Tropes

Note: All of these are taken from the TV Tropes website.

Tropes that apply to the series as a whole/Meta Tropes

• Critical Research Failure: Most prominent in the second book. It's clear that at the time, Emily had no idea how college actually worked (though this book was written when she was a freshman in high school and had very limited knowledge of what college was like).
  • First off, Crystal and Melissa are shown picking classes the day they get there. Students generally pick their first-semester classes months before, usually during orientation or just after.
  • Crystal and Melissa both state that they haven't decided on majors yet, yet they both take a variety of classes related to their interests. Normally undecided majors will just take gen-ed classes.
  • Crystal and Melissa are both depicted as having six classes each, which is fairly standard. However, they're shown as having all six classes every single day. Each college class is usually two to three times a week (normally on a M-W-F, M-W, or Tuesday-Thursday basis.)
  • Crystal asks Melissa to inform her professors that she won't be in class. Students normally aren't required to do this if it's because of sickness, though it's usually a sign of respecting the professor. Even so, she could have just e-mailed them instead of sending Melissa.
  • Crystal breaks the bells in Chapter 9, causing students to miss class. If colleges do have bells, it's more likely that they're for knowing what time it is than to signify the start of class times due to different schedules of the students. Even so, students would know when their classes are by this point and this likely wouldn't prevent anyone from showing up. They'd probably just assume that the bells broke or something.
  • Gym classes aren't common in colleges, but Crystal takes one anyway.
• Getting Crap Past The Radar - This IS a PG-12 series, according to Emily, but sometimes it goes into this. Too many individual cases to list, but here's a highlight from each book:
  • Crystal Covell's Story has Crystal say, "It would be awkward if Michael and I had to sleep together."
    • Another gem from that one includes her dad living in a STRIP CLUB. What were you saying about "PG-12" series?
  • Crystal's College Years has a drunk Tanisha making out with at least five different guys during a game of spin the bottle.
  • Crystal: Defending My Title gives us this:
    • Melissa: So, what happened last night?
    • Crystal: Don't even go there.
• Innocent Innuendo- Quite often, mostly in the case of "grinding" (for those who don't know, grinding is a skateboarding trick). There was also the case when Crystal once said "I like pleasing my fans".
• Hidden Depths- Every main character and antagonist. Explored more in book three, especially during the "Know Your Enemy" game.
• Old Shame - Emily considers the first book and parts of the second book to be this.
  • Emily: I can't even bear to read the first book anymore, and if I do, I can't stop cringing at how bad it is.
• The Woobie- Crystal becomes this in book three, after her uncertainty and for the first time ever, lack of confidence over the competition, forces her to break down in tears.
  • Jessica of all people briefly becomes one after her confession on the Know Your Enemy game.

Tropes that apply to certain characters

Crystal

• Backstory - Pretty much the only character in the series with an elaborate one. Gets explored more in book three.
• Badbutt - Well, she's a skateboarder from the streets of Jersey, what do you expect?
• Birds of a Feather - With Michael. Read Michael's entry for this trope below for more.
• Break The Cutie - Crystal suffers one at the end of the third book after she loses due to Hayley's cheating.
• Challenge Seeker - She falls into this on occasion.
• Character Development - Crystal is implied to have been a troublemaking, rule-breaking bad girl prior to the start of the series, but as the series progresses, she becomes kinder and doesn't break rules as much.
  • Not to mention that she also seems to have gotten smarter. As the series progresses, she's been showing more knowledge, using bigger words, and even knows exactly how to take care of Michael.
  • It's shown in the books that she still gets urges to be bad every now and then.
• Determinator - One of Crystal's defining traits. 
• Enemies Equals Greatness - Crystal is a type 2 (the motivation type) according to book three.
• Former Teen Rebel - Subverted in that she is still a teen in the series, but she has mostly grown out of it.
• Four Temperament Ensemble - It's hard to tell, but Crystal tends to lean towards a sanguine/choleric combo.
• Hot Blooded- YES.
• I Am What I Am - She learned to accept this when she was very young, explaining why she refuses to change who she is.
• Let's Get Dangerous - She seems to like this trope.
• Odd Friendship - With Melissa and Tanisha. 
• OOC Is Serious Business - In the third book, Crystal briefly considers giving up on the competition. Cue shocked expressions from everyone.
• Parental Abandonment - A huge part of her backstory. When she was only six, her parents divorced and moved to different parts of the country. Neither of them took Crystal, leaving her alone in New Jersey for eleven years, before she finally works up the determination to find them.
• Parental Substitute - Jamie's mom is implied to have been this for her when she was living with them.
• Pastimes Prove Personality - Crystal, being a skateboarder, is street smart, reckless, and somewhat rebellious. 
• Red Oni, Blue Oni - Crystal is the Red Oni to pretty much everyone she meets. She is also Red to Michael's Blue.
• School Bullying is Harmless - Crystal is revealed to have been through type 4 when she was younger.
• Took A Level In Kindness - Well, seeing how she acted in the past, it's very likely this happened.
• Tsurime Eyes - A non-evil example, but in official artwork, she tends to be depicted with these due to her highly competitive and hot blooded nature.
• Who's Laughing Now? - Crystal says this word-for-word in the third book after saying that she is now famous and her bullies are nobodies.
• Wise Beyond Her Years - Downplayed. She was this when she was young, due to having to spend wisely and try to maintain herself. When she moved in with Jamie's family, she began losing this, due to no longer having to worry about those kinds of things and just being able to be a normal kid.
  • Though she moved out of Jamie's house and went back to living on her own when she was only ELEVEN, so she hasn't lost all of it.
  • Heck, she still has some of this now. Due to being left by her parents most of her life, she had to learn to support herself, which is why she seems just fine when she's not around them.
• The Woobie- Becomes this in the third book when she finally breaks down over her uncertainty about everything going on.

Melissa

• Beware The Nice Ones - Sabrina and her group found out the hard way.
• Character Development - She and Crystal seem to have gotten the most. Melissa goes from simply a sweet girl with insecurities attempting to be popular to a gullibly smart, incredibly loyal person who no longer cares about popularity.
• Ditzy Genius - Originally comes off as a ditz, but later shows her true intelligence.
• Four Temperament Ensemble - Melissa is sanguine.
• Good Is Not Dumb - Finally proves this in the climax of the second book.
• The Gloves Come Off - In climax of the second book and beginning of the third.
• Grew A Spine - In the beginning of the third book, she is standing up for herself without Crystal's help. And Crystal's proud of her for it.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold - She's the only friendly blonde in the series. Unless you count Jamie. And we don't.
• Obfuscating Stupidity - In the second book, when she gets hooked up with Vinnie. She knows that Sabrina and her girls set her up with him to break her heart, and decides to humor them by going along with it and denying it in front of Crystal.
• Odd Friendship - With Crystal. Think about it. The pretty, popular, rich girl (not really) is the only one that wants to befriend the run down, tomboyish Jersey skateboarder? Something isn't right...
• Raised Catholic - Her official artwork depicts her wearing a necklace with a cross on it, implying that she is Christian at the very least.
• Smarter Than You Look - Proves that she's not just ditzy and gullible. She got into USC on a scholarship.
• Sweet Tooth - Implied.
• Took a Level In Bad*** - By the end of the second book.
• Tareme Eyes - Official artwork tends to depict her with these, to show her sweet, kind nature.
• Undying Loyalty - As soon as she ditches Sabrina and her girls, she begins having this for Crystal.

Tanisha

• Backstory - Not as much as the girls above, but she has snippets of one. Go to her page to read more.
• Establishing Character Moment - When she said to Crystal that she was done with Malibu and Jasmine and wasn't going to follow them anymore.
• Former Friend Of Alpha B***h - In the first book, she breaks off her friendship with Malibu and Jasmine.
  • It is revealed that she and Malibu actually used to legitimately be friends, and it was mostly Jasmine that drove them apart.
• The Glorious War Of Sisterly Rivalry - With Tina, to an extent, when she mentions Tanisha can't stand her. Tanisha fits more into the "Beautiful Sister" and Tina more into the "Smart Sister", but they both lack some of the traits.
  • For example, Tanisha is not book dumb or even all that shallow, but she is popular, pretty, and extroverted. Whereas Tina is not very snarky, and simply just tends to be quiet.
  • In the second and third books, they don't really seem to fight at all, but they keep their personalities.
• Odd Friendship  - With Crystal.
• Shipper On Deck - For Crystal and Michael.
• We Used To Be Friends - With Malibu.
• With Friends Like These - Implied to have had this with Malibu and Jasmine before she left them.

Michael

• Beware The Nice Ones - Never shown, but implied.
• Birds of a Feather - With Crystal. Both are street-smart skateboarders that love action and thrill.
  • It manages to stay true to the trope by the fact that Crystal and Michael are not COMPLETELY alike. Crystal is more hot-headed and impulsive, Michael is more calm and laid-back.
• Celeb Crush - He had one on Crystal prior to meeting her.
• Character Development - He has gotten a bit, though not as much as the three above. He started off as a flat, generic guy friend for Crystal in the first book and first half of the second, but we have since gotten to know him better. Book three takes this even further.
  • This trope is the reason behind Emily's decision to have them try out a relationship, due to Michael's need for more development.
• The Generic Guy - He played this role in the first book and the first half of the second, before finally getting some character development.
• Mysterious Past - His past is never really mentioned or explained. 
• Nice Guy - We have never really seen him be mean or rude to anyone.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni - Blue to Crystal's Red.