Time elapsed in this book: 1 week
Length of their junior year: 1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks
Jessica’s love interests: Nicky Shepard
Entertainment rating: 6/10
Growing up, this wasn’t one of my favorites despite the cover being a 10/10. This wasn’t one of my favorites to reread either, but the cover is still a 10/10. The reason I didn’t like the book itself more is probably because it was one of the more “serious” books and I never read Sweet Valley for serious plots. Plus, it featured a new character, Nicky, who was pretty meh. I mean, a love interest who’s not called one of the hottest guys Jess has ever seen? Crazy. But there’s still entertainment for be had, never fear, including Liz being her insufferable holier-than-thou self. Let’s dive in!
The book opens with Liz asking Jess for her blue blouse back. Jess had borrowed it for a date with Neil. It’s interesting that Jess is still dating Neil on and off, as she has for books now, yet the two of them are never considered an official item. Liz tells Jess that Steven’s home and that he’s decided to take the rest of the term off from college as he deals with Tricia’s death. Jess is aghast and says he needs to get over it and join the world of the living again. I want to say this is crass and not very compassionate, but Liz agrees with Jess so okay. Liz says Steven obviously isn’t going to get back to normal on his own so they need to invite him out to social events. She suggests that Jess invite Steven as her date to Cara’s party the next day. Liz says she can’t invite Steven because she already has Todd as a date, whereas Jess doesn’t yet have a date. Jess is against the idea. Not because it’s weird to have her brother as her date but because she doesn’t want Steven to think she’s trying to set him up with Cara again. Liz pleads with Jess until she agrees.
That evening at dinner, Jess mentions they’re going to a party at Cara’s and suggests that Steven go with her. Steven explodes and says she needs to stop trying to set him up with Cara. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield tell Jess that she’s overstepping and that she should be more sensitive. Jess is upset by their responses, but then Liz pipes up to say it was actually her idea. Everyone softens and says it’s okay, they realize Liz was just trying to help. Jess is rightfully pissed and leaves the table, fuming that it’s suddenly fine when it’s Liz’s idea.
Jess picks up Cara and they go to the Dairi Burger. Cara orders a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Tab, then giggles that she’s supposed to be on a diet. I’m not sure how I missed all these references to dieting when I was a kid, but it’s probably for the best. While they’re there, a group of troublemakers from Sweet Valley High come in, including Nicky Shepard. Jess doesn’t know much about him except that he drives a fast car and spends a lot of time with the crowd from the Shady Lady, the sketchy bar that regularly serves minors and never gets in trouble for it. Nicky smiles at her and Jess smiles back, which he takes as an invitation to come over to their booth. He flirts a bit with her, asks which “Wakefield clone” she is, then reveals he knows she’s Jessica before leaving. Jess is very intrigued and decides he’s worth checking out more.
Steven ends up going to Cara’s party the next night as Jessica’s date. But once at the party, he just sits in a chair and frowns. Cara asks him to dance twice and he turns her down both times. Jess is furious that he’s embarrassing her like this. Meanwhile, everyone else is having a good time. There’s a group dancing, a group talking about sports, and a group in a corner playing Trivial Pursuit. How big is Cara’s living room? And since when do SVH students do things like play Trivial Pursuit at a party??
Caroline Pearce is at the party with her boyfriend, Jerry Fisher, so apparently he did make another appearance after she landed him in Love Letters. I was wrong when I said we’d never see Jerry again! This book says she doesn’t gossip anymore after Liz helped her, but that’s a giant lie since she gossips plenty in the books to come. Caroline gushes to Jess about how great Liz is. Jess doesn’t feel like listening to someone praising Liz, so she walks away and runs into Liz and Todd, who are being all smoochy and then Todd gushes about Liz to Jess. Jess feels sick, so she disappears to the bathhouse by the pool. She’s not alone! Nicky Shepard is in there too! He apparently came to the party with some members of the Droids but isn’t a party guy so he’s hiding out. They chat a bit. Nicky lights a cigarette (what?!??) and tells Jess he’s not her type because he doesn’t care what people think. They end up kissing! They go back to the party and dance up a storm before leaving to get something to eat. Liz tries to stop them and says that Jess barely knows Nicky. Jess doesn’t want Liz bossing her around, so she blows her off. Then Steven tries to stop her too, and Jess asks if Liz put him up to that. Steven admits it was Liz’s idea, and Jess is even more annoyed.
On Monday, Liz and Steven go to Casey’s for ice cream and talk about how Jess seems different than usual. Ricky Capaldo is working at Casey’s, which surprises Liz, and he doesn’t seem especially happy. Liz doesn’t know why but she’s determined to get to the bottom of it because it’s none of her business and that’s the gray area where she thrives. While they’re eating their sundaes, DeeDee Gordon and Bill Chase show up. DeeDee mentions that she stopped taking designing classes, and Bill seems surprised and unhappy about this news. Liz wonders what’s going on with them.
That afternoon, Steven finds Jess by the pool in their backyard and asks if everything okay with her. Jess asks if Liz told him to inquire with her, and Steven says yes but so what if she did? Jess is irritated and tired of everyone feeling like Liz is the better twin. She decides she’ll show them all she’s important too by cooking a nice dinner for the entire family so they can appreciate her, especially since her last attempt to cook for them made everyone sick from bad seafood.
Jess makes a beautiful meal and surprises everyone with how good it looks! Liz asks if there’s any seafood in the meal, which makes everyone but Jess laugh. Mr. Wakefield jokes that he should check his will before he eats anything. Jess silently fumes about how they’re treating her. I feel so bad for her. Over dinner, Liz mentions that she saw Ricky working at Casey’s, and Mr. Wakefield says he’s not surprised. Then he proceeds to break all kinds of client confidentiality by telling the entire family about the current court case he’s working on. Apparently he’s now practicing family law because he’s representing Ricky’s paternal grandparents as they fight to see their grandkids. Ricky’s dad took off and stopped paying child support, so Ricky’s mom is not allowing their dad’s parents to see Ricky and his sister until he starts paying up again. Mr. Wakefield says he wouldn’t normally share his cases with them (yeah, right) but he needs suggestions. Liz says the problem is that Ricky’s mom isn’t considering what’s best for the kids, and what’s best for them is seeing their grandparents, especially at a time when they need all the love they can get! Mr. Wakefield is impressed by her insight. Liz then says she thinks this will be a great case for her to write about for the Sweet Valley News, so she’s going to see if they’d be interested in a series of articles on this! Why she thinks anyone’s interested in this case, or why she thinks it’s her business, is anyone’s guess, but Mr. Wakefield thinks it’s a great idea. Of course, he also thought it was a great idea to share this with his family, so his judgment is questionable at best. As is his parenting. Jess leaves the table.
Jess goes out to see a movie but realizes that she’s already seen it so she meanders back to the parking lot, where she sees Nicky hanging out on the hood of his Mustang. He takes her for a drive around town and points out where things used to be. Jess sees something tender in Nicky. He tells her that in a few weeks, he’s moving to San Francisco, where a friend of his lives. Jess is shocked, but Nicky tells her his parents won’t care. They dance in a deserted gazebo under the stars.
The next morning, Liz wakes Jess up and says it’s the preliminary hearing for Ricky’s grandparents! Jess doesn’t care, so Liz goes without her. She’s already talked to someone at the Sweet Valley News who told her covering this case would be great. Again, why? In the courtroom, Mr. Wakefield and Marianna West, the divorcee the twins thought he was having an affair with, are representing Ricky’s grandparents. First Jerry Fisher, now Marianna West… this book is bringing back minor characters! When the hearing ends, Ricky finds Liz in the hall and asks why she’s writing an article and begs her not to because he doesn’t want his family business made public. Liz talks to her dad about this later and her dad says that she’ll have to step on toes when she writes sometimes and just needs to ask herself if it’s worth it! In this case, the answer is obviously no, but Liz doesn’t come to the same conclusion as me.
Jess goes to a party with Nicky out in Tierra Verde, a city about an hour from Sweet Valley that I don’t think is ever mentioned again. Jess doesn’t know most of the people there and she keeps being offered beers, which she turns down. Nicky is drinking beer, but Jess is relieved to see that he says no to the “marijuana joint” being passed around. This book is gritty. I have no memory of any of this from when I read this as a kid! Jess is happy when Nicky says he’s ready to leave. They admire the sky for awhile, and Jess confides in him about how she’s always second fiddle to Liz. Nicky is sympathetic and says he knows how she feels. He says he’s decided to leave on Friday for San Francisco and suggests that she join him! Jess says she can’t, but he says she should think about it. They kiss. Nicky drives her home and Jess is a little worried by his speed and also by the fact that he’d been drinking. They almost crash into another car, but Nicky swerves at the last second and they hit a telephone pole instead. They walk to a gas station to call Nicky’s parents (ahh, the pre-cell phone days), who pick them up and yell about how much it’ll cost to fix the car. Jess is surprised by how little they seem to care about Nicky. She goes home and decides that she’ll talk to her family the next day about how unappreciated she feels.
The next morning, Jess practices a speech about how she feels in front of the mirror until she feels ready to share it with her family. She finds her mom, who says she needs to leave for a meeting and can’t talk, so Jess finds her dad instead. He interrupts Jess as she starts her speech to tell her about the court case and how Liz is right about the whole thing. Jess is disgusted and decides not to bother. She finds Steven, who says he’s going for a jog and will talk to her later. Jess then finds Liz and says they have to talk. Liz looks at her watch and then says okay. The fact that she glanced at her watch annoys Jess, who decides not to bother with Liz either. She calls Nicky, who says he’s leaving that night for San Francisco because he can’t wait any longer. Jess says she will join him on Friday.
On Friday, Jess tells her family that she’s spending the weekend at Lila’s so they won’t figure out she’s gone until Sunday. She decides to write Liz a letter before she leaves, saying that by the time Liz reads it, Jess will be far away. Subconsciously, she’s hoping Liz will find it quickly and stop Jess from leaving. Jess sets it on Liz’s dresser and leaves. When she closes the door, a breeze makes the letter fall behind the dresser.
Liz goes to the next hearing at the courthouse and Ricky tears into her during a break, telling Liz she doesn’t understand what he’s going through and that he wants her to leave him alone. I am 100% pro-Ricky in this moment! None of this is any of Liz’s business! But because Liz doesn’t know how to butt out, she tells Ricky that he’s giving up by not speaking up about what he wants and letting his mom prevent him from seeing his grandparents and then being bitter about it.
The court starts up again, and this time Ricky speaks up. He says what’s going on isn’t fair to him or his sister. The judge asks to see all parties in his chambers, and when they come out, the judge announces that they’ve reached an agreement about letting the grandparents see the kids again so the case is closed! Ricky approaches Liz and thanks her for helping. Don’t encourage this!!!! This is how we get 100+ more books of Liz butting in where she isn’t needed. Liz is proud of herself and says that sometimes people just need a little push. Oh, and she’s still writing the article. Apparently Ricky no longer cares about that, since he doesn’t say another word about it. We don’t get any information about how her articles are received by the newspaper or the public; in the real world, they’d be duds, but in Sweet Valley, because it’s Liz, they’re probably heralded as incredible.
Liz goes home and heads into Jessica’s room to return something. She discovers that Jessica’s room is clean and her closet is empty. Jess is gone!! She calls Lila to see if Jess is really there, since that was her excuse for the weekend, but Lila says she hasn’t seen her. She and the rest of the family go to Nicky’s house, but Nicky’s parents says they haven’t seen him or Jess and don’t know where either is.
At the bus station, Jess has her ticket to San Francisco in hand but is waiting for Liz to show up and stop her. She realizes that Liz isn’t coming. Jess boards the bus.
At the Wakefield’s, Steven calls a friend of his who sometimes is in Nicky’s crowd. He pretends that he owes Nicky money and asks where Nicky is. The guy says he knows Nicky needs money right now so he shares that Nicky’s in San Francisco. Steven hangs up and says the Fiat is still there, so Jess either left by bus or plane. Their parents go to the airport; Steven and Liz go to the bus station.
At the bus station, Steven and Liz discover that Jess is on the bus to San Francisco, but it’s already on the move! Its next stop is Carver City, so they zoom off in the car, hoping to intercept Jess there. And they do!! Jess is surprised to see her siblings, and they all cry and hug at the reunion. Jess takes her bags off the bus, and they return to Sweet Valley. Jess writes a letter to Nicky telling him she can’t join him but that she hopes everything works out for him.
Next up: DeeDee and Bill are having relationship troubles!