Never underestimate a girl

[SPOILER ALERT]

In the book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, Frankie poses as Alpha, her boyfriend's best friend, in emails in a duel for control. Alpha and Frankie don't really like each other, and they both feel like they have to compete with each other for Matthew (Frankie's boyfriend) and control over The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Alpha is the senior 'alpha dog', hence his nickname, and Frankie is the sophomore Matthew drags around for whatever they do. Matthew genuinely likes Frankie, and Alpha don't have a very good reason to dislike Frankie. Well, until she poses as him in some emails. Frankie only does this because she is upset with Matthew for lying to her, and because Alpha kept pulling Matthew away from their dates. Frankie uses the emails to have the Bassets do her bidding, all in good nature.

When Frankie poses as Alpha she uses her own ideas for the Basset's annual prank on Halloween. She feels like she can do it because Alpha is gone for 4 days, and no one would guess that it's her. Frankie is expecting a certain reaction from Alpha when he hears about the prank, but instead he takes credit and Frankie isn't satisfied. Frankie emails Alpha at his real email, and tells everybody in The Order of the Bassets what other pranks to do through him. I believe Frankie is just trying to put a spin on something so serious. She could not become a member of the Bassets because it is a boys only group, so she tries another way. Frankie already feels lucky that Matthew is dating her, but she realizes that she will never be a part of their group. The book quotes, "Sure, they like Frankie fine, found her attractive and didn't seem to mind her hanging around; but if Matthew had dumped her, none of them would ever have given Frankie a second glance. None of them." Frankie wants to show them that she's no one to underestimate or tamper with.

I read a whole series that is about girls being underestimated. The four main characters all go to the Gallagher Academy For Exceptional Young Women, which is an incognito spy school for girls. Only members of the CIA and MI6 with the right clearance know the truth of Gallagher and it's students. The main character Cammie mentions the looks that she and her best friends get when the go out as a school group, but then enjoys it when she's on a mission. Because if you see two fifteen year olds walking around town, you wouldn't think for a second that either of them could paralyze you with their bare hands. At Gallagher, the girls learn how to defend themselves in P&E (Protection and Enforcement), and are taught how to infiltrate and take information from buildings armed with top security. They are taught how to pin down a man three times their weight, and no one would suspect it. People think Gallagher Girls are helpless, spoiled rich girls. This relates to Frankie because Cammie believes that underestimation is a girls best weapon, but Frankie wants people to know what she is capable of doing.