Sweet Valley Twins #32: Jessica on Stage

Jessica promised to bake a batch of cookies for the Unicorn meeting, but she naturally forgot. Alice agrees to take her to the store and buy some cookies, but they have a minor fender bender on the way to the meeting. Mrs. Harrington is an older woman, who runs into them, claims her neck hurts and needs to go to the hospital.

Alice thinks the older woman looks familiar but can't place her. She and Elizabeth go to visit her in the hospital and learn that she lives alone and doesn't have any family or friends nearby. When they get home, Jessica announces that she knows why the woman looks so familiar. She's actually Dolores Dufay, a former actress and big time star. Now that she knows the woman is a star, she wants to get as close to her as possible.

Jessica convinces Elizabeth to go with her to Mrs. Harrington's house. They find out that she was robbed while in the hospital. Jessica immediately forgets about asking her for an autograph and instead helps her clean up her house. She sees a picture of her at a younger age, asks about her acting career, and she bursts into tears. Mrs. Harrington later admits that she doesn't like to talk about those times because it makes her sad.

Jessica ends up spending a lot of time at her house, helping her clean and talking to her about acting. She learns that Mrs. Harrington is really upset over losing some books her husband gave her and her old scrapbook. When Jessica tells her about an acting workshop, she encourages her to participate and reminds her that while acting is fun, it also involves a lot of hard work.

She ends up joining the program and landing a role in an open showcase. She invites Mrs. Harrington to come and brags to the Unicorns about how a big star will be there. They don't really believe her, and then Mrs. Harrington announces that she doesn't want to come to the real showcase. She'll come for the rehearsal but that's it. She also acted in the very same play and gives her a bunch of tips.

Mrs. Harrington loves watching her act and agrees to come back for the big show. Jessica's partner gets stage fright and decides to drop out. She freaks out because she doesn't know what to do, but Mrs. Harrington agrees to go on in his place. They do a great job and everyone loves it.

The twins also go to a flea market and find a vendor selling her books. They take one to the police station, and the cops follow their lead. They find all of her books, and one of the cops even gives the twins her scrapbook.

Belinda and Amy find a kitten by the baseball field and fall in love. Amy can't take it in because her mom is allergic, and Belinda's mom doesn't want a cat around the new baby. Alice agrees that having a cat might be a good addition to the house. Mrs. Harrington bonds with the kitten because she had a similar one as a child. Elizabeth ends up giving her the kitten as a gift.

*Jessica complains that she's really old and looks really old. She's actually only 65, which isn't really that old. She also points out that Alice's mother is older than that, which makes me question the timeline and ages of characters all over again.

*The twins decide to give her a puppy because she seems lonely. The dog runs all over her house, makes a huge mess, and jumps all over everything before she eventually tells them that she just can't have a dog at her age.

*Bull shit Mrs. Harrington! My parents are older than you and they have three dogs that they take care of without any problems.

*Reading these books today really annoys me. We get Jessica's acting talent shoved down our throats so much that it ticks me off that Francine decided to have her be a PR person instead.

*Mrs. Harrington complains to Alice when she hits her, and Alice gets a little defensive that it wasn't her fault because she had to stop suddenly when a dog ran across the road. Sorry Alice, but the law says that it's your fault.