Sweet Valley High #64: The Ghost of Tricia Martin

Steven Wakefield is an ass and Cara Walker is a moron and this book reinforces both.

Steven met this girl Andrea, who looks just like his dead girlfriend Tricia. I fear that Mr. Walker got around town, considering how many girls pop up, looking just like his daughter. He doesn’t tell Cara that they have a date planned because he thinks that he needs to go out with her just once. He’ll see how different she is from Tricia and get over her right away.

Their first date isn’t exactly one for the record books. He keeps calling her Tricia and when she calls him on it, he tells her about the other girl. Personally if a guy went out with me because I looked like his dead girlfriend and then proceeded to call me by her name, I’d be out the door right away. She ends up liking him and agrees to call him, though she says she’ll call the next day and he wants to talk to her right away.

Steven doesn’t let his obsession take over completely (yet) and remembers he has a girlfriend. He calls Cara and thinks about how gossipy and young she sounds over the phone. He plans a surprise date of a hike and then gets pissed because she wears a dress and sandals and can’t keep up with him. He keeps comparing her to Andrea and putting the other girl up on a pedestal.

He keeps planning dates with Andrea that mimic his dates with Tricia. He takes her to the aquarium and gets upset when she wants a vanilla cone, instead of a chocolate cone because Tricia liked chocolate. He also keeps pulling down her hair because Tricia wore it down and Andrea wore it down. Eventually he decides to take up hang gliding because it’s something different and will take his mind off his girl troubles. Cara thinks it sounds dangerous, but Andrea admires him for doing it.

Liz has to get in the middle of things because it is a Sweet Valley High book. She sees Cara getting disappointed and feeling bad about the situation, but no one wants to tell her the truth. She pushes Steve to tell her about Andrea and he blows her off.

Jess has a different way of handling Cara: she takes her shopping with Lila. They wander into the Unique Boutique and see Andrea. Cara overhears her talking to Steve on the phone, about a date and runs home. She calls him and confronts him about it. He kind of makes her feel like shit and accusing her of spying on him. They break up over the phone.

Steve feels bad and decides to go hang gliding to get his mind off things. He crashes and ends up unconscious at the hospital. Jessica calls Cara, who arrives just in time to hear him call out for Andrea. He asks for her after she runs away and Jessica runs to tell her.

When he wakes up, he calls Andrea and asks her to visit him. Jessica lets it slip that she saw Andrea out with another guy, but he blows it off, thinking that it was a friend or relative. While he’s getting dressed, he sees her kissing a guy outside.

He pretty much goes off on Andrea, but she isn’t having it. She tells him that they only went out five times and didn’t promise each other anything. Look, five dates with someone is a big deal, especially if you go out in a row and talk to each other every night. She tells him that she likes the guy and that he likes her for her, not because she looks like someone.

Cara comes to the hospital because Jess calls her. She tells Steve that she loves him and their relationship was special, but she can’t compete with a memory. He starts to ask her for another chance, trails off and she demands to hear what he had to say. He realizes that he does love her and they get back together. Whatevs. I used to like you Cara.

The other story involves Ned and Alice fighting all the time and over everything. She thinks Steven hang gliding is dangerous and Ned thinks it’s a good idea, even offering him a loan to cover it. At the end of the book, when they come home from the hospital, Alice offers to make him steak. Ned wants her to go to the store and get him something different and they fight in front of the kids. Gee, I wonder where this is going?