Worthington party. A girl coos in extreme close-up about the fact that she placed third in the class, and how it keeps her up nights, blah bling blah. Joey admits that she placed only fourth. Yes, I think we get it. Then the girl spots Drue "Festi" Valentine and remarks on his cuteness and makes a big thing of "needing a refill," and Joey wants to block her from calling Drue over, probably because she doesn't want her Poor Little Joey Potter From The Wrong Side Of The Creek cover blown -- and that has gotten so very, very tired, by the way -- but the girl hails Drue as "waiter boy," and Drue comes over and says, "Yes, annoying girl." Heh. Joey cowers. Annoying Girl orders a club soda with a twist. Drue snipes at Joey for "ruining [his] night" and tells Annoying Girl that Joey works as a waitress at the club. Annoying Girl looks dismayed and makes a fake excuse to get away from Joey. Writers, writers, writers -- this isn't Pretty In Pink, y'all aren't John Hughes, and not all rich people act as though the less fortunate have the ick. If Joey feels out of place around the wealthy, fine, but can't that feeling come from her, and not from the unrealistic boorishness of said wealthy? God. Annoying Girl makes her escape. Drue asks, "How badly do you want to do me bodily harm right now?" Joey slams her punch cup onto Drue's tray and stalks off. "Later," Drue quips, "too many witnesses."

Leery holiday party. The college counselor comes out to the porch to praise Jen: "Your essays were wonderful." She adds that Jen should "be very proud of" herself. Jen is confused: "What…did I do, exactly?" She turned her applications in on time, apparently. The college counselor takes her leave. Jen knits her brow.

Worthington party. At dinner, Mr. Kubelik says that Joey hasn't said much; Joey blushes that she's "just soaking it all in [sic], I guess." Mr. K urges her to tell them a little about herself. Pacey shoots her an expectant look, as does NLNC, who clearly hopes that Joey will now put her foot in it. Joey stammers that there's not much to tell and she's just "your average teen-age girl." Mr. K says he's seen her application, and he disagrees with that assessment; the writers finally board the continuity train as Mr. K remembers "a certain fondness for art" and asks if Joey's seen the new Guggenheim. "No, but I've always wanted to go to New York," Joey says, thinking she's dodged a bullet, but after a quick shot of NLNC smirking victoriously, Drue enters the frame to fill her water glass and sneer that the new Guggenheim is actually in Bilbao, Spain. "Which isn't important," Mr. K says quickly, and he goes on to describe the "architectural epiphany" of the building itself. Joey nods and smiles politely, but she's obviously mortified. Pacey observes casually that, if you ask him, "the thing just looks like a big artichoke." Hee! It kind of does look like an artichoke from certain angles. Joey stares at Pacey in frank horror. NLNC stops chewing. Pacey also stops chewing: "What? I'm serious, it does." "You've been?" Mr. K asks. Pacey says no, but Doug is an "architecture buff" who has lots of coffee-table art books, so Pacey has seen all the pictures, and it looks like a big artichoke to him. Mr. K starts giggling and says that Pacey's right, it does look like a big artichoke. Pacey beams. Everyone else at the table laughs along. Joey looks ill.