The Immortal (Christopher Pike)

Sweet Valley High #120: In Love with the Enemy

I love Ken Matthews. I hate Jessica Wakefield. By the transitive property, I should hate Jessica for loving Ken…or something like that.

It’s big game night in Sweet Valley, which must mean it’s a Friday night. Though don’t they have games at weird times of the week, like a Wednesday night game sometimes? Apparently SVH and Palisades are having a big rivalry and it’s driving both schools crazy. Foreshadowing perhaps…

Todd agreed to hold seats at the game for Liz and Enid because Liz was working on a story. They get there late and the only seats they can find are on the opposing side. They meet these two girls Caitlin and Marla, who work on the other school’s newspaper. They start talking about a way to get the two schools together. Liz suggests a poetry reading and Enid correctly says that only a few people would show up. They finally decide to host a co-dance and get so excited with the idea that they miss the end of the game.

Jess has been whoring it up, er cheering on the sidelines and even she takes some time away from her own life, to realize that the other school is playing dirty. One of the players hits Ken slightly above the belt, just as he’s going in for a touchdown and Palisades wins.

The other players want to have a rumble (ha! So 1950s musical right now), but Ken convinces them not to play dirty. He gets into a funk and not even Jess can help him. Actually she doesn’t really try. She wants to go to the Dairi Burger, he doesn’t, so she runs off in a huff. Ken, Todd and Aaron bond and get into a fight with some guys from the other team. Ken even gets punched again.

Jessica goes to the beach with Lila and Amy the next day and there’s a big surfing competition going on. Jess keeps wandering around, trying to look all hot in the hopes of ending up on television. Rosie Shaw is a big deal surfer, who wins the competition and then tries to make Jess’s life a living hell. Actually she just picks on her because Jessica thinks that she can win the next competition and that cheerleading is harder than surfing. Lila even makes a bet with her over surfing.

The guys decide to have a guy’s night at Bruce’s house, but it’s really lame. They basically sit around, cook out, watch some movies, play tennis (?) and play pool. Ken tries to call Jessica because he blew her off earlier in the night and feels bad, but the other guys make fun of him. Bruce decides to paint the football field at Palisades and only Winston talks back. Bruce demands they play a round of poker, with the winner making the final choice. He wins and they paint “Palisades Pumas purr like kittens”. I’m totally naming my make believe band that name,

Jessica is taking the surfing thing seriously. She gets up before sunrise and heads to the beach with Steven’s board. Wait, when did Steven start surfing? Shouldn’t that have been mentioned before? Anyway, she crashes, but this random guy saves her. His name is Christian Gorman and he offers to be her teacher.

Liz, Enid and the other girls meet for brunch, which proves that Liz is a 40 year old woman stuck in the body of a teenage girl. They decide to host a costume party, so no one knows who is who. The other girls know of an old factory they can use for the party, but it’s slated for demolition and they have to hold the party that weekend. Time to shape up!

Jessica and Ken start having problems right away because he feels bad for what they did and Jessica doesn’t want to listen to him. Instead she makes him leave, so she can get up early in the morning. Liz has her own problems because no one likes the idea of a dance, at least not one with Palisades. Bruce goes off on her and other people deface her posters or rip them down. She has an odd moment where she thinks that the dance isn’t a good idea and that something bad might happen.

Jessica, who’s totally in love with Ken, starts spending more time with Christian. She opens up about how she’s jealous of Liz or at least of how people treat her and he tells her all about his perfect brother, who sounds exactly like Liz. By the way, I think Jess gets just as much attention. Anyway, they bond and end up making out. They keep getting closer (in like two days) and even when he’s all weird and distant, she’s sure that they’re soul mates.

The prank war between the two schools keeps getting worse. Palisades toilet papers all the guys’ cars and writes in shaving cream. The Sweet Valley guys start wearing jean jackets and sunglasses and form a gang mentality. This all leads up to some big fight scheduled for the night of the dance. Nice of them to schedule it in advance.

Liz and the other girls contemplate abandoning the dance, but instead decide to force people to see how good each school is. Ah Liz, god bless her heart. Even Jess says she should call the dance off, but Liz would rather write a special edition of the Oracle, focusing on Palisades.

Liz goes to Palisades High and as soon as she mentions where she’s from, no one will talk to her. A group of guys even tries to run her off. By the way, she got to take time off school for this. Turns out the other girls didn’t fare any better on their visit to SVH. Gasp! People in Sweet Valley treating others like crap? How can this be?

While working on her special edition, Bruce pops up to tell everyone that Tom McKay was intentionally hit with a tennis ball during his last match with Palisades. Liz doesn’t want to write about it or the rivalry, but Mr. Collins overrules her and puts it in the paper. Everyone focuses on the bad stuff and her stories end up on the trash heap.

Despite the fact that she’s now all “in love” with someone else, Jess goes to the dance with Ken. She makes him promise that he won’t fight, but he doesn’t really listen to her. All of the guys head outside and the girls start realizing that it’s a non-sausage fest party. Liz finally calls the cops, but the fight has already started.

Ken is fighting with a few guys, when he finds himself up against the leader of the Palisades group. Conveniently he’s the leader, but has never been mentioned before and never shown up in any of the other scenes. They start fighting and the guy knocks him on the ground and keeps punching him. Jessica runs outside, just in time to realize that the leader of the Palisades group is none other than Christian! Oh noes, what could happen next??