Time elapsed in this book: 3 weeks
Length of their junior year: 2 years, 8 months
Jessica’s love interest: None
Entertainment rating: 2/10
Another dud of a book. Is Enid anyone’s favorite character? I was always bored with her as a kid and I didn’t know why. She bores me as an adult too and I now think I’ve figured out why: she has no personality. Even Liz, her best friend, just talks about how Enid is so kind and loyal and smart, but what does Enid do aside from hang out with Liz? She doesn’t seem to have any interests or personality of her own. She’s just… there.
Enid’s grandmother, Mrs. Langevin, is moving in with Enid and her mom. Enid’s very excited to see her again and has good memories of Mrs. Langevin baking cookies. When her grandma arrives, however, she’s nothing like Enid remembers. Mrs. Langevin keeps making demands, then saying she doesn’t want to be a bother when anyone offers to help her.
There’s an announcement that Jackson Croft, Susan Stewart’s newly revealed father who’s a famous film director, is sponsoring a student documentary showcase. Liz decides to make a documentary about Sweet Valley (her go-to subject), with Jeffrey as cameraman and Jess as the host/star. Liz tells Enid about it and Enid seems excited to help. Apparently she’s been interested in television lately since her mom’s boyfriend works at the local TV station. Enid suggests they call their movie “This Is Sweet Valley.” What a riveting title… However, I used to think Sweet Valley was the most amazingly perfect place, so apparently all this messaging worked on my 12 year old self!
Enid’s mom’s boyfriend, Richard, comes over for dinner and asks Mrs. Langevin how she likes Sweet Valley and if it’s a welcome change from the cold in Chicago. Mrs. Langevin says she never minded the cold. Then she tells him to close the window because she’s cold. He’s surprised and points out that it’s eighty degrees. She tells him that old people feel the cold even if no one else seems to care. He gets flustered. Mrs. Langevin tells Enid’s mom that she doesn’t like Richard and that he doesn’t have good manners.
Everyone involved in the documentary goes to Enid’s house for a meeting. Mrs. Langevin sits there and observes, then demands Enid make her tea. When they try to schedule their next meeting, Enid asks if her grandma will be okay alone that afternoon and Mrs. Langevin agrees she doesn’t mind but sounds faint and weak as she does this. After they leave, Jess says that Mrs. Langevin is a pain. I agree. Later, Mrs. Langevin tells Enid she doesn’t like this movie thing because it’s cutting into Enid’s time at home with her.
Mrs. Langevin also disapproves of Hugh, Enid’s boyfriend. Enid is frustrated but is looking forward to an upcoming group camping trip over the weekend that she and Hugh are both going on. She hopes that it’ll help get their relationship back on track since they’ve both been so busy recently. Enid’s mom originally approved of this but after Mrs. Langevin talks to her, Enid’s mom decides that Enid can’t go after all.
In these pre-cell phone times, Enid can’t reach Hugh to tell him this news, so he shows up to pick her up for the trip and that’s when she has to tell him she can’t go. Enid tries to talk to her mom about it, but Mrs. Rollins says they can’t argue because Mrs. Langevin might hear them and it’d upset her.
The documentary team meets up to film some more scenes. Enid is a no-show. Liz worries that it has something to do with her grandmother and wishes she knew what was going on. Me too, Liz. Me too.
Richard proposes to Mrs. Rollins. She tells him she needs to think about it. A few weeks ago, she’d have accepted without hesitation, but Mrs. Rollins is now confused because her mom keeps making catty comments and actively dislikes him, so she doesn’t know what to do. The obvious answer is to kick Mrs. Langevin out, but I guess she doesn’t want to do this.
The documentary team conducts an interview with Jeremy Frank (I don’t think we’ve seen him since Jess accidentally saw him naked and then thought she might marry him…). They run into Richard at the station. He offers to let them use the station’s video editing tools. He says his only condition is that he wants to see the movie once it’s done! What a nice guy. I can’t imagine any adult actually being excited to see this.
Liz tells Enid how helpful Richard was, and Enid is unimpressed. She says she doesn’t like Richard anymore because his presence is causing problems at home. Liz thinks these problems only started when Mrs. Langevin arrived but doesn’t want to argue.
Mrs. Langevin complains more. Enid takes her shopping after school, hoping to finish in time to make the next documentary meeting, but Mrs. Langevin takes her time picking out everything and complaining about prices and options. Enid makes suggestions of what to buy, but nothing is good enough for her.
Enid manages to go to the Beach Disco with Hugh and the rest of her friends. She hopes things will be back to normal soon. She asks if Hugh will come to the premiere of the documentary and he says yes.
Liz and Jeffrey use the video editing equipment at the station to cut their movie down to an hour. An hour!! Can you imagine sitting through some high schooler’s documentary about how great their town is for a whole hour?!?? Yikes. Anyway, before they leave, they overhear an argument between Mrs. Rollins and Richard; he invited her to a broadcasters’ dinner event but Mrs. Rollins doesn’t think she can go because she needs to stay at home with Mrs. Langevin instead of asking Enid to do so. Liz thinks that it’s not like Mrs. Langevin is an invalid and that she could easily stay home by herself.
Mrs. Langevin wants them to drive her to a movie on Saturday night. Mrs. Rollins says she can’t due to the broadcasters dinner. Enid can’t either because it’s the night of the documentary premiere. Mrs. Langevin gets angry that no one is going to cater to her whims and goes to her room. Mrs. Rollins tells Enid that she’ll get over it and that she’s just upset because she didn’t get her way.
Saturday night, Mrs. Langevin says she’s sick, so Mrs. Rollins arranges for their neighbor to come over and stay with her. Mrs. Langevin says she doesn’t want a stranger there with her, so Mrs. Rollins cancels these arrangements. Mrs. Langevin is happy and tells her that now Mrs. Rollins will have to stay home. Mrs. Rollins says no, she’s going out because this dinner is too important. She looks at Enid and leaves. Enid can’t believe she has to stay home again. Hugh shows up at the door, and Enid tells him she can’t go after all. He is incredulous and they fight. After Hugh leaves, Mrs. Langevin tells Enid that breaking up with Hugh was for the best because he wasn’t worth it. Enid’s hit her breaking point and tells Mrs. Langevin that she’s been incredibly selfish since she arrived and that she’s not the poor old woman she wants to pretend she is. Enid takes off! She’s going to the premiere!
The premiere is at the Wakefield’s house. Obviously, everyone loves the movie. We don’t find out the results of the documentary showcase in this book, but I assume Liz wins because she’s a Wakefield.
Enid goes home and finds Mrs. Langevin baking cookies. Apparently Mrs. Langevin was acting helpless because she wanted more attention and she now knows how awful she was being. She tells Enid that she plans to move back to Chicago and her old life. I guess this is supposed to be her redeeming scene? I still hate her.
Hugh shows up and apologizes to Enid for overreacting. He tells her that he admires the way she’s been sticking up for her grandmother. They make up. I don’t care. Talk about a relationship I’m not invested in.
Up next: are Cara and Steven having problems? (I mean, obviously they’re having problems. When don’t they have problems?)