SVT #62 Sarah's Dad and Sophia's Mum.
I know I said I would recap the Nightmare Mansion arc and I am....but as you may or may not have seen in the dedicated post, my copy of Too Scared to Sleep died over the weekend so I have offered to split the work with another recapper. I have started on book#3 in the arc but as I'm at work and the book is at home, I'm gonna do this one instead (for some light relief, possibly)!
Sarah's Dad and Sophia's Mum, in which we have Unicorns, Rainbows, Thugs and the most awesome paint fight in the history of SVMS EVER!
Okies, the cover. Because it's Sweet Valley Middle School, and therefore not complete without at least one twin on the cover (although two would be preferable), we have Elizabeth hiding under a table, wearing a bright green t-shirt, possibly to blend with the front cover. We also have a mystery girl, who is actually Sophia, who has black hair and is brandishing a tin of - is that red?- paint. The walls are covered in paint, the table's covered, Sophia's covered - but Liz is spotless (well, obviously, she is a WAKEFIELD TWIN!) Lizzie looks a tad alarmed, as I would too I think. Can I also just point out that as far as I'm aware, the American version of mum is 'mom', so why is this cover British spelled? Hmm!!
OK, we start off in art class. Mr Sweeney, la teacher, has just asked to see everyone's painting. Jessica is all "uh-oh" as she has spent the entire class gossiping to Lila, and therefore hasn't really done much. She splodges some paint on the paper and hopes for the best. Lolz reminds me of me :-)! Mr Sweeney isn't fooled. He holds Jessica's painting up as an example of why great art never happens in a hurry (really, you could have fooled me)! He then holds Elizabeth's painting of a mare and a foal (gag me) up to the class as an example of work well done. Do you think Liz has bribed him? Surely a picture of a horse painted by a 12 year old wouldn't be so, uh, inspiring!! Jessica thinks in annoyance that everything Liz does is perfect, whilst everything she (Jess) does is second best. Ah, some healthy twin rivalry as best seen here and here and pretty much in the entire Sweet Valley series, Kids upwards! Cue the stock description here of the twins. Charlie Cashman (again, WHY is he in their class if he is older than them - arghh, coninuity, someone) remarks exactly what Jess was thinking about Liz, by saying something like, "Little Miss Perfect Elizabeth Wakefield". Jessica turns round and bites his head off - she's allowed to think about Liz that way, but no-one else is. C'mon Jess, everyone thinks it - you're a flake!! Charlie asks if everyone in the Wakefield family is a no-hoper like her, or something (ah, Charlie if only you knew the REAL Wakefield history - I'm sure it would boggle your brain even worse than ours). Jessica gets angry and says that a member of her family is a famous baseball player, QuakeField Wakefield! Well, Charlie is impressed, and of course word soon gets round the class that the twins' cousin is a league famous player. Jessica makes up some story about how he is estranged from the family due to some row that took place three lots of great grandparents ago, and how she hasn't mentioned it before because it upsets her parents to talk about it. Yeah, right!! I should mention here that Honest-Til-I-Die-Elizabeth is sitting across the room, so she can't hear this. ANYWAY at the end of the class, Mr S announces that the class will be divided into groups to make murals. The murals will eventually be used to redecorate the library (was there a flood or something at some point)? The murals have to somehow be involved in a recycling theme to save the planet. Or something!
Lila has an idea to do a theme based around recycling old clothes to be fashionable - it has merits you know. She, Jess and Ellen plan to work together until of course Mr Sweeney announces HE will be doing the group choosing. Oh Noes! Lila and Ellen get chosen to be together with Melissa, and Jessie gets put with Peter DeHaven and some-other-boy-whose-name-I-can't-remember, but who are totally into baseball and of course have heard now about Jessica's famous relative and want to do a mural based around him. Liz gets paired with Sophia Rizzo and Sarah Thomas, something she isn't too considerably thrilled about as Sarah Thomas is 'sensitive', and Sophia's older brother, Tony, has a bad reputation (no doubt he spiked someone's drink with Magical Vodka, stole car, crashed it and forced someone into doing drugs). Of course, if anyone has read earlier SVT books, you will no doubt recall Elizabeth saved Sarah's life when Annie left her to fend for herself and she fell down some stairs, and Elizabeth also threw a birthday party for Sophia once upon a time against her parents' wishes because Sophia had no friends. But I'm sure Liz has slept since then and can't remember, so it's understandable she would feel uncomfortable working with them. Whatever, ghostwriters!
Outside, Charlie asks Jessica more about Quakefield. Lizzie is all like, "what the fuck", and Jessica knows she could be in hot water until she realises that, of course, Lizzie will back her up. This is Saint Elizabeth after all! Jessica brushes them off, and we go to the next chapter.
Liz, Sarah and Sophia have all arranged to meet up after school at the Wakefield house (where else) to discuss their mural because they are sad with no lives they care about the environment so much. Sarah and Sophia don't know each other, and are complete opposites. Sarah is shy and soft spoken, with delicate features and a gentle disposition, and fashion sense, and Sophia is loud and outspoken, and doesn't really care what she looks like. They meet at the house, and when Liz answers the door they are together on the doorstop.Meh, Sarah says her 'daddy' dropped her off, and Sophia quickly chimes in that she walked, as her mom doesn't have time to go dropping her off places due to her working so hard to provide for the family. Sarah of course flushes and says some retort back, but Lizzie breaks things up just as they are getting interesting and they go into the den to plan. Jess is at some Unicorn meeting, otherwise she could join in the fun. Shame!
In the den, the girls are planning. Eventually, they come up with an idea to draw a planet, sagging under the weight of loads of tin cans and crisp packets etc. They come up with the idea to draw caricatures into the mural. For those of you who might not know what that is, it's a drawing where all the features are grossly exaggerated for comic effect. Sophia is apparently really good at art and can draw them. They plan to add Mr Bowman (why, I don't know) and then think they could add some boys from the class, exaggerated of course. Sophia does some preliminary sketches and then Sarah suggests Patrick Morris, and takes the piss out of him. Sophia of course has a crush on Patrick, and angrily suggests some boy Sarah has a crush on. Sarah gets angry and makes some sneering remark about Sophia's clothes. Sophia is annoyed and draws a caricature of Sarah as a big baby doll with tears running down it's face. Sarah then draws a picture of Sophia as a thug with knuckledusters and buckles. Just as it's gearing up to an actual catfight (yay, my odds are on Sophia as I really don't like Sarah), Liz puts a stop to it by grabbing the sketchpad and drawing them both as babies in diapers fighting. Lolz. Both girls have to laugh and call a truce. They decide to leave the planning for today, and start making a proper sketch during art class the next day.
That evening, Jessica is poring over the Wakefield family history (ha, bet it's different to the one we read) for any scant hope that Quakefield is, indeed, related to them, and Liz is sitting on the sofa looking glum. Jessica takes the piss out of Elizabeth's recap of the meeting earlier, to which Liz responds with her usual pissy poor crap about how they are both nice girls but just don't seem to get on, blah de blah. Be a bitch Liz and say they pissed you off, c'mon! Steven comes in and takes the piss out of Jessica for doing something involving a book, to which Liz smirks and tells him the whole story Jessica has made up. Jess of course says she was defending the 'family honour', as Charlie was out of order, which makes Steven and Liz laugh harder.
The next day at school, Jessica is plagued by the boys she is working with to get Quakefield to come to the school and pose with them for their mural. They say they have tried to draw him but a real life model would be better. Jessica says she can't; as it would be against her family's wishes, and the boys vow to help sort the mess of the Wakefield family feud out. Lolz. Jessica is a bit panicked, especially as Janet waylays her during the day to have a go at her for not telling the Unicorns about the famous relative, as it looks good on them to have a member with a famous baseball player estranged cousin or whatever he is supposed to be. Jessica spins the whole feud story off again, and thinks she is starting to actually believe it. Knowing Jessica, I can believe that!!
Elizabeth, Sarah and Sophia make a start on drawling the mural. They seem to be getting on OK, and the lesson goes OK. Yawn. After school, they go to Sophia's to, I dunno, hang out, and Sarah and Liz walk over. The Rizzo's live in a rough area of town, and Sarah is really snobby about being scared to go to the house, even though Liz explains Mrs Rizzo hasn't got much money but the house is really nice and so on. Liz smacks her...no not really but I wish somebody would! When they get to Sophia's. Sarah loves Mrs Rizzo's tastes and homemade rugs and so on, and wonders how Mrs Rizzo can be so gentle, and fashionably refined, and yet have coarse Sophia for a daughter.
Anyway, they start planning (again), and Sophia asks Sarah why she isn't a member of the Unicorns, as she likes clothes and boys so much. Sarah says she doesn't like Unicorns, she likes rainbows. Yep, rainbows! She collects them, apparently. She has a rainbow pencil and everything!! Her 'daddy' brings her back a rainbow from wherever he travels to on business, and he travels a lot. Sounds a lot like Mr Fowler doesn't it! And we all know THEIR family history! NOT looking good for Sarah, though her mom is already dead and not just gone! Sophia is a bit understandably, "that's a bit babyish", but Lizzie glosses things over (as per fucking usual - let them catfight Liz it'd be fun!) and they carry on planning.
In Art the next day, the boys Jessica is working with present her with a petition to get Quakefield to come to Sweet Valley to sort his estranged family feud out. Snigger. Jessica is like, "oh shit", but they won't listen to her and send it off anyway (to who I don't know).
Liz, Sarah and Sophia are ready to start painting their mural. They take it into the studio next door, and start painting. Sarah demands Sophia save space in one corner for a rainbow, and Sophia purposely paints in blue. Sarah calls Sophia a thug, and Sophia responds by splashing Sarah's pink mohair sweater with green paint - accidentally on purpose of course :-D! Sarah throws blue paint at Sophia, and it all gets out of hand very quickly. Liz, sensing trouble, ducks under the table as paint lets fly. Just as the two girls throw paint together, the door opens and Mr Sweeney gets a double helping of red and yellow paint. UH-OH!!! Those girlies are in BIG trouble, mark my words.
They all go to the headmaster. Liz is upset when she sees their mural is ruined :-( although considering is took them a whole 2 days to draw it I'm sure it's no great loss! He lets Liz off with a warning, even though SHE DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING and Sarah's dad and Sophia's mum (ah-ha the title) get called in......
When they arrive, Mr Clark starts explaining what happened. Sophia's mum, who, if you hadn't guessed, is Italian, can't follow the conversation very well, and has to keep asking him to stop and explain. Sarah's daddy, who can speak fluent Italian (all those damned business trips), takes over and explains the whole thing to Mrs Rizzo, making it seem humourous and funny. Sophia is surprised by how nice Sarah's dad actually is, and wonders how he can have such a drip for a daughter, hehe!! Mr Clark tells the girls they will have to go back to school at the weekend to sand down the studio for repainting (oh no, not again - oh wait, the professional kind, ah!) as they ruined it. If they do this, and do an after school detention together, they are off the hook!! Nice one, I'm sure sure my headmistress would have been so lenient but OK!
Afterwards, Sarah's dad offers to take everyone out for pizza, including Sophia's dropout brother Tony. This is much to both girl's disgust, but the two parents seem to be getting on v-e-e-e-r-r-r-y well and Mrs Rizzo agrees. At the pizza place, Sarah and Sophia entertain themselves by kicking each other under the table, much to their parent's amusement lolz. Sarah gets all upset and nearly cries, but Mr Thomas tells her to grow up a bit, then invites the Rizzo's to a baseball game the next day. Mrs Rizzo agrees, and gallantly offers to pay for the pizza meal they've just eaten. Sophia is like, "go mama", but Mr Thomas of course pays (Sophia needs to learn her mum isn't nice, she is flirting).
At the ball game the next day, Sophia and Sarah continue being childish. Sophia pinches Sarah's arm and Sarah retaliates by stamping on Sophia's foot. And so on. Sophia also eats a hot dog with her mouth open, to gross Sarah out. Afterwards, they all go to dinner again, and Sophia notes how relaxed Tony is around Mr Thomas, which makes a change for him. Aw, happy families!
The next day is Sunday and the girls have to sand down the room. They do it in frosty silence, and Sophia is annoyed to notice Sarah is doing her fair share of the work, so she can't fault her.
Through the next week they re-make the mural with Liz. Jessica is continuously being hounded by kids about Quakefield, and Sarah's dad and Sophia's mum go on a few more dates.
The next weekend, the two parents decide to have a picnic at Secca Lake. Sophia invites Liz along (you just gotta invite a Wakefield or it ain't worth going) so she can witness how awful everything is. Or something. Jessica doesn't want Liz to go because she, for once, doesn't want to answer the phone in case someone is calling about Quakefield; however, Liz suggests Jessica pretends to be her and just say she doesn't know much about it, which is what Liz has been saying to everyone. It's a miracle the Wakefield parents haven't found out, I presume they don't answer the phone much. Jess agrees, and even borrows Elizabeth's new sweater and puts her hair up to 'get into role'. what? Jessica has pretended to be Liz so many times it should be second nature, right!
Anyway, everyone is getting along fine at Secca Lake....except Sarah and Sophia. Grr they are not happy bunnies. Mrs Rizzo sees a kite lying and remarks how she had a dragon kite as a kid that she loved, but it got lost one day :-(! Mr Thomas, who is now an amateur kite maker, asks some very specific questions about this kite. Remember this, boys a girls. During the picnic, Sophia accidentally pours salt into Sarah's tea (shouldn't they be on lemonade or something, being TWELVE) and they bicker throughout. Suddenly, they notice everyone has linked hands and are gaining on them. They get thrown in the lake, together! Hahaha! Both girls notice how well their parents are getting on, meh!
Sarah and Sophia both vow to do something about it, as being stepsisters would be a fate worse than death! Never mind their parents might actually stand a chance at being happy! Sarah has a nightmare where she dreams that her and her dad have been locked up by gangster Mrs Rizzo, Sophia and Tony, and their furniture is being sold for money, whilst stolen furniture is smuggled into the house. Sophia likewise has a dream where she is a slave, made to do all the housework and stuff, whilst Princess Sarah goes to boarding school and Tony is given loads of money and so on. Pretty lame but funny! Having had these dreams, during school the next week they out their heads together and scheme to split their parents up.
Sophia wrecks her mum's pre-date routine by throwing all her shampoo out and wrinkling up her favourite blouse. Oh Noes! This doesn't work because Mrs Rizzo goes straight on her date with Mr Thomas after work, damn!! Sarah, who has suffered bad dreams since Annie left her to fend for herself after her mom died (a long story, believe me), turns her nightlight off, expecting to have r-e-a-l-l-y bad dreams so her dad won't go on a date as she will look so ill, as apparently if she doesn't get a full eight hours refreshing sleep she goes waxy white with massive black circles under her eyes. Hmm...Sarah the Vampire, could be a future title.....However, Sarah falls asleep no problems, and whilst she tells her dad she had bad dreams, he goes on his date anyway. Buggar! It's time for Master Plan C.....Sarah gets some old photos of Mr Thomas and Annie together and writes, 'he's mine so back off' on them, and then Sophia puts them in the mailbox for Mrs Rizzo to find. To hand it to them, that's really bitchy for a twelve year old mind to think up!
Mrs Rizzo finds the photos and when Mr Thomas calls up she calls him a 'cheating, good for nothing, low life, lying cad'! What's a cad? Is this some American swear word I don't know? The she cries, and Sophia feels bad.
Mrs Rizzo spends the next week moping round the house, cleaning everything in sight. Do we have an Alice Wakefield in times of crisis syndrome? Mr Thomas is similarly unhappy; he is preoccupied and when Sarah goes down into the basement she sees a half finished dragon kite he was obviously making for Sophia's mum. He also takes Sarah out on a massive day trip, but seems really unhappy and distracted. Both girls think they may have made a BIG mistake, and confide in Tony and Liz what they have done for some advice on how to repair the damage. The girls ring each other a lot during the week, and become like friends (like that wasn't gonna happen)!
Tony and Liz both advise they tell their parents what they did, but, c'mon, would you? My dad would KILL me!! Instead, they come up with a grand master plan D, Jessica Wakefield Stylee!!!! Sophia has to convince her mom to go Secca Lake with her and Tony for a family picnic, and likewise with Mr Thomas. Both girls end up confessing to their parents, and DON'T get in any trouble, as far as the book says anyway.
The Rizzo's go to Secca Lake, and Mrs Rizzo suddenly sees a dragon kite flying above the trees. She runs toward the kite, and of course it is Mr Thomas flying it. They reconcile, and everyone is happy...except the girls start bickering again. What happens but everyone goes to throw them in the lake again, but this time they join hands and jump in themselves. Love it! So all is happy in the Rizzo/Thomas camp!
Meanwhile, at dinner in the Wakefield house, a letter arrives addressed to the Wakefield's of Sweet Valley. it is from Quakefield himself, saying he received a letter from some boys at SVMS begging him to not continue his family feud, and to come and pose for a mural. It says his family is all on excellent terms, and in fact his real name is not Wakefield, it is (something else - will look it up when I get home), and he only used Wakefield because it rhymed with his childhood nickname of, you guessed it, Quakefield. Jessica is forced to admit to her parents the entire story she made up, and Alice says it might actually be true because her great-great-great grandmother or something had the same last name. When i have looked it up I will post it, but I bet anything it doesn't fit in with the sagas at all. So Alice rings Quakefield and it turns out they are related after all (how far out can this story go, honestly) and so Jess is off the hook after all! Even as a kid I had a hard job swallowing this one!
Quakefield comes to Sweet Valley and poses. The boys are happy, and their mural gets done in time for the library painting. Quakefield is never ever mentioned again, and everything is once again left rosy in the world of Sweet Valley, for a few days anyway. Lila has had to walk to school, and she won't say why, leading onto #63, Poor Lila.
Sarah's Dad and Sophia's Mum, in which we have Unicorns, Rainbows, Thugs and the most awesome paint fight in the history of SVMS EVER!
Okies, the cover. Because it's Sweet Valley Middle School, and therefore not complete without at least one twin on the cover (although two would be preferable), we have Elizabeth hiding under a table, wearing a bright green t-shirt, possibly to blend with the front cover. We also have a mystery girl, who is actually Sophia, who has black hair and is brandishing a tin of - is that red?- paint. The walls are covered in paint, the table's covered, Sophia's covered - but Liz is spotless (well, obviously, she is a WAKEFIELD TWIN!) Lizzie looks a tad alarmed, as I would too I think. Can I also just point out that as far as I'm aware, the American version of mum is 'mom', so why is this cover British spelled? Hmm!!
OK, we start off in art class. Mr Sweeney, la teacher, has just asked to see everyone's painting. Jessica is all "uh-oh" as she has spent the entire class gossiping to Lila, and therefore hasn't really done much. She splodges some paint on the paper and hopes for the best. Lolz reminds me of me :-)! Mr Sweeney isn't fooled. He holds Jessica's painting up as an example of why great art never happens in a hurry (really, you could have fooled me)! He then holds Elizabeth's painting of a mare and a foal (gag me) up to the class as an example of work well done. Do you think Liz has bribed him? Surely a picture of a horse painted by a 12 year old wouldn't be so, uh, inspiring!! Jessica thinks in annoyance that everything Liz does is perfect, whilst everything she (Jess) does is second best. Ah, some healthy twin rivalry as best seen here and here and pretty much in the entire Sweet Valley series, Kids upwards! Cue the stock description here of the twins. Charlie Cashman (again, WHY is he in their class if he is older than them - arghh, coninuity, someone) remarks exactly what Jess was thinking about Liz, by saying something like, "Little Miss Perfect Elizabeth Wakefield". Jessica turns round and bites his head off - she's allowed to think about Liz that way, but no-one else is. C'mon Jess, everyone thinks it - you're a flake!! Charlie asks if everyone in the Wakefield family is a no-hoper like her, or something (ah, Charlie if only you knew the REAL Wakefield history - I'm sure it would boggle your brain even worse than ours). Jessica gets angry and says that a member of her family is a famous baseball player, QuakeField Wakefield! Well, Charlie is impressed, and of course word soon gets round the class that the twins' cousin is a league famous player. Jessica makes up some story about how he is estranged from the family due to some row that took place three lots of great grandparents ago, and how she hasn't mentioned it before because it upsets her parents to talk about it. Yeah, right!! I should mention here that Honest-Til-I-Die-Elizabeth is sitting across the room, so she can't hear this. ANYWAY at the end of the class, Mr S announces that the class will be divided into groups to make murals. The murals will eventually be used to redecorate the library (was there a flood or something at some point)? The murals have to somehow be involved in a recycling theme to save the planet. Or something!
Lila has an idea to do a theme based around recycling old clothes to be fashionable - it has merits you know. She, Jess and Ellen plan to work together until of course Mr Sweeney announces HE will be doing the group choosing. Oh Noes! Lila and Ellen get chosen to be together with Melissa, and Jessie gets put with Peter DeHaven and some-other-boy-whose-name-I-can't-remember, but who are totally into baseball and of course have heard now about Jessica's famous relative and want to do a mural based around him. Liz gets paired with Sophia Rizzo and Sarah Thomas, something she isn't too considerably thrilled about as Sarah Thomas is 'sensitive', and Sophia's older brother, Tony, has a bad reputation (no doubt he spiked someone's drink with Magical Vodka, stole car, crashed it and forced someone into doing drugs). Of course, if anyone has read earlier SVT books, you will no doubt recall Elizabeth saved Sarah's life when Annie left her to fend for herself and she fell down some stairs, and Elizabeth also threw a birthday party for Sophia once upon a time against her parents' wishes because Sophia had no friends. But I'm sure Liz has slept since then and can't remember, so it's understandable she would feel uncomfortable working with them. Whatever, ghostwriters!
Outside, Charlie asks Jessica more about Quakefield. Lizzie is all like, "what the fuck", and Jessica knows she could be in hot water until she realises that, of course, Lizzie will back her up. This is Saint Elizabeth after all! Jessica brushes them off, and we go to the next chapter.
Liz, Sarah and Sophia have all arranged to meet up after school at the Wakefield house (where else) to discuss their mural because they are sad with no lives they care about the environment so much. Sarah and Sophia don't know each other, and are complete opposites. Sarah is shy and soft spoken, with delicate features and a gentle disposition, and fashion sense, and Sophia is loud and outspoken, and doesn't really care what she looks like. They meet at the house, and when Liz answers the door they are together on the doorstop.Meh, Sarah says her 'daddy' dropped her off, and Sophia quickly chimes in that she walked, as her mom doesn't have time to go dropping her off places due to her working so hard to provide for the family. Sarah of course flushes and says some retort back, but Lizzie breaks things up just as they are getting interesting and they go into the den to plan. Jess is at some Unicorn meeting, otherwise she could join in the fun. Shame!
In the den, the girls are planning. Eventually, they come up with an idea to draw a planet, sagging under the weight of loads of tin cans and crisp packets etc. They come up with the idea to draw caricatures into the mural. For those of you who might not know what that is, it's a drawing where all the features are grossly exaggerated for comic effect. Sophia is apparently really good at art and can draw them. They plan to add Mr Bowman (why, I don't know) and then think they could add some boys from the class, exaggerated of course. Sophia does some preliminary sketches and then Sarah suggests Patrick Morris, and takes the piss out of him. Sophia of course has a crush on Patrick, and angrily suggests some boy Sarah has a crush on. Sarah gets angry and makes some sneering remark about Sophia's clothes. Sophia is annoyed and draws a caricature of Sarah as a big baby doll with tears running down it's face. Sarah then draws a picture of Sophia as a thug with knuckledusters and buckles. Just as it's gearing up to an actual catfight (yay, my odds are on Sophia as I really don't like Sarah), Liz puts a stop to it by grabbing the sketchpad and drawing them both as babies in diapers fighting. Lolz. Both girls have to laugh and call a truce. They decide to leave the planning for today, and start making a proper sketch during art class the next day.
That evening, Jessica is poring over the Wakefield family history (ha, bet it's different to the one we read) for any scant hope that Quakefield is, indeed, related to them, and Liz is sitting on the sofa looking glum. Jessica takes the piss out of Elizabeth's recap of the meeting earlier, to which Liz responds with her usual pissy poor crap about how they are both nice girls but just don't seem to get on, blah de blah. Be a bitch Liz and say they pissed you off, c'mon! Steven comes in and takes the piss out of Jessica for doing something involving a book, to which Liz smirks and tells him the whole story Jessica has made up. Jess of course says she was defending the 'family honour', as Charlie was out of order, which makes Steven and Liz laugh harder.
The next day at school, Jessica is plagued by the boys she is working with to get Quakefield to come to the school and pose with them for their mural. They say they have tried to draw him but a real life model would be better. Jessica says she can't; as it would be against her family's wishes, and the boys vow to help sort the mess of the Wakefield family feud out. Lolz. Jessica is a bit panicked, especially as Janet waylays her during the day to have a go at her for not telling the Unicorns about the famous relative, as it looks good on them to have a member with a famous baseball player estranged cousin or whatever he is supposed to be. Jessica spins the whole feud story off again, and thinks she is starting to actually believe it. Knowing Jessica, I can believe that!!
Elizabeth, Sarah and Sophia make a start on drawling the mural. They seem to be getting on OK, and the lesson goes OK. Yawn. After school, they go to Sophia's to, I dunno, hang out, and Sarah and Liz walk over. The Rizzo's live in a rough area of town, and Sarah is really snobby about being scared to go to the house, even though Liz explains Mrs Rizzo hasn't got much money but the house is really nice and so on. Liz smacks her...no not really but I wish somebody would! When they get to Sophia's. Sarah loves Mrs Rizzo's tastes and homemade rugs and so on, and wonders how Mrs Rizzo can be so gentle, and fashionably refined, and yet have coarse Sophia for a daughter.
Anyway, they start planning (again), and Sophia asks Sarah why she isn't a member of the Unicorns, as she likes clothes and boys so much. Sarah says she doesn't like Unicorns, she likes rainbows. Yep, rainbows! She collects them, apparently. She has a rainbow pencil and everything!! Her 'daddy' brings her back a rainbow from wherever he travels to on business, and he travels a lot. Sounds a lot like Mr Fowler doesn't it! And we all know THEIR family history! NOT looking good for Sarah, though her mom is already dead and not just gone! Sophia is a bit understandably, "that's a bit babyish", but Lizzie glosses things over (as per fucking usual - let them catfight Liz it'd be fun!) and they carry on planning.
In Art the next day, the boys Jessica is working with present her with a petition to get Quakefield to come to Sweet Valley to sort his estranged family feud out. Snigger. Jessica is like, "oh shit", but they won't listen to her and send it off anyway (to who I don't know).
Liz, Sarah and Sophia are ready to start painting their mural. They take it into the studio next door, and start painting. Sarah demands Sophia save space in one corner for a rainbow, and Sophia purposely paints in blue. Sarah calls Sophia a thug, and Sophia responds by splashing Sarah's pink mohair sweater with green paint - accidentally on purpose of course :-D! Sarah throws blue paint at Sophia, and it all gets out of hand very quickly. Liz, sensing trouble, ducks under the table as paint lets fly. Just as the two girls throw paint together, the door opens and Mr Sweeney gets a double helping of red and yellow paint. UH-OH!!! Those girlies are in BIG trouble, mark my words.
They all go to the headmaster. Liz is upset when she sees their mural is ruined :-( although considering is took them a whole 2 days to draw it I'm sure it's no great loss! He lets Liz off with a warning, even though SHE DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING and Sarah's dad and Sophia's mum (ah-ha the title) get called in......
When they arrive, Mr Clark starts explaining what happened. Sophia's mum, who, if you hadn't guessed, is Italian, can't follow the conversation very well, and has to keep asking him to stop and explain. Sarah's daddy, who can speak fluent Italian (all those damned business trips), takes over and explains the whole thing to Mrs Rizzo, making it seem humourous and funny. Sophia is surprised by how nice Sarah's dad actually is, and wonders how he can have such a drip for a daughter, hehe!! Mr Clark tells the girls they will have to go back to school at the weekend to sand down the studio for repainting (oh no, not again - oh wait, the professional kind, ah!) as they ruined it. If they do this, and do an after school detention together, they are off the hook!! Nice one, I'm sure sure my headmistress would have been so lenient but OK!
Afterwards, Sarah's dad offers to take everyone out for pizza, including Sophia's dropout brother Tony. This is much to both girl's disgust, but the two parents seem to be getting on v-e-e-e-r-r-r-y well and Mrs Rizzo agrees. At the pizza place, Sarah and Sophia entertain themselves by kicking each other under the table, much to their parent's amusement lolz. Sarah gets all upset and nearly cries, but Mr Thomas tells her to grow up a bit, then invites the Rizzo's to a baseball game the next day. Mrs Rizzo agrees, and gallantly offers to pay for the pizza meal they've just eaten. Sophia is like, "go mama", but Mr Thomas of course pays (Sophia needs to learn her mum isn't nice, she is flirting).
At the ball game the next day, Sophia and Sarah continue being childish. Sophia pinches Sarah's arm and Sarah retaliates by stamping on Sophia's foot. And so on. Sophia also eats a hot dog with her mouth open, to gross Sarah out. Afterwards, they all go to dinner again, and Sophia notes how relaxed Tony is around Mr Thomas, which makes a change for him. Aw, happy families!
The next day is Sunday and the girls have to sand down the room. They do it in frosty silence, and Sophia is annoyed to notice Sarah is doing her fair share of the work, so she can't fault her.
Through the next week they re-make the mural with Liz. Jessica is continuously being hounded by kids about Quakefield, and Sarah's dad and Sophia's mum go on a few more dates.
The next weekend, the two parents decide to have a picnic at Secca Lake. Sophia invites Liz along (you just gotta invite a Wakefield or it ain't worth going) so she can witness how awful everything is. Or something. Jessica doesn't want Liz to go because she, for once, doesn't want to answer the phone in case someone is calling about Quakefield; however, Liz suggests Jessica pretends to be her and just say she doesn't know much about it, which is what Liz has been saying to everyone. It's a miracle the Wakefield parents haven't found out, I presume they don't answer the phone much. Jess agrees, and even borrows Elizabeth's new sweater and puts her hair up to 'get into role'. what? Jessica has pretended to be Liz so many times it should be second nature, right!
Anyway, everyone is getting along fine at Secca Lake....except Sarah and Sophia. Grr they are not happy bunnies. Mrs Rizzo sees a kite lying and remarks how she had a dragon kite as a kid that she loved, but it got lost one day :-(! Mr Thomas, who is now an amateur kite maker, asks some very specific questions about this kite. Remember this, boys a girls. During the picnic, Sophia accidentally pours salt into Sarah's tea (shouldn't they be on lemonade or something, being TWELVE) and they bicker throughout. Suddenly, they notice everyone has linked hands and are gaining on them. They get thrown in the lake, together! Hahaha! Both girls notice how well their parents are getting on, meh!
Sarah and Sophia both vow to do something about it, as being stepsisters would be a fate worse than death! Never mind their parents might actually stand a chance at being happy! Sarah has a nightmare where she dreams that her and her dad have been locked up by gangster Mrs Rizzo, Sophia and Tony, and their furniture is being sold for money, whilst stolen furniture is smuggled into the house. Sophia likewise has a dream where she is a slave, made to do all the housework and stuff, whilst Princess Sarah goes to boarding school and Tony is given loads of money and so on. Pretty lame but funny! Having had these dreams, during school the next week they out their heads together and scheme to split their parents up.
Sophia wrecks her mum's pre-date routine by throwing all her shampoo out and wrinkling up her favourite blouse. Oh Noes! This doesn't work because Mrs Rizzo goes straight on her date with Mr Thomas after work, damn!! Sarah, who has suffered bad dreams since Annie left her to fend for herself after her mom died (a long story, believe me), turns her nightlight off, expecting to have r-e-a-l-l-y bad dreams so her dad won't go on a date as she will look so ill, as apparently if she doesn't get a full eight hours refreshing sleep she goes waxy white with massive black circles under her eyes. Hmm...Sarah the Vampire, could be a future title.....However, Sarah falls asleep no problems, and whilst she tells her dad she had bad dreams, he goes on his date anyway. Buggar! It's time for Master Plan C.....Sarah gets some old photos of Mr Thomas and Annie together and writes, 'he's mine so back off' on them, and then Sophia puts them in the mailbox for Mrs Rizzo to find. To hand it to them, that's really bitchy for a twelve year old mind to think up!
Mrs Rizzo finds the photos and when Mr Thomas calls up she calls him a 'cheating, good for nothing, low life, lying cad'! What's a cad? Is this some American swear word I don't know? The she cries, and Sophia feels bad.
Mrs Rizzo spends the next week moping round the house, cleaning everything in sight. Do we have an Alice Wakefield in times of crisis syndrome? Mr Thomas is similarly unhappy; he is preoccupied and when Sarah goes down into the basement she sees a half finished dragon kite he was obviously making for Sophia's mum. He also takes Sarah out on a massive day trip, but seems really unhappy and distracted. Both girls think they may have made a BIG mistake, and confide in Tony and Liz what they have done for some advice on how to repair the damage. The girls ring each other a lot during the week, and become like friends (like that wasn't gonna happen)!
Tony and Liz both advise they tell their parents what they did, but, c'mon, would you? My dad would KILL me!! Instead, they come up with a grand master plan D, Jessica Wakefield Stylee!!!! Sophia has to convince her mom to go Secca Lake with her and Tony for a family picnic, and likewise with Mr Thomas. Both girls end up confessing to their parents, and DON'T get in any trouble, as far as the book says anyway.
The Rizzo's go to Secca Lake, and Mrs Rizzo suddenly sees a dragon kite flying above the trees. She runs toward the kite, and of course it is Mr Thomas flying it. They reconcile, and everyone is happy...except the girls start bickering again. What happens but everyone goes to throw them in the lake again, but this time they join hands and jump in themselves. Love it! So all is happy in the Rizzo/Thomas camp!
Meanwhile, at dinner in the Wakefield house, a letter arrives addressed to the Wakefield's of Sweet Valley. it is from Quakefield himself, saying he received a letter from some boys at SVMS begging him to not continue his family feud, and to come and pose for a mural. It says his family is all on excellent terms, and in fact his real name is not Wakefield, it is (something else - will look it up when I get home), and he only used Wakefield because it rhymed with his childhood nickname of, you guessed it, Quakefield. Jessica is forced to admit to her parents the entire story she made up, and Alice says it might actually be true because her great-great-great grandmother or something had the same last name. When i have looked it up I will post it, but I bet anything it doesn't fit in with the sagas at all. So Alice rings Quakefield and it turns out they are related after all (how far out can this story go, honestly) and so Jess is off the hook after all! Even as a kid I had a hard job swallowing this one!
Quakefield comes to Sweet Valley and poses. The boys are happy, and their mural gets done in time for the library painting. Quakefield is never ever mentioned again, and everything is once again left rosy in the world of Sweet Valley, for a few days anyway. Lila has had to walk to school, and she won't say why, leading onto #63, Poor Lila.