Sweet Valley High #131: Fashion Victim

Jessica decides to chase after Cameron and explain that Quentin kissed her, she didn't kiss him, as if that will change things. He takes off so fast that she can't catch him though and winds up running into Quentin again. Quentin suddenly doesn't seem that interested in anything she has to say or with helping her become a supermodel. When she sucks up to him by putting her arm around him, rubbing all over his back, and acting like some sex starved maniac, he suddenly agrees to help her again and even take her out that night.

They head to Edge, which is like the hottest club in the world. Though Jessica wants to date, Quentin sits them down at a table near the dance floor and proceeds to talk about himself all night. Jessica clearly isn't interested because the conversation isn't all about her. When famous people come over, he ignores her to talk. She finally butts in the middle of a conversation, which pisses him off. Jessica then gets ticked off when he turns down an offer to party in the VIP room.

After making up an excuse that she needs some air, she walks around the block and gets more and more irritated. It's mainly because Quentin doesn't just fall all over himself to do whatever she wants than anything else though. She then sees a guy in a white Porsche who looks just like Cameron. Jessica convinces herself that she misses him so much that she's now seeing him everywhere.

Jessica sets up a big shoot before sitting around with the whole crew for Simone. She shows up late and bitches about Jessica bring her the wrong bottled water. Until someone fixes it, she refuses to get ready. Quentin snaps, they fight, and then Jessica offers to take her place. He basically fires Simone, telling her to go home because he doesn't need her. After finishing the shoot, he tells Jessica that they need to go out again to celebrate. She also finds out that Cameron quit the mail room.

Elizabeth is still whining all the time when Maria and Enid show up with frozen yogurt because it's easier to be her punching bag than to not have her royal highness in their lives. When she tells them all about what Leona did, they spring into action to help her out. With assistance from Reggie, some woman she works with who doesn't like Leona, they all come up with a plan. They call Gordon Lewis, the owner of the magazine, and schedule a meeting with Elizabeth Wakefield, the hottest new writer on the magazine.

They then borrow clothing from Leona and head to a big deal party in downtown LA. Reggie chats with Gordon because she has a huge crush on him. Maria then rushes in with an urgent call from Elizabeth Wakefield. When she finishes on the phone, Reggie casually mentions that Liz is a rising star and the top writer there. Gordon is all impressed and mentions that he has a meeting with her the next day before doing some flirting with Reggie.

The girls then redecorate the office to make it look like it belongs to Liz. Enid even volunteers to act like her secretary. Gordon is, naturally, blown away by her proposal for a monthly feature written by an amateur writer. He then reveals that she has to discuss it in front of the board before it can go forward and that luckily, the board has a meeting that very day. Right as they start though, Leona comes in like a woman scorned.

Since moving out, Todd's been living with Ken but now he wants a place of his own. He hires a real estate professional to show him around, the dude instantly takes him to the hottest complex around. It has a gym, swimming pool, and all the amenities I've never had in an apartment before. Todd is ready to sign until he hears how much it costs and then asks the guy to show him some more affordable options.

Todd later takes Ken to his new pad, which is a run down apartment in an even more run down former house. The place has bugs running on the walls, peeling paint, stained carpets, and every other cliché you can imagine. Ken suggests that Todd move back in with him until he has more money to spend. Todd refuses because he wants to do this on his own.

Since he really wants to show that he made it, Todd invites his parents and Simone over for dinner. He doesn't have enough pans to make both scalloped potatoes and roasted pork, but then he burns the pork. Since he has marinated chicken in the fridge, he makes that instead. When that burns, he just makes toast and macaroni and cheese. His parents make an effort to be nice, but Simone just bitches about the food, basically calls his mom fat, and then leaves because his apartment is gross.

The more Todd thinks about things, the more he realizes that he misses Elizabeth. He can't just go and tell her though because that would be way too sensible. The first thing he needs to do is end things with Simone. He goes to her apartment and finds her on the phone and bragging to Quentin about how Todd is there. When Todd dumps her though, she kind of just blows him off but does tell him that he will never work as a model again.

Leona completely takes control of the meeting and makes it out like Liz is a lying teenage girl. Gordon, the publisher, is in shock that she's just an intern and cannot believe that she would steal from an editor. He's also shocked that Reggie was in on everything. Not only does he say he'll never date her, but he fires too. Security escorts Liz from the building.

When she hears what happened, Jessica convinces Liz to use her key to break into Leona's apartment. They find her recorder and run away, though she nearly catches them. Leona already recorder over the letter about the stolen idea though, so they have nothing. Jessica tells Lila and Amy the whole story while lounging by the pool. They head upstairs and find Maria and Enid on their way in too. Leona then calls and asks Liz to meet her for brunch the next day to talk things over. Liz agrees because she can take a recorder and make a message of Leona admitting that she stole the idea.

Liz is on her way to brunch with the directions that Leona gave her when some dude tries to run her off the road. He keeps chasing her down this mountain road. Luckily, Todd was on his way to see her and followed her. He manages to distract the guy, which makes him come after Todd. Though the guy races off, Todd gets his license plate number and a good look at his face. He offers to drive Liz home and gives her a hug, but she still thinks he's with Simone and eventually pushes him away.

Since Liz won't do it, Todd goes to the cops. They run the plate number and conveniently find out that it belongs to a thug with a long rap sheet. When they bring him in, he admits that “she” paid him to hit that girl's car. All of Liz's friends tell her that Leona was behind it, but she doesn't believe them. She decides to impersonate Jessica the next day and have it out with Leona.

What actually happens is that Leona gives her a big speech about how the real world works. People steal ideas from each other all the time, and no one would ever listen to an intern. Liz manages to hit the button on her desk that turns on the intercom. Leona pulls a gun on her and decides to take care of things on her own. That's when the cops bust in to arrest her. The secretary heard the intercom and called for Gordon who rushed down and heard the whole thing. Leona gets taken off in handcuffs, and Liz sees Todd sneaking away and finds out from the cops that he helped bring down Leona.

Jessica goes out with Quentin again and listens as he asks her question after question about Todd and Elizabeth. She sees Cameron in the middle of Spago and talks to him about whether he makes more money there as a waiter than he did in the mail room. He seems really confused, points out that her date is waiting, and leaves. Since she assumes that she doesn't need Quentin once her spread comes out, Jessica ends things with him. He just kind of laughs and tells her it's not a big deal, which pisses her off more than anything.

She stops by the magazine on Monday, and Quentin keeps trying to tell her what to do until she points out that she's not an intern anymore. He then asks her to run the proofs out for him. Since it's her shots, she thinks she should see them first, but when she opens them, she finds that he shot the whole thing over again with Simone. Jessica storms into the studio and finds that the two are back together again. Quentin tells her that he gets to pick his models and that he picked Simone. Jessica needs to just get over herself.

Jessica gets a package in the mail that is the spread that will appear in the magazine, which uses her photos and not Simone's pictures. There's also an invitation to a party at Edward McGee's house, who is the owner of Flair and the whole surrounding publishing empire. McGee tells her that he wants her to meet his son and walks off. Cameron then comes in, and Jessica tells him that they need to leave now before she has to deal with some boring rich dude. He then tells her that he's the son. Cameron is actually the vice president of the company and only worked in the mail room to see how the company operated. When he overheard Quentin and Simone talking about the photos, he used his power to make her the star. They then make out.

Todd calls the studio and finds out that he has no shoots scheduled for the week. When he calls other studios and agencies, they all shut him down because of Simone. While going through the paper to find a job, he gets in a literal fight with a mouse that ends with him covered in cereal. He heads outside and finds his dad waiting for him. Like a scene from a movie, a truck moves to reveal a moving van waiting for him, and he just about cries as his dad hugs him and takes him home.

Liz gets a personal call from Gordon. He not only tells her that Flair will use her idea, but he also offers her an editorial job in the summer because that's totally something major magazines do. She also learns that he gave Reggie a second chance. Music starts playing from outside, and it's the last song she danced to with Todd. When she opens the window, he's on the lawn and begging her for a second chance. Todd then grabs a ladder, climbs through her window, and kisses her as they get back together for the 317^th time.

*Jessica just cannot believe that Quentin would have the nerve to kiss her in the beginning because she didn't give him a sign. Uh, wouldn't going out with him multiple times and throwing yourself at him be a sign?

*She also didn't seem to have a problem with Cameron kissing her before she even knew who he was or just grabbing her and kissing her later.

*Todd does the responsible thing and picks a place based on how much he can afford to spend right now, which he bases on his savings. I think it's pretty impressive that a high school student could even afford to put down first month, last month, and a security deposit.

*On the other hand, he can only afford to spend a few hundred a month. How would he ever find a place anywhere near LA? I know someone who lived out there and had to rent a room in a house with like seven people to live anywhere close to the city.

*Ken asks Todd if he can ask Liz out on a date. Todd gets all pale and thinks about how the two had that secret relationship once upon a time. Ken then laughs and says it was a joke and that he's not interested in her anymore, which makes Todd think about how Jessica did such a number on Ken that he doesn't want to be with anyone now. That is so sad! Jessica's been with so many guys since then, and the ghostwriters can't let Ken have any fun.

*I hate this whole stolen article idea. Does Liz actually think that a major magazine publisher would have any interest in an idea submitted by a freaking high school intern? Also, it sounds like a horrible idea anyway. As someone who makes a living writing, some people just can't cut it. They would have to weed through so many bad articles and go through so much legal work that it wouldn't be worthwhile.

*Todd is all worried about messing up the pots and pans that came with the place, even though they're all gross, because his lease states they'll charge him for anything missing. Yeah, I've never lived in a place that came with that stuff.

*Leona literally tries to have Liz killed over a magazine article! She says that Gordon was confused by the whole thing and that he kept pushing her, so she though getting rid of her would smooth things over. It's even more ridiculous than that guy Ned put away coming back and conning both twins!

*I actually read the book that came after this, where Jessica falls in love with a random stranger on a train. Why did we have three freaking books of her falling in love with one guy, only to have her disregard him by the next?