Valerie Marks (Desi Lydic)Valerie Marks (Desi Lydic) lives in Palos Verdes, California and is the high school guidance counselor at Palos Hills High School. While she is ostensibly employed to help students with their problems, she, herself, is needy and immature. She is prone to giving out bad and misguided advice and getting way too caught up in her students lives. She does not seem to know what the word boundary means. Valerie, or Val as she insists her students call her, is assigned to talk to Jenna once a week. Like Jennas mother, Val also tries to live vicariously through Jenna. A bit kooky, Val has a very unique sense of style.