Sweet Valley High #64: The Ghost of Tricia Martin

Steven met a girl named Andrea that is apparently the 700^th doppelganger of Tricia Martin, his long ago dead girlfriend. Liz warns him that just because she looks like Tricia that doesn’t mean she is exactly like her. He agrees, but secretly thinks that Andrea will be exactly like Tricia.

On their first date, he takes her to a restaurant where he went with Tricia, suggests she order the chef’s salad, which was Tricia’s favorite dish and marvels at how alike they are. Andrea interrupts him, saying that he called her Tricia multiple times. He apologizes, breaks down, tells her the whole story and she agrees to keep seeing him.

Liz asks what he plans on doing about Cara (you know, his actually girlfriend). He feels kind of guilty, but then blows his sister off. He does call Cara, but only so he can take his mind off Andrea. During their phone conversation, he thinks about how she acts way too immature for him. Apparently cheating on your long-term girlfriend is mature behavior.

Steven surprises Cara with a secret date, which involves hiking. She wears the wrong shoes because he never told her what they were doing. He treats her like crap during the entire date until she is practically in tears. He finally apologizes, but instead of telling her the truth, he blames it on schoolwork.

He keeps dating Andrea and trying to turn her into Tricia. He takes her to the same places he went with his ex, like the aquarium. He flips out when she wants vanilla ice cream because Tricia always ordered chocolate. He wants her wearing her hair down because Tricia wore her hair down. then he decides to take hang gliding lessons to take his mind off the two girls.

Cara tries talking to Liz, who won’t say anything and betray her brother. Jess and Lila convince her to go shopping and she overhears Andrea making a date with Steven on the phone. Cara calls him that night and he accuses her of eavesdropping on him. They fight and he “accidentally” breaks up with her. At his next lesson, he keeps thinking about the two girls and crashes.

Jessica starts dating a do-gooder named Keith because he looks really cute. He takes her to protests, lectures and other places she hates. Jess finally snaps and makes him take her to a mind numbing commercial movie. She sees Andrea kissing another guy.

The whole family rushes to the hospital to see Steven. Cara comes and gets there just in time to hear him call for Tricia. She runs off and he whispers her name. When Steven wakes up, Jess tells him all about Andrea and the other guy. He pretends that it was a friend, but then sees her kissing him outside. When he confronts her, Andrea tells him that they only went out five times, they were never serious and she found someone that likes her for her and not a dead girl. She even shoots him down when he suggests they stay friends, ouch.

Cara comes back, tells him she appreciated their relationship and tries to leave. He starts to ask her a question and when he won’t finish, she demands he finish. He kind of apologizes, she tells him that she still loves him and they make up because she is a huge wuss. Oh and the book ends with Ned and Alice fighting constantly.