Sweet Valley Twins #41: The Twins Get Caught

The twin's grandparents are coming for a visit, which naturally means that Elizabeth can't wait to see them and Jessica things it's a huge pain. She's got stuff to do yo. The Unicorns have a bunch of meetings, Lila wants to go shopping, and she just can't be bothered to deal with with the people who are responsible for her mother. Elizabeth's also a little worried because she knows they're getting up there in years. She thinks that they'll probably be too tired to do anything with them.


The first night they get there, her grandmother loses her glasses that are on her head, and her grandfather falls asleep on the couch. They also complain about going up the stairs, which flips out Liz. She gets up early the next day to make them boiled eggs and oatmeal, which no one else in the house likes. She basically goes overboard to make things easier for them, bringing them slippers, hanging a shawl out for her grandma, and being a pain.


This all changes when her grandpa shows up in a jogging suit with a matching one for her grandma. They reveal that they usually go for a jog around the block every day. Turns out that they were just tired from the flight and don't really need her help. She feels a little better about them, but Jessica keeps avoiding them.


Someone recently opened a new teen club appropriately called The Hangout. Word spreads that Aaron Dallas is planning a big party, and guess where he chooses to have it? Too bad the twins can't go! Steven shows up late to dinner one night with a black eye. Turns out that he was at The Hangout, some guys started picking on a little guy, and Steven stood up for him. All the guys got tossed out, but the Wakefields decided that the club isn't safe and has no supervision, so they forbid the twins from going to the party.


At the same time, Jessica really wants to get her ears pierced. Lila got hers done and now has a spiffy pair of silver Unicorn earrings, and the other members of the club want to get the same ones. Alice has a rule that the twins can't get their ears pierced until they turn 12, and no matter how much Jessica begs, she refuses to change her mind. When her grandmother tells her that she got hers done when she was 11 and doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, Jessica runs out and gets hers done.


Alice is extremely pissed that Jessica went against her rule, but she doesn't punish her when her own mother takes the blame. Jessica is all buzzing over her new earrings and because Todd Wilkins seems to like her. He keeps coming up to talk to her, asking her if she and Liz are coming to the party, and generally just being around. Everyone convinces her that this must me that he like-likes her.


While talking on the phone, Lila makes it clear that she would sneak out of the house and make her twin go too. Jessica decides this is a great idea and tells Liz, but their grandparents overhear. They make them tell their parents that they planned to sneak out. Alice and Ned decide to ground them, but them grandma won't shut her mouth. She talks about how they once forbid Alice from attending a party at a skating rink because of a similar issue and how the "light" went out of her eyes for weeks. They all feel so bad that they decide to let the twins go to the party after all.


Todd walks up and asks Jessica to dance once, which seems strange. Caroline sees and tells everyone that he has a crush on Jessica. She then talks to everyone about how they were dancing all night and are the hottest couple in the school. People are so excited that Jessica might have a boyfriend that they forget all about the pierced ear thing and just want to talk about her.


Their grandparents surprise them at the end of the book with tickets to a Darcy Chapman concert. Grandpa reveals that he's been listening to the rock station all week long because he couldn't figure out how to change the station on Jessica's radio. The twins and Steven go to the concert with them, but Jessica is already whining and complaining that their parents treat them like babies because they won't let them go to see their cousin Robin on their own.


*Elizabeth mentions that her grandparents are older than the people they saw on television in their 60s. Is it weird that I spent like five minutes trying to figure out how old they have to be for this book to match the Sweet Valley Confidential time frame?


*It's kind of sweet that their grandparents bought a matching set of jogging suits.


*Why do the kids always get their ears pierced in these books without any trouble? I was around the same age at the time, and I had to have my mother actually with me before they would do it.


*I find it hard to believe that the Wakefields would be the only parents upset at what happened at the club. Steven is several years older and leaves with a black eye, but all the other parents think it's fine to let their preteens go to a party there.


*I actually went to get my ears pierced when I was 11 and freaked out when I saw the gun. I ended up crying and running away from the poor lady. Finally got my ears pierced when I was slightly older, had an allergic reaction, and my ears actually swelled up so bad that they "swallowed" the earrings. A doctor had to surgically cut the earrings out of my ears. Stupid me tried two more times before discovering that I couldn't wear many, many types of metals. I now have two holes in each ear (I'm totally like Dawn!). Oddly enough, I did have both my eyebrows pierced at different times without any strange reactions.


*It's nice to know that the twins, especially Jessica, don't receive any type of punishment. She goes against her mom's wishes even after pestering her throughout the entire book and knowing that she can't do it, but she gets away with it anyway.