Time elapsed in this book: 2 weeks
Length of their junior year: 1 year, 8 months, 2 weeks
Jessica’s love interest: None
Entertainment rating: 7/10
When I read this book as a kid, it was just another SVH book that featured a non-Wakefield main character, albeit one getting a sympathetic shoulder pat from Liz on the cover. It’s like Liz can’t control herself. If she sees someone who’s not in the immediate friend group of Liz and Jess, she has to get involved in their lives and the cover must feature a shoulder pat. Lynne Henry, the star of this book, is the non-blonde on the cover and she thinks she’s ugly, but I think she actually looks quite stylish even by today’s standards! I always liked the books starring the twins the best, but for a SVH book starring a non-Wakefield, it’s one of the better ones.
Reading this today, it’s still just another SVH book that features a non-Wakefield main character, but it also reminds me of something else: it is impossible to read this and not think about the Double Love Podcast, where Irish hosts Anna and Karyn recap the SVH books one by one. If you haven’t listened to this show yet, you’re in for a treat! I love their takes on each book (and also their occasional confusion about whether something is normal in America or only normal in Sweet Valley). The theme song for their podcast is taken directly from Alone in the Crowd! Reading the song lyrics that Lynne writes in this book, I couldn’t help but immediately sing it in my head the way that I hear it on the podcast. What an ear worm!
We open with the usual gang hanging out in the cafeteria. Jess suggests that the cheer squad hold a rocking chair relay to raise money for new uniforms. They’re going to call it the Rock Around the Clock relay and take turns rocking for monetary pledges while everyone else has fun at a party going on at the same time. Jess heads off to ask permission to use the gym for this and to ask the Droids to play at it. She almost runs into Lynne Henry in her hurry, and the rest of the gang (who see this happen) start commenting about how Lynne doesn’t seem to have any friends and how some of them don’t even know her name; Winston calls her “Sherry.” This is insane, considering that they all have classes together.
We cut to Lynne’s perspective. She feels like a nobody and hurries through her lunch sine she has no friends to sit with. The only bright spot in her life is music, and when she allows herself to daydream, she dreams about becoming a singer-songwriter. After school, she takes the bus (THE BUS!!!) home and runs into Guy Chesney when walking from the bus stop to her house. Lynne is flustered because she saw Guy perform with the Droids a few weeks ago and fell in love with him from afar. He’s friendly and they chat while walking home, mostly about music and their shared love for Linda Ronstadt. Lynne is too nervous to say much, so Guy carries the conversation and then tells her he enjoyed talking to her.
The next morning, Lynne’s mom talks to her about whether she’d like a haircut and Lynne can’t believe her mom would try to change anything about her, even though she hates everything about herself. She doesn’t want others to think she’s trying to fit in. She misses the bus and has to walk to school but it works out well since she runs into Guy again on the walk! Guy tells her he’s never met a girl he could talk to about music like this. I call BS, since there are at least two girls in the Droids (Emily Mayer and Dana Larson) who ostensibly should be just as into music as Guy is, but Lynne is less skeptical than I am of this obvious line. Jess drives by while they’re walking and offers Guy a ride, saying she wants to talk to him about the contest that the Droids will soon be running, searching for a new song for the band. Guy apologizes to Lynne and then ditches her for a ride with Jess, calling Lynne a “real sport.” What a doofus. Lynne walks off, feeling dejected.
The junior class drives out to Secca Lake in the afternoon for their annual softball game, sponsored by Mr. Collins and Mr. Jaworski. Guy asks Lynne if she wants to sit together and watch, and she’s thrilled! They chat for a bit. Liz watches them from afar and thinks: With a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye, Lynne Henry was actually almost pretty! That’s right, almost pretty. She needs a full makeover to be fully pretty, apparently.
Guy tells Lynne he needs to make an announcement with the rest of the Droids. He gets on the microphone at the baseball diamond and tells everyone that the Droids are launching a Star-Search Song Contest. Any SVH student is eligible to enter an original song they wrote by recording it on a cassette tape and dropping it off in the Oracle office. The Droids are looking for a new signature song and apparently aren’t up to writing it themselves, so they’re hoping there’s a songwriting genius out there at SVH who wants to write a song for them. I don’t get the logic but it’s a fun idea. The contest ends in a week, so people need to hurry if they want to participate! Lynne is intrigued but too self-conscious to enter. Then she realizes she can submit it anonymously! She goes home and writes a song she titles On the Outside, Looking In. A sampling of the lyrics:
Day after day, I’m feeling kind of lonely.
Day after day, it’s him and him only.
Something in his eyes
Made my hopes start to rise.
But he’s a part of a world that doesn’t include me.
Nothing he says could ever delude me.
I’ll never win.
This is how it’s always been.
I’m on the outside, looking in.
Lynne submits the cassette and wishes there was a way to let Guy know that she wrote the song for him. I mean, there is a way, but I suppose she’s looking for a way that doesn’t involve actually telling him.
Jess meets with the cheerleaders to discuss the Rock Around the Clock relay and gets terrible news: Helen Bradley is moving to Los Angeles! Everyone is sad, but Jess is mostly stressed about the idea of having to replace her and go through cheer tryouts all over again!
On Friday afternoon, the Droids hold a listening party for the song submissions. I can’t believe this is public! I assumed only the Droids would listen to the entries and would then reveal the new hit song at the dance, but apparently anyone can listen in and judge as they go through the entries. They listen to four songs, which are okay but nothing special. Hopefully whoever wrote those songs wasn’t nearby when this general sentiment was shared. Then Guy opens an envelope with the entry Outside, Looking In (apparently the title of the song is now shorter… who needs continuity?). They listen and it’s perfect! Guy says he didn’t know that anyone around SVH could write a song like this, begging the question of why they held a song search contest if they didn’t think there’d be anything great. Guy gets choked up with emotion and says this is the one.
Meanwhile, Lynne is talking to Mr. Collins. He praises the essay she wrote about Emily Dickinson and says she should try writing poetry sometime and that he’d be happy to read it if she does. Lynne can’t believe she’s getting praised for anything when she’s just OK, and Mr. Collins tells her he hopes she realizes she’s more than OK one of these days. Lynne leaves still feeling like a nobody, but then she starts thinking that maybe she should finally get some kind of makeover. She runs into Guy in the hall and they walk home together. She asks him how the songwriting contest is going, and Guy says they found a winner! Lynne assumes it isn’t her because she doesn’t think he’s listened to her tape yet. Guy raves about the song and then plays it for Lynne, who’s shocked to hear that it is hers! He says he wants to meet the songwriter and that she’s just like Linda Ronstadt. Lynne thinks she can never tell Guy it’s her song because he’d be disappointed that she doesn’t look like Linda Ronstadt.
The usual gang goes out to the Beach Disco for the night, where the Droids are playing. It’s a great time. At some point, Guy finds Liz and tells her he needs to find the anonymous songwriter. It’s like he’s fallen in love with just her voice! Liz wishes she could help.
Lynne is not at the Beach Disco. She’s at home, organizing her clothes and wanting to upgrade them. Her mom shows up and Lynne asks if she could help her with a makeover. Her mom says she’d be happy to help but that Lynne is beautiful as is and that the most important thing is for Lynne to feel good about herself. What a great positive message! I’d gotten so used to seeing bad parenting in these books that it’s almost a surprise to see good parenting!
The next day, Liz goes to the music store to buy a new album. The store sells music recordings but also has a separate area for instruments and music lessons. Liz hears someone playing a guitar in one of the rooms, giving a lesson. The voice sounds familiar but she can’t place it. Then the voice starts to sing and Liz realizes it’s the mystery songwriter! The door opens and Lynne steps out! Liz is astounded! Lynne is mortified and begs Liz not to tell anyone. Liz says she won’t but tells Lynne that everyone feels self-conscious at times. She doesn’t understand why Lynne doesn’t want to be known as the person who wrote such an amazing song. Lynne turns red and asks Liz if she really likes it. Liz says yes.
Saturday night is the Rock Around the Clock relay and dance. It’s a success! The cheerleaders take turns rocking in their rocking chair, and the Droids play great music, including debuting the new song by the anonymous songwriter! Guy dedicates the song to the person who wrote it. Dana croons it out beautifully. Lynne is not at the dance to see or hear any of this. Later, Liz tells Guy the song was great, and Guy says it would have been even better if the songwriter had sang it instead of Dana. Liz says it sounds like Guy is in love with the voice. He realizes that she knows who Anonymous is, and Liz says yes but that she can’t tell Guy because the songwriter doesn’t want the world to know she doesn’t look like Linda Ronstadt. With that, Guy suddenly realizes it has to be Lynne! Who else would reference Linda Ronstadt?!
Monday morning, Guy and Lynne walk to school together. She looks even better than usual, thanks to a makeover day with her mom on Sunday, and she feels almost pretty when they meet up. Guy compliments her and says he never noticed what beautiful eyes she had. They chat about music, and Guy says the mystery songwriter has been identified! He says his dad’s friend is a police sketch artist who’s able to draw what a person looks like after hearing their voice (…what?), so they’ve made flyers with the sketch of the songwriter on it that will be distributed at lunch. Lynne feels weird about this and assumes the picture will look like Linda Ronstadt.
All day long, people compliment Lynne on her new look and she’s happy about that. She’s also kinda regretting not putting her name on the song she wrote, since she thinks Guy is in love with a non-existent beauty. But when she gets to the cafeteria at lunch, she discovers that the flyer has a drawing of her own face on it! Everyone wants to congratulate her, and Lynne is overwhelmed! People ask her to sing, so Lynne takes the microphone in the cafeteria and belts out her song. The crowd goes wild! Guy kisses her at the end, and Lynne thinks that it’s just as magical as she dreamed it would be! Guy tells her he loves her.
Next up: Liz’s childhood best friend moves back to Sweet Valley and chaos ensues!