Hot on the heels of the dramatic soap opera of Double Love, we have another story featuring Jessica scheming (what story doesn’t feature this?) but revolving around Enid, Liz’s trusty but dull best friend.
This book opens almost immediately where the last one left off. Jess is in her room, getting ready for a date that night with Tom McKay while complaining to her friend Cara that Liz got her thrown in the pool! Cara says she kind of deserved it, and Jess is not happy to hear this. But she quickly gets distracted when Cara mentions the upcoming fall dance. Bruce Patman (Jessica’s current crush, despite her date with Tom that night) has been nominated for king and Jessica is a shoo-in for queen. If they both win, they’ll have to attend school events together. Jessica can’t wait to be by his side!
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Liz and Enid are making chocolate chip cookies. Enid is super distracted and eventually bursts into tears and tells Liz she’s afraid of losing her boyfriend, Ronnie, if he finds out her secret: she has a police record! Liz is shocked. Enid explains that two years earlier, when her parents were getting divorced, she was angry and got involved with a bad crowd, drinking and doing drugs. One night, she and her then-boyfriend George Warren got stoned and went joyriding and struck a kid with the car! The kid ended up with a broken arm and concussion, and Enid and George ended up on probation and in a drug rehab program. She emerged a completely different person, and believes George has changed too, based on letters they’ve exchanged since. Enid says she’s been lying by omission to Ronnie. Liz says that if it were her, she’d tell Todd and that if Ronnie really loves Enid, he’ll understand because Todd would totally understand. I want to remind Liz about Todd judging her for supposedly being at Kelly’s even after Jessica confessed to him… but sure, he’s an understanding boyfriend (he did, after all, tell Liz he “forgave her” for this transgression!). Enid says Ronnie would never understand; just the other day, he heard her talking about homework with some male classmate and almost blew a fuse! So what is Enid supposed to do now that George says he’s coming back to Sweet Valley in two weeks and wants to see her? The obvious answer is dump the jealous jerk, but that would be too easy. They go upstairs, eat a bunch of cookies, and Enid shows Liz one of the letters. Liz swears she won’t tell anyone about this, and then they have a pillow fight and don’t notice as one of the letters falls to the ground.
In French class the next day, Jess is daydreaming about the fall dance and what it’d be like to become queen and have Bruce fall in love with her. Ms. Dalton, their young and pretty teacher, asks what she’s daydreaming about, Winston makes a joke, and Ken Matthews tells him to pipe down. It’s obvious to everyone, except perhaps Ms. Dalton, that Ken has a crush on the teacher, as does much of the male population of SVH. Lila, Jessica’s best friend, talks to Jess about this after class and rants about how awful the teacher is. Jess is pretty sure most of Lila’s dislike for Ms. Dalton stems from the fact that her dad is dating Ms. Dalton. Lila says she wouldn’t be surprised if Ken and Ms. Dalton were having an affair. Their friend Cara appears just then and thinks this is some juicy gossip that needs to be spread, but then they change the subject and discuss the fall dance. Jess asks Cara to put in a good word for her with Ronnie, who’s head of the dance committee, since Cara sits next to him in history class. Cara says Jess is a shoo-in and doesn’t need the help winning, but Jess says she worries that Ronnie will convince people to vote for Enid, since that’s his girlfriend.
Before the conversation can continue, Jess gets distracted by Bruce, who shows up and calls her “Little Bo-Peep” and asks if she’s lost any sheep lately. The pickup lines of the guys in Sweet Valley really need to improve. Jess flutters her eyes at him and coyly suggests he asks her to the dance, but Bruce blows her off and says he’s sure she can find a date in Winston. Jess goes home frustrated, date-less, and sister-less, since Liz is hanging out with Enid. Jess heads to Liz’s room and flops down on the bed. That’s when she spies a letter peeking out from under the bed. Of course, this is a letter from George to Enid, and naturally the letter is chock full of juicy details:
“Dear Enid, Been so down lately. I can’t seem to get my head on straight the way you have. I can’t stop thinking about the past and how it all snowballed so quickly. It’s like the time we took all those bennies, and before we knew it we were cooking along in the GTO doing eighty or ninety…”
Because yeah, why wouldn’t this letter include all the scandalous details with such casual slang? Naturally, Jessica immediately starts scheming and heads to her dad’s copier with the letter.
Liz and Todd go on a double date with Ronnie and Enid, and everyone notices that Ronnie’s acting strange. After the date, Ronnie drives Enid to Miller’s Point, a popular space where couples park and make out. Ronnie starts kissing her roughly, and Enid asks what the hurry is. Ronnie backs off and tells her he can’t make it to the fall dance after all and gives a lame excuse. Enid doesn’t know what’s going on. She tries to change the subject and asks if he’s heard anything interesting at school lately, and he mentions the rumor going around about Ken and Ms. Dalton. Enid says it’s definitely a lie, and Ronnie says people do all sorts of crummy things, especially for love. He then tries kissing her again and when she pushes him away, he asks why he doesn’t rate up there with “old Georgie boy.” Enid is shocked and asks how he knows about George. Ronnie sneers and says it doesn’t matter, and Enid realizes that Liz must have told him since she’s the only one who knew.
The next night, while Jess is getting ready for a party at Lila’s, Liz calls Enid to ask how the rest of the date went. Enid is cold on the phone and tells Liz that they broke up because Ronnie knows about George. Liz swears she didn’t tell him, but Enid hangs up on her. Jess asks what’s wrong, and Liz tells Jess everything. She apparently thinks Jess is trustworthy (not sure why) and I guess figures things can’t get worse?
Jess goes to Lila’s, where they drink some fancy French wine Lila took from her dad’s cellar. Jess is angry when she hears that Bruce isn’t showing up to the party, as that’s who she was there to impress, and she’s even more mad when she hears that apparently Bruce has a date to the dance (some nineteen year old). Instead of wallowing, however, Jess makes a beeline to Ronnie, who’s looking dour. Jess asks why he didn’t bring Enid, and he tells her they broke up and rants about her being a liar. Jess feigns surprise and then suggests that since neither of them have a date to the dance, they should go together. He agrees.
On Monday, everyone is buzzing with the Ken/Ms. Dalton rumor going around and debating whether it could be true. Ms. Dalton arrives to let them into her classroom for French. The class is greeted by a note on the blackboard: IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT A FRENCH KISS IS, ASK KEN MATTHEWS. Ms. Dalton bursts into tears and leaves.
Liz tries to talk to Enid later that day but Enid blows her off. She then talks to Jess, and Jess says that she’s happy to talk to Enid on Liz’s behalf. Somehow Liz thinks this is a good idea, so Jess springs into action. She finds Enid and tells her that Liz has told her all about George, a disclosure that makes Enid mad at Liz all over again, and that she’s sure that if Liz said something, it must have just slipped out. Jess then assures Enid that no one will believe all the things Ronnie is saying about her. Naturally, Enid asks what he’s saying and Jess says she doesn’t want to know. Enid rushes off and Jess pats herself on the back for doing everyone a huge favor since Liz deserves a less dull best friend and Jess deserves to be queen of the dance and this basically takes Enid out of the running. That evening, Jess tells Liz that she tried her best with Enid but it didn’t go anywhere. She also tells her that she’s going to the dance with Ronnie but claims it’s so she can get Ronnie and Enid in the same place at the same time so they can dance with each other and make up.
The next day, Liz goes to Mr. Collins for advice about the Enid situation. He suggests that she talk to the other person at SVH who knew George, so Liz seeks out Winston and asks him if he said anything to Ronnie. Winston says he didn’t. Liz then talks to Todd about everything while they’re at the Dairi Burger. They end up blowing straw wrappers at each other and then he gives her a salty-sweet kiss powered by french fries and a vanilla milkshake. She wishes she could stay in his arms forever. So do I, but the scene ends and the book moves on. After Liz gets home, she cleans her room and discovers one of George’s letters there and realizes what actually happened and that Jess must have told Ronnie about George!
Enid goes to Ms. Dalton’s house to check in on her, since she’s been out of school for a few days. Ms. Dalton says she might transfer elsewhere, and Enid encourages her to stay and not let rumors drag her down. Mrs. Dalton encourages the same of Enid, who decides she’s right and heads home.
As Enid is getting ready to go stag to the dance, the doorbell rings. Enid thinks it might be Ronnie and gets ridiculously excited for some reason, but of course it’s not. It’s George! He’s now a responsible young man and was accepted to Sweet Valley College for the next semester. And he’s hot! Although, to be fair, who isn’t hot in Sweet Valley? Anyway, he’s dressed in a suit and is carrying flowers because he heard about the dance and that she doesn’t have a date. Enid is delighted and they kiss before heading out together.
At the Wakefield house, Liz and Jess are also getting ready. Liz hasn’t told Jess what she found, and Jess is busy gushing about how she hopes she’s voted queen and that Bruce is voted king. Liz comes up with a plan for revenge. At the dance, Liz tells Caroline Pearce that Jess has a crush on Winston and that Jess hopes Winston will be voted king. Caroline leaves to spread the news. Liz then spots Enid walking in with a hottie by her side! Liz rushes up to her and gets introduced to George. Enid tells Liz that she’s sorry for how she’s been acting and that she never really believed that Liz told Ronnie about her past. Liz is glad they’re friends again and tells Enid that she knows who was responsible and that although she won’t share the name (why not?), that person will get what’s coming to them.
The queen and king are announced! It’s Jessica! And… Winston?! Everyone voted for him because they thought Jessica wanted him as her king. Jess realizes that Liz spreads this rumor and confronts her about it. Liz admits it but says that if Jessica resigns her role as queen, she’ll tell everyone what she did to Enid. Jess thinks people will hate her if that story gets out, so she agrees to appear at school events with Winston. Not quite the epic revenge plot, but Liz clearly didn’t get the scheming genes.
Notes:
Total elapsed time in this book: About two weeks. Also, it’s noted that Enid has been dating Ronnie for two months, so apparently that’s how long the first book spanned.
Jessica’s love interests: Tom McKay, Bruce Patman, Ronnie Edwards
When Todd talks to Liz about Enid, he relays a story about his little brother getting sick one Halloween and how Todd felt bad that he got to go trick-or-treating while his brother stayed home. Not sure what ever happens to this brother, since I’m pretty sure no siblings of Todd’s are ever mentioned again.
It’s interesting to note that this book features wine at a party when so many of the later books (if I remember correctly) only show the teens abstaining from drinking.
Even when I was reading these as a kid, Enid always felt kinda dull. I think this book was supposed to show her wild backstory, but no plot revolving around her was ever that interesting. It’s the same reading this as an adult. Did anyone love Enid’s character?
Entertainment factor: 4/10.
My first thought when I saw the tags for the book was “When isn’t Jessica scheming?!” I agree, must be in every book! And I’m not sure whether to be grateful or saddened by the fact that high school for me didn’t hold all the dates, dances, illicit drugs, lies, and intrigue that it apparently does in Sweet Valley!