Rae is not happy. Elderly Mrs Dewhurst across the road has accused her of being a Peeping Tom whilst a conversation with her friends in the pub exposes her as a virgin. A visit to Tix at the psychiatric ward is also depressing. However Archie asks her on a date and they are soon kissing. A second date is planned but Archie fails to show and when Rae goes after him he admits that he is gay and hoped that kissing a girl would make him straight. He is scared to come out so Rae decides the best way for them both to save face is for her to claim that she dumped him. Afterwards she goes to see Tix,this time the visit being more positive.
Rae finds that she is vying with Chloe for Finn's affections. The gang is going to a rave but Rae's mother puts her foot down and tries to prevent her. After being sick Rae realizes that this is due to the combination of alcohol and her medication so she decides to stop taking the latter. This makes her behave oddly, freeing Karim's cage birds, some of whom die and leading to a huge row with her mother. After laying low at Finn's she goes to the rave where she is upset to see Chloe and Finn kiss. She returns home and patches things up with her mother but gets a call to say that Tix has regressed after Rae failed to turn up to go out with her.
Feeling guilty that she was not there for Tix Rae is also depressed when Chloe tells her of her feelings for Finn and imagines running her over. Things get worse when Rae realises that Chloe has read her diary and tries to commit suicide but is herself run over. Whilst Rae is unconscious Tix appears and tells her how life would be poorer if Rae was to do away with herself so ,after being discharged from hospital,she goes to see Kester Gill,discussing her suicide attempt and her feelings for her father. On Kester's advice she goes to her mother's wedding and gives a speech,revealing the truth about herself. Afterwards she makes up with Chloe and Karim and discovers that Finn does love her. She visits Kester who tells her that,whilst she is not better,she is at last ready for therapy. Written by
Mum has married Karim and Rae discovers they are renting sex videos to spice things up. She herself is fairly happy as, after a shaky start at the bowling alley, she is dating Finn but is still anxious to pop her cherry with him. A weekend camping trip seems to provide the opportunity and she has a bikini wax and buys sexy lingerie. Unfortunately they have to share a tent with others but Finn has the perfect response - a romantic camper van, though sadly Rae has a headache and nothing happens. Returning to college she feels fat and insecure and accidentally sets off the fire alarm. She returns to Kester and group therapy and begins writing the diary again, something she had let lapse, thinking she did not need it.
Rae's mother finds out that Rae set off the fire alarm and she is forced to appear before the college principal who decides against suspending her but puts her on a warning. At the therapy session Rae is impressed by an articulate outburst from fellow group member and student Liam, who saw her set off the alarm but swears he told nobody. Back home Rae's mum announces that she is pregnant but Rae herself is far from happy as she increasingly wonders why such a good-looking boy as Finn wants to date her, particularly as his previous girlfriend was the slim blonde Stacey. As false rumours fly about their having sex in a toilet she finds the pressure of being his girlfriend too much and dumps him.
Without Finn Rae does her best to fit in with a clique of cool, slim girls led by Stacey and, with her tastes in popular music and advice to love-lorn Lois about getting a boyfriend winning them over, she actually starts to bond with them. Only Liam has worked out her terrible secret, her refusal to eat in front of other people because of her weight problem though eventually she finds herself able to confide in Stacey about it. However this is a terrible mistake as she soon works out that Stacey surrounds herself with people who are vulnerable so that she can bitch about them and feel superior. This leads to a show-down in a pizzeria where Rae actually eats in public to prove that Stacey was lying and Stacey is exposed to the others. Rae also exposes Archie as being gay when he tries to hide the fact by dating Lois.
Rae is pleased to have the apparently fearless Liam as her best, platonic friend, but is surprised that he wants to keep his group attendance secret. This spells trouble for Rae when Liam's violent girlfriend Amy, said to have been expelled from her last college for assault, threatens her and wants to know why they spend so much time together. She gives her until Friday. Liam refuses to tell Amy the truth but Rae sees he is not so tough when he breaks down and they kiss. Archie is also given the ultimatum by Lois to come out by Friday or else she will expose him. He suggests to Rae they run off together but she dissuades him and is pleased when Finn, anxious to resume a non-sexual friendship, offers to teach her self-defence. Come Friday Archie confesses to being gay to generally positive reactions whilst Amy crumbles when Rae tells her she kissed Liam. Back home Mum explains to Rae that she is converting to Islam as Karim, now a lollipop man, wants their baby born into the religion.
After spending the night with Liam Rae goes home to argue with her mother about seeing Victor and resenting the new baby. Following her split with Chloe she feels isolated at college and her efforts to get the old gang back together to find Chloe fail due to their bickering. After getting good advice from Kester she starts to turn things around, saving her mother when she starts bleeding and being glad to have a baby sister as well as saving Chloe from her vile boyfriend and joining her in a triumphant return to college. She finally gets the old group on good terms again and, as the icing of the cake, is prepared for a proper relationship with Finn, who has returned from Leeds.
Rae is accepted at Bristol university dependent on good exam grades but when Finn asks her to move in with her she decides to decline the offer, telling everybody that she has been rejected. Kester is disappointed, telling her that she is now secure enough to give up counselling and move on and when school leaver Katie, now at Bristol herself, gives a confidence-boosting speech Rae is confused as to what to do. Finn's view that she should go to Bristol only confuses her further as does seeing Archie with his first boyfriend, record shop owner Rob. She calls her friends together for advice but disaster strikes when they are in a car crash.
Feeling responsible for the crash that has put Chloe in hospital Rae is cheered when Katie suggests she does something to help the family and is upset when Chloe's parents blame her and ban her from seeing their daughter. With Kester having resigned a chance encounter with her estranged father Victor sees her opening up to him about making amends, which she attempts to do by putting Chloe's name on her exam paper. Unfortunately she is found out and her invitation to Victor to Mum's birthday party is also a disaster. Things start to look up when Chloe proves to be forgiving and welcoming and, thanks to Mum, she is allowed to resit her exam. This all counts for nothing though when she realizes that Katie and Finn are now dating.
Rae seeks out Kester, who reiterates his view that she no longer needs therapy and so she tries to channel her energies into revision but is distracted by thoughts of Finn with Katie. Katie tells her nothing happened and delivers some home truths on how Rae should stop laying her problems onto Finn but this has an adverse effect and leads to a suicide attempt. However a surprise announcement from her mother and an instruction by Kester to look for the answers to her problem in the diary helps Rae to take a positive outlook , advising an insecure Chloe and parting as a platonic friend with Finn at the end of term prom before heading off to Bristol.
