Young Adult Revisited

The Wakefields go out of town because hey, if you had the twins as your kids, you need frequent breaks too. They decide that Steven is mature enough to be in charge, and he actually does a pretty good job. After track practice, Jessica runs into Lila, who can't get over how sweaty and gross she looks. Lila mentions that she's having a party that night and invites her over. When Lila calls that night, Jessica doesn't want to admit that Steven won't let her out on a school night. She lies and says she had a guy over, and she mentions that she might have a party on Saturday. Elizabeth warns her that Steven will never agree to it, but Jessica thinks she can talk him into it. He does but only if she does a bunch of chores for him. Jessica plans on having a little sleepover with some of her old and new friends. She almost doesn't invite Kristen because she's with Lacey, but she decides to bite the bullet and do it. Lacey invites herself to the party af...

Jessica is all atwitter because there are boys sitting at the Unicorner. She recently discovered that she likes Aaron Dallas, and since he's at the table, she ditches her twin to sit with him. The boys start talking about basketball, and she's the only one who follows the game. Lila actually thinks that the Lakers play baseball. Aaron asks her to go to a game with him and his parents, and she becomes the first sixth grader to get a real date. Unfortunately, one of her teachers noticed that she keeps squinting and getting headaches, and he thinks she needs to see an eye doctor. He sends home a note, which she hides under her mattress. Alice finds out anyway when the teacher sends home a letter, and she makes both twins go to the doctor. Jessica discovers that she needs glasses, while Elizabeth has perfect vision. She throws a major fit, which Alice tries to diffuse by letting each one get a new outfit. Jessica picks out some god awful purple outfit, but she stil...

Dawn and Jeff are on their way back to town because this book marks the 700 th time that summer started since Dawn moved back to California. Sharon spent the week getting the house ready and buying a bunch of junk food, and everyone decides to go to the airport. Richard seriously agrees to let the whole BSC go with them. The flight is delayed, so they head over to the cafeteria. Everyone gets a bunch of salads and healthy stuff, except for Claudia who gets chocolate cake, ice cream, and Ring Dings. Totally off topic, but am I the only one who will miss the heck out of Hostess? I love those little banana nut muffins and Ding Dongs, both of which went out of stock around here weeks and weeks ago. Kristy sees a family and wonders if they are from Stoneybrook. She seriously contemplates walking up to them and telling them about the club, but the girls talk her out of it. Mary Anne hears the man making a fuss and thinks he's being rude, but he's actually choking. ...

I only have a few of the “newer” books, and I found this one in a thrift store, so I figured I should recap the last one, which is does at the beginning. Apparently, Elizabeth “I-never-cheat-on-my-boyfriends” Wakefield surprisingly enough cheated on Todd with some random new hottie named Devon. They worked together in science class, and she fell “in love” with him. When Todd found out about her affair, he proposed to her. Devon saw, they fought, and she stormed off because, what woman would want to see two men fighting over her? Elizabeth is so disgusted with them that she avoids talking to them both. Enid tells her that her cousin went on a trip with Project Adventure, which is a total rip-off, and she thinks it sounds interesting. The trip ends with each person left alone in the middle of the wilderness to fend for themselves overnight. Since Ned and Alice are without a doubt the worst parents alive, they agree to let her go. Elizabeth is currently not speaking to Jes...

Evan now lives in Atlanta where he gets ridiculed all of the time by a bully named Conan. Mr. Murphy, his teacher, apparently doesn't give a shit because he totally lets the guy run loose over his classroom. When Conan tells Evan that he can punch him once, he hits him in the stomach, and the teacher sees. He blames Evan and punishes him by making him take care of the class hamster Cuddles every day. Luckily, his friend Andy just moved to Atlanta to live with her grandparents while her parents spend a year working in Germany. She brought a can of monster blood with her, but Evan begs her to get rid of it. Conan sees them and tries to take the can, but Evan drops it and pretends like he never had it. After he leaves, they bury it under a tree in the woods. Conan continues being a huge jerk. Evan tries out for the basketball team, and Conan throws the ball twice in his face and he and his friends trip him constantly. After Conan stuffs him in the hoop, the teacher (wh...

Let's get the Toby/Anna story out of the way because it is easily the most boring of the group. They both got cast in West Side Story, but Toby is super busy trying to be a huge star. He keeps getting distracted by Anna because she is so beautiful and he just can't concentrate on learning his lines. Anna thinks that he isn't interested in her, especially since they are dating but he hasn't kissed her yet. Then he does kiss her and she's suddenly fine. The lead in the play gets sick and since they apparently don't have understudies, they decide to move Anna up. She has like two weeks to learn all of her lines and get ready for the show. Toby starts getting super annoying. They fight over who is the better singer, and he keeps acting like a big star. They fight all the time until her mom calls them out on it and they try to calm down. They make up just in time for the first performance and they naturally do a great job and everyone loves them. ...

There are three major storylines here, and Salvatore's is the least interesting so let's start with him. His parents live in Germany because his dad is a military man stationed at a base there. They come back to California for a visit, and his mom acts like he is a kid and his dad treats him like a soldier. He decides to hang out with the guys to be the kind of son his dad wants. Elizabeth and Anna think that he's avoiding him and feel like crap. He acts really obnoxious, shoots rubber bands at people, including Elizabeth who he hits, and generally behaves like a teenage boy. His dad keeps lecturing him on joining a team and acting like a man. His mom takes him to the natural history museum, and he and his dad share a moment when they remember buying and playing with plastic dinosaurs. His dad buys him a new one and when he starts goofing around like a kid, his dad yells at him. His parents want to take him shopping for clothes, and he brings along the girls. El...