The moral of the story: Once you’ve gone to Sweet Valley High, you will never want to go anywhere else.

The Big Deal: The Battle of the Schools, a party at the country club.

Synopsis:

Liz and Todd are back together, but they’re having a rough time since Todd goes to Lovett Academy, a private school about an hour away from Sweet Valley. They want to spend all their free time together, so Liz starts blowing off homework and leaving Oracle meetings early so she can see Todd, and Todd is missing basketball practices to see Liz. Jessica is bored now that the buzz about Liz and Todd has died down and she wants the spotlight back on her, so she decides she should go to Lovett Academy, too. Just to spice things up and meet new guys. Her parents tell her to go ahead and find out whatever she can about it.

One day, Courtney Kane (the girl who tried to keep Todd and Liz from getting back together) sees Todd and Liz coming out of a restaurant. She starts seething with anger at the thought of Todd choosing Elizabeth over her. She vows to someday get back at them. That night, her father tells her that a shoe company called Kidd will be sponsoring some kind of mini-olympics and all the area schools will compete, including Lovett Academy and Sweet Valley High. The competition is announced at Sweet Valley a few days later. Jessica says she can’t possibly be on any Sweet Valley teams since her heart belongs to Lovett. Liz is all worried about competing against Todd.

Todd takes Liz to a party at the country club. Liz hates all the shallow and superficial rich kids from Lovett. She sees someone she recognizes from school working there and says hello, and the Lovett kids laugh at her for being friendly with the help. Then Courtney’s date, Campbell, won’t leave Liz alone and keeps asking her to dance with him, which makes Courtney hate her even more. Finally, Liz and Todd leave and Liz is relieved to find out he was having as bad a time as she was. They spend the rest of the evening at the Dairi Burger.

Everyone finds out what teams they’ll be on for the competition, and Liz and Jeffrey both end up being on the relay race team. Awkward. Coincidentally, Todd will be on the relay team for Lovett. He comes to watch Liz practice, but Ken Matthews asks him to leave so he can’t go bringing secrets back to Lovett. Um, what secrets? Don’t you just run? Anyway, later that night, Todd is worried that he and Liz being in direct competition with each other is a bad idea and asks her if she’ll switch teams or something. Liz gets pissed and tells him he should quit because he shouldn’t be competing against Sweet Valley anyway. A few days later, Todd is telling Liz about a couple of children of famous people he met at Lovett, and Liz is all concerned because the old Todd never cared about “important people.” Todd accuses her of hating Lovett and they have a fight and break up. Gee, Liz. Good thing you left Jeffrey for this guy.

Okay, so the relay race isn’t just running. Jeffrey and Robin will be doing the three-legged race portion of it, Ken will be balancing an egg on a spoon and Liz will do the rope climbing bit. It all seems very strange. And, hey! Guess what? Todd will be doing the rope climbing bit for his relay team, too! Courtney sits on the sidelines during his relay practices and tries to get him to go out with her. She’s decided to give him another chance because Liz is the one she really hates. At the big competition, Lovett comes in first and Sweet Valley second. The two schools will be going head to head.

Jessica goes to Lovett during school hours for an official tour. She starts worrying that she won’t fit in and that she’ll miss her friends, but on her way out she sees a cute guy and the beautiful landscaping and her enthusiasm is restored. She runs into Todd and he asks about Liz. Jessica tells him Liz is doing just fine, never been better, and Todd is obviously disappointed that she’s not at home crying her eyes out every night. That night, Jessica tells Liz that Todd misses her, but Liz is all upset that he hasn’t called. Jessica wisely tells her that it takes two people to have an argument and Liz can just as easily call him. So Liz tries, but nobody answers.

At the Battle of the Schools, Courtney cheats during the College Bowl, signaling answers to her classmates. Jessica notices, but keeps her mouth shut. Then Courtney sabotages the rope Liz will be using for the rope climb. The whole school is watching when the rope snaps and Liz falls. Todd immediately jumps down from his rope and holds her in his arms. The schools decide to have a tug-of-war to decide who the winner is. Both Todd and Liz decide to sit it out, so Todd is replaced by a classmate and Jessica takes Liz’s place. Courtney starts complaining that Lovett should be declared the winner and Jessica tells her if she doesn’t shut up, everyone will know she cheated during the College Bowl.

Sweet Valley wins, Jessica decides not to go to Lovett, Liz and Todd are okay again and Todd decides he wants to transfer back to Sweet Valley. Did you expect any other ending?

Quotes:

The fact was, everyone at Sweet Valley High had been following Elizabeth Wakefield’s love life with fascination ever since her old boyfriend had moved back to town a few weeks ago.

Of course they have. Every little thing the Wakefield twins do is fascinating.

“Every time I think of what almost happened to you today, when I saw you there, lying so helplessly on the ground…” Todd said, a catch in his throat.

Todd, she fell a couple of feet and doesn’t even have a bruise. She’s fine.

The Cover:

Todd: If I don’t hold on tight, she’ll run back to that Jeffrey guy.

Liz: We look happy, right? Really happy.