Sweet Valley High #16: Rags to Riches

Publication Date: February 1985

There’s a lot going on right now with Roger Barrett, who you might remember from being poor a while back. His father left, and then his mother had a heart attack. Out of nowhere, Hank Patman, Bruce’s dad, paid for her to get some kind of special operation in Houston, but then she died. Then it was somehow made public knowledge that Roger’s dad was not, in fact, a deadbeat named Something Barrett. His real father was Paul Patman, Bruce’s uncle. Paul died in a plane crash a long time ago and he left all his money in a trust for Roger to receive when he turns 25, but since he’s an orphan he can have it all now. Roger is now living with Bruce and his family. That’s an awful lot of backstory for what will undoubtedly be a very silly story.

Our first glimpse into Roger Patman’s new life is a dinner for some very important snobs, the Fergusons. Mrs. Patman makes Roger feel like an idiot during dinner just because she can. And of course when Roger tries to pass the bread, he knocks over a glass of wine and it spills a drop on Mrs. Ferguson. She freaks out and Roger runs away and locks himself in his gigantic new bedroom.

In other news, Todd is worried about Regina Morrow for no reason except that she’s been leaving school early sometimes lately. He gets Liz to go with him to follow her one afternoon instead of minding his own damn business. They follow her downtown and see her meet a man in front of a fancy building and go inside with him. Lila is downtown as well. She says hi to Todd and Liz and it’s very clear that she also saw Regina.

Also downtown is Roger Patman with his uncle Hank. Unlike the rest of the family, Hank is pretty nice to Roger. He takes Roger to The Sports Shop to buy him new running gear and tennis rackets and stuff.

The Patmans throw a barbecue to introduce Roger to the world. Jessica has decided she should be Roger’s new girlfriend, so at the barbecue she sucks up to Mrs. Patman. Before the barbecue is over, Mrs. Patman tells Jessica she wants her to be Roger’s date to the upcoming party at the country club. Mrs. Patman met Olivia earlier and she doesn’t care for her.

Now that she’s got Mrs. Patman on her side, Jessica goes out of her way to befriend Olivia so she can tell her all the wrong things to do with the Patmans. She takes her shopping but Olivia can’t afford anything in the shops Jessica takes her to. Jessica lies and says Roger mentioned that he wishes Olivia cared about her clothes, and she tells Olivia the dress she made for the country club party is no good.

Jessica arranges a double tennis date with Bruce, Roger, and Olivia. Jessica is pleased to see that Olivia is the only one not wearing a fancy tennis outfit. Olivia is terrible at tennis and she’s clearly frustrated and annoyed by all of Roger’s helpful tips, but Roger is somehow surprised when she wants to stop playing.

All this time, Lila has been a total asshole to Regina and she’s been spreading rumors about Regina’s mysterious older man. For some reason, everyone believes that Regina is sleeping with this guy. Regina confides to Liz that she’s actually been modeling and she’s going to be on the cover of the next issue of Ingenue. The man she’s been meeting is Lane Townsend of the Lane Townsend Modeling Agency. She swears Liz to secrecy. She doesn’t want anyone to know until the magazine comes out.

Lila overhears Regina one day telling Liz that Lane is going to pick her up from school that day, so she decides to follow them. She’s puzzled when she ends up at the modeling agency. Then she hears one of the reception ladies saying something about Regina’s magazine issue. She makes an appointment to see Lane and vows to stop him from putting Regina in the magazine. I don’t know why she’s being so bitchy to Regina. When she meets Lane, he tells her she doesn’t have the right facial structure for modeling and her face would look flat in pictures. Ha.

Back to Olivia. Jessica has spent the whole book making Olivia feel completely shitty about herself. Mrs. Patman is similarly terrible and she tells Roger Olivia isn’t a suitable date for the country club party. But he’s still shocked when Olivia tells him she wouldn’t be comfortable going to the party with him. They have a fight and break up. As soon as Jessica hears, she goes to the Patmans’ house to comfort him and manipulate him into asking her to the party.

Roger overhears Mrs. Patman telling that terrible Mrs. Ferguson how wonderful it is that Roger ditched that weird Olivia and how impressed she is with Jessica for getting Roger to take her to the party. Roger feels like an idiot and he calls Liz to and asks her to go to Olivia’s with him. I don’t know why Liz needs to be there. Roger tells Olivia that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, he loves her, blah blah blah. Olivia shows Liz the dress she made and Liz loves it.

Things go fine at the party until that damned Mrs. Ferguson shows up and, upon seeing Olivia in the receiving line, says she thought he’d be bringing “that pretty blond.” Roger firmly tells her Olivia is his girlfriend. Mrs. Patman pulls him aside and tells him he was rude, but Mr. Patman kind of tells her to get over herself. He genuinely welcomes Roger to the family.

The End

Notes:

1.     Caroline Pearce is bragging about her new long distance boyfriend who writes her love letters. She seems oddly cagey when people ask when they’re going to meet him.

2.     Lila’s motives are never explained in this book. As soon as she sees Regina with Lane, she seems intent on destroying her. Maybe she’s just bored.