Sweet Valley Twins #108: Cammi's Crush

 

In case you didn't know, Cammi Adams and Randy Mason are the two smartest kids in Sweet Valley Middle School. Mr. Clark, the principal, announces a new contest called Scholar of the Semester. All the local schools will participate with one top student named at the end of the semester. Both Cammi and Randy are in the running. If either win, the whole sixth grade will get a day off school.

Jessica decides that one of the two must absolutely win because she's totally sick of school. She goes to them both and offers to help, but they blow her off. Jessica gives them advice such as stealing the other's homework and sucking up to their teachers. Cammi worries that Randy listened to Jessica and puts a bike lock on her locker. Randy sees her and thinks she listened to Jessica, so he takes all his books home with him.

When they come to school the next day, they learn that they have a new substitute named Ms. Sherman. Cammi stayed up to late working on her latest assignment that she overslept and came to school late. Ms. Sherman agrees not to mark her absent but to fail her on a quiz she missed. She also fails her on her homework because the paper is wrinkled.

Randy's luck is no better. He went overboard on a timeline project that winds up falling apart. They end up with another substitute named Mr. Jules. Though Randy thinks he seems cool and easy going, Mr. Jules fails him on his timeline because it's not neat. The two teachers keep giving them both failing grades for stupid reasons. Seriously, Cammi gets a failing grade because Ms. Sherman says her penmanship isn't good enough.

The two go back to Jessica and beg her for help. She decides that since both teachers are single, they should fall in love. After all, what makes people happier then being in love? Jessica uses her purple notebook to create a list of questions. Cammi hits up Ms. Sherman and asks about her favorite color, flower, and type of food. Randy then does the same thing to Mr. Jules.

Cammi sneaks in some fresh cut lilacs for her teacher. Though Ms. Sherman first accuses Cammi of sucking up for a better grade, she then gets a little misty eyed at the idea of a secret admirer. Since Mr. Jules loves Mexican food, Randy shows him an article in the paper about a new restaurant and gives him the coupon inside. They then arrange for both teachers to be in the cafeteria line at the same time. When they bring up the new restaurant, the teachers wind up making plans to go out together that night.

Our crazy little trio then sneaks out to the restaurant and sees the couple together. They think it's strange but awesome that they fell in love so quickly. Jessica then tells everyone about how she set them up and takes all the credit, even bragging about how their day off is now in the bag. The teachers not only let Randy and Cammi make up some of their work, but they also seem way more relaxed in class, even tearing up quizzes and letting them talk instead of writing papers.

This lasts up until they find the notebook. The two teachers get into a fight and both blame each other. They then pile on even more homework and act like real jackasses in class. Jessica randomly finds a file with the teachers' names on it in Ned's desk. He then breaks client confidentiality to tell her all about how the two were married but filed for divorce. They keep fighting all the time and over every little thing, but he really thinks they still love each other.

Jessica then pulls Randy and Cammi into a classroom to tell them what she found out. They're in the middle of coming up with a brand new plan when the two teachers surprise them. Jules and Sherman admit that they were a “little” too hard on their students. They both wanted to be the best teacher and win some random Teacher of the Semester award, so they started piling on homework. When they heard the other was doing the same thing, they amped things up. They apologize but point out that the kids should mind their own business and assign them a 10-page paper on staying out of other people's business.

While all this is going on, Cammi realizes that she has a crush on Randy. She has Jessica give her a makeover, but he doesn't really notice anything different about her. When she asks him questions and tries to get to know him, he thinks she's trying to throw him off his game. At the end though, they both realize they like each other and that it would be nice if the other person won the award.

To no one's surprise, the kid who wins is from a completely different school. Mr. Clark decides that since Randy and Cammi came in second and third that they should still get a day off and tells everyone to meet at the park the next day. He gives them a special award for doing so good. Jessica gets ticked off because they didn't give her any credit and whines to everyone. Randy and Cammi then give her a special certificate they made just for her in honor of her help, so she gets her way once again.

*The Scholar of the Year contest makes absolutely no sense. Are you seriously telling me that no two kids would ever tie? It's based solely on GPA! There is no way that one kid would somehow have a higher GPA than someone else.

*Jessica assumes that Liz is in the running until she hears the names. It turns out that Elizabeth got a B in food class because she and the teacher fought over whether brownies should be cakey or fudgey.

*Liz only shows up one other time, which is to laugh at Jess about her essay.

*Sherman and Jules should definitely not be substitute teachers or at least not working in the same school. There's also no way that the principal or other teachers wouldn't pick up on their relationship issues.

*Cammi wears a miniskirt that she borrowed from Jessica and a fuzzy green sweater after getting her makeover. According to Jess, she looks so good that two of the popular guys talked to her.

*Sherman literally recoils when Cammi hands in an assignment on a wrinkled piece of paper and tells her she absolutely won't accept it. Is this her first teaching job?

*She's also the one who lectures Cammi on her penmanship. When she hands back quizzes later, she marks kids down and outright fails them because she claims their handwriting is too bad. If I were a parent, I'd definitely be talking to the principal!

*Also, at one point she gives them an assignment that requires they read 40 pages in a single night. When they complain, she increases it to 50 pages. She then tells them to answer the questions at the end of each chapter, which she'll grade the next day and count as a test. I had college classes where we didn't read that much!

*The Unicorns apparently now take turns working as secretary and writing down the minutes of their meetings. That's how the teachers find out who owned the notebook because of the notes in the back. Does anyone else really want to read those minutes??