Crash Course

On the day after his sixteenth birthday, Buck Oliver is finishing a driving lesson with his foster father, Eugene Meltsner, who has been teaching him with great enthusiasm. Buck surprises Eugene by announcing that he has already scheduled his driver's license test for that very afternoon. Eugene is caught off guard by the hurry, but since Buck has studied hard and driven well, he agrees, and Buck passes with flying colors - the examiner calls him the best new driver he has ever tested.

Meanwhile, Connie Kendall is trying to teach her younger sister Jules to drive, and it is not going nearly as well. Connie starts with painfully basic lessons about keys and seatbelts, then panics over every parked car and distant stop sign. When Jules complains about her shrieking, Connie insists, "I didn't scream, I just remembered loudly." Over root beer floats at Whit's End, the sisters admit they make each other nervous, and the nervousness only leads to more mistakes. Their conversation is interrupted when Eugene proudly presents Odyssey's newest licensed driver. Privately, Eugene and Connie also review their secret plan: a surprise birthday party for Buck that evening, complete with thirty guests. They have even staged a fake, rained-out birthday celebration to throw Buck off the trail - though Eugene reminds Connie that at every surprise party she has ever attended, she has yelled "Surprise!" too early. Katrina, meanwhile, has plans of her own: she has been longing for a cocker spaniel puppy from a breeder near Connellsville, an idea Eugene greets with the word "unhygienic."

Off in the park, Jules begs Buck to teach her to drive instead of Connie. She has already swiped Connie's keys, and she reasons that if they do not ask permission, Connie cannot say no. Buck reluctantly agrees. Jules actually drives well with him, and along the way Buck admits a secret: he has known how to drive for five years, ever since his old guardian, Mr. Skint, had him driving tractors and trucks as soon as he could reach the pedals. He pretended to be a beginner because teaching him meant so much to Eugene. Jules marvels at the difference between them - she wants to prove to Connie that she does not need her, while Buck wants to prove to Eugene and Katrina that he does. But when Jules tries to park behind Whit's End, she mixes up the pedals and crashes Connie's car right into the building. Connie rushes out, relieved that no one is hurt and furious all at once, and Jules, overwhelmed by guilt, runs away.

The consequences fall quickly. Eugene and Katrina revoke Buck's brand-new license, and when Buck pleads to make one last drive that evening for a personal errand, they refuse. Stung, Buck blurts out the truth - that he already knew how to drive and they never really taught him anything - and storms out with the words, "You don't understand me. You probably never will."

While Connie and the town search for Jules, Buck finds her exactly where he knew she would be: the secret hiding place behind the train display at Whit's End. He urges her to go home, telling her Connie is worried sick. Then, troubled by the memory of seeing his social worker's card on the table at home, Buck hands Jules an envelope for Connie and says he has to leave. Jules returns home, where Connie embraces her, forgives her, and assures her, "I'll care about you no matter what you do." The envelope turns out to hold money and a note from Buck, promising to help pay for the damage he caused. Eugene, for his part, confides an unexpected silver lining to Connie: Buck has been so carefully polite since moving in that his angry outburst feels like the first time the boy has trusted him enough to be real.

Then comes alarming news: Whit spotted Buck at the bus station, and an attendant confirms he took the two o'clock bus to Connellsville. Eugene and Katrina fear he has run away for good - the social worker's card, they explain, was only out because they were checking whether the car accident needed to be reported to Buck's parole officer. Just as they begin organizing the arriving party guests into search teams, Buck walks in, offering to help find Jules - only to discover that everyone is actually looking for him. He has not run away at all. He took the bus to Connellsville to pick up the very thing he could not drive to get: a cocker spaniel puppy for Katrina, from the breeder she had admired. Katrina is overjoyed, and though Buck will still face a consequence for leaving without telling anyone, all is forgiven. Connie promptly blurts out "Happy birthday!" ahead of schedule once again, revealing the surprise. Buck is stunned - no one has ever given him a birthday party - which, Eugene tells him, is precisely why he should have one, because he is most definitely worth celebrating. When Buck wonders how they can celebrate him after he lost his temper, Eugene reassures him in borrowed slang: "It's all good, as some might say." As the guests arrive, everyone shouts happy birthday together.