Sweet Valley Twins #34: Jessica, the Rock Star

Jessica won free tickets to see Melody Power in concert, and she took Elizabeth with her. She cannot wait until school the next day when she can tell her friends all about it. They stay up late talking about the show, and Jessica can barely get to sleep because she's so excited.

The next day, Elizabeth goes downstairs for breakfast and Jessica makes a dramatic entrance covered in scarves and necklaces like Melody wears. She tells her family that she wants to be a rock star when she grows up, which leads to Steven teasing her because she can barely sing. She goes to school and brags about the concert but mainly just wants everyone to know that she's going to be a star.

Conveniently, Bruce, Aaron and some random guy just formed a rock band and need a lead singer. Jessica decides to go to the auditions, and she spends hours getting ready. Elizabeth notices that her twin keeps singing in this weird gravely voice and tells her that she should use her own voice. Jessica doesn't care though because she thinks that she sounds great. Elizabeth also tells her that some other talented girls are auditioning, including Dana Larson.

She heads over to Bruce's house, but before anyone can do anything, his mom calls him upstairs. She needs to use the house for some random charity thing and her friends are sick of listening to his band. She tells him that he can't practice there anymore, and no one else has cool parents. Jessica suggests that they use her house because her parents love music. It's no surprise when they pick her as their lead singer, and only Elizabeth seems to wonder if it has more to do with their basement and less to do with her singing.

Jessica quickly becomes the gopher for the band. Every time she wants to practice, they ask her to run an errand like getting them drinks or riding her bike over to Bruce's to find him some extra strings. They only let her sing a few times, and they all grimace at her horrible singing. Elizabeth tells her to try using her own voice, but she thinks that she knows better.

She spends so much time with the band that the Unicorns get pissed because she misses a few meetings. The band, NRG, decides to tape their practice so they can see if they can pick up on anything they did wrong. Jessica keeps the tape after they leave, hears herself sing, and realizes that she's terrible. She starts practicing on her own so that she can get her voice in shape before their first gig.

Elizabeth goes to the mall with her mom and hears the boys in the department store. They lied to Jessica about what time the gig started because they want her to miss it, and they even pick out clothes without her. She comes home to find her sister practicing and sounding a lot better. The next day, she lies and tells Jessica that Bruce called and told her what to wear and what time the show was.

Jessica gets to the party on time and discovers that they actually started a lot earlier. She realizes what they did to her and decides to show them up. She gets on stage and sings with them and naturally they are awesome. All the kids at the party hated them until she got there, but they suddenly get up and start dancing. They are such a hit that other people start calling and requesting gigs. Bruce treats Jessica like a princess and brings her drinks, but she decides to quit the band. She invites the Unicorns over and kick the band out, saying that she isn't ready to be a star.

*Wait, so 30 books ago Jessica was too young to see a rock concert with her friends, but now she's old enough to go out late on a school night with just her twin? Alice's explanation was that she would be disappointed if they didn't let her go.

*Apparently the show sold out within five minutes, and the only SVMS students who went were the twins and Mary because her step-dad is a huge fan.

*She changes her name to Gem because Jessica is too boring and then changes the signs/poster she makes so they all highlight her name as the lead singer.

*Supposedly NRG is such a hot band that even high school kids want them. Yes because nothing says a hot high school party like a bunch of sixth and seventh graders hanging around!

*It's super annoying that they keep changing the twins' voices. In some books, they can barely carry a tune, and then in other books, they are practically superstars.