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Sweet Valley High, Secrets, Chapter 11

The story abruptly shifts to Enid’s perspective.

“Enid!” Surprise was stamped on Nora Dalton’s pale features as she opened the door to her apartment to find Enid standing there. “What on earth are you doing here?”

Enid explains that she really needed to talk to Ms. Dalton, and when she wasn’t at school she decided to show up at her front door. Is this where it’s revealed that actually Enid and Ms. Dalton are the ones having the affair? I mean, it is pretty strange that Enid knows exactly where she lives, and what could possibly be so urgent that she couldn’t wait until Ms. Dalton was back in school to talk to her?

“I—I hope you don’t mind, Ms. Dalton,” Enid said haltingly, “but I really had to talk to you, and since you haven’t been at school . . .” She let her voice trail off as she took in the unfamiliar sight of Ms. Dalton wearing a bathrobe in the middle of the afternoon.

Seriously, if this doesn’t sound like the start to an erotic scene, I’m not sure what does (and I have read like a thousand Fifty Shades/Crossfire books).

Actually, though, the bathrobe is just a device to get Enid to consider that her teacher is probably dealing with her own problems right now – rumored affairs with students are known to be quite stressful – and that maybe she should have left her alone.

Enid tells her sad story to Ms. Dalton, who is apparently like an older sister to her. Maybe Ms. Dalton needs to learn how to create stronger and clearer boundaries between her and her students. Starting with not giving them access to her home. I bet if this were 2015, she’d have all of them as friends on Facebook and not even have specific privacy settings for them.

Ms. Dalton and Enid bond over rumors having a negative impact on their lives. Lessons are learned and Enid decides that she should have given Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt…the way Ronnie didn’t do for her. It’s really eye-opening in a lot of ways.

But what about the dance! Enid still doesn’t have a date.

“Why not go alone then?” Ms. Dalton suggested. “Just because you don’t have a date, that’s no reason to stay home. Plenty of kids go without dates. Just hold your head up, that’s what counts. You might even surprise yourself and have a good time.”

“Do you really think I should?”

“Of course I do! I’d go with you myself, if it weren’t for—”

Boundaries! You would go with her if it wasn’t for the fact that you were setting boundaries!

She broke off, clearly uncomfortable about discussing her own problem with Enid.

…this isn’t about boundaries at all, is it? This is just about her being scared to chaperone a high school dance. You would think a teacher who is suspected of having an affair with a student would be a little more careful not to offer to attend the dance with another student.

“Oh, Ms. Dalton,” Enid cried, “it’s so unfair! I hate what everyone’s been saying about you!”

“Enid,” she said, her voice catching a little, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’ve been thinking quite seriously about resigning. I’ve spoken to Mr. Cooper about it, and he—”

Rather than discussing appropriate student-teacher relationships, the discussion devolves into a heated outburst from Enid about the perils of quitting.

“Running away is running away—no matter what excuses you make!” Enid cried as she stumbled blindly toward the door.

After Enid’s departure (that is apparently so emotional she could barely see the door let alone walk smoothly towards it), Ms. Dalton is left to consider her powerful words.

Later, at Enid’s house, she’s getting ready for the dance when a guest shows up to see her. But who?

Enid couldn’t imagine who would be stopping by at this time. It was nearly eight. Elizabeth would be too busy getting ready for the dance herself. The only other person she could think of was . . .

“Ronnie!” She jumped to her feet, her heart taking off at a full gallop.

Yes, it’s definitely going to be the jerk who hastily dumped you before the dance because you exchanged innocent letters with an ex-boyfriend. That’s a guy who shows up!

 “George!” she gasped in disbelief.

This couldn’t be the same George Warren she’d last seen two years ago. The boy standing before her now was at least a foot taller. A tower of tanned muscle topped by a gorgeous white smile and the sexiest eyes Enid had ever been hypnotized by. He was dressed in a suit and tie that made him look even more irresistible. She stepped forward as if in a trance to take the hand he held out to her.

Enid seems like she’s got real game. What if she’s really the mastermind here? Get Ronnie to dump her so he looks like the bad guy, meanwhile an even more handsome suitor swoops in to make an entrance with her at the dance. That’s some Jessica Wakefield level planning. Just the right amount of dumb luck blended delicately with emotional manipulation.

The book gives us the hard sell on George:

Enid was utterly entranced. Gone was the angry, sullen boy who had blamed the world for his problems. George was now a responsible young man, a good student, and—he informed Enid to her delight—he had been accepted to Sweet Valley College for the next semester.

I had this whole joke written making fun of how this sounds like the kind of thing your mom tells you when she tries to set you up on a blind date with her dentist’s son, but at least he’s not a controlling, billionaire stalker. I need to pick my battles.

In a stunning display of continuity, George informs Enid that Winston has told him everything that’s been going on, so he wanted to take Enid to the dance. Not gonna lie, George seems great, you guys. TAKE THAT, RONNIE, YA TURD.

Enid is jazzed as shit. She even forgets to put her shoes on before going outside!

Chapter 12 (part 1):

Back to the Wakefields!

The twins are getting ready for the dance, and even though on the surface Elizabeth is being nice to Jessica, she actually is so done with her horrible sister.

“You act like Ronnie’s my boyfriend, for heaven’s sake.” Jessica sighed. “I told you, Liz, I’m only doing this as a favor to Enid.”

“Yes, that’s right—you did tell me something like that.” Elizabeth pressed down hard on the ruffle, imagining it was Jessica’s head she was flattening.

It’s a shame that for Elizabeth to really come alive she had to really be pushed to the edge. Seriously. Check out this exchange; it’s almost creepy:

“Well, I don’t know, but you’ve been looking at me like I was the Boston Strangler or something. It’s giving me the creeps! Are you mad at me?”

“Mad? How could I be mad at you, Jess?” Elizabeth asked sweetly. “Maybe you just have a guilty conscience.”

Jessica frowned, tapping her enameled nails against the dresser. “What would I have to feel guilty about? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“In that case, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Honestly, Lizzie, I don’t know what gets into you sometimes. I should think you’d be eternally grateful to me for all the sacrifices I’m making!”

“Oh, I am, I am. I’m just trying to think of a way to show my appreciation for everything you’ve done.”

“You are?” Jessica’s expression brightened. “Sure. I want to see you get everything you deserve.”

Woah, Elizabeth actually has a little bit of Jessica in her. She’s pretending to be really nice to her sister, but actually she’s got plans. Plans for revenge, it seems! I’m really liking this side of Elizabeth.

At the dance, Elizabeth has more ominous and cryptic thoughts:

“I can’t wait for the voting to start,” Jessica whispered to Elizabeth.

“Me neither,” Elizabeth answered, wondering if her sister would be so anxious to win if she knew what was in store for her.

My best guess is probably not.

Ms. Dalton shows up while Elizabeth and Todd share a dance:

“Looks like she made a miraculous recovery,” Todd observed appreciatively.

It was true that Ms. Dalton had never looked prettier. She wore a long velvet skirt and an old-fashioned blouse with lots of ruffles and tucks. Her hair was perfect, and she had a silk rose pinned over one ear. It was obvious she’d gone to a lot of trouble to appear at her very best.

I’m going to take note that “observed appreciatively” is code for “never looked prettier.” Seems like a big leap for the narrator to just make and go putting words in Todd’s mouth.

Todd has some juicy gossip up his sleeve. Apparently Ken, the student everyone thinks is having an affair with Ms. Dalton, was actually dating Lila Fowler. Only, he dumped Lila’s ass when he found out she started the rumor! And Lila’s dad was dating Ms. Dalton! WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CRAZY CONFUSING LAYERS TO THIS? Teens those days sure had the most convoluted plans.

“Lila started the rumor?”

“According to Cara she did, but then I wouldn’t exactly call Cara Walker a reliable source.”

“If it’s true, I’d say Lila got what she deserved.”

Just like someone else is about to get what she deserves, Elizabeth thought as she caught a glimpse of her sister flirting with Bruce Patman.

It’s really all kicking off. Tune in tomorrow for the dramatic conclusion.

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween! I finally watched Scream with family and then watched the first episode of the new Scream TV series. I thought both were great, so I’m wondering if anyone else is into the show and/or if you did anything interesting on Halloween.