SVH Senior Year #25: Straight Up
Thus begins another sojourn into another completely randomly titled Senior Year book. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not finding their obvious attempts to use teenage colloquialisms making these books any cooler. But what do I know? I'm not really their target audience anymore.
The A Plot:
Tia meets with the guidance counselor, apparently par for the course at this point in the year for seniors, and is told she's qualified for a rather prestigious scholarship: The Senate scholarship. Seems some batty old woman who graduated from SVH years ago pays full tuition for all four years for one girl from each graduating class. Only girls? This seems like a suspicious requirement to me, and by suspicious I mean "wouldn't fly at all in the real world." But this is Sweet Valley, not the real world, so I suppose the same rules don't apply. Only five girls can be nominated for this scholarship, and they have to sort of compete to get it. The requirements are really strict; in order to keep the scholarship, the winner has to participate in a minimum of six activities, including a community leadership program, and maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Good thing Ms. Senate isn't putting any undue pressure on these girls or anything. Also, there's a specific list of schools the winner has to attend, all of them on the East Coast.
At her guidance appointment, Elizabeth is expecting to also be in the running for the Senate scholarship, but discovers she's only on the panel of student judges (there are five of these, too). Seems all her angsting about Conner brought her grades down, so she's no longer quite what they're looking for. She is, however, qualified to judge which of the nominees is most deserving of the scholarship. Elizabeth is bitter and depressed. I'm ineffectually trying to convince myself that feeling glee at her shock doesn't make me a terrible person. She runs off and cries, because she's Elizabeth and it's all she really knows how to do.
Maria is doing her best to avoid Melissa in the hallway, especially since Melissa is openly flaunting her new relationship with Ken, who she's now dating. Once he got over poor temporarily dead Olivia, that boy started moving fast, it seems. The guidance counselor sees Maria in the hallway and calls her over... oh, and Melissa too. The two of them are both in the running for the Senate scholarship. Melissa tries to psych Maria out about the competition, but Maria refuses to let it bother her; she knows she deserves that scholarship.
At lunch, Tia announces to her friends that she's been nominated for the Senate scholarship. Maria and Elizabeth are surprised, and Tia's kind of offended. Maria quickly explains she wasn't surprised Tia was nominated, she's just surprised Tia would be interested in competing for a scholarship with such intense restritions, especially since she'd never considered going to school on the East Coast before. Maria admits she's also been nominated, and Liz is angsty and bitter until the other two finally force her to admit she's not in the running. You'd think it'd be easier to just admit she hadn't been nominated from the beginning, but whatever.
The nominees need two teacher recommendations, which confuses me, since to be eligible for the scholarship they had to be recommended by a teacher in the first place. Apparently that's not sufficient, so Maria gets Mr. Collins for her first recommendation, and is about to as Ms. Delaney, the drama teacher, but Tia has beaten her to it. And for whatever reason, Ms. Delaney can't possibly recommend both of them. Oh-kay then. So now Maria is mad; drama is her thing, not Tia's. Her day isn't over until she overhears Elizabeth griping about how she deserved the Senate scholarship as much or more than any of the nominees. Now Maria has something to prove; she'll show everyone, including her so-called friends, that she's earned this.
At home, Tia tells her parents all about the scholarship. Initially they're thrilled, until they hear about all the restrictions and requirements. They ask if she's sure she really wants to go for this scholarship, and Tia is miffed. She can't understand why everyone seems to be second-guessing her about this. After all, just because she's never considered going to school on the other side of the country doesn't mean she shouldn't take a prestigious scholarship she's never intended to work for before, right?
The next day, there's a group interview for the nominees, who are grilled by the student judges. Maria and Tia are surprised to discover Elizabeth is one of the judges, since she didn't bother enlightening them. Now Tia feels that she's not only competing with Maria for the scholarship, but for Elizabeth's friendship as well. Which seems sort of odd... I mean, one would hope the student judges would be able to ignore a personal bias to choose the best candidate. During the group interview, Tia takes things lightly, cracking a few jokes and trying to keep herself loose. Maria, on the other hand, is professional and slightly uptight, calculating her answers for the best effect. Each of them thinks their way is better and more likely to impress the student judges (not to mention Ms. Senate).
Tia and Maria fight all through drama class, where Jessica is forced to play peacekeeper. Then they fight all through French class, until Elizabeth shouts at them both and interrupts the class. As soon as the bell rings, though, Melissa corners Maria in the hallway, making every attempt to push Maria's buttons. Melissa taunts her about Ken having moved on, and finally Tia comes to the rescue, herding Melissa along to cheerleading practice. Maria is amazed; after all the awful things they said to each other, Tia still rose to the occasion to help her out. Perhaps friendship is more important than a scholarship. It's a good things Sweet Valley ghostwriters are never heavy-handed with the moral of the stories, hey?
Tia's parents are still unsure about the scholarship, which makes her start to think. Maybe she doesn't want to make the huge commitments this scholarship demands. And if it's going to come between her friendships, maybe it's not worthwhile after all. She decides she's going to pull herself out of the competition.
Later that night, Maria calls Elizabeth; she's decided to drop out of the running for the scholarship for the sake of her frienships with Tia and Elizabeth. Liz is touched; she decides she's been a jerk about the whole thing (no, really?). Maybe she should suck it up and do her job in voting for an appropriate candidate. Ya think?
The next day at school, Tia and Maria kiss and make up apologize for their nasty behaviour to each other earlier. They both announce they're dropping out; comedy ensues! But since Tia has already handed her letter in to the guidance counselor and has decided the Senate scholarship really isn't what she wants after all, she convinces Maria to stay in the running. After all this scholarship is something she's been working towards for years. They're both relieved to be buddies again.
There's a big dinner where the winner is announced; it's Maria! She's won by a landslide! Nobody is shocked, except Melissa, because she's apparently an idiot. Tia and Elizabeth take Maria out for a celebratory dinner.
The B Plot:
Melissa's evil scheme has apparently fallen into place for her; she's dating Ken, the new star quarterback. In case you hadn't guessed from the A plot, she loses no time in rubbing her new status in Maria's face. She's queen of the hallways once more, and that's only reinforced by her nomination for the Senate scholarship. Ken, as the football star, is appointed one of the judges; he tries to refuse, considering it a conflict of interest, but it doesn't work. Now he has to decide between his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend. Oh, and the other three candidates. Melissa starts trash talking Maria, about how she can't believe she's been nominated as well, but Ken sticks up for her, which makes Melissa mad. She gives him the silent treatment through most of the book, trying to convince him he's better off with her than with his ex. Umm, what? I'd think that would serve the opposite purpose, but whatever. Ken spends the entire book trying to figure out what to do, knowing Maria really deserves the scholarship, but Melissa will give him a hard time if he votes for anyone but his girlfriend. Eventually, he goes all sneaky and decides to vote for Maria but tells Melissa she's the one who got his vote. Yeah, clearly a healthy relationship between them.
The C Plot:
Jade's dad, after years of not so much as making a phone call, drops by unannounced. He's clearly trying to show off his wealth and success; he drives by in a Mercedes (a rental; it's of course not as nice as the car he has back at home), he takes Jade out to a fancy restaurant, and starts talking smack about Jade's mom, the only parent she's known since she was a little girl. Umm... wasn't he around to be overbearing in the original SVH series? Like, the year before this? And she was terrified of him, not rebellious toward him. Good continutity there, ghostwriters. Anyway, Jade finally explodes at him and tells him just how hard her mom's been working since he rarely even bothers to send child support, knowing they can't afford to pursue the matter. Her mom works two jobs, and was recently hospitalized (which I don't remember... must have been in one of the books I missed) for exhaustion. Mr. Wu is shocked! Shocked, I say! He then comes to the conclusion that since Jade's mom is never around for her, she obviously can't supply Jade with the things she needs; after all, what properly supervised teenage girl would have a pierced bellyring? She's up to no good, and it's up to him to take her under his paternal wing before it's too late! He's going to sue for custody! Jade is horrified and determined to give him the fight of his life on the issue.
The D Plot:
Not really a plot, but apparently Jade helped Jeremy and Jessica get back together, and now they're deliriously happy. Also, they're making everyone around them nauseous. Including me.
The E Plot:
Also not really a plot. Will has finally decided to return to school after his injury, since he's bored out of his mind just sitting at home all the time. Oh, and he's still horribly horribly bitter at Ken, who took his football position, football scholarship, and girlfriend. Not really fair to blame Ken for the results of an injury, but Will isn't the most reasonable guy on his best day.
The A Plot:
Tia meets with the guidance counselor, apparently par for the course at this point in the year for seniors, and is told she's qualified for a rather prestigious scholarship: The Senate scholarship. Seems some batty old woman who graduated from SVH years ago pays full tuition for all four years for one girl from each graduating class. Only girls? This seems like a suspicious requirement to me, and by suspicious I mean "wouldn't fly at all in the real world." But this is Sweet Valley, not the real world, so I suppose the same rules don't apply. Only five girls can be nominated for this scholarship, and they have to sort of compete to get it. The requirements are really strict; in order to keep the scholarship, the winner has to participate in a minimum of six activities, including a community leadership program, and maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Good thing Ms. Senate isn't putting any undue pressure on these girls or anything. Also, there's a specific list of schools the winner has to attend, all of them on the East Coast.
At her guidance appointment, Elizabeth is expecting to also be in the running for the Senate scholarship, but discovers she's only on the panel of student judges (there are five of these, too). Seems all her angsting about Conner brought her grades down, so she's no longer quite what they're looking for. She is, however, qualified to judge which of the nominees is most deserving of the scholarship. Elizabeth is bitter and depressed. I'm ineffectually trying to convince myself that feeling glee at her shock doesn't make me a terrible person. She runs off and cries, because she's Elizabeth and it's all she really knows how to do.
Maria is doing her best to avoid Melissa in the hallway, especially since Melissa is openly flaunting her new relationship with Ken, who she's now dating. Once he got over poor temporarily dead Olivia, that boy started moving fast, it seems. The guidance counselor sees Maria in the hallway and calls her over... oh, and Melissa too. The two of them are both in the running for the Senate scholarship. Melissa tries to psych Maria out about the competition, but Maria refuses to let it bother her; she knows she deserves that scholarship.
At lunch, Tia announces to her friends that she's been nominated for the Senate scholarship. Maria and Elizabeth are surprised, and Tia's kind of offended. Maria quickly explains she wasn't surprised Tia was nominated, she's just surprised Tia would be interested in competing for a scholarship with such intense restritions, especially since she'd never considered going to school on the East Coast before. Maria admits she's also been nominated, and Liz is angsty and bitter until the other two finally force her to admit she's not in the running. You'd think it'd be easier to just admit she hadn't been nominated from the beginning, but whatever.
The nominees need two teacher recommendations, which confuses me, since to be eligible for the scholarship they had to be recommended by a teacher in the first place. Apparently that's not sufficient, so Maria gets Mr. Collins for her first recommendation, and is about to as Ms. Delaney, the drama teacher, but Tia has beaten her to it. And for whatever reason, Ms. Delaney can't possibly recommend both of them. Oh-kay then. So now Maria is mad; drama is her thing, not Tia's. Her day isn't over until she overhears Elizabeth griping about how she deserved the Senate scholarship as much or more than any of the nominees. Now Maria has something to prove; she'll show everyone, including her so-called friends, that she's earned this.
At home, Tia tells her parents all about the scholarship. Initially they're thrilled, until they hear about all the restrictions and requirements. They ask if she's sure she really wants to go for this scholarship, and Tia is miffed. She can't understand why everyone seems to be second-guessing her about this. After all, just because she's never considered going to school on the other side of the country doesn't mean she shouldn't take a prestigious scholarship she's never intended to work for before, right?
The next day, there's a group interview for the nominees, who are grilled by the student judges. Maria and Tia are surprised to discover Elizabeth is one of the judges, since she didn't bother enlightening them. Now Tia feels that she's not only competing with Maria for the scholarship, but for Elizabeth's friendship as well. Which seems sort of odd... I mean, one would hope the student judges would be able to ignore a personal bias to choose the best candidate. During the group interview, Tia takes things lightly, cracking a few jokes and trying to keep herself loose. Maria, on the other hand, is professional and slightly uptight, calculating her answers for the best effect. Each of them thinks their way is better and more likely to impress the student judges (not to mention Ms. Senate).
Tia and Maria fight all through drama class, where Jessica is forced to play peacekeeper. Then they fight all through French class, until Elizabeth shouts at them both and interrupts the class. As soon as the bell rings, though, Melissa corners Maria in the hallway, making every attempt to push Maria's buttons. Melissa taunts her about Ken having moved on, and finally Tia comes to the rescue, herding Melissa along to cheerleading practice. Maria is amazed; after all the awful things they said to each other, Tia still rose to the occasion to help her out. Perhaps friendship is more important than a scholarship. It's a good things Sweet Valley ghostwriters are never heavy-handed with the moral of the stories, hey?
Tia's parents are still unsure about the scholarship, which makes her start to think. Maybe she doesn't want to make the huge commitments this scholarship demands. And if it's going to come between her friendships, maybe it's not worthwhile after all. She decides she's going to pull herself out of the competition.
Later that night, Maria calls Elizabeth; she's decided to drop out of the running for the scholarship for the sake of her frienships with Tia and Elizabeth. Liz is touched; she decides she's been a jerk about the whole thing (no, really?). Maybe she should suck it up and do her job in voting for an appropriate candidate. Ya think?
The next day at school, Tia and Maria kiss and make up apologize for their nasty behaviour to each other earlier. They both announce they're dropping out; comedy ensues! But since Tia has already handed her letter in to the guidance counselor and has decided the Senate scholarship really isn't what she wants after all, she convinces Maria to stay in the running. After all this scholarship is something she's been working towards for years. They're both relieved to be buddies again.
There's a big dinner where the winner is announced; it's Maria! She's won by a landslide! Nobody is shocked, except Melissa, because she's apparently an idiot. Tia and Elizabeth take Maria out for a celebratory dinner.
The B Plot:
Melissa's evil scheme has apparently fallen into place for her; she's dating Ken, the new star quarterback. In case you hadn't guessed from the A plot, she loses no time in rubbing her new status in Maria's face. She's queen of the hallways once more, and that's only reinforced by her nomination for the Senate scholarship. Ken, as the football star, is appointed one of the judges; he tries to refuse, considering it a conflict of interest, but it doesn't work. Now he has to decide between his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend. Oh, and the other three candidates. Melissa starts trash talking Maria, about how she can't believe she's been nominated as well, but Ken sticks up for her, which makes Melissa mad. She gives him the silent treatment through most of the book, trying to convince him he's better off with her than with his ex. Umm, what? I'd think that would serve the opposite purpose, but whatever. Ken spends the entire book trying to figure out what to do, knowing Maria really deserves the scholarship, but Melissa will give him a hard time if he votes for anyone but his girlfriend. Eventually, he goes all sneaky and decides to vote for Maria but tells Melissa she's the one who got his vote. Yeah, clearly a healthy relationship between them.
The C Plot:
Jade's dad, after years of not so much as making a phone call, drops by unannounced. He's clearly trying to show off his wealth and success; he drives by in a Mercedes (a rental; it's of course not as nice as the car he has back at home), he takes Jade out to a fancy restaurant, and starts talking smack about Jade's mom, the only parent she's known since she was a little girl. Umm... wasn't he around to be overbearing in the original SVH series? Like, the year before this? And she was terrified of him, not rebellious toward him. Good continutity there, ghostwriters. Anyway, Jade finally explodes at him and tells him just how hard her mom's been working since he rarely even bothers to send child support, knowing they can't afford to pursue the matter. Her mom works two jobs, and was recently hospitalized (which I don't remember... must have been in one of the books I missed) for exhaustion. Mr. Wu is shocked! Shocked, I say! He then comes to the conclusion that since Jade's mom is never around for her, she obviously can't supply Jade with the things she needs; after all, what properly supervised teenage girl would have a pierced bellyring? She's up to no good, and it's up to him to take her under his paternal wing before it's too late! He's going to sue for custody! Jade is horrified and determined to give him the fight of his life on the issue.
The D Plot:
Not really a plot, but apparently Jade helped Jeremy and Jessica get back together, and now they're deliriously happy. Also, they're making everyone around them nauseous. Including me.
The E Plot:
Also not really a plot. Will has finally decided to return to school after his injury, since he's bored out of his mind just sitting at home all the time. Oh, and he's still horribly horribly bitter at Ken, who took his football position, football scholarship, and girlfriend. Not really fair to blame Ken for the results of an injury, but Will isn't the most reasonable guy on his best day.