The Moral of the Story: Making a dinner reservation is hard work.
Synopsis:
College Woes: Melissa and Will get acceptance letters from east coast colleges and they each think it’s great that they’ll be getting away from the other. Evan gets a letter from Berkeley that says he’s on the waiting list, so he cries to Jade that he wasn’t accepted. She tries to teach him the difference between being rejected and being wait-listed, but Evan just wants to feel sorry for himself. Tia’s gotten acceptance letters from just about everywhere, including Berkeley, and Evan freaks on her when she says she’s not sure whether she wants to go to Berkeley or one of the other schools she applied to.
Evan sucks: Evan talks to his guidance counselor and finds out that Berkeley usually only accepts three students from Sweet Valley High, and that if one of them decides not to go, Evan will be moved up the waiting list. Jade convinces him that Tia would be a huge jerk if she didn’t hand over her spot to him. Tia flips out and tells Evan it’s completely out of line for him to ask her to give up her spot just for him. Evan calls Liz and tells her everything that’s been going on, and Liz tells Tia it’s not fair of her to not give her spot to Evan. Ah, there’s the meddlesome bitch we’ve been missing. Welcome back, Liz.
Tia goes to a Berkeley symposium and discovers it’s really not the place for her because the academics are too rigorous and somebody gives her a mean look when she asks about cheerleading. On her way out, she runs into Evan, who came to check things out. Tia tells him she’s not going to Berkeley and she hopes he gets in.
Melissa and Will are codependent: After being caught trying to get with Aaron, Melissa tries to call all her friends to tell them to ignore Cherie. Sadly for her, Cherie has gotten to them first and now everyone is mad at Melissa. Melissa decides she’s above all that now because she’s going to the east coast for college so none of this high school crap matters anymore. She loudly announces at cheerleading practice that she’s going to Smith. At First and Ten later, Cherie and the gang start gossiping and Will finds out about Smith. He’s hurt that Melissa would apply to an east coast school when they had planned to stay in California. Um, Will. You broke up. Who cares where she’s going to school?
While getting dressed for cheerleading practice one day, Cherie starts yapping about Will getting accepted to NYU. So now Melissa is hurt about all the same stupid crap Will was hurt about. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO? Melissa stops what she’s doing and puts her regular clothes back on. She tells everyone she’s quitting the squad because she’s going to be too busy getting ready for college. When Will finds out, he gets worried about all the changes Melissa is making in her life and he calls her to make sure she’s not going to try to kill herself again. Melissa hangs up on him.
Melissa goes to a seminar about Smith, but doesn’t feel like she fits in with the other girls. She kind of loses it when she says her personal heroine is some lip gloss creator and everyone looks at her like she’s crazy. She decides Smith isn’t the right place for her after all. So she goes home and now she’s sure she and Will belong together. Hate you, hate you, hate you.
Melissa goes to Will’s with the intention of getting back together. She apologizes for hanging up on him the night before, but gets pissed when Will asks if she’s going to apologize for trying to hook up with Aaron. Melissa says she was just trying to get back at him for kissing Erika, but Will insists it’s not the same thing. They argue for a bit, and then Will tells Melissa to go away and never come back. But then the next day, Will starts walking down the street to mail his acceptance letter to NYU and ends up going to Melissa’s instead. Because he “needs” her. They get back together for about the hundredth time.
Wakefield antics: Jessica suddenly remembers that her parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary is coming up. She and Liz and Steven were supposed to plan something, but now Liz is all wrapped up in Jeffrey and Steven is too busy being a cool college guy and nobody has anything planned. Steve returns Jessica’s call and ends up talking to Liz. They talk about booking a sushi place called Saki, but Steven says they should check it out first. Liz says she can’t but that Jessica is off the next night. Steve tells Liz to tell Jessica to be there at six o’clock. Of course Liz forgets and Steve gets pissed at Jessica for being a ditz.
Jessica yells at Liz, and then they decide to meet at their parents’ favorite restaurant, Le Chateau, to make a reservation. Why can’t they just call to make the reservation? Liz ends up having to go to Scope to work on something important, and Jessica waits around for her outside the restaurant for about twenty minutes before she gets pissed and goes inside to do it herself. Meanwhile, Liz keeps calling the restaurant in the hopes of talking to Jessica, but since Jessica’s outside, the guy answering the phone doesn’t know she’s there. God, this is so damned stupid. Why does it take two of you to make a reservation anyway? At home that night, Jessica asks Liz where she was and gets pissed when Liz says she figured Jessica just forgot.
The party ends up being wonderful, but nobody thanks Jessica. Everyone assumes Liz and Steve planned the whole thing. After Mrs. Wakefield makes a speech about how many to-do lists Elizabeth must have gone through, Jessica gets up and runs off to the bathroom to cry. Liz follows her and tries to calm her down, but then the hostess comes in and says Liz has a phone call from Jeff. Liz immediately gets up to go talk to him, and Jessica tells her that this is her real problem. Liz cares about everyone but her and everyone thinks she’s so great and that Jessica is so irresponsible. Oh man, I hope Jessica doesn’t try to run away again or join a cult.
The Cover: I think this is supposed to be Will and Melissa, but until I actually read the book I thought that chick was Tia. Stupid new cover models. And wow, that guy is ugly.













