Young Adult Revisited

Mallory Pike is finally ready to join the BSC. She wants to dress cool like all the other girls do, but she only has a limited wardrobe. She can't stop thinking about it all day, but she does get distracted by new student Jessica Ramsey. It seems like Mallory never had a best friend before, and she wonders if this girl might be her new friend. The only downside is that some of the other students make fun of her because she's black. Mallory gets to brag at the meeting about how she sat for a bunch of her siblings. Buddy and Nicky were playing outside, Buddy hit the ball, and Nicky broke his finger trying to hit it back. Her parents left her in charge while they took him to the emergency room. The BSC blame her and decide to make her go on a test job and come back the next day for a real test. While heading to her test, she runs into Jessica, who tells her that she can call her Jessi. She meets Squirt and Becca, and Jessi gives her a tour of her house. They agree

I never read the book before this one, but the beginning pretty much sums it up. Elizabeth was supposed to go to prom with Devon, but she asked Jessica to help her so she could go with both Devon and Todd. Todd took Courtney Kane to make Elizabeth jealous, but they ended up spending time together. Devon found out the truth and hung out with Lila, so everyone pretty much hates everyone. Enter the Battle of the Junior Class, a totally made up event where different schools compete against each other the weekend after prom. Everyone is conveniently at Lila's house for a big pool party when Ken Matthews and Olivia Davidson show up with news about this year's event. It's a random talent show where each school can basically do anything they want. SVH kids immediately start fighting over what to do, but they finally decide on a dance thingy, whatever. The only rule is that they can only have eight students participate. Sweet Valley winds up with Liz, Jess, Devon, Ke