Sweet Valley High #75: Amy's True Love

The big talk around town is that Jeanie and Tom McKay just broke up. You might remember that she's some random cheerleader and that he's the big tennis star. Jessica tells Liz that she's getting tired of Amy. Apparently, Amy is now more boy crazy than ever and recently clam jammed Jessica at the disco over some hot guy. As the other cheerleaders crowd around to hear the story, Amy shows up all excited. Completely not sensing the vibe in the room, she asks if she can go after Tom now.

Jeanie rushes off in tears while everyone else just stares at her. Jessica, who would totally go after any hot guy with a girlfriend or not, freaks out at her about being such a bitch. She and Lila make her feel like a total whore and backstabber. The other two then decide to give Amy the silent treatment for a few days.

Amy isn't exactly having the best time ever though. Her sociology teacher warns her that she's in danger of failing and that her last paper on social work wasn't very good because Amy picked a topic she knows nothing about. The teacher suggests that she volunteer at Project Youth and write a new paper to get some extra credit.

On her first day, she meets Barry. He's on the tennis team with Tom but is a little too goofy for her to actually date. They bond a little as he trains her, and he quickly develops a huge crush on her. Barry keeps talking to her in school, but she keeps asking him for her to snag Tom. Tom barely knows she's alive and seems to be going through some stuff on his own.

Her parents are a little too busy for her too. Her dad just got a job to do a new book, and her mom is always at the station. When she tries to make dinner for them, she forgets to defrost the chicken. Amy tries to tell them a funny story about two guys fighting over her in art class, which they find not at all funny. Her mom then gives her a lecture about how college is coming up and it's time she buckle down and get serious.

The other big news is that Enid's cousin Jake is coming into town. He's super hot, so naturally Lila and Jessica plan to throw themselves at him. While coming up with ideas as to what to do with them, they manage to bring up how Amy threw herself at Lila's cousin and how he left her for Enid. Even Liz thinks it's cold, but Jessica points out that Amy did it to herself. I guess by acting just like Jess?

Jake comes to town and meets everyone at the disco. Though Jessica and Lila do throw themselves at him, he doesn't seem all that interested,. He does, however, seem interested in Tom. They play tennis together and have an earnest talk that leaves Tom feeling super confused. He keeps thinking about how he loves Jeanie but doesn't want to be with her and how Amy keeps turning him off.

Amy tries everything she can to snag Tom. She sneaks up on him in the library, follows him around school, and even asks him for tennis lessons. At the disco, she follows him to get a drink and keeps asking him to dance. He kind of pawns her off on Barry before running away. Lila and Jessica see and use it as an excuse to tease her.

Tom rushes out of the disco early and finds himself alone with Jake. He pours out his feelings, and Jake reveals that he's gay. Tom has no clue what to say and feels really awkward, so they walk away. Enid later confesses to Liz that Jake told her he was gay and that she had no idea what to say either.

Amy comes up with a final plan to win Tom, which involves buying tickets to a big concert. She asks him out in front of a group, and when he turns her down, she keeps pushing the issue. Kirk “The Jerk” Anderson calls her a dumb blond for not figuring out that Tom doesn't like her, and she runs away in tears. Jessica tracks her down, tells her that Barry stuck up for her, and that Kirk is just stupid. Amy tells her about working at Project Youth and how much she likes it and finds an apology note from Tom in her locker.

Liz just so happens to be doing an article on Project Youth and catches Tom with a pamphlet about homosexuality and teens. They have a short talk before he meets with a counselor. He later catches her and Enid, confesses that Jake told him a big secret, and asks for his address to write him a letter. Jessica and Lila break their silent treatment, and Jessica even reveals that she thinks Barry is a nice guy and kind of cute.

Amy's mom and dad admit that they've been way too busy lately and want to spend more time together as a family. Mrs. Sutton says that Liz called about doing an interview on the Project Youth thing, which leads to Amy telling them about how she did it for school but now wants to stick around. She then asks Barry to go to the concert with her. The book ends with her learning about the Miss Teen Sweet Valley pageant and Barry telling her that he thinks she can win.

*The whole thing with the teacher telling her that she needs social work experience to write a paper on it is BS. How are high school kids supposed to get experience like that?

*One of the guys “fighting” over Amy is AJ Morgan. I assumed after the whole Jessica debacle that he would avoid her friend group like the plague.

*I saw this book and totally though, hey! This is the one where Tom comes out of the closet. I wasn't sure I actually read it before or just read about it until I got to the part with her cooking frozen chicken on the grill though.

*Jessica bleaches her jeans, soaks them in hot water, and puts them on in the tub to make them as tight as possible. How did she get out of high school without getting pregnant?

*Amy is shocked that two almost front row tickets cost a whole 60 bucks. Me too because I paid more than that for nosebleed seats to a Vince Gill concert last summer!

*The woman in charge of Project Youth tells Amy that if she wants to stick around that they can find a way to pay her. Wait, what? I always assumed this was just a volunteer thing. Aren't all the teens working there volunteers?

*You have to love that Jessica gave Amy the silent treatment for doing the same thing she always does. If she had any interest in Tom, she would have gone after him even faster.

*I really thought that Tom came out out in this book. He actually just questions if he's gay and never says anything outright. Given how he talks about Jeanie, it seems like he's just an unsure guy after a break up and not really gay.