Lost Book.. Help find it!

[namebrandon]

My wife is looking for a book, and posted on a number of other websites / forums for help without any luck.. I'm posting this here as well in the hopes someone can help her figure out the title/author. We've tried some plot-based search engines with no luck, but happy to try anything at this point.

Thanks!

YA fiction series from late 80's/90's set in NYC...


I would love help remember the title or author of a series of books from the eighties set in NYC. The first book followed a group of young girls in junior high. They were best friends that had wrote the names of the boys they had crushes on in the baseball caps. The main girl (Linda? Karen?) had a crush on Jamie, but the story really dealt with her coping with the decision to test out of public school to get a better education at a private/magnet school. When she ends up accepted, she has to decide to leave all of her friends (and the boy she has a crush on) behind. The following books follow her at her new school, where she gets a new boyfriend (lenny?) and their some-what abusive relationship. The books definitely get darker as they go along, and I think there are four or five of them. Any help in identifying these books would be greatly appreciated!

[doreenjoy]

You might want to post on Amazon's YA community board

http://www.amazon.com/tag/young%20ad...ag_dpp_ct_itdp