Sweet Valley High #8, Heart Breaker
kiwiria, I hope you don't mind my posting so soon after you!
Sweet Valley High #8: Heart Breaker. This was one of my favorites. When I was eighteen, in a fit of generosity I gave all my SVHs to my sister’s stepdaughter, but years later, I found a copy of this on the 50-cent rack at my local hole-in-the-wall.
I can’t scan the cover, but it’s one of the original “circle” covers, with Bill and Jessica. He’s propping his elbow on...what? Not Jessica’s head or shoulder; perhaps there’s a wall behind him. I hope he’s bathed recently, because although you can’t see it, the position of his arm indicates that his pit is wide open. Jessica doesn’t seem to mind, though, because she’s reaching behind her to snag the gold chain around his neck with her index finger. She’s not looking at him; she’s just pulling on the leash. Nice imagery! And he’s wearing one of those squared-off sleeveless shirts; it says “Sweet Valley Surf Club.” He looks a little bit like Aaron Carter, and Jessica, who is wearing a teal-and-cream bikini top, looks like Lana Turner.
Okay, so the story begins with Jessica and Bill rehearsing their roles as the leads in Splendor in the Grass. [1] Bill is entranced by her looks, and when Jessica teases him, he stammeringly admits, “I-I like kissing you,” and turns beet red. We’re given a retcon of the last page of book 7: Bill took Jessica out, thinking she was Liz, and Jessica charmed him all night before revealing her identity. At that time, we faded out on Bill’s stunned expression, but now we’re told that he’s hooked on Jessica. Instead of saying, “You lying ho.”
Liz delivers her usual lecture, which Jessica laughs off. Liz sighs and chalks it up, because She is Four Minutes Older than Jess, Which Might As Well Be Four Years. What I don’t get is, does that make Jessica twelve, or does it make Liz twenty?
On to the B-plot: Patsy Webber, Todd’s girlfriend from many years ago, has returned to SV from Paris. Liz first sees her when she’s locked in an embrace with Todd. Liz wonders why, if Patsy’s such an old and good friend, that this is the first she’s heard of her. So do I, actually. I mean, Todd can’t be the only person in SV who remembers her, and you’d think there’d have been some advance notice. Especially since Liz is supposed to have her finger on the pulse of SV gossip.
Patsy smiled, revealing gorgeous white teeth and a charming dimple in her heart-shaped chin...Her coppery-red hair was cut short in back, with a tumble of curls that dipped over her forehead. A pair of slanted green eyes regarded Elizabeth with friendly interest.
Patsy’s description sounded the opposite of alluring to me. More like a Picasso, actually, with everything on her head going at a different angle. But Liz feels like a heifer next to her, and starts getting paranoid, but because Todd stuck by her during the aftermath of her head injury, she gives him the benefit of the doubt. For about five seconds.
And we meet DeeDee Gordon, who prophetically plays Angelina in the show, and has “plenty of time [to spend] watching Bill.” It’s sweet to watch them being shyly attracted to each other. Unfortunately, every time they start getting in the groove, Jessica slinks on by, and all the blood leaves Bill’s big head and goes right to the little one. This will happen over and over, so I’m not going to document every instance; just the ones that advance the plot. Suffice to say, Jessica gives Bill just enough attention to keep him on the string, then disses him every time he reciprocates, and always gets between him and DeeDee. Okay, so Bill supposedly deserves this because he turned Jessica down once. But what did DEE ever do to Jessica, for cryin’ out loud?
After Bill has been stood up by Jessica, he goes to the beach and reflects on Julianne, his dead girlfriend, who looked just like the twins. They met as freshmen; they were both surfers and had everything in common. It was an idyllic romance, until one night sophomore year, they were at a party and Bill accused Julianne of “flirting with Eddie Roth.” (Whoever he was; why name him, for heaven’s sake?) Julianne left with another couple, and that car lost control on a rain-slick road and “exploded against an embankment.” I guess that means exploded in flames, not simply flew into bits. But cars very rarely explode into flames, right? That’s one of the biggest movie-logic jokes, if I’m not mistaken.
Anyway, Bill was devastated, and went surfing while the storm was still raging. Fished out by the coast guard, vomiting up seawater and mumbling Julianne’s name over and over. Got pneumonia and hoped to die, but eventually started to heal and move on. Then his family moved to Sweet Valley, and thought he was getting over Julianne, but then he met LizJess, and now he thinks “some people were just doomed as far as love was concerned...” He’s crying during some of this, incidentally. Awww...
Back to the beach during the daytime. Bill is giving DeeDee a surfing lesson, and the rest of the gang is on the beach. Jessica is pissed because Bill is not letting her use him. She’s so aggravated that when Liz asks for the suntan lotion (see notes), Jessica throws it at her. Todd rubs it on Liz’s back and “pause[s] to kiss the nape of her neck as he lifted her hair.” Remember this. Jessica shakes her ass all the way down to the water and swims out to cock-block Dee, who slinks away in tears. Bill is dumbstruck again. (Why does he only fit the “dumb” part of the surfer stereotype, without the “mellow, deep-thinking and resourceful” aspects?) Todd disapproves of Jessica, and Liz gives him bitchface.
The thing is, the way DeeDee is described, she sounds like a real cutie, the kind who would have had no trouble catching a guy’s eye at my high school. Small and athletic-looking, with a roundish face dusted lightly with freckles and merry brown eyes that peered out from a glossy fringe of bangs. Since her looks only suffer in comparison to Jessica de Milo, I’m left thinking that her shyness and insecurity are severe enough to require counseling. Heck, a lot of SVH students could use a few sessions. Not long-term therapy, but Todd could stand to get a handle on his violent jealousy, Liz on her martyr complex, and Bruce on his raging egotism. Just for starters. For that matter, there would have been no shame in Bill seeing a counselor after he took Julianne’s death so hard. Time is not always the best healer.
Meanwhile, Patsy shows up wearing basically two postage stamps and a band-aid. Liz is impressed by Patsy’s ability to NOT look slutty in this; instead, she thinks it and she are the height of sophistication. Well, Liz has already made up her mind that Patsy trumps her in every way, but what’s really disconcerting is that Patsy does not seem the least bit self-conscious. Must be because she’s lived in France, where people don’t have the hangups we do - and if I were Liz, THAT is what would make me nervous. What if she “forgot” she was not in St. Tropez, and started taking her top off?
Also, we find out from Olivia, dear, oblivious Olivia, that Todd and Patsy “never really broke up.” To be fair, though, people go through so many changes between the summer before high school and the middle of junior year, it’s not like the two of them could just pick up where they left off. Really, I wonder why Liz has so little faith in Todd, and for that matter, so little confidence in herself. There are a LOT of hotties at SVH; does Liz see potential infidelity in every single one of them?
Todd offers Bill relationship advice, saying that it’s important to be a friend first. Bill understands this, because that’s how it was with Julianne. And it’s not that way with Jessica, but “did love have to be the same every time?” Which is an interesting question. Sometimes it is a good thing to just have a fling, that you know won’t last but will be exciting while it does. But Bill is too emotionally fragile for that, methinks, and Jessica specifically is undoing every bit of progress he’s made since Julianne’s death. But the world is full of people who ignore every sign.
Pool party at the Wakefield’s. Bill is there; DeeDee is not, having rejected herself before anyone else can. Jessica, who begged Bill to be there, is now ignoring him and flirting outrageously with Tom McKay. But forget that for a second. Liz comes home when everything’s in full swing, and sees Todd leaning over Patsy, who is "stretched out in golden, queenly splendor." Her top is untied, like I predicted, though it’s still technically on, and Todd is rubbing in suntan oil with “slow circular strokes.” Now, this is something that may or may not be a betrayal, depending on the people involved. But in this case, I’d say that since it’s foreplay for Todd when he does it to Liz, I’d be worried too if I were her.
However, I would not storm back into the house and refuse to talk to him when he came up to my room! And he keeps asking, through the door, what’s wrong, and she keeps saying “Nothing,” and then “feels abandoned” when he accepts that and leaves. He should have “tried harder to convince her.” Whatever, man. Liz is pretty high-maintenance, wouldn’t you say?
And we get a foreshadowing of book 9’s plot. Roger Barrett is a custodian, and doesn’t want anyone to know. He also has a worse crush on Lila than DeeDee does on Bill, because Lila can't bear the sight of him. And we get an advancement on this plot: DeeDee’s dad is a Hollywood agent, and is looking to discover someone. Naturally, Jessica thinks she’s five minutes away from co-starring with Harrison Ford. And Liz will be her stunt double. For specifics, Dee’s dad has a “producer friend” who is “the same guy who discovered Matt Dillon!”[2] Jessica turns up her nose at this, preferring Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone[3].
Liz sees Todd and Patsy locked in another embrace. Again, I can understand her consternation, but she just takes it for granted that he’s “dumped [her] for another girl.” And I love how when Jessica is the voice of reason, Liz totally does not listen. Bill asks Jessica to go to the cast party with him (do you really need an official date for such a thing, especially when you’re the two leads?) and she turns him down. So he goes to the beach with DeeDee, who is practicing for a surfing competition, despite the fact that she only started LEARNING to surf at the beginning of this volume.
Bill starts out being just slightly comforted by the idea that “there was at least one girl [Dee] he liked that liked him back,” but once they get to the beach, he stays on the sand brooding about Jessica, while DeeDee is alone in the increasingly choppy surf. She wipes out, and starts floundering; then her board hits her on the head and knocks her out. (I’m Charlie; I don’t surf. Can a surfboard hit you THAT hard?) Bill finally notices, before it’s too late, that DeeDee is not on her board, but face down in the water.
He immediately launches himself to the rescue, and “slip[s] an arm around her ribcage, supporting her against his chest the way he’d been taught...” Yeah, baby! He’s frantic, using every ounce of his strength to get her to shore, and not sure if his eyes are stinging from salt water or tears. It’s never explicitly stated that this is his chance to redeem himself for Julianne, but that’s what I got from it. So he gives her AR, and at the same time wonders why he never noticed how pretty she is, and “suddenly [feels] as if he were the one who was drowning.”
And it continues to be all lovey, with Bill carrying Dee further up the beach, and “help[ing] her strip off her wet suit, then tenderly dry[ing] her,” and they snuggle, with him being all muscley and surfery, and apparently his lifesaving course didn’t tell him that when someone’s inhaled water, an ER trip is recommended. And he apologizes, sort of, for ignoring her in favor of Jessica, and they declare themselves, and his last word is “Jessica who?”
But it’s not over, because the play hasn’t happened, and I guess Bill’s resolve has to be tested one more time. And Liz is still in a funk about Todd. She almost burns Jessica with the curling iron (and why would Jessica not go wig? Or did this adaptation skip the bit about Deanie going from schoolgirl hair to flapper hair?) and Richard Gere is mentioned again.
Backstage gossip: Jessica teases Lila about Roger; I think this is the third time. Lila's responses always boil down to "As if!" Dee came third in the surfing championship (so soon after her mishap? Was she even okay to go in the ocean?), and Jessica is, for the moment, not bugged about that. But after the play goes terrifically well, and Liz is proud of Jessica -- I’m glad of that -- and it turns out BILL was the one who got scouted, she “sail[s] off in Bill and DeeDee’s direction, primed for attack.” Liz tells her straight up, “Don’t do it,” but now it’s Jessica who doesn’t listen.
Dee leaves in tears, as usual, while Jessica vamps Bill. He tells her he can’t go to the party with her, but she says, “Never mind; I’ll meet you there.” That's the same party she wouldn't go to when he asked her, but of course he doesn't remind her of that. Outside, Jessica walks past a weeping DeeDee, and feels a “momentary twinge of pity,” but brushes it off. Because it’s Dee’s fault, somehow, that Jessica was not the one who got scouted. So she deserves whatever she gets. Can you say “sociopath”? But Roger commiserates with her, and Dee gives him a ride to the party.
Jessica encourages Liz to go to the party and give Todd another chance. Liz encourages Jessica not to give up on acting. Oh, and Liz was so overwrought, she got a fever and upset stomach and missed a few days of school. So the first person Liz encounters is Patsy, without Todd. Outside, Todd grabs Liz from behind (!) and asks if SHE’S trying to break up with HIM. Turns out, of course, that he was only hugging Patsy because she got a Dear Jane letter from her guy in France. Doesn’t rule out a rebound, of course, but Liz is satisfied, and all is well and smoochy.
Meanwhile, Jessica is practically blowing Bill on the couch. He’s not interested now, but she won’t give him a chance to say “Back off, skank.” Then Dee comes in with Roger, and Bill leaps to his feet, spilling ginger ale on Jessica. He rushes to Dee’s side and tells Jessica that “I’m going to be pretty tied up from now on.” Jessica turns beet red, and this time SHE leaves crying. Bill and Dee also leave, and declare themselves a second time.
And the last chapter is “Oh, who needs him?...Hey, Lila, Roger’s scoping you out again!” BTW, did anything ever happen with Bill’s screen tests he was supposed to have?
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Clothing (descriptions are word for word): Jessica wears a bronze wet-look bikini, and a white bikini that shows off her golden tan.
Liz wears comfortable old jeans and a tank top.
Patsy wears a straw-slim skirt belted with a wide leather sash around her tiny waist, and delicate high heels; a bikini that looked as if it consisted of nothing more than three scraps of material and a yard or so of string (no word on what color); and a low-cut halter-top jumpsuit made of some shimmery, peach-colored fabric.
DeeDee wears an eye-catching canary-yellow one-piece.
Tom McKay wears white tennis shorts and a polo shirt.
Todd wears a starchy-smelling freshly ironed shirt.
Dated elements: People using suntan oil instead of sunblock. Melanoma, anyone? Alice Wakefield compares the sounds of the pool party to “the Pearl Harbor scene in From Here to Eternity” and Liz does not respond. Nowadays, I think a teenager would be more likely to say, “Pearl Harbor, mom? It’s not THAT loud!” Lila’s mansion has shag carpeting.
And one weird detail: Jessica wears “lipstick that carried a faint perfumey smell.” Zuh? Is there any lipstick like that? How can you smell someone’s lips, anyway?
[1] SITG got William Inge an Oscar for Best ORIGINAL screenplay. If it’s being performed live, it must be an adaptation. I wonder how they pulled this off though? Did Deanie make her suicide attempt offstage, or did Bud stop her from jumping at the last minute? And Liz, the ending is poignant, not sad. Bud is content, and Deanie has her own future. It’s closure; it’s not tragic. Shouldn’t a writer know the difference?
[2] For the record, Matt Dillon was discovered by a casting agent while he was hanging out in a burger-joint parking lot. I don't know every detail, so there may have been a producer involved at some point, but it's kind of a famous story in the industry. Because in his early roles, he played the kind of mook who would cut school to hang out in a parking lot, and it was regarded as a shrewd move on the part of the casting agent to look in the field. (About twenty guys were scouted for the role; one had talent. But all it takes is one.)
[3]Puh-leeze. We were not interested in OLD guys like them. Try Tom Cruise (yes, he used to be smokin’, and we didn’t CARE that he was short) Tommy Howell, as he was known at the time, Rob Lowe, and the guys in Duran Duran. (I used to listen to DD while reading SVH, incidentally, and could never understand why Liz, Jess and the gang did not. Listen to DD, that is.)
Sweet Valley High #8: Heart Breaker. This was one of my favorites. When I was eighteen, in a fit of generosity I gave all my SVHs to my sister’s stepdaughter, but years later, I found a copy of this on the 50-cent rack at my local hole-in-the-wall.
I can’t scan the cover, but it’s one of the original “circle” covers, with Bill and Jessica. He’s propping his elbow on...what? Not Jessica’s head or shoulder; perhaps there’s a wall behind him. I hope he’s bathed recently, because although you can’t see it, the position of his arm indicates that his pit is wide open. Jessica doesn’t seem to mind, though, because she’s reaching behind her to snag the gold chain around his neck with her index finger. She’s not looking at him; she’s just pulling on the leash. Nice imagery! And he’s wearing one of those squared-off sleeveless shirts; it says “Sweet Valley Surf Club.” He looks a little bit like Aaron Carter, and Jessica, who is wearing a teal-and-cream bikini top, looks like Lana Turner.
Okay, so the story begins with Jessica and Bill rehearsing their roles as the leads in Splendor in the Grass. [1] Bill is entranced by her looks, and when Jessica teases him, he stammeringly admits, “I-I like kissing you,” and turns beet red. We’re given a retcon of the last page of book 7: Bill took Jessica out, thinking she was Liz, and Jessica charmed him all night before revealing her identity. At that time, we faded out on Bill’s stunned expression, but now we’re told that he’s hooked on Jessica. Instead of saying, “You lying ho.”
Liz delivers her usual lecture, which Jessica laughs off. Liz sighs and chalks it up, because She is Four Minutes Older than Jess, Which Might As Well Be Four Years. What I don’t get is, does that make Jessica twelve, or does it make Liz twenty?
On to the B-plot: Patsy Webber, Todd’s girlfriend from many years ago, has returned to SV from Paris. Liz first sees her when she’s locked in an embrace with Todd. Liz wonders why, if Patsy’s such an old and good friend, that this is the first she’s heard of her. So do I, actually. I mean, Todd can’t be the only person in SV who remembers her, and you’d think there’d have been some advance notice. Especially since Liz is supposed to have her finger on the pulse of SV gossip.
Patsy smiled, revealing gorgeous white teeth and a charming dimple in her heart-shaped chin...Her coppery-red hair was cut short in back, with a tumble of curls that dipped over her forehead. A pair of slanted green eyes regarded Elizabeth with friendly interest.
Patsy’s description sounded the opposite of alluring to me. More like a Picasso, actually, with everything on her head going at a different angle. But Liz feels like a heifer next to her, and starts getting paranoid, but because Todd stuck by her during the aftermath of her head injury, she gives him the benefit of the doubt. For about five seconds.
And we meet DeeDee Gordon, who prophetically plays Angelina in the show, and has “plenty of time [to spend] watching Bill.” It’s sweet to watch them being shyly attracted to each other. Unfortunately, every time they start getting in the groove, Jessica slinks on by, and all the blood leaves Bill’s big head and goes right to the little one. This will happen over and over, so I’m not going to document every instance; just the ones that advance the plot. Suffice to say, Jessica gives Bill just enough attention to keep him on the string, then disses him every time he reciprocates, and always gets between him and DeeDee. Okay, so Bill supposedly deserves this because he turned Jessica down once. But what did DEE ever do to Jessica, for cryin’ out loud?
After Bill has been stood up by Jessica, he goes to the beach and reflects on Julianne, his dead girlfriend, who looked just like the twins. They met as freshmen; they were both surfers and had everything in common. It was an idyllic romance, until one night sophomore year, they were at a party and Bill accused Julianne of “flirting with Eddie Roth.” (Whoever he was; why name him, for heaven’s sake?) Julianne left with another couple, and that car lost control on a rain-slick road and “exploded against an embankment.” I guess that means exploded in flames, not simply flew into bits. But cars very rarely explode into flames, right? That’s one of the biggest movie-logic jokes, if I’m not mistaken.
Anyway, Bill was devastated, and went surfing while the storm was still raging. Fished out by the coast guard, vomiting up seawater and mumbling Julianne’s name over and over. Got pneumonia and hoped to die, but eventually started to heal and move on. Then his family moved to Sweet Valley, and thought he was getting over Julianne, but then he met LizJess, and now he thinks “some people were just doomed as far as love was concerned...” He’s crying during some of this, incidentally. Awww...
Back to the beach during the daytime. Bill is giving DeeDee a surfing lesson, and the rest of the gang is on the beach. Jessica is pissed because Bill is not letting her use him. She’s so aggravated that when Liz asks for the suntan lotion (see notes), Jessica throws it at her. Todd rubs it on Liz’s back and “pause[s] to kiss the nape of her neck as he lifted her hair.” Remember this. Jessica shakes her ass all the way down to the water and swims out to cock-block Dee, who slinks away in tears. Bill is dumbstruck again. (Why does he only fit the “dumb” part of the surfer stereotype, without the “mellow, deep-thinking and resourceful” aspects?) Todd disapproves of Jessica, and Liz gives him bitchface.
The thing is, the way DeeDee is described, she sounds like a real cutie, the kind who would have had no trouble catching a guy’s eye at my high school. Small and athletic-looking, with a roundish face dusted lightly with freckles and merry brown eyes that peered out from a glossy fringe of bangs. Since her looks only suffer in comparison to Jessica de Milo, I’m left thinking that her shyness and insecurity are severe enough to require counseling. Heck, a lot of SVH students could use a few sessions. Not long-term therapy, but Todd could stand to get a handle on his violent jealousy, Liz on her martyr complex, and Bruce on his raging egotism. Just for starters. For that matter, there would have been no shame in Bill seeing a counselor after he took Julianne’s death so hard. Time is not always the best healer.
Meanwhile, Patsy shows up wearing basically two postage stamps and a band-aid. Liz is impressed by Patsy’s ability to NOT look slutty in this; instead, she thinks it and she are the height of sophistication. Well, Liz has already made up her mind that Patsy trumps her in every way, but what’s really disconcerting is that Patsy does not seem the least bit self-conscious. Must be because she’s lived in France, where people don’t have the hangups we do - and if I were Liz, THAT is what would make me nervous. What if she “forgot” she was not in St. Tropez, and started taking her top off?
Also, we find out from Olivia, dear, oblivious Olivia, that Todd and Patsy “never really broke up.” To be fair, though, people go through so many changes between the summer before high school and the middle of junior year, it’s not like the two of them could just pick up where they left off. Really, I wonder why Liz has so little faith in Todd, and for that matter, so little confidence in herself. There are a LOT of hotties at SVH; does Liz see potential infidelity in every single one of them?
Todd offers Bill relationship advice, saying that it’s important to be a friend first. Bill understands this, because that’s how it was with Julianne. And it’s not that way with Jessica, but “did love have to be the same every time?” Which is an interesting question. Sometimes it is a good thing to just have a fling, that you know won’t last but will be exciting while it does. But Bill is too emotionally fragile for that, methinks, and Jessica specifically is undoing every bit of progress he’s made since Julianne’s death. But the world is full of people who ignore every sign.
Pool party at the Wakefield’s. Bill is there; DeeDee is not, having rejected herself before anyone else can. Jessica, who begged Bill to be there, is now ignoring him and flirting outrageously with Tom McKay. But forget that for a second. Liz comes home when everything’s in full swing, and sees Todd leaning over Patsy, who is "stretched out in golden, queenly splendor." Her top is untied, like I predicted, though it’s still technically on, and Todd is rubbing in suntan oil with “slow circular strokes.” Now, this is something that may or may not be a betrayal, depending on the people involved. But in this case, I’d say that since it’s foreplay for Todd when he does it to Liz, I’d be worried too if I were her.
However, I would not storm back into the house and refuse to talk to him when he came up to my room! And he keeps asking, through the door, what’s wrong, and she keeps saying “Nothing,” and then “feels abandoned” when he accepts that and leaves. He should have “tried harder to convince her.” Whatever, man. Liz is pretty high-maintenance, wouldn’t you say?
And we get a foreshadowing of book 9’s plot. Roger Barrett is a custodian, and doesn’t want anyone to know. He also has a worse crush on Lila than DeeDee does on Bill, because Lila can't bear the sight of him. And we get an advancement on this plot: DeeDee’s dad is a Hollywood agent, and is looking to discover someone. Naturally, Jessica thinks she’s five minutes away from co-starring with Harrison Ford. And Liz will be her stunt double. For specifics, Dee’s dad has a “producer friend” who is “the same guy who discovered Matt Dillon!”[2] Jessica turns up her nose at this, preferring Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone[3].
Liz sees Todd and Patsy locked in another embrace. Again, I can understand her consternation, but she just takes it for granted that he’s “dumped [her] for another girl.” And I love how when Jessica is the voice of reason, Liz totally does not listen. Bill asks Jessica to go to the cast party with him (do you really need an official date for such a thing, especially when you’re the two leads?) and she turns him down. So he goes to the beach with DeeDee, who is practicing for a surfing competition, despite the fact that she only started LEARNING to surf at the beginning of this volume.
Bill starts out being just slightly comforted by the idea that “there was at least one girl [Dee] he liked that liked him back,” but once they get to the beach, he stays on the sand brooding about Jessica, while DeeDee is alone in the increasingly choppy surf. She wipes out, and starts floundering; then her board hits her on the head and knocks her out. (I’m Charlie; I don’t surf. Can a surfboard hit you THAT hard?) Bill finally notices, before it’s too late, that DeeDee is not on her board, but face down in the water.
He immediately launches himself to the rescue, and “slip[s] an arm around her ribcage, supporting her against his chest the way he’d been taught...” Yeah, baby! He’s frantic, using every ounce of his strength to get her to shore, and not sure if his eyes are stinging from salt water or tears. It’s never explicitly stated that this is his chance to redeem himself for Julianne, but that’s what I got from it. So he gives her AR, and at the same time wonders why he never noticed how pretty she is, and “suddenly [feels] as if he were the one who was drowning.”
And it continues to be all lovey, with Bill carrying Dee further up the beach, and “help[ing] her strip off her wet suit, then tenderly dry[ing] her,” and they snuggle, with him being all muscley and surfery, and apparently his lifesaving course didn’t tell him that when someone’s inhaled water, an ER trip is recommended. And he apologizes, sort of, for ignoring her in favor of Jessica, and they declare themselves, and his last word is “Jessica who?”
But it’s not over, because the play hasn’t happened, and I guess Bill’s resolve has to be tested one more time. And Liz is still in a funk about Todd. She almost burns Jessica with the curling iron (and why would Jessica not go wig? Or did this adaptation skip the bit about Deanie going from schoolgirl hair to flapper hair?) and Richard Gere is mentioned again.
Backstage gossip: Jessica teases Lila about Roger; I think this is the third time. Lila's responses always boil down to "As if!" Dee came third in the surfing championship (so soon after her mishap? Was she even okay to go in the ocean?), and Jessica is, for the moment, not bugged about that. But after the play goes terrifically well, and Liz is proud of Jessica -- I’m glad of that -- and it turns out BILL was the one who got scouted, she “sail[s] off in Bill and DeeDee’s direction, primed for attack.” Liz tells her straight up, “Don’t do it,” but now it’s Jessica who doesn’t listen.
Dee leaves in tears, as usual, while Jessica vamps Bill. He tells her he can’t go to the party with her, but she says, “Never mind; I’ll meet you there.” That's the same party she wouldn't go to when he asked her, but of course he doesn't remind her of that. Outside, Jessica walks past a weeping DeeDee, and feels a “momentary twinge of pity,” but brushes it off. Because it’s Dee’s fault, somehow, that Jessica was not the one who got scouted. So she deserves whatever she gets. Can you say “sociopath”? But Roger commiserates with her, and Dee gives him a ride to the party.
Jessica encourages Liz to go to the party and give Todd another chance. Liz encourages Jessica not to give up on acting. Oh, and Liz was so overwrought, she got a fever and upset stomach and missed a few days of school. So the first person Liz encounters is Patsy, without Todd. Outside, Todd grabs Liz from behind (!) and asks if SHE’S trying to break up with HIM. Turns out, of course, that he was only hugging Patsy because she got a Dear Jane letter from her guy in France. Doesn’t rule out a rebound, of course, but Liz is satisfied, and all is well and smoochy.
Meanwhile, Jessica is practically blowing Bill on the couch. He’s not interested now, but she won’t give him a chance to say “Back off, skank.” Then Dee comes in with Roger, and Bill leaps to his feet, spilling ginger ale on Jessica. He rushes to Dee’s side and tells Jessica that “I’m going to be pretty tied up from now on.” Jessica turns beet red, and this time SHE leaves crying. Bill and Dee also leave, and declare themselves a second time.
And the last chapter is “Oh, who needs him?...Hey, Lila, Roger’s scoping you out again!” BTW, did anything ever happen with Bill’s screen tests he was supposed to have?
-------------------
Clothing (descriptions are word for word): Jessica wears a bronze wet-look bikini, and a white bikini that shows off her golden tan.
Liz wears comfortable old jeans and a tank top.
Patsy wears a straw-slim skirt belted with a wide leather sash around her tiny waist, and delicate high heels; a bikini that looked as if it consisted of nothing more than three scraps of material and a yard or so of string (no word on what color); and a low-cut halter-top jumpsuit made of some shimmery, peach-colored fabric.
DeeDee wears an eye-catching canary-yellow one-piece.
Tom McKay wears white tennis shorts and a polo shirt.
Todd wears a starchy-smelling freshly ironed shirt.
Dated elements: People using suntan oil instead of sunblock. Melanoma, anyone? Alice Wakefield compares the sounds of the pool party to “the Pearl Harbor scene in From Here to Eternity” and Liz does not respond. Nowadays, I think a teenager would be more likely to say, “Pearl Harbor, mom? It’s not THAT loud!” Lila’s mansion has shag carpeting.
And one weird detail: Jessica wears “lipstick that carried a faint perfumey smell.” Zuh? Is there any lipstick like that? How can you smell someone’s lips, anyway?
[1] SITG got William Inge an Oscar for Best ORIGINAL screenplay. If it’s being performed live, it must be an adaptation. I wonder how they pulled this off though? Did Deanie make her suicide attempt offstage, or did Bud stop her from jumping at the last minute? And Liz, the ending is poignant, not sad. Bud is content, and Deanie has her own future. It’s closure; it’s not tragic. Shouldn’t a writer know the difference?
[2] For the record, Matt Dillon was discovered by a casting agent while he was hanging out in a burger-joint parking lot. I don't know every detail, so there may have been a producer involved at some point, but it's kind of a famous story in the industry. Because in his early roles, he played the kind of mook who would cut school to hang out in a parking lot, and it was regarded as a shrewd move on the part of the casting agent to look in the field. (About twenty guys were scouted for the role; one had talent. But all it takes is one.)
[3]Puh-leeze. We were not interested in OLD guys like them. Try Tom Cruise (yes, he used to be smokin’, and we didn’t CARE that he was short) Tommy Howell, as he was known at the time, Rob Lowe, and the guys in Duran Duran. (I used to listen to DD while reading SVH, incidentally, and could never understand why Liz, Jess and the gang did not. Listen to DD, that is.)