Sweet Valley University #37: Breaking Away

This is one of the 400 books in the series where absolutely nothing happens. It seriously takes 200+ pages to tell a few days. Jess comes home after hearing rumors that Liz is leaving Sweet Valley, only to find her twin cooking a gourmet dinner. Trust me, she ain’t making shit on a hot plate. I speak from experience.

Jessica freaks out when she learns Liz is moving to Denver because she can’t understand why she wouldn’t talk to her about it. Didn’t she do the exact same thing when she wanted to go to Switzerland? Jessica storms off, but no one wants to hear her whines. They point out all the “shitty” stuff her twin does and Jess gets excited enough that she decides to throw her a party.

Tom mopes about Liz leaving, while Dana wants to throw a party of her own. She runs into Scott, who tells her that she needs to make sure she keeps Tom happy. Then Liz wanders around campus, running into dozens of people who think she’s making a great decision. Tom then shoves it in her face, telling her he never wants to see her again.

Then we have Denise, who’s still trying to pay off her credit card bills. She took out a loan and now ran through all that money and she still has bills due. She decides to take a job, catering Liz’s party in the hopes that it will lead to other jobs. Jessica turns all demanding, wanting the best including lobster and caviar.

Liz has a moment with Scott, where she realizes that she barely notices him. Then she forgets about it, telling herself that she’ll get to know him in time. Smart. Winston throws Liz a surprise party, which ends with Liz running off. Jessica accuses her of leaving because of Tom and crying because she still loves him, but she denies it. Jess then learns that Nick is considering leaving the force and enrolling in school, which makes her want to vomit. She fell in love with a cop, not a man! How could she possibly love someone who wasn’t exciting and dangerous?

Jessica then decides to ruin Liz’s chances at going away. She meets with one of the representatives in a slutty outfit and keeps talking about partying and dancing all the time. She even kisses him, but he takes it all in stride and says she will loosen up some of the people.

Tom gets his invite to Liz’s party and doesn’t want to go, but then Dana shows up. They agree to go together, but have a moment where she wants to make out on an old couch in the station. He won’t because he used to kiss Liz on the couch, but then decides that if Liz is leaving, he needs to make room in his life for new things. He once again makes out with Dana because he’s pissed at Liz.

Denise cooks her ass off before the party, but can’t find the lobster. It turns out that they left it in the car and now it’s ruined. Winston runs off to find a cheap alternative and returns with tofu. She says it won’t work, but then Bruce and Lila fall for it. Bruce keeps talking about it being the best lobster every and eats almost the whole thing. He hires her to cater a party for his parents the next night, but makes her promise to make the lobster ala Denise.

Jessica spends the whole night trying to figure out how to make Liz stay. She sees Tom wander outside and grabs Liz’s coat. She goes to see him and lets him think that she’s Liz. He kisses her and they end up going at it for a few minutes. Dana sees it and starts crying, then Scott sees it and runs to get Liz.

Liz sees them kissing and tries not to burst into tears. Dana throws a party for herself because she knows this will break them up for good. Liz then gives a goodbye speech, trying not to cry as she thanks her sister for her support. Liz runs home crying because she can’t believe her sister would do that to her. Really Liz? Did you forget about your sister nearly framing you for murder and then stealing your boyfriend? Yup, Jessica would never, ever kiss your guy. Lame.

Oh, but surprise, surprise Steven and Billie go to the party. I thought Billie was in Spain, studying the guitar? Did she come back just for this party? How come no one threw her a party when she left? Also, why did Steven get dropped from the books? When they come back for their sophomore year, he only pops up in one book!