Sweet Valley High #36: Last Chance

You might remember Julie Porter, the girl who loved music and was one of Elizabeth's best friends back in middle school. She apparently had an older sister named Johanna. While Julie took after her parents with the whole music thing and was an amazing student, Johanna always struggled with her studies. After their mom was struck and killed in a car accident, Johanna gave up, quit school, and went to work at the Whistlestop, some random diner. She's now back and giving school the old college try again.

See, Johanna found her mom's old diaries and found an entry she wrote about how she hoped Johanna would one day go back to school. Her mom was the only one who ever really got her and the only one who really supported her. If she hadn't found that diary, she never would have found the courage to go back.

After running into some bitchy girls who act all surprised that she came back, she runs into Peter DeHaven, another kid we never heard about since middle school. Peter was once best friends with Johanna but got distracted by school, and he's now dating Amy. That surprises everyone because he's super smart: accepted early to MIT, up for a statewide science scholarship, teaches kids in middle school, and always getting straight As. In case you missed it, Amy is kind of a dumb chick.

Johanna knows that Peter is with Amy but really likes him and has had a crush on him for years. When he asks her to go with him to meet his brother's friend from college, she jumps at the chance. Julia points out that it's a little convenient he asked her out on a weekend when Amy is out of town, but she tries to ignore it. They wind up star gazing in the canyon after the visit and kissing.

Since Elizabeth is the only person in SVH capable of passing English, she becomes Johanna's tutor. Johanna tells her about Peter, and even Liz thinks she needs to move on. She doesn't bother telling her that though. Liz recommends that she do what she wants to do. Johanna later tells her that Peter wasn't that serious about Amy and that he made it seem like he would talk to her when she got back.

When Johanna tries to talk to him the next day though, he's surrounded by Amy and all her friends so he completely blows her off. He tracks her down in the library, apologizes, and tells her that he didn't realize Amy was really into him. Peter asks for another chance and promises to make things up to her.

Liz decides to tell Jessica about Peter and Johanna to get her opinion on whether Amy really likes this guy. Jessica promises to not tell a soul, so you know what that means.

Even though she went out of her way to hook up Steven and Cara, Jessica suddenly hates them together and thinks they're way too boring. She starts telling Steven all about how Cara goes out with other guys all the time and is always going out to parties. Cara gets to hear about how Steven dates other women at college and doesn't have time for her. They keep fighting to the point where Jessica convinces Cara to invite someone else to the big PTA dance.

While telling Amy all about her scheme, Amy gets disgusted. She apparently has never actually seen her bestie in action before. Amy kind of lectures her, which makes Jessica tell her how Peter is running around with someone else. Amy confronts Peter, who completely denies it. He then writes Johanna a brush off note that says they can't see each other anymore and leaves it in her locker.

When Johanna finds it, she freaks out, and goes off on Elizabeth since she and Julie were the only ones who knew about her and Peter. Liz denies it, but Johanna storms off anyway. Elizabeth then confronts Jessica who denies it and then confesses. She lies and says Amy already knew something was up and pushed her, which makes Liz forgive her yet again.

Cut to the PTA dance. Amy and Peter hardly speak but throw a joint party together at her house. At the dance, she makes a big deal about how much fun everyone had at her party and how she and Peter are the perfect couple. Lila makes a comment about Johanna acing a chemistry test, Amy says she must have cheated, and Liz puts her in her place. Liz then confronts Peter and tells him that Johanna really depends on him and needs his friendship.

Monday morning comes and Johanna is super depressed. She thought that Peter and Amy might break up at the dance and that he would come back to her. He does come back but only to ask if they can be friends. When he starts talking about his science competition project, she makes a suggestion, which he laughs at and blows off, causing her to realize that he's kind of an asshole.

Have you wondered what was going through Peter's mind in all this? As it turns out, he actually likes Johanna and likes her more than Amy. Amy is popular though and pretty. He literally says that he could have something serious with Johanna but that he doesn't want to give up what he gets out of being with Amy. I hate him.

Johanna finds out that she is really good at both math and science. Her teachers think that it she takes some classes during the summer that she can go into advanced classes in the fall. Once she sees Amy and Peter once again though, she kind of flips out. The two eventually break up, which causes Amy and other people to make rude comments about her in school. When she overhears two girls calling her dumb and saying that they can't believe Peter would cheat on her with someone so stupid, she throws in the towel again.

After a few days of working at the Whistlestop, Mr. Porter finally sits Johanna down. They talk through everything, he apologizes for not making her feel better about herself, and they make up. She writes a computer program that lets them play music on the computer to show them that while she may not understand music like they do, they still have music in common.

Johanna goes back to school and manages to avoid Peter for a few days. He finally gets her alone and tells her that he won the competition but only because he used the idea she had he laughed at. When he asks her out, she turns him down because she has plans with her family. He then asks her out the next night again, and she turns him down. Johanna has nothing to say to him when he says he messed things up between them except that she needs to focus on her studies. She then thinks about how someday she will find a guy who has time for her and her interests but that Peter only has time for himself.

And, Cara and Steven get back together. He brings some girl to the dance from college and keeps staring at Cara who came with Ken. Ken finally tells her to go over and ask him to dance. They talk and realize that Jessica set them up. When they go to confront her, Steven explodes while Jessica tells him that she was just testing them. Cara stops him and tells him that if they trusted each other more, Jessica's plan wouldn't have worked, so they forgive her! WTF??

*At the beginning of the book, Jessica is on a diet because she found the perfect dress but it was too small. She then buys the dress and keeps talking about how it now fits her perfectly. At the dance though, she wears a skimpy white tank top and a black leather skirt. Is it that hard to maintain continuity in the same damn book?

*Also, that is was too slutty of an outfit for a high school girl to wear!

*Cara's dance outfit is much more appropriate: black jeans and a sparkly tee shirt.

*At one point, Jessica tells Cara that her not going out with other guys is the problem because it lets Steven take advantage of her and asks Lila is she agrees. Lila's all like, “hm, yeah sure, whatever” and just goes back to her magazine lol.

*I love that kids keep talking about Johanna being dumb and why would Peter be with someone so stupid. They do know that Amy is pretty stupid, right? She and Jess are both constantly on the verge of failing something.

*Johanna apologizes to Liz for yelling at her because she realizes that Liz would never tell anyone about her and Peter, except that she totally did. Liz totally told Jessica, which is why Amy found out! Liz just totally accepts her apology like it was nothing when she was the one who did something wrong.

*Amy is awfully anti-cheating in this book and pro-relationship considering what she does to Regina and Bruce later.

*Johanna is sooo beautiful that she doesn't even need to wear makeup. There must be something in the water out there.

*Jessica getting away with the whole Cara and Steve thing really made me angry. Can you imagine her reaction if someone did the same thing when she was in a relationship?