Sweet Valley High #84: The Stolen Diary

Something seems off with Todd and Liz lately, at least in Todd's mind anyway. He keeps growing distant and doesn't seem to want to spend any time with her. After he skips lunch with her, she tries to talk to him, and he says he had to help a friend with homework. When he screeches about how they don't need to spend every moment together...wait, is this seriously Todd talking? Anyway, they have a fight, she tells him that she's not his mom, they fight some more, and it ends with them deciding to take a break and try being friends.

Liz naturally assumes that their break will be over quickly. Jessica then hears from Caroline and Lila that this chick Peggy has her eyes on Todd and that she was the one he was helping. Plus, they've been spending a ton of time together lately. When she tries to tell Liz, she doesn't really care. She thinks that Todd will come back soon enough.

Enter Kris Lynch. He's somehow cute, tall, and draws cartoons for the Oracle, but I don't remember him and Liz doesn't either. When he asks her to the dance, she tells him that she isn't sure what her plans are yet. She really just wants to mope around in classic Liz fashion, but she keeps seeing Todd and Peggy in the halls together. She agrees to hang out with Jessica and Sam and later agrees to go to the dance as Kris's date.

Kris goes all out for their big date. He shows up in a Cadillac with a chauffeur, a big ass box of candy in a heart shaped box, and a dozen roses. Liz spends most of the night watching Todd dance with Peggy and not paying attention to him. She's so surprised when he asks her out again that she accepts without really thinking about it. Everyone at school starts talking about it. Lila even notes that he drove her home from school, they ate lunch together a few times, and some other stuff.

All of their classmates naturally assume that they're now a couple. Maria even plans a party and invites everyone around Liz without asking Liz herself. When she brings it up, Maria says that her boyfriend already accepted for them both. This makes Liz realize that she doesn't really like Kris, at least not in that way, and that she needs to do something about it.

Cut to the party. Liz keeps trying to get Kris alone. He thinks that she wants some alone-alone time, but she really just wants to break things off. When she drags him into a dark room, they see Todd and Peggy in a somewhat compromising position. Kris drags her into a fairly intense kiss before she suggests that they get out of there. He thinks she wants to go up to Miller's Point. Gee, why would he ever assume that? He kind of throws himself at her, they have a huge fight, and he ends up leaving her on the side of the road.

Since Liz and Todd can never break up for too long, he approaches her in school and tells her that the break was a stupid idea. What she thought she saw was actually Todd telling Peggy that he was still in love with Liz and wanted to get back together with her. After talking things through for 30 seconds, they decide that they were both just stressed and get back together. Todd's happiness lasts for a few minutes before Kris shows up.

He tells Todd that this is just Liz's way of getting revenge on him and that she really loves Kris. To prove it, he reveals a bunch of details about their love life and says that Liz told him all about it. Todd is so upset that he storms away and stands Liz up for their big romantic date night. When she calls him, he tells her that she knows what she did. Kris does the same thing to Enid, so neither of them will talk to her.

Speaking of Enid, she's been moping over Hugh for awhile. They're on yet another of their breaks, and she heard through the grapevine that he's now seeing someone else. Elizabeth convinces her that she needs to make a move if she wants him back. They head to Big Mesa to do a little stalking, find him outside of the Moon Beach Cafe, and invite him to join them for lunch.

Liz comes up with an idea where Enid will call him and say that she lost her earring and ask him to look for it. After chickening out a few times, she works up the nerve to call him. Hugh calls back, says he found it, and they make arrangements to meet up. Enid borrows the Fiat, which is on its last legs. The car dies and she misses the meeting.

It takes her far too long to call him and tell him what happened, but he thinks it's funny and agrees to meet again. This time, Hugh never shows up. He calls a few times, and she won't talk to him because she thinks he did it on purpose. She finally goes to see him at work and finds him hugging a hot girl, so she runs off in tears.

Back to the Liz story. Jessica talks to Enid, hears what Kris said, and talks to Todd who has the same story. Since Liz kept losing her diary throughout the book, Jessica eventually realizes that Kris read it. He denies it, until Jessica tells him that she'll tell everyone what he did and spread some other rumors too. Kris breaks down and apologizes to everyone, so they all make up. Enid and Hugh show up at the Dairi Burger. Turns out that it was all a big misunderstanding and the girl was just a friend upset over being dumped. Oh, and Jessica learns that her favorite soap opera is looking for a set of twins...

*Liz says that her cheese sandwich doesn't taste the same without Todd there. It's kind of cringe worthy and cute at the same time.

*Todd brings up some bowling coach named Justin who liked Liz. I have no idea what book that is from but it doesn't sound familiar. It may be from the one where Cara leaves because that gets brought up a few times.

*Elizabeth gushes over how she and Jess went to the mall and the beach and how guys were all over them because they're just so gorgeous and amazing. I want to throw something at her.

*Jessica says that what Liz knows about guys could only fill a postcard but that what she knows could fill a book. Not something you want to hear a teen girl bragging about.

*Lila says that Kris and Liz is like the lead singer of a heavy metal band dating the homecoming queen.

*Kris has gasp an earring! How did we get through so many Sweet Valley books in the 90s without having a guy with an earring before?

*I've read this book twice in the last week, and there's never any explanation for why Hugh stood her up. That whole scene took up half a chapter!

*The Fiat keeps breaking down all the time, which is foreshadowing to the twins getting their Jeep.

*Lila apparently keeps a diary but changes her hiding space in case someone breaks into her house. Jessica wryly points out that anyone breaking into Fowler Crest probably wouldn't be on the hunt for her diary.

*Kris apologizes in the form of a cartoon that he draws, which appears on the front page of the Oracle. I'm guessing it was a slow news week?

*Peggy is a brunette, so we know that she could never, ever steal someone away from one of the twins.

*Liz doesn't seem too bothered by the whole soap opera thing in this book, which is funny given how much she fights it later.