Sweet Valley Kids #51: Lois and the Sleepover

The twins are running around and playing like usual when they see Lois by herself. They pick her up and then run into Amy. Amy invites them all to come with her to the movies that night, but Lois can't come because her mom wants to take her to that movie over the weekend. She also reveals that her and her mom watched a movie together they night before and had more plans together. Her grandmother passed away, and since her dad is also gone, her mom depends on her a lot.

Todd then shows up and invites them to come and play baseball with some other kids. Lois does really badly as usual but then helps make a double play. All the kids love her, but she needs to suddenly leave because her mom wants to take her to a restaurant for dinner. The twins feel bad that her grandmother died but feel even worse that her mom won't give her a break.

It's in the middle of a major heat wave in Sweet Valley. The twins sleep in the den, which is the only room with an AC, and talk with Steven about how much fun it would be to sleep outside. That leads to them asking their parents if they can hold a campout that weekend. They agree, and all their friends can come except for Lois. Her mom wants to have a barbecue for adults but demands that Lois be there.

The one bright spot is that Mrs. Waller does ask the twins to come with them to the beach. When they get there though, they don't have much fun. She won't let them go in the water unless she's with them, despite there being a lifeguard on duty. As soon as they start splashing around, she makes them get out of the water and sit under an umbrella. And even though Alice gave them money for snacks, she makes them eat the veggies, fruit, and tuna sandwiches that she brought instead. Lois feels really bad and keeps apologizing.

When party night arrives, it's raining so bad that Ned puts the tent up inside the house. They all start having fun, see a shadow outside, and scream because they think it's a ghost. It's actually Lois who reveals that she sneaked out of her house to see them when her mom was busy. Liz worries that her mom already knows Lois is gone, which causes her to freak out. They hide Lois in the tent, even after Alice asks if they heard from her.

Though the girls promise to help hide Lois, they change their minds when Alice comes in and says that Mrs. Waller called the cops. Jessica and Liz convince her to come out and take her to Alice. Mrs. Waller shows up and feels really bad. She tells Alice about how she put too much pressure on Lois and made her the center of her world before apologizing to her daughter. She then agrees to let her spend the night as she sits down to have some tacos with Alice.

*Jessica totally doesn't want to play with Lois in the beginning and actually pulls a face when she sees her because Lois is fat. Seriously, can Alice do even the slightest bit of parenting here?

*Todd wants to play ball but doesn't like Lois playing because she sucks. He's okay with it though because there are a bunch of kids out of town on vacation and not enough players. Man, I really sympathize with Lois...

*Liz convinces Jess to let Lois come to the sleepover because she's grown up a lot lately, and Jess agrees because Lois hasn't cried in awhile. Um, isn't Jess the one who constantly bursts into tears when she doesn't get her way?

*Ned and Alice have a tent big enough to hold their twins and all their friends. Given that there's like six people coming plus them, that's a big ass tent. I have a three room tent that was barely big enough for three adults.

*Sandra Ferris comes to the sleepover, even though in SVT, they barely know her. I think it's only because so many kids were out of town LOL.

*Even though Lois is supposedly so big, she can sleep in a pair of the twins' pajamas.