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Sweet Valley Twins 118: No Escape!
Elizabeth and Jessica are going to be going on a caving field trip for school. Jessica is looking forward to it because she'll get to spend time with Aaron Dallas, the boy she has a crush on. Aaron thinks he's the shit at spelunking; he's "been on at least ten trips. once [his] flashlight batteries died, and [he] had to make [his] way out in total darkness. And another time [he] saved a little kid from falling off a cliff into an underground crater." Lila apparently likes him too, which is pissing Jess off. However, the principal still says that they all have to attend this mandatory safety lecture at Sweet Valley's Spelunking Club. Lila and Jess think its dumb, Liz thinks it sounds interesting and informative, and they just follow their general character guidelines for the rest of the book. Jess and Lila head to the mall to hang out with their Unicorn Club people and of course, to shop.
While at the mall they see that this amazing new store, Metro, is opening the next day with tons of free stuff and deals and whatnot. But Oh Noz! They have to go to the spelunking lecture and can't make the opening. This makes them all sad for a moment and they come up with some really shitty ideas about how to miss it, and then come up with the one they use - they convince two of the older Unicorn Club members to go take the test and listen to the lecture for them so that they can go to the opening. The two older girls are all "eh, I don't know, this doesn't sound great" until Jess and Lila offer to buy them things at the opening and then they're all "sure, no prob." I love the blatant materialism some of these girls show.
The lecture is boring, Liz pays attention to the extreme and takes notes. The guy goes over exactly what they should carry with them on this trip. Three sources of light, plastic bags, water, first aid kit...the list he's rattling off sounds like it'll be useful later in the story. I love the subtlety of these books. Jess an Lila buy short shorts and tiny tees to wear caving, and they buy them in neon colors because they'll show up in the cave then. They also buy Phosphorescent makeup. Liz comes into Jess' room and talks about how they should do some stretching before they go on the trip and Jess is all "whaaa?" because she didn't go to the lecture. She tells Liz she did and everything, and Liz talks about how informative it was, and Jess blathers around making it obvious to everyone except Liz that she was not there and has no idea what she's talking about. She doesn't think anyone could get hurt wandering around a cave.
The next day they put up a list of the scores. Lila is really close to the top, while Jess is nearer to the bottom, but all the people on the list get to go on the field trip. The two girls who took the test, Kimberly and Tamara, come up to tell them the important things but Jess calls her test taker dumb for getting her score at the bottom, and then they just keep brushing off the girls who are offering to tell them everything. And then they distract them by giving them gifts and the two older girls completely forget all the safety and other important info they were about to share.
Liz packs all the right things. Jess decides cute new white tennis shoes are appropriate footwear. Liz has to tell her to bring a sweatshirt. Instead of first aid kits and food and water, Jess throws a camera, sweatshirt, and her phosphorescent nailpolish and eyeshadow for touchups in the cave. The necessary items, you know?
Blah blah they ride the bus there, they get split into their groups, and Jess is put in the "too dumb to go in the cool parts of the cave" group. They have to stick nametags on their backpacks and they'll be given them in a bit when they get to their cave. Liz is of course, in the cool spelunking group with Aaron, Lila, Maria, and Winston, and they're going to an Ice Cave. Aaron doesn't want to wear a helmet; he thinks they're unnecessary, but the guide makes him. The stupid caving people give Jess' backpack to Liz, and Liz's to Jess. Yeah, obviously tragedy will ensue. They make their way through the cave; Aaron hits his head and his helmet flies off (I have been caving many many times and the buckle is usually pretty secure, but whatever) but that shows us the importance of the helmet. Liz notices Lila drawing on the cave walls with her phosphorescent eye shadow, because it apparently glows.
There is an earthquake, the cool caving group have a landslide and Liz falls into a river thing. She finally gets out, is soaking wet and cold, and their guide has a broken leg and passes out every five minutes. The boys go to get their packs and they fall into the river, so they are left with only Maria, Lila, and Liz's packs. Unfortunately Liz's has nothing good. She is soaking wet and goes to get out a change of clothes (because Jess should have packed the exact same things) and instead sees just how useless her sister is. Maria gives her some plastic to wrap her legs and feet in, and Lila has a pair of thin leggings, and Liz sticks a backpack on her head (hee) to keep in body heat.
The boys come up with shitty ideas to get out, and then the guide comes round and they all tell him how the water is rising and they have to get out. He tells Liz of this little hole that they can lift her into, and she can crawl out to the front. He gives her no directions other than that. So they use Lila's cheerleading skillz to mount her on up there, and Liz starts crawling. She drops her flashlight at some point, shattering it. Candle time, and she only has a certain number of waterproof matches. Oh, and she's using Jessica's eyeshadow to mark her path since it glows in the dark.
Meanwhile no one is coming to save the group from the outside because they have a "3 hour wait" policy." Even in the case of an earthquake. Oh, and while in the cave, Liz found out that both Aaron and Winston cheated off her on the test and about how Lila and Jess didn't even go. So only her and Maria have any idea what the hell is going on.
Jess feels horrible about how she didn't give Liz a backpack full of useful stuff, so her and Todd and Amy head off on a rescue expedition. They find Lila's eyeshadow marks and follow them, then come to the cavern and then go back and get the rescue crew.
Liz runs out of matches and cries in the caves about how she's probably going to die there. Then she hears a noise and realizes some rescue people are coming to get her. She yells but the sound echoes, and she has no way to signal for them, except WAIT! Jess' camera has a flash. So she just keeps using up all the flashes and yells until they find her. Apparently she was one tunnel from the way out and the rescuers were impressed.
Liz gets out, is momentarily mad at Jess, and then all of Jess' useless shit wound up being what saved her life so she's all thankful and stuff.
Liz and Jess use the only remaining picture on the camera to photograph yet another occasion where Jess screws over Liz but still retains her sister's love.
The end.
Elizabeth and Jessica are going to be going on a caving field trip for school. Jessica is looking forward to it because she'll get to spend time with Aaron Dallas, the boy she has a crush on. Aaron thinks he's the shit at spelunking; he's "been on at least ten trips. once [his] flashlight batteries died, and [he] had to make [his] way out in total darkness. And another time [he] saved a little kid from falling off a cliff into an underground crater." Lila apparently likes him too, which is pissing Jess off. However, the principal still says that they all have to attend this mandatory safety lecture at Sweet Valley's Spelunking Club. Lila and Jess think its dumb, Liz thinks it sounds interesting and informative, and they just follow their general character guidelines for the rest of the book. Jess and Lila head to the mall to hang out with their Unicorn Club people and of course, to shop.
While at the mall they see that this amazing new store, Metro, is opening the next day with tons of free stuff and deals and whatnot. But Oh Noz! They have to go to the spelunking lecture and can't make the opening. This makes them all sad for a moment and they come up with some really shitty ideas about how to miss it, and then come up with the one they use - they convince two of the older Unicorn Club members to go take the test and listen to the lecture for them so that they can go to the opening. The two older girls are all "eh, I don't know, this doesn't sound great" until Jess and Lila offer to buy them things at the opening and then they're all "sure, no prob." I love the blatant materialism some of these girls show.
The lecture is boring, Liz pays attention to the extreme and takes notes. The guy goes over exactly what they should carry with them on this trip. Three sources of light, plastic bags, water, first aid kit...the list he's rattling off sounds like it'll be useful later in the story. I love the subtlety of these books. Jess an Lila buy short shorts and tiny tees to wear caving, and they buy them in neon colors because they'll show up in the cave then. They also buy Phosphorescent makeup. Liz comes into Jess' room and talks about how they should do some stretching before they go on the trip and Jess is all "whaaa?" because she didn't go to the lecture. She tells Liz she did and everything, and Liz talks about how informative it was, and Jess blathers around making it obvious to everyone except Liz that she was not there and has no idea what she's talking about. She doesn't think anyone could get hurt wandering around a cave.
The next day they put up a list of the scores. Lila is really close to the top, while Jess is nearer to the bottom, but all the people on the list get to go on the field trip. The two girls who took the test, Kimberly and Tamara, come up to tell them the important things but Jess calls her test taker dumb for getting her score at the bottom, and then they just keep brushing off the girls who are offering to tell them everything. And then they distract them by giving them gifts and the two older girls completely forget all the safety and other important info they were about to share.
Liz packs all the right things. Jess decides cute new white tennis shoes are appropriate footwear. Liz has to tell her to bring a sweatshirt. Instead of first aid kits and food and water, Jess throws a camera, sweatshirt, and her phosphorescent nailpolish and eyeshadow for touchups in the cave. The necessary items, you know?
Blah blah they ride the bus there, they get split into their groups, and Jess is put in the "too dumb to go in the cool parts of the cave" group. They have to stick nametags on their backpacks and they'll be given them in a bit when they get to their cave. Liz is of course, in the cool spelunking group with Aaron, Lila, Maria, and Winston, and they're going to an Ice Cave. Aaron doesn't want to wear a helmet; he thinks they're unnecessary, but the guide makes him. The stupid caving people give Jess' backpack to Liz, and Liz's to Jess. Yeah, obviously tragedy will ensue. They make their way through the cave; Aaron hits his head and his helmet flies off (I have been caving many many times and the buckle is usually pretty secure, but whatever) but that shows us the importance of the helmet. Liz notices Lila drawing on the cave walls with her phosphorescent eye shadow, because it apparently glows.
There is an earthquake, the cool caving group have a landslide and Liz falls into a river thing. She finally gets out, is soaking wet and cold, and their guide has a broken leg and passes out every five minutes. The boys go to get their packs and they fall into the river, so they are left with only Maria, Lila, and Liz's packs. Unfortunately Liz's has nothing good. She is soaking wet and goes to get out a change of clothes (because Jess should have packed the exact same things) and instead sees just how useless her sister is. Maria gives her some plastic to wrap her legs and feet in, and Lila has a pair of thin leggings, and Liz sticks a backpack on her head (hee) to keep in body heat.
The boys come up with shitty ideas to get out, and then the guide comes round and they all tell him how the water is rising and they have to get out. He tells Liz of this little hole that they can lift her into, and she can crawl out to the front. He gives her no directions other than that. So they use Lila's cheerleading skillz to mount her on up there, and Liz starts crawling. She drops her flashlight at some point, shattering it. Candle time, and she only has a certain number of waterproof matches. Oh, and she's using Jessica's eyeshadow to mark her path since it glows in the dark.
Meanwhile no one is coming to save the group from the outside because they have a "3 hour wait" policy." Even in the case of an earthquake. Oh, and while in the cave, Liz found out that both Aaron and Winston cheated off her on the test and about how Lila and Jess didn't even go. So only her and Maria have any idea what the hell is going on.
Jess feels horrible about how she didn't give Liz a backpack full of useful stuff, so her and Todd and Amy head off on a rescue expedition. They find Lila's eyeshadow marks and follow them, then come to the cavern and then go back and get the rescue crew.
Liz runs out of matches and cries in the caves about how she's probably going to die there. Then she hears a noise and realizes some rescue people are coming to get her. She yells but the sound echoes, and she has no way to signal for them, except WAIT! Jess' camera has a flash. So she just keeps using up all the flashes and yells until they find her. Apparently she was one tunnel from the way out and the rescuers were impressed.
Liz gets out, is momentarily mad at Jess, and then all of Jess' useless shit wound up being what saved her life so she's all thankful and stuff.
Liz and Jess use the only remaining picture on the camera to photograph yet another occasion where Jess screws over Liz but still retains her sister's love.
The end.