Sweet Valley Junior High #25: Drama Queen

Let's get the Toby/Anna story out of the way because it is easily the most boring of the group. They both got cast in West Side Story, but Toby is super busy trying to be a huge star. He keeps getting distracted by Anna because she is so beautiful and he just can't concentrate on learning his lines.

Anna thinks that he isn't interested in her, especially since they are dating but he hasn't kissed her yet. Then he does kiss her and she's suddenly fine. The lead in the play gets sick and since they apparently don't have understudies, they decide to move Anna up. She has like two weeks to learn all of her lines and get ready for the show.

Toby starts getting super annoying. They fight over who is the better singer, and he keeps acting like a big star. They fight all the time until her mom calls them out on it and they try to calm down. They make up just in time for the first performance and they naturally do a great job and everyone loves them.

Jessica and Lacey kind of get a B-plot in the book. There's a huge school-wide Olympics thing that divides the school into different teams, and they wind up on the same team. The first event is an egg toss and they do a good job until Lacey hits Jessica in the chest with an egg. They keep getting paired up, and Lacey goes out of her way to make her look stupid.

Jessica is also worried because Lacey keeps flirting with Damon, who tries to keep the peace without actually telling Lacey that she is a bitch. They wind up together in the thre-legged race and when Lacey decides to try and throw the race, Jessica literally picks her up and drags her across the finish line. Ronald the dork gets put in another event and wins it for their team, which makes Lacey get into the events.

Of course by the time she develops some team spirit, the competition is almost over. The last event is a tug of war. Jessica and Lacey are on the same team and they almost win, but start fighting and end up getting eliminated. They do work together though and their team places second overall. Everyone thinks that they will get along now, but they both snap at each other and agree that things won't be so nice when they meet again.

*The Olympics thing is weird because they apparently let the kids pick whether or not they want to participate. We had things like this in my school, but you didn't get to skip it because you were in drama club or something.

*They also take attendance and no team can win any event unless every member of the team, including those not participating, is there. That's funny because in an early event that they win, Lacey isn't there. Later though, they can't win unless she shows up.

*Toby is a real dick in this book. Anna says that he did some commercials and other things when he was a baby/toddler, which apparently makes him an expert in all things acting.