**This blog contains adult language.**
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know what cold-hearted bitch move the twins made this book.
From the Back of the Book: Jessica's at it again! Jessica Wakefield has sworn never to allow Annie Whitman onto the Sweet Valley High cheering squad. Annie may have the beauty, talent and spirit to be a cheerleader, but she also has the worst reputation in the school. She goes out with a different boy every night and all the kids call her "Easy Annie" behind her back. Jessica's pulling every devilish trick to keep Annie from ruining the cheerleaders' image. Only Elizabeth, Jessica's twin, knows what Annie's really like. But can she change her sister's mind before Jessica shatters Annie's dreams?
TRIGGER WARNING: This book mentions a suicide attempt. I will be cautious in how I blog it, but please be kind to yourself and click off this recap if it's something that will harm you in any way.
This book was published in 1984 and this is my first time reading it. I'm already dreading it, to be honest. I'm sure it's going to be a clusterfuck of slut shaming and I'm not really here for that. I'm going to try to make it through without bullet points but I make no promises. The girl on the cover really looks like a young, sad Courtney Cox. Here's a pic for reference.
Okay, I Googled it and that's probably her. She modeled for the cover of several YA books and it's widely believed that she is Annie on this cover. I'm just going to try to ignore that or I'll end up calling her Monica the entire book.
Meet the Cast
*Elizabeth Wakefield – identical twin of Jessica and massive fucking martyr.
*Jessica Wakefield – identical twin of Elizabeth with narcissistic and histrionic tendencies
*Ned Wakefield – neglectful patriarch of the clan and successful lawyer
*Alice Wakefield – neglectful matriarch of the clan and an interior designer
*Steven Wakefield – older brother, university student and general asshole
*Enid Rollins – Liz's best friend and generic good-girl type
*Todd Wilkins – Liz's douchebag boyfriend and star of the SVH basketball team
*Lila Fowler – Jessica's self-absorbed best friend and representative of SV new money
*Bruce Patman – school dick and representative of SV old money
*Ken Matthews – star quarterback and resident jock stereotype
*Winston Egbert – stereotypical school nerd
There are more but these are the main characters that plague us book after book.
In the last book, Lila toyed with Roger's affections until he finally found a much nicer girl named Olivia to like. If that sentence sounded familiar, it's because I wrote an almost identical one for the “in the last book” segment of book #9. It was, and still is, ridiculous. Anyway, Roger was trying to keep the fact that he had to work for a living as a janitor to help support his family a secret and he ended up winning a big race that earned him adulation and a scholarship . Jess had an office romance with a boy who turned out to be younger than her and Liz and Todd......I don't actually remember what was going on with Liz and Todd and I'm not going to read the recap to figure it out. I know it's my job but I don't really care. Oh, and we met Annie who is slut shamed by absolutely everyone so this is going to be a super fun book.
Sigh.
We begin with Jess looking over a list of girls who want to try out for cheerleader. She's co-captain with Robin from way back in book #4 (which was so disastrous and toxic that I had to resort to bullet points just to get it on the blog) but she doesn't let that get in the way of her running the squad. Jess is queen and everyone knows it. Jess lists all the current cheerleaders for us (Jess, Robin, Helen, Jean, Maria) and tells us that they are all stunningly beautiful and stylish. I remember a time just six books ago that Jess didn't think Robin was so beautiful but I guess we'll just rewrite history and pretend that never happened.
Do not perceive it. It does not exist.
There are 2 spots open on the team and 75 girls trying out. Jess has more or less promised one of those spots to her best friend Cara. Cara and Lila had been on the team previously but had been suspended for a prank they pulled on an opposing team. The suspension is over and both girls are eligible again but Lila has too much pride to “come crawling back.” Jess goes over the list and is appalled to see that “Easy Annie” has added her name to the list. She goes off on a rant about how she doesn't want that type of girl on her squad and Liz begs her to give Annie a fair chance. Annie has worked hard to bring her grades up enough that she'd be eligible to try out and Liz believes she's trying to turn her life around. Jess says she doubts it since Annie was seen with Rick Andover just the day before. Rick is the dude from earlier in the series that took Jess to the bar and tried to get her drunk.
So we'll just forget that Jess went out with Rick too.
Annie needs help with math in order to stay eligible for tryouts so Liz volunteers to help her out after school. She goes to Annie's apartment for the first time and the two girls end up talking. Annie tells her that her mom was 16 when she had Annie and her dad didn't stick around so her mom raised her on her own. Annie is a pretty classic case. She never had love from her father or any other important male figure so she's looking for it from boys and doing all the wrong things to get it. Before the chapter ends, we meet Annie's mom who comes in drunk and Johnny, the mom's boyfriend. Johnny is super pervy and hits on Elizabeth making her very uncomfortable.
Meanwhile Jess is giving Cara private coaching for tryouts. Cara is worried she might not make the team despite Jess's reassurances. Steven rocks up and Cara tells us that she has had a crush on him forever. Jess knows about the crush and wishes that Steven would dump Tricia and get with Cara instead. I'd almost forgotten about Tricia. It makes sense that she'd reappear in this book because Jess also thinks Tricia is the 'wrong kind of girl' because her family is a mess. Cara leaves, crushed under the weight of unrequited love and Jess goes in to talk to Steven. He tells her that Tricia's dad is currently in jail for hitting a woman with his car. Jess is horrified to be tangentially associated with such a family.
I thought this was going to be the B-Plot but we literally never hear it mentioned again.
We skip to cheerleading tryouts. We get introduced to a character named Ricky who is described as small and shy. I think he's the equipment manager for the squad or something. I'm not really sure. Tryouts start and everyone but Jess can see that Annie is the best applicant. Jess refuses to even put Annie's name on her scoring sheet even though she impresses everyone in the gym. Annie ends up leaving afterwards with Tim who is Helen's brother and a senior that Jess is mildly interested in. This just makes Jess hate Annie more.
The first cuts are posted and the potential pool of cheerleaders is narrowed down from 75 to 25. Annie is thrilled to find that she made the first cut. She's so happy, she kisses Ricky when he posts the list. She's not the only girl who does this to poor Ricky but he doesn't seem to mind it from Annie. Liz is happy for her until Jess makes it clear that Annie will never be on the squad no matter how good she is.
I'm halfway through the book and I've taken less than two pages of notes. Nothing is happening in this book, y'all. Like there was an entire chapter about Liz tutoring Annie and Annie helping out an elderly neighbor that didn't move the story at all. It was just filler.
It's the weekend now and everyone is blowing off steam at the local Disco. You know, because we had so many fucking Discos in the 80's. Sigh. Annie arrives wearing something pretty scandalous with Bruce on her arm. A dance contest randomly breaks out because of course it does. Eventually everyone is eliminated except Jess and her partner Skip and Annie/Bruce. The manager of the Disco bases the winner on applause and he can't tell which pairing is getting more applause so he declares them both winners. Jess is super pissed.
We skip to the next week. The second round of tryouts is scheduled for that afternoon to narrow the pool of potentials from 25 to 8. Jess gives Liz the list of 8 before the tryouts even happen and Annie isn't on it. Liz refuses to accept the list even though Jess insists that she's simply trying to give Liz a “scoop” for the paper. They're standing there talking when Annie comes in to thank Liz for all the tutoring. As soon as Jess hears that Liz has been helping Annie, she calls her a traitor and stomps off.
Mr Collins the slightly-pervy journalism sponsor rocks up. Liz goes to great lengths to tell us how attractive he is which doesn't do anything to lessen the pervy vibes. He asks Liz why she seems out of sorts and she hesitates to tell him anything because she knows it will make Jess look bad. In the end, the conversation amounts to nothing. Four pages and it amounts TO NOTHING!!!!
We skip to tryouts. Annie does really well but Jess is confident that's managed to convince the other cheerleaders not to vote for her. She's been running a campaign since the last round to make sure that everyone knows that Annie would be the absolute worst thing for the squad. So it comes as a complete shock when all the other members of the team vote to move Annie to the next round. Jess is furious. She's spending a lot of time furious in this book.
Annie is elated to make the top 8. She tells Liz that she's starting to realize that she was dating all the guys to fix the empty feeling she had but it never worked. She feels respected when she's cheering and she's never felt respected by any of the boys she dated. She says she's going to stop going out with every boy who asks her and look for the right boy instead.
Jess corners Helen the next day after school and tells her that Annie is going to ruin all of them. She uses the “birds of a feather flock together” adage to convince Helen that people will think she's a slut if Annie makes the team. Helen is horrified. Jess knows that Annie can only make the squad if she gets three votes, so she tells Helen that their fate lies in Helen's hands. She makes Helen promise that she'll vote for Cara and Sandra to be on the squad. Jess feels pretty secure now because she knows Jeanie will also vote for Cara and Sandra since they're all best friends.
Liz gets wind of what is happening and she's conflicted. She doesn't want to do anything to upset her sister but she thinks what's happening to Annie is unfair. She's so wrapped up in trying to decide what to do that she completely ignores both Enid and Todd for a significant portion of the book. Enid is hurt but Todd just accuses her of cheating on him because that's the kind of toxic he is. She doesn't tell him what's wrong and when he guesses that it has something to do with Jess, she gets really angry with him. Even though it totally DOES have something to do with Jess. I don't get Liz at all. She knows full well who and what Jess is but if anyone else says it, she bites their head off. She's constantly defending behavior that she knows is wrong. It's disgusting.
Annie finally realizes she has a crush on Ricky who is also madly in love with Annie but too shy to say so.
Final tryout day finally gets here. Sandra falls during her routine which should, in all fairness, prevent her from winning a spot on the squad. Cara and Annie both perform flawlessly. All five cheerleaders agree that Cara should be on the squad. When it comes down to the second position, there's a split. Jeanie and and Jess vote for Sandra while Robin and Maria vote for Annie. The vote hinges on Helen who isn't as sure anymore what to do. Jess tells them that if “Easy Annie” is voted onto the squad, she's quitting. She won't be associated with that kind of girl.
The shaming in this book makes me very angry. Poor Annie. No one shames Bruce for doing the same thing. Or JESS. Apparently everyone has forgotten all the boys that Jess has dated in this series.
At dinner that night, Ned and Alice announce the B-Plot. It fucking took long enough. They're going to have a house guest for for a couple of weeks. Her name is Suzanne and she's the daughter of one of his college friends. She's lived in a lot of amazing places so Jess is already inclined to like her. They also drop the bombshell that one of the twins will be switching places with Suzanne and spending two weeks in New York City. For some reason. I don't know what this teenager exchange thing is about and I don't really care.
Jess wants Liz to help her set Steven up with Suzanne. She thinks that will finally get him away from Tricia who she considers as bad as Annie for different reasons. Liz refuses.
The next day Annie finds out she didn't make the squad. Apparently Jess's ultimatum worked. She's really upset and after crying in Ricky's arms for a few minutes, she grills him on what happened. He tries to evade but she is relentless. Finally he tells her that she had three votes but Jess talked them out of it. She demands to know why and tells him that if he cares for her, he'll just lay it all out on the table. So he does. He tells her that Jess brought up her reputation around the school for being “easy” and the other girls didn't want to be associated with that. Annie is horrified and runs off.
Annie doesn't come to school for three days. A rumor starts circulating that Jess called her “Easy Annie” to her face and that's why she's staying home. Everyone seems to find it hilarious and Jess does nothing to stop the chatter. Liz confronts Jess who denies doing it but it's clear she's enjoying the rumor anyway.
At the end of the fourth day, Ricky calls to tell Liz that Annie's been rushed to the hospital because she tried to kill herself. Liz forces Jess to accompany her to the ER where they find Ricky. He says he found Annie after becoming worried because she wouldn't answer the door or the phone. He lashes out at Jess saying it's all her fault and Jess starts to cry. The doctor comes out and says that Annie survived but she seems to have no will to live so he isn't sure what will happen next.
Jess breaks down and runs from the hospital. Liz catches up with her and listens as Jess blames herself for everything. Liz tells her that she did what she thought was right which is just what an enabler would say. Jess decides that she and she alone can save the day. She goes to tell Annie's doctor all about the cheerleading drama and the doctor solemnly asks her if she'd be willing to put Annie on the squad to save her life. Which is just fucking stupid but whatever. Jess says she will. The doctor tells her that she must convince Annie that she REALLY wants her on the squad, otherwise all might be lost.
This is really fucking stupid.
Jess spends hours beside Annie's bed telling her she made the cheerleading squad after all. Annie wakes up and everything is instantly resolved because a cheerleading sweater fucking cures anything.
Sigh.
This actually makes me angry. It reduces suicide to a whim when life doesn't go your way. There were serious things going on in Annie's life. Her mother drank too much and didn't pay any attention to her. People at school were bullying her and calling her names. Boys were making up rumors about her. There was her mother's extremely sus boyfriend who may have been behaving inappropriately with her since he had no problem hitting on all her friends. All of these things contributed to her state of mind and none of them magically went away when she made the squad. Annie needed therapy. Maybe medication. To say everything was solved with a pair of pompoms is disgusting and I'm very disappointed with Pascal.
What else is new? Sigh.
The book ends with everyone praising Jess for saving Annie's life and me wanting to stab something.
Coming Up Next: I don't know. Someone goes to New York City I guess. Sigh.
