The Journal

The Journal is the 58th episode of 6teen and the fourth episode of the third season. It aired on Teletoon in Canada on October 7, 2007 and on Cartoon Network in the United States on September 3, 2009.

When Jonesy gets a job at the mall's lost-and-found, he decides to look around and see what cool stuff people have lost. In doing so, he discovers Jen's journal, where she writes down all of her private thoughts. He starts to read it, and soon Jen's secrets start to circulate around the mall–along with several items from the lost-and-found.

Main Plot
Jonesy's new job has him stationed at the mall's lost-and-found, and he loves it there due to the amount of lost stuff lying around. Soon, he picks up a journal and starts to read it only to realize midway through an entry that the journal belongs to Jen. When Nikki comes by, having heard Jen already upset about having lost her journal, she does not join in with her boyfriend's antics, instead passing the journal to Caitlin so that Caitlin can deliver it to Jen.

While walking through the mall on her way to Jen, Caitlin runs into Jude and the journal falls open. Caitlin can't help but notice her name, and when she reads an entry complaining about how easily Caitlin seems to get dates, Caitlin is hooked. She begins to read the journal, and soon Darth and Julie begin peering over her shoulder to see what she's reading about. As time goes by, Jen's secrets start to get spread around the mall, including ones about how she called Coach Halder a lunkhead and how she has a bad rash.

Worried, Jen calls Nikki to vent, and Nikki quickly diagnoses what must have happened. She finds Caitlin still by the fountain with a crowd of old people behind her, and starts to berate Caitlin for being a bad friend. However, when Caitlin remarks that Nikki's attitude must be why she was ranked last in Jen's ranking of people with charisma, Nikki checks to see if this is true and soon gets absorbed into the reading as well.

Wyatt is the next one to join the group, when he learns that he has the worst coffee breath. After this happens, Jonesy meets his friends and joins them in reading the journal. However, he doesn't get far into the reading before Jen arrives, having been alerted to their location by a tip from Darth. Jen is crushed to see that her friends have betrayed her–and to a crowd that had gathered behind them while they weren't looking, no less. Jen is humiliated, but her humiliation is not complete until her crush comes up to her and asks about her rash.

Jen's reaction to this is to run out of the mall in tears, leaving her friends behind. Soon, the five are sitting by the Big Squeeze, feeling guilty about how they betrayed Jen's trust in them. They decide to fix things by talking to Jen, but when they go to see her, she's hiding in her room in her bed and is unwilling to forgive them or even talk to her so-called friends.

Later, Nikki is at work when she hears the Clones gabbing about Jen. When she suggests that there's a rumor going around about the Clones to get back at them, Nikki realizes that rumors are the solution: if the group spreads good rumors about Jen around the mall, the newer false rumors will take precedence over the older true rumors and make Jen sound amazing. Soon, the group engages in doing just that, and the mall begins to buzz with people praising Jen for being an inspiration to everyone.

With this mission accomplished, the friends send Jude as an emissary to Jen. Jude manages to convince Jen that the mall has forgotten everything and they've fixed her social life, and she comes back to the mall. There, Jen basks in the affection of her peers, who have all come to regard her as a goddess. To make things even better for Jen, her crush Eddie asks her out. Of course, after one date Jen realizes that Eddie isn't right for her, because he treats her like she's too amazing for this earth. However, Jen is perfectly happy to live a new life as a role model for the entire mall.

Sub-Plot: Lost-and-Found
After Nikki removes Jen's journal from Jonesy's possession, Jonesy starts to look around the lost-and-found for other cool things that people have lost. He settles on a portable video game, and when Stanley comes by to take his game system back Jonesy refuses to hand the game over. However, when Jude comes by and tries to purchase some bongos, Jonesy realizes that he could make some money under the table and begins selling people's lost possessions.

Jonesy's selling goes on until he takes a break and finds the group reading Jen's journal by the fountain. His break doesn't end until he sees Jude get his bongos repossessed by the person who actually lost them, and at that point he heads back to the lost-and-found where he finds a long line of people looking for their stuff. Jonesy is unable provide the goods, and he naturally ends up fired from his job.

Quotes
Jen: My life is over. Nikki: Overreact much? Jen: Not only is my journal still missing, but what's in it is starting to get out. Nikki: Wait, didn't Caitlin come by? Jen: I haven't seen her all day. Nikki: That's what I get for delegating. Jen: What is that supposed to mean? Nikki: Don't worry. I'm gonna find your journal, okay? Just try to act sane until I get there. Jen: (to a customer waiting for her) Can I help you? Stuart Goldstein: Yeah, I heard through the grapevine that you might be able to recommend a good cream for my rash. Jen: Noooo! Wyatt: I'm thirty percent talent, but only five percent style? Ouch. Nikki: Remember, no one ever tells Jen about this! Ever! Jen: (gasping) I don't believe it. Nikki: Jen- Jen: Thanks to my so-called friends, now everybody knows every embarrassing detail of my life! (Jonesy, Wyatt, Nikki and Caitlin finally notice the crowd behind them.) Nikki: Jen, please- Jen: How could you? Eddie: Hey there. I was just wondering, did that rash ever clear up? (Jen breaks out in tears and runs away.) Caitlin: Oh no! Jonesy: Yikes. Nikki: What have we done? Jonesy: (in his imagination) Scored her, and her, her, struck out with her, but scored with her, twice. (Nikki punches Jonesy in his imagination.) Jen: Go away. Wyatt: We just want to apologize. Jonesy: You wanna, maybe, come out from under the covers? Jen: So I can look at the so-called friends who ruined my life?! Nuh-uh! Caitlin: Come on, Jen. We made a big mistake. It's like you say in your journal: "Friendship can't be undone, not when you're as close as we are." Wyatt: Yeah, and what about when you said "sometimes they drive me crazy, but I wouldn't change my friends for anything in the world?" Jen: I said that before you read my journal and started quoting from it! Now all of you, get out of my room and out of this house forever! Nikki: No. Jonesy: Jen is into me? Nikki: Was into you. Past tense. Caitlin: Nikki! Jonesy: Jen had a past tense crush on me! Nikki: Ugh, what is wrong with me? Ugh! Jonesy: And back then, I had braces and way bad hair, but I was still enough of a stud to turn her crank. (Nikki punches him.) Ow that hurt! Losing consciousness. (He faints.) Jen: Forget it! I am not going anywhere! Jude: You know, Jen, you can stay here and be all sad, and kinda smelly, or, you can come to the mall and bask in the love and admiration of your peers, once you've showered, that is. Because, when you think really hard about it and say "dudes, what you did was pretty dorky, but hey, I forgive you" you'll feel like a hundred pounds lighter. And lighter is always better than heavier. Just look at textbooks, skateboards, laptops, even. Which would you choose? Heavier or lighter? Lighter, every time, dude! And when you- Jen: So? Let's go already! Jen: You expect me to forgive you for making me a role model? Well I don't forgive you for it...I love you for it! Caitlin: EEEE! (The friends hug.)
 * Nikki: So?
 * Jonesy: Check it out! She made a pie chart about each of us.
 * Nikki: Imagine how you'd feel if the entire mall knew all your thoughts.
 * Nikki: Jen, it's us.
 * Jonesy: No. I never kissed Jen or thought about being more than friends. Why, did she–Jen has a crush on me! (He falls out of his chair.)
 * Jude: I'm here to tell you that everything is all better. So, you can come back to the mall and be our friend again.
 * Nikki: So, think you can forgive us now?

Trivia
Reason for firing: He sold the lost belongings to other people, with the original owners later finding them.
 * Jonesy's job: The mall's lost-and-found tender

Errors

 * Wyatt is eager about a Gibson Les Paul guitar being in the lost-and-found. Despite this, he was shown to own said guitar in the episode "The Lords of Malltown".

Episode connections

 * Jen's mushroom allergy, which was a plot point in the episode "The One with the Text Message", is mentioned in this episode.
 * Nikki punching Jonesy's face, which was first used in the episode "Selling Out To The Burger Man", is reused in this episode.

Cultural references

 * Stanley's handheld console is similar in design to Nintendo's Game Boy handheld, which was first released in 1989.
 * A Gibson Les Paul guitar can be seen amongst the lost items in the lost-and-found.
 * Jude mentions actor Kiefer Sutherland when imagining about a movie based on the main six.
 * Wyatt's line, "The first crush is the deepest.", is a play on the 1976 Rod Stewart song "The First Cut Is the Deepest."