Sweet Valley High #69: Friend Against Friend

Time elapsed in this book: 3 weeks

Length of their junior year: 4 years, 9 months

Jessica’s love interest: None

Entertainment rating: Impossible to say

This book covers racism in Sweet Valley and is meant to be serious, so I can’t give it an entertainment rating. I probably only read this book once as a kid because it wasn’t filled with the usual fun SVH antics. As an adult, I appreciate what this book is trying to do, but it still isn’t a fun read.

Andy Jenkins is a science whiz and one of the few Black students at SVH. He’s best friends with Neil Freemount despite only first appearing in the last book. How long have they been best friends? According to the back of this book, “for years.” According to the text in this book, since they were assigned as lab partners this year. So, who knows. Time is, as always, fluid in Sweet Valley. After class one day, Andy finds garbage in his locker and the message “Go back to Africa where you belong.” Neil is horrified and wants to tell someone, but Andy says it’s best to not respond.

Neil’s family gets together with Charlie Cashman’s family. Neil and Charlie aren’t friends but their dads work together and spend the dinner trash talking a supervisor, Willis, who they think only got the job because he’s Black. Neil can’t believe his dad is talking like this and tries to call him out. Mr. Freemount basically says he’s not racist because he likes Andy (“My son has a Black friend”). Neil wonders if his dad thinks Andy is the exception to the rule. He doesn’t know if his dad’s saying racist stuff for Mr. Cashman’s benefit or if he really believes it. Either way, he is uncomfortable. This scene is actually pretty well done, showing how sad it is to realize that your parent isn’t as perfect as you thought.

On Monday, Andy wins a marine biology scholarship to study in Monterey over the summer! I have no idea which summer this might take place in (after all, we’ve already had like 4 summers in Sweet Valley…), but yay for him! Andy and Neil celebrate at the Dairi Burger with their girlfriends, Tracy and Penny. On their way out, Charlie and his goons (Jerry McAllister, Jim Sturbridge, Ron Reese) taunt Andy about only getting the scholarship because he’s Black. It’s worth noting that Ron Reese is one of the jerks who previously conspired to write fake love letters to Penny alongside Neil so at some point, Neil hung out with this racist. When they leave, Neil tells Andy that Charlie’s dad is a jerk and to not let it get to him. Quite reasonably, Andy says he shouldn’t get picked on because Charlie’s unhappy with his dad. They walk to Tracy’s car. Her tires have been slashed!

Andy blames the slashed tires on Charlie, but Neil says they can’t prove it and that he should think about how Martin Luther King, Jr., would respond. This is such a perfect depiction of a well-meaning white person putting their foot in their mouth. Andy can’t believe Neil is talking to him about MLK.

Over dinner, Neil’s dad says Willis is picking on Mr. Cashman because he’s white. Neil continues to be embarrassed by him.

Charlie drops by and asks if Neil wants to go for a drive. They drive around Sweet Valley, honking the horn in front of various houses before zooming away. Neil feels bad for Charlie because of his dad but is ashamed that he’s hanging out with the person tormenting his best friend.

The next day, Andy sees Neil talking with Charlie and tells Neil he can’t be friends with both him and Charlie. I don’t usually support friendship ultimatums, but I think Andy is in the right here! Neil says he’ll be friends with whoever he wants. Andy walks off.

The Oracle asks what people would change about the school. Liz expects lighthearted answers, but serious comments come in. One person says it’s not fair that Pi Beta Alpha members plan all the dances, another person says girls should be allowed to try out for the football team, and someone else says the school should kick out all minorities because they’re not “real” Americans.

Charlie’s dad gets fired. Neil worries that Charlie will take his anger out on Andy. Sure enough, Charlie trips Andy in the hall. Andy tackles Charlie! Mr. Collins breaks up the fight and sends Charlie to the principal’s office.

Neil invites Andy out for a double date but Andy says he doesn’t have to be nice to him out of guilt. Neil is hurt and goes to the movies with Penny. When they leave, they see a fight in the parking lot. Penny goes inside to call the police. Neil realizes that it’s Charlie and his friends, picking on Andy. He rushes over!

Andy’s unconscious. Charlie encourages Neil to hit Andy. Neil thinks about how Andy hasn’t wanted his help lately and gets angry. Neil goes to hit him, then realizes what he’s about to do and tries to stop himself. It’s too late! He hits Andy! Neil can’t believe what he’s done and stumbles away.

The attackers run off when the police arrive. Andy won’t talk to the police so they don’t know who did it, but everyone at school assumes it was Charlie. Neil is ashamed of himself.

In sociology class, Ms. Jacobi does an exercise about prejudice. Students with dark eyes are told they can treat students with light eyes however they want because Light Eyes are inferior. At the end of the class, the Light Eyes are unhappy about how they were treated. The Dark Eyes are surprised how easy it was to be mean. It’s far from an exact parallel to racism, but I guess it’s trying to give young readers of this book a simplified way to think about things.

Neil’s dad takes him to a USC football game (so I guess this book takes place sometime between August and January…). Neil is happy for the escape. At the game, however, Mr. Freemount says that Mr. Cashman told him what Neil did to Andy. Mr. Freemount says it’s not right to hit someone when they’re down but that Neil’s heart was in the right place because Andy probably had it coming. WHOA. Neil can’t believe what he’s hearing and feels like he’ll never respect his dad again.

At school, Charlie and his goons want to teach Andy another lesson. Neil refuses to join them, so Charlie threatens to tell the police that Neil’s the one who hit Andy. Neil knows he needs to come clean.

Neil finally tells Andy what he did. Andy is stunned and walks away. Penny asks Neil how he could do this and says he’s not the person she thought he was.

Later, Charlie and the goons approach Andy. Neil runs over and says that if they want to hurt Andy, they have to go through him. Andy tells Charlie that if he ever touches him again, Andy will make sure he goes to jail. Charlie sneers but walks off. Neil tells Andy that he knows this doesn’t make up for what he did and that he doesn’t expect Andy to ever forgive him but that he’ll never stop being sorry. Andy says he guesses he’ll see Neil around and walks off.

I’m kind of impressed this book didn’t try to wrap up everything perfectly. I’m less impressed that the entire book about racism was from Neil’s perspective and not from Andy’s. I think that could have made for a more insightful read, seeing it through the eyes of the person being bullied instead of from the eyes of his White friend.

Up next: will a girl try out for the SVH football team?