Sweet Valley High Super Star: Lila’s Story

Time elapsed in this book: 8 weeks

Length of their junior year: 4 years, 3 weeks

Jessica’s love interest: None

Entertainment rating: 6/10

This is the first of the Sweet Valley High Super Star editions, each featuring a different non-Wakefield character as the lead. I love Lila, but I wouldn’t say that this book is the best one she’s featured in. I wanted more scheming, more insane antics! It’s still good, but less exciting than she deserves.

It’s summer (again) in Sweet Valley and it appears to be a different summer than any previous summers we’ve had. Time is a nebulous concept in Sweet Valley. Lila’s dad has started dating a woman named Joan, who lives in Los Angeles. Thanks to Joan, Mr. Fowler has been questioning Lila’s spending habits. He brings Joan and her daughter, Jacqueline, home to meet Lila. Lila finds Joan insufferable and Jacqueline pathetic. She thinks that Joan seems like a fortune hunter, except she supposedly has her own money because she likes to talk about how rich they are.

Lila escapes to a Karla Xavier (who?) concert with friends. I’ve never heard of this singer before this book and I’m pretty sure she isn’t mentioned again. The concert is held at the Sweet Valley High stadium, which checks out since it’s clearly the biggest and most important place in the area. Lila vents to Jess about Joan and says she needs to find a way to get rid of her. Jess perks up and says this sounds like the kinda thing she’s good at! I love that she owns this.

Lila runs into some guy and makes him spill his soda. He’s gorgeous, and Lila is instantly in love! Before she can get his name, he disappears. Jess knows who he is: Evan Armstrong. He graduated from Palisades High and is dating Sonia Bentley, a girl at SVH who unsuccessfully tried out for the cheerleading squad. Jess says that a guy having a girlfriend never stopped Lila before and shouldn’t stop her now. She suggests that Lila involve Bruce in her scheme because Sonia used to have a crush on him and if Sonia leaves Evan for Bruce, Lila can snag Evan!

Lila talks to Bruce. Bruce says that Sonia was basically throwing herself at him before so he doesn’t see why it’d be any different now. He agrees to help but tells Lila that she’ll owe him one. Lila doesn’t like this but agrees.

At the Beach Disco, Bruce interrupts Sonia and Evan on the dance floor to ask if she’ll dance with him. When Bruce whisks Sonia away, Evan starts to sulk, and Lila swoops in! Lila says what she needs to say to hold his interest, and Evan invites her to watch him race his car the next day. When she shows up, Evan tells her that Sonia never supported his racing and always wanted him to quit. Lila thinks she is clearly a better match for Evan! She goes out to dinner with Evan after the race and thinks it’s the most romantic night of her life.

When Lila gets home, she’s dismayed to find that Joan and Jacqueline are spending the night in a guest room. Apparently they came over for dinner and Mr. Fowler didn’t want them to drive home so late at night.

Evan calls up Sonia and tells her they’re done, then makes out with Lila at Miller’s Point! Lila is in heaven.

Mr. Fowler insists that Lila take Jacqueline with her to the beach. Lila vents about this to Evan, who isn’t very sympathetic and is mostly upset that Lila won’t be able to see his next race. Jacqueline borrows an expensive bathing suit from Lila and is overly effusive with praise. At the beach, Jacqueline keeps praising how beautiful and perfect everything is. Lila is nauseated by how much of a kiss-up she is, but Lila’s friends all think she’s great.

Lila vents to Evan about all of this at dinner, but he doesn’t understand why she’s annoyed and isn’t very sympathetic. What an awful boyfriend. He tells her about an upcoming race that he wants to enter but doesn’t have the $500 he needs to enter it. Lila insists that he borrow the money from her.

Mr. Fowler offers to throw a big party for Jacqueline’s upcoming 16th birthday. Jacqueline says no one’s ever made such a big deal about her birthday! Lila’s annoyed but focuses on the $500 she needs for Evan. She doesn’t actually have $500 on hand, since her dad’s been watching her spending lately, so she decides to take money from the petty cash drawer. After, she slips the key for the drawer in Jacqueline’s jacket pocket, then puts one of her necklaces under Jacqueline’s pillow so her dad will think Jacqueline’s a thief.

Evan is thrilled about the money and writes Lila an IOU even though she says it’s unnecessary. When he kisses her, she thinks it’s all worth it.

That night, Mr. Fowler finds the key to the petty cash drawer on top of his desk, which is not where he usually leaves it. He says he thinks someone used it because some of the petty cash is missing. Lila is confused about how the key was on his desk but says they must have a thief because her necklace is missing too. She goes into Jacqueline’s room to “find” it… but it’s not there! The group then goes into Lila’s room and she finds the necklace on her own dresser. She can’t believe it! Mr. Fowler is pissed that Lila thought Jacqueline might be a thief and tells Lila she needs to start treating Jacqueline like a sister.

Evan comes over for lunch and tells Lila he actually likes Joan and Jacqueline. READ THE ROOM, EVAN.

Mr. Fowler announces that he’s going to Hawaii for business and bringing Joan with him to mix business with pleasure. Jacqueline is going to stay in Sweet Valley with Lila. As soon as their parents leave, Jacqueline drops the nice act. She tells Lila she’s impressed that Lila saw through her act.

Bruce calls Lila and says he’s calling in his favor. He tells Lila to meet him at the Box Tree Cafe. She heads out to her car… but Jacqueline’s taken it out. So Lila ends up taking the bus. Bruce makes fun of her when she arrives, then gets down to business: Lila to convince Evan to drop out of the race the next Friday. Bruce has a friend racing and has placed a big bet on him, so he needs to ensure that his buddy wins.

Lila’s dad and Joan return and announce they’re engaged! Lila is determined to make sure this wedding does not happen. She suggests that they throw an engagement party in combination with Jacqueline’s birthday party, and surprisingly everyone is excited about this idea. It’s scheduled for the next Friday, which gives Lila an excuse to call Evan and ask him to attend. She pretends not to know why he’s so upset until he reminds her that it’s the same day as his race. Lila acts sad, so he feels bad and agrees to skip the race to attend the party.

At Fowler Crest, Lila overhears a conversation between Joan and Jacqueline confirming that they’re fortune hunters. Joan plans to wait until she can file for divorce and then they’ll be millionaires. Lila can’t believe her ears! She tells her dad what she heard, but he doesn’t believe her. He says he knows Lila disapproves of Joan and Jacqueline and he’s disappointed in Lila for making up this story. Parent of the year.

At the engagement party, Lila sees Evan being a little too friendly with Jacqueline. Evan tells Lila that Jacqueline says she’s been like a sister, which just further infuriates Lila. She tells Evan to spend the rest of the party with her instead of Jacqueline.

Mr. Fowler and Joan decide to get married in three weeks. Lila is not happy about the quick timeline. She bides her time by acting overly helpful and pretending to be excited. Evan keeps coming by Fowler Crest and tells Lila she’s too hard on Jacqueline. Lila tells Evan she doesn’t want his opinion on her relationship with Jacqueline and thinks that despite being a good looking dude, he doesn’t look so great to her.

Later that day, Lila spots Evan and Jacqueline with their arms wrapped around each other. She hears Evan tell Jacqueline he’s never felt like this. Jacqueline says they need to keep their relationship secret because Lila already hates her. She also mentions that she wants to see Evan race, and Evan says Lila never supported his racing or anything else that he liked. THE NERVE! Jacqueline tells him she loves him.

The wedding day arrives! Lila comes up with a plan. She sets up a few microphones where she’s supposed to wait with Joan and Jacqueline before walking down the aisle. Lila tells Joan that Jacqueline made it clear to Lila weeks ago what they were really like. Jacqueline tries to claim she didn’t drop her act, but Joan doesn’t believe her and scolds her for not keeping up appearances because they’re so close to millions of dollars! Joan says she can’t wait until this is over and then they begin their walk down the aisle.

Mr. Fowler asks how Joan could deceive him like this! She doesn’t know what he’s talking about until he reveals that their conversation was broadcast to all the guests thanks to Lila hiding microphones. Mr. Fowler says he should have believed her earlier.

Joan and Jacqueline leave. Lila is happy to see that Evan rebuffs Jacqueline on her way out. Mr. Fowler announces that instead of a wedding, the event is now a party in honor of Lila as a way to thank her! Evan comes up and asks to shake Lila’s hand. Lila tells her dad that Jacqueline loaned Evan the $500 from his petty cash and that she has an IOU to prove it. She tells her dad that Evan is eager to pay it back, and all Evan can do is stammer out an agreement.

Lila tells her friends that she got tired of Evan and then dances with Toby Clement, the guy who won the race after Evan dropped out.