In Midnight sun, Edward said Jessica is "skilled at feigning friendship". Do you agree with this? Do you think there is an element of disingenuity between Jessica's relationship with Demitri/Alec/Caius that is derived from her desire to survive? I wouldn't be surprised if feigning friendships/relationships is her talent, even if unintentionally.
I want to look at it this way: imagine unwillingly moving from your hometown where all your life was rooted there to a new, strange town where with the population of around 3000 people, I imagine Forks to be a very close knit town where everyone knew each other and it'd be quite intimidating for outsiders to integrate into the group.
Jessica was young when she moved and it's shown that she never quite fully settled into the town to this day; being so young and impressionable and desperate to rid of the outsider tag, you'd have to develop social skills where you are liked by the general group and the most surest way to become accepted is to become part of the popular cliche i.e. Lauren's group. Even the fact that she joined volleyball team, I think the foremost reason why she pursued it was because becoming part of a sport team is one of quickest way to bond with others and being accepted now thatĀ āwe are a teamā and she later came to genuinely enjoy the sport,
I've answered similar question as to why I chose Jessica as my protagonist:
I always imagine, when she moved to Forks, she didnāt have many friends. She had trouble reaching out to others, she liked her space, she liked being alone and she loved reading books because itās something you can do alone and she can escape to worlds the books painted in her mind. Sheās curious, she wants to know. What is the meaning of life? What kind of person am I? Why do people do what they do?
But as she grew up, her parents pressured her to get along with people, make friends and Jessica, as much as she is independent, she does want a friend. So she tries to befriend people but people just found her..boring. Then she sees Lauren, a popular, pretty girl who seems to be liked by everyone and Jessica sees that kind of image works.
It was quite obvious to me that Jessica was instantly jealous of Bella ā whom seemed to be liked almost immediately by everyone while she had to try and work so hard to be liked and noticed yet at the same time, sheās reminded of past herself. While she had to fake it to make it, Bella didnāt.
Mike, whom Jessica secretly crushed on for years, liked Bella. Edward, whom never shown any special attention to anyone, suddenly liked Bella too. Bella was everything Jessica was and wanted to be. She was the new girl everyone was curious about. Something special in the boring little town where nothing seemed to chance. And I think if you took her away from Forks, Jessica donāt have to maintain the faƧade, she can just be herself. Donāt we all become quite shy and conservative when in a strange place surrounded by strangers but also more honest to ourselves than we are in a familiar place? Thereās no expectations, no need to front; Jessica can finally just relax. So I think thatās why Angela is friend with Jessica. Because Angela knows the real Jessica Stanley and she sees someone worth being a friend with. If there was no redeeming features of her, I donāt think Angela would even interact with Jessica. Jessica Stanley is not perfect but thatās why I like her.
