Time elapsed in this book: 2 weeks
Length of their junior year: 3 years, 7 months
Jessica’s love interest: None
Entertainment rating: 7/10
Another book about a side character, but this is someone we already know: Olivia Davidson.
Mini-courses are coming to Sweet Valley High! All regular classes are being shortened to fit in these two-week workshops. Why not? They barely study in Sweet Valley anyway. Lila signs up for dress design, hoping to make a dress like the one Jess bought recently. Jess says she’ll put electronics down as her third choice, figuring she’ll get one of her top two choices. Naturally, she gets put in electronics.
Olivia is in painting with Liz and Enid and tells them about how much she wishes she had a boyfriend. They’re surprised, since Olivia never seemed like she minded being single. Their teacher, Stuart Bachman, tells the class he goes by Stuart, not Mr. Bachman. He is gorgeous! Olivia puts her whole heart into their first project in class, and Stuart compliments her. After class, she tells Liz and Enid that Stuart is the most amazing man she’s ever met!
Meanwhile, in the electronics workshop, Jess is (predictably) the only girl and the teacher, Mr. Drexel, is a nerd. He tells Jess it’s great to see a female in the class and that too few women enroll in courses like this, which is sweet and definitely ahead of its time. He pairs up people as lab partners, and Jess is paired with Randy Mason. Jess realizes that this might be a good thing, since she clearly needs someone to help her create a project!
It’s clear to everyone that Olivia has a huge crush on Stuart. She looks for him during lunch breaks, she gushes about him to her friends, she volunteers to clean up, and she keeps asking him questions. Olivia cuts Stuart’s photo out of an art magazine and puts it on her mirror at home so he’s the first thing she sees when she wakes up and the last thing she sees before going to bed. So cringey. She finds his address in an alumni magazine; just knowing where he lives makes her happy. She hasn’t told anyone how she feels about Stuart since he’s her instructor and is older, but he recently graduated college so Olivia thinks he can’t be that much older and besides, her birthday (I assume her 17th, since she can already drive) is the following Friday.
After class on Friday, Olivia finds out that Stuart’s giving a talk at the Riverside Art Academy on Monday. He says if she’s interested in art school, it might be a good thing for her to check out. Olivia floats off on cloud nine.
Jess is frustrated because she hasn’t come up with an electronics project. She’s also frustrated that Lila keeps talking about how her dad is dating Hollywood starlet Anika Hunt. Jess doesn’t believe that Mr. Fowler is dating an actress but can’t prove it… and that’s when she realizes she should build a lie detector!
Saturday morning, Olivia’s mom asks what Olivia wants to do for her birthday. Olivia imagines being at a restaurant with Stuart, sipping champagne, but she tells her mom that a family dinner is fine. Olivia leaves and drives down Stuart’s street, wanting to see where he lives. I am cringing so hard right now. Olivia gets out of the car and knocks on his door. MORE CRINGING! He seems confused about her presence but she says she’s there to borrow some art books, so he lets her in. Stuart shows her a sketch of a pair of earrings and says he’s designing them for someone. Olivia assumes he’s designing them as a birthday gift for her! They talk art, and Olivia thinks she’s in love.
On Monday, Jess tells Randy about her idea for the lie detector and he says all you have to do is make a blood pressure detection device and transmit that information. Jess is thrilled and later tells Lila she shouldn’t tell so many people her dad’s dating Anika Hunt if she doesn’t want to be embarrassed. Meanwhile, Lila’s own workshop project isn’t going so well, as she sewed the darts in her dress backward.
At the art academy Monday afternoon, Stuart introduces Olivia to everyone as his prize student, and she beams. Someone asks Stuart where Monica is and he says she’s in Los Angeles. Olivia briefly wonders who Monica is, but then Stuart introduces her to someone else and she forgets all about it. Afterward, Stuart takes her to a store to help him pick out a present for a “special friend,” who she of course assumes is her. Olivia asks what the occasion is and he tells her not to give it a second thought. It’s pretty obvious to me that he’s getting a gift for a girlfriend. I mean, who calls someone a “special friend???”
When Olivia gets home, her mom says someone in her English class named Rod Sullivan called. Olivia barely remembers him. Rod finds her at school the next day and says he wants to talk to her about changing the design of the school paper. He asks if she wants to get together that weekend. Olivia says she can’t, and Rod blushes and says okay. Later, he asks if she wants to go to see a movie on Friday and Olivia says she has plans. I expected this subplot to go somewhere but it doesn’t (at least not in this book; they date in future books).
Olivia’s convinced that Stuart’s going to do something for her birthday. Stuart tells Olivia he has an art exhibit opening that Friday and asks her to come, saying there will be a surprise there for her. Olivia is at first disappointed but then she thinks that his surprise must be some kind of gift and that they’ll soon be able to begin a real relationship!
Jess tests her lie detector (which Randy built for her in like a day) on Liz and Enid, and she correctly pinpoints when they lie. She’s thrilled that it works! Mrs. Davidson calls the Wakefield house and invites them to a surprise birthday party for Olivia on Friday.
After school Wednesday, Lila, Jess, and Amy shop for a birthday gift for Olivia, laughing about her crush on Stuart. Even Jess doesn’t get understand because even though Stuart’s hot, he’s old. Lila stops in a sewing store to get supplies for the dress she’s making and overhears Winston’s mom talking to someone about how the Wilkins are moving back to Sweet Valley! Lila can’t believe her ears and realizes that no one else is aware of this yet.
Thursday, Lila tries on the dress she’s made and it looks horrible. She asks Jess to borrow the dress Jess bought, the one that looks like what Lila was trying to make, and Jess agrees.
Friday, everyone’s projects are on display. It seems to me like no one actually learned anything in these mini-courses and were just told to do a project in the spirit of the theme. Everyone’s amazed by the dress Lila “made.” Jessica’s lie detector is also a hit. People keep trying it out and she calls out their lies, like the fact that Winston hasn’t paid Ken Matthews after losing a bet to him. She gets Lila in the chair and asks if Lila’s dad is actually dating Anika Hunt. Lila says yes, and Jess is shocked when the lie detector says she’s telling the truth. This was the whole point of the project, to call Lila out on this! Lila is thankful that Jess didn’t ask her whether she’d actually made her dress. Olivia gets in the chair and someone suggests they ask if she’s in love with Stuart. Olivia is mortified and runs away.
Olivia calms down and goes to the art exhibit after school, ready for her birthday surprise from Stuart. Stuart’s there with someone named Monica, and it’s clear that they’re dating. It’s also clear that Monica isn’t threatened by Olivia and just thinks of her as Stuart’s star pupil. Monica mentions it’s her birthday and that she’s glad Olivia helped Stuart pick out the perfect gift for her. Olivia is mortified and wants to run away but then she spots her own painting at the exhibit. This is the surprise Stuart was referring to! She realizes she’s lucky she didn’t completely embarrass herself.
At home that evening, Olivia is surprised when all of her friends jump out to wish her happy birthday. The party is a success! Jess brought the lie detector and tries it on herself. Lila asks Jess if she really made the lie detector by herself, and Jess says yes; the machine, of course, says this is a lie. Jess says it clearly doesn’t work all the time. She suggests Liz get in the hot seat. Once Liz is hooked up, Lila tells her that Todd is moving back to town and asks if Liz is worried about her relationship with Jeffrey. Liz extracts herself from the lie detector and says she doesn’t need that thing. She tries to act like she’s not worried, but she clearly is. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!
Next up: Todd returns to Sweet Valley and Liz must choose between him and Jeffrey!!!!!