Sweet Valley High #84: The Stolen Diary
Something seems off with
Todd and Liz lately, at least in Todd's mind anyway. He keeps growing
distant and doesn't seem to want to spend any time with her. After he
skips lunch with her, she tries to talk to him, and he says he had to
help a friend with homework. When he screeches about how they don't
need to spend every moment together...wait, is this seriously Todd
talking? Anyway, they have a fight, she tells him that she's not his
mom, they fight some more, and it ends with them deciding to take a
break and try being friends.
Liz naturally assumes
that their break will be over quickly. Jessica then hears from
Caroline and Lila that this chick Peggy has her eyes on Todd and that
she was the one he was helping. Plus, they've been spending a ton of
time together lately. When she tries to tell Liz, she doesn't really
care. She thinks that Todd will come back soon enough.
Enter Kris Lynch. He's
somehow cute, tall, and draws cartoons for the Oracle, but I don't
remember him and Liz doesn't either. When he asks her to the dance,
she tells him that she isn't sure what her plans are yet. She really
just wants to mope around in classic Liz fashion, but she keeps
seeing Todd and Peggy in the halls together. She agrees to hang out
with Jessica and Sam and later agrees to go to the dance as Kris's
date.
Kris goes all out for
their big date. He shows up in a Cadillac with a chauffeur, a big ass
box of candy in a heart shaped box, and a dozen roses. Liz spends
most of the night watching Todd dance with Peggy and not paying
attention to him. She's so surprised when he asks her out again that
she accepts without really thinking about it. Everyone at school
starts talking about it. Lila even notes that he drove her home from
school, they ate lunch together a few times, and some other stuff.
All of their classmates
naturally assume that they're now a couple. Maria even plans a party
and invites everyone around Liz without asking Liz herself. When she
brings it up, Maria says that her boyfriend already accepted for them
both. This makes Liz realize that she doesn't really like Kris, at
least not in that way, and that she needs to do something about it.
Cut to the party. Liz
keeps trying to get Kris alone. He thinks that she wants some
alone-alone time, but she really just wants to break things off. When
she drags him into a dark room, they see Todd and Peggy in a somewhat
compromising position. Kris drags her into a fairly intense kiss
before she suggests that they get out of there. He thinks she wants
to go up to Miller's Point. Gee, why would he ever assume that? He
kind of throws himself at her, they have a huge fight, and he ends up
leaving her on the side of the road.
Since Liz and Todd can
never break up for too long, he approaches her in school and tells
her that the break was a stupid idea. What she thought she saw was
actually Todd telling Peggy that he was still in love with Liz and
wanted to get back together with her. After talking things through
for 30 seconds, they decide that they were both just stressed and get
back together. Todd's happiness lasts for a few minutes before Kris
shows up.
He tells Todd that this
is just Liz's way of getting revenge on him and that she really loves
Kris. To prove it, he reveals a bunch of details about their love
life and says that Liz told him all about it. Todd is so upset that
he storms away and stands Liz up for their big romantic date night.
When she calls him, he tells her that she knows what she did. Kris
does the same thing to Enid, so neither of them will talk to her.
Speaking of Enid, she's
been moping over Hugh for awhile. They're on yet another of their
breaks, and she heard through the grapevine that he's now seeing
someone else. Elizabeth convinces her that she needs to make a move
if she wants him back. They head to Big Mesa to do a little stalking,
find him outside of the Moon Beach Cafe, and invite him to join them
for lunch.
Liz comes up with an idea
where Enid will call him and say that she lost her earring and ask
him to look for it. After chickening out a few times, she works up
the nerve to call him. Hugh calls back, says he found it, and they
make arrangements to meet up. Enid borrows the Fiat, which is on its
last legs. The car dies and she misses the meeting.
It takes her far too long
to call him and tell him what happened, but he thinks it's funny and
agrees to meet again. This time, Hugh never shows up. He calls a few
times, and she won't talk to him because she thinks he did it on
purpose. She finally goes to see him at work and finds him hugging a
hot girl, so she runs off in tears.
Back to the Liz story.
Jessica talks to Enid, hears what Kris said, and talks to Todd who
has the same story. Since Liz kept losing her diary throughout the
book, Jessica eventually realizes that Kris read it. He denies it,
until Jessica tells him that she'll tell everyone what he did and
spread some other rumors too. Kris breaks down and apologizes to
everyone, so they all make up. Enid and Hugh show up at the Dairi
Burger. Turns out that it was all a big misunderstanding and the girl
was just a friend upset over being dumped. Oh, and Jessica learns
that her favorite soap opera is looking for a set of twins...
*Liz says that her cheese
sandwich doesn't taste the same without Todd there. It's kind of
cringe worthy and cute at the same time.
*Todd brings up some
bowling coach named Justin who liked Liz. I have no idea what book
that is from but it doesn't sound familiar. It may be from the one
where Cara leaves because that gets brought up a few times.
*Elizabeth gushes over
how she and Jess went to the mall and the beach and how guys were all
over them because they're just so gorgeous and amazing. I want to
throw something at her.
*Jessica says that what
Liz knows about guys could only fill a postcard but that what she
knows could fill a book. Not something you want to hear a teen girl
bragging about.
*Lila says that Kris and
Liz is like the lead singer of a heavy metal band dating the
homecoming queen.
*Kris has gasp an
earring! How did we get through so many Sweet Valley books in the 90s
without having a guy with an earring before?
*I've read this book
twice in the last week, and there's never any explanation for why
Hugh stood her up. That whole scene took up half a chapter!
*The Fiat keeps breaking
down all the time, which is foreshadowing to the twins getting their
Jeep.
*Lila apparently keeps a
diary but changes her hiding space in case someone breaks into her
house. Jessica wryly points out that anyone breaking into Fowler
Crest probably wouldn't be on the hunt for her diary.
*Kris apologizes in the
form of a cartoon that he draws, which appears on the front page of
the Oracle. I'm guessing it was a slow news week?
*Peggy is a brunette, so
we know that she could never, ever steal someone away from one of the
twins.
*Liz doesn't seem too
bothered by the whole soap opera thing in this book, which is funny
given how much she fights it later.
You'd think Liz would learn to be more careful with her diary. In this book Kris reads it, later Margo reads it, even more later Margo prints copies from it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's weird she even takes it with her! I kept a journal for years and always had it in my night stand, under my bed, or somewhere else in my bedroom. I wouldn't take it with me to school or even when I was with friends!
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