the_oracle

Feb. 5th, 2008

Bitter Rivals
July 1986

Will Elizabeth be forced to choose between Amy and Enid?

Three's a crowd...

Elizabeth Wakefield is ecstatic. Her dearest childhood friend, Amy Sutton, is moving back to Sweet Valley. Elizabeth can't wait to see her again and introduce Amy to her current best friend, Enid Rollins.
Amy is an undeniable hit at SVH. She's glamorous and vivacious, and she becomes the newest member of the cheerleading squad. But to Elizabeth's shock, Amy and Enid seem to be heading for a showdown. Will the prospect of having two best friends leave Elizabeth with none?

Amy Sutton's triumphant return. If you couldn't wait for Amy's airheaded return, fear not, because she's back by the end of chapter three. I gather that by this point the SVT series had begun as all of Amy's backstory is lifted directly from the first three or four books. When did that spin off come out, anyway? Sorry, distracted.
Amy returns a day early, and in a move that will preview the entire book to come, Liz blows Enid off to spend time with Amy. Instead of going to the beach after being unable to reach Enid at home, Liz just hangs out with Amy and Jessica. All. Day. She says she feels guilty about flaking on Enid, but if she felt so damn guilty, she would have called again, or, I dunno, decided that an hour late to the beach is still the beach. Which Amy should love.
This wouldn't have done anything towards making Enid and Amy friends, but would have stopped me from yelling at a book for two full minutes.
The next day [Amy spent the night at the Wakefields Saturday, since her own room was still such a mess] Liz arranges for Enid and Amy to meet over brunch at the Pancake House.
By now we're fully aware that Enid is willing to give Amy the benefit of the doubt, but she's worried that Liz only has time for one best friend, and that with her history with Amy, Liz will probably pick Amy. For those rooting for the Liz/Enid 'ship, this would definitely go on top of the pile, as even kid!me pondered the odds of E/E considering how the two would go on about their relationship. Later I'd intentionally read between the lines, though it's not like I'm thinking of Amy as anything other than a rival for Liz's time.

Anyway, Pancake House. Amy orders a grapefruit and black coffee, explaining that she hates herself if she weighs more than a hundred and ten pounds. Enid, who ordered pancakes and other yummy food, feels like a pig in comparison. Liz misses Amy's veiled bitchery and orders something more like Enid's breakfast, to which Amy exclaims over how lucky Liz is, to be able to eat anything she wants and not gain an ounce. Yeah, til SVU. *snickercoughsnicker* Which was another dig at Enid, k? You know that, I know that, Enid knows it... the only one who doesn't catch it is Liz. For the smart one, she misses an awful lot.
Enid shuffles food around her plate as Amy and Liz basically retell various antics from the SVT series. Poor Enid is left out, because anytime she tries to say anything, even if it's to give Amy an excuse to exclude her more, Amy cuts her off. Cuz new!Amy is a bitch. Enid finally gets a word in edgewise and asks if Amy's nervous about starting at SVH. Amy tries to play it off like she's shy and Enid all but snorts her pancakes. There's a drug related past joke in there somewhere, but my hands are too cold to relay it. Make your own, get back to me on it, k? E asks/comments on being worried about the prospect of schoolwork and old Amy might've worried, but new Amy is all, "WTF? What sort of lame dumbass worries about schoolwork when starting a new school?" And Enid foolishly chooses to not stab her with a fork.
We could detail the many ways in which Amy screws the Es over, but that'd be a waste. There's the ski trip Enid and Liz were going to take with Enid's Aunt Nancy, but Liz begs it to be postponed so Amy can go with. Enid agrees, even as Liz asks for it to be done again, even after meeting new!Amy. Amy blows Liz off at lunch and various other after school things, and Liz is jealous of all the time Amy makes for Jessica and Lila. As she obsesses over why Amy wants to be a cheerleader, she ignores Enid or spends her time with Enid trying to get Enid to drink the sacred Kool Aid of Amy-love. Enid doesn't want to flat out tell Liz that new!Amy is a bitch and hopefully totally different from the Amy Liz used to adore, but she really doesn't want to spend any additional time with Amy at all. I bet she's imagining Amy dying on the ski trip.
Lila's been going on and on about her cousin Christopher, and she's all but pimping him out. After she gets over her initial dislike of another pretty girl moving to the Valley [probably about the time she realized that Amy is no longer smart and is, in fact, borderline brain dead] she decides to hook Amy and Chris up. Thing is, Chris fled to L.A. for a week, so Li is left planning her super-awesome costume party all alone. Woe is Li.
On the other end of the spectrum, Jessica's back to her sneaky, bitchy ways. She's fallen for Jay McGuire, only he's dating Denise Hadley and the two are in luv. Luckily, Jess and Cara have started a new feature for The Oracle. They are... Miss Lovelorn. Cuz if Jessica or Cara hasn't experienced it, it ain't out there in the world. After reading their fantastic first column to Enid and Liz, who both enjoy the hell out of it, Jess gets the idea to do fake letters from not!Denise and not!Jay. And it works. The two start fighting and rethinking their older woman, younger man relationship. Jess moves in for the kill, but when Jay still won't swap spit with her, she does what she does best. She lies. She tells Jay that everyone knows she's cheating on him with some other guy, and that since Jess liked him so much, she didn't want to be the one to tell him. Jay buys it, as Jess is a fantastic liar, and they steam up the windows at Miller's Point. Yay?
Liz has realized that for all her attempts to bring Enid and Amy together, it isn't working. Jess offers that maybe Enid doesn't like Amy, and is, in fact, a bitch towards Amy who has never done a thing to Enid.

Liz actually buys this.
We take a moment for me to scream that anything Jessica says about anyone she doesn't like should always be flipped around because she's lying. If she says Enid is being a bitch to Amy, then we know the truth is that Amy is being a bitch to Enid. Instead, despite the last ten years [and then some, but we'll cut li'l jess some slack] of proof, Liz believes her twin, knowing how Jess feels about Enid.
Oi.

Anyway, the night of Lila's party, Liz is still unsure of whether Enid's out to get Amy, whether Amy's intentionally being a bitch towards Liz, and probably all sorts of other things. Mainly because Enid was all set to go with Liz to the party, but then found out Amy was hitching a ride, too, and didn't want to cram into the Fiat with someone she doesn't like. Liz sees this as possible proof for Jessica's theory. Idiot.
At the party, Enid and Liz are both dressed as skiers and they're all warm and happy towards one another. Amy is dresses as a ballerina and, despite having very little hair, manages to coax big, bouncy blond curls from her mane. I'm thinking extensions, or Liz was bullshitting on the big/pretty. Jess is Cleopatra, though no mention is given as to what her date, Jay, is wearing. Li is Princess Di, a common theme for her, and Cara and Steve are Raggedy Ann and Andy. I die of lameness over here.
Turns out Enid knows Christopher Hunter better as Chris, and the two hit it off, much to Amy's consternation. Amy keeps trying to butt in, and when that doesn't work as well as she'd hoped, she outright threatens Enid. Turns out Amy has been trying to bully Enid away from Liz, and by now, I'm pretty much rooting for Enid to kick Amy in the kneecaps before telling her that Liz has moved on, and that Amy's prior little relationship with Liz is so obviously dead, and Enid's the new bitch in town. Alas, this doesn't happen anywhere but inside my head.
Later, Amy worms her way in on Chris and Enid's romantic drive home. Liz calls her on her bitchcraft when Amy brags about it, and Enid comes in a little late on the conversation and assumes Liz knew about Amy's plan from the start, and hell if she didn't, because Liz has been a shitty friend lately, so she can just fuck the hell off.
Jessica appears and meekly asks if she can squeeze into the Fiat, and Liz admits it won't be a squeeze at all. The twins don't share their horror stories, but I momentarily geek out at the mental image of the two walking off into the darkness, the night having kicked their perfect size six arses.
Next day, Liz tries to call Enid, but Enid tells her that maybe they should just cool things off. I admit I've broken up with my best friend over the years, and yeah, it comes off a bit like an actual breakup [cuz it is] but my little E/E 'shipper heart that I didn't even know I had is screaming, "I TOLD you so!" All calls to Amy bring her no joy, and Liz is all sorts of 'pressed. Alice asks what's wrong, and Liz reluctantly spills the story.
If you're eating or drinking anything, shove it aside, swallow, and avoid a spit take. Alice assesses the situation and says, "Well, it sounds like you're dealing with one very manipulative young lady."
Wait for it if the irony escapes you. It'll come around like a boomerang.
Amy didn't do a damn thing Jess hasn't done hundreds of times before, and yet Alice so rarely calls Jess on her shit that her doing so to Amy feels wrong on so many levels. Liz doesn't point out the flaming hypocrisy, nor does she even think it in passing, but realizes that her friendship with Amy died out long ago. Boy crazy Amy is just not the girl she used to be, and the two lack common ground anymore. Liz throws herself on the mercy of Enid and the two work it out, and Enid admits that Amy was trying to scare her off. Then Enid offers to let Amy come on the ski trip anyway, because she's secure in her friendship with Liz again. It's easy once you know you've won, darling.
Liz figures Amy will turn them down, but asks anyway. When she thinks it's just Liz and Amy, she agrees, but admits that Enid just isn't her type. Liz says it's cool, and this is the last of normal Amy we've seen. Ironic since she's just a blur for most of the book.

Then there's the teaser for the next book. Poor Sandy Bacon is horribly named and jealous of her best friend Jean West. Jean wants into PBA, but Sandy isn't sure she has any intention at all of nominating the girl. What I want to know is how Sandy got in without Jeannie anyway, since the pair are a two-for-one deal for much of the series.

Trivial:

Amy's mother, Dyan, is a sportscaster and is transferring to WXAB. Her father is a freelance photographer.

Speaking of Mr. S, he has blue eyes.

For those keeping score of Liz's travels across the country, her trip to Connecticut was over one of the numerous Christmas breaks.

Amy moves into the Bradley house, which is four blocks away from Casa Wakefield. Now you know.

Cara and Jessica's newest scheme is a Dear Miss Lovelorn advice column in The Oracle. Surprisingly, they're really good at it. For all of about one week, as that's how long it takes for Jess to realize she can use her newfound power to break up a couple. Muhahah...

Enid's Aunt Nancy invites double E up to her cabin at Lake Tahoe for a weekend of their choosing. Nancy is pretty, young [28], red haired, and an awful lot like having a fun older sister. Double E are looking forward to the trip.

Lila's cousin Christopher is 6'2" with wavy, thick blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a terrific yachtsman, not to mention a great dancer. Lila is totally pimping him out. He's staying in Cali for three weeks, but at least one of them is spent in L.A. to avoid Lila as she plans his coming out party.

Enid moved to SV in 8th grade.

Jay McGuire and Jess have French together.

Jay is a junior, he's six feet tall, with sandy hair and greenish gold eyes.

His girlfriend Denise Hadley, is a senior, red hair, almond shaped brown eyes, and is pretty much a knockout.

Amy shows up a day early, namely Saturday as opposed to Sunday. Seriously though, it sounds like they were planning on leaving Sunday morning and arriving Sunday afternoon. Time changes are fun?

Amy in her first SVH appearance: 5'7"/5'8", shoulder length dark blond hair, slate grey eyes, and not an ounce over 110 pounds. She's got perfect teeth due to braces that Liz mentions from back in the day, except I don't remember SVT Amy wearing braces...

Amy goes on and on and ON about John Norton, some guy she met while skiing in Vermont. I want to ask if she ran into Todd, since he seems to get around the slopes...

Amy tagged along on her mother's trips to the Carribean and Florida. Ah, glamorous Florida.

Amy was a cheerleader at her old school. Liz is oddly surprised by this, despite the whole Booster debacle in SVT. Then again, Ames was pretty clumsy...

The Number One, some big time band from L.A. play at Lila's bash.

Wow, Liz is really giving herself a ton of time to spend with Enid after watching Amy's cheerleader tryouts: meet E at the Ski Shop at 4pm, meet Amy at the DB at 5pm.

Jean West has been on the cheerleading squad since sophomore year.

Amy does a makeover on Liz and the results are cherry red lips, pink cheeks, and thick black lashes that look almost fake. Amy honey, that's called the clown look. You fail.

Red is Amy's favorite color.

Jay's best friends are Eddie May and Tom Richardson. Aloha, faceless dudes.

Lila's costume party yields the following costumes: Lila is Princess Di, Liz and Enid are Tahoe skiers, Jessica is Cleopatra, Amy is a pink ballerina [the only ballerina], Cara and Steve are Raggedy Ann & Andy, and Winston is wearing a bathing cap, huge sunglasses, plaid swimsuit, and rubber flippers. Oh, Winston.

Christopher's last name is Hunter, Enid knows him as Chris, and he was the sailing instructor at Camp Kennebunkport. Um, dude would've been what, 15? You want your kids taught by a fifteen year old? Even the BSC would've deemed that ridiculous. He was also in charge of Waterfront Activities.

Everyone expects Sandy to nominate Jean West, her best friend, for PBA, so no one is seriously thinking of doing it for her, as it would be a waste, although everyone agrees that Jean would be perfect.

Quotable SVH:
"Of course you'll like each other! Amy Sutton is fabulous. She's so vivacious, so bouncy, so much fun-"
"You make her sound like a trampoline," Jessica cut in. - Tramp, trampoline... Liz/Jess, p3

Amy smiled. "I have to be careful," she told them. "I really hate myself if I weigh a single ounce over one-hundred and ten pounds." - Fuck you, Amy Slutton. p 40

"Liz," she said reprovingly, "how could you possibly suspect me of something so altogether low and conniving?" - Because she knows you, Jess? p58

Mrs. Wakefield looked thoughtful. "Elizabeth," she said slowly, "what you're describing is a very manipulative young lady." - No, she's describing a less manipulative version of Jessica. p126

I love, love, loooooove Bitter Rivals. I think it's because I love Enid and any book where she gets any actual screen time is always a good thing for me. Also, the three's a crowd thing happens quite often, and I've found myself the odd girl out more times than I can count. Sometimes I'm the Liz, although in my case the two did hit it off and pretty much ignored me from then on [foul!], sometimes I'm Enid, and shoved out of the way. It's just one of those hazards of the best friend thing, particularly when you deal with someone who is unable to hang onto their best friend from series to series. That means you, Lizardbreath.
Then there's the little matter of the subtext being the actual text, which is always fun for me. But mostly I love that Enid and Liz have grown a little too close since Todd moved away and Robin stole George away, although we don't get fun cookie nights in the books anymore, I can pretend they still happen.
Aside from Alice's bitchin' blinders, the thing that always makes me stop and wonder what the hell is whether Amy actually wanted to be friends with Liz at all. She's obviously possessive of the girl, but she doesn't actually take time out to hang out with her old friend. She seems to just want Liz as a D-list backup plan, and even then, she doesn't seem to spend anytime with her, yet still she jumps at the thought of spending the weekend with her. I wonder, if they'd gone away and hung out, just the two, if they would have gotten along, or if that would have been an easier nail in the coffin.
Amy also happens to be different in this book. Not from tomboy Amy, but from braindead, boy crazy, super annoying Amy of the immediate future. Granted, she's pretty much a Jessica clone with a Lizardbreath past at this point, all set to take over Cara's place as a gossip skank, but still, different and worth a mention.

Amy's mother, Dyan, is a sportscaster and is transferring to WXAB. Her father is a freelance photographer.

Speaking of Mr. S, he has blue eyes.

For those keeping score of Liz's travels across the country, her trip to Connecticut was over one of the numerous Christmas breaks.

Amy moves into the Bradley house, which is four blocks away from Casa Wakefield. Now you know.

Cara and Jessica's newest scheme is a Dear Miss Lovelorn advice column in The Oracle. Surprisingly, they're really good at it. For all of about one week, as that's how long it takes for Jess to realize she can use her newfound power to break up a couple. Muhahah...

Enid's Aunt Nancy invites double E up to her cabin at Lake Tahoe for a weekend of their choosing. Nancy is pretty, young [28], red haired, and an awful lot like having a fun older sister. Double E are looking forward to the trip.

Lila's cousin Christopher is 6'2" with wavy, thick blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a terrific yachtsman, not to mention a great dancer. Lila is totally pimping him out. He's staying in Cali for three weeks, but at least one of them is spent in L.A. to avoid Lila as she plans his coming out party.

Enid moved to SV in 8th grade.

Jay McGuire and Jess have French together.

Jay is a junior, he's six feet tall, with sandy hair and greenish gold eyes.

His girlfriend Denise Hadley, is a senior, red hair, almond shaped brown eyes, and is pretty much a knockout.

Amy shows up a day early, namely Saturday as opposed to Sunday. Seriously though, it sounds like they were planning on leaving Sunday morning and arriving Sunday afternoon. Time changes are fun?

Amy in her first SVH appearance: 5'7"/5'8", shoulder length dark blond hair, slate grey eyes, and not an ounce over 110 pounds. She's got perfect teeth due to braces that Liz mentions from back in the day, except I don't remember SVT Amy wearing braces...

Amy goes on and on and ON about John Norton, some guy she met while skiing in Vermont. I want to ask if she ran into Todd, since he seems to get around the slopes...

Amy tagged along on her mother's trips to the Carribean and Florida. Ah, glamorous Florida.

Amy was a cheerleader at her old school. Liz is oddly surprised by this, despite the whole Booster debacle in SVT. Then again, Ames was pretty clumsy...

The Number One, some big time band from L.A. play at Lila's bash.

Wow, Liz is really giving herself a ton of time to spend with Enid after watching Amy's cheerleader tryouts: meet E at the Ski Shop at 4pm, meet Amy at the DB at 5pm.

Jean West has been on the cheerleading squad since sophomore year.

Amy does a makeover on Liz and the results are cherry red lips, pink cheeks, and thick black lashes that look almost fake. Amy honey, that's called the clown look. You fail.

Red is Amy's favorite color.

Jay's best friends are Eddie May and Tom Richardson. Aloha, faceless dudes.

Lila's costume party yields the following costumes: Lila is Princess Di, Liz and Enid are Tahoe skiers, Jessica is Cleopatra, Amy is a pink ballerina [the only ballerina], Cara and Steve are Raggedy Ann & Andy, and Winston is wearing a bathing cap, huge sunglasses, plaid swimsuit, and rubber flippers. Oh, Winston.

Christopher's last name is Hunter, Enid knows him as Chris, and he was the sailing instructor at Camp Kennebunkport. Um, dude would've been what, 15? You want your kids taught by a fifteen year old? Even the BSC would've deemed that ridiculous. He was also in charge of Waterfront Activities.

Everyone expects Sandy to nominate Jean West, her best friend, for PBA, so no one is seriously thinking of doing it for her, as it would be a waste, although everyone agrees that Jean would be perfect.