Sweet Valley High #70: Ms. Quarterback

The word is out at Sweet Valley High: Scott Trost failed one of his classes and is no longer eligible to play. Everyone attacks Terri, wanting to know if Ken plans on trying out. Remember how he was blind just a few books ago? Yeah, well he’s totally better now, so don’t worry. Terri knows that he isn’t necessarily perfect again, so she’s naturally worried when he signs up for the tryouts.

Claire Middleton is the new girl in school and she signs up for the tryouts too. Jessica thinks she’s pretty enough to join the sorority, but when she talks to her, Claire goes off on the cheerleaders. She doesn’t get why athletic girls (or any girl) would waste time on cheering. To make matters worse, Jessica’s new crush Danny seems interested in her too.

The whole school starts rallying behind Claire and even the newspaper does a story on her. She’s really good and even beats Ken at a few challenges. Jessica spreads a story about what she said and guys gang up on Claire. They take stuff from her, put toothpaste in her shoes and mess up her locker. Terri stops to talk to her and sees a signed picture from a cute guy named Ted in her locker.

Terri is feeling really bad about her relationship with Ken because he doesn’t talk to her and never has time for her. She tries talking to him multiple times and he kind of blows her off. She runs into the cheerleaders and vents about Claire, revealing the story of the picture. The girls decide to get back at her by coming up with a cheer about him.

Steven comes back because frankly he never spends time at school. He tells Liz about Ted Middleton, a hotshot football player from SVU that died earlier that year. Wait a second! According to the later books and the SVU series, Tom Watts is the star quarterback at the time! Anyway, Liz realizes that Ted must be Claire’s brother, but tells no one.

At the big scrimmage, the girls do their special cheer and Claire quits, walking off the field. Liz tells the girls about Claire’s brother and they all feel terrible. Terri feels worse because she told them about him. She goes to Claire, tells her the story and apologizes. The coach agrees to give her the second string spot on the team and make Ken the top quarterback.

Ken admits that he knew Terri was worried, but didn’t know what to say or do. She tells him that she was worried he wouldn’t want to date her when he got his eyesight back. He pretty much agrees with her and then she takes him back! At the first game, his eyesight goes out and Claire takes the field. The squad does a new cheer for her, she wins the game and everyone is happy.