Naturally, Lea's animosity is almost entirely focused on Marci, because boys can't help themselves. Not to be outdone, Marci starts a vicious smear campaign against Lea that Don does nothing to prevent, he makes it worse by continuing to flirt with Lea when Marci is out of sight and being spineless whenever Marci swoops in. This is the first of many signs that Don is a terrible person. When Lea happily tells her new friend Deena (from 'Wrong Number') about this silver lining, Deena informs her that Don and Marci have been steady for, like, ever. A cute boy named Don Jacobs helps her pick up her tray and asks her out. Lea Carson may have been thinking about these statistics when she trips in the lunch room and spills chili onto Marci Hendryx's white, cashmere sweater. I'm not including those who may be dying at Shadyside's other, 'poor' high school, Shadyside South - we know of at least one. That number at least should raise an eyebrow among parents. Not normal is that at the start of 'The Secret Bedroom' Shadyside High has seen (including Shannon's brother who died before the series started) 2 students dead, 2 moved away because of tragedy and 7 more presumably imprisoned and/or hospitalized 'to get the help they need'. That's a fairly normal number for a town this size, especially as the books do let some time pass. It's taken about two years for the books thus far to be published (June, 1989-Sept, 1991), and about the same time seems to have passed in Shadyside.

Lea is about the eighth new student at Shadyside since the series began.

The Secret Bedroom by R.L. Stine