* Photo credit to The Closet *
Poor Kristin Thompson. She looks like a Dawn doll no one wants to play with because her hair’s too short and she looks like she has a mustache.
Liz and her lackey, Enid Rollins, are working with the National Foundation of Big Sisters (they would) and are going around school, recruiting girls to be role models, mentors and buds with young girls who don’t have moms. One little girl—nine-year-old Emily Brown—loves tennis and just lost her mom in a car crash. What to do with her? Then they realize, “Hey! Kristin Thompson has a dead mom and is obsessed with tennis! Get her on the horn!” Even though “Elizabeth barely knew Kristin”—pff, I’m sure she will after this, only for the duration of this book—she figures that KT, who is anti-social thanks to her grueling tennis schedule, can spare time to help Emily and needs something else to do with her life. So mote it be!
Howevs, KT’s life is hell, man. Being a wannabe tennis pro ain’t easy, but it sure is—no, actually it’s not fun at all and KT knows it: up at six, lift, jog, go to school, practice tennis, do homework, in bed by ten, rinse, repeat. Plus, the Avery Cup tournament is fast approaching, meaning KT is really working her tush off and is urged on by her protective pop and Mom’s best friend Dorrie. Poor girl—it’s hard to believe her life can get much worse. Wait, does she live next door to the Martins? That’d do it.
Anyway, KT’s pondering what it’s like to be normal, and frets if Daddy and Dorrie would still love her even if she wasn’t into tennis like her mom, who died on her way to Wimbledon. Then along comes none other than Bruce Patman, who is suddenly paying all sorts of attention to KT after she gives him a few pointers on his game (gasp! The audacity) and even lets him win a match against her to protect his frail ego. Following this, he gives her a ride to practice in 1bruce1 and begs for a date. That’s right, grovel, you hot bastard. And KT is so Rules-y, man—she doesn’t answer him right away, doesn’t blow off her plans at the last minute to be with him, and is just sooo busy.
KT’s dad warns her about letting her new “friendship” with Bruce get in the way of her training, and hearing that pisses KT off to no end. He even reminds her not to eat more than one scoop of ice cream! Saddam was never even this controlling! Then Bruce kidnaps her—I should revise that verb, considering you might think me literal due to the location—and keeps her out until 10:30! And her dad’s all, “Doesn’t this tournament mean anything to you?” Oh snap.
KT plays a few games to get on Nick Wylie’s pro circuit (I know nothing about tennis but this is a big deal, y’all) but doesn’t do as well as she should—she just can’t concentrate! She feels like Dorrie’s looking at her all “You let me down,” so she explodes, “All you and Daddy care about tennis. Just for once, can’t you love me and support me regardless of whether or not I win?” But Daddy and Dorrie just say, “We’ve tried to support you because you told us this is what you wanted!” Oh, the tangled webs we weave and such.
Bruce throws a big bash taking place the night before the big match and invites KT to be his date, but he spends the eve ignoring her and rubbing against Amy Sutton’s filmy peach dress after he bragged in the locker room that “even though Kristin Thompson is competing in a big tournament, she’s still willing to drop everything and come to his party.” KT then realizes that Bruce is a tool and she’s been a fool to think being a normal SVH student was anything more than a waste of time, and she tells Bruce off in a mature way not once but twice and it’s satisfying!
But enough about Bruce. KT prepares herself for a win of a lifetime, and she kicks ass! Actually, here’s some big news: I’m lying! She doesn’t win the coveted spot on the pro circuit and yet she’s from Sweet Valley! This surely must be a first. Before she can stuff her head in the oven, Dorrie assures her that she’s a winner no matter what. I’m glad Dorrie’s there—this spares us any awkward Pretty in Pink-esque chats with dear ol’ Dad.
KT meets Emily Brown, who thinks KT is the coolest person evs for taking her to the tennis club with her and holding her hand, and that’s admittedly sort of sweet. Then Emily Brown cries and confesses to KT that she’s failed to get into tennis camp and feels KT will surely hate her, and KT realizes that she’s though similarly of her situation with Daddy and Dorrie and swears to Emily Brown that nothing could be further from the troof.
Then Nick Wylie himself calls KT, needing her to fulfill her alternate obligations since the winner sprained her ankle. KT plays against a dynamite player in the tournament—and loses! I’m lying again—she actually schools that dynamite player so hard that the other chick’s got racquet marks on her bum. KT’s dad takes her out to dinner to celebrate, tell her he loves her even when she sucks at life and that he’s marrying Dorrie. I never saw that coming!
Other Notes:
- Liz interviews KT for the Oracle—natch—and gets all judgey re: how KT’s dad doesn’t let his kid breathe. “How could she stand having her father and Dorrie hover over her that way? Or was that just part of what it meant to be a dedicated athlete?” But let’s not fault Liz too much—she’s never seen a real parent before, having instead ones who barely blink despite the ten-plus times she’s nearly been murdered and kidnapped in one school year.
- Liz and Jess have a (Project C.C.?) cookie bake-off with their Little Sisters, and fortunately that’s pretty much all we hear from them this book. The twins, I mean, not the Little Sisters. Yeah right, we pretty much never even hear of those brats again.
- Overall, I found KT to be one of the most likable characters in an SVH book ever. Naturally, she vanishes into the abyss and is never heard from again, clearing the way for more shallow and annoying characters.
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