Sweet Valley High #64: The Ghost of Tricia Martin

Time elapsed in this book: 3 weeks

Length of their junior year: 4 years, 4 months

Jessica’s love interest: Keith

Entertainment rating: 5/10

Another book about what a terrible boyfriend Steven Wakefield is. Ughh. How Cara’s put up with him for this long is a miracle. He looks kinda possessed on the cover, and Andrea (the titular “ghost of Tricia Martin”) looks way more into him on the cover than she seems in the book.

Steven recently met Andrea, an employee at the Unique Boutique store in the mall who looks eerily similar to his girlfriend Tricia, who died of leukemia and has already had one doppelgänger floating around (I’ve updated the “Todd Punches & More” page to now include a running list of all the Tricia doppelgängers Steven meets…). Someone needs to do a DNA test and figure out whose shenanigans made these clones possible.

Despite having a girlfriend, Steven calls the store to ask Andrea on a date. He tells Liz (who was at the mall with him and thus knows what he’s doing) that he’s only going out with Andrea to prove that she’s not Tricia. Liz doesn’t believe him and tells him to remember Cara.

Steven meets Andrea at a fancy restaurant in Pacific Shores. Steven marvels at the fact that her shirt is similar to one Tricia used to own. He asks if she likes walking on the beach and when she says yes, he says he knew she would because he feels like he knows her already. Is there a more generic question to ask? I mean, I like walking on the beach (who doesn’t?!) and don’t look like Tricia. He calls her Tricia three times and when Andrea points this out, he tells her about Tricia was but claims he likes Andrea for Andrea and not because she looks like Tricia. He goes home, looks at a photo of Tricia, and says he can’t believe he found her again. This whole scene is a big cringe fest.

Jess and Lila go to a party with Palisades and Big Mesa students. There’s a guy playing guitar who has all the girls mesmerized because of how deep he is, so of course Jess is into him. She goes home and tells her family about him and calls him gorgeous, so either she’s changed her mind on his attractiveness or the ghostwriter has forgotten calling him “not especially good-looking” only a few pages before.

Steven calls Cara out of a sense of duty and thinks she sounds girly and silly on the phone. He picks her up for a date and says he’s surprising her with a hike. Cara is wearing sandals but says she’s game to try it. Of course she’s miserable, which annoys Steven. He thinks Andrea would have been up for it! He tells Cara that he’s thinking of taking hang gliding lessons. She says that sounds dangerous. Steven thinks that Andrea would have been supportive! He gets increasingly short with her, and Cara is confused about what’s going on.

Jess goes on what she thinks is a date with Keith. He wants them to canvas the neighborhood separately to cover more ground, telling people about recycling and passing out flyers.

Cara calls Jess later, hoping to ask what’s going on with Steven. Jess shares her own issues: the Fiat keeps breaking down, she had a boring date with Keith, her parents are fighting, etc. After they hang up, Jess realizes that Steven left the house looking dressed up for a date, so who’s he’s going out with if he’s not meeting Cara?!

Steven is, of course, going out with Andrea. They go to the aquarium and Steven, being a total creep, encourages Andrea to put her hair down (to look more like Tricia). He also orders her a chocolate ice cream cone and is disappointed when Andrea asks for vanilla instead. Tricia always ordered chocolate!

At home, Steven tells his parents about hang gliding. Mrs. Wakefield says it sounds dangerous, so Mr. Wakefield gets mad at her and says she’s just talking Steven out of having any fun before he has to settle down and be responsible and not have any more fun in life. Clearly Mr. Wakefield is going through something because YIKES.

Keith invites Jess out again, this time to a City Hall discussion about whether the city needs a trash incinerator. She lies and says it’s fascinating.

Jess, Lila, and Cara go to the mall. Jess hopes this will cheer Cara up and thinks that she and Steven should keep their relationship issues private instead of trying to depress everyone else too. They go into Unique Boutique and Cara does a double take when she sees Andrea. She sees their differences on a second glance, but the resemblance is odd enough that she asks if Jess and Lila see it too. They do! Jess says she hasn’t thought about Tricia in a long time.

Cara nodded. “At first I thought it was actually her! But she doesn’t look that much like her when you really take a good look.”

“Why would you want to take a good look anyway?” Lila said snottily. “She’s just a salesclerk.”

Ahh, Lila. Always with the one-liners!

The store phone rings, and Cara hears Andrea’s side of the conversation as she talks to someone about hang gliding and going to the aquarium (which Steven loves). Cara wants to believe it’s a coincidence, but then Andrea calls the person on the phone “Steve” and Cara knows it’s her boyfriend.

Cara cries at home, then calls Steven. She tells him she was at the Unique Boutique and asks what’s going on. Steven gets mad and accuses Cara of spying on him and calls her possessive. Cara should dump him right then and there (well, she should have dumped him long ago) but he breaks up with her. They hang up, and Steven is shocked because he hadn’t meant to dump Cara. I guess he thought he’d be able to string her along forever while also pursuing a doppelgänger of his dead girlfriend.

Steven goes hang gliding. He’s still thinking about Cara and then can’t remember what he’s supposed to do and he crashes into a cliff! The world goes black!

Everyone rushes to the hospital. Steven’s unconscious and his left arm is broken. Cara arrives at the hospital and Steven starts mumbling. Finally, he calls out Tricia’s name. Then he calls out Cara’s name. Then he’s silent again. Even unconscious, he gives off so many signs of being in desperate need of therapy, yet no one’s picking up on this! Eventually he wakes up and the Wakefields are happy to have Steven back.

Jess goes out with Keith once more. She’s determined to go on a real date so she takes him to the movies. Keith suggests a documentary, but Jess insists on what Keith calls “Hollywood garbage.” Jess realizes she doesn’t care what Keith thinks anymore. Good for her! He’s a snooze fest. At the movies, Jess sees Andrea with another guy.

The twins visit Steven in the hospital again, and Steven mentions that he called Andrea and is expecting her to visit soon. Jess says she saw Andrea with another guy the night before. Steven says it was probably just her brother. He goes to the hospital window, fighting a headache, and sees Andrea get out of a car, then kiss the driver! Steven realizes she’s dating someone else!

The twins leave the hospital room so Steven can talk to Andrea in private. He asks who the guy is and how she could do this to him despite knowing how he feels about her! Yeah, because it’s only about how he feels. Andrea says she knows how Steven feels about Tricia but that Steven doesn’t know Andrea at all. Andrea tells him she’s found someone who likes her for who she is, not for who she reminds them of. Steven apologizes and asks if they can still be friends. Andrea says no but that she hopes he gets better soon.

Jess calls Cara, who then shows up at the hospital. Cara tells Steven that he’ll always be special to her. Steven asks if she means it and says he’s sorry for being a jerk. Incredibly, and unfortunately, they make up. Cara can do so much better. Steven seriously needs that intensive therapy I mentioned earlier.

Up next: will the fighting between Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield worsen??