Sweet Valley High #11: Too Good to be True

Publication Date: August 1984

Ned Wakefield’s roommate from college is sending his daughter, Suzanne Devlin, to Sweet Valley for two weeks to visit for spring break, and one of the twins gets to go to New York to stay with the Devlins. This seems bizarre because neither twin has ever met the Devlins, and Suzanne has never met the Wakefields. So let’s just send our kids to live with strangers for two weeks. Mr. Devlin is a diplomat and he’s rich so it’s assumed that whoever goes to New York will have a fabulous time. The lucky twin is decided with a coin flip, and Jessica sobs when Elizabeth wins. She gives Liz a bunch of nonsense about how Lila has a crush on Todd and with Liz gone who knows what will happen? Liz gives in and Jessica gets to go to New York, which means Liz gets to hang out in Sweet Valley with Suzanne.

Suzanne seems great. She’s beautiful and helpful around the house, and when Liz takes her to the school picnic she makes friends with everyone. Out of nowhere, though, she’s in the middle of the lake having trouble keeping her head above water. Mr. Collins saves her and all the boys gather around her. Liz thinks it’s odd because she and Suzanne had gone swimming the day before and Suzanne is a very strong swimmer.

In New York, Jessica meets Suzanne’s boyfriend, Pete. Predictably, he’s the most gorgeous man Jessica has ever seen. He looks about twenty and seems very sophisticated. He’s there to drop off some piano concert tickets for Suzanne’s parents, but they have a party to go to so Jessica offers to go with Pete. It’s not that great. She spends all day getting ready, and then he’s half an hour late picking her up and doesn’t even apologize. He doesn’t say a word about how amazing Jessica looks and he doesn’t seem at all interested in her despite all her flirting. The concert is boring (duh, it’s a piano concert), and then he won’t even come up to the apartment when he takes Jessica back to the Devlins’. The only cool thing about the date was dinner at the top of the World Trade Center at Windows on the World.

Windows on the World, 1980

Back in Sweet Valley, Suzanne still seems pretty wonderful, but she actually sucks. She steals Elizabeth’s lavaliere necklace and keeps thinking about how stupid all these Californians are. On the way to the beach one day, Liz has to stop at Mr. Collins’ house to drop off some newspaper stuff, and Suzanne offers to run it to him. Mr. Collins is in the backyard watering the lawn. Suzanne lays it on pretty thick with the flirting, including asking for a drink from the hose and then “accidentally” getting water all over the front of her shirt. She’s angry and frustrated when he doesn’t take the bait and fall all over himself for her. She’s the worst.

Jessica calls and talks to Liz one night, ostensibly to brag about what a great time she’s having, but she’s really homesick and having no fun at all. She hasn’t heard from Pete since the concert, and Suzanne’s friends are kind of shitty. They throw a party and invite her, but they treat her like an idiot child. There’s a lot of champagne and Jessica ends up passing out and waking up in a cab heading back to the Devlins’.

Liz is supposed to babysit for Mr. Collins’ son, Teddy, one night, but Todd gets tickets to a Lakers game. Suzanne offers to babysit in her place. Mr. Collins is an idiot who, instead of cancelling his plans, lets this weird sixteen-year-old maneater watch his child. As soon as he’s gone, she ignores Teddy. She thinks she’ll let him take care of himself the way she always had to take care of herself. So now we know boarding school and being rich is to blame for her sociopathy. When Mr. Collins gets home, she puts her arms around him and waits for him to kiss her, but he pushes her away and tells her to leave. Suzanne is furious. She does the same thing Jessica did in the first book and rips her own blouse to make it look like Mr. Collins attacked her. She cries to Liz and then Liz wakes up her parents to tell them what happened. The school board is notified and it’s a giant scandal.

In New York, the Devlins have asked Pete to take Jessica out for the day to see some sights. She again flirts with him unsuccessfully, and by the time he takes her back to the apartment she’s given up on him. It’s only when she stops being interested that he wants her. At first Jessica is happy he’s finally kissing her, but it soon becomes clear that he means to have sex with her whether she likes it or not. He’s interrupted when the Devlins come home.

It’s been a couple days since the story got out about Mr. Collins and Suzanne. Todd and Liz go hang out with some of the other kids and they’re pretty evenly divided on who they believe. All the kids decide to get Suzanne a nice gift because she’s leaving the next day. Later, after Aaron Dallas picks Suzanne up to take her to Lila’s birthday party, Liz goes to put the gift in Suzanne’s suitcase and finds her lost lavaliere. Todd comes to pick her up, so Liz puts on her necklace and decides to think about it later.

In the car on the way to Lila’s party, Liz talks to Todd about the necklace and her concerns that Suzanne lied about Mr. Collins. She and Todd decide to swing by Mr. Collins’ house to get his side of the story. One look into Mr. Collins’ crinkly blue eyes and Liz knows Suzanne was lying about him. At the party, Liz pulls Suzanne into the coatroom and tells her she found her lavaliere and she knows Suzanne tried to seduce Mr. Collins. Suzanne admits it but threatens to ruin Liz’s life if she tells anyone. Then she tells Cara that Liz cracked her head while they were swimming the other day and ever since then she’s been acting strange.

It doesn’t take long for the rumor to reach Enid, who tells Liz Suzanne is spreading lies about her. Liz confronts her again and a crowd gathers around them. Suzanne tries playing it sweet, telling Liz she should go home and rest. Then Winston spills punch all over Suzanne’s dress and she freaks the fuck out. She screams at Winston and Elizabeth and everyone backs away, leaving Suzanne to scream-cry alone. Liz thanks Winston and he says he did it on purpose because he heard Liz and Suzanne talking in the coatroom. Somehow this is all going to get Mr. Collins off the hook and I assume he’s not in any trouble.

Suzanne leaves the next day, never to be seen again until a Super Edition Christmas a year or so later. Jessica comes home and pretends she had the best time ever in New York. The End.

Notes:

1.     Mandy Farmer has moved away so Winston is now single. He spends a lot of time serenading Suzanne from the Wakefield lawn.

2.     I looked up Windows on the World and it looks like it was an amazing place. I also want to say it’s so weird reading an offhand comment about the World Trade Center in a context that has nothing to do with tragedy because this book came out almost twenty years before 9/11.

3.     Suzanne is very clearly a monster. However, the only difference between her and Jessica is that Jessica would never be helpful around the house.

4.     Best outfit goes to Liz: her favorite velvet skirt and a high-necked lace Victorian blouse.