Time elapsed in this book: 2 weeks
Length of their junior year: 2 years, 7 months, 1 week
Jessica’s love interest: None.
Entertainment rating: 3/10. Mostly for the subplot.
Sandra Bacon is the worst. I hate her as a character and can’t believe that after reading about all her BS trying to keep her best friend out of Pi Beta Alpha, we now have to read about her BS dating a guy who’s clearly way too good for her. Why is she a main character again? Who wanted more stories about her?!? Certainly not me.
Sandra is officially dating Manuel Lopez! She tells her bestie Jean how wonderful he is but makes Jean promise not to tell her parents because they’d tell Sandra’s parents, who are prejudiced against Mexicans. Jean agrees not to say anything but doesn’t know how Sandra can have a relationship with Manuel without her parents finding out.
Hanging out at the Wakefield’s house, Lila tells Jessica that her birthday is the following Saturday and that she’s hosted so many parties, so she really wants someone to host a birthday party for her. Jessica tells Lila that it would indeed be nice if someone did that for her and that Jess hopes someone does. Lila gets mad; obviously she’d hoped Jess would offer. She leaves in a huff. Liz tells Jess she wasn’t being very nice, and Jess says she already has a surprise party for Lila planned for the day after her birthday. Jessica is trying to throw Lila off by acting like no one cares about her birthday so she’ll really be surprised when there actually is a party the next day. Jess enlists all her friends to help act like they also don’t care. I love scheming Jessica!!
As a side note, the ghostwriter for this book is clearly a different ghostwriter than the one who wrote Too Good to be True, since Lila also had a birthday in that book. That birthday happened during a spring break. Who knows what time of year this birthday is supposed to be in. Also who knows how old she’s supposed to be turning. I would say 17, but I thought she was turning 17 the last time she had a birthday. You can go crazy trying to figure out the timeline in these books!
Sandra has a magical date with Manuel in which he speaks to her in a husky voice. If this were Todd, I’d swoon. She goes home and mentions to her parents that there will be a Mexican festival in town in a few weeks. Mrs. Bacon says she wishes they’d cancel the festival because riots could start and that this is an example of how Mexicans want to celebrate being foreigners because they’re not Americans. This book was published in January 1988 but sadly, I can see people today saying the same things. Later that night, Mr. Bacon tells Sandra that his coworker has a son she should go to the upcoming country club dance with. Sandra doesn’t want to meet him.
Manuel is the oldest of six siblings, so when Sandra’s over there, his house feels chaotic but warm. His mom invites her to stay for dinner, saying they’re going to have homemade tortillas. Sandra calls her parents and tells them she’s going to stay at Jean’s for dinner. Manuel overhears this and asks why she lied. Sandra had told him she’d introduce him to her parents soon, but Manuel now knows she was lying since they don’t even know he exists. Sandra tells him that her parents are prejudiced but that she’ll tell them about him soon.
Sandra asks her parents what they’d do if she met someone from a different background–say, a Mexican-American. Her parents are shocked! Her mom says they’re “different than us” and that Sandra would only get hurt in the long run.
Sandra finds out Liz is planning to run an item about Sandra and Manuel in the Eyes and Ears gossip column in The Oracle. She panics and begs Liz to take it out. Liz eventually agrees and asks why Sandra wants to keep it secret. Sandra tells Liz her parents are racist. Liz says maybe her parents would feel differently if they met Manuel. Sandra says no, they might force her to give him up!
At lunch, Lila brings up her birthday again. Jess pooh-poohs it and says no one celebrates birthdays anymore. Amy agrees, saying birthdays are boring and that Lila should pretend she’s not even having one. I feel for Lila, but this is also kinda funny.
Friday night, Sandra walks around the corner from her house so Manuel can pick her up. It’s raining, and she’s soaking wet by the time he arrives. He says he wishes she’d let him pick her up from her house but then remembers that “no Mexicans welcome at the Bacon household.” Sandra tells Manuel she feels worse than he does about the situation. Sure you do, Sandra.
Sandra plans to tell her parents about Manuel during a picnic with Jean’s family, but she chickens out. When Manuel asks how telling them went, she confesses that she didn’t do it. He’s upset, so she promises to tell them ASAP. He believes her for some reason and then they discuss going boating together.
At school, Lila tells her friends that her dad offered to take her out to dinner for her birthday but that she hasn’t agreed since she assumes that they’re throwing a party for her. Jess says they hadn’t planned anything but she supposes they could do something… Lila can’t believe they really don’t have anything planned. On top of that, Cara got tickets for them to go to a concert that night and she didn’t even get a ticket for Lila! Jess says they’ll make it up to Lila by taking her out for ice cream or something the next day.
Jean tells Sandra she needs to stop telling her parents she’s with Jean when she’s actually with Manuel. Sandra invites Jean on the boat with her and Manuel because she figures if Jean’s there, it’s not a lie to say she’s with Jean. Jean can’t go. She also sees through Sandra’s invite and tells her she knows Sandra’s only inviting her so she can tell her parents Jean was there. Sandra can’t believe her obvious plan was called out!
Sandra invites Liz out on the boat instead. Liz asks if they’d rather be alone, and Sandra says no, she wants Liz to come so she can get to know Manuel better. Liz agrees. Sandra’s relieved she can tell her parents she’s with someone other than Manuel. Manuel is disappointed to hear that someone else is joining them. Sandra lies and says Liz desperately wanted to go.
They’re going out on Sandra’s motorboat. Apparently she’s always loved boats, so her parents gifted this to her the year before. What a world these people live in. I don’t even own a motorboat as an adult. They have fun on the boat until Manuel realizes that Sandra (surprise!) lied to him and that she’d invited Liz to cover for being with him.
They cut the engine and float for a while. Eventually, they try to start the motor again but it won’t start. Sandra keeps fiddling with it. Suddenly there’s a huge explosion! They’re thrown from the boat! Liz and Manuel are alert, but Sandra, who isn’t wearing a life vest, is unconscious and in part of the boat that could still explode. Manuel swims over and rescues her. Liz and Manuel swim to shore, with Manuel pulling Sandra.
On the shore, Sandra regains consciousness. Guards from the boathouse come over to help, and an ambulance and police are called. Sandra tells Manuel he needs to leave because her parents don’t know he’s there. She asks Liz to say she’s the one who rescued Sandra. Up to this point, I could kind of sympathize with Sandra because it must be hard having racists for parents. At this point, however, I stopped sympathizing with her.
Sandra tells everyone that Liz rescued her. A journalist says they’re going to run a story about what a hero Liz is. Liz feels uncomfortable but doesn’t deny any of this and says she “guesses” things happened as Sandra says. One of the witnesses contradicts this story and says there was a guy with them, but Sandra denies it. The story runs on the front page of the local paper and everyone congratulates Liz on being a hero.
When Sandra’s released from the hospital, Liz visits and tells Sandra she is uncomfortable with lying. Sandra brushes it off and asks Liz to go to Manuel’s house to tell him she loves him. Liz agrees and relays Sandra’s message. Manuel is miserable but still loves Sandra (why? why?!??). He says all that matters is that she’s okay.
Sandra returns to school. Manuel tells her he’s been doing a lot of thinking and knows she’ll never be willing to tell her parents about him. He doesn’t want to sneak around with someone who’s ashamed of him. Sandra can’t believe he has the nerve to call out her BS like this!
The police track Manuel down. Apparently someone identified him as being with Liz and Sandra on the shore of Secca Lake before the accident. The police suspect him of tampering with the engine, causing the explosion! Manuel says that’s ridiculous and that he’s a friend of theirs from school.
The Bacons are called down to the station. Sandra’s parents say that Sandra would never associate with a Mexican. Sandra agrees and tells the police that Manuel’s lying, that he’s not a friend of hers. WOW. Again, zero sympathy for Sandra at this point. The police open the door to reveal Manuel and tell him that Sandra claims she doesn’t know him. Sandra repeats her lie and says she’s never seen Manuel before in her entire life. This girl is the worst.
The police tell Manuel it doesn’t look very good for him and that Liz Wakefield will soon be at the station to back up Sandra’s claims. Manuel looks at Sandra and asks how could she. I have the same question. Perhaps because of his disapproval, or perhaps because she doesn’t think Liz is going to back up her lie anymore, Sandra bursts into tears and says she actually does know Manuel and that he’s the one who saved her life and that she’s in love with him. Everyone is shocked. Her parents can’t believe Manuel let Liz take credit for saving Sandra (I can’t believe this either). Mr. Bacon says Manuel is now always welcome in their house. Mr. Bacon suggests that Manuel take Sandra to the country club dance. Manuel says he will, but only if they all come to the Mexican festival with his family. The Bacons agree. Zero consequences for Sandra. Ughh.
Sandra and Manuel make up and Sandra tells him she never wants to have another misunderstanding. A misunderstanding?!? Ughhh again. Talk about taking no accountability for her own actions.
Sunday is Lila’s party! The day before, on Lila’s actual birthday, Jess, Cara, and Amy ran into her at the mall and pretended like they’d forgotten it was her birthday. Lila told them she never wants to speak with any of them again. To get her to the party, Cara and Amy go to Lila’s house and say they want to help her plan revenge on Jessica. Then they drag her to Jessica’s house so she can confront Jess. When the door opens, everyone yells “Surprise!” and the party gets underway! Lila is surprised and thrilled. They explain they wanted the party to be a real surprise and it was!
Up next: Enid’s grandma comes to visit.