Sweet Valley High #10: Wrong Kind of Girl

Publication Date: July 1984

Cheerleader tryouts are in two weeks. The current cheerleaders are Jessica and Robin Wilson as co-captains, and Helen Bradley, Jean West, and Maria Santelli. That’s a tiny cheerleading squad and there are only two openings. Jessica is appalled that Easy Annie Whitman is on the list of hopefuls. Annie is a sophomore and Jessica thinks she’s not cheerleader material because she goes out with a lot of different boys, including Rick Andover. So basically, she does all the things Jessica does.

Annie has to bring up her math grade to be able to try out, so Elizabeth goes to her apartment to tutor her. Out of nowhere, Annie tells Liz her life story. Her mom was sixteen when she had her, and Annie hasn’t seen her father in five years, ever since she tried to break up a fight between her parents and her dad knocked her down the stairs. Now Annie’s mom is dating a lech named Johnny who makes gross remarks about how pretty Liz is when he and Annie’s mom come home drunk. Annie is incredibly lonely so she goes out with a lot of guys and she’s convinced that being a cheerleader will change her whole life.

Seventy-five girls try out for the squad, which is more people than I thought even went to this school. Annie does a great job and all the current cheerleaders except Jessica put her name in as a semi-finalist. That weekend at the Beach Disco, Jessica is having a great time dancing with a senior named Skip Harmon when Annie shows up with Bruce Patman. Bruce is Jessica’s mortal enemy so now she hates Annie even more. Her obsession is getting pretty out of control. Things only get worse when the Beach Disco owner announces a sudden dance contest and Annie ties with Jessica. Annie thinks it’s great that Jessica sees what a good dancer she is, but she has severely underestimated Jessica’s need to win everything.

Jessica decides she wants the two girls chosen for the squad to be Cara Walker and Sandra Bacon. Everyone wants Cara on the squad, and Jessica knows Jean West will vote for Sandra because they’re BFFs, so Jessica just needs one more person to vote for Sandra. She takes Helen Bradley out for ice cream and manipulates her into thinking it’s her idea to vote the way Jessica wants her to. Annie, meanwhile, is completely clueless. She’s sure she’ll be chosen as a cheerleader and her self-image is improving. She has a crush on Ricky Capaldo, the squad’s manager, and she doesn’t understand why nice guys like him never ask her out. It’s always assholes like Bruce. For his part, Ricky likes Annie, too, but he’s shy.

Annie talks to Liz about her problems and Liz can’t believe Annie doesn’t know her reputation is so bad. She encourages Annie to keep improving herself. Elizabeth comes home later to find Jessica, Helen, and Jean hanging out by the pool and laughing villainously over sodas. She knows right then that Annie will never be a cheerleader. She goes to Todd’s, and she’s so preoccupied with Annie and Jessica that Todd accuses her of seeing someone else, so they get in a fight. Todd’s mother would like them to be quiet so the cake she’s baking for some reason doesn’t fall. Liz decides not to tell Todd about her current Jessica problem because Todd can’t stand how Jessica always ruins Liz’s mood and he can’t keep his opinions to himself. It’s great to have a boyfriend you can’t talk to about your problems, I guess.

Finally, it’s the last round of cheerleader tryouts. Jessica is secure in the knowledge that Helen and Jean will vote for Sandra. But then Sandra falls during her routine, and Annie is amazing. Helen says she’s voting for Annie. Well. Jessica tries to appeal to everyone’s sense of propriety. With Annie on the squad, everyone will think all the cheerleaders are easy like her! Helen, Robin, and Maria won’t budge. They want Annie. So Jessica tells them if they let Annie on the squad, Jessica will quit. If it were me I’d say good riddance, but the girls don’t want to lose her so they give up and vote for Sandra.

When Annie finds out she didn’t make the squad she runs out of the school and to the stadium where she collapses against a wall. Ricky finds her there and tries to comfort her, but Annie just wants to know what happened and who voted against her and why. She drags it out of him that Jessica was the one who screwed her over. Annie is genuinely shocked, even though Jessica has been totally unfriendly to her this whole time. She is inconsolable and runs away. She isn’t in school the rest of the week, and when she’s still out on Monday Ricky goes to her apartment and finds her on the bathroom floor. She’s taken a bottle of pills and tried to kill herself.

Ricky calls Liz. The twins go to the hospital and Jessica sobs about what a horrible person she’s been. After a while, they get the news that Annie’s stomach has been pumped and she’s sleeping. Some time after that, the doctor says he’s confused because Annie should be coming out of it much better than she is. It seems she has “no will to live.” Annie is unconscious, but Jessica talks at her and tells her there’s going to be eight cheerleaders and Annie is on the squad. Annie wakes up and is totally fine. I don’t think that’s how medical science works, but what do I know? I’m just a regular person from the real world.

So, in conclusion, Annie is a cheerleader, and she and Ricky are in love. Jessica faces no consequences for being horrible. Annie’s mother has broken up with that creepy guy and vows to be a better mother. Elizabeth can stop worrying for five minutes.

In other news, the twins’ brother Steven is still dating Tricia Martin, and he’s worried about her because Tricia’s dad was driving drunk and hit some lady. He’s in jail for a few days. This is mentioned in like the first chapter and then it never comes up again.

The End.

Boy, do I have some notes. This book is infuriating. I know this is dramatic teen fiction and a certain amount of disbelief has to be suspended, but I have some problems.

1.     We never get a great explanation for why Jessica is allowed to go out with a different boy every night and Annie isn’t. It’s never outright said that Annie actually has sex with these guys. Maybe I’m supposed to infer that, but on the surface it seems like she’s literally just doing the same thing Jessica does.

2.     I just can’t with the suicide of it all. Let me get real for a second. In my life, I’ve made two attempts, and someone very close to me committed suicide when I was young. So it’s an issue I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and a lot of time talking about in endless therapy sessions. Annie is oblivious and maybe kind of dumb, but at no point before her suicide attempt does she exhibit any signs of mental illness. And I mean, seventy-two other girls also didn’t make the squad and they didn’t all lose their minds.

3.     And then, in the hospital, she wakes up because Jessica tells her she can be a cheerleader? Really!? And then everything is fine? After my high school attempt they sent me to a psych ward for two weeks. I didn’t just get to go back to school.

Sigh. Okay, I’m done ranting. Onto the next.