Time elapsed in this book: 2 weeks
Length of their junior year: 2 years, 3 months, 3 weeks
Jessica’s love interest: Gordon Stoddard. Not because she likes him but because she wants a date to the Bridgewater Ball!
Entertainment rating: 5/10
Hot on the heels of a book with a non-Wakefield main character that was great, we get this dud. The big question in here is, who is Susan Stewart’s mom? A better question is, why do we care? I mean, I barely know who Susan Stewart is. She’s a peripheral character at best, only mentioned in passing before this book, and the plot in here is far from riveting. The B-plot does indeed feature both twins, but it’s not one of the better subplots: in summary, the twins think their mom is pregnant. Strangely, this subplot is reused in both the Sweet Valley Twins series (#18: Center of Attention) and the Sweet Valley Kids series (#14: Jessica the Babysitter), although neither of those books had been written yet when this was published.
We open in the Wakefield house, where Liz is studiously reading the newspaper. Mrs. Wakefield reads off the name of one journalist, muses about what a beautiful name “Andrea” is, and then mentions that she has a doctor’s appointment. Zero subtlety here; the subplot is starting off strong! The twins head to school, and Liz types up her Eyes and Ears gossip column, describing the upcoming Bridgewater Ball (held at the country club in nearby Bridgewater) and who at Sweet Valley High might be going to that. She assumes only a few SVH students will go, mostly rich ones like Bruce and Regina, and then thinks that Roger Barrett Patman will probably also go. She refers to Roger as “Bruce’s half-brother,” which is news to me since I thought they were cousins. Maybe this is true. Maybe Mr. Patman lied about his deceased brother fathering Roger outside of wedlock and he’s the actual father. That would have been a much juicier story!
In health class, Jess asks Lila if she’s going to go to the Bridgewater Ball. Lila blushes and says of course, “the Fowlers always go,” although she doesn’t have a date for it yet. Jess and Lila went out with guys from Bridgewater in the last book, hoping it’d lead to dates to the Bridgewater Ball, but things fizzled out for both of them, so neither has a date lined up. Jess says she bets that Susan Stewart’s going with her boyfriend, Gordon Stoddard. Lila sniffs and says that “nobodies” don’t go to the Bridgewater Ball. They ask Susan, who confirms she’s going with Gordon and his parents.
The health teacher, Ms. Rice, comes into the room and starts talking to the class about human fertility. Lila tells Jess that Mrs. Wakefield isn’t that old and could still have another baby. Jess says there’s no way her mom would have another kid.
Susan goes golfing at the country club with Gordon and his parents, who are named Farley and Binky. Apparently these are normal names when you’re country club members. I have met exactly zero people named Farley or Binky, but I’m also not a member of any country club. Farley and Binky make vaguely racist comments about “unsuitable people” and how they need to be surrounded by the “right” kind of people. Gordon looks uncomfortable, and Susan tells him that even though his parents are snobbish, she knows he’s not.
Susan goes home. She lives with a woman named Helen Reister, who’s taken care of her all her life. Susan calls her “Aunt Helen” even though they’re not related. Aunt Helen has promised to tell Susan who her real mom is on her eighteenth birthday. All Susan knows is that her real mom couldn’t have a child and that she must be wealthy because she sends loads of money to Aunt Helen to make sure Susan is taken care of.
Back at the Wakefield house, Mrs. Wakefield is craving pistachio ice cream for the first time in her life. She decides she needs it ASAP, so she drives to the store to get it herself. Jess starts working on her homework for health class and realizes that food cravings could be a sign of pregnancy. She tells Liz her suspicions, and they agree they need to confirm it.
At school, Liz briefly talks to Allen Waters. He used to date Robin Wilson and had basically disappeared from this series since the two of them broke up. I’d almost forgotten about him. He has a crush on Susan but thinks she wouldn’t be interested.
In the cafeteria, Lila decides she’s had it with Susan acting like she’s someone important when no one even knows who her parents are. She tells Caroline Pearce, the school’s biggest gossip, that she heard a rumor that Susan’s mom is in a hospital for the criminally insane. Lila sits back, confident that the gossip will quickly spread across school.
Jess goes into her mom’s closet and finds a bag of new baby clothes. Proof! She tells Liz, and they agree that they need to hint to their mom that they’d be okay with a new sibling, since she clearly doesn’t want to tell them yet. At dinner, they start talking about how nice it would be to have a baby around the house. Mrs. Wakefield asks which one of them is “in trouble.”
Susan goes to school and realizes that everyone’s looking at her but she doesn’t know why. She finds Gordon, who tells her that his parents don’t want him to take her to the Bridgewater Ball anymore. Susan doesn’t understand what’s going on, and he yells that she can cut out the innocent act because everyone knows her mom killed someone and is now in an insane asylum. How are students at this school so gullible that they believe this kind of story without question?!? Susan runs into Allen, who says he’s heard the rumor but doesn’t believe it. Allen suggests she ask Aunt Helen who her real mom is. Susan asks, but Aunt Helen says she can’t tell her. Susan collapses into tears. I assume this is the scene portrayed on the cover.
It’s announced that movie director Jackson Croft is coming to Sweet Valley to make his next film. Liz gets excited and thinks maybe she can snag an interview with him, and maybe that interview will be so good that the Sweet Valley News will pick it up and launch her journalism career! Yeah, I’m sure the local news won’t have their own journalist interviewing him…
Jess calls Steven to say he needs to come home right away due to a family emergency. When he arrives, the twins inform him that their mom is pregnant. Steven can’t believe it but they present him with their evidence, and he agrees it must be true. Mrs. Wakefield comes home and Steven immediately grabs the bags she’s carrying and says he can handle it for her. Later that night, Steven tells Mr. Wakefield that if needed, Steven’s prepared to drop out of college and get a job to help the family.
Lila calls Jess and relays the news that Gordon broke up with Susan and is no longer taking her to the Bridegwater Ball. Jess asks if Gordon has asked Lila to go with him. Lila says no and that she thinks Gordon’s a jerk (apparently they briefly dated in the past – whaaat?!? I need details about this! We never get enough info on Lila’s dates or relationships!). However, Lila says that if Gordon asks her to go to the ball with him, she’s basically socially obligated to go because their families are friends. Jess hangs up and decides to land a date with Gordon herself.
Liz decides she needs to involve herself in Susan’s life, so she finds Susan at school and says that she’s sure the rumor will blow over and that if she needs a friend, Liz is there for her. As if they’ve ever been friends. Susan then talks to Allen, who’s in good spirits and still likes her for her. Allen invites her out to dinner next Saturday and Susan agrees. He’s thrilled! He has a date!
We cut to Susan’s house. Aunt Helen is home alone and debating what to tell Susan about her parents. Turns out, Aunt Helen is actually Susan’s mom! She was never married to Susan’s dad and he didn’t want a kid because he was at the start of his career, but she loved him and decided to have a baby by herself. She was unmarried and didn’t want Helen to go through life with any kind of stigma, so she worked extra shifts to provide money for Susan and pretended she had a wealthy mom somewhere to make sure Susan was accepted by all the right people.
Jackson Croft rings the doorbell. He’s Susan’s dad! He’d picked Sweet Valley for his new movie because he knew Helen and Susan lived there. He’s never been involved in Susan’s life, but his only child (a 14 year old son) died in a car accident the previous year, so he decided it was time to involve himself in the life of his other kid. Over the years, Helen never reached out to him for any money or support. Somehow all this is presented as a good thing. Helen says she wants to tell Susan about him herself and that he should leave. But then Susan comes home!
Susan asks what’s going on, and Jackson says he’s her dad! Susan is confused. Jackson says that his wife knows about Susan and won’t mind if she comes to live with them. The gall of this deadbeat! Susan asks who her mom is, and Aunt Helen admits that it’s her! Susan can’t believe Aunt Helen lied to her for years! Then Susan realizes that Aunt Helen was trying to give Susan a better life, so Susan forgives her and admits she’s often wished for Aunt Helen to be her mom.
Auditions for the movie happen. Jessica, of course, auditions. Liz asks for an interview, and he’s happy to talk to her. Susan appears, and everyone realizes that Jackson Croft is her dad! Susan admits this to the twins by saying, “He’s my father, you know.” As if anyone knew. Susan only just found out herself!
At the Wakefield house, the twins and Steven decide they need to confront their parents about the baby. Mrs. Wakefield says she’s not pregnant. She had baby clothes in the closet for a baby shower she’s going to.
All the SVH students go to the Beach Disco. Susan dances with Gordon, who tells her that he’d like to take her to the Bridgewater Ball after all. Lila can’t believe what she’s hearing. Liz points out to Susan that she’d made plans with Allen for Saturday night. Susan says she thinks Allen just invited her to be polite. Then she decides to hang out with Allen after all, since he’s one of her real friends. She tells Gordon that she’s busy that night. Gordon tries to invite Lila instead, but Lila is unimpressed at being second best, so she dumps her soda on his head. What a great Lila scene to end on!!
Up next: Liz wants to go to a boarding school in Switzerland!