because of the Mary situation. He doesn't want her to be a follower. Dinah doesn't want to go to that camp so Winnie and Cinnamon help her look up better ones. Dinah suggests that Winnie and Cinnamon go with her but Winnie wants to spend her summer with Lars and Cinnamon just doesn't want to go. Cinnamon comes across a teen nudist camp on the computer. It's called Camp Buff, and it's actually real. Winnie, Dinah, and Cinnamon are horrified. In the end they didn't find Dinah a new camp.
That night, Lars and Winnie babysit baby Maggie while her mom and dad left to go to dinner. Sandra and Ty were also not at home, so it was just Winnie, Lars, and Maggie. This was Winnie practicing being older. While Winnie and Lars were talking about Dinah leaving for camp he mentioned that he was leaving to Germany for the summer because his mom got another fellowship. Winnie gets angry with Lars because she doesn't want him to go. But he pulls her close to him. They have a nice moment until baby Maggie poops. Winnie tells Lars that she might join Dinah now at camp. But Lars suggests not going to a coed camp. He says that he's kidding, but Winnie doesn't think he is.
Do Something To Help The World
Dinah and Winnie were hanging out on the steps of Presley Hall, and they were watching the junior guys set up wooden folding chairs on the quad. Winnie's parents gave Winnie permission to join camp and Winnie found the perfect one. Winnie first asked Dinah about going to camp at the beach. Then she suggested fake camps like lifeguards or swimsuit models. Then she decided to hit her with the real one. She asked Dinah about volunteering to help the ecosystem. Winnie told Dinah the it was a summer beach program called DeBordieu. It was to save endangered sea turtles. Winnie took Dinah to the media center to show her the website.
Later on Winnie went to Sandra's graduation ceremony. Winnie cried as well as her mom and dad. Winnie was feeling melancholy because Sandra was going to attend senior parties instead of hanging out with her family, so in a way, Sandra was already leaving them. Winnie also left her family to go hang with Dinah and Cinnamon at Peachtree Battle Baskin-Robbins. Cinnamon was being kind of a jerk because she was being left behind. Winnie and Dinah were leaving soon to the summer camp and Cinnamon had to stay behind because of her babysitting job. Tthen they see a girl with huge boobs and they think she had a boob job. Cinnamon talks about how nobody will ever accuse Winnie of having a boob job because her boobs are so small. Winnie gets mad but feels sorry for Cinnamon because she is being left behind.
School ended and summer started. For the first week, Winnie hung out with Dinah and Cinnamon at the pool and played ping pong with lars. Lars was grumpy about Winnie leaving earlier then he was. One day when Winnie and Lars were having a picnic at memorial park eating cheese puffs from a jar. Lars told Winnie that he doesn't want her to go and that they haven't even had any summer together. Lars's hand gets stuck in the cheese jar while trying to pull some out and that got on Winnie's nerves, so Winnie tugged off the canister and flung his cheese puffs far away. Winnie has found more and more things to be annoyed with Lars about, beginning with him giving her a gift card for her birthday instead of a cupcake. But Winnie just pushed Lars down, so that he was laying down, and lightly kissed him.
While Winnie was packing for camp, her brother Ty tells her to bring her sundress, but Winnie doesn't know why she would need a sundress on a beach. Then Cinnamon calls Winnie and tells her that she has excellent news, but Cinnamon decided not to tell Winnie about it. Ty comes in the room telling Winnie that he put the sundress in her bag. Cinnamon hangs up the phone not telling Winnie what the big news was. That evening, Winnie gets a bad feeling about leaving. Maggie just started laughing and who knows what else Winnie will miss while she's gone. Also it's Sandra's last summer home, and Winnie is leaving. Sandra tells Winnie that she cant let her world revolve around her. Winnie asks Sandra the real question. She asks Sandra whether or not she is obnoxious. Winnie is asking because sometimes she gets snarky thoughts, but she knows that she is nice inside. Sandra hugged her and they topped over on her bed. Sandra tells Winnie that she's 14 and it's her birthright to be snarky, but just not to let it poison her.
Make A Prediction
Winnie and Dinah were driving to camp and they were almost there. They meet a security guard who had a thick South Carolina accent and told them the rest of the directions. While they were driving near a marsh, they saw a sign that read "Please Do Not Feed Or Molest The Alligators" Winnie said that if Cinnamon were here she would steal that sign. But Dinah said she wouldn't with a head jerk towards her dad. She didn't want to talk about stealing because of the Mary thing. The car was coming closer to the destination and Dinah saw the house. They parked near it and a woman named Virginia came to greet them. They went into the house and met a cute boy named Alphonse. They talked about his job and about a sea turtle named Myrtle that was hit by a boat propeller. Then they continued to tour the house. Virginia told Winnie and Dinah that Alphonse lives below with Milo and James. She mentions that Milo can be quiet but there's nothing wrong with that. Winnie nudges Dinah because Dinah too can be "pretty quiet" sometimes. Winnie predicted that Dinah will have her first kiss at the beach, "with the sound of the waves in her ears and a salty breeze lifting her hair." They went up another 2 flights of stairs. There was an attic room that the 2nd staircase and while Winnie was looking at it, the door creaked open and someone's eye locked with hers. Then the door slammed shut. Virginia told Winnie and Dinah that two girls named Erika and Brooklyn are in one of the rooms, and Ryan and Mark sleep in another. Winnie and Dinah see the ocean though a window seat while they are looking at the den. They continued to look at the house, but Virginia told them that there were 5 girls, and so far it's been Winnie, Dinah, Brooklyn, and Erika. Virginia tells Winnie that the fifth girl is staying up there in the rainbow room. Winnie knows that the only room "up there" is the rainbow room, so they will be sharing a room with creepy attic girl. They all went upstairs again to a room made out of windows. They were looking at the ocean when Virginia noticed a school of porpoises swimming across the shore line. They watched until the porpoises were out of sight. Then they continued to go see Winnie and Dinah's room. They went inside and Winnie did not see any crazy attic dweller. Winnie layed down on a bed along with Dinah. Dinah said that she could get used to this. Winnie agreed, and then they heard a voice from under the bed say "me too." It turns out that it was Cinnamon, and this was her big news all along!
Take Charge With Lars
Winnie is getting to know the Debordieu gang.They were eating fish tacos (which were actually good) when James, a skater boy, commented on Cinnamon's shoes. Winnie noted that James dug Cinnamon's skater girl vibe. They talked about the agenda for tomorrow and Winnie and Dinah were supposed to go with Alphonse to patrol for sea turtle crawls (tracks). But Dinah isn't really a morning person, so she choose to hand out bumper stickers. The bumper stickers say "lights out" to remind people to turn off their lights before 10. If their lights are on longer, then sea turtles might not be able to follow the moon back to the ocean when they hatch. Later that night, the crew was on the beach drinking mountain dew, when Cinnamon, Winnie, and Dinah snuck off to be alone for a bit. They were watching the stars and Cinnamon announced that she liked James. Winnie thinks that James is a bit too sweet for Cinnamon. She called Cinnamon burly in the way of being tough but Cinnamon thought that Winnie was calling her fat. Cinnamon wasn't feeling any better so Winnie gave her a kiss. Then Winnie was thinking about missing Lars and then almost like she read Winnie's mind, Dinah asked how Lars is. Winnie said that he texted her a lot, but she hasn't had time to text him back. Cinnamon asks if they're having a fight, but Winnie says no, and that she just wants a cupcake, and that giddy, crush feeling back. Cinnamon thinks that Winnie wants to be a new Wii game that he's obsessed with, not the couch that he plants his butt on. Winnie disagrees and thinks that she wants to be the girl he adores and the girl he wooed.
Then they went back to the gang and played a game called Chubby Bunny, which involved stuffing as many marshmallows in your mouth and saying chubby bunny after you took a new marshmallow. Cinnamon was a champion and was flirting with James, and even Dinah was flirting with Milo. Back upstairs in their room, Winnie finds that Lars sent her texts and voicemails, but Winnie wondered if so many calls were necessary, then she gets mad at herself because that didn't count as wooing? She called Lars, and she was telling him about the place, but he cut her off to tell her that his mom lost the funding and he's not going to Germany. He told her that now she can leave and spend the summer with him. He told her that Cinnamon's there to take care of Dinah. But Winnie got mad because Dinah didn't need taking care of and she didn't want to go home. Cinnamon heard Winnie say that, so she talked to Lars and told him that they were on the beach! With hotness monsters! Lars realized that she didn't want to home and Winnie thought he sounded weird. But there was nothing she could do.
Make Friends With Someone New
Winnie was waking up to go look for crawls, she got ready and went to the bathroom. She remembered what happened there last night. There was a sign that said "If It's Yellow, Let It Mellow. If It's Brown, Flush It Down." Dinah showed it to her and she was worrying because she couldn't even think of not flushing. Dinah called Cinnamon in, and Cinnamon found it very funny. Dinah went to use the bathroom but she said she couldn't do anything while Cinnamon and Winnie were there. Then Ryan came and threw them a box, and left. The box said "Dulcolax Stool Softener, Gentle, Softening, Release." They left it for Dinah to see (as a joke) and Dinah freaked out. But this morning Winnie didn't flush to follow the rules. She met Alphonse downstairs. They went to see a nest of sea turtle eggs. Winnie held one round, cream egg. Winnie said that she gets that the spots are marked to protect the nest from people, but she didn't get how it could protect from animals. Alphonse told her that that's why Erika is making the cages. Alphonse told Winnie that only two out of one hundred eggs make it, and that a lot that make it to the water end up as shark food. Winnie's afraid of sharks and she tells Alphonse that wait until she tells her boyfriend that she's swimming with sharks. Alphonse tells Winnie that if he had a girlfriend, she wouldn't be afraid of sharks. They laughed together and Winnie realized that she made a new friend, which she now could cross that off of her list.
Be Completely Spazzy
It was already July and everybody was tan. Winnie learned that she is actually a morning person. Cinnamon was good at building cages, so she and Erika were good friends. They learned that Erika was gay. They were all biking and talking. They were going to pick up a package for Virginia at the gatehouse. Winnie brought up James to Cinnamon, and Cinnamon got all shy. Winnie said that they were cute together, but she told Cinnamon that now she wants to put Dinah in the hotseat. They were talking about how Milo likes Dinah because he always volunteered for bumper sticker duty. Winnie mentioned that his acne got better, but Dinah said that she didn't care about superficial stuff like that. They rode past the "Please Do Not Feed or Molest the Alligators" sign. Cinnamon said that she would take it. Dinah scolds her, so Cinnamon bikes away, challenging them to a race. Winnie tells Dinah that she should make her move on Milo by kissing him. Dinah does not want Cinnamon to know about his because Dinah thinks that she'll bring it up in front of Milo. Winnie lies to Cinnamon and says that Dinah said that she can probably beat Cinnamon in a bike race. Dinah biked away just as the security guard opened the door to get the package for Virginia. Cinnamon biked away so she could catch up to Dinah. The package had rotting chicken necks in it. Winnie was left to take it back to the house. The chicken necks were to catch crabs. Dinah and Milo went together, and Winnie was very happy about that.
And Have It Come True (my prediction, that is!!!!!squeee!!!!)
Winnie watched Dinah leave to go crabbing with Milo and then layed down on the hammock and thought about Lars. She missed him. She groaned, and Brooklyn said "now what?" Winnie told her that she was having boyfriend problems. Brooklyn asked if Lars was cheating on her. Winnie replied no. Then Brooklyn asked if Winnie was cheating on Lars, because she saw her with Alphonse. Brooklyn thinks that she and Alphonse have cheating thoughts towards each other. Winnie tells Brooklyn that Lars gave her a Starbucks card for her birthday and that it was a crap present. But Brooklyn told Winnie that for her birthday, her ex-boyfriend gave her a breakup post-it note. She said it was because her brother has cerebral palsy and he didn't want to deal with it. Brooklyn came to DeBordieu so that she can be a teenager and not have to worry about her brother. That made Winnie think that her problems were stupid. Brooklyn asked Winnie if Lars knew that Winnie wanted a cupcake. Winnie replied no. Brooklyn asked her if she was some shrinking violet who couldn't stand up for herself. But Winnie tells her that she thinks that she's confusing Winnie with Dinah. But Brooklyn retaliates that Dinah is out crabbing and Winnie is too afraid to tell her boyfriend that she wants a cupcake.
Virginia finds Winnie and asks her whether or not she wants to cook or clean. Winnie picks cook, but she doesn't like the way you have to cook the crabs. You have to put the crabs in boiling water. Winnie switches her job to cleaning instead, which leaves Cinnamon in charge of cooking. Dinah and Milo come back with crabs and Dinah tells Winnie that Milo kissed her. Winnie's prediction came true! Cinnamon decides to put the crabs in cool water then boil it slowly, not listening to Virginia's orders. Cinnamon tells Winnie that she'll deal with the crabs in a bad tone, so Winnie leaves. But 15 minutes later Cinnamon is screaming that the crabs are climbing out of the pot! In the end they let the crabs go and had a meal of corn, salad, and bread instead. Dinah was being all feisty and although Winnie was happy for her, if Dinah wasn't the shriveled violet of the group, where did that leave Winnie?
Don't Die
Brooklyn was leaving early and everyone was saying their goodbyes. Brooklyn's brother, Lucas came along to pick Brooklyn up, and when Winnie met him, she started missing Maggie a lot. Winnie and the rest of the kids would leave in four days and that got Cinnamon upset because it would be hard for her to see James. On Friday, it was the last full day. Winnie was about to go for her last early morning crawl patrol because tomorrow was for packing and getting picked up. Cinnamon didn't sleep because she was up all night with James, snuggling on the sofas. Winnie tells Cinnamon to go sleep so she can be awake at the bonfire. Then she meets Alphonse. They walk quietly until Alphonse's fingers were on Winnie's upper arm, then he took her hand. He points to something, but Winnie is too distracted looking at his arm. Then she lets go of his hand and see's that he's pointing at sea turtle eggs that are hatching. They watched until the nest was empty and Winnie noted that Alphonse and her had some type of connection that didn't go away. She needed to call Lars. At breakfast, while the others were eating, Winnie was in her room calling Lars. He sounded weird and Winnie told him about the eggs hatching and all he said was "cool." Winnie told him about the Starbucks card and Lars laughed because he thought she was mad for another reason. Winnie tells him that she wanted a cupcake and that all he gave her was a stupid piece of plastic. The call ended.
Figure Out Who I Am...?
Winnie was getting ready for the bonfire and she was trying to enjoy herself. She even wore the dress Ty packed for her. But it wasn't happening. She was upset about Lars. Alphonse asks her to go down to the water with him and Winnie agrees. Alphonse asks Winnie if he can kiss her. Winnie hesitates for a moment, but then she says no. It would be cheating on Lars. Alphonse leaves to go back to the others but Winnie stays there alone. Her thoughts wander to Lars when she hears Alphonse say "yeah, she's down there." He was referring to Winnie, and although Winnie was happy someone cared about her, she wanted Lars to be with her. Then an arm slips around her waist, but Winnie recognizes that smell, and she knows it's Lars! She twists around and she see's him, she hugged him so hard. Lars told her that his brother drove him here and that tomorrow he will drive Dinah and Cinnamon home. Lars was hugging her with one arm, so Winnie reaches out for his other one, and his hand seems to be holding a box. There was a sticker on top that said Sugar Sweet Sunshine on it. Winnie was so grateful for him, and then they kissed. That night, Winnie and Lars, James and Cinnamon, and Dinah and Milo all slept on the beach together watching the stars.
Peace Out
Winnie was back in Atlanta, and baby Maggie had a tooth, and was sleeping through the night! Winnie's dad told her that just as the tooth came out, it went back in! But the tooth came back out and Winnie felt it. During the last week of summer, Winnie's dad helped Sandra pack her things into his car because Sandra was leaving for college. Winnie was watching Bo comfort Sandra by holding her tight. Winnie wanted to cry, and an hour later, Sandra left. Winnie saw Sandra's yellow car parked lifeless in the garage. It was sad, but reassuring because it meant she was coming back. Then it was the last day of school and Winnie was super excited because she was starting high school! Winnie was worrying about what to wear when Amanda called her. Amanda was Winnie's old best friend. Amanda was crying and she told Winnie that her cat Sweet-Pea died. Winnie rushes to Amanda's house so they can bury her in the backyard. Entering the backyard, Winnie got flooded with memories of her and Amanda. They buried her cat and went inside to drink Clementine Izzes. They were talking about their friends and about different things until Amanda asks Winnie why they stopped being friends. Winnie said that they grew in different directions. Amanda tells Winnie that her friends are more real then Gail and Malena. Winnie knows that she's right.
That night Winnie has a dream and realizes that she completed her list, although she never really needed it. Then it was morning and Winnie was really nervous for her first day of high school. She met Dinah and Cinnamon and realized that she had done a lot in her 14th year. There were good times and bad times, and silly times and sad times. Winnie took a moment to take it all in, and she headed up to join them.