Sweet Valley University #26: The Trial of Jessica Wakefield

So Jessica gets hauled in the police station, where they rip her a new one for selling the cocaine. Liz has no idea it happened, so she continues to moon over Tom. She calls him, begging for a second change and he finally agrees to meet her in 15 minutes. They meet and Tom calls it off, when she refuses to take back what she said about his dad.

I love how this book keeps referring to Liz as being sexually harassed by his dad. I don’t think he was really harassing her, so much as hitting on her and possibly even stalking her.

The book then jumps to Celine, who’s waiting around for Jordan. He tells her that he got back a package, but the cops arrested the girl who took his package. Celine kicks him out and flips out because he didn’t get any money. She needs the money to pay for the stuff at the Theta house and to pay back the guys who gave her the drugs on loan. First of all, I’d be more worried about the drug dealers coming for me and second, what kind of dealer gives someone that much coke on credit? Especially someone they’ve never seen before! They do show up at the Theta house and tell her if she doesn’t pay within 5 days, she’s a goner.

Of course no one bothers to tell the Wakefields that their daughter is in jail. Apparently they’re going on some long awaited dream trip to Australia, so Steven and Billie agree to cover the bail. They wait until the next day to call Liz, who seems more concerned about picking out clothes for Jess than the fact that she’s in jail. Note to Liz: she can’t wear her own fucking clothes in prison.

Jessica meets this woman Marian in jail, but for some reason, can’t see her face. I guess they have rooms rather than cells. The woman tried to kill her abusive husband and warns Jess about Judge Dodd. The next day, a group of women gang up on Jessica and Marian saves her ass. She realizes it’s her when she sees some special ring the woman wears.

Jess goes to court and of course gets Dodd. He decides to hold a grand jury hearing to see if the charges should stick. Apparently they want 12 years minimum for the possession, which seems about right. He sets her bail at $250,000 and of course no one can raise $25,000 for bond. I love this! Doesn’t Lila spend that much on clothes and makeup every month? Couldn’t Bruce pawn one of his rings to cover the costs?

Nick goes to see her. He doesn’t believe her story at all, but we’re treated to pages where he talks about how beautiful she is and how she doesn’t see him like a drug dealer. He starts investigating her case and gets thrown off the force, actually suspended. The chief basically tells him that the case is over and they caught their man, but he won’t stop.

Alex is now working at the call center and gets a call from Jordan. Using a fake name, he tells her what happened with Celine and starts freaking out before hanging up. He calls back again, telling her that he’s leaving town. She runs to Noah and they tell Nick what they learned.

This leads to a truly uncomfortable situation where Nick goes to the engineering department and learns about the internet. I know it was the late 1990s and not everyone knew what it was at the time, but come on! We had it in our house for a few years by then and I was using it everyday at school. Nick thinks they’re talking about actual surfing and that the guys are going to attack when they talk about firewalls and shit. He goes off a search for Jordan.

Tom goes to see his dad and gives him the chance to fess up. Good old George actually cries, trying to figure out why Liz would lie about him. Then he goes back to being weird and creepy, but Tom fails to pick up on it. Like he wants to go to the trial, just to be there for her and practically forces Tom to go.

Celine gets a notice from her credit card, saying that if she doesn’t pay her bill in three days, they’ll repossess the furniture in the Theta house. Um, I’m pretty sure the credit card can’t do that. They can sue her, but not actually take what she bought. How would they even know what she bought and what belonged to the house?

She tries to break into a safe at the house, but it doesn’t work. She does find Lila’s bank card, puts on the hat from the hatbox and passes herself off as Lila. She loves how they treat her so much that she thinks about going back a few times and taking out more money. I love this part too. She shows up in a big hat, keeps her face covered, presents Lila’s bank card and they give her the money. No ID, nothing! She sees some guy walk out and thinks it’s the manager, but it’s actually George Fowler. She grabs the money and runs.

Liz goes to a frat party, where she ends up drinking way too much punch. Two guys literally tell her the punch is spiked, but she thinks they’re making fun of her for not drinking beer. Someone grabs her and it turns out it’s Todd. She wakes up the next day in his bed and her first thought is that he took advantage of her. Nice way to trust a guy. He actually slept on the floor. She notices how hot he looks before realizing that the trial’s about to start. He gives her his lucky sweatband.

At the trial, they’re basically about to agree to a real trial, when Nick comes running in with Jordan. He tells the cop what happened and he arrests Celine on the spot. It doesn’t help that she wore the hat from the hatbox to the trial. Jessica is let off, Nick gets his job back and they make up. Liz sees Tom leaving and realizes that he came to the trial because he loves her. She goes to take back Todd’s sweatband and forgets all about Tom when she sees him looking all hot. The book ends with them kissing, or actually Liz throwing herself at him.