Alice’s Friendship with Mark

How would you describe Alice’s Friendship with Mark? We know she was very hurt after his death but when I read the series as a young girl, it seemed to me that Mark was more of Patrick’s friend than Alice’s especially when he sided with Patrick when he went after penny (ugh). Mark also seemed the most immature out of all the boys (Like when he put on Pamela’s bra) and I don’t really remember Alice and Mark ever having any heart to hearts or one on one talks and if they did it must’ve been rare.

It was that Mark was a part of the “family”– the “gang.”  You just always expect him to “be there” for the rest of you, even though his personality doesn’t stand out.  And suddenly, Alice got a taste of life she’d never had before, and realizes that something is out of place with Mark gone, the gang has changed slightly, that it was all unfair and not his fault and it doesn’t have to be a person she’s had heart-to-heart talks with–she just knows that nothing will be quite the same.  She’s grown up quickly in a way she didn’t expect and has to adjust to it.