It isn't Alice and Patrick anymore; it's simply Alice, and much to her surprise, Alice is finding that's okay.

In fact, between working on the school play, and becoming more involved with the newspaper, Alice is so busy that she doesn't have much time to pine for Patrick, or for her best friends Pamela and Elizabeth - and they resent it. And if Alice ever needed friends, she needs them now.

She's got a secret e-mail admirer she's not sure how to handle.

Her brother, Lester, is plunging headlong into a risky romance with a professor. And her new friend, Faith, seems unable to break free of an abusive relationship with her boyfriend.

It's not simple being simply Alice.