Sweet Valley High #3: Playing with Fire

Publication Date: December 1983

Our story opens at Sweet Valley’s Fifth Annual Rockin’ Dance Party Contest. Jessica is forced to attend with Winston because of the events of the last book. Winston is a terrible dancer, but Jessica is saved when Bruce Patman swoops in and starts dancing with her. They win the contest and then Jessica blows off Winston to go to Ken’s after-party with Bruce. Elizabeth disapproves of the way she’s treating Winston, as if it isn’t Elizabeth’s fault that Jessica had to go to the dance contest with him in the first place. I mean, she had to know how that would turn out.

At Ken’s lake house, Jessica and Bruce get in the lake and start making out. Bruce unties Jessica’s bikini top and then starts swimming away from her when she tells him to slow down. She swims after him and kisses him some more. They get out of the lake and go into the woods to make out. Elizabeth, hoping to save her sister’s virginity, follows them and tries to get Jessica to come inside with her. Jess isn’t having it and tells Liz to get lost. Jessica is feeling a little nervous though. Bruce basically tells her he’ll ditch her if and when he feels like it, so Jessica thinks she has to do whatever he wants to keep him.

I hate Bruce Patman.

Jessica doesn’t get home until almost dawn. Don’t worry, she’s still pure as snow. Well, snow on the side of the road that’s kind of dirty, but still a virgin. She tells Liz that they talked all night and they have SO much in common and he’s SO into her. Liz tries to convince her she’s being manipulated but Jessica won’t listen. They play tennis together and Bruce gets mad when Jessica is just as good as he is, so she loses on purpose.

Over the next few weeks, Jessica lets Bruce talk her into skipping classes and cheerleading practices. He gets her dressing conservatively and takes her to the country club. He gets mad when she says she’s cheering at a big football game and she decides to miss it so she can go out with him and keep him happy. Todd tells Liz that Bruce has been bragging to the boys that he’s getting everything he wants from Jessica, if you know what I mean. Jackass.

Here’s some stuff we don’t really care about. The Droids are approached by a man in red leather pants and a skinny tie. His name is Tony Conover and he claims to be a manager and he’s gonna get the Droids a record deal and make them stars. Liz decides to do a series of articles charting their rise to stardom. She and Todd go to their first gig at some crappy club forty-five minutes away. Liz invites Robin Wilson and Winston to come along.

Robin is under the impression that Winston is into her because Jessica keeps telling her he is. Her motivation isn’t super clear but I guess it’s because Winston is in love with her and Robin is obsessed with her and if she can get them together they’ll both leave her the hell alone. The problem is Winston doesn’t like Robin. And during the car ride home from the Droids gig, Robin can’t stop gushing about how happy she is for Jessica and Bruce and what a gorgeous couple they are. Winston wants her to shut up.

Long story short about the Droids, it turns out Tony Conover is not who he seems. He’s a grown man who was only interested in the Droids because he wanted to score with Dana Larson, who is sixteen. So Dana sends the pedophile packing and the Droids are happy to not have to play at crappy clubs anymore.

Anyway, Bruce starts getting bored with Jessica and breaking dates. He still doesn’t want her to have any fun without him though. He says he can’t make it to a sorority party with her, but threatens to break up with her if she goes alone. She still just can’t bear the thought of losing him so she mostly sits around at home all the time hoping he’ll call.

One day when the school paper comes out, Liz is pissed to find John Pfeiffer, the sports editor, dropped an item into her gossip column about Bruce winning a road rally or something. She knows Bruce had told Jessica he couldn’t be with her that day because of family stuff, and when she talks to John she finds out Bruce had been at the road race thing with another girl. She talks to Jessica but Bruce had lied and told her he let someone else borrow his car and he was never at the rally. Jessica won’t hear a word to the contrary.

Bruce’s eighteenth birthday rolls around and he tells Jessica he’s taking her out for a nice intimate dinner at the country club. She’s so excited, but it turns out he invited everyone in school. He claims it was a surprise for Jessica, but then he leaves her sitting at a table alone all night. After a while the whole party moves to Guido’s Pizza, where Bruce ignores Jessica some more. At some point he goes off saying he needs to make a phone call, and when he comes back he says he has to get home because his grandmother is sick. Liz says she and Todd will take Jessica home, but she has Todd drive around for a while and then makes up an excuse to go back to Guido’s. When they get there, Jessica is furious to see Bruce’s stupid Porsche in the parking lot. They go inside and find him sitting with a hot redhead.

Jessica, filled with rage, suddenly sees things clearly. She throws a pizza in Bruce’s face and dumps a pitcher of soda over his head. He stumbles back and lands in the restaurant’s artificial waterfall. Then Jessica goes outside and lets all the air out of his tires. The End.

Best outfits

Notes:

1. Let’s talk about Robin Wilson. It’s apparently very important for you to know she’s fat. Every time she’s mentioned, we are told she’s “chubby,” “plump,” “overweight,” or “pudgy.” At one point Winston says he doesn’t mind her but he gets “nervous around people who eat all the time.” Wtf. It’s pretty terrible.

2. Now let’s talk about the worst boyfriend ever. When I blogged about this book back in the day, I was so pissed off at Jessica for letting Bruce treat her so badly. But between then and now I dated a guy a lot like Bruce and it’s horrifying what happens to you when you’re with someone manipulative and abusive. You’re so worried about making him angry that you let things slide, you defend him to your friends, and you lose yourself a little bit. Jessica got lucky and caught him red-handed with another girl, but I had to call the cops on my Bruce to get him to leave me alone. Worst relationship ever.

3. Shout out to this book’s best outfits. Jessica in a bright blue, skin hugging mini dress and matching tights (I think it’s the matching tights that does it for me), contrasted with Elizabeth in casual wheat colored pants and a tan striped shirt. Wheat colored pants. Sounds awful.