BSC #51- Stacey’s Ex Best Friend

Here comes the first entry in my Valentine’s Day special!!!

Chapter 1:  Stacey is at home doing some homework before a meeting of the BSC. Laine Cummings, Stacey’s New York best friend, calls. Laine is going to be off for a week in early February and is thinking about what she may do while she is off from school. Laine is thinking she may just hang around New York with her new boyfriend of two weeks, King, who is 15 and ” really tight with her friends”- after two weeks? Stacey is instantly excited that Laine has a week off, and suggests that Laine come to CT to visit- Stacey will have school, but maybe Laine can join Stacey in school one day. She can also meet some of the BSC sitting charges, perhaps, and go out to dinner one night.  Laine seems sort of unsure about visiting CT for her week off, and I never noticed this before, but Stacey pretty much ropes Laine into visiting CT for the week, despite Laine pretty much saying she’s not really sure she wants to visit. Well, even after Laine says she’s not really sure if she wants to visit, Stacey instantly asks her mother for permission for Laine to visit, and then calls Laine and says ” OK you are visiting that’s final.”  Laine is pretty much like ” ohhhhkayyy…”

Chapter 2: BSC meeting. Stacey announces to the other members of the club that Laine is visiting during a week in February, and Mary Anne gets all excited because Laine can go to the school’s Valentine’s Day dance. Everyone has dates to the dance- Stacey is going with Austin Bentley, Kristy is going with  Bart, Mal with Ben Hobart, Mary Anne with Logan of course, Jessi with this seventh grader named Curtis Shaller, and Claudia and Dawn are going with random dudes. Kristy also suggests that on Valentine’s Day, the BSC throw a party for the kids they sit for complete with Valentine’s cookies and cards and all that.

Chapter 3:  Stacey and Mallory sit at the Pikes’ house. The Pike kids make invites for the Valentine’s Day party. Kids ages 5 and up can attend. Every kid helps make Valentine’s invites except for Nicky- Nicky is holed up in his room, and when Stacey goes to investigate, Nicky is making a big card for a ” secret friend”- a GIRL! Stacey is all excited that Nicky has a crush on a girl- yep a 13 year old is all jazzed over an eight year old’s love life.

Chapter 4: It’s the day of Laine’s visit. Stacey is all nervous over Laine coming because when Laine and Stacey last talked, Laine went on and on about her high school boyfriend King,  and was calling Stacey Anastacia, which no one does. Laine also told Stacey she is ” way beyond pigs” so Stacey has to hide her entire pig collection- funny enough, I loved anything to do with pigs all through college- and had forgotten that Stacey loved pigs until I started reading BSC again.  Stacey also obsesses over having seltzer in the house as Laine no longer drinks soda ( Mrs. McGill has bought seltzer not to worry- I hate seltzer even now!! Bring me some water w/ Crystal Light, I am happy). That night, Stacey planned a sleepover with Laine and the BSC members and makes sure only Stacey’s newest and coolest tapes show first. I don’t get why Stacey is so nervous over  her supposed best friend visiting.

When Laine arrives, Stacey is so impressed- Laine looks older than 13, and is wearing a jean coat with a fur collar, and her outfit is all black- black leggings, black boots, and is set off with a big red beret. As Stacey’s mom drives through town,  Laine is all ” where is the town” and Stacey says ” Oh I showed you the town- I showed you the pizza place and library” and Laine is all shocked. I guess Laine has never heard of a suburb.  At the sleepover, the girls start talking about boys they like. Claudia mentions that she finds a seventh grader cute, and Laine is all shocked that Claudia would find a 7th grade boy attractive. Then Dawn mentions a boy  in eighth grade, and Laine says that even 13 year old boys are dorks and she prefers older men. Kristy points out that King can’t even drive, so she doesn’t see the big deal Laine is making over King being older. Kristy has a point.  Laine asks ” what are we going to do?” and Kristy says ” eat” and Claudia says ” gab” and Laine doesn’t seem satisfied- shit it’s a sleepover not happy hour- which even happy hour is gabbing and eating, right? Well luckily that favorite movie of 13 year olds, ” To Kill a Mockingbird” is on so the girls stop talking and watch the movie.

Chapter 5: Claudia sits for Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold. Marilyn has a crush on a third grade boy but she won’t even tell Carolyn who the boy is. Claudia shows Marilyn and Carolyn how to make ” 3-D” valentine’s- and I showed kids that at this preschool I worked in when I was 23, and those kids loved them!! See, the BSC is good for something!

Chapter 6: Stacey brings Laine to school for a day because Laine has voiced being pretty bored in the two days Stacey has been at school. I really don’t get why Stacey had Laine visit in a week Stacey had school but whatever. Laine complains about Stoneybrook Middle School all day- she doesn’t get why kids have to ask to use the bathroom ( we even had to do that in high school) and she also was upset that kids can’t leave school during the school day unless it’s a field trip. At lunch, Stacey arranges for some boys- like Pete Black, Austin, and Rick Chow- to sit with the BSC at lunch so Laine finds the BSC more cool, I guess. Well the boys are playing with food and Laine is wrinking her nose and making a huge bitch face- as is shown on the cover of the book.  Then Pete Black takes that moment to tell Laine she has hair like gossamer- Pete is smitten!

Chapter 7:  Stacey ropes Laine into inviting Pete to the dance so that Laine will have a date. Laine doesn’t want to ask Pete because she says he’s a dork. Stacey tells Laine that Pete is not a dork at all and he really seems to like Laine.  Laine doesn’t want to ask Pete because she thinks King would think Laine was being unfaithful- ummm who even SAYS unfaithful at age 13? As Laine is going to call Pete, the phone rings- King is calling! King asks for ” Babe” because King calls Laine ” Babe” and Laine calls King ” Heart” because he’s the king of her heart- LAME- and umm sorta IMMATURE Laine as Laine thinks she’s VERY mature. Well Laine makes Stace leave the room for the phone call, and Stacey hears Laine laughing about Pete Stone and then says something about ” childish” behavior- Stacey assumes Laine is talking about kids Stacey sits for- sure. Well then Pete Black calls to ask Laine to the dance, and Laine makes Stacey sit in the room while Laine’s talking to Pete- and all Laine says is ” yeah yeah yeah OK” and Laine then tells Stacey that Pete says Laine’s eyes are like limpid pools- then Laine rolls those pools- ujmmm eyes and squeals ” Oh I HAVE to tell King” as she laughs again.  Stacey is getting angry at Laine’s snotty behavior, but figures that she and Laine have fought before and they have always made up.

Chapter 8: Jessi is sitting for the three youngest Hobart boys while Ben and Mallory are on a date at the library. Because the Hobarts apparently own no televisions and have never read a book, I guess because they are from Australia, they hadn’t heard of Valentine’s Day and assumed that, like, 8 year old boys wore suits and gave girls flowers on this day- boys, THIRTY year old men barely do that! Jessi explains that kids in the US do not wear suits and bring dates to kiddie Valentine’s Day parties. Then Ben storms home upset because he and Mallory had a huge fight at the library because of an argument over how to use the card catalog. Jessi grows worried, as Kristy and Bart are also arguing- Bart said he may not go to the dance because there’s some basketball game on TV.

Chapter 9: BSC meeting. Mallory and Jessi are convinced that the girls fighting with their men before the dance is a bad omen. Turns out Logan wants to dance with Mary Anne at the dance and M.A. is freakin’ because she never dances.Laine can’t believe that Mary Anne is so lame she won’t even dance at the school dance.  Then Laine asks the girls if they have ever considered getting REAL  jobs instead of baby sitting. I guess Laine forgets that 13 year olds can’t exactly work at Juicy Couture or Bebe. Well- I guess I am the wrong one. Laine is getting a REAL job with a REAL paycheck this summer at an exclusive boutique in New York City- OK what exclusive boutique in NYC has all these applicants and picks a fucking 13 year old to work the cash register? I sure wouldn’t shop there! Laine succeeds in making Stacey feel really crummy by bragging over her job. Then, Jessi says as she’s reading the notebook- Nicky had mentioned having a crush on a girl and the girl is in 2nd grade- and Marilyn Arnold likes a third grader!! Jessi figures that Nicky must be crushing on Marilyn and vice versa! Laine rightly asks why these girls care about the love lives of 8 year olds ( and yes I admit she was a right bitch during the rest of the meeting).  Stacey is thinking – what happened to her and Laine’s friendship? They are growing miles apart.

Chapter 10: Friday. Laine’s visit is almost over. Stacey wishes she had the old Laine back and not this new, snotty Laine.  The dance is tonight and Stacey asks Laine to help her pick an outfit. Laine suggests the new outfit Stacey got at the Limited, but Stacey says that outfit is black and Stacey has to wear red for Valentine’s Day. Laine says only little kids wear red on Valentine’s Day and Stacey says her mom still wears red, and Laine admits her mom also still rocks red on V Day. Stacey chooses a very short denim skirt and a red top. Laine wears a long black blazer over black leggings, tons of silver jewelry, and black flats. It almost reminds me of what Robin wore in that Sweet Valley Twins book where Jess and Liz visited and Jessica got her period. Mrs. McGill remarks that the girls look 15 all dressed up and Laine is all ” oh people say I can pass for 19″ in this snotty way.  Laine borrows Stacey’s nail polish and Stacey says she got it on this home shopping show called ” It’s all yours” and Laine is all eeww over home shopping- hey shut up Laine QVC KICKS ASS!!! Then Laine does the ultimate in bitchy moves- Stacey offers to make popcorn and Laine says she doesn’t want any because she needs to lose 5 lbs. Stacey can’t believe that as Laine is very thin already and then Laine tells Stacey- a very thin Type 1 diabetic- that STACEY should diet! BITCH!!!!  Stacey hates fighting with Laine and hopes they don’t argue during the dance.

Chapter 11:   Not much to tell. Kristy describes a sitting job for Karen and David Michael. She, Karen and David Michael help Mary Anne and Dawn decorate for the Valentine’s masquerade party for the kids- basically the kids will not write their names on their cards  the other kids have to guess who they are from.  After that, it’s time for the dance and Mrs. McGill drives Laine and Stace to the dance. Laine is all upset that these 13 year old boys can’t drive and pick up the girls for the dance- THEY ARE 13 YOU DAMN BITCH! and shit like 40 year olds in NYC don’t drive!!! What is her problem? KING CAN’T DRIVE! Now I can get down with Laine on the whole BSC is lame because they care so much about Marilyn and Nicky’s love lives, and that Mary Anne is all ” oh no I can’t dance with my own boyfriend” but my goodness now I am really hatin’ on Laine.

Chapter 12:  Laine bitches over the pink streamers and balloons and the heart shaped cookies and red punch at the dance saying that the decorations and food are for two year olds.  Then Laine sees that Pete is wearing sneakers with his suit and she is appalled. I mean he’s 13 is it really that odd?  Laine also bitches that sixth graders shouldn’t be allowed at dancers when one spills punch near her – not ON Laine, but NEAR her. She also bitches about the music.  Then- Pete asks Laine to dance and she says no because she’s tired. Then this random cute boy asks Laine to dance and RIGHT IN FRONT OF PETE Laine says yes!! Stacey can’t believe it! She goes to tell Claud about this, and Claudia wonders if Laine knows that boy is in seventh grade.  Stacey then pulls Laine aside and calls her out on her rudeness, and Laine says she wants to leave and Stacey says that’s fine she will call her mother right away to pick up Laine and Stacey. Laine says ” no I mean I want to go back home to NYC now.”

Chapter 13:  Stacey calls Mrs. McGill and tells her Laine wants to go home tonight. Stacey then tells Laine she needs to apologize to Pete and to all these other people she offended, and she just can’t believe how rude Laine was. Stacey then tells Austin she’s sorry she has to leave early, and Austin says he will go comfort Pete.  Stacey and Laine fight the whole car ride home and Laine says to Stacey that Laine was pretty much forced to come to CT- well yeah that’s pretty true.  Stacey says to Laine that yes, Stacey wanted Laine to come very badly, but the OLD Laine who was fun and sweet and not new, cunt- ass Laine.  Mrs. McGill takes Laine to the train station and she and Stacey don’t even say bye to each other. Stacey says she knows she and Laine will never be friends again. Well the book title said that- thanks for blowing it, Ann M!

Chapter 14: Stacey calls Pete to apologize for Laine’s behavior , and she and Austin also talk. It’s Valentine’s Day, and the day of the party for the kids. Stacey wears ALL red- yeah it’s overkill- red ribbon in her hair, red sweater, red leggings, red boots. Claudia finds the outfit cute and Stacey is like  ” I don’t resemble a red elf” and Claudia says ” no and I’d never criticize you- who am I, Laine?” Claudia is really a good friend, I have to say. Well, yes Nicky did like Marilyn, but he confused the twins and thought her name was Carolyn so at first he yelled at Carolyn for having Marilyn’s card- well luckily Marilyn likes Nicky back and Carolyn had her own crush- on James Hobart. Hot stuff.

Chapter 15:  Stacey writes a good bye letter to Laine. She encloses her half of a locket Laine gave her when Stacey moved back to Stoneybrook when her parents divorced. Stacey just says that she doesn’t like the new Laine and knows the friendship is over.  Then Stacey, feeling sad, calls Claudia and asks if she wants to come over. Claudia says that she will, and asks if they can watch It’s all yours because Claud wants a china clown like the one Stacey has. They can also make popcorn. Yay Claudia rocks!

So yes my verdict in a nutshell- Stacey really shouldn’t have pushed the issue of Laine visiting when she seemed not so enthused about doing so. Despite that, though, Laine was a cunt- and ya know I was never a huge Laine fan as a kid so I didn’t mind seeing her go.

I hope to recap Elizabeth’s First Kiss this week ( at least before Valentine’s Day) but I won’t promise anything.  And there’s lots of goodness coming up like-

Freshman Dorm #3- Freshman Guys- read this to DEATH in 8th and 9th grade!

Sweet Valley Kids #3- the Twins Mystery Teacher

BSC #87- Stacey and the Bad Girls

Freshman Dorm #7- Freshman Loves

SVU #3- What your Parents Don’t Know ( apparently based on the cover Jessica’s parents don’t know she’s a waitress- OH NO!!)

Elizabeth Gail #7- Elizabeth Gail and the Terrifying News

Sleepover Friends #18- Stephanie and The Magician

Sweet Valley High #82- Kidnapped By the Cult!!

JUST IN CASE u all don’t hear from moi – Happy Valentine’s Day!  And one more thing- how does one SAY Laine- is it LANE OR LAY-NIE?? I have no idea!

Sweet Valley High #13- KIDNAPPED!

Ah, Kidnapped! How I loved to read thee all through elementary school- my old copy of the book was so trashed and eventually one of Elizabeth’s gorilla arms completely got peeled off and the cover then came off- sigh. But luckily for us all, E Bay had a copy of this book that I could read and share!

I don’t even know where to start with how utterly ridiculous this book. I probably won’t get too much into plot because most of you know it I am sure-what really stuck out is that this book is so utterly dumb it’s almost comical- I think even by the time I was reading it in sixth grade( after reading it quite a few times from 3rd-6th grade) I thought the book was stupid! Now the basic plot is that some mentally ill or mentally deficient in some way orderly at Joshua Fowler Hospital, Carl, becomes very obsessed with Liz. Jessica and Elizabeth are both orderlies at the hospital and for the first four pages, we have to be regaled with a full recap of the last book, where Jessica was trying to get in some talk show host’s pants named Jeremy Frank when he stayed at the hospital. After that recap, we are treated to the very Flowers in the Attic like reference whereby Steven has to zip up Jessica’ s very skimpy blue dress with the neckline that is ” as low as a sixteen year old can get away with” and Steven is wearing only a towel and bending over his six foot tall body to zip the zipper and thinking about how Jessica will get any man she wants wearing that titty-revealing number. But apparently Jessica only has her eye on one guy tonight- Jessica and Liz, and most of Sweet Valley High ( well the important contigent) are invited to a huge pool party at the Morrow house. This is where we meet Nicholas and Regina Morrow, and Regina is still deaf in this book. Jessica feels all bad for Regina that she is deaf, then instantly fears that Nicholas is deaf too- luckily for Jess I guess he is not. Well, anyway, all Jessica hears about the Morrows prior to attending this soiree is that they are very rich and that Nicholas is 18 and took a year off after high school to work for his dad’s computer company. Nicholas is also super hot, and Regina is a hottie in her own right. Kurt and Sky Morrow, Nicholas and Regina’s parents, are also gorgeous- Sky used to be a model, as a matter of fact.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth promised to cover for another candy striper at the hospital, so she’s still at work as Jessica is getting ready for the party.  Elizabeth then promised Mr. Collins that she would help tutor Max Dellon, as he’s failing English and can’t play for the Droids if he gets a failing grade, per his dad. Mr Dellon always complains about Max’s motorcyle and long hair- he’s so the dad in the ” We’re Not Gonna Take It” video! Elizabeth was to be home by the time Jessica was finished getting all sexi-fied for the bash, and Jessica is a little worried when she is not, but then figures Liz either worked later than planned or is spending extra time trying to get Max to understand ” Othello” and just jets off to the party despite her slight worries.  Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield are out that night. We have to hear about how Alice Wakefield has been soooo overprotective of Elizabeth since her motorcyle accident ( God someday I HAVE to review ” Dear Sister” as I do have it somewhere!) but at the same time Alice seems to be out carousing quite a bit.

Where can Liz be?? Well remember the aforementioned Carl the orderly? He spotted Elizabeth at her car, and covered her mouth with a chloroform rag and forced her into his car! Yep, she was KIDNAPPED! Carl kidnaps Elizabeth because she was nice to him once at work and he believes he is in love with her. He’s rather delusional, that much is obvious. He lives in a hovel of a house in the woods, and when Elizabeth wakes up she’s tied to a chair in Carl’s crappy house.  Elizabeth mentions that she has to use the bathroom  which only has happened here and in that Sweet Valley Twins book Jessica’s Secret- remember she went potty and got her period? and Carl unties her enough so that she can pee, and she’s hoping for an escape route in the bathroom but there is none. Elizabeth is stuck, and since Carl lives way out in the boonies, she realizes she can’t well run outside and ask for help. At one point, Carl tosses Elizabeth on the couch with anger as she starts screaming and bolts to the door, and it’s then that even at age 9 I was like HOLY SHIT LIZ IS GOING TO GET RAPED???? But noooo- he just lectures Elizabeth saying she can’t leave as she’s in the woods and no one would find her anyway, and Carl is going to give her a dream life and she will never want to leave. For Carl, a dream life includes frozen pancakes and books about how to care for farm animals. Liz is all upset over having to eat pancakes that are not freshly made from Alice Wakefield’s kitchen but shit it could be worse- Carl is feeding her and frozen pancakes are pretty good- not as good as Eggo waffles but whatevs. And the farm animal book? Well Carl hears that Elizabeth loves to read, and Carl cannot read, so he grabbed three books out of the hospital gift shop at random- the farm animals book, a book on investing ( too bad Suze Orman wasn’t around then- that would have been a great book!) and some book on fairy tales. I would have liked the fairy tales book- I used to read those to my little sis all the time! Elizabeth’s hands are still tied up but are looser so that she can turn pages. I am still in disbelief that Carl kidnaps Liz, doesn’t want ransom and never even tries to sexually assault her- he just touches her hair- which as we learn in Double Jeopardy is a major violation of a Wakefield twin.  Elizabeth learns that when you are nice to random orderlies who may be mentally ill or ” slow” ( hard to say which or if it’s both) you are destined to be kidnapped. We also learn that the Wakefield twins are so darn sexy that no man can resist them!

Well back to the Morrow party. Todd is freaked that Liz hasn’t showed up the Morrow party. Jessica is very blase over this and is still trying to get into Nicholas’ pantalones. Todd is pissed that Jess will not listen to him at all, and pushes her into the pool- which is rather priceless. What is not priceless is that when Max Dellon gets worried about Liz ( as she never showed up to tutor him) Max gets this harebrained idea to drive to the hospital and search Elizabeth’s car for clues. Kinda odd, but no crime. Well the police think Max  is suspicious because some cop hates Max and they question him but he’s never arrested. Todd doesn’t give a crap that the police let Max go and at school Monday ( where Liz is still missing) Todd punches Max, convinced he hurt Elizabeth though he had no stinkin evidence! This is when Todd really starts to suck ass- he’s rather likeable in Sweet Valley Twins and Kids- well in Kids sometimes Jessica, of course, gets Todd and Max to stop fighting by saying peace loving Lizzie would never want Max and Todd to fight. Jessica suggests going to the hospital after school and questioning employees who may have worked the night Elizabeth did to see if they can find clues as to where Elizabeth could be. When Todd, Max and Jess get to the hospital Carl the orderly is there- and he FREAKS when he sees Jessica, somehow thinking that Elizabeth escaped him- yeah some stalker- he apparently followed Elizabeth for weeks but had no effin clue she had a twin? So as Jessica distracts Carl,  Max knocks Carl down when he’s about to grab Jessica and Carl confesses to them as Max screams for Todd to call the cops. Carl is arrested, and Elizabeth is found!!! As soon as Elizabeth gets home she just wants to take a bubble bath and plan the best party ever – and she briefly says it was a harrowing ordeal to be away from her friends and family for three days and she hated eating frozen pancakes and fast food and not having access to TV and being tied to a chair and all that. Elizabeth also complains she had to wear the damn candy striper uniform for three days, and must burn it instantly! PTSD does NOT exist in Sweet Valley not at all!!!

And in the end, Nicholas Morrow comes over to see Jessica, and sees Elizabeth and just by looks ( keeping in mind that Jess sand Liz are fucking identical twins) he instantly falls for Elizabeth- yep two men in one book fall under Elizabeth’s spell!!! Go figure!! And that introduces Sweet Valley High #14 Deceptions – which I may have read once and I don’t think I was a fan. Nicholas Morrow bored me even as a kid- though I adored Regina.

May I also mention that I loved Max Dellon as a kid and was pissed that he was barely mentioned again- he never really had his own plot- it was always all about Dana Larson most of the time!!! BOOO DANA- not a huge fan!

Hmm in about a week to a week and a half I shall be recapping ” Stacey’s Ex Best Friend” a BSC book in honor of Valentine’s Day as it takes place during Valentine’s Day. After that- another Valentine’s Day inspired book- Elizabeth’s First Kiss, which is a Sweet Valley Twins book. Some future books to be recapped are  Sweet Valley Kids Book #3 The Twins’ Mystery Teacher,  Freshman Dorm #3 Freshman Guys, BSC #87 Stacey and the Bad Girls, Sweet Valley Kids #38 Good Bye, Eva? ( don’t leave Eva Simpson I love you!) and BSC #60- a FAB book- Mary Anne’s Makeover!

Sweet Valley High Super Thriller- Double Jeopardy

I never read many of the Super Thrillers as a kid, but I remember loving this one I know I read it at least 20 times between 5th and 8th grade. Not sure why I didn’t read that many other Super Thrillers. Maybe it’s the same reason why I barely read any of the Baby Sitters Club Mystery books.  Well on to the recap, shall we?

Jessica and Elizabeth have just started their internship at the Sweet Valley News, a newspaper in case you weren’t aware. Jessica is not exactly thrilled that Ned and Alice Wakefield made her take on this internship, as she planned to have a lazy summer. Whereas Elizabeth is thrilled to have nabbed this internship, as she aspires to be a journalist as we are told time and time again. The only thing Jessica likes about the internship is Seth Miller, a 22 year old prodigy who finished college in three years and is also a mystery writer. Jessica really wants to get with Seth ( which since he’s 22 and she’s 16 seems sorta wrong) so to get Seth intrigued Jessica begins making up ” mysteries” in town for Seth to write about in the newspaper. First Jessica cames that a simple grease fire at the Box Tree Cafe was arson,but when Seth goes out to check out the story, the owner pretty much laughs in Seth’s face and is all ” sorry it was totally just a grease fire.” Then Jessica makes up a cockamamie story that Seth actually falls far that ” Old Man Bennett” as Jess and Elizabeth call their elderly neighbor because Jessica and Elizabeth are so sensitive, is actually a bank robber- Mr. Bennett was gardening and Jessica made up this story that he was burying bank robbery money. Since Seth is a moron,he never bothers to actually do any investigating into this story and just takes Jessica’s word for it and WRITES IT UP IN THE NEWSPAPER!!! Mr. Robb, the newspaper editor, is wicked pissed and almost fires Seth until Jessica says it was her fault. So Jessica is stuck doing data entry for a homely woman in her thirties named Sondra as punishment.

Meanwhile, a college friend of Steven’s named Adam Maitland is staying with the Wakefields’ for the summer while he interns at a law firm, as like Steven, Adam wants to be a lawyer. Adam also wants to stay in Sweet Valley to be close to his girlfriend Laurie Hamilton. Laurie is the granddaughter of a very rich man named Tucker Hamilton, and Tucker is pissed that Laurie is dating Adam because Adam’s parents are farmers and don’t have much money. Tucker told Laurie  if she continues to date Adam he will cut her off without a cent, but Laurie doesn’t care as growing up, her grandpa that raised her barely gave her any love, and Adam loves her as no one else can. Meanwhile, Jeffrey French is a camp counselor for the summer, so he’s away from Elizabeth. Jessica decides that Laurie is a drag, and that Elizabeth is way too serious about Jeffrey, so Jessica tries to hook up Elizabeth with Adam, but Liz so isn’t having it. So Jessica decides to type up a letter on Elizabeth’s typewriter that is  ” from Adam” telling Elizabeth that he can’t help it, but he loves Elizabeth and doesn’t know what to do because Laurie is so vulnerable, but if he can’t figure out what to do soon, he ” may do something drastic.” This becomes important later.

One night, Jessica has to work late for the dreaded Sondra, and when she leaves work very few cars are in the garage. Jessica is spooked because the night security guard is not in his booth. Jessica then sees a  blonde man come out of a silver Trans- Am. The man is carrying a blanket with what appears to be something big underneath. Jessica thinks she’s just imagining things, but then sees an arm dangling out of the blanket!!! The man then places the body in the trunk of Adam Maitland’s car- Adam is also working late,a nd his law firm is in the same building as Sweet Valley News.  The man’s eyes “bore into” Jessica before she speeds off in the Fiat.

Jessica comes home and no one is home. Jessica can’t be alone so she calls Seth. Seth doesn’t believe Jessica but when he hears the panic in her voice, he comes right over. Jessica then tells her parents, Steven and Liz what happened that night and Elizabeth asks Jessica if she’s sure this isn’t yet another story she made up to impress Seth. Elizabeth realizes Jessica means business when she has a nightmare that night and is screaming.  Adam doesn’t come home all night and Mrs. Wakefield is really worried. After Jessica and Mr. Wakefield tell the police what Jessica saw,  Ned Wakefield learns that Adam was arrested for the murder of Laurie Hamilton- Laurie’s body was found in the trunk of Adam’s car!  And Adam is the prime suspect in the case!!!  There isn’t much evidence at first, but then Elizabeth remembers the letter Adam wrote ( that we know Jess wrote) and Elizabeth remembers how Adam writes he may have to ” do something drastic” and much as she doesn’t want to,she decides she has to turn the letter in to police. Ned Wakefield is representing Adam, and once this letter comes to light even Ned realizes that it doesn’t look very good for Adam at all. Jessica keeps saying she knows it wasn’t Adam that killed Laurie as she saw that blond man and will never forget his face.

Jessica and Seth ask Adam if there’s anyone who may want to hurt Laurie. Adam mentions that there is a man that Tucker Hamilton wanted Laurie to marry named Thomas Winslow. Thomas is mentally unstable and is in and out of mental hospitals, and Laurie wanted to be Thomas’s friend but did not want to marry him, and Thomas was upset but Adam says he loved Laurie and he doesn’t think Thomas would ever hurt Laurie. Then one day, Jessica is driving home from work and the blonde man follows Jessica and she freaks. Mr. Wakefield says that to avoid this man following either twin, they are not to drive the Fiat- they can take the bus to work, or get rides with friends, but no using the Fiat!!! Of course this is very upsetting for Jessica. 

After much time has elapsed, Jessica finally confesses to Ned that she wrote that letter to Elizabeth and not Adam. Ned is sworn to secrecy over this. Ned tells this to the police, but there is not enough evidence to disprove that Adam is the murderer, even with the letter being a fake. They do obtain a picture of Thomas Winslow, though, and Jessica knows Thomas and the blond man are one and the same!!

The night of the Sweet Valley News company party is the same night that Jessica is asked to look at Tom Winslow’s picture. Jessica is driven to the party by the police, Ned and Alice Wakefield are out with friends, ( yep Alice and Ned are paranoid for the twins to drive anywhere and fear for their safety but why should that stop their fun?) and Steven is on a date with Cara Walker, and Cara picked Steven up. Elizabeth is told she can use Steven’s car if need be, but she can’t get it to start. Elizabeth goes to call the Sweet Valley Taxi Service, but they are booked for hours and Elizabeth decides it’s too dangerous to walk to the bus stop. Elizabeth finds the keys to the Fiat and decides to drive the Fiat to the company party.

Jessica is now at the party and Seth introduces her to a blond young man whose dad was roommates with Bob Carlisle the sports editor. The blond man is named THOMAS WINSLOW!! Jessica freaks out especially as Tom starts to try to flirt with her and even touches her hair. When men touch the twins’ hair, it freaks them out let me tell ya.   Jessica tells Seth to call the police and at first Seth won’t do it because he doesn’t believe Tom Winslow and the man in the garage are the same person, but Jessica finally gets Seth to call the cops. Thomas, meanwhile, decides the party is boring and asks if Jessica wants to leave with him. Jessica tries to get Thomas to wait, but then he leaves. As Thomas leaves, Elizabeth is in the garage in the Fiat. Thomas spots Elizabeth in the car and thinks Elizabeth is Jessica and he starts smashing the windows of the Fiat with a pipe.  A guard comes with a tire iron and tries to hit Thomas with it, but Thomas knocks the guard unconscious  and then drags Elizabeth out of the car and hits her head against the car right as Jessica comes to the garage. Jessica knocks Tom out with the tire iron and tells Elizabeth to run, and she does but doesn’t get far-her head gets knocked around so she passes out.   Tom then grabs the pipe and Jessica and Tom are struggling with it. As Tom is about to knock Jessica out, Seth comes running with another guard and knocks Tom the ground as the Sweet Valley police finally arrive. One cop goes to check on Elizabeth who Jessica says may be in the stairwell, hurt. Seth tells Jessica she caught the real murderer in admiration.

Since Seth and Jessica catch Tom Winslow, who did murder Laurie but plans to plead insanity, Mr. Robb allows Jessica to write a new article on the Hamilton case with Seth. Elizabeth is fuming because she wanted to get an article published in the News. Elizabeth is especially pissed because the night Jessica caught Tom Winslow, Steven wonders why Adam wrote Elizabeth that letter if Adam didn’t love Elizabeth. Jessica finally tells the family she wrote that letter in the hopes that Elizabeth would drop Jeffrey for Adam. The family isn’t happy with Jessica but she’s not punished in any way or anything- well until Jessica sees that Mr. Robb didn’t even give Jessica a byline- just Seth- even though Jessica helped solve the crime.

The worst part of this book to me? It was damn obvious the whole time that Thomas Winslow was the blond man in the garage, and he killed Laurie. This was no Thriller whatsoever! Why did I like this book so much in my preteen years?

By early next week I should be recapping ” Kidnapped!” a classic Sweet Valley High book. After that- my short Valentine’s Day series- ” Stacey’s Ex Best Friend” from Baby Sitters Club, and ” Elizabeth’s First Kiss” from Sweet Valley Twins- by the way my cousin and I LOVED this book as kids we both read it God at least 100 times! After that- a Freshman Dorm book that’s pretty early in the series- ” Freshman Guys” which is Freshman Dorm #3.

BSC Little Sister #50- Karen’s Lucky Penny

Karen and Andrew are playing with these kids named Kathryn and Willie ( I have no clue who these kids are.) Then Nancy comes to play with the others. It is then that Karen finds a lucky penny- shiny, new and heads-up. Nancy tells Karen she should definitely pick up the lucky penny. Karen says her penny must be SUPER lucky because when all the kids went to Bobby Gianelli’s house, Mrs. Gianelli made cookies. Then Karen won a game of hopscotch, and then the Mr. Tastee ice cream truck came.

Karen says in Chapter 2 that if she has any big news to share, she must tell her big sister Kristy right away. And two- two and blah blah. Movin’ on to Chapter Tres.

Karen is playing with a bunch of her friends. Nancy says that one thing she really wants to do this summer ( summer vacation is coming up) is go to Funland, the big new amusement park that’s about an hour away from Stoneybrook. Karen wants to go on the T Rex dinosaur ride.  Nancy says it’d be fun if all of their families could all go together as a big group. Hannie says she couldn’t go because of her dad’s work schedule and Linny’s camp. Karen says maybe Hannie could go with her family.  Bobby Gianelli suggests that all of the kids ask their parents about going to Funland that night. Karen’s mom and Seth don’t say no, but they don’t say yes. Karen’s mom says that tickets are 40 bucks each for adults and twenty five bucks each for kids. Hey, couldn’t Mr. Megabucks Watson just take Karen, Andrew and the ” big house” family to Funland?  Karen says ” oh no 40 dollars? we will never get to go!” Karen’s mom says the family will think about it.

Andrew tells Karen he needs to get a job. Karen, of course, has to give advice to Andrew right away about how Andrew can ask Mommy and Seth for money for doing certain chores around the house.  Andrew dusts the living room for Karen’s mom and gets fifty cents for it.  Andrew does some more chores and gets even more money. Karen goes to check how much is in her piggyback. Only three dollars and sixty three cents. Karen can’t think of anything she wants to buy with her money.  Karen asks at dinner if Mommy and Seth have made up their minds yet about Funland, and they haven’t. So in  a move that is so uncharacteristic of Miss Karen, she decides to stop bothering her mom and stepdad about Funland.

Two days later at dinner ( as they are eating corn on the cob- YUMMM) Karen’s mom says that the parents have all decided that they can all go to Funland! All of the parents will pay for admissions and lunch, but the kids have to use their own money for midway games, snacks and souvenirs.  Karen’s mom and Seth also say that Hannie can go with their family.  Karen decides that the parents are all letting the kids go to Funland because of her lucky penny.  Bobby, Karen and Nancy are all thinking of how to get enough money to spend on Funland goodies. Karen also decides that she will continue to let Andrew do chores for Mommy and Seth- how gigundo sweet of her.  They don’t come up with any ideas.

The next day, Bobby, Nancy and Karen go to a brook that is by Bobby’s house to play.  At the brook, Karen finds a wallet!!  The wallet is very fat. Karen rubs her penny for good luck.  There is almost EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS in the wallet! I am sorry but how the FUCK does one actually lose eight hundred dollars? Just curious.  There is no ID in the wallet just a calendar and some kids’ pictures on it.  Bobby claims that because of the ” finder’s keepers” rule Karen gets to keep all of the money.  Karen asks Bobby if he’s sure about this and Bobby seems very confident.  Karen decides she will keep the money for Funland. Bobby says Karen has to split the money so what does Karen do? Give Nancy and Bobby five bucks each!! GRRR- and believe me this is not even the beginning of how awful and dumb Karen is in this tale.

Karen is hiding the wallet in her room. Karen hasn’t told anyone and also swore Bobby and Nancy to secrecy. Karen can’t buy anything big with the money because her mom and Seth know she doesn’t have much and they will wonder where Karen got all that money. Two days later, Karen feels funny about keeping the wallet.  Karen wants to spend tons of money on Funland, but she wonders what will happen if her Mom or Seth find the wallet in her room. They will think she stole it, and what if Karen has to go to jail? So on Saturday morning, Karen makes the decision to tell Mom and Seth about the wallet.

Seth and Karen’s mom say that they have to take the wallet to the police.  Karen’s mom also says Karen’s mom has to replace the ten dollars that was in the wallet.  The policewoman at the station says she’s shocked, but no one has called about a missing wallet.  The policewoman says that the person may not know the wallet is lost, so she will give them a few days to claim the wallet, and if they do not Karen can keep the cash.  Karen rubs her penny and crosses her fingers.

Karen tells Bobby and Nancy the next day that she ended up turning the wallet in to the police. She also tells them that Karen’s mom says Karen owes her the ten dollars missing from the wallet, so therefore Nancy and Bobby each have to give her five dollars, which I do sort of agree with Karen on. Of course Bobby and Nancy say right away that Karen gave them the money therefore they have no obligation to give Karen back the money! Besides, they already spent the five dollars and that’s why Nancy and Bobby want to start  a business.  Andrew is also talking about how to get more money for Funland, and he says he wants to start a lemonade stand business. Of course, Karen has to right away butt  in and tells Andrew that he must follow Karen’s rules about running a lemonade stand.

Someone has claimed the wallet.  Karen starts yelling ” that money was mine!!” FUCK YOU KAREN! Karen’s mom says ” no it was a man named Mr. Beadle’s money.”  Karen’s mom said he worked hard to earn that money, and he says he wants to meet Karen to say thanks for giving the wallet to the police station.  Mr. Beadle says he is so glad Karen was honest and returned the wallet to the police station because he and his family really needed the money.  Mr. Beadle insists on giving Karen a reward despite Karen’s mom’s objections. Mr. Beadle gives Karen 100 hundred dollars, and Karen thinks to herself ” why didn’t I get four hundred dollars?” UGH- he didn’t have to give you a cent, Karen!  Karen’s mom then has to force Karen to tell Mr. Beadle thank you for the money.  Karen begs her mom to let her keep all of the money for Funland. Karen’s mom reluctantly agrees.

Karen goes outside and waves her hundred bucks in front of Nancy and Bobby. She tells the story and Bobby says now Karen can give the ten bucks to her mom out of that cash.  Karen says to Bobby that he and Nancy owe the money, NOT Karen. Bobby says Karen never said Bobby and Nancy had to pay her back. UGH- who’s more shitty Bobby or Karen?  Andrew asks Karen if she is going to use all the money for Funland. Karen decides that she will have plenty of money for Funland even if she spents some of her hundred bucks.  Karen writes a list of things she wants to buy- stickers, art supplies, a bubble blaster, a toy for Andrew,  new markers  and pink dress up clothes.  Karen also decides she will do some nice things for her friends with part of her cash. Here we go…

Karen tells Nancy that she wants to treat the Three Musketeers ( Nancy and Hannie of course, along with Karen) to a movie and she will ask Kristy to go with them.  Karen pays for Nancy and Hannie’s movie tickets, along with a huge tub of popcorn and three sodas. Kristy pays her own way.  Karen and her friends have Kristy sit in back of them, so that the girls can feel like they are at the movies alone. Dibbly cool. ( incidentally, in the illustration, Kristy looks like a 30 year old soccer mom).  Kristy says to Karen that she’s a good friend for taking her friends to the movies. Karen completely agrees, of course. 

School’s out for summer!  Mr. Tastee is coming and Karen asks her friends ( this would be Willie and Kathryn, Bobby and his sister Alicia, who is best friends with Andrew, Nancy, and Andrew) if they are getting ice cream. Bobby says no because all of the kids are trying to save their money. Karen doesn’t want to be the only kid getting ice cream soooo-she buys ice cream for herself and all of the other kids, too! Hmmm wonder what will happen later….

Andrew decides to have the lemonade stand one day. Karen and Andrew set it up, and Karen runs to kids’ houses asking if they want to buy lemonade from Andrew for twenty five cents. Of course, the kids all say no as they are saving money for Funland. So Karen gives all the kids 25 cents each to buy lemonade from Andrew! And when Bobby thanks Karen in front of him, he’s upset that Karen went and gave her friends the money to buy the lemonade from Andrew, because that means Karen thinks Andrew is a a baby. Karen runs inside- she just wanted to help Andrew!

Karen asks her mom if they can go to the toy store.  Karen buys all of the things on her list with some of the money she got from Mr. Beadle, and even has fifteen cents left over. Karen also bought Andrew a bubble blaster.

Nancy and Bobby have started a gardening business, and Andrew is their helper.  Karen is upset that Bobby and Nancy asked Andrew to be their helper and not Karen. Then Karen realizes she has plenty of money and her friends need to earn money for Funland.  Nancy, Bobby and Andrew aren’t making much money, so Karen decides that she will ” hire” them to weed the dandelions in her mom’s front yard and Karen will pay them. Oh, jeez- Mrs. Engle aka Karen’s ma, NEVER LET KAREN HAVE THIS MUCH MONEY!

 Karen realizes that she only has 9 dollars and 87 cents left of her 100 bucks. PWNED!  Karen is really upset and doesn’t know how she spent so much money. And once she pays Nancy and Bobby she will only have 7 bucks and 30 cents. Karen can’t believe this- she has hardly any money to spend at Funland!  Karen then hands Bobby the ” stupid” money as Karen puts it then starts YELLING AT BOBBY AND NANCY BECAUSE KAREN STUPIDLY SPENT HER MONEY! She’s like ” oh I bought all this crap for you guys.” – yeah Karen because you WANTED to!!  Bobby and Karen point out that Karen is the one who kept insisting on buying stuff for her friends.  Andrew asks Karen if she has spent her money wisely as Mrs. Engle said to do and Karen admits she hasn’t. But then she yells at Andrew. Karen’s mom asks Andrew what is going on and he declares that Karen is mean. ( well….)  Karen tells her mom that she didn’t spend her money wisely and Karen’s mom says they have to talk about this.

Karen is all upset the day of the Funland trip at first because Karen’s mom didn’t just give her extra money to spend at Funland. So Karen only has her 9 bucks and change. Yeah, Karen, if Mrs. Engle gave ya 5 bucks you wouldn’t learn a damn thing!  Karen and Nancy make up while on a ride in Funland. Karen decides she also has to make up with Bobby for the trip to be really fun.

Karen apologizes to Bobby, and Bobby says that he and Nancy have decided to pay Karen back the 10 bucks she owes her mother.  Karen then sees Mr. Beadle! He introduces her to his wife and his seven kids and Karen’s all shocked that they have seven kids. Ummm doesn’t Karen know the Pikes? Mr. Beadle says he had saved the money for this trip to Funland- and to the beach the next day- for a family vacation and he was so glad Karen returned the money.  Karen feels sort of bad that this was the big Beadle family vacation and Karen’s been to so many places and is pretty fortunate.  Karen feels bad that she wanted to take that money from Mr. Beadle initially.

 As Karen and her friends look for a souvenir, Karen finds ANOTHER lost wallet- Seth’s! Of course Karen gives Seth his wallet. Then Karen learns that she didn’t have much to spend on Funland but she still bought some cool stuff and that she’s glad she spent the money on fun times with friends instead of on tons of Funland junk. MY HEAD IS BANGING AGAINST A WALL!!!  And Karen again rubs her penny as it’s responsible for all her great luck. OH MY GOD- this may be the worst I have ever seen Karen. Hard to say, really.

Well, now some Sweet Valley HIGH- JINKS are coming up, and for Valentine’s Day I will recap both ” Stacey’s Ex Best Friend” from the BSC ( it takes place during V Day) and ” Elizabeth’s First Kiss” from Sweet Valley Twins. After that, expect some more BSC, Sleepover Friends, Freshman Dorm and Elizabeth Gail books. Re- Elizabeth Gail- name another blog that recaps YA Christian fiction! Bet ya can’t!

YAY ME!!!

For some reason, I am unable to re-post the cutest picture of the cupcakes in the Happy Blogger award, but I have to now say the 10 things that make me happy as Emily from BSC Chronologically nominated me for the happy blogger award! Thanks I love your blog too!!!! One can never have too much BSC!

So ten things that make me happy ( not necessarily in order!)

1) Cupcakes- especially the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ones from Crumb’s in NYC

2) Any TV shows on HBO, especially ” True Blood”, ” Big Love” and ” Real Time with Bill Maher.”

3) Bitch magazine- an indie magazine on feminist pop culture- greatness!

4) The fact that people actually read this blog!

5) Reading- I have SUCH a passion for books, and I used to want to be a librarian!! I bought over 150 bucks worth of books on Amazon.com last week and that is not the first time!! I also love libraries and going to Barnes and Noble and reading for hours…

6) Broadway musical soundtracks- especially Rent!

7) Hungry-girl.com- Just discovered this site and it’s awesome- especially for a gal like me who is trying to lose a few lbs in order to be healthier.

Netflix- especially the Instant Play feature! I watch at least three or four movies a week either through Instant Play or DVD’s just because I also really love movies. I will say I don’t always love movies based on books though both ” Precious” and ” The Bridges of Madison County” were done really well. The last movies I have seen are ” On the Outs” ( very indie- very fantastic- though sad), ” The Last Temptation of Christ”, ” Ghosts of Mississippi”, and the ” Starter Wife” miniseries. My signif other and I also see a movie a week in the theatre and we just saw ” Leap Year” yesterday- YAY AMY ADAMS!!

9) Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, Divorce Court- I have loved watching court shows since I was like 8 years old and I love watching all this junk when I have days off from work!

10) Mortensen’s ice cream-especially the peanut butter brownie sundae- God I am so craving one but alas with trying to lose some poundage… no Mort’s for awhile. Mortensen’s is this local ice cream shop that is about 10 minutes from where I live- I went to high school w/ the owner’s son and get this- my best friend ever dated the owner’s son for four days in middle school- he dumped her at a school dance. Ouch.

And now to nominate 10 blogs!! ( some may have already been nominated…)

1)http://30isthenew13.blogspot.com/ by Sada- re-living our youth through Sada… plus she leaves me awesome comments and was one of our first readers- LUV her for it.

2)http://oldschoolpopculture.wordpress.com/ Living in the 80’s and 90’s- just because this blog by Perfect Size 12 is HYSTERICAL- and as a fellow size 12 ( who is getting closer to 14…) I gotta love this chick!

3)http://lifetimewow.blogspot.com/ She doesn’t post often, but anyone who snarks on Lifetime movies is forever awesome in my opinion- check out the blog u will love it if you ever watch Lifetime! (and you know you do!)

4) http://lindsaysliteraryadventures.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/open-letter-to-john-cusack/#comment-520 Lindsay is so funny and a HUGE supporter of mine! Therefore she must be nominated!

5)http://neonspandex.blogspot.com/ She hasn’t updated in forever, but this Walking Highlighter chica is shit your pants funny I am telling you- especially her BSC Little Sister recaps and her recap of Sweet Valley High’s Power Play- GENIUS!!!!

6)http://dibblyfresh1.blogspot.com/ By Sadako- simply because Sadako can never have enough love- the blog is awesome and thanks to her I have discovered many other cool blogs!

7)http://shannonsweetvalley.com/ Shannon’s on break right now but I encourage you- if you read Sweet Valley as a kid, you will ADORE this blog!

http://bscrevisited.blogspot.com/ BSC revisited by Kristen is a favorite BSC blog of mine- very reminiscent of Claudia’s Room by Tiff!!

9)http://thedairiburger.com/ Read the latest post on Claire Middleton, and I will be shocked if you don’t laugh your ass off!

10)http://community.livejournal.com/1bruce1/ 1 bruce 1 is a longtime favorite and was even mentioned in Marie Claire how cool is that???

should be recapping a Karen book any day now!

Sweet Valley Kids #39- Ellen is Home Alone

Jessica and Elizabeth are excited about playing at Ellen Riteman’s house this afternoon. You know what I have picked up on? In the first Sweet Valley Twins book it does not seem that Jessica even knows Ellen until she joins the Unicorns, and in Sweet Valley Kids Jess and Liz always hang out with her. Odd.  Mrs. Riteman picks up Jessica, Elizabeth, Ellen and Ellen’s bossy nine year old sister, Debbie. Mrs. Riteman has Ellen’s little brother Mark in the car already.  As Mrs. Riteman serves Jessica, Elizabeth, Debbie and Ellen milk and cookies, she announces that she got the fund raising job at the Sweet Valley Museum. This means that Ellen and Debbie have to take the bus, which Debbie feels is a fate worse than death, and the kids will have Karen or Stacey come over and babysit Ellen, Debbie and Mark after school.  The job starts tomorrow. Ellen and Debbie don’t feel they need a babysitter Debbie feels that at nine, she is more than old enough to take care of the house and other kids while her mother is at work. Jessica tells Ellen and Debbie they have to prove to Mr. and Mrs. Riteman that they don’t need a sitter as they are too old for one- yes, Jessica declares that SEVEN is too old to need a babysitter- and Ellen and Debbie only have tonight to work on their mom. 

As you can guess, Ellen and Debbie easily convince Mrs. Riteman to let them stay home alone for a couple of hours after school. Mrs. Riteman doesn’t feel Debbie is old enough to be home alone with Mark yet, so she will have Mark enrolled in a full time preschool.  Mrs. Riteman also tells Debbie and Ellen that since they are deemed responsible enough to stay home alone, they also have to do extra chores around the house( which when reading this later seems to be ALL the chores in the house). Mrs. Riteman also shows the girls all of the emergency phone numbers. Debbie is really excited to be left home alone, but Ellen is a bit nervous.

Ellen tells the other kids that she is going to be staying home alone with Debbie after school for a couple of hours while her parents are at work. Todd Wilkins says his mom would never allow that. Jessica declares that she wishes her parents deemed her old enough to stay home alone. Ellen tells Jess, Elizabeth and Eva Simpson that she and Debbie will watch hours of TV and eat ice cream and she can’t wait. Jessica tells Elizabeth that she wishes she could be left home alone, and sometimes their parents treat Elizabeth and Jess like SUCH babies. After school, Mrs. Wakefield takes the twins shopping for dresses for Mrs. Wakefield’s friend’s wedding. Mrs. Wakefield has the girls hold her hands as they cross a busy street and Jessica is all upset saying she’s too old to hold Mrs. Wakefield’s hand, but Alice says it’s a busy street and she doesn’t want anything bad happening to Jess and Elizabeth. Wow, the Wakefields were actually sort of decent parents in the SV Kids books! Jessica is all pouty over this and she is so jealous that Ellen gets to be home alone, and meanwhile she’s treated like an utter BABY!

Mrs. Riteman left Ellen and Debbie carrot sticks and tuna sandwiches for their snack but Ellen and Debbie don’t want to eat those! So they grab a gallon of ice cream out of the freezer and eat the entire gallon. Ellen feels so full but then Mrs. Riteman brings home a bunch of take out food to eat for dinner, and Ellen has to eat that plus chocolate cake because if she doesn’t, Mrs. Riteman will want to know why Ellen isn’t hungry. Ellen goes to bed with QUITE the stomachache!

Ellen tells Jessica and Liz the next day about how Debbie and Ellen ate a lot of ice cream and watched game shows, and Jessica tells Elizabeth it sounds like Debbie and Ellen are having so much fun, and Elizabeth agrees.  After school, Jessica is all huffy because Mrs. Wakefield wants them to eat fruit salad after school. I know, Jess, a responsible parent is scary to you. Jessica asks if after snacktime she and Elizabeth can go to the park and Mrs. Wakefield agrees. Jessica tells Elizabeth that instead of going to the park, they should go to Ellen’s house to get a REAL snack. Elizabeth is not sure that they should defy their mother this way, because they aren’t supposed to go to other kid’s houses when the parents aren’t home and Jessica says that’s a dumb rule the Wakefields made up because they think Jessica and Elizabeth are babies. Of course, Jessica convinces Liz to go to Ellen’s house.

Ellen, Debbie, Jessica and Elizabeth are having ice cream when they hear noises and a loud bang! Ellen and the others get really scared when they hear the bang. Ellen goes to call 911 after hearing the door open because she thinks a burglar is trying to get into the house. As the phone rings, Mr. Riteman walks in- it was him making that noise- he got home early from work. Jess and Elizabeth run out of the house as Ellen doesn’t think Mr. Riteman would be cool with the twins being over while Ellen’s parents weren’t home.

Jessica and Elizabeth want to stay up later that night to watch some crime show on TV. Mr. Wakefield says it is their bedtime and that Mr. Wakefield doesn’t want them watching that kind of show anyway. Jessica and Elizabeth then refuse to let Mr. Wakefield read them a bedtime story once they are in bed because Elizabeth brattily tells her dad she and Jess can read to themselves. I am not sure Jessica can read to herself. Jessica also tells Mr. Wakefield not to turn on the night-light because they don’t need it anymore. But then Elizabeth is all spooked by being in that pitch- black bedroom, so she turns the night-light back on after she sees that Jess has gone to sleep.

As Ellen goes home, she wishes that she were going home to her mom instead of an empty house. Ever since thinking there was a burglar in the house, she’s spooked over being home alone. Debbie then tells Ellen she has to do ALL of Debbie’s chores in addition to her own and if she doesn’t Debbie will tell the Ritemans that Ellen had friends over while they weren’t home.  Ellen hears noises as she’s preparing a salad for dinner and she tells Debbie she’s worried. Debbie tells Ellen to quit acting like a baby and she called the cops yesterday over nothing and the noise is probably nothing.

Mrs. Wakefield goes to take Jess and Liz shopping again for dresses. Jessica wants to wear a pink dress with long sleeves, and Mrs. Wakefield says that the pink dress would be too hot for an outdoor wedding and she feels they should wear a more summery peach dress. Jessica does not want to wear the peach dress, and says that she and Liz are old enough to pick out their own clothes. The store is going to close soon and Mrs. Wakefield says that they will just get the peach dress but Jessica says she doesn’t want the peach dress and she wants to pick her own dress. Mrs. Wakefield says that the twins are too young to always make their own clothing decisions and sometimes she has to decide. Jessica yells that’s just a dumb rule, just like the rule about not going to friends’ homes when the parents aren’t home- Jess and Liz went to Ellen’s house when her mom wasn’t home and nothing bad happened at all! Mrs. Wakefield is pisssed and is even more pissed when the stupid twins run into traffic on a busy street alone and almost get hit by cars until Mrs. Wakefield grabs them. Mrs. Wakefield says that part of being grown up is knowing that there are important rules that have to be followed, like holding Mrs. Wakefield’s hand when they cross that street and not going to friends’ homes when parents aren’t there. Mrs. Wakefield does agree to let Jessica and Liz pick their own dresses, so off to the mall they go.

Ellen continues to hear the noise and decides it’s coming from the basement. Ellen is scared of the basement but realizes she has to go down there to see what is wrong. When Ellen creeps down to the basement, she sees that water is dripping from a pipe and the basement is flooded!!! Ellen quickly turned off the water main as her parents had showed her, and calls the plumber right away. Then Ellen calls her mom. Ellen’s mom says she is very proud of both girls and they are even more responsible than she thought. Debbie says Ellen is the one who did all of the work and Debbie is impressed that Ellen went down to the basement alone.

Ellen tells the others what happened the next day at school, and she also says Debbie is a lot nicer to her now but she knows it won’t last. Jessica says Steven is a brat to her and Liz too. Jessica and Elizabeth then say they can’t wait for their cousin Robin to come over soon. See my recap of SV Kids #40 Robin in the Middle to find out what happens on that visit!!

Coming up- Look forward to recaps of these books in the coming weeks and months- posting may not be super duper regular but I will try my best!! I am now trying to exercise a lot more, and I am reading actual books along with YA lit, so I am not quite as free to concentrate on Fitzie’s but I can say I will at least do a post every week or two hopefully more!

So coming up-

BSC Little Sister #50-Karen’s Lucky Penny

SVH Super Thriller- Double Jeopardy

Sweet Valley High #13- Kidnapped!

BSC #51- Stacey’s Ex-Best Friend

Sweet Valley Twins #43- Elizabeth’s First Kiss

Freshman Dorm #3- Freshman Guys

Sweet Valley Kids #3-The Twins’ Mystery Teacher

BSC #87- Stacey and the Bad Girls

Freshman Dorm # 7 – Freshman Loves

Freshman Dorm #12- Freshman Rivals

This book was sort of heavy, and I had to really feel for Winnie in this one, even though she was a bitch to Josh as she ALWAYS WAS- no wonder Josh leaves her for Fredi later on ugh!!! Well on to the main plot and many subplots that make up the average Freshman Dorm book-

Winnie: Winnie sees her father for the first time since her parents divorced when she was 2. All she can remember about her dad is that he always sang ” Yellow Submarine” to her before bed. That’s how I first heard of the song and I love it, actually. Byron Jennings is Winnie’s dad’s name and he finds her on campus and says that he had wanted to see Winnie when she was younger, but he was very irresponsible back then and Winnie’s mom didn’t want Winnie to see Byron, and Byron can understand that. Byron swears he has changed, but despite that Winnie refuses to see him after the first meeting. Josh thinks Byron is a really swell guy who has changed, and tells Winnie to give Byron a chance. When Byron buys a huge Italian feast for Winnie and her friends, Winnie is charmed and so glad to have her father back in her life again. However, at this big Italian dinner Byron’s credit card gets rejected and he has no cash, and he has Josh write out a check that’s almost all Josh has in the bank. Josh does this so Winnie doesn’t learn that Byron is not exactly Mr. Responsible.  Winnie is running a fundraiser for the crisis hotline, and she needs some kind of talent to get people to come to the fundraiser. Byron claims to be a close, personal friend of the famous comedian Karl Fanfield, and Byron promises that Karl will show up at the fundraiser, and he will do it for free as a favor to Byron.

Josh’s second clue that Byron is not on the up and up is that when Josh shows off his new robot Alphie that he is entering in the computer fair, Byron is really admiring it. The day of the computer fair, Byron acts like HE invented Alphie and not Josh. Josh is steamed because he was hoping to gets tons of positive recognition at the fair and Byron stole Josh’s thunder. Josh tells this to Winnie, because now he thinks Winnie needs to know that Byron is not perfect as Winnie thinks, and Winnie throws a huge fit and basically dumps Josh because he criticized her dad. I can kind of understand it only because Winnie was so desperate for her dad and probably did not want to believe that he could do no wrong. But Josh is the kind of guy that I don’t think would lie just because he was upset over the computer fair, either, and Winnie is never one to see that Josh has her best interests at heart.

Well, the day of the hotline fundraiser arrives, and Karl Fanfield never shows up. Winnie has no idea what could have happened.  Josh and Win get ahold of Karl’s agent, and a secretary there says Byron promised a deposit for Karl, and he never delivered on that so the show had to be cancelled. And, Byron has completely skipped town. Winnie realizes Byron is pretty much a con man who never did change, and Winnie forgives Josh for what he said about her dad, since Josh was right. Winnie and Josh are a couple again.

KC: She develops a short- term eating disorder. As a kid, I preferred this book plot to the drama with Winnie and her dad to be honest- not sure why! KC  is now doing some modeling to pay for her books and clothes and sorority dues. KC is not sure she can measure up to the thin, professional models that she may have to compete against for jobs. KC begins to pretty much starve herself so she will look good in the bathing suits that she will soon be modeling. Peter, KC’s man, is concerned about her and tries to get her to eat peanut butter sandwiches and cookies, but KC refuses saying modeling is important to her and pays her sorority dues and all, and she has to look as thin as possible for the cameras. A few days  pass and it’s the day of the photo shoot for swimwear. KC is glad that she’s lost a few extra lbs for this shoot. Peter worries that KC looks gaunt and pale. The day of the photo shoot, KC faints!!! Luckily she faints behind bleachers at the photo shoot, Liza happens to be there gbecause she broke in to see what  a photo shoot was like, and Liza comes bearing hot cocoa and chicken noodle soup, KC downs them both and yep she’s all better now!!!!

Lauren: She and Dash are arguing over whether or not female reporters shoudl be allowed to enter men’s locker rooms. This subject comes up because Lauren is covering the big men’s volleyball winning streak, and Lauren wants to talk to some players right after the game. Liza convinces Lauren to just go into the locker room, and Lauren is talking to a player when Coach Brandes comes into the locker room and yells at Lauren to get out. Dash gets involved because he is about to write an article rebutting Lauren’s article on why women shoud have access to a men’s locker room!! More about this plot happens in the next book.

Melissa: Brooks JUST proposed, but Melissa feels they are way too young for marriage. Brooks and Melissa go white- water rafting, and Brooks almost drowns. When Melissa rescues Brooks from the rapids, she realizes she never wants to lose Brooks, and accepts his marriage proposal.

So that’s about it in this book.

On an unrelated note- who here watches Big Love? Well if you do- OMG how much does Teeny resemble Mallory Pike? It’s UNCANNY- she’s who I picture when I picture Mal Pike I am telling you!

Coming up- some Sweet Valley Kids and High, and BSC Little Sister!

Sleepover Friends #27-Where’s Patti?

You will have to excuse me if this is shorter than usual. There’s really not much to this book. Stephanie, Lauren, Patti and Kate go to Maine to visit Stephanie’s grandmother and the grandma’s husband Dan. During the trip, the girls meet two horrible twin boys named Fred and John- they look nothing alike, just so you know. Fred and John say snotty things about how non islanders ( they are in a small island in Maine) should not be allowed to enter contests when the Sleepover Friends win a contest that the boys also entered. The usual beach stuff happens- the girls eat tons of food like steamed clams and hot dogs, they enter a kite flying contest, and they also enter sandcastle contests. But the main plot involves Patti, of course- whenever a girl named Mindy Sue comes along, who also lives on the island, Patti disappears- she says she’s looking for birds mostly. The other girls automatically assume that Patti no longer wants to be friends because she is constantly disappearing on them, and doesn’t want to help them in the sandcastle contest. Patti finally confesses- she knows Mindy Sue. Mindy Sue and Patti were in the same school in third grade, and Mindy Sue made fun of Patti constantly- she called her a nerd and said Patti was too tall. Basically, Mindy Sue made third grade hell for Patti. Lauren, Kate and Steph tell Patti to try to give Mindy Sue a chance, so at the big dance ( yeah somehow there’s a big dance at the community center during the time they are there) Mindy Sue and Patti meet up again, and Mindy Sue confesses that she made fun of Patti because she was so tall and pretty  and smart, and Mindy Sue was jealous so she wanted to cut Patti down to size. Of course that’s what it was- if a girl if a YA novel is made fun of, (well unless it’s Sweet Valley!) it’s gotta because the other girl is totally jealous of her!! Mindy Sue hangs out with the Sleepover Friends for the rest of the trip, and in the end when a storm ruins their sandcastles, Lauren, Patti, Stephanie, Kate, and Mindy Sue get together with Fred and John and make a huge sandcastle that wins the contest, and Fred and John say they are sorry for how they acted. Seriously that’s really all that happens in this book.  Oh, and we learn that Robert Tyler, Fred and John’s hottie older brother, is seriously dating Becky Levy, and Becky’s parents don’t like her getting so serious with a boy when she is so young ( they are high school seniors). I wish a book on Robert and Becky’s forbidden love had been written instead of this book, because this book was sort of boring.

Coming up-  Freshman Dorm #12 Freshman Rivals

Sweet Valley Kids #39- Ellen is Home Alone

BSC Little Sister #50-Karen’s Lucky Penny

Sweet Valley High #13- Kidnapped!

Sweet Valley Twins #68- The Middle School Gets Married

Here comes a recap of a book that is just stupid, asinine and well how many middle schools actually did projects where the kids pretend to be married and they take care of eggs and pretend they are babies? I know they had that on Degrassi ( Degrassi the original which I am OBSESSED with) and Spike and Shane had to take care of that egg baby Eggbert and all, and they had this sort of plot on Saved by the Bell, and I believe the Girl Talk series also did this as a plot- but I sure as shit never did this in middle school, and neither did any of my friends! We did have to pretend to take care of cabbage patch dolls but that was in 10th grade child development class, and we sure didn’t do marriage experiments!

Well, anyway, in this book the history teacher Mr. Seigel sets up a unit for the WHOLE middle school- yep one teacher has to teach every middle schooler about the perils of marriage- and the kids randomly pick names out of hats to see who they will be married to. Here are some of the couples- I will tell you a few of the couples, and recap the hijinks of even fewer ( well the hijinks of the most interesting couples and yes two of the couples have a Wakefield- hey that’s how it goes).

Liz gets paired up with Bruce Patman. Jessica gets paired up with Rick Hunter, a cute seventh grader. Janet Howell gets paired with a nerd named Randy Mason. Sophia Rizzo gets paired up with Patrick Morris, who is a kind of ” fringe” character who does get his own book way earlier in the series- he runs away from his strict parents when they won’t let him join the school band. Very Jade Wu if you ask me. Lila Fowler gets paired up with Todd Wilkins. Ellen Riteman gets paired with Winston Egbert and of course is all pissy over it. Aaron Dallas is paired with Veronica Brooks, the girl who tried to steal Todd from Elizabeth  and tried to frame Jessica. Aaron is really upset over getting paired with Veronica, and Jessica tells Aaron she wishes she could switch partners. And here’s what happens with some of our couples-

Bruce is an insufferable asshole at first- he won’t do any of the work required for the project and is acting ” too cool for school” and it’s driving Liz crazy. Then one day when Bruce comes over to work on the project, he sees Ned Wakefield cooking dinner and interacting with his children and it upsets Bruce- Bruce’s dad is too busy with work to bother with hanging out with Bruce and Bruce is so jealous that Elizabeth’s father is so involved in the life of his family. Hate to tell ya Bruce but Ned Wakefield actually sucks ass. But no matter- Bruce tries to become ” Super Dad” and tells Liz she has to eat more veggies, and insists that he be the one to watch the egg baby all the time. He even made a little pouch for the egg baby. One day Elizabeth is alone with the egg and accidentally breaks it!! Elizabeth decides to just grab an egg from the fridge and she passes it off as the egg baby. It fools Bruce for awhile until one day they are arguing over who will care for the egg, and it drops to the floor and doesn’t break- the egg Elizabeth grabbed was hard boiled! Elizabeth and Bruce begin to yell at each other at the end of the project, and of course every other couple is yelling at each other too, and they all say they never want to be married.  I will tell you later what Mr. Seigel tells all of the kids after they all are yelling at each other.

Rick Hunter is constantly teasing and annoying Jessica and it is driving her crazy. Rick really does say all kinds of nasty and irritating things to Jessica and it almost makes her cry. Jessica’s friends start to say that maybe Rick likes Jessica, but Jess doubts that. Then one day Rick  kisses Jessica while they are cooking their meal in the school kitchen!!! Jessica and Rick decide to start dating ( no mention of Jessica dumping poor Aaron by the way) and Rick is acting all sweet and pleasant to Jess, and Jessica being a cunt, hates that Rick is now being sweet to Jess and she misses the Rick who would make her miserable by teasing her. Jessica and Rick decide to go back to their old relationship of insulting each other, as yes Jessica does yell back at Rick too, and I never remember if Jessica goes back to Aaron or continues to date Rick or what after this.  Jessica also breaks numerous egg babies, and hilarity ensues.

Sophia Rizzo and Pat Morris, usually tertiary characters in a Sweet Valley Twins book, get quite a plotline. Sophia is afraid that if she doesn’t just agree with everything Patrick says, they will get a ” divorce” like Sophia’s parents did. Patrick is very wishy washy and never really has an opinion on anything- he just defers to Sophia. Sophia doesn’t want to make the decisions and wants to defer to Patrick. So at first it’s like this- Sophia- ” Do you want chicken or spaghetti for dinner?” Pat- ” I don’t know whatever you want.” Sophia- ” Whatever you want is fine with me.” Patrick- ” well we can have whatever you want I don’t care” and yes it’s really annoying. Finally Sophia blows up at Patrick one day and pretty much calls him a wuss.  Sophia and Patrick do make up, and Patrick says he likes that Sophia is very outspoken, and Sophia tells Patrick that they can go back to being good friends if Patrick also gives opinions sometimes.

Janet Howell and Randy Mason constantly argue, but then at the end of the marriage project Janet says that Randy is actually very interesting to talk to, and they eat lunch together to discuss what the greatest invention of all time was- the microscope or the telephone. 

At the end of the project, as I mentioned, all of the couples are yelling at each other and each is blaming the other for the project being ruined. Mr. Seigel says to the school that he decided to institute this project to show the kids that marrying someone you barely know ( as the kids were throw together) and not discussing things first is a recipe for trouble in marriage, and Mr. Seigel hopes they all think long and hard before being married someday. I see that Jessica really absorbed this lesson, as she married Mike McAllery after knowing him for about three minutes at Sweet Valley U.

Freshman Dorm #20-Freshman Affair

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! I had a lovely new year of being cozy at my BF’s house and watching movies. Good times. On to the recap- we are starting the year off right with a summary/recap of a Freshman Dorm book- Freshman Affair featuring Faith Crowley!!

So about our Faith. She is directing auditions for a new TV program of Laugh..or Else. Faith is to choose eight finalists to appear on this show, and whoever wins gets a part on America’s hottest TV show. One of the finalists is a sexy, slightly older guy of about 22 named Elliott Potter, who just transferred to U of S. Elliott did a really funny bit about a little neighbor girl named Jessica and her stuffed purple dinosaur, Beast ( I think Beast is a Barney rip-off). Turns out that little three year old Jessica is not the neighbor’s child- Jessica is ELLIOTT’s child. Elliott got Jessica’s mom pregnant at the end of high school and they got married and tried to make it work for Jessica’s sake, but Julie, Elliott’s wife, wanted to go to law school in a big city and she couldn’t do law school and raise a child so she sort of lost interest in family life. Elliott decided to take Jessica so Julie could concentrate on her studies, and Julie and Elliott just couldn’t get along and Elliott has filed for divorce. Faith wonders what would have happened to her goals if Brooks and Faith had had sex in high school, and if Brooks had gotten Faith pregnant. Faith and Elliott begin to date,and Faith is falling hard for Elliott, and is even enchanted with Jessica when Elliott had to end up taking Faith on one of their dates when Elliott’s sitter cancels. Faith is even thinking of losing her virginity to Elliott because she is really in love with him. Just as Faith and Elliott are really beginning to be in love, a disaster strikes- at the Laugh… or Else final show to determine who will be on TV, Elliott has to take Jessica to the show. Clifford Bronton ( more on Cliff later) is recruited to watch Jessica backstage, but Clifford has to help find Greenwood the dummy ( again, more on Greenwood later) for Rich Greenberg. Clifford tells Jess to stay backstage,but being that Jess is three, she doesn’t listen and ends up running to the Springfield Mountain Inn pool and jumps in when Beast ends up in the pool, and almost drowns- Jessica would have pretty much been a goner if KC hadn’t happened to be there to save Jessica. Elliott, needless to say, is torn up over what could have happened to Jessica, and decides he can’t live this carefree university student life anymore, and he has to concentrate on fatherhood. Elliott ends up deciding to go to back to Iowa to be with Julie and to support her while she attends law school, and Elliott is dropping out of college to get a job to support them all, and he may go to college later to study to be a TV writer. Faith tries to understand what Elliott has to do, but at the end Faith is crying her eyes out over the end of her and Elliott’s relationship, especially as Elliott even says he loves Faith so much but he can’t afford to not be completely devoted to Jessica at this time. It’s sad because Elliott doesn’t even appear to really love Julie as he used to, but he figures he has no other choice but to go back to his family and to try to make things work for Jessica’s sake. Very realistic story for a YA novel, actually. Well what else is going on in Frosh Dorm world?

Winnie and Josh need to find housing- and STAT!! The apartment Winnie had obtained for her and Josh sucks ass and doesn’t have a good enough electrical system for Josh’s computer.  Clifford Bronton says he is also looking to get off campus housing to have more quiet in which to study, and Rich Greenberg hates his on campus roommate.  Clifford Bronton is the man in Book 19 who was Kimberly’s secret admirer, but Kimberly is afraid to start a relationship with Clifford because he is too short, even though Clifford is her ideal man in every other way.  Rich is another finalist in Laugh…or Else who has a ventriloquist act with a dummy named Greenwood who acts as Rich’s alter ego. Rich is super shy and has a slight speech problem, and his speech problem is the reason he wants to be a speech pathologist. ( it’s how I learned about speech pathology!!)  Rich also develops a major crush on his fellow finalist Liza! Clifford tells Winnie and Josh that he found this old Victorian house off campus that has plenty of electrical outlets in which to support Josh’s computer, it has four huge bedrooms, and the house does need a lot of work but Clifford is confident that with a fixed porch and some paint, it can be a great house. So it all works out- Winnie and Josh decide to get the house with Rich and Clifford! YAY!

Well in other news with Rich- yes he has that crush on Liza and Liza likes him back. But Rich is so shy and nervous around her that he pretty much lets Greenwood do the talking.  Liza, however, is coming on to Rich HARD and pretty much ropes him into meeting her at the Tri Beta rummage sale. Rich tells Faith he wants to date Liza at the end of Laugh or else as they are both finalists and he doesn’t want to compete with Liza.  The day of the sale, Rich leaves a note with a box of candy to tell Liza he can’t meet her at the sale but wants to date her afterward, but I guess the note separates from the candy box somehow because on that morning Liza sees the box of candy and figures it’s from Elliott to Faith and sees no note so Liza shows to the rummage sale and assumes Rich stood her up when he doesn’t show. Liza decides she MUST get her revenge on Rich, and in revenge Liza hides Greenwood in the laundry room the day of the Laugh or Else finals. Rich is insane with worry and can’t go on without Greenwood, so Liza also figures if Rich can’t perform she will automatically win Laugh or else. So as everyone is going nuts trying to find Greenwood, that is when Jessica sneaks off. Greenwood is found after the show, and eventually Rich does see Liza and explains to her what happened with the rummage sale and forgives Liza for taking Greenwood, and they become a couple. By the way Liza doesn’t win Laugh or Else but is first runner up. When Elliott, who wins, gives up his chance to be on TV, Liza gets to be on the show instead.

So Clifford is still trying to show Kimberly  he is the ideal man for her, but Kimberly still refuses to give Clifford a chance until she sees that Clifford was able to fix the house up so nicely, and he can cook! So when Kimberly finally decides that she wants to date Clifford, Clifford says he can’t date Kimberly because all of the guys are teasing Clifford because he’s so much shorter than Kimberly and he can’t take it. Kimberly is upset that Clifford now won’t give her a chance to make the relationship work.

Dash and Lauren are broken up AGAIN , and Courtney Connor has COMPLETELY fallen in lust with Dash, but Dash only wants to make out with Courtney and really wants Lauren back. Lauren wants Dash back too, but she ends up seeing Courtney and Dash  making out, and decides to join Melissa, who was dumped by Brooks at the altar, in Melissa and Lauren’s dorm room eating junk food and spying on their ex boyfriends.  Lauren does eventually decide that wallowing in self pity with Melissa is doing her no good, and as Dash and Lauren are arguing after Dash says he knows Lauren is spying on her, they hear a scream from the pool and KC notices and goes to save Jessica.  After KC saves Jessica, a campus DJ named Cody Wainwright that KC met briefly comforts KC. KC and Cody do become a couple- a great couple in fact- in the next book.

And that’s about all that happens in this book- and yes it was a lot as usual. Freshman Dorm books tend to have at least three stories going on. Stay tuned for Sweet Valley Twins- The Middle School Gets Married, a Sleepover Friends book, and more Freshman Dorm!