Young Adult Revisited

Elizabeth has a brand new best friend in the form of Sophia Rizzo. Unfortunately, Sophia's older brother Tony is a thug. He got in big trouble a few years ago and now everyone thinks that she's just like him. Liz thinks she's fun, sweet, etc. and would make a good friend. The school just announced that the sixth graders would have the chance to write the big play of the year, and she suggests that Sophia take part in it. This leads to Liz heading over to her house after school and finding out that she wrote plays and stories for years. Liz then convinces all her friends to be nice to Sophia too. They plan a big picnic at school and get to know her. Since Jessica hates poor people, she naturally hates Sophia and her whole family. She gets a new excuse to hate her when Steven shows up with a black eye that Tony gave him. Steven was with some guys who accused Tony of stealing from the school and made a rude comment. Jess cares not for that though. Tony hit her

While lounging around the house, Jessica comes across an ad for the Miss Teen Sweet Valley competition. The city council or something wants to use it to raise money for a new community swimming pool. Steven has some new friend named Frazer he keeps bringing around. Since Jess ran out of high school boys, she wants Frazer and she assumes winning the pageant can make that happen. It doesn't take long for Liz to jump in and decide that pageants are tots wrong. She and Enid get a bunch of other people, including Olivia and Dana, to help them picket. I'm dead serious. They actually make a bunch of signs and picket. Since Jessica doesn't want to tell anyone she's entering, she keeps it a big secret. Amy decides to enter, but Lila thinks the whole thing is ridiculous. Jess buys a brand new dance outfit and hits some new store to pick out an evening gown. She somehow convinces the shop that it would be good publicity to let her wear the dress for free. She fina

Steven is once again back in town to help Cheryl Thomas. Since she's from NYC, she has no clue how to drive. It doesn't take long before people start thinking they're a couple. Steven denies it and then wonders why he never made a move on her and if it's because she's black. After Annie confronts Cheryl, she wonders if she doesn't think of him in that way because he's white. Though she apparently had a lot of white friends back in NYC, she never dated a white boy. That all changes when they head out to eat after a driving lesson. The waitress in the restaurant acts really snarky, and there's conveniently a group of skin heads at another table. They keep staring at them and making snide comments before Steven and Cheryl get up to leave. One of the guys makes a comment about how a California sun tan must not be dark enough for him. The two drive to the beach and wind up kissing. Since this is Sweet Valley, kissing means that you are in