"The Teens Head For Heartache"
(Courtesy of "ABC Soaps In Depth" June 24, 2003" issue)

"With Felicia out of the picture and Mac busy trying to bring down the bad guys, GENERAL HOSPITAL's Maxie and Georgie are having to feel their way through some difficult days without a whole lot of parental guidance. With sex, drugs, alcohol and public displays of humiliation as the weapons of choice, will one of the girls wind up an emotional casualty?

'This is about the two sisters, Maxie and Georgie - what they're trying to do to protect each other and their various relationships with these guys,' says scribe Elizabeth Korte of the soap's attempt to portray realistic teens dealing with real problems. 'The big questions are: 1. How real are Kyle's feelings toward Maxie? 2. How much did he intend to hurt her, and how much did he just give in to pride? 3. How vulnerable is Maxie to Kyle?

'Some of her motivation to be with him absolutely was to be popular,' she adds. 'Yet some of her feelings toward him are real.'

And then there's Lucas, who is having a tough time fighting his feelings for the Jones girls... despite the fact that pursuing a romance would make them kissing cousins! 'We're trying very hard to emphasize that while these kids grew up as cousins, there's no biological relationship between them,' notes Korte.

Meanwhile, Dillon is the new wild card in town. 'He's the odd man out. He's more sophisticated than these kids and is capable of seeing them for who they are. But he can be pressured into making the wrong decisions. He's dealing with a lot of feeling because he's been dropped in town by his mom - who's not exactly Donna Reed - into the single most dysfunctional family on Earth. That's a whole lot to deal with.'"