SVH Senior Year #9: The One That Got Away
So I went to the library to find some Sweet Valley goodness I could snark for y'all. Sadly, there seemed to be a distinct lacking of any SVH books (either that, or everyone from this community has already filched the ones from my local library; I'm not counting that theory out). They did, however, have plenty of Senior Year books, so I nabbed a couple of those. Since that's what we have to start with, let's dive right in, shall we?
The A Plot:
Will Simmons (remember him? The hunky new football player Jessica was soooo in love with back in book 1?) has broken up with Melissa the psycho. Now he's got his eye on Jessica. Jessica, however, wants nothing to do with him. Seems Will and Melissa did everything they could to spread nasty rumours about Jessica, and now the whole school thinks she's a slut and that she's dated nearly the entire football team. Which... if I remember, isn't that last part true? And people are only now realizing this? Good thing intelligence is not a highly sought after attribute in Sweet Valley.
So Will decides to get in good with Jessica, he'll become her secret admirer, sending her all sorts of gifts and poems. He then sets up a time and place for her to meet her secret admirer, which is actually where the book starts. Yeah, the rest of that crap I just summarized? All backstory. Predictably, Jessica gets mad at Will when she discovers he's the one who's been sending her all these presents. She reminds him she already has a boyfriend, and he asks her why she came to meet her secret admirer, if she's so devoted to the guy she's dating. This sounds like a good question unless you realize Jessica had brought Elizabeth and Tia with her. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't let my sister tag along if I were planning a clandestine rendez-vous. Jessica tells Will she thought her secret admirer deserved a thank you, but she had always planned to turn them down. She leaves him in the rain (subtle touch there), with Elizabeth and Tia in tow. She's so upset she decides she has to go see her boyfriend immediately, despite having promised to spend the evening with Elizabeth.
Jessica's boyfriend is Jeremy Aames, and we know we're supposed to like him, because he takes care of his sisters when they're bummed to be living on peanut butter and mac 'n cheese ever since their dad's been out of work. Good news, though... Dad's got a new job! Jeremy tries to call Jessica with the news, but she isn't home. He's disappointed until she shows up on his doorstep, and they spend the evening with his little sisters. Jessica is impressed: "What was with this guy? If she had asked her brother, Steven, for help when she was little and he had had a girl over? Forget about it. She would have been lucky to escape with her life." Yes, Jessica, that's because Steven is human, and Jeremy is a little wet puppy just waiting to be kicked.
At school, Will tries to apologize, but Jessica refuses to talk to him. She's still getting catcalls in the hallways from all the jocks because of the rumours circulating about her. She keeps trying to remind herself this is all Will's fault, but for some reason, she can't get him out of her mind, and it's starting to irritate her. I can relate. It's annoying me, too.
Todd tells Will all about the annual kidnap at SVH. It seems every year, on a random early morning, everyone on the football team and cheerleading squad get woken up and dragged out of bed, to be taken out for breakfast in their pyjamas, without the chance for a shower or makeup or anything. And every year, the kidnap is planned by the captains of the football team and the cheerleading squad. Currently, the captains are... wait for it... Will and Jessica. Todd, in what might be the only flash of insight he's ever had, thinks it might not be a good idea for the two of them to be in charge of anything together. Will thinks Todd is an idiot. I think they're both right.
The Wakefields have been living with Lila Fowler ever since the earthquake took their house, but Alice announces their new house should be ready in two weeks. Jessica is so excited, she starts packing right away. She calls Jeremy to help her, and Liz is annoyed because it means Jessica has brushed off plans with her for the second time. Jessica apologizes, and offers to call Jeremy back to cancel, but Liz snarks her out and takes off. What the...? Where did this Liz come from? That's not classic doormat behaviour!
Jeremy and Jessica spend awhile cleaning out all of Jessica's stuff, boxing things up and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. When Jessica steps out of the room, Jeremy finds some of the gifts and notes from her secret admirer. He's not sure what to think; they're obviously sent with romantic intent, but they could have been from a past boyfriend or something. He tries not to panic, but he decides not to ask about it, because if he did, there wouldn't be much of a plot.
Melissa confronts Will about the way he's been stalking Jessica. She tries to tell him he's making an idiot of himself, and that he'll never gain the upper hand over someone like Perfect Jeremy, especially after he helped spread all those rumours. Will, in an effort to shut Melissa up, tells her he's got a date with Jessica. Good cover. Glad he's come up with something that can't possibly backfire.
The next day at school, the jocks are giving Jessica a hard time again. This time, however, Will sticks up for her. He tells everyone the rumours were made up, none of it ever happened, and tells the jocks to leave her alone. Despite there being only one of him, the jocks defer. Jessica is relieved, and pretends it means she never has to think about him again, but in reality, she thinks about him more than ever.
Melissa finds Jeremy at work, and advises him Jessica is cheating on him. After all, she has a good source; it's not like Will's ever lied before. Oh, wait... that's what started this whole mess, isn't it? Jeremy tells her he's not interested in her gossip and sends her away, but the damage is done. Melissa's information and the gifts he found is too much to be ignored. He decides it's time to confront Jessica with his suspicions. Jessica tells him the truth, and while he's kind of upset she didn't tell him about her secret admirer earlier, he decides to believe her, especially because she becomes visibly upset when he tells her what Melissa said.
Later that evening, Lila also asks her about her alleged date with Will on Friday. Jessica tells her off and flounces outside, where Will just happens to be pulling in. He tells her they need to plan the kidnap together, and suggests Friday would be a good time for it. Jessica agrees, but insists on bringing Tia, who is apparently also the cheerleading captain. I'm not sure how that works, but whatever. It makes Jessica happy to think she won't be seen out alone with Will. Take that, rumour mill!
Unfortunately for Jessica, Tia has to cancel at the last minute, and so when she shows up for the meeting, it's just her and Will after all. The kidnap has to be planned, though, and so she sits down, orders some food, and gets to business. They actually start having a lot of fun with the planning, and then guess who comes through the door? It's Jeremy, aren't you surprised? Despite all of Jessica's assurances that it's not a date, that Tia was supposed to be there, it's the last straw for Jeremy. He takes off, leaving Jessica to blame everything on Will again. Very uplifting way to end things, don't you think?
The B Plot:
Angel Desmond has been working hard, trying to save up enough money to go to college. If he saves up enough he should even be able to come back often enough to see Tia, his girlfriend. Angel hates working in the bar, but school is important to him, and so he sticks it out. He's also worried about his friend Conner, who has been moody and depressed ever since the nasty breakup with Elizabeth. Trying to cheer him up, Angel suggests the two of them go to the horse tracks for fun. Conner decides to take a raincheck, so Angel winds up at the tracks by himself. He's excited at all the money he wins; at this rate, he'll have enough for school in no time. (You can see where this is going, can't you?) Despite Conner's many warnings, Angel finds himself returning to the track again and again. He's delighted to be able to take Tia out for their anniversary at some ritzy restaurant neither of them have ever been able to afford before. The dinner, however, makes enough of a dent in Angel's funds that he decides it's going to take some major gambling to make it all back. After all, he's lucky. But then Angel starts losing. Obviously he can't quit now, he's got to build up his funds again. But the safe bets aren't the ones that pay off; it's the long shots you have to invest in, he decides. And... yeah, in one night he ends up losing everything he's saved up for school. Conner and Tia find him at the tracks, and he breaks down. He's not sure who's going to throttle him first, Tia or his father.
The C Plot:
Ken Matthews misses football. Also his dead girlfriend Olivia. Because she's dead. Dead, dead, dead. Can't get much deader than Olivia. He's spending a lot of time with Maria, his study partner, though. She's helping him get through school, besides them being total opposites. I mean, she's a geek and he's a jock! How much more different could they be?!? Maria encourages him to talk to the coach about getting back into football, and despite his doubts, Ken ends up taking her advice. The coach tells him it's too late to work another member into the team though, and for some reason Ken decides this means the coach has written him off as an unreliable quitter. I don't know. He and Maria end up having a date-ish experience, which surprised both of them, because have I mentioned they're opposites? But Ken feels guilty for enjoying himself because Olivia is dead! She's dead and he can't have fun! Despite the mixed signals Ken is sending Maria, she decides to help him again and talks him into showing up at the next football practice, fully equipped, to prove to the coach Ken isn't a quitter. Personally, I think it serves more to prove Ken's questionable sanity, but maybe that's just me. Ken showing up at practice divides the team, since some of them are delighted at the idea of having him back, and some are jealous that he'd get back on after all the work they'd put into it. The coach shows up and reams Ken out for dividing the team's loyalties like that. The one thing the coach hates more than a quitter is a guy who puts his own needs before the team's. Ken is devastated. Before, he was counting on a football scholarship. Now... "It looks like my future depends completely on my academics. I might as well start learning to pump gas." And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of positive thinking for you!
And yes, in case you're wondering, the endings really were all that depressing. The last chapter was just painful to get through. It's a wonder there aren't more suicides in Sweet Valley.