Sweet Valley High #22: Too Much in Love

DeeDee Gordon is a little obsessed with Bill Chase and by obsessed I mean, obsessed. They’ve been together awhile, 14 books or so, which in Sweet Valley High time is like three years. She’s made him the center of her world, paranoid that he might leave her.

Mr. Collins puts Liz in charge of the school talent show and she asks Dee to do the sets. Dee decides that she can’t give her an answer, until she finds out if Bill is going to enter the talent show. What, is he going to ride a mechanical surfboard? He initially agrees, but then changes his mind because he’s too busy and yet somehow, she still does the sets.

Basically, Dee blames her mom for her parents’ divorce. She thinks that her mom caused him to leave because she was too independent. She also thinks that if she clings to Bill and makes him realize how much she needs him, he’ll never leave. Yup, because that’s what guys like, especially high school guys.

Bill and Dee have a double date planned, with Patty Gilbert and her college boyfriend Jim. When Bill wins some stupid swim meet, he has to go to another one on Friday and can’t make their date. Dee acts like it’s the end of the world, moping about how they never see them and kind of making it seem like Bill should skip his meet. Eventually she decides that the three of them will go to the meet and then go out after. Jim finds the whole thing funny because it’s kind of lame. When Bill wins, Dee runs down to the pool and grabs him in a big hug, embarrassing him in front of the other swimmers.

This leads to Bill deciding to go out with Dana Larson. It’s not a date, which he keeps thinking to himself and she’s even dating a guy from out of town, but it sure seems like a date. They go to the movies together on a Saturday. Unfortunately, they run into Jessica and Cara on the way out. Jess thinks it’s the perfect way to get back at Dee for “stealing” Bill away. She corners Dee at a talent show meeting and tells her what she saw.

Dee waits a few days and then confronts him at school. Bill realizes that nothing has changed between them and that he doesn’t want someone who has no life away from him. He tells her that they should call it quits and storms off, while she cries constantly. They talk later and he says that maybe once they give it some time, they can try again. Dee wants to try again immediately and they break up completely.

Liz and Patty decide to come up with a scheme, to help Dee get her confidence back. Liz pretends like she has laryngitis and can’t run the meetings, putting Dee in charge. She doesn’t think she can do it, especially when everything falls apart at the same time. The sewing machine to make the costumes broke, the audio isn’t working and the PTA scheduled a meeting in the auditorium for the same time. Why is one person making everyone’s costumes? Shouldn’t everyone make their own?

Dee goes to the Wakefield house, but Jess makes her think that Liz is really sick, so she leaves. She starts making plans to fix everything and runs into Bill. He thinks that she seems more like her old self, mainly because she blows him off and has no time for him. She fixes all the problems and then has a heart to heart talk with her mom, who tells her that women need to be independent and they had a lot of problems, not connected to Dee.

The B-plot involves Ned and Alice leaving the girls alone for the week, while they go to Mexico City. Jess wants to throw a party because Lila wants to, while Liz thinks it’s a bad idea. She also wants to assert her independence, by doing work around the house. She does a load of laundry, but crams the washer full. She’s trying to make mini pizzas, when the washer explodes and they end up with a $75 repair bill. Plus, can’t she think of something better for her party, than mini pizzas?

Lila is dating some random guy from college named Drake and she asks him to come to the party and bring some of his frat brothers. They also get a call from Alice, warning them about some special project she has in the study, which you just know will end badly. Jessica then gets caught trying to break into her own house. The cops let her off with a warning.

The night of the party arrives and of course, things get out of control. The neighbors keep calling about the loud music and the college guys show up with beer. The cops eventually show up and threaten to shut down the party, but Steve walks out. Apparently their parents asked him to watch over them. He agrees to take responsibility and the cops leave.

They discover that someone spilled beer all over Alice’s plans. Jessica goes to Dee, apologizes for the Bill thing and asks her to fix the plans. Dee doesn’t care so much about the Bill thing because she needed it. Of course she manages to fix the plans perfectly and Alice can’t even tell. Alice does expect the girls to pay for a vase that broke at the party, but they don’t even get in trouble for throwing the party.

The talent show goes off without a hitch and everyone praises Dee. Actually everyone praises Liz and she decides to let Dee share the spotlight, even though she pretty much did all the work. Bill shows up and tells her that he loves her and wants to give it another shot. They decide to take things slow this time around.

Throughout the book, Liz keeps thinking that Todd is acting funny. He keeps acting distant and commenting about how beautiful/smart she is. He does a performance at the show, reading a really depressing poem. At the end, he tells her that his dad got a transfer and they’re moving to Vermont!