Older men, younger guys, and wicked little girls

Malibu Summer
August 1986
[second printing September '86, third printing July '87]


Summer Dreams...

   Summer's here, and the Wakefield twins can't wait to join Lila Fowler in fabulous, beach-lined Malibu. Elizabeth and Jessica have arranged jobs as mother's helpers and are looking forward to a dream vacation filled with Hollywood stars and gorgeous guys.
   But the girls soon find out things aren't always as they seem in sunny Malibu. Elizabeth's heart is won by someone much too old for her. Even though she feels guilty about it, she begins to see him secretly. While Elizabeth tries desperately to keep her sister from finding out, Jessica is busy trying to get bronzed Cliff Sherman to notice her. Can the girls straighten out their summer romances, or will Malibu's magic be only an illusion?
   Come along with the Wakefield twins for all the sun and fun of a Malibu Summer!


  Dear Jessica & Elizabeth,
    If it's raining, particularly if there's a weather advisory, please stay home with the doors and windows locked. Make sure your parents and Steven are also huddled around you. Prince Albert's a big help, too. If you're out of the country or away from home, for your own sake, make sure you're wherever the closest thing you have to home is. Preferably together. If it's raining out, chances are good something horrible will happen, particularly if you happen to find yourself in a Special Edition.

  The last time the twins ventured away from the safety of the Valley, there was a horrible storm that ripped through France and damn near killed Jessica. If memory serves, the bike trip from hell also had a rainy day and Jessica was trapped by a frickin' bear while Liz was busy losing Todd to the first Courtney. Obviously the writers are trying to tell us that the twins have serious problems with rainy days, and that it only rains in their lives to illustrate a point. Like, I dunno, they're about to die. Horribly. Or will they?! Gasp. Oh, wait, the thrillers haven't been introduced just yet.

  It's summer in the Valley again and this time Liz is all set to go and intern at the Sweet Valley News. Not a single mention of that super fantastic tour guide thing we've been hit upside the head with the frying pan of subtlety in the regular issues. However, Jessica doesn't want to sit around in a stuffy newsroom, probably because she has no interest in journalism at all, and even when she does try her hand at writing [and manages to be better than stuffy Liz] she drops it so Liz can have her one big interest back. Nope, Jessica wants to go to Malibu to be a mother's helper.

  Not that Jessica likes kids all that much. Nor is she any more fond of manual labor than say, Lila Fowler. But Lila's father got her a cushy gig in Malibu and Jessica never stops to consider the possibility that maybe Lila's gig is so great because Mr. Fowler wouldn't want Lila to actually risk failing [or doing work], but instead assumes it's because everyone in Malibu is loaded and will have six other people to watch their kids in addition to the summer teenager they'll hire just to say they can. Right.

  Liz puts her foot down and says fuck that shit. She wants that news gig and dammit, she's gonna get it. Jess begs, pleads, and fails at convincing her otherwise. But Lila just arches one perfectly plucked eyebrow and comments on Elizabeth's selfishness and Liz caves like *that*. Lila's good. The terms to Elizabeth's agreement are simple. Since Jess can't go if Liz doesn't [wtf, Ned, Alice? She has to tag along to be Jessica's keeper over vacation even though they'll be in different homes?] Jessica has to do all the grunt work to get them there. Jess goes to the agency [to the stars!] and gets the names of the families she and Liz will be slave labor for over the summer. Her interest skyrockets when she hears that one of them is vaguely related to Tony Sargent, the current IT boy of Hollywood and rock. Right then you know he's gonna show up, somehow, but not in the way Jessica expects. And if you didn't, you've obviously never read a single YA book or seen a romantic comedy. Ever.
  However, it turns out that Jessica can't make the family interviews as she has some big cheerleading weekend retreat thing. Uh, okay. I suppose that's possible. Liz caves and goes to interview as both twins.
  The Bennets live in a mansion by the sea, and Jessica claims that she's given Liz the better of the two gigs as a plus for being such a sport about the whole thing. Taryn is six and sullen as hell, but did I mention mansion by the sea? Girl has her own wing, no less. Parents are so loaded that the hired help does the interview. Liz gets the gig and Taryn appeals to her messiah complex in a big way. One down...
  Lucy and Josh Sargent live several blocks from the beach in a postage stamp sized home. Baby Sam is cute, but staying with this warm, loving family means that Jess will be bunking with Sam... the better to hear him when he cries. Liz aces the interview and the girls are set.

   Many a wacky comment is made about Jessica not believing that she's staying in a tiny closet of a house while Liz laps it up in luxury. Liz realizes that if Jessica didn't really know the conditions, she couldn't have handed over the easier job, now could she? Well, she kinda could. Fussy baby, sullen six year old in a mansion? That much she did know.

  Blah, blah, blah. They arrive in Malibu and it's quickly established that Lila, Jessica, and Liz all have Mondays off so they can hang out together. This doesn't seem all that different from the afternoons when... they all hang out together, usually at the beach. Liz is the only one who brings her sitting charge to said outings. Jess quickly falls for Liz's temporary neighbor, Cliff Sherman. It doesn't take long for her to start scheming a plot to make Liz switch jobs with her, what with the Cliff-candy next door and the promise of Tony NOT appearing any time soon. She tries saying she's allergic to Spot, the Sargent's cat. That blows up when Liz points out that Jess went through a whole battery of allergy tests a few years ago and she's not allergic to a damn thing. Begging and pleading had already failed. What's an evil twin to do?
  Tease Lila, who falls for Ben, a really cute guy she mistakes for a college boy. Lila's made no secret of her disdain for boys her own age, and the moment she finds out that her new boytoy is even younger than she is, she freaks. She can't even have him lie about his age to Jessica because he's friends with Cliff, who is throwing him a huge party anyway. Excellent.
  Liz is failing miserably in her quest to breakthrough to Taryn. To add insult to injury, Jessica manages to bond fairly quickly when she starts telling the young girl wicked little girl stories, all revolving around a Wicked Little Girl named Taryn. Jessica offers to switch jobs for Taryn's sake, but Liz ain't buying just yet. She does take pity on her twin and offers to watch Sam while Jess goes to Cliff's party. While spending the evening there, the Sargent's guest, Jaime Galbraith appears. Immediately he and Liz imagine one another nekkid and it's all downhill from there.
  Liz falls, hard, for Jaime, but feels horribly guilty as she knows her parents wouldn't approve since he's 21 and she's just 16. Doesn't stop her from playing with fire, though, as she and Jaime sneak around. Liz, you see, doesn't want Jessica to know as she doesn't want Jess to have to lie to their parents. Uh, right. Honestly, Lizzie, I'd be more worried she'd accidentally rat you out.
  It doesn't take long for us to find out that Jaime's fallen for Liz, too, and oh, yeah, he's not really Jaime. He's really Tony Sargent, on the run from a jealous boyfriend who takes jealousy to the extreme, unless 'having a drink' is a euphanism? Anyway, no one's supposed to know his secret, and I giggle like mad each time it's mentioned that he had professional movie people cut & dye his hair and give him dark contact lenses. Nowadays people do that on their own... all the time.

  Then the aforementioned storm rolls in and all hell breaks loose. Liz heads to out to meet Jaime despite knowing that Taryn overheard her parents having a knock-down drag-out fight that culminated in each accusing the other of being so horrible a parent that Taryn she never have been born. Ever since, Taryn has worried herself into a sick mess, but Liz heads out to meet Jaime anyway. In her feeble defense, Maria the housekeeper was all set to watch out for the little girl.
  Liz makes it to her date and Taryn sneaks out when Maria's on the phone with Malcolm Bennet.
  Meanwhile, at the Sargents, Lucy gives directions to Jaime's date with Liz to some guy claiming to be Tony's manager. Surprise, surprise, it's really Frankie, the jealous felon boyfriend. The real Jody shows up with news about Frankie and everyone flips out.
  Totally unaware, both of Jaime's real identity [she finds Jaime creepy] and of the drama about to break out around her twin, she heads to the Bennet's beach home, worried about the storm that's currently threatening to flood Malibu. She finds out that Liz isn't home, but tells Maria to gather Taryn up and they'll head to less sea-front property. Maria finds Taryn has disappeared and they call the police.
  Taryn has decided that since her parents don't love her, and all the unhappiness in the house is obviously her fault, she's going to run away to Nebraska to live with her grandparents. Too bad she has no idea how to go about doing that. It's never made clear if she ends up on the washed out bridge before or after most of it crumbles, but she's found there by the police. They can't get to her because they're afraid that if someone jumps to get Taryn, they'll break the brittle platform she's curled up on. Jessica and Maria arrive and Jessica is hoisted up by various men in uniform and tells Taryn the start of a wicked little girl secret. Taryn moves close enough for Jess to grab just before the bridge gives way. They rush to the hospital...
  Frankie meets up with Liz and Jaime, pissed as hell and carrying a knife. Frankie's so hardcore a gun just won't do it, man. He attacks Jaime but Liz clobbers him with a pewter vase. The police rush in afterward and Jaime's revealed as Tony Sargent. Liz is in shock and numbly follows as they go to the hospital to stitch up the wound Frankie's knife caused.
  Liz is unprepared as to how to deal with Jaime's real identity. He can't go back to life as Jaime and Tony would have no use for an ordinary girl such as herself. So she pretty much dumps him, although he does explain that he fell for her because she fell for him. Not the star, but the guy underneath. Aww. Still, Tony invites her to his concert and hooks the twins, Lila, and their boytoys up with free tickets.
  Jessica shares her secret to bonding with Taryn with Audrey Bennet, and Aud tells Taryn a Wicked Parents secret. Liz later comments that while miracles don't happen overnight, the Bennets are trying.
  At the concert, Tony unveils his newest song/single, obviously meant for Liz, as it's called 'Summer Girl.'
  Liz realizes that while she would probably never approve of the life he leads as a celebrity, she's ready to fall in love again. Must mean Jeffrey's ready to move to town.


Trivial:

• Tony Sargent is the current IT boy of Hollywood. He's a rock star with a new movie coming out.


• Tony's blond with wide blue eyes. He's 17, left school when he was 14, has two gold records


• Tony's first single, "You're On My Mind", newest single is "Tonight Is For You, Girl".


• Mrs. Norman, Patricia, runs Nannies and Company, the agency that hires the twins. N&C frequently deals with celebrities.


• Patricia is in hear early 50's with steel gray hair, a slim, elegant figure, and still very attractive. Insert joke about everyone always being beautiful here.


• The Sargents: Lucy, Josh, and Sam.


• The Bennets: Malcolm, Audrey, and Taryn. In years past, various complaints have been made about Taryn. They live at 400 Ocean Avenue.


• Jessica has cheerleading camp in Timber Falls the weekend she and Liz are set to interview with the Bennets and Sargents.


• Maria is the Bennet's housekeeper. She's in her twenties and her cousin works in Sweet Valley, so she's familiar with the area. She also drives a black Camaro.


• Taryn Bennet has violet blue eyes that she inherited from her mother, along with her thick, curly dark hair.


• The Sargents live six long blocks from the beach.


• Liz has plants she wants Steve to water while they're away.


• Lila's got a thing for men as opposed to boys. Interpret that, and her Daddy issues, any way you see fit.


• Cliff Sherman lives next door to the Bennets. He's blond, handsome, and jogs 5 miles every day, but is lousy company as he does so. He's not much of a thinker or interested in jazz, based on how weird he thinks Jaime is.


• Malcolm Bennet has a white Jag, plays cards at the Malibu Polo Club, and is a private investor who takes it easy every summer.


• Audrey Bennet is several years younger than her husband. She's almost six feet tall, and a fitness freak. Cold fish might also apply.


• Emily is the Bennet's cook.


• The Sargents have a cat named Spot. Jessica fails to see the charm in this.


• Ben Horgan has a horrible last name [sorry all Horgans, it sounds like something you'd hack up], auburn hair, hazel eyes, and is from San Fransisco. He appears older than his 15 years, possibly as he's fairly tall, and while he claims he skipped a grade, I fail to see how that's possible if he's going to be sixteen in September, which is also when he'll be starting his junior year. Aren't you usually sixteen when you're a junior?


• A few years ago, Jessica underwent allergy tests when she claimed she was allergic to -wait for it- dish washing soap. Seriously? The Wakefields forked over that much cash just because Jess didn't want to do the dishes?


• The summer before this, Lila took windsurfing classes and is apparently very good. Must run in the family. [See her cousin Christopher from Bitter Rivals]


• Jaime Galbraith: 21, "really nice", short dark hair, wire rim glasses, dark eyes, originally from New York, is a junior English major at Yale, and smells of Ivory soap. His dad is a doctor, his mom a housewife, and he has no brothers, sisters, or pets. Perfectly normal, if a little lonely.


• Lucy & Josh Sargent drive a Toyota.


• Liz and Jaime dance to Nina Simone, and Liz confesses she doesn't know much about music. Hee, ask a sixteen year old today and they'll tell you they know everything about music.


• Tony's manager is Jody Philips and his private secretary is Julie. Jules is the one who tells Frankie where Tony is staying, when Frankie calls, pretending to be a cop and saying that Tony's father was in a horrible accident and was dying.


• Frankie LaSalle is groupie Lisa's jealous boyfriend who just managed to get out jail, where he was serving time for assault and battery. He'd been threatening Tony, hence Tony assuming Jaime's identity. Rumor has it Tony and Lisa had a drink, a year ago... and yet Frankie's been bonkers for Tony ever since. Musta been some drink...


• Taryn packs her favorite doll, a sweater, and a pair of PJs as all she'd need for running away to Nebraska.


• Taryn and Tony both end up at Lionel Whiting Hospital.


• After getting stitched up, Tony bunks with Jody at the Malibu Inn.


• The Number One, a favorite of Lila's parties, opens for Tony Sargent at the charity concert.


• We find out Jaime is Tony on page 115. We suspect from the second Jaime appears. :P


• Ned used to tell the twins 'secrets' like what Jess tells Taryn when the twins were little.

Quotable:
"What kind of men are you planning on meeting at the News?" Lila added, her brown eyes widening as it occurred to her just how dire the situation really was. - Lila's priorities have always been a little sketchy. p9

"Lila, come into this store with me. I want to try on that dress. Don't you think it's perfect for Cliff's party?"
"It depends," Lila said dryly. "Are you going to have a rash by then?" p 68

"Do I look all right?" she hissed.
"Yes," Lila said shortly. "You look as good as you looked the last ten times you looked in the mirror." -Oh, Lila. p99

They talked about everything- his love of music, his interest in books and literature, his travels. - Since when is everything all about the guy? Shouldn't Liz have something to say about books and literature, and by this point she's at least been to France and up the Cali coast on a bike, not to mention wacky twin hijinks... p124

"Are you afraid no one loves you?" Taryn looked serious. "Because my mom says that people really do love each other. They just get confused sometimes and forget how to let each other know." p192

Elizabeth always withheld judgment, tried to be a fair observer, and avoided rushing headlong into things. - Wait, Liz is the non judgmental twin? p4



  Personally, Malibu Summer never managed to rank up there on my favorites. I think it was because I never obsessively checked it out every summer, as I had a tendency to do for the thrillers. While I liked that Li finally got a guy, I loathed that it was a bit of a rehash of a Jessica storyline [Racing Hearts], although at least Lila had the balls to suck it up and go public with her younger boyfriend.
  I do wonder why the twins bother to go out in storms anymore. One of them almost always cheats death or something awful happens, so you'd think these two would know to stay in out of the rain. Siiiiigh.

Older men, younger guys, and wicked little girls

Malibu Summer
August 1986
[second printing September '86, third printing July '87]


Summer Dreams...

   Summer's here, and the Wakefield twins can't wait to join Lila Fowler in fabulous, beach-lined Malibu. Elizabeth and Jessica have arranged jobs as mother's helpers and are looking forward to a dream vacation filled with Hollywood stars and gorgeous guys.
   But the girls soon find out things aren't always as they seem in sunny Malibu. Elizabeth's heart is won by someone much too old for her. Even though she feels guilty about it, she begins to see him secretly. While Elizabeth tries desperately to keep her sister from finding out, Jessica is busy trying to get bronzed Cliff Sherman to notice her. Can the girls straighten out their summer romances, or will Malibu's magic be only an illusion?
   Come along with the Wakefield twins for all the sun and fun of a Malibu Summer!


  Dear Jessica & Elizabeth,
    If it's raining, particularly if there's a weather advisory, please stay home with the doors and windows locked. Make sure your parents and Steven are also huddled around you. Prince Albert's a big help, too. If you're out of the country or away from home, for your own sake, make sure you're wherever the closest thing you have to home is. Preferably together. If it's raining out, chances are good something horrible will happen, particularly if you happen to find yourself in a Special Edition.

  The last time the twins ventured away from the safety of the Valley, there was a horrible storm that ripped through France and damn near killed Jessica. If memory serves, the bike trip from hell also had a rainy day and Jessica was trapped by a frickin' bear while Liz was busy losing Todd to the first Courtney. Obviously the writers are trying to tell us that the twins have serious problems with rainy days, and that it only rains in their lives to illustrate a point. Like, I dunno, they're about to die. Horribly. Or will they?! Gasp. Oh, wait, the thrillers haven't been introduced just yet.

  It's summer in the Valley again and this time Liz is all set to go and intern at the Sweet Valley News. Not a single mention of that super fantastic tour guide thing we've been hit upside the head with the frying pan of subtlety in the regular issues. However, Jessica doesn't want to sit around in a stuffy newsroom, probably because she has no interest in journalism at all, and even when she does try her hand at writing [and manages to be better than stuffy Liz] she drops it so Liz can have her one big interest back. Nope, Jessica wants to go to Malibu to be a mother's helper.

  Not that Jessica likes kids all that much. Nor is she any more fond of manual labor than say, Lila Fowler. But Lila's father got her a cushy gig in Malibu and Jessica never stops to consider the possibility that maybe Lila's gig is so great because Mr. Fowler wouldn't want Lila to actually risk failing [or doing work], but instead assumes it's because everyone in Malibu is loaded and will have six other people to watch their kids in addition to the summer teenager they'll hire just to say they can. Right.

  Liz puts her foot down and says fuck that shit. She wants that news gig and dammit, she's gonna get it. Jess begs, pleads, and fails at convincing her otherwise. But Lila just arches one perfectly plucked eyebrow and comments on Elizabeth's selfishness and Liz caves like *that*. Lila's good. The terms to Elizabeth's agreement are simple. Since Jess can't go if Liz doesn't [wtf, Ned, Alice? She has to tag along to be Jessica's keeper over vacation even though they'll be in different homes?] Jessica has to do all the grunt work to get them there. Jess goes to the agency [to the stars!] and gets the names of the families she and Liz will be slave labor for over the summer. Her interest skyrockets when she hears that one of them is vaguely related to Tony Sargent, the current IT boy of Hollywood and rock. Right then you know he's gonna show up, somehow, but not in the way Jessica expects. And if you didn't, you've obviously never read a single YA book or seen a romantic comedy. Ever.
  However, it turns out that Jessica can't make the family interviews as she has some big cheerleading weekend retreat thing. Uh, okay. I suppose that's possible. Liz caves and goes to interview as both twins.
  The Bennets live in a mansion by the sea, and Jessica claims that she's given Liz the better of the two gigs as a plus for being such a sport about the whole thing. Taryn is six and sullen as hell, but did I mention mansion by the sea? Girl has her own wing, no less. Parents are so loaded that the hired help does the interview. Liz gets the gig and Taryn appeals to her messiah complex in a big way. One down...
  Lucy and Josh Sargent live several blocks from the beach in a postage stamp sized home. Baby Sam is cute, but staying with this warm, loving family means that Jess will be bunking with Sam... the better to hear him when he cries. Liz aces the interview and the girls are set.

   Many a wacky comment is made about Jessica not believing that she's staying in a tiny closet of a house while Liz laps it up in luxury. Liz realizes that if Jessica didn't really know the conditions, she couldn't have handed over the easier job, now could she? Well, she kinda could. Fussy baby, sullen six year old in a mansion? That much she did know.

  Blah, blah, blah. They arrive in Malibu and it's quickly established that Lila, Jessica, and Liz all have Mondays off so they can hang out together. This doesn't seem all that different from the afternoons when... they all hang out together, usually at the beach. Liz is the only one who brings her sitting charge to said outings. Jess quickly falls for Liz's temporary neighbor, Cliff Sherman. It doesn't take long for her to start scheming a plot to make Liz switch jobs with her, what with the Cliff-candy next door and the promise of Tony NOT appearing any time soon. She tries saying she's allergic to Spot, the Sargent's cat. That blows up when Liz points out that Jess went through a whole battery of allergy tests a few years ago and she's not allergic to a damn thing. Begging and pleading had already failed. What's an evil twin to do?
  Tease Lila, who falls for Ben, a really cute guy she mistakes for a college boy. Lila's made no secret of her disdain for boys her own age, and the moment she finds out that her new boytoy is even younger than she is, she freaks. She can't even have him lie about his age to Jessica because he's friends with Cliff, who is throwing him a huge party anyway. Excellent.
  Liz is failing miserably in her quest to breakthrough to Taryn. To add insult to injury, Jessica manages to bond fairly quickly when she starts telling the young girl wicked little girl stories, all revolving around a Wicked Little Girl named Taryn. Jessica offers to switch jobs for Taryn's sake, but Liz ain't buying just yet. She does take pity on her twin and offers to watch Sam while Jess goes to Cliff's party. While spending the evening there, the Sargent's guest, Jaime Galbraith appears. Immediately he and Liz imagine one another nekkid and it's all downhill from there.
  Liz falls, hard, for Jaime, but feels horribly guilty as she knows her parents wouldn't approve since he's 21 and she's just 16. Doesn't stop her from playing with fire, though, as she and Jaime sneak around. Liz, you see, doesn't want Jessica to know as she doesn't want Jess to have to lie to their parents. Uh, right. Honestly, Lizzie, I'd be more worried she'd accidentally rat you out.
  It doesn't take long for us to find out that Jaime's fallen for Liz, too, and oh, yeah, he's not really Jaime. He's really Tony Sargent, on the run from a jealous boyfriend who takes jealousy to the extreme, unless 'having a drink' is a euphanism? Anyway, no one's supposed to know his secret, and I giggle like mad each time it's mentioned that he had professional movie people cut & dye his hair and give him dark contact lenses. Nowadays people do that on their own... all the time.

  Then the aforementioned storm rolls in and all hell breaks loose. Liz heads to out to meet Jaime despite knowing that Taryn overheard her parents having a knock-down drag-out fight that culminated in each accusing the other of being so horrible a parent that Taryn she never have been born. Ever since, Taryn has worried herself into a sick mess, but Liz heads out to meet Jaime anyway. In her feeble defense, Maria the housekeeper was all set to watch out for the little girl.
  Liz makes it to her date and Taryn sneaks out when Maria's on the phone with Malcolm Bennet.
  Meanwhile, at the Sargents, Lucy gives directions to Jaime's date with Liz to some guy claiming to be Tony's manager. Surprise, surprise, it's really Frankie, the jealous felon boyfriend. The real Jody shows up with news about Frankie and everyone flips out.
  Totally unaware, both of Jaime's real identity [she finds Jaime creepy] and of the drama about to break out around her twin, she heads to the Bennet's beach home, worried about the storm that's currently threatening to flood Malibu. She finds out that Liz isn't home, but tells Maria to gather Taryn up and they'll head to less sea-front property. Maria finds Taryn has disappeared and they call the police.
  Taryn has decided that since her parents don't love her, and all the unhappiness in the house is obviously her fault, she's going to run away to Nebraska to live with her grandparents. Too bad she has no idea how to go about doing that. It's never made clear if she ends up on the washed out bridge before or after most of it crumbles, but she's found there by the police. They can't get to her because they're afraid that if someone jumps to get Taryn, they'll break the brittle platform she's curled up on. Jessica and Maria arrive and Jessica is hoisted up by various men in uniform and tells Taryn the start of a wicked little girl secret. Taryn moves close enough for Jess to grab just before the bridge gives way. They rush to the hospital...
  Frankie meets up with Liz and Jaime, pissed as hell and carrying a knife. Frankie's so hardcore a gun just won't do it, man. He attacks Jaime but Liz clobbers him with a pewter vase. The police rush in afterward and Jaime's revealed as Tony Sargent. Liz is in shock and numbly follows as they go to the hospital to stitch up the wound Frankie's knife caused.
  Liz is unprepared as to how to deal with Jaime's real identity. He can't go back to life as Jaime and Tony would have no use for an ordinary girl such as herself. So she pretty much dumps him, although he does explain that he fell for her because she fell for him. Not the star, but the guy underneath. Aww. Still, Tony invites her to his concert and hooks the twins, Lila, and their boytoys up with free tickets.
  Jessica shares her secret to bonding with Taryn with Audrey Bennet, and Aud tells Taryn a Wicked Parents secret. Liz later comments that while miracles don't happen overnight, the Bennets are trying.
  At the concert, Tony unveils his newest song/single, obviously meant for Liz, as it's called 'Summer Girl.'
  Liz realizes that while she would probably never approve of the life he leads as a celebrity, she's ready to fall in love again. Must mean Jeffrey's ready to move to town.


Trivial:

• Tony Sargent is the current IT boy of Hollywood. He's a rock star with a new movie coming out.


• Tony's blond with wide blue eyes. He's 17, left school when he was 14, has two gold records


• Tony's first single, "You're On My Mind", newest single is "Tonight Is For You, Girl".


• Mrs. Norman, Patricia, runs Nannies and Company, the agency that hires the twins. N&C frequently deals with celebrities.


• Patricia is in hear early 50's with steel gray hair, a slim, elegant figure, and still very attractive. Insert joke about everyone always being beautiful here.


• The Sargents: Lucy, Josh, and Sam.


• The Bennets: Malcolm, Audrey, and Taryn. In years past, various complaints have been made about Taryn. They live at 400 Ocean Avenue.


• Jessica has cheerleading camp in Timber Falls the weekend she and Liz are set to interview with the Bennets and Sargents.


• Maria is the Bennet's housekeeper. She's in her twenties and her cousin works in Sweet Valley, so she's familiar with the area. She also drives a black Camaro.


• Taryn Bennet has violet blue eyes that she inherited from her mother, along with her thick, curly dark hair.


• The Sargents live six long blocks from the beach.


• Liz has plants she wants Steve to water while they're away.


• Lila's got a thing for men as opposed to boys. Interpret that, and her Daddy issues, any way you see fit.


• Cliff Sherman lives next door to the Bennets. He's blond, handsome, and jogs 5 miles every day, but is lousy company as he does so. He's not much of a thinker or interested in jazz, based on how weird he thinks Jaime is.


• Malcolm Bennet has a white Jag, plays cards at the Malibu Polo Club, and is a private investor who takes it easy every summer.


• Audrey Bennet is several years younger than her husband. She's almost six feet tall, and a fitness freak. Cold fish might also apply.


• Emily is the Bennet's cook.


• The Sargents have a cat named Spot. Jessica fails to see the charm in this.


• Ben Horgan has a horrible last name [sorry all Horgans, it sounds like something you'd hack up], auburn hair, hazel eyes, and is from San Fransisco. He appears older than his 15 years, possibly as he's fairly tall, and while he claims he skipped a grade, I fail to see how that's possible if he's going to be sixteen in September, which is also when he'll be starting his junior year. Aren't you usually sixteen when you're a junior?


• A few years ago, Jessica underwent allergy tests when she claimed she was allergic to -wait for it- dish washing soap. Seriously? The Wakefields forked over that much cash just because Jess didn't want to do the dishes?


• The summer before this, Lila took windsurfing classes and is apparently very good. Must run in the family. [See her cousin Christopher from Bitter Rivals]


• Jaime Galbraith: 21, "really nice", short dark hair, wire rim glasses, dark eyes, originally from New York, is a junior English major at Yale, and smells of Ivory soap. His dad is a doctor, his mom a housewife, and he has no brothers, sisters, or pets. Perfectly normal, if a little lonely.


• Lucy & Josh Sargent drive a Toyota.


• Liz and Jaime dance to Nina Simone, and Liz confesses she doesn't know much about music. Hee, ask a sixteen year old today and they'll tell you they know everything about music.


• Tony's manager is Jody Philips and his private secretary is Julie. Jules is the one who tells Frankie where Tony is staying, when Frankie calls, pretending to be a cop and saying that Tony's father was in a horrible accident and was dying.


• Frankie LaSalle is groupie Lisa's jealous boyfriend who just managed to get out jail, where he was serving time for assault and battery. He'd been threatening Tony, hence Tony assuming Jaime's identity. Rumor has it Tony and Lisa had a drink, a year ago... and yet Frankie's been bonkers for Tony ever since. Musta been some drink...


• Taryn packs her favorite doll, a sweater, and a pair of PJs as all she'd need for running away to Nebraska.


• Taryn and Tony both end up at Lionel Whiting Hospital.


• After getting stitched up, Tony bunks with Jody at the Malibu Inn.


• The Number One, a favorite of Lila's parties, opens for Tony Sargent at the charity concert.


• We find out Jaime is Tony on page 115. We suspect from the second Jaime appears. :P


• Ned used to tell the twins 'secrets' like what Jess tells Taryn when the twins were little.

Quotable:
"What kind of men are you planning on meeting at the News?" Lila added, her brown eyes widening as it occurred to her just how dire the situation really was. - Lila's priorities have always been a little sketchy. p9

"Lila, come into this store with me. I want to try on that dress. Don't you think it's perfect for Cliff's party?"
"It depends," Lila said dryly. "Are you going to have a rash by then?" p 68

"Do I look all right?" she hissed.
"Yes," Lila said shortly. "You look as good as you looked the last ten times you looked in the mirror." -Oh, Lila. p99

They talked about everything- his love of music, his interest in books and literature, his travels. - Since when is everything all about the guy? Shouldn't Liz have something to say about books and literature, and by this point she's at least been to France and up the Cali coast on a bike, not to mention wacky twin hijinks... p124

"Are you afraid no one loves you?" Taryn looked serious. "Because my mom says that people really do love each other. They just get confused sometimes and forget how to let each other know." p192

Elizabeth always withheld judgment, tried to be a fair observer, and avoided rushing headlong into things. - Wait, Liz is the non judgmental twin? p4



  Personally, Malibu Summer never managed to rank up there on my favorites. I think it was because I never obsessively checked it out every summer, as I had a tendency to do for the thrillers. While I liked that Li finally got a guy, I loathed that it was a bit of a rehash of a Jessica storyline [Racing Hearts], although at least Lila had the balls to suck it up and go public with her younger boyfriend.
  I do wonder why the twins bother to go out in storms anymore. One of them almost always cheats death or something awful happens, so you'd think these two would know to stay in out of the rain. Siiiiigh.