Sweet Valley High #113: The Pom-Pom Wars

Jessica is totes sad about losing her squad to that evil bitch Heather Malone and depressing it up at home when she finds photos of Liz and Ken. After going through her twin's diary, she finds out about the torrid affair they had when Todd first moved away. Before she can mope too much though, Ken stops by to cheer her up and suggests that she start her own squad.

Even though this makes no sense to me, she thinks it's a great idea and even teases Liz about joining the squad. Liz pretty much tells her that she'd rather be covered in honey and ants than cheer. Jess gets Sandy and Maria, the two girls Heather dropped from the squad, and Lila to join her new one. They then announce the try outs to the whole school and target some of the girls they like the best, namely dancers.

Jessica and Lila make a bet. If Liz tries out for the squad, Lila will buy uniforms for everyone, but if she doesn't, Jess gets the bill. Jess then blackmails Liz into trying out, telling her that she'll tell Todd about her relationship with Ken if she doesn't. Liz naturally earns a spot on the squad, as does Jade Wu, Patty Gilbert, and a few others.

There's a whole bunch of boring stuff too, like Jessica flipping out because the girls who have no cheerleading experience can't follow her. She winds up making them watch a visualization tape, which turns them into experts overnight. Seriously, they basically only practice together for a week but become an amazing squad.

Heather than calls Lila and lets it slip that only one squad from each high school can go to regionals and her squad already got the nod. Jess calls the coordinator who tells her the same thing, but then Liz says they should just go to him. They surprise him at his home and do a good job, but he still tells them they can't go.

Jess convinces the girls to go to the football game because SVH is losing. They sneak in and change the music, rush out on the field during halftime, and drive the crowd crazy. The team ends up coming back from 21 points behind to win by 14 points. Everyone tells them that they were great and should always be on the field, but Amy bursts into tears and accuses Jessica of humiliating her.

Since everything always works out for her, she goes to Principal Cooper and asks him to let the squad vote on a team to send to the competition. He agrees and schedules a cheer off for the end of the week. Both teams do really well, and it somehow ends in a tie. Cooper tells them that they'll have to combine both squads under Jessica and Heather.

As they hate each other, they refuse. The two squads come together and convince both girls that they decided to let the other be the sole captain and that both should let the other girl pretend to have some control. They spend a few days or something practicing and getting ready for the competition.

Right before the competition, Ken comes up and mistakes Liz for Jess, which is something he did a bunch of other times. He makes plans with her to go to the beach later that night. Liz pretends to be her twin and decides to tell Jessica about his plans later. Heather catches them but doesn't seem like she saw anything.

They, of course, win the competition, but Heather and Jess flip out when they call both captains to the stage. The other girls finally step up and tell them that they're in it together. They finally decide to work together for once and stop being brats, though I doubt that will last long.

Cut to Liz deciding to go on Jessica's date. She's been super jealous and lusting over Ken throughout the whole book. After lying to Todd about being tired, she steals an outfit from Jess and goes out with Ken. As soon as they start making out, she can't stop thinking about Todd. Ken realizes that she's Liz and takes things surprisingly well. He admits that he was drawn to Jess because she looked like Liz but fell in love with her because she's Jess. Liz apologizes and decides to tell Todd the truth.

While celebrating with Lila and the girls, Heather walks up and makes a cryptic comment to Jess about Liz and Ken that sets her off. She tries calling home and then calls Todd who hasn't seen Liz all night. After running home and finding her twin and some of her clothes missing, she instantly decides that they're having an affair behind her back.

Liz and Ken arrive at Todd's house to find him pale and Jessica crying with Liz's diary in her hands. Todd basically calls Liz a whore, which causes her to run off in the Jeep. Jessica then calls Ken a liar and tells him to go after the woman he really loves before rushing off herself.

*Liz tells Penny that she can't write an article on the squads because she can't remain neutral. Funny because she usually just writes whatever she wants and shoves her opinions down the throats of all readers.

*Since when is the Jeep white? Liz knows what Jessica did because she sees their white Jeep at Todd's house.

*What chance in hell would a squad of four girls have competing in a cheerleader competition? Heather kicked so many girls off that the squad only has four girls.

*Amy accusing Jessica of humiliating her was super funny because it came a few chapters after her and the other girls ditched her in the middle of the cafeteria because they didn't want to make Heather mad.

*It's funny that Jessica flips out so much over Ken given that she cheats on him with the college guy in a few books and later leaves him for a completely different guy.

*Todd tells Liz that Ken confessed he's only been in love once before, which freaks her out because he meant her. Yup, I'm sure he meant your one week relationship and not the months he was with Terri.

*Jessica also has some big balls when you think about the fact that she dated Todd multiple times and pretended to be Liz in the past to get him.