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Sweet Valley Twins #41
The Twins Get Caught
Against their better judgment ...
Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield can't wait until Saturday night. Their friend Aaron Dallas is throwing "the party of the year" at a new teen club called The Hangout. Everyone from the sixth grade will be there-including Jessica's latest crush, dreamy Todd Wilkins.
But when Steven, the twins' older brother, gets into trouble at The Hangout, Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield decide that the club is off-limits. That's the last straw for Jessica. First, her parents wouldn't let her get her ears pierced, and now they're going to make her miss a great party. Even Elizabeth thinks they're being unfair. Then Jessica comes up with the perfect plan to get them to The Hangout. But can she convince Elizabeth to go along with it?
Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield can't wait until Saturday night. Their friend Aaron Dallas is throwing "the party of the year" at a new teen club called The Hangout. Everyone from the sixth grade will be there-including Jessica's latest crush, dreamy Todd Wilkins.
But when Steven, the twins' older brother, gets into trouble at The Hangout, Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield decide that the club is off-limits. That's the last straw for Jessica. First, her parents wouldn't let her get her ears pierced, and now they're going to make her miss a great party. Even Elizabeth thinks they're being unfair. Then Jessica comes up with the perfect plan to get them to The Hangout. But can she convince Elizabeth to go along with it?
136 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
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About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,850 followersFrancine 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.
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December 3, 2024The Twins Get Caught
Jessica isn’t happy that she’ll have to move out of her room because her grandparents will be visiting for 10 days. Liz isn’t happy she’s rearranging her room putting up Johhny Buck posters over her horse posters. Jessica says she hopes her grandparents won’t expect her to spend a lot of time with them because she’s so busy with Unicorn stuff. Liz reminds her that they’re old and they might not have a lot of time to spend with them. They both note how their grandfather has been having problems with arthritis. This makes Jessica hopefully that 1) This will mean their grandparents won’t want to spend a lot time with them and 2) That she won’t have to give up her room because her grandfather won’t be able to climb steps. Liz says don’t count on it for the later one.
At school, Jessica tells Mary she’s going to redecorate Liz’s room to surprise her. Mary doesn’t think this is such a good idea, but trust that Jessica will make it work. Lila has new Unicorn shaped earrings and rubs it in Jessica’s face. Then Caroline comes over and announces that Aaron Dallas is having a party. She doesn’t have any details yet but it’s gonna be big. Ellen says she’s going to get her ears pieced for it and Jessica decides she has to talk her parents into letting her get hers pierced.
At dinner, Jessica tries to talk her parents into not having to give up her room. It’s a no go. Steven says he can’t go with them to pick up their grandparents because he’s going to “The Hang Out”-which is a new teen club-. Jessica is jealous she can’t go and he teases her about it. Jessica strikes out again when she asks Alice about piercing her ears. Liz notices how much older their grandparents look (more wrinkles, more gray hairs). The twins grandparents give them a silver locker (for Jessica) and a Amanda Howard mystery book (for Liz). The twins talk about how much older their grandparents look. After they have their icecream, it’s not even nine and their grandmother dozes off for a minute. They say tho its jet lag.
Grandma “misplaces” her glasses but their on top of her head. Steven comes home early, but when he walks in he has a black eye, scratches, and his clothes are ripped. Steven got in a fight with some of the guys from Big Mesa for picking with a guy named Eric Myer-who wasn’t a match for them-. After this the twins take their grandparents bags to their rooms. They again talk about how their grandparents have showed signs of getting older.
The next morning, Liz makes a “special” breakfast (oatmeal and soft-boiled eggs). I’m surprised she didn’t add prunes and raisins. Steven and Jessica don’t approve. They leave quickly. (Steven for bbal practice.Jessica for Lila’s). Their grandparents think it’s fine. The rest of the afternoon, she catters to them. Surprisingly, they both want to go jogging. Jessica, Ellen, and lila go to the mall. Jessica splits from them when they go to get Ellen’s ears pierced. Jessica buys some things to make a wall collage (fashion magazines, purple thumb tacks, ribbons).
She goes to meet back up with her friends but runs into Todd. It’s clear she’s not the one he wants to see and he leaves. Although she tries to call to him. Interestingly Jessica likes Todd but he “doesn’t seem to like girls”. She’s vague when Lila and Ellen want to know what he talked to her about and just says Aaron’s party. They lose their minds away because they think he’s cute. Lila says she thinks Todd might like her. Jessica just plays it cool. Jessica turns down going jogging with her parents, grandparents, and Liz. She asks Liz if she thinks Todd is cute and she says sure but wants to know why.
Jessica just tells her no reason. While their gone, she finishes the collage. There’s a picture of the Unicorns and Donnie Diamnd. She plans to get out of there before Liz sees it, but her grandfather intercepts her with talk of music. He says he wants to go see a singer named Darcie Dartman. Then he starts naming old time singers that were sooo much more talented than Johnny Buck and Donnie Diamond. Liz comes in and asks to speak to Jessica. She’s definitely isn’t feeling the collage. Nor is she happy that she left a mess and left thumb tack holes in her wall. Liz tells next time she wants to do something like that ask.
At school, Jessica and the Unicorns find out Aaron’s party will be at The Hangout. Todd asks if she and her sister going to be there. Jessica says yes. She asks if he’ll be there and he says he wouldn’t miss it. The Unicorns want to know what Todd said. She says he just wanted to know if she was going to the party. The Unicorns take this as a date-especially when she tells them he wants to make sure she was there-. The twins agree not to tell their mother where the party will be held, but it comes out over dinner. Alice and Ned say they won’t be going to this party. There’s no supervision.
The twins argue that they *have* to be there, but their parents don’t bow down. Of course, Jessica makes it seem like the end of the world. She tries to get Steven to talk to them, but he says he thinks their mind is made up. They all agree all three of them are being punished for something they had no control over. Jessica later is surprised to find her grandmother not only got her ears pierced at 12, but she was a trendsetter and got hers pierced first of all her friends.
Regrettably, Jessica has to tell the Unicorns. Lila tells her she needs to stand up to them. Amy tells Liz the party probably won’t be all that anyway, but then she and Mary start talking about the party. Todd’s heard the twins can’t go and asks Jessica. She tells him it’s Liz that can’t go and he walks away in disappointment. Liz tries to make her mother see reason. This does nothing.
Jessica gets bored with her grandparents’ stories and they notice she’s distancing herself from them. She says she’s not going to the aquarium with them and Liz. She expects Liz to tell them she’s going to Janets. Janet calls and tells their grandmother to tell her that she’s put in charge of the decorations and there will be a meeting next week. Grandmother looks hurt. The aquarium is closed so, they go to the museum instead. Lila, Ellen, and Jessica go to the mall. Lila says she thinks Alice is acting the way she is because she’s showing she can be a good mother. Jessica decides not to take it lying down anymore and goes to get her ears pierced. Liz tries again and tells her mother the party will be chaperoned by Aaron’s parents. Still, Alice isn’t giving in. Liz’s grandmother tries to tell Liz there’ll be other parties. EXACTLY!
There’s a party in SV EVERY BOOK. Their grandmother says to Alice she thinks she and Ned are being to strick. They start to argue and her mom (Liz notices) sounds like Jess (saying she’s not a child. She’s the twin’s mother) and grandmother sounds like Alice. Grandma gives it a good shot but Alice isn’t backing down. Jessica shows up with pierced ears and Alice is pissed. They ground her for two months.
Grandmother tries to interfere and says she might have put the idea in her head. Ned says its not on her. Still, Grandma takes responsibility and pleads (Jessica’s) case. The Wakefields say they can’t punish Jessica because her mom gave her permission and the can’t punish their grandmother. Their grandmother says they should ground her and Alice tells her mom she’s grounded. Still, Alice tells Jessica she was wrong. Once again, Jessica gets away with murder.
Later, Grandma tells Jessica she should apologize to her mother and that she got her ears pierced with a needle and an ice cube and got punished with double chores. She couldn’t go to the county fair and she was grounded for a month. The twins find out they were strict with her mother and her mother complained that she didn’t get to do the things her friends did. Amy and Liz talk about grandma and grandpa visiting their cousin in San Diego (Robin). Liz wishes they could see her again, but now their parents won’t let them.
Jessica apologizes to her mother and she accepts (tho she says it’ll be hard to trust her again). Alice says they’ll be going out that night. Jessica tries to ask about the party. Again, Alice says no. Jessica has a temper tantrum but Alice ignores her. Grandpa interrupts them and tells jessica Lila’s on the phone. More bragging. Lila has a lilac dress with a black sash and a unicorn on the front. Jessica finally tells her to shut up and they have a fight. Lila tells her it’s her fault. If it were her she’d sneak out and take her sister with her so she won’t tell. Lila practically dares her, but Jessica says she has to go (cutting off more bragging about her dress).
Liz lets Jessica convince her to sneak out, but their grandparents hear them. Their grandparents debate what to do. Jessica brings up the fact that their grandmother snuck out once to see their grandfather, but her grandmother says just because she did that doesn’t make it right for Jessica to sneak out. Then she says she thinks they’re being a bad influence, but Jessica says it was Lila’s idea. Then Jessica takes responsibility for the whole thing. Grandpa buys it, but they still make them tell their parents.
Surprisingly, the grandparents say they think the twins *should* be allowed to go to the party. Ned and Alice talk it over and say maybe they were a little rash. Still, they’re disappointed in the twins. But they can go to the party. The twins find out that their grandparents took up for them because they realized they’d done the same thing when they’d told Alice she couldn’t go to a skating party because there had been some trouble there. Liz gets Dave (the dj whose show she named) to play Jessica’s favorite Johnny Buck song and Todd asks Jessica to dance. Caroline asks what’s going on and Jessica just says it’s a secret. But then Caroline asks Liz what she thinks about the new couple. She’s getting quotes for her gossip column. Amy says it’ll be all over SV soon. Liz asks Jessica wants up with her and Todd what’s up with her and Todd, but Jessica remains vague on the subject. Grandma and Grandpa leave the next day. The twins ask if they can go see Robin and their parents say we’ll see. Grandpa surprises the twins with tickets to see Darcy Campman benefit concert.
My Thoughts:
You’d think Jessica would be better at sneaking out since she actually did sneak out successfully in “Sneaking Out”. But Alice was being a bit unreasonable. I know *babies* who’ve had their ears pierced when they were very young. Still, it’s good that Jessica *did* get her ears pierced so this plot wouldn’t drag into another book. Although, I doubt the credibility of this store in the mall because most stores that pierce your ears make you have a parent’s consent.
I could kind of understand why tho they didn’t want the twins to go to “The Hang Out”. Ironically it’s YEARS past when this book was written and it’s gotten WORSE. Today Steven would have had to worry about being SHOT at the club. Today, I just think it’s sad that people really can’t just go out and enjoy themselves anymore without having to worry about if you’ll be coming home or not. Recently we were awakened one morning to a loud explosion. Someone had run into our mailbox and continued to drive off. Turns out when he was tracked down (by neighboors with ring cams) he said he was “messed up” because he’d watched his friend die and get shot at a club. So, I get what was probably in ned and Alice’s head.
Still, unfortunately these things of things just can’t be prevented. The fight that went down at “The Hang Out” could have easily went down on the football field. You can’t blame the *place*. Another example of this is a shooting here that took place at the HBCU my parents went to and someone wanted to sue *the school*. I just thought that was crazy! I’m actually kind of surprised that Ned didn’t try to sue “The Hang Out” for not having better security.
Rating: 5
Jessica isn’t happy that she’ll have to move out of her room because her grandparents will be visiting for 10 days. Liz isn’t happy she’s rearranging her room putting up Johhny Buck posters over her horse posters. Jessica says she hopes her grandparents won’t expect her to spend a lot of time with them because she’s so busy with Unicorn stuff. Liz reminds her that they’re old and they might not have a lot of time to spend with them. They both note how their grandfather has been having problems with arthritis. This makes Jessica hopefully that 1) This will mean their grandparents won’t want to spend a lot time with them and 2) That she won’t have to give up her room because her grandfather won’t be able to climb steps. Liz says don’t count on it for the later one.
At school, Jessica tells Mary she’s going to redecorate Liz’s room to surprise her. Mary doesn’t think this is such a good idea, but trust that Jessica will make it work. Lila has new Unicorn shaped earrings and rubs it in Jessica’s face. Then Caroline comes over and announces that Aaron Dallas is having a party. She doesn’t have any details yet but it’s gonna be big. Ellen says she’s going to get her ears pieced for it and Jessica decides she has to talk her parents into letting her get hers pierced.
At dinner, Jessica tries to talk her parents into not having to give up her room. It’s a no go. Steven says he can’t go with them to pick up their grandparents because he’s going to “The Hang Out”-which is a new teen club-. Jessica is jealous she can’t go and he teases her about it. Jessica strikes out again when she asks Alice about piercing her ears. Liz notices how much older their grandparents look (more wrinkles, more gray hairs). The twins grandparents give them a silver locker (for Jessica) and a Amanda Howard mystery book (for Liz). The twins talk about how much older their grandparents look. After they have their icecream, it’s not even nine and their grandmother dozes off for a minute. They say tho its jet lag.
Grandma “misplaces” her glasses but their on top of her head. Steven comes home early, but when he walks in he has a black eye, scratches, and his clothes are ripped. Steven got in a fight with some of the guys from Big Mesa for picking with a guy named Eric Myer-who wasn’t a match for them-. After this the twins take their grandparents bags to their rooms. They again talk about how their grandparents have showed signs of getting older.
The next morning, Liz makes a “special” breakfast (oatmeal and soft-boiled eggs). I’m surprised she didn’t add prunes and raisins. Steven and Jessica don’t approve. They leave quickly. (Steven for bbal practice.Jessica for Lila’s). Their grandparents think it’s fine. The rest of the afternoon, she catters to them. Surprisingly, they both want to go jogging. Jessica, Ellen, and lila go to the mall. Jessica splits from them when they go to get Ellen’s ears pierced. Jessica buys some things to make a wall collage (fashion magazines, purple thumb tacks, ribbons).
She goes to meet back up with her friends but runs into Todd. It’s clear she’s not the one he wants to see and he leaves. Although she tries to call to him. Interestingly Jessica likes Todd but he “doesn’t seem to like girls”. She’s vague when Lila and Ellen want to know what he talked to her about and just says Aaron’s party. They lose their minds away because they think he’s cute. Lila says she thinks Todd might like her. Jessica just plays it cool. Jessica turns down going jogging with her parents, grandparents, and Liz. She asks Liz if she thinks Todd is cute and she says sure but wants to know why.
Jessica just tells her no reason. While their gone, she finishes the collage. There’s a picture of the Unicorns and Donnie Diamnd. She plans to get out of there before Liz sees it, but her grandfather intercepts her with talk of music. He says he wants to go see a singer named Darcie Dartman. Then he starts naming old time singers that were sooo much more talented than Johnny Buck and Donnie Diamond. Liz comes in and asks to speak to Jessica. She’s definitely isn’t feeling the collage. Nor is she happy that she left a mess and left thumb tack holes in her wall. Liz tells next time she wants to do something like that ask.
At school, Jessica and the Unicorns find out Aaron’s party will be at The Hangout. Todd asks if she and her sister going to be there. Jessica says yes. She asks if he’ll be there and he says he wouldn’t miss it. The Unicorns want to know what Todd said. She says he just wanted to know if she was going to the party. The Unicorns take this as a date-especially when she tells them he wants to make sure she was there-. The twins agree not to tell their mother where the party will be held, but it comes out over dinner. Alice and Ned say they won’t be going to this party. There’s no supervision.
The twins argue that they *have* to be there, but their parents don’t bow down. Of course, Jessica makes it seem like the end of the world. She tries to get Steven to talk to them, but he says he thinks their mind is made up. They all agree all three of them are being punished for something they had no control over. Jessica later is surprised to find her grandmother not only got her ears pierced at 12, but she was a trendsetter and got hers pierced first of all her friends.
Regrettably, Jessica has to tell the Unicorns. Lila tells her she needs to stand up to them. Amy tells Liz the party probably won’t be all that anyway, but then she and Mary start talking about the party. Todd’s heard the twins can’t go and asks Jessica. She tells him it’s Liz that can’t go and he walks away in disappointment. Liz tries to make her mother see reason. This does nothing.
Jessica gets bored with her grandparents’ stories and they notice she’s distancing herself from them. She says she’s not going to the aquarium with them and Liz. She expects Liz to tell them she’s going to Janets. Janet calls and tells their grandmother to tell her that she’s put in charge of the decorations and there will be a meeting next week. Grandmother looks hurt. The aquarium is closed so, they go to the museum instead. Lila, Ellen, and Jessica go to the mall. Lila says she thinks Alice is acting the way she is because she’s showing she can be a good mother. Jessica decides not to take it lying down anymore and goes to get her ears pierced. Liz tries again and tells her mother the party will be chaperoned by Aaron’s parents. Still, Alice isn’t giving in. Liz’s grandmother tries to tell Liz there’ll be other parties. EXACTLY!
There’s a party in SV EVERY BOOK. Their grandmother says to Alice she thinks she and Ned are being to strick. They start to argue and her mom (Liz notices) sounds like Jess (saying she’s not a child. She’s the twin’s mother) and grandmother sounds like Alice. Grandma gives it a good shot but Alice isn’t backing down. Jessica shows up with pierced ears and Alice is pissed. They ground her for two months.
Grandmother tries to interfere and says she might have put the idea in her head. Ned says its not on her. Still, Grandma takes responsibility and pleads (Jessica’s) case. The Wakefields say they can’t punish Jessica because her mom gave her permission and the can’t punish their grandmother. Their grandmother says they should ground her and Alice tells her mom she’s grounded. Still, Alice tells Jessica she was wrong. Once again, Jessica gets away with murder.
Later, Grandma tells Jessica she should apologize to her mother and that she got her ears pierced with a needle and an ice cube and got punished with double chores. She couldn’t go to the county fair and she was grounded for a month. The twins find out they were strict with her mother and her mother complained that she didn’t get to do the things her friends did. Amy and Liz talk about grandma and grandpa visiting their cousin in San Diego (Robin). Liz wishes they could see her again, but now their parents won’t let them.
Jessica apologizes to her mother and she accepts (tho she says it’ll be hard to trust her again). Alice says they’ll be going out that night. Jessica tries to ask about the party. Again, Alice says no. Jessica has a temper tantrum but Alice ignores her. Grandpa interrupts them and tells jessica Lila’s on the phone. More bragging. Lila has a lilac dress with a black sash and a unicorn on the front. Jessica finally tells her to shut up and they have a fight. Lila tells her it’s her fault. If it were her she’d sneak out and take her sister with her so she won’t tell. Lila practically dares her, but Jessica says she has to go (cutting off more bragging about her dress).
Liz lets Jessica convince her to sneak out, but their grandparents hear them. Their grandparents debate what to do. Jessica brings up the fact that their grandmother snuck out once to see their grandfather, but her grandmother says just because she did that doesn’t make it right for Jessica to sneak out. Then she says she thinks they’re being a bad influence, but Jessica says it was Lila’s idea. Then Jessica takes responsibility for the whole thing. Grandpa buys it, but they still make them tell their parents.
Surprisingly, the grandparents say they think the twins *should* be allowed to go to the party. Ned and Alice talk it over and say maybe they were a little rash. Still, they’re disappointed in the twins. But they can go to the party. The twins find out that their grandparents took up for them because they realized they’d done the same thing when they’d told Alice she couldn’t go to a skating party because there had been some trouble there. Liz gets Dave (the dj whose show she named) to play Jessica’s favorite Johnny Buck song and Todd asks Jessica to dance. Caroline asks what’s going on and Jessica just says it’s a secret. But then Caroline asks Liz what she thinks about the new couple. She’s getting quotes for her gossip column. Amy says it’ll be all over SV soon. Liz asks Jessica wants up with her and Todd what’s up with her and Todd, but Jessica remains vague on the subject. Grandma and Grandpa leave the next day. The twins ask if they can go see Robin and their parents say we’ll see. Grandpa surprises the twins with tickets to see Darcy Campman benefit concert.
My Thoughts:
You’d think Jessica would be better at sneaking out since she actually did sneak out successfully in “Sneaking Out”. But Alice was being a bit unreasonable. I know *babies* who’ve had their ears pierced when they were very young. Still, it’s good that Jessica *did* get her ears pierced so this plot wouldn’t drag into another book. Although, I doubt the credibility of this store in the mall because most stores that pierce your ears make you have a parent’s consent.
I could kind of understand why tho they didn’t want the twins to go to “The Hang Out”. Ironically it’s YEARS past when this book was written and it’s gotten WORSE. Today Steven would have had to worry about being SHOT at the club. Today, I just think it’s sad that people really can’t just go out and enjoy themselves anymore without having to worry about if you’ll be coming home or not. Recently we were awakened one morning to a loud explosion. Someone had run into our mailbox and continued to drive off. Turns out when he was tracked down (by neighboors with ring cams) he said he was “messed up” because he’d watched his friend die and get shot at a club. So, I get what was probably in ned and Alice’s head.
Still, unfortunately these things of things just can’t be prevented. The fight that went down at “The Hang Out” could have easily went down on the football field. You can’t blame the *place*. Another example of this is a shooting here that took place at the HBCU my parents went to and someone wanted to sue *the school*. I just thought that was crazy! I’m actually kind of surprised that Ned didn’t try to sue “The Hang Out” for not having better security.
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2009
LOL, I love how spoilery the title of this is! I also love how for once Liz was on Jessica's side too instead of being all goody-goody :D
September 28, 2017
I thought the grandparents were so funny, and the plot was okay. The thing is I thought Mr. Wakefield and Mrs. Wakefield were very reasonable. The ending was disappointing though. If I were them, I would've told them the unsugar-coated consequences of sneaking out. Then, they would've been sincerely sorry.
January 2, 2018
For some inexplicable reason this was a favorite of mine as a kid, and one of the few in this series I actually re-read multiple times. Reading it again as an adult, I still enjoyed this one a lot.
I have to laugh at the tagline on the cover - "Jessica's scheming has gotten both of the twins in trouble!" Shouldn't that be the tagline for every Sweet Valley book ever?
I have to laugh at the tagline on the cover - "Jessica's scheming has gotten both of the twins in trouble!" Shouldn't that be the tagline for every Sweet Valley book ever?
February 3, 2011
These are just great stories with a lot of fun and a great number of things to learn.
May 6, 2021
Loved these books as a child
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
March 16, 2014
i can't read it
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