The Unicorn Club #1 - Save the Unicorns!
Anyway, with Janet being gone, the remaining Unicorns have to decide on a president! Of course, Jessica and Lila are the ones vying for the title, since they’re oh-so-competitive. Mary is boring, Ellen is dumb, and Mandy is poor, so they aren’t even in the running. How will they ever decide who to pick?! They obviously can’t just vote or something, so they decide instead to have a dare war to pick the president. Jessica and Lila will dare each other to do stupid things, and whoever comes up with a dare the other fails to do gets to be president. Elizabeth is probably off somewhere disapproving.
First, Jessica dares Lila to put a bunch of mousse in her hair…in the boys’ bathroom! As soon as she walks in, a bunch of boys run out and scream sexual harassment. Anyway, she goes through with it, which means Jessica has to complete her dare…of stealing some teacher’s chalk. That’s pretty lame, Lila. Jessica almost fails this one though, so Mandy decides to help her by creating a diversion - of falling over backwards in her chair. That seemed a bit extreme to me, but Jessica managed to steal the chalk and Mandy didn’t end up paralyzed, so all was well.
Well, except that this meant the dare war was still going. The candidates really step it up in the second round: Jessica dares Lila to steal Mrs. Arnette’s infamous hairnet, and Lila dares Jessica to paint a stripe (purple, of course) across some lockers. At this point, Mandy’s conscience kicks in, and she begins thinking the dare war isn’t such a great way to pick a leader after all, but she stays silent.
Once again, both candidates manage to complete their dares. Mr. Clark is not happy about the vandalized lockers, obviously, but although he suspects the Unicorns, he has no evidence against them. He is, however, “watching.” So, of course, the logical choice is to make the next dare be a direct attack on him. Obviously, this is Ellen’s idea. She was talking to Caroline Pearce, and found out that Mr. Clark wears a toupee! The Unicorns decide that whoever can steal it first gets to be their next president. This is very similar to how real elections work.
Mandy takes this opportunity to reflect on her cancer. She feels that stealing a toupee is wrong not only because…you know, it’s just mean and weird…but Mandy feels a personal twinge for Mr. Clark’s poor, bald head as she thinks back to when she lost all her hair from chemotherapy, and how embarrassed she was. Because a middle-aged man with natural baldness is exactly the same as a twelve-year-old with leukemia.
She frets with her morals over dinner, and her mom comes up with this sampler saying: “A good club is one in which the members bring out the best in one another. And a bad club is one in which they bring out the worst.”
She frets some more as she’s going to sleep:
“I sighed. It was time to have a talk with the rest of the Unicorns. Time to let them know how I felt. A dare war was a stupid way to elect a president.
Would we elect a class president because he or she was willing to play a mean joke?
No.
Would we elect a United States president because he or she was willing to go into the wrong bathroom?
No.
So why were we electing the president of the most important and prestigious girls’ club in Sweet Valley that way? It didn’t make any sense.”
Woah. Back up. The most important and prestigious girls’ club in Sweet Valley??!? Really?? I wasn’t aware the Unicorns had such a long and distinguished history.
Anyway, she never gets to share her revelations (or her mother’s) with the rest of the Unicorns, because the next time she sees them, they, along with the rest of the school, are gathered around Mr. Clark’s toupee, which they’ve hung from a doorknob in the cafeteria. Jessica and Lila are “whooping and dancing around it like a couple of Apaches.” But, OH NOEZ, since the two of them did it together, the dare war is still on!!! That’s what Ellen thinks, anyway. Then Mr. Clark shows up and herds all the pretty ponies into his office.
Elizabeth and Maria are standing by to give Disapproving Looks and Sighs.
Mr. Clark calls a meeting with all the Unicorns’ parents. It’s a pretty big deal, because even Mr. Fowler is there. Ever the creative authoritarian, Mr. Clark assigns the Unicorns to volunteer thirty hours each at the Sweet Valley Child Care Center, which provides day care to families that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. Mrs. Wakefield is somehow an expert on it. I guess because Elizabeth volunteers there, because if there is a volunteer opportunity within 50 miles of Sweet Valley, Elizabeth is doing it. I’m personally still stuck on the fact that Sweet Valley has poor people?? Anyway. He also says they’ll have to pay for his “property” and puts the club on probation. If they screw up again, he’s going to “forcibly abolish” them. Which, as far as I can tell, means the gas chamber.
The Unicorns show up at the Child Care Center for their first afternoon of indentured servitude. They meet Mrs. Willard, the woman who runs the center, who treats them “like they’re in a chain gang.” She leads them into the playroom, where children are running around everywhere, screaming and generally making a mess. They are completely unsupervised, which is why Mrs. Willard needs the Unicorns so badly. If I were them, I’d rat her out to the police and have her taken in for endangering the welfare of the kids. They don’t think of that.
All of the Unicorns are horrified, and rightly so, but Lila decides she absolutely cannot take this. She goes to call her daddy, and for some reason drags Mandy along with her to the pay phone. Lila whines and wheedles, but for once Mr. Fowler doesn’t give in. Another woman is on the phone next to Lila, and her young daughter keeps pulling at Lila. The woman’s name is Mrs. McMillan, and she is trying to find a job. This is IMPORTANT, so remember it. Her daughter’s name is Ellie, and she tells Lila she’s pretty. This is all it takes for Lila to quit complaining to Daddy and decide that kids aren’t all bad.
Elizabeth comes by a bit later to help out. Four pages are spent on how Jessica tries and fails to pull the Tom Sawyer fence-painting trick on her. Everything devolves into a chaos of thrown milk and paint, except for Lila and Ellie, who are quietly reading in the corner. AWWWW. One kid named Oliver seems to especially have it in for Jessica. Mrs. Willard walks in and is mad. Because the 12-year-olds who have been forced to work with children despite having no experience whatsoever are doing a predictably terrible job.
The next day, Mandy and Lila are walking to the Child Care Center after school when a “shabby old car” pulls up next to them. They’re both scared, because most people who drive shabby cars are kidnappers, but to their relief it’s just Mrs. McMillan and Ellie, who offer them a ride. Ellie is playing with a doll, which Mrs. McMillan explains was her birthday present and which “isn’t really a new doll, it’s just new for Ellie.” These people are POOR. The fact that Ellie received a secondhand doll breaks Lila’s heart, especially because Ellie reveals that the doll’s name is Lila. Lila doesn’t want her name attached to anything that isn’t brand-new and encrusted in diamonds. Mrs. McMillan also alludes to the fact that something Bad will happen if she doesn’t find a job soon. This is foreshadowing.
When Mandy and Lila arrive at the center, Jessica informs them that Mrs. Willard said if they don’t do a better job today, she’s going to tell Mr. Clark. There are no major conflicts, until Jessica and Mandy are playing a game of Go Fish with Oliver. Jessica for some reason suspects him of cheating, so she grabs his arm in order to see his hand. Uh, Jess, he’s like four years old. Jessica storms off in a tizzy to go make the snacks, and is interrupted when Mrs. Willard comes in to tell her she’s not washing the dishes correctly. This pushes her over the edge, and as soon as Mrs. Willard is out the door, she launches into a full-blown rant about how terrible the Center is and how much she hates it. All the kids hear her and are hurt, especially Oliver.
Just then, a delivery man from the toy store arrives with gifts for all the kids. Oh, dues ex machina, how Sweet Valley loves you. Actually it was Lila’s doing - that secondhand doll was just too much for her to bear, so she put her riches to good use and had new toys delivered for everyone. Methinks the Unicorns are a-changin’?
Going back to Mrs. McMillan’s problematic joblessness, it turns out that if she doesn’t find a job soon, she’s going to have to put Ellie in foster care. Ummm…okay? I’ve never heard of this happening ever, but who am I to argue with the Universe of Sweet Valley? Lila suggests to her father that they take Ellie in if it comes to this, but he reminds her that “a little girl isn’t a puppy.” Oh, Mr. Fowler. Lila relents and suggests maybe he could just find Mrs. McMillan a job. He says he’ll try, but that he can’t promise anything. Lila pouts, and Mandy makes a mental note that this newfound compassion just might make Lila a good Unicorn president.
The next day, it’s once again time for the Unicorns to go to the Center. But, OH NOES, Jessica is refusing. She finally caves when someone asks her to “do it for the Unicorns.” My heart is fluttering with the loyalty.
They get a ride from Lila’s chauffer because it’s pouring rain, and end up getting there late due to a traffic jam. Cue the wrath of Willardzilla. The kids are predictably running amok, and Mrs. Willard springs it on the girls that she has to leave to pick up one of her assistants whose car stalled. Which means that the Unicorns will be the only ones there with the kids!!! She says she’ll be back in twenty minutes, and tells them not to go in the basement and that the cat is missing. Then she takes off.
Two and a half hours later, Mrs. Willard isn’t back yet and the Unicorns are beginning to get paranoid. They inventory the food and make sure they have enough to survive if they get stuck there overnight. Because people die of starvation in one day.
Suddenly, there’s a loud clap of thunder and the power goes out. They realize that it’s quickly getting dark outside and the small amount of light that’s coming in from the windows will soon be gone, so they set about looking for candles and flashlights. Oliver volunteers that the Center stores those things … (dun dun DUN!) …in the basement.
Mary and Mandy are all, “but Mrs. Willard said not to go in the basement!” However, Jessica totally pwns them by pointing out that Mrs. Willard placed them in charge to use their common sense, and she probably wouldn’t expect them to sit all night in the dark with a bunch of scared kids. This actually makes sense, and Jessica’s take-charge attitude now has Mandy thinking that she would make a good president for the Unicorns.
So, Jessica heads down to the basement, kicking aside the brick which is propping open the door. She rolls up her pant legs because there are a few inches of water on the ground. Mandy is also standing by the door for some reason. Oliver sneaks up behind Mandy and scares her, somehow causing her to knock him down the stairs and tumbling into Jessica. O…kay. Mandy goes to get them a blanket, because now they’re all wet, and the basement door slams shut.
Guess what? It won’t open.
Mandy runs into the playroom to tell the Unicorns what happened. They freak out accordingly. Ellen suggests they try to knock down the door, which might have been a good idea if it wasn’t a steel door. (Why the hell is there a steel door to the basement? Does it double as a bank vault?) Then a kid named Arthur revels that the cat (Peppermint) knows a secret way into the basement. Because the Unicorns are truly desperate, they take the advice of this four-year-old and Mandy, Mary, and Ellen run around the side of the building with him while Lila stays with the kids.
There’s a window, which of course also won’t open. After some persistent knocking, Jessica and Oliver hear them, and it seems that the water is rising fast in the basement. Unfortunately, the window is too high for Jessica to reach. It seems all hope is lost for the more mischievous Wakefield and the small child she’s somehow bonded with.
While Mandy is rocking back forth trying to figure out what to do, Arthur runs off and returns a moment later with a few of the other kids, a brick, and a jump rope. That’s right folks, a troupe of kindergarteners have come to save the day. They use the brick to break the window, and then feed the jump rope in so Oliver and Jessica can rappel up the wall with the Unicorns and the kids holding on to the other end.
YAY everyone’s safe? Eh…not yet.
The second Jessica wriggles out of the window, lightning strikes a power line, causing it to snap, and the live wire is whipping around wildly. The Unicorns are hurriedly herding the kids inside when Oliver spots Peppermint crouched by the wires. He breaks free from Jessica’s grasp and OMG RUNS TO SAVE THE CAT. With the wire and all that.
In a moment of notable bravery, Jessica dashes after him and pulls him to safety seconds before the wire electrocutes them both.
In a moment of notable stupidity, Jessica goes back for the cat after passing Oliver off to Mary. She comes just as close to being electrocuted.
Everyone is inside drying off and excitedly talking about what happened when the menacing figure of Mrs. Willard appears in the doorway. Zoinks! She yells at the Unicorns for violating her orders and going outside, without giving them a chance to explain. Jessica steps up and says it’s all her fault, so Mrs. Willard directs the full force of her death glare at her and says she’s going to tell Mr. Clark that Jessica is “unreliable and irresponsible and that the Center would prefer that [she] not return.”
But! Li’l Oliver steps forward and says he’s the one to blame! And then Arthur does the same thing! All the kids who are old enough to walk and talk do the same thing. In a shocking moment of reversal, Jessica is surrounded in support by the very same kids she was previously so disgusted by. Awwww. Then everyone’s parents get there all at once, and everyone leaves without really resolving anything.
On Monday, no one is sure whether they’re supposed to go back to the center or not, but Mr. Clark hasn’t said anything to anyone, so they decide to go. The kids are excited to see them, and Mrs. Willard apologizes to Jessica. Everything seems perfect, except for one thing…Ellie isn’t there. Apparently Mrs. McMillan took her to an interview with Foster Care Services. Mandy and Lila are worried, but Mrs. Willard tries to assure them it’s just a precaution and Ellie might not even have to go into foster care. When the Unicorns leave, Mrs. Willard tells them their thirty hours are up. They’re free! And yet…this somehow makes them feel sad. They decide to have a party for the kids at Lila’s house.
Mandy and Jessica show up to Lila’s on the day of the party, and are greeted by a clown on stilts. Of course. He directs them to the backyard, casually mentioning something about how there’s been a slight problem with the elephant. Yes, elephant. It seems that Lila didn’t believe the rest of the Unicorns when they said the kids would be happy with a normal, simple party, and she has gone totally hog-wild circus-themed omg. It’s kind of cute, actually. Mr. Fowler meets Ellie and decides she looks just like Lila when she as that age. More with the cuteness.
There is a drawn out and sappy scene where Ellie’s mom is late to pick her up and Ellie gets sad but then Mrs. McMillan appears and the sun comes out and everything is peachy keen rah rah.
The Unicorns are now back where they started, trying to decide who will be their next president. They decide to have speeches, and this lasts for about thirty seconds before devolving into a discussion about taking the kids to the zoo and getting club jackets. But, Mandy realizes, they are finally “a club where the members bring out the best in one another.”
At school, they all discuss how nice it is to not have to go to the Center, and the various things they plan to do with their newly free afternoon. Mandy secretly misses the kids, though, and plans to go there anyway. She doesn’t tell anyone because she’s afraid they’ll think she’s a dork. Which she is. But Mary, Ellen, and Jessica are there too, so I guess they’re also dorks.
The kids are glad to see them, and Mrs. Willard even tells them that she’s going to write a letter to Mr. Clark saying how wonderful the Unicorns are. This is so picture perfect, and just a little bit déjà vu. There’s only one thing wrong. Once again, Ellie is missing. It seems Mrs. McMillan has had to go to L.A. to find a job, and has placed Ellie in foster care after all. Everyone is sad, particularly Mary, who seems to have some sort of out-of-body flashback to her own days of being a foster child. Just then, Lila comes “bopping” in. She sees everyone’s faces, sees the kids, realizes Ellie isn’t there, and figures things out. It is sad.
The next day at school, Lila is mean to Lois Waller. Mandy the shrink realizes that Lila just wants to hurt Lois because she has been hurt herself. There’s some squabbling about “reverting,” etc. Then the Unicorns are all called into Mr. Clark’s office.
It seems he found the can of paint Jessica used to paint the lockers, and he disbands the Unicorns, declaring them an “illegal organization.” Which sounds kind of cool, sort of like the Mafia. The purple Mafia. Except it’s not really that cool. They’re not allowed to congregate in groups of more than two, and he’s telling all their parents so they can enforce the rules at home, too. Elizabeth and Maria Slater offer Mandy some sympathy, and tell her they’ll try to think of a way to save the Unicorns. After all the good they’ve done, even Elizabeth and Maria approve. Well damn.
“Coincidentally,” all the Unicorns end up at the Center the next day. Lila is once again late, and she bursts in looking all excited. Her dad has found a job for Mrs. McMillan. Unfortunately, Mrs. Willard has no contact information for Mrs. McMillan or Ellie’s foster family. Lila starts crying. But, Hark the Herald Angels Sing! Yuky, one of the kids who is usually very quiet and shy (you know, since she’s Asian) knows what street Ellie lives on! The Unicorns gallop out of the center, ignoring Mrs. Willard’s calls that she knows they aren’t supposed to be together.
They look up and down the entire street and don’t find Ellie. They’re just about to give up when they spot a playground where a small, brown-haired girl is on the swing. It’s Ellie! They run to each other, hug, the whole bit. Then they explain things to Ellie’s predictably confused foster mother, whose name is Mrs. Conwell. They all go back to Mrs. Conwell’s house and call Mrs. McMillan with the good news. She can come back to Sweet Valley, get her daughter back, and start work at Fowler Enterprises the next Monday.
Back on the Save the Unicorns front, Elizabeth and Maria have come up with the brilliant idea of…a petition. Elizabeth plans to get everyone from the Center to sign it. Which is a sweet idea, and probably would be effective, but it’s not really worth all the excitement and secretiveness Mandy puts into it.
Mandy is getting out of class after the final bell and stressing about whether the petition will work when she hears some chanting from outside. The Unicorns all find each other and push to the front of the crowd. Suddenly the chant is discernible: “Save the Unicorns!” Title of Book FTW!! Elizabeth, Maria, and Mrs. Willard, plus all the kids and their parents, have formed a demonstration. Mrs. Willard makes a speech about how the Unicorns have helped at the center, been heroic in a storm, thrown the kids a party, and reunited a family. Mr. Clark’s heart of ice melts, and the Unicorns are reborn.
However, they still need a president. And after declaring their newfound mission to bring out the best in one another rather than the worst, Jessica and Lila nominate Mandy to be president. Surprised? About twenty seconds later, Mandy and the others vote to invite Elizabeth and Maria to join the Unicorns to go along with the image change. After all, they wouldn’t even exist if not for them. They accept, and the New, Improved Unicorns take all the kids to the zoo.
Then there’s a lead-in to the next book, which involves the Unicorns working at a thrift store in order to raise money to repaint the lockers and buy Mr. Clark a new toupee.
First, Jessica dares Lila to put a bunch of mousse in her hair…in the boys’ bathroom! As soon as she walks in, a bunch of boys run out and scream sexual harassment. Anyway, she goes through with it, which means Jessica has to complete her dare…of stealing some teacher’s chalk. That’s pretty lame, Lila. Jessica almost fails this one though, so Mandy decides to help her by creating a diversion - of falling over backwards in her chair. That seemed a bit extreme to me, but Jessica managed to steal the chalk and Mandy didn’t end up paralyzed, so all was well.
Well, except that this meant the dare war was still going. The candidates really step it up in the second round: Jessica dares Lila to steal Mrs. Arnette’s infamous hairnet, and Lila dares Jessica to paint a stripe (purple, of course) across some lockers. At this point, Mandy’s conscience kicks in, and she begins thinking the dare war isn’t such a great way to pick a leader after all, but she stays silent.
Once again, both candidates manage to complete their dares. Mr. Clark is not happy about the vandalized lockers, obviously, but although he suspects the Unicorns, he has no evidence against them. He is, however, “watching.” So, of course, the logical choice is to make the next dare be a direct attack on him. Obviously, this is Ellen’s idea. She was talking to Caroline Pearce, and found out that Mr. Clark wears a toupee! The Unicorns decide that whoever can steal it first gets to be their next president. This is very similar to how real elections work.
Mandy takes this opportunity to reflect on her cancer. She feels that stealing a toupee is wrong not only because…you know, it’s just mean and weird…but Mandy feels a personal twinge for Mr. Clark’s poor, bald head as she thinks back to when she lost all her hair from chemotherapy, and how embarrassed she was. Because a middle-aged man with natural baldness is exactly the same as a twelve-year-old with leukemia.
She frets with her morals over dinner, and her mom comes up with this sampler saying: “A good club is one in which the members bring out the best in one another. And a bad club is one in which they bring out the worst.”
She frets some more as she’s going to sleep:
“I sighed. It was time to have a talk with the rest of the Unicorns. Time to let them know how I felt. A dare war was a stupid way to elect a president.
Would we elect a class president because he or she was willing to play a mean joke?
No.
Would we elect a United States president because he or she was willing to go into the wrong bathroom?
No.
So why were we electing the president of the most important and prestigious girls’ club in Sweet Valley that way? It didn’t make any sense.”
Woah. Back up. The most important and prestigious girls’ club in Sweet Valley??!? Really?? I wasn’t aware the Unicorns had such a long and distinguished history.
Anyway, she never gets to share her revelations (or her mother’s) with the rest of the Unicorns, because the next time she sees them, they, along with the rest of the school, are gathered around Mr. Clark’s toupee, which they’ve hung from a doorknob in the cafeteria. Jessica and Lila are “whooping and dancing around it like a couple of Apaches.” But, OH NOEZ, since the two of them did it together, the dare war is still on!!! That’s what Ellen thinks, anyway. Then Mr. Clark shows up and herds all the pretty ponies into his office.
Elizabeth and Maria are standing by to give Disapproving Looks and Sighs.
Mr. Clark calls a meeting with all the Unicorns’ parents. It’s a pretty big deal, because even Mr. Fowler is there. Ever the creative authoritarian, Mr. Clark assigns the Unicorns to volunteer thirty hours each at the Sweet Valley Child Care Center, which provides day care to families that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. Mrs. Wakefield is somehow an expert on it. I guess because Elizabeth volunteers there, because if there is a volunteer opportunity within 50 miles of Sweet Valley, Elizabeth is doing it. I’m personally still stuck on the fact that Sweet Valley has poor people?? Anyway. He also says they’ll have to pay for his “property” and puts the club on probation. If they screw up again, he’s going to “forcibly abolish” them. Which, as far as I can tell, means the gas chamber.
The Unicorns show up at the Child Care Center for their first afternoon of indentured servitude. They meet Mrs. Willard, the woman who runs the center, who treats them “like they’re in a chain gang.” She leads them into the playroom, where children are running around everywhere, screaming and generally making a mess. They are completely unsupervised, which is why Mrs. Willard needs the Unicorns so badly. If I were them, I’d rat her out to the police and have her taken in for endangering the welfare of the kids. They don’t think of that.
All of the Unicorns are horrified, and rightly so, but Lila decides she absolutely cannot take this. She goes to call her daddy, and for some reason drags Mandy along with her to the pay phone. Lila whines and wheedles, but for once Mr. Fowler doesn’t give in. Another woman is on the phone next to Lila, and her young daughter keeps pulling at Lila. The woman’s name is Mrs. McMillan, and she is trying to find a job. This is IMPORTANT, so remember it. Her daughter’s name is Ellie, and she tells Lila she’s pretty. This is all it takes for Lila to quit complaining to Daddy and decide that kids aren’t all bad.
Elizabeth comes by a bit later to help out. Four pages are spent on how Jessica tries and fails to pull the Tom Sawyer fence-painting trick on her. Everything devolves into a chaos of thrown milk and paint, except for Lila and Ellie, who are quietly reading in the corner. AWWWW. One kid named Oliver seems to especially have it in for Jessica. Mrs. Willard walks in and is mad. Because the 12-year-olds who have been forced to work with children despite having no experience whatsoever are doing a predictably terrible job.
The next day, Mandy and Lila are walking to the Child Care Center after school when a “shabby old car” pulls up next to them. They’re both scared, because most people who drive shabby cars are kidnappers, but to their relief it’s just Mrs. McMillan and Ellie, who offer them a ride. Ellie is playing with a doll, which Mrs. McMillan explains was her birthday present and which “isn’t really a new doll, it’s just new for Ellie.” These people are POOR. The fact that Ellie received a secondhand doll breaks Lila’s heart, especially because Ellie reveals that the doll’s name is Lila. Lila doesn’t want her name attached to anything that isn’t brand-new and encrusted in diamonds. Mrs. McMillan also alludes to the fact that something Bad will happen if she doesn’t find a job soon. This is foreshadowing.
When Mandy and Lila arrive at the center, Jessica informs them that Mrs. Willard said if they don’t do a better job today, she’s going to tell Mr. Clark. There are no major conflicts, until Jessica and Mandy are playing a game of Go Fish with Oliver. Jessica for some reason suspects him of cheating, so she grabs his arm in order to see his hand. Uh, Jess, he’s like four years old. Jessica storms off in a tizzy to go make the snacks, and is interrupted when Mrs. Willard comes in to tell her she’s not washing the dishes correctly. This pushes her over the edge, and as soon as Mrs. Willard is out the door, she launches into a full-blown rant about how terrible the Center is and how much she hates it. All the kids hear her and are hurt, especially Oliver.
Just then, a delivery man from the toy store arrives with gifts for all the kids. Oh, dues ex machina, how Sweet Valley loves you. Actually it was Lila’s doing - that secondhand doll was just too much for her to bear, so she put her riches to good use and had new toys delivered for everyone. Methinks the Unicorns are a-changin’?
Going back to Mrs. McMillan’s problematic joblessness, it turns out that if she doesn’t find a job soon, she’s going to have to put Ellie in foster care. Ummm…okay? I’ve never heard of this happening ever, but who am I to argue with the Universe of Sweet Valley? Lila suggests to her father that they take Ellie in if it comes to this, but he reminds her that “a little girl isn’t a puppy.” Oh, Mr. Fowler. Lila relents and suggests maybe he could just find Mrs. McMillan a job. He says he’ll try, but that he can’t promise anything. Lila pouts, and Mandy makes a mental note that this newfound compassion just might make Lila a good Unicorn president.
The next day, it’s once again time for the Unicorns to go to the Center. But, OH NOES, Jessica is refusing. She finally caves when someone asks her to “do it for the Unicorns.” My heart is fluttering with the loyalty.
They get a ride from Lila’s chauffer because it’s pouring rain, and end up getting there late due to a traffic jam. Cue the wrath of Willardzilla. The kids are predictably running amok, and Mrs. Willard springs it on the girls that she has to leave to pick up one of her assistants whose car stalled. Which means that the Unicorns will be the only ones there with the kids!!! She says she’ll be back in twenty minutes, and tells them not to go in the basement and that the cat is missing. Then she takes off.
Two and a half hours later, Mrs. Willard isn’t back yet and the Unicorns are beginning to get paranoid. They inventory the food and make sure they have enough to survive if they get stuck there overnight. Because people die of starvation in one day.
Suddenly, there’s a loud clap of thunder and the power goes out. They realize that it’s quickly getting dark outside and the small amount of light that’s coming in from the windows will soon be gone, so they set about looking for candles and flashlights. Oliver volunteers that the Center stores those things … (dun dun DUN!) …in the basement.
Mary and Mandy are all, “but Mrs. Willard said not to go in the basement!” However, Jessica totally pwns them by pointing out that Mrs. Willard placed them in charge to use their common sense, and she probably wouldn’t expect them to sit all night in the dark with a bunch of scared kids. This actually makes sense, and Jessica’s take-charge attitude now has Mandy thinking that she would make a good president for the Unicorns.
So, Jessica heads down to the basement, kicking aside the brick which is propping open the door. She rolls up her pant legs because there are a few inches of water on the ground. Mandy is also standing by the door for some reason. Oliver sneaks up behind Mandy and scares her, somehow causing her to knock him down the stairs and tumbling into Jessica. O…kay. Mandy goes to get them a blanket, because now they’re all wet, and the basement door slams shut.
Guess what? It won’t open.
Mandy runs into the playroom to tell the Unicorns what happened. They freak out accordingly. Ellen suggests they try to knock down the door, which might have been a good idea if it wasn’t a steel door. (Why the hell is there a steel door to the basement? Does it double as a bank vault?) Then a kid named Arthur revels that the cat (Peppermint) knows a secret way into the basement. Because the Unicorns are truly desperate, they take the advice of this four-year-old and Mandy, Mary, and Ellen run around the side of the building with him while Lila stays with the kids.
There’s a window, which of course also won’t open. After some persistent knocking, Jessica and Oliver hear them, and it seems that the water is rising fast in the basement. Unfortunately, the window is too high for Jessica to reach. It seems all hope is lost for the more mischievous Wakefield and the small child she’s somehow bonded with.
While Mandy is rocking back forth trying to figure out what to do, Arthur runs off and returns a moment later with a few of the other kids, a brick, and a jump rope. That’s right folks, a troupe of kindergarteners have come to save the day. They use the brick to break the window, and then feed the jump rope in so Oliver and Jessica can rappel up the wall with the Unicorns and the kids holding on to the other end.
YAY everyone’s safe? Eh…not yet.
The second Jessica wriggles out of the window, lightning strikes a power line, causing it to snap, and the live wire is whipping around wildly. The Unicorns are hurriedly herding the kids inside when Oliver spots Peppermint crouched by the wires. He breaks free from Jessica’s grasp and OMG RUNS TO SAVE THE CAT. With the wire and all that.
In a moment of notable bravery, Jessica dashes after him and pulls him to safety seconds before the wire electrocutes them both.
In a moment of notable stupidity, Jessica goes back for the cat after passing Oliver off to Mary. She comes just as close to being electrocuted.
Everyone is inside drying off and excitedly talking about what happened when the menacing figure of Mrs. Willard appears in the doorway. Zoinks! She yells at the Unicorns for violating her orders and going outside, without giving them a chance to explain. Jessica steps up and says it’s all her fault, so Mrs. Willard directs the full force of her death glare at her and says she’s going to tell Mr. Clark that Jessica is “unreliable and irresponsible and that the Center would prefer that [she] not return.”
But! Li’l Oliver steps forward and says he’s the one to blame! And then Arthur does the same thing! All the kids who are old enough to walk and talk do the same thing. In a shocking moment of reversal, Jessica is surrounded in support by the very same kids she was previously so disgusted by. Awwww. Then everyone’s parents get there all at once, and everyone leaves without really resolving anything.
On Monday, no one is sure whether they’re supposed to go back to the center or not, but Mr. Clark hasn’t said anything to anyone, so they decide to go. The kids are excited to see them, and Mrs. Willard apologizes to Jessica. Everything seems perfect, except for one thing…Ellie isn’t there. Apparently Mrs. McMillan took her to an interview with Foster Care Services. Mandy and Lila are worried, but Mrs. Willard tries to assure them it’s just a precaution and Ellie might not even have to go into foster care. When the Unicorns leave, Mrs. Willard tells them their thirty hours are up. They’re free! And yet…this somehow makes them feel sad. They decide to have a party for the kids at Lila’s house.
Mandy and Jessica show up to Lila’s on the day of the party, and are greeted by a clown on stilts. Of course. He directs them to the backyard, casually mentioning something about how there’s been a slight problem with the elephant. Yes, elephant. It seems that Lila didn’t believe the rest of the Unicorns when they said the kids would be happy with a normal, simple party, and she has gone totally hog-wild circus-themed omg. It’s kind of cute, actually. Mr. Fowler meets Ellie and decides she looks just like Lila when she as that age. More with the cuteness.
There is a drawn out and sappy scene where Ellie’s mom is late to pick her up and Ellie gets sad but then Mrs. McMillan appears and the sun comes out and everything is peachy keen rah rah.
The Unicorns are now back where they started, trying to decide who will be their next president. They decide to have speeches, and this lasts for about thirty seconds before devolving into a discussion about taking the kids to the zoo and getting club jackets. But, Mandy realizes, they are finally “a club where the members bring out the best in one another.”
At school, they all discuss how nice it is to not have to go to the Center, and the various things they plan to do with their newly free afternoon. Mandy secretly misses the kids, though, and plans to go there anyway. She doesn’t tell anyone because she’s afraid they’ll think she’s a dork. Which she is. But Mary, Ellen, and Jessica are there too, so I guess they’re also dorks.
The kids are glad to see them, and Mrs. Willard even tells them that she’s going to write a letter to Mr. Clark saying how wonderful the Unicorns are. This is so picture perfect, and just a little bit déjà vu. There’s only one thing wrong. Once again, Ellie is missing. It seems Mrs. McMillan has had to go to L.A. to find a job, and has placed Ellie in foster care after all. Everyone is sad, particularly Mary, who seems to have some sort of out-of-body flashback to her own days of being a foster child. Just then, Lila comes “bopping” in. She sees everyone’s faces, sees the kids, realizes Ellie isn’t there, and figures things out. It is sad.
The next day at school, Lila is mean to Lois Waller. Mandy the shrink realizes that Lila just wants to hurt Lois because she has been hurt herself. There’s some squabbling about “reverting,” etc. Then the Unicorns are all called into Mr. Clark’s office.
It seems he found the can of paint Jessica used to paint the lockers, and he disbands the Unicorns, declaring them an “illegal organization.” Which sounds kind of cool, sort of like the Mafia. The purple Mafia. Except it’s not really that cool. They’re not allowed to congregate in groups of more than two, and he’s telling all their parents so they can enforce the rules at home, too. Elizabeth and Maria Slater offer Mandy some sympathy, and tell her they’ll try to think of a way to save the Unicorns. After all the good they’ve done, even Elizabeth and Maria approve. Well damn.
“Coincidentally,” all the Unicorns end up at the Center the next day. Lila is once again late, and she bursts in looking all excited. Her dad has found a job for Mrs. McMillan. Unfortunately, Mrs. Willard has no contact information for Mrs. McMillan or Ellie’s foster family. Lila starts crying. But, Hark the Herald Angels Sing! Yuky, one of the kids who is usually very quiet and shy (you know, since she’s Asian) knows what street Ellie lives on! The Unicorns gallop out of the center, ignoring Mrs. Willard’s calls that she knows they aren’t supposed to be together.
They look up and down the entire street and don’t find Ellie. They’re just about to give up when they spot a playground where a small, brown-haired girl is on the swing. It’s Ellie! They run to each other, hug, the whole bit. Then they explain things to Ellie’s predictably confused foster mother, whose name is Mrs. Conwell. They all go back to Mrs. Conwell’s house and call Mrs. McMillan with the good news. She can come back to Sweet Valley, get her daughter back, and start work at Fowler Enterprises the next Monday.
Back on the Save the Unicorns front, Elizabeth and Maria have come up with the brilliant idea of…a petition. Elizabeth plans to get everyone from the Center to sign it. Which is a sweet idea, and probably would be effective, but it’s not really worth all the excitement and secretiveness Mandy puts into it.
Mandy is getting out of class after the final bell and stressing about whether the petition will work when she hears some chanting from outside. The Unicorns all find each other and push to the front of the crowd. Suddenly the chant is discernible: “Save the Unicorns!” Title of Book FTW!! Elizabeth, Maria, and Mrs. Willard, plus all the kids and their parents, have formed a demonstration. Mrs. Willard makes a speech about how the Unicorns have helped at the center, been heroic in a storm, thrown the kids a party, and reunited a family. Mr. Clark’s heart of ice melts, and the Unicorns are reborn.
However, they still need a president. And after declaring their newfound mission to bring out the best in one another rather than the worst, Jessica and Lila nominate Mandy to be president. Surprised? About twenty seconds later, Mandy and the others vote to invite Elizabeth and Maria to join the Unicorns to go along with the image change. After all, they wouldn’t even exist if not for them. They accept, and the New, Improved Unicorns take all the kids to the zoo.
Then there’s a lead-in to the next book, which involves the Unicorns working at a thrift store in order to raise money to repaint the lockers and buy Mr. Clark a new toupee.