Jessica Against Bruce

Sweet Valley High #86

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Kate William

Will Jessica put herself in danger to spite Bruce?

When Bruce Patman complains that things at Sweet Valley High have gotten too boring, Jessica Wakefield agrees. Then Bruce starts a secret club to liven things up. Soon Club X has Sweet Valley High roaring with unscheduled fire drills and other practical jokes. But when Jessica joins the club, events take a dangerous turn.

Furious that a girl had the guts to join, Bruce dares Jessica to perform more and more dangerous stunts, hoping to scare her away. Jessica's twin sister, Elizabeth, urges her to stop before things get out of control, but Jessica has to show Bruce that she can do anything-even though it may mean risking her life.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Teen, Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult Romance

156 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, Jessica Wakefield and the rest of the girls at Sweet Valley conveniently forget that Bruce has attempted to date rape several of them over the course of their decade long junior year, so when he starts Club X, of course they think a girl needs to prove she's badass enough to join. Cue:Jessica Wakefield pulling stunts like night time high diving and smoking a cigarette in the principal's office. To stick it to Bruce. Mmhhmmm. In the meantime, Elizabeth is outdoing herself on the goody goody front, playing hostess to teachers visiting SVH from various foreign countries. Bruce tries to get Jessica killed at one point, but we're supposed to think thw real tragedy of this book is when Elizabeth is part of a disrupted school assembly. I weirdly liked this one a lot. Lol. 3 stars.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just had entirely too much fun re-reading this book.

[Tiffany Spencer]

Jessica Against Bruce
It’s announced at a SVH assembly that there will be guest (teacher0 observers from different countries (India, France, England, Russia). There will be students picked as hosted. Of course, Jessica thinks this sounds boring. Liz hopes she’ll get to meet some of the teachers to find out what high school is like in other countries. Enid knows she’ll be one of the ones picked. At the Dairi Burger while Amy and Lila talk about the teachers probably asking them dumb questions, Jessica thinks of Sam being away at a special program for college. He’s been thinking of going into environmental science. Bruce starts to bitch about how boring Sweet Valley is and how they’re all punks who’d run from a dangerous situation. They’ve all heard it before and call him on putting up or shutting up. Bruce gets mad and storms out.

The next day when they get to school, the twins pass Bruce who has on a black, leather, jacket with a X. He tells them he’s started a club “for real men” but the twins don’t ask him what it’s all about like they know he wants them too. In the caferteria, Jessica thinks maybe Bruce is right. Things have been slow since the end of her career as a soap star. Maybe she should have taken the director up on his over. Brruce then walks in with Ronnie Edwards. The girls all wanna know what it’s about. The boys are all trying to be down with it. Bruce and Ronnie are being dl about it. Bruce lets them know girls do have what it takes to be in his club. Jessica is furious and tells him whatever this club is she can handle what it takes to get in.

Some of the girls agree to try out for the club (Lila and Amy). Mr. Cooper chooses Liz, Enid, Pennyy, Todd and Dan to be the hosts. When the teachers are there they’ll be excused for a half a day to take the teachers around and answer their questions. Liz is happy to hear Mr. Cooper say they can also ask them questions. Enid, Penny, Dan are on the morning team. Liz, Todd Bill are the afternoon team. The Wakefields discuss the club at dinner. Liz doesn’t see why Jessica feels like she needs to prove herself to Bruce (tho she agrees that woman are equal to men in all things). Jessica says it’s about poving a *point*. Steven says that he knows guys like that at his scool and you can’t argue with them. You just have to *show* them. Even then they’ll say it’s just beginner’s luck or a fluke. Mr. Wakefield says he thinks Jessica *should* try to get into the club and that he agrees with Jess and Steen.

There’s a fire drill during French class. Only Mrs. Dalton says no one told her and the other teachers say Mr. Cooper promised to tell them. There’s no smoke and Jessica suspects someone did it on purpose. The fire trucks come by Jessica doesn’t think they’ll be there long. Then she sees someone in a black jacket with a white X nearby. It’s Tad Johnson. He’s on the football team, not a friend of Bruce’s. Not even his type. Then she sees Ronnie and they give each other hand slaps. At lunch, Amy says she heard that’s an initiation. Bruce joins them and a debate takes place and the girls give examples of girls there and other women who’ve excelled at things that are typically male dominated. Ronnie says he just doesn’t believe women can be as good as men ane especially they could never get into Club X. Jessica gives Bruce her jacket size and tells him to make sure the X is big.

The teachers are announced. I just do not feel like spelling these names out. Does it even matter? One of the teachers (the one from India) wants to know if there’s a college prep program. Liz says no but most of them have plans to go to college. They have high standards. When they get to the cafeteria, there’s a riot going on (on) women verses men. The japense teacher is scandalized. This doesn’t happen in the schools in Japan. The host group tries to play it off like it’s a debate over an assignment the teachers gave them for Social Studies, but the teachers voice their disapproval. Jessica and Bruce are right in the center of the room. One of the teachers notices Jessica and Liz’s resemblance and asks if her twin is over “the debate team” and liz says you could say that. Bruce seems to back down enough to let Jessica try out and this gets a cheer from the girls.

The teachers start giving critics. The one from Japan says the students debate sitting down. The one from Britain says they need a moderator. The one from India says they don’t debate so loudly, Especially not during a meal. Liz notices Bruce has a nasty gleam in his eyes. Jessica might have wom the first round but Liz knows it’s not over by a long shot. When the time comes for the meeting, Amy says she changed her mind and Lila said she just did it so Bruce would back down. Jessica learns that that there’s a wheel and if your name is spun you have to do a dare. If you can’t do the dare your name is added to another space so the odds are greater you’ll get picked next time too. Jessica is allowed to spin first and then told to drive to the bottom of the driveway without headlights. Jessica completes the dare with ease. Bruce presents her with her own black, leather, jacket. Bruce tells her she’s now an official member but also if she sees a chance (a risk) she has to take it.

Jessica tells Liz about it and tells her she thinks from here out the risks will probably be simple. Liz thinks she’s dumb for continuing to do them and says she could have gotten hurt. Jessica is disappointed that Liz sdoesn’t see what a significant step she made in the way of proving woman’s capabilities. Liz tells her Sam called and Jessica calls him back but decides for now she won’t tell him about Club X. All Jessica’s friends freak out over the jacket (as jessica knew they would0. They all wanna know what she did, but she only says they’ll have to join to find out. Micheal Harris comes up to her and asks can she join. Jessica tells him to talk to Bruce.

Jessica wonders if Sam would be interested. He’s adventurous. She’ll tell him eventually. Meanwhile, Liz is having a difficult time writing up her article about the teachers. Liz instead starts to think about the projects Project Youth are throwing but her mind keeps drifiting to thoughts of Jessica and the promise she made not to tell anyone about it. Liz’s suspects Beuce is up to something. He was dead set against not letting Jessica in. She considers trying to get her to quit. Liz tries to convince Todd to get into Club X but he says not after the Phi Eplison thing and he hears it’s a club for dares. Liz suspects that Jessica is going over to Bruce’s when she tells her family later she’s going to Lila’s too study and thinks about calling Bruce’s house and telling Jessica to come home. It’s an emergency. But then she realizes Jessica might be right about the dares and she knows Jessica wouldn’t do anything illegal or crazy. Because of the promise she made she can’t tell Enid so she decides to call Project Youth.

The person she speaks to says if she’s not hurting herself then let her realize on her own that what she’s doing is wrong. Liz says that if she knows Jessica she’ll get bored with it eventually. At the second meeting, Jessica is allowed to spin again. It stops on Ronnie. The look on Bruce’s face is transparent. Jessica knows he was hoping I’d be here and she’d fail. Bruce says they’ll be going swimming at the community park. Only it’s closed. The pool isn’t light at night either. Ronnie’s dare is to jump the fence and off the diving board. Ronnie does the dare and Bruce says he bets Jessica wouldn’t have done it. So, Jessica proves him wrong. It’s exhilarating and she gets Ronnie’s admiration. She tells Bruce he should never underestimate her. He says he never does. But she can tell he’s frustrated.

At the Dairi Burger, they all give Micheal the green light to come to their next meeting, but are quiet about the details. Liz tries to slyly ask if jessica’s bored with the club yet and Jessica tells her to worry about her hosting and not about her. Liz asks has she spoken to Sam and she says he was out all day when she called. Jessica decides she can’t waste anymore time putting off telling Sam if she doesn’t want Micheal to beat her to it. Even tho she knows he won’t be thrilled with her hanging out with a group of guys. Particularly Bruce (who she once dated). Jessica does give Sam a light (watered down) version of what she’s been up too and then rushes off the phone. She vows to tell him everything when he gets home. But on Monday, all the lockers are glued shut and in three different places in the school the power keeps going off. Jessica’s name comes up again and she starts to suspect Bruce rigged the wheel. This time, Brruce wants her to smoke in Mr. Coopers’s office. Tad and Micheal get Cooper out of the office and Bruce watches as Jessica smokes. She asks him would he be happy if she got caught. He says if she did her parents would ground her. Jessica says then she couldn’t be in Club X anymore. Jessica realizes Bruce is enjoying her putting herself at risk. But also she realizes the more risks she puts herself in the toughter she looks. While Bruce hasn’t really done anything risky at all.

Liz questions Jessica why she didn’t ride with her to school. Jessica just says there was some stuff she needed to do. Just then the principal makes an announcement that he’s not amused with whoever smoked in his office and all the shenangins going on. Liz looks at Jessica and she gives her an innocent look, but Liz doesn’t think it’s coincidence and and Bruce rode to school together. He says also the teachers will be returning Thursday and tells the students again to be on there best behavoir because they have a reputation to uphold. Jessica whispers so does she. Liz hopes by Thursday she can catch them before they do something else outrageous.

At the next meeting, Ronnie shows them how to hot wire a car. Then Jessica’s name comes up and Bruce tells her he wants her to steal someone’s car at the Dairi Burguer. She’s hesitant knowing it’s illegal but she hot wires Bruce car and heads to the restaurant. Bruce rauns after her but Jessica thinks that’s what he gets. She knows he rigged the wheel. Jessica runs into Liz and Todd at the Dairi Burger and the twins start to argue about Jessica getting out of Club X. Even Todd tells jess it’s a bad idea but she says she won’t let Bruce get his way. The guys arrive and Jessica thanks Bruce for “letting her borrow his car”.

Lila and Amy get a kick out of jessica stealing Bruce’s car and tell her to keep it up. Charlie joins the next meeting (which Jessica doesn’t like because he’s a bully and doesn’t take her membership seriously). Micheal has to post a list of the hottest babes of SV in the teacher’s lounge. Jim is also a new member. Jessica notices Micheal’s task isn’t as dangerous as the ones she’s had. The foregin teachers the next day notice a white flag in the trees that says Rock N Roll forever. They also find the list. The teachers aren’t amused. The twins have an other argument and Liz tells Jess she’s being manipulated the same way as when she joined “Good Friends” 9which stings). Jessica calls the teen line and they advise her to write down her sisters arguments against her friends. If she can’t disprove them her sister is probably right.

Charlie is the first to not do a dare. He’s supposed to go into the police station and put a picture of a baboon on the back of one of their chairs. Since he’s so well known he chickens out. Bruce suggests a dare to walk along a train track. He says the train won’t come this day but you never know. Jessica’s name comes up for the dare. (It’s a treacle bridge0. Jessica is close to the end of the bridge when she hears the train and loses her balance. She’s able to get to the end tho. She thinks I quit. Liz was right. There’s no honor in taking life threatening risks. As the other guys contragulate her, she realizes the thrill is gone. She tells Liz she’s quitting. Then she talks to Sam and realizes the only person whose approval she needs is his.

Jessica stops going to the meetings. The pranks continue. Jessica gets her revenge. She goes to a meeting and tells Bruce there’s a crack in his window. When they race out she sees the wheel is rigged with a magnet. So she fixes it. It stops on Bruce (whose schocked) but he can’t exactly tell the other guys why it wouldn’t. Jessica says his dare is to play WWK a hard rock station over the speaker at the assembly the next day 9feeling slightly bad it’ll make Liz look bad in front of the other teachers). Mt. Cooper gives Liz the honor of introducing each te teacher.


Jessica finds out that Liz is going to give the introductions and it hits her how bad they’ve been making the school look and that she’ll be making Liz look bad. Jessica rushes to find Bruce but she’s caught by Mr. C ollins who tells he knows what the club has been up to. He takes her by the arm, won’t let her go to the barhroom, and makes her sit by him at the assembly. The stunt goes off. Bruce gets caught. Liz is again angry with Jessica. They make up. Mr. Cooper calls the members of Club X to the office and tells them Bruce told on them and they all have detention for a week. Also, Jessica gets grounded for a week.

My Thoughts
Surprisingly I liked this one more than I thought I would. Even though I thought Jessica was dumb for going through with the parnk on the railroad tracks, overall I thought she was pretty BAD ASS! She was the ONLY female in Club X and not ONCE did she back down from a dare! You gotta admire that! She was more of a “man” than ol punk behind Bruce was. And after this I would have NOTHING to do with him. Not only did he almost get Jessica KILLED which went WAY beyond just a “prank” but he dimmed them all out. He would have lost ALL my respect. Not that he was all that respectable in the beginning.

Rating: 7

[K.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jess joins Bruce Patmans sexist 'dare club' to prove she's as good as the boys. When she realises that the dares are all being fixed for her to perform, she takes action - including a hysterical scene on which she's dared to hotwire and steal a car, and she steals Bruce's beloved Porsche 1Bruce1😂

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yup, I love them. Great nostalgic reads at this point. Wonderful memories and a childhood full of wakefield excitement.

[Sheela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh yeah Jessica

I have been wanting to read a book where someone gives Bruce Patman what he deserves!Not gonna spoil anything,but if you what to see Jessica getting revenge on Bruce ……… read this book!

[Jenn N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the pranks were just dumb and some would be so overdramatized or illegal today.

[Amanda Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood faves..!!!! Great charity shop find 🙌

[V. Arrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far one of the best SVH books. Bruce almost murders Jessica with a train.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

They should've done a whole spinoff series of just "Jessica Against" titles 😁

[PurplyCookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's your typical misogynistic tendencies shown in all its glory by who else but Bruce? Granted that he has the stock personality to exemplify said attitude ("You're a girl--therefore you can't possibly do this" etc.) but then that all the more sure challenged Jessica to prove him wrong.

Bruce dares Jessica to perform more and more dangerous stunts, hoping to scare her away from participating in Bruce's Club X (sounds a tad like a strip club, if you ask me). But I have to give props to Jessica, one thing that she is: gutsy and she doesn't back down.


More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie


Book Details:

Title: Jessica Against Bruce (Sweet Valley High #86)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie

[Nell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that Jessica never puts limitations on herself, even if others might do, and that she is so strongly who she is. Also, it was nice to get some Bruce Patman back in the mix – he’s been sadly lacking in presence in the later books I’ve been reading. I realize he’s a complete douche, but in a world full of “good” characters it’s nice to have someone who is unashamedly a bit of an ass.
This was a fun read, even if the visiting teachers from Elizabeth’s storyline were judgemental and pretty awful from the little (fortunately) we saw of them.

[Ashley Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one in which Jessica gets a sweet leather jacket...

[Hillary]

I was really hoping for more sizzle.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover just not the story.