Sweet Valley Twins #69: Won't Someone Help Anna?

Jessica comes to school one day and hears the principal shouting at someone. After saying that she hopes the person isn't in too much trouble, she learns that it's a new student. Before she can get too excited though, she learns that the new student is deaf. That turns her off because deaf people are as gross as fat people or something.

When Anna Reynolds actually shows up, she kind of takes the school by storm. Elizabeth and her friends automatically welcome her and become besties with her, but Jess still thinks it's super weird. Once she meets her though, she realize that she's a cool girl. She even loves dancing and wants to start an aerobics club because she dreams of being an instructor one day.

Liz asks Cammi to do an article on Anna for the paper. Cammi keeps putting her off with excuses and then heads home to her two deaf parents. Both she and her little sister can hear but use ASL to communicate with their parents. She gets really bitter about how people will turn on Anna once the newness wears off and how they'll wind up hating her. It happened to Cammi before.

Cathy comes over with Steve to start planning a party at her grandparents' cottage on the beach. She not only invites the twins, much to his chagrin, but she also tells them that they can invite some friends. Jessica goes crazy handing out invites. Both twins agree to help them cook, get ready for the party, and clean up as a way to say thank you. Cammi gets an invite too but thinks it's a pity invite and claims she has to babysit her sister.

Anna is a hit at the party. She particularly hits it off with Jim, who is apparently no longer with Belinda. The two dance the night away, and he makes her feel even more comfortable. Jessica goes down to the beach and sees Cathy with Jake Hamilton, who is dating Lila. She later sees Cathy kissing someone in the shadows and flips out about how she could cheat on Steve.

Cammi finally works up the nerve to call Anna about the article and then pouts because she was at the party. Her parents get pretty concerned about why she skipped a party to hang out with them. When they finally do get together, she's stunned at how cool Anna is with everything. She has no problem showing off the deaf stuff in their house and using sign language in front of her. Cammi still refuses to tell anyone the truth about herself though.

Jessica tells Liz all about what she saw at the party, but Liz, being Liz, refuses to hear it. She winds up telling all the Unicorns. Lila immediately freaks out because Jake was hers. The Unicorns then spill the beans to everyone else. Guys at school start teasing Jake for dating an older girl, but he has no idea what they're talking about it. When Jessica confronts him about Cathy, he's even more confused because he knows lots of girls with that name.

The day the aerobics club meets for the first time, Liz and Amy see Mr. Clark, the principal, with Anna in the hallway as Anna cries. She covers it up later and holds a class that kicks all their asses. Cammi turns in her article, but it's way too short. When Liz lectures her, she just tells her to give it to someone else and leaves.

Liz then shows up at her house. Though she tries to make her leave and lies about her sister having chicken pox, Liz refuses to go. She meets Mrs. Adams and agrees to stay for dinner. She later tells Cammi that it's now a big deal and that her parents were both really nice. Cammi then tells her about her dad making a mistake at her old school, how the parents and kids laughed at him, and how he felt horrible because he embarrassed her. Liz tells her that people aren't always like that, which is proof that she lives in her own little bubble.

Cammi sees Anna crying in class one day and realizes that the teacher keeps turning her back on her, so she can't understand him. Instead of helping though, she just gives her a tissue. She later learns that Anna is in danger of failing and that the principal wants to kick her out of the school.

Mr. Clark actually comes in and sits to observe Anna, making it clear that he's there just for her. When the teacher turns his back again and then turns around to ask her a question, Anna almost breaks down and actually starts crying. Cammi then signs to her and helps her with the lesson. Everyone thinks it's really cool that she can sign, but she and Anna talk things through with ASL. They then teach the other kids the word for friend.

Lila keeps pushing Jessica to tell Steve the truth about Cathy. While she and Ellen are there, Jess finally tells him what she saw. Steve flips out and demands to know where Jake is before taking off. He says that he'll kill him. Jess warns Jake, but he tells her that he'll do anything for the woman he loves. He and Steve start to fight, but then Jessica suggests they put aside their differences and have some ice cream. They agree as long as she pays. Cathy then comes out to say what she wants and kisses Steve. Jess apparently saw them kissing on the beach after Jake left to find Lila, and they all worked together to make her feel stupid.

At the end of the book, Cammi throws her first party ever, which is a birthday party for Anna. A bunch of girls come over, and she can't believe that even Jessica showed up. When they sing Happy Birthday to her, Cammi, her mom, and her sister all sign the words. Anna then gives her a special present, which is a charm on a necklace that has friend in ASL on it.

*When Jessica goes to the principal's office, his secretary wants to know what she did this time. When Liz comes by, the secretary says it's a delight to see her.

*Jess asks Liz to guess the best news ever, and she guesses that Jess is quitting the Unicorns. When Jess asks her to guess the worst news ever, she guesses that Jess wants her to join the Unicorns LOL.

*I thought Steve and Cathy were the same age, but she's constantly called a sophomore in this book while he's still a freshman.

*I love Ellen! When Steve demands to know where Jake is, Lila just tries to run away and Ellen just pipes up, “I know!”

*Lila is disappointed when she hears that Jake is a black belt who might kill Steve but only because she planned on rushing to his side after Steve beat the shit out of him and nurse him back to health. Love her too!

*Cammi's sister and her sister's friend want to teach the family dog, Ludwig, how to talk. Cammi then says that he never learned to speak like a normal dog because he grew up in a deaf house, which is something I never thought about before, but that he went through training to help them in other ways.

*Cammi spends most of the book freaking out about how no one would want to be her friend once they found out about her parents. She even thinks that her sister's new friend will dump her. The little girl actually thinks having a deaf mom is really cool.

*Anna only takes some classes at SVMS and spends the rest of her time in a special school. It seems kind of strange to put her in a hearing school without any help. It's even worse that she does badly for a few weeks and they want to drop her.