Time elapsed in this book: 3 weeks
Length of their junior year: 3 years, 4 months, 2 weeks
Jessica’s love interest: still A.J. Morgan
Entertainment rating: 5/10
Another book about a side character who’s introduced for the sole purpose of this book’s plot. Am I the only one who thinks there should have been more books starring the real side characters we care about (Bruce, Lila, Winston…) and fewer books about total randos? This book wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t the best.
Enid’s excited because she got the go-ahead from Mr. Collins to start a chapter of Big Sister-Little Sister at Sweet Valley High. Basically, this is like the Big Brother program, except this program pairs young girls who’ve lost their mothers with a teenaged Big Sister. Liz and Enid start matching up a bunch of the kids with Big Sisters at their school and even convince Jess to be a Big Sister to a girl named Allison who loves shopping, fashion magazines, and boys. They have one Little Sister left to pair, a girl named Emily who loves tennis, so they ask Kristin Thompson if she wants to be a Big Sister.
All anyone really knows about Kristin is that she loves tennis and wants to be a pro tennis player. She doesn’t have much spare time, especially since she’s practicing for the upcoming Avery Cup, but she agrees to be a Big Sister. Privately, she thinks about how she relates because her own mom died when she was seven. Her mom was a tennis star, so Kristin feels like she needs to become a tennis champion to follow in her mom’s footsteps. Her dad and Dorrie (her mom’s best friend and Kristin’s tennis coach), are very supportive of her tennis career and Kristin worries about letting them down.
The next day after school, Kristin wanders to the school’s tennis courts, where Bruce is playing against some guy named Adam Tyner. After Bruce wins, he asks what Kristin thought and she offers constructive criticism, which he doesn’t like (shocking). He challenges Kristin to a match and she agrees, then realizes that he expects to win. Even though Kristin could easily beat him, she throws the match. I’m so disappointed in her. Bruce is unsurprisingly pleased and offers Kristin a ride to the tennis club. He says that if he’d seen her around earlier, he’d have made a point of getting to know her. I doubt this, since Bruce typically seems more interested in college girls (who are, inexplicably, interested in him back… or perhaps just interested in his family’s money). Bruce invites her out to a movie and Kristin says she’ll meet him there. The movie is fun and Bruce gives her a kiss afterward.
Saturday morning, Liz goes to the tennis club, hoping to write an article about Kristin and the Avery Cup for The Oracle. Mr. Thompson and Dorrie are already there, but Kristin oversleeps and arrives late. She was so excited about her date with Bruce that she couldn’t fall asleep! Kristin tells Liz about her mom, and Liz thinks that Kristin is using tennis to fill a void in her life.
Bruce calls and asks Kristin to come over that night, but she turns him down and tells him to give her more notice next time. Bruce is shocked that someone has the nerve to ask him for this common courtesy!
Sunday, Kristin meets her Little Sister, Emily Bowen, for the first time. She takes her to the tennis club, and Emily thinks Kristin is a star. That evening, Bruce calls and invites Kristin out again, and this time she agrees. She tells her dad she’ll be back in an hour. They get ice cream and then Bruce takes her to a jazz club, and she gets home three hours late. Mr. Thompson is disappointed and says he hopes this won’t interfere with the Avery Cup, which starts in only two days.
Kristin doesn’t play well in her first match, but she still wins the set. When she gets home, Bruce calls and invites her to his parents’ bash at the country club that Saturday. Kristin tells him she isn’t sure, since the third round is Sunday morning so she’ll need to be in bed early Saturday night if she qualifies. Bruce can’t believe she isn’t immediately agreeing to his party. I know Bruce is self-centered and all, but he does love tennis and he does love stars, so I’m kinda surprised he isn’t more enthused about this tournament so he can brag about dating the star instead of trying to convince her to party with him!
Amy Sutton assumes she’s going to be Bruce’s date for the party. She tells Jess and Lila that Bruce was talking about the party a bunch but has suddenly clammed up, so she doesn’t know what’s going on. Later, Lila asks Jess if it’s true that Bruce asked Kristin to the party. Jess says yes, A.J. told her that Bruce was bragging about how Kristin was going to drop everything to be his date. They can’t wait to see sparks fly when Amy shows up and finds out that she isn’t Bruce’s date. I love this friendship. They’re so ruthless!
Kristin plays another qualifying match and manages to pull off another overall win. She feels exhausted and like she’s disappointing her dad and Dorrie. Over dinner, she tells them that she’s been invited to a party and has decided to go. They tell her that the most important thing for her to do before the match is to rest but that it’s her decision whether to go to a party.
Kristin shows up at the country club for the party and is impressed by how fancy is it. Bruce seems happy to see her and says he wants to introduce her to his parents. Amy saunters up and tucks her arm through Bruce’s as if she’s his date, and Bruce (flattered by the attention, as always) allows himself to be distracted. He ignores Kristin long enough that she doesn’t know why she came to the party and heads home.
Sunday morning, Kristin plays poorly again and Kristin’s opponent wins their tiebreaker game. This means the other girl gets to join the pro team and Kristin is the alternate. She’s embarrassed and knows her dad and Dorrie are disappointed in her. Dorrie comforts her that night and tells Kristin that her mom had planned to quit tennis after Wimbleton.
At school, Bruce approaches Kristin and asks where she ran off to at the party. Kristin tells him she doesn’t owe him an explanation. Bruce is stunned! Kristin can’t believe she was ever distracted by him.
Kristin’s Little Sister tells Kristin that she tries out for tennis camp but didn’t make it and that she understands if Kristin no longer wants to be her Big Sister. Kristin can’t believe Emily would even think that because she’s proud of her no matter what! This makes Kristin realize that her dad and Dorrie are proud of her no matter what too. Kristin tells Emily that they should practice together and then Emily will be even better when she tries out next year. This is Sweet Valley, so next year isn’t going to arrive for a VERY long time. She’ll be a pro by that point!
A few days later, Kristin gets a call that the girl who beat her for the tournament spot sprained her ankle, so Kristin (as the alternate) is invited to take her place! Kristin accepts!
A bunch of people from SVH show up to watch Kristin. Bruce is one of them, even though he just spent time telling people that Kristin didn’t have what it took to be a champion. He’s always good at making fun of people and then doing the bare minimum. I sometimes relate. Anyway, Kristin crushes her opponent and wins! Bruce later approaches Kristin to invite her out to celebrate. Kristin realizes he’s only doing this because she’s now a champion. She’s unimpressed. Buh-bye, Bruce!
Kristin’s dad tells her that he and Dorrie want to start dating. As if they weren’t already dating in secret. That seems obvious to me, but sure. Anyway, she approves. Everyone but Bruce is happy!
Up next: will A.J. win an essay contest and take Jessica to the Citizens’ Day Ball?