Sweet Valley High Super Star: Olivia's Story
Well, I’m Canadian, so thanksgiving is already long gone. Onto Christmas! This story doesn’t actually have a Christmas in it, but it is about the weeks leading up to it.
Oh, Olivia. Our resident artist and free-thinking hippie is starting to doubt herself. Should she keep on living the artist’s life, wild and free of concerns, or should she stop painting, settle down, and concentrate on life’s more serious side?
The book starts off with Olivia and Elizabeth in the Oracle office. Olivia is trying to explain abstract expressionism to Liz. I don’t know if there are any art fans in the crowd who can prove this wrong, but even though Olivia says that it’s basically paintings of emotions, apparently it’s something so far-fetched and off-the-wall that only true artists like Olivia can appreciate it. Liz reflects on how Olivia is so wacky and individualistic. Her hair is long and curly! She dresses like a hippie! She doesn’t care what the in-crowd thinks!
Elizabeth and Jessica decide to get jobs at Simpson’s department store over the Christmas season. Although Jess is only in it for the employee discount (Liz even suggests that she should ask to get paid in store credit), she is very happy to hear from Lila that Robert Simpson, the son of the rich owner of the store, is very, very cute.
At art class, Olivia meets a guy named James Yates. She falls instantly in love with him, because he’s artistic, just like her! He wears dirty, paint-stained clothes, and he’s so distracted by his art that he forgets his wallet at home. Olivia thinks this is just great, because it shows how dedicated he is. Yeah, he's great, all right.
The twins go for their job interview. For some reason, they are both interviewed at the same time. The interview lasts two seconds and then they are hired on the spot. Man, I wish it was that easy. Jessica will be working stock in the baby department, and Elizabeth will be gift-wrapping. Jessica gloats that she has the better job, because gift-wrapping during the busy Christmas season will be hectic as hell.
Olivia decides to be like James, and be more confident about herself and her artistic abilities. To demonstrate this, she puts on a hideous outfit: Olivia smiled when she found “Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog” by Elvis Priestly. She twisted her ponytail into a rope and threaded it through the big hole in the record. When she let go, her hair fluffed out, holding the record in place. Who cared if it was a little bizarre to use a record as a ponytail holder? It was her. … Still smiling, she finished dressing. The rest of her outfit consisted of a black leotard and leggings, a swirly pink-and-yellow chiffon skirt, and a blue checked vest. Stepping into a pair of black sandals, she smiled at her reflection. “Perfect.”
Olivia is weird, dude. Weird in ways which I can only demonstrate with my own fabulous artistic skills, courtesy of MS Paint:
See? Not very nice-looking clothes.
We take a moment to find out that although Olivia’s parents love her very much; they are the most conservative, always-wears-lipstick, works-at-a-bank, silk-hankerchief-in-the-breast-pocket-of-the-three-piece-suit-type of people. (Have I mentioned lately that I love hyphens?) Olivia’s mom works at Simpson’s department store, and she wishes that her daughter would buy clothes from there, but Olivia tells her that she wouldn’t even wear their socks. I dunno where she gets socks from then. Maybe her socks can only come from thrift stores! (And eww, used socks.)
It turns out that Jessica hates working in the baby stockroom. It’s incredibly boring. Worst of all, she can’t leave, and so has no chance of running into Robert. Cut to Liz in gift wrap, having a gay old time, chit-chatting with the old ladies, and finding gift ideas for her family by seeing everything that people bring up to get wrapped. She even knows what to get for Trusty Boyfriend Todd. Ski goggles! I don't know why that's perfect for him. Does he ski? Is it 'cause he used to live in Vermont?
Olivia is meeting James for coffee. She loves the diner they’re in, because this was exactly the kind of place where artists hung out. It was authentically dismal and fascinating. ‘Kay, Liv, you’re not supposed to notice that it’s a gross place. That just ruins its supposed authenticity. James wants to show Olivia the painting he’s working on, so he takes her up to his apartment. It’s on top of a TV repair shop, and it’s the ugliest little bachelor suite ever. The hallway up to it apparently smells like onions. He has a table and two mismatched chairs, a bed, and not much else. In his cupboards are two cans of soup, a box of spaghetti, and a bottle of soy sauce. *Whistles.* Classy. Olivia is still totally attracted to him after seeing this, even though James tells her that because he’s so focused on his art, he can’t have a girlfriend.
Olivia is inspired by James’ dedication to art. She spends all of the next day painting her own abstract expressionism work. She loses track of time, and when her mom arrives from the airport with her aunt June and cousin Emily, she is dishevelled and covered in paint. June and Emily are in town because Emily is checking out colleges in the area. Olivia thinks that Emily looks like a junior executive. Emily shows her the system she has set up for looking at colleges. It includes colour-coded files and typed lists of questions that she wants to ask at each interview. Emily’s a keener. She’s everything that Olivia is not, because how can we have a conflict unless they are exact opposites?
Up in Olivia’s room, she shows off her art to Emily. The only piece that Emily likes is one of Olivia’s least favourites, a boring picture of her parents. As Emily unpacks her suitcase, Olivia can’t help but notice how organised and ready for the future her cousin is. She starts to worry that she is too directionless, and that she doesn’t know what she will do after high school. Olivia’s mom suggests that she gets a part-time job at Simpson’s. “You know, Olivia, It wouldn’t hurt you to get some practical work experience. It would give you a chance to see what kind of career you might want.” “Mom, I want to be a painter,” Olivia said. “Oh, I know that, honey,” Mrs. Davidson said warmly. “But what about a job?” Ouch.
Olivia gets ready to go and visit James, and her mom forces her to bring Emily along, in that annoying way that moms do. So the two girls go off to the gross diner and meet up with James. Emily is completely out of place. She attempts small talk.
“I hear you’re really into art,” Emily said in a perky voice when she and Olivia had ordered coffee and donuts. James ordered only coffee.
“Into art?” James said.
“You’re beginning to sound like an echo,” Olivia told him with an uncomfortable laugh.
“Sorry,” James said. “Yeah, I’m very involved in my work.”
Emily nodded. “Oh, you work, too? Olivia said you were a painter. She didn’t say you also had a job.”
“Painting is my work,” James explained.
Okay, have we been hit with enough anvils yet? Nobody thinks you can make a career out of painting. If you attempt to do so, you will live in a tiny, smelly apartment and eat soup from a can. Olivia starts to worry that maybe she’s romanticised the life of an artist too much. Maybe she should start thinking practically, like Emily. Like her mother. So she decides to take her mom up on the offer of a job at Simpson’s.
Olivia goes to work in the menswear department. Mr. Jenner, her boss, acts mean to her because he’s fed up with all the nepotism that is happening around the place. It turns out another employee in menswear is Robert Simpson, the son of the owner. Even though Robert is obviously the private-school-and-tennis-lessons type of guy, Olivia gets along very well with him. They do the flirty- banter thing.
Emily is randomly driving around Sweet Valley, when she sees the diner where she and Olivia had met James the other day. James just happens to be there again. Emily tries to strike up a conversation with him. Of course, they have nothing in common, so it’s awkward and stilted. Emily thinks that maybe James would like her better if she wore different clothes.
Olivia is painting away at home when Robert randomly appears. He wants to see Olivia’s painting. She shows him her abstract expressionist stuff, and of course, he doesn’t get it. He notices a painting of a seascape that Olivia made for a class once, and falls in love with it. Olivia is disappointed that everyone she knows is only interested in her straightforward still lives. (still lifes?) But she figures that that’s what the public likes, and if she wants to start being more practical, that’s the type of paintings that she will have to make to sell. She shoves all of her abstract stuff into a cupboard.
A few days later, and Jessica still hasn’t met Robert. She finds out that he’s working in menswear, so she ditches the baby clothes and goes to pay him a visit. When she sees him, he’s as gorgeous as she hoped. The only problem is that he’s all over Olivia Davidson. Jess tries to flirt with him, but he won’t be moved. However, he’s so cute that Jess feels she’s up to the challenge of making him like her. Oh Jess, even when you’re the B plot, you’re still just as manipulative as always.
Emily steals some crazy clothes from Olivia’s closet. She heads back to the diner and “accidentally” runs into James as he’s crossing the street. He invites her up to his apartment. Even when she sees his dump, he still makes her feel like she’s falling for him. It’s the bad boy thing.
Olivia accepts an invite from Robert to go to a country club party. And then she freaks out, because all of her clothes are weird, and she knows she won’t fit in. So she asks Robert to help her pick something to wear. And he picks a long-sleeved dark green velvet dress with a lace collar and cuffs. Liv, I think you were better off with the blue checked vest. Robert thinks she looks sophisticated and glamorous in the dress. I think she looks like a five-year old, personally.
Jessica is in the Simpson’s employee lounge when Robert comes in. She pounces. She asks him to come to a party at Lila’s house, but he declines, telling her that he is dating Olivia now. Jess can’t believe that Robert would date someone so… coffeehouse. Robert defends Olivia, saying that she’s artistic, but not that kind of artistic. Jessica scoffs at the idea. She knows Olivia can't stay that way for long. And when she changes back, Jessica will be there to snap Robert up. But even though she vows that Robert will be hers one day, we never find out, because this is the last we see of our beloved sociopathic twin in the whole book.
Emily, wearing more of Olivia’s wacky clothes, heads over to James’ place without being invited. Again? Girl’s got issues. He’s absorbed in his painting, so they have like two minutes of conversation, and then she leaves.
Olivia gets ready for Robert’s party. Her mom and Robert both compliment her on the velvet dress. Olivia is amazed that after all this time, all she had to do to make her mom happy was to wear conservative clothes. They get to the party, and it’s full of rich snobs. Robert ditches Olivia with the girls, and they’re all talking about the colleges they’ve applied to. They’re appalled to find out that Olivia doesn’t know what to do with her life. Olivia starts to get more and more upset. She compares James’ dingy apartment to the huge mansion she’s in now. Does she want to be like James and live on nothing but processed cheese? No. She decides that a career as an abstract artist is unsustainable. She spends the next day reading the business section of the newspaper and leafing through Emily’s college brochures. She doesn’t understand a thing she reads, but assumes that will come with practice. She decides to ask Robert to help her pick out more clothes to go with her new image. And then she decides that her long curly hair does not fit with the image. So she goes into the bathroom and chops it all off. Oh, Liv. A few days ago, I was really, really bored, so I cut my own bangs. Then I called my sister and whined “you were supposed to never let me cut my own hair again!” It's never, ever a good idea. (I accidentally typed 'it's never even', and that's true, too.) I can’t even imagine cutting it all. I would cry. Olivia’s mom is appalled when she sees her, but Olivia is determined. She will change her life around! She has to go work at Simpson’s, and she’s used up all of her small collection of conservative clothes already. So she gets into one of Emily’s boring suits.
Robert and Olivia go out for supper. Robert is really, really boring, and Olivia can’t pay attention to a word he says. However, she trucks on, as she is determined that business and finance are things that she should be interested in now.
Elizabeth is riding her bike around the neighbourhood, looking at all the Christmas decorations on the houses and thinking about how even though there’s no snow, she loves Christmas in California. She manages to act very superior while thinking this. She bikes over to Olivia’s house to say hello. She finds Olivia painting. Except that she isn’t painting the abstract stuff that she loves! She’s doing a still life of a bowl of fruit, the most boring picture that you could ever paint. Olivia tells Liz that Robert thinks he can sell her boring paintings in the Simpson’s decorating department.
After Liz leaves, Olivia puts away the boring painting. She heads over to James’ place to give him his Christmas present. She picks her most boring outfit to wear: a pleated wool skirt, a turtleneck and a cardigan sweater. The ghostwriter doesn’t even mention what colours they are, so as to emphasise the miserableness of it all. She gets to James’ place and he says “When you walked in here, I thought at first you were the lady who tried to sell me life insurance last week.” They fight about how Olivia has changed. She says that she can’t grow up to live in a slum, like him. This is a sensible opinion. James counters that she shouldn’t care where she lives, as long as she can create art. He can’t believe that she would throw away her passion for a little material comfort.
Olivia doesn’t want to fight. She gives James his present. He opens it, and… it’s a paperweight. A silver paperweight shaped like the letter J. I have to agree with James when he says it’s the lamest present he’s ever gotten. He tries to give it back to her. Olivia gets upset and runs off.
The next day, she thinks about how she is really falling for James, but he’ll never be interested in her now. She should really focus on Robert, because he’s the type of guy who will keep her financially secure. God, I’m bored of all this finance talk. Olivia’s mom asks her why she’s so upset. Olivia says that she very nearly wasted her life for art. Then her mom gets upset. She can’t believe that Olivia wants to give up painting. Olivia doesn’t understand. She thought her mom wanted her to live a more stable life, to be more like Emily. Olivia’s mom says that no, she didn’t want Olivia to go to that extreme. She brings Olivia up to the attic and shows her some pretty little paintings that are hidden away. Olivia realises that her mom made these, and that she gave them up to become a boring adult who works at a department store. Her mom tells her that although she sometimes wanted Olivia to be more practical, or to plan ahead a little bit, she never wanted her to abandon her art, because she knows what that means.
Now Olivia is really conflicted. She cries. James calls her and asks her to come over so that he can give her his Christmas present. She says that she will come over, but she has to stop over at Robert’s first.
Emily, because she doesn’t know when to stop, dresses up in more of Olivia’s clothes and goes to James’ again. James is less than enthused to see her. He is waiting for Olivia. Finally, Emily realises that even though he doesn’t say it, James is in love with Olivia. He doesn’t even see Emily. So she leaves.
Olivia gets to Robert’s house and gives him his Christmas present - one of her boring still-life paintings. Even Robert can only come up with ‘nice’ to describe it. Olivia is a bit sad to hear that, but she reasons that it was her choice to paint a picture that was only nice. Robert gives her a present from him. It’s a filofax. Olivia realises that that’s how Robert sees her: as someone who would like to receive a pocket organiser. Robert leans over to kiss her, but before he can, Olivia quickly makes her escape. She doesn’t want to be part of this boring lifestyle! Finally. She goes home, and finds Emily, dressed in her clothes. The two girls look at each other, and laugh. They’ve both been trying to be someone they’re not. They switch outfits.
Olivia heads to James’ house. He’s happy to see her back in some wacky clothes. She gives him another present, saying that this one is the real one. He opens it, and sees the abstract painting that she was working on, way back at the beginning of the book. He smiles. Now this is a real present.
He tells her to follow him to see her present. They go into the alley behind the gross diner. On the wall are painted two huge portraits of Olivia. One has crazy long hair and wacky clothes. It’s full of colour. The other one shows a boring Olivia, staring straight ahead, not smiling, and wearing boring clothes. James asks her, which one is the real Olivia?
(Note: since it's only ever mentioned in the book that James does abstract painting, I'd like to assume that he sucks at doing faces, and that my picture is an accurate portrayal of his mad skills.)
Olivia is conflicted. Does she choose freedom or safety? Creativity or stability? She thinks of the choice her mother made, and cries. So she points at the wild and crazy Olivia. “This is me,” she said. She turned to look at James. “I knew it,” he said joyfully. “That’s the Olivia I love.” Olivia shook her head with disbelief. “Wh-what?” Yup. James can think about something besides painting after all. He’s fallen in love with Olivia. And then they lived happily ever after.
Well, until Olivia DIES, anyway.