Sweet Valley High #138: What Jessica Wants...

Have I mentioned yet exactly how much I hate this Devon kid? I thought I could never despise anyone as much as I despised Sam in Sweet Valley University, but here we are.

So, in case you missed it, Devon is totally in love with Elizabeth Wakefield after seeing her exactly once. Lucky boy gets assigned to be her lab partner in chemistry, and by the way, Liz is in AP chemistry, which is something I think no one ever mentioned before. He wows her on the first day by mixing different chemicals together to make a mixture that is the same color as her eyes. Liz gets all blushy and flustered because no one guy has ever been so attentive to her. Excuse me while I go give Todd a hug.

Jessica hears through the grapevine about the hot new guy and decides that he must be hers. She sees him once and decides that he's her new boyfriend. She rushes home to interrupt Todd and Liz on a date just to talk about the new guy. Todd basically rolls his eyes and feels bad for the guy. That's my boy.

Devon and Elizabeth continue their disgusting flirting every day in class. While she feels bad for flirting with someone else, she doesn't say anything. Devon eventually leaves her a message written in invisible ink and asks her to find it. It's a message from him asking her out. She gets all awkward and then decides to tell him that she has a serious boyfriend. Devon acts cool with it but decides that he'll win her heart anyway.

Good old Jess becomes obsessed with Devon. He at first flirts with her because he thinks that she's Liz. He then tries to avoid her and goes out of his way to ignore her whenever possible. As he tells Nan, he could date Jessica because she looks just like the woman he loves but it just wouldn't be fair to her. Jessica asks Liz to talk her up to Devon and make him realize that he loves her.

Since Devon rides a motorcycle, Liz tries to warn Jessica away. Her twin is totally okay with accepting rides from a hot guy with a bike though. That freaks Liz out, though I don't know why since she's obsessed with him and literally almost died on a bike. I bet you anything that when she and Devon wind up together that she tells him to give up the motorcycle!

Jessica decides that the key to winning a guy is shared interests, so she learns all about motorcycles. She then dresses up in her best dominatrix look, complete with knee-high black leather boots, a black leather mini, and a matching leather jacket. When she approaches him though and literally puts her boot up on his bike so he can admire her legs, he just makes up and excuse and takes off.

Devon convinces Liz that they should have a study date on Friday night, conveniently the same night that Jessica just invited him to a big party. She turns him down and tries to make plans with Todd. Liz thinks that she's feeling out of sorts because Todd hasn't had time for her lately, which really means the last week. He turns her down in favor of hanging out with his parents. Liz thinks he might be cheating on her and freaks out before agreeing to go out with Devon.

The reason Todd hasn't been around is because he's planning something big. It's apparently the first anniversary of Liz's first article in the Oracle and he wants to help her celebrate. Though he has big plans for a fancy chocolate cake with raspberry truffles inside, focacia with fancy toppings, and other stuff, he keeps messing up. Enid comes over and helps him make a chocolate and raspberry trifle and some other stuff for their big date on Monday.

Todd also gets Jessica to take a break from her stalking to help him pick out a present. They wind up getting Liz a silver ring shaped like two pencils touching with an actual diamond in the middle. And yes, they're still in high school. He also gets a copy of her article from Mr. Collins and frames it for her.

While on their not a date, Devon arranges for a fireworks display. He then tells Liz that she can't deny the fireworks they have. Gag me. Devon tells her that she knows how he feels and that he'll be at the Box Tree Cafe the following night to meet her. Jessica gets pissed off at the party because Devon never showed and everyone made fun of her. She comes home crying, and Liz feels so bad that she tells Jessica to meet him at the cafe the next night.

Jessica shows up the next night and sees Devon with stars in his eyes. She thinks he's finally ready to admit that he likes her, but then he calls her Liz. Instead of telling him the truth, she just goes along with it. Devon thinks things are a little off but figures that she's just nervous about their being alone together and what she'll do about that Todd guy. They start making out and after like 20 minutes, Devon realizes it's Jessica. He storms off, after telling her that he could use her and leave her but he won't, which makes him a real winner. Jessica runs home and lies to Liz about how they had an amazing time.

Cut to Monday afternoon. Liz is so upset over what happened with Devon that she can't concentrate, so she goes outside and hides behind the softball field to cry. Devon naturally finds her, tells her he has no interest in her twin, and then makes out with her. Jessica planned with Todd to get Liz to the beach for his surprise. After waiting for her way too long, she finds that her twin went outside and catches the two of them kissing.

Bill Chase, a name we haven't heard in quite a long time, volunteers to help Todd with his surprise. He takes him to the beach, helps him set everything up, and even helps him get a CD player going with Liz's favorite music. After Bill leaves, Todd waits around until the food grows cold and starts worrying about his girlfriend. That's when Jessica rushes to him and tells him what she saw, setting up the next book, which is apparently a fight to the death over Elizabeth's heart.

*Devon is super duper smart, which we find out when he meets with the guidance counselor. He was in all AP classes at his old high school, but the counselor only signs him up for 3-4 classes and tells him he can pick whatever else he wants to take. What the hell? Does California not have requirements over what classes high school kids take like every other state?

*And of course he's secretly brilliant because Liz would never date someone who isn't smart. I have a hard time believing that she's in AP chemistry though, especially since it's the middle of the year and they're still doing experiments on bases and acids.

*Sweet Valley High clearly has no dress code at all. Jessica constantly wears belly shirts and itty bitty skirts. She also wears a lime green tank top with a matching mini and high heel sandals with lime green patent leather stripes. That sounds disturbing but not as disturbing as her dominatrix outfit!

*Liz seriously thinks Todd is cheating on her. She goes to his house and thinks he's hiding a chick behind the front door when he doesn't let her in right away. Yet, she spends the whole book pining over another guy.

*I bet Devon is the type of guy who would date Liz and then when she cheated on him, cry to all his friends about how he never saw it coming. If she cheats with you, she'll cheat on you, dude. Plus, this is like the whole Nancy Drew thing all over again. Why do guys go crazy after the Wakefield twins after finding out they have boyfriends? Are there no other single ladies in Sweet Valley?

*Devon actually likes Lila and thinks she's beautiful. When she starts asking him questions about Connecticut though, he makes up and excuse to leave. He later says that she seems like a cool girl and someone he could hang out with. Why not ask her out then?

*I actually felt bad for Todd in this book because he wants to make their anniversary so special. The set up for the next book literally says that the two will fight over her. I feel like he should just try dating someone who doesn't have a twin.

*Devon spends the whole date night with Jessica and never once picks up on the fact that she's not Elizabeth until after they kiss, and it's not like he figures it out right away then either. I'm thinking that if you can't tell the girl apart from her sister, it's probably not love.

*Todd messes up the cake because he puts in one centimeter of sugar. Enid has no clue where he got that measurement from until she realizes the recipe called for a cup. I love that he's such a doofus to make a mistake like that and if I were Enid, I would never, ever let him live it down.