Sweet Valley Twins #19, The Bully
I've posted recaps for SVT books 17 and 18, and my sister did book 20, so I thought I'd try to fill the gap with this book. I'm pretty sure it's one of the first Sweet Valley Twins books that I ever read.

As usual, my at-home online situation prevents me from posting a cover. I'm pretty sure you can find an image online. It shows Dennis the bully holding out his hand for Lila's money, as Lila cowers behind Jess (who is wearing a pink sweatshirt and glaring at Dennis). Shockingly, this scene actually happens in the book (except the pink sweatshirt, which was James Mathewuse's own special touch).

We begin at the Unicorner (though the ghostie doesn't call it that) where Jessica announces to everyone that Grace Oliver wants to join the club. Jess and Lila are a little worried about this. They want the club to remain small ... not everyone can be special and beautiful, like the "mythical creature" for which their club was named.

Jess thinks Grace would be a good Unicorn, but just so nobody else will get the wrong idea, she suggests bringing back initiation rites. Ellen (who is normal and boring in this book) tries to protest the idea, but Jess and Lila want initiation, g.d. it! So Ellen backs down. Oddly, queen bee Janet doesn't say a word in this scene, even though she is mentioned.

Now it's Elizabeth's turn. Liz is "skipping" down the hall to her English class. (Why ever is she considered the nerdy twin?) Liz is excited about reading her story out loud in class; it's all about a boy who lives "entirely in an imaginary world." I wonder if he hangs out with sea serpents (or has a twin who gets rescued from a witch by Johnny Buck).

Liz enters her classroom and meets up with Amy. They giggle at Mr. Bowman's striped shirt and paisley tie. Then class starts. Mr. Bowman has barely started talking when Grace Oliver (who is a "small, brown-haired girl" in this book) stands up and blurts out an Ogden Nash poem ("I think that I shall never see, a billboard lovely as a tree...")

Mr. Bowman, naturally caught of guard, is all, "Was it something I said?" Grace says no, she just felt like reciting a poem. Mr. Bowman is like, "I see." Liz also ponders over Grace's random poetry reading. She's just about to mention something about it to Amy but a note from Ken Matthews stops Liz in her tracks.

The note reads: "Dear Elizabeth, A group of us are holding a summit conference this afternoon to talk about Dennis Cookman. This is an emergency! Can you come? We're meeting at the lot behind Mr. Larson's house right after school. We really want you to be there. Bring anyone else who you think can help." I don't really have anything to say about that note, except that Ken sounds about 70 ("summit conference"?). Also, I wonder if Mr. Larson has any connection to Dana.

Liz nods at Ken to let him know she'll be at his summit conference. Liz thinks about Dennis, a big, mean, seventh-grade bully who likes to pick on the smaller kids, i.e. Ken and Jimmy Underwood (a character who figures prominently in this book, but is never seen or heard from again in future books).

After class,, Ken and Liz walk down the hall, talking about Dennis. Liz bumps into Jess and Lila. She overhears them ask Grace about her initiation task and realizes that the Unicorns were behind Grace's poetry reading. Liz is properly horrified. Amy (who is suddenly there) makes a crack about how different Liz and Jess are, and we finally get the identical-yet-different spiel, seven pages into the book...

Then Dennis the bully comes "lumbering" down the hallway. Liz notes how everything about him seems larger than life, from his hands and his arms to his "big grin." (Why is he grinning?) Amy whispers to Liz that Dennis looks like a bulldog. Although he seems to be coming straight toward them, Dennis just booms, "Out of my way!" and moves on.

It turns out that he's actually looking for Lila. She and Jess are still busy discussing Grace; but when Lila spots Dennis, she cowers behind Jessica and asks Jess not to let Dennis hit her. Dennis already bullied Lila out of her allowance money last week. Now he wants even more!

Jess tries to be brave and bold. She stands in front of Lila and refuses to move, even after Dennis orders her to. Then Dennis starts coming at Jess, all, "Get.out.of.my.way, neow"; so Jess is like "Okay, okay" and jumps out of the way. Lila is forced to give Dennis another ten dollars. Dennis leaves, and Lila and Jessica anguish over what to do about him. They decide to go to Ken's summit conference that afternoon.

Later, Elizabeth is at her art class. It's supposed to be for sixth graders, but Dennis is conveniently in it, too, due to a scheduling snafu. (I'm surprised his grade is even acknowledged; if Bruce or Janet or some other non sixth-grader was there, there'd be no questions asked.) Naturally, Dennis is a horrible student and a big troublemaker in class.

That day, he's decided to torment Sarah Thomas and Olivia Davidson. They're working together on a mural for some upcoming art fair. Because Olivia is behind it, the mural is a thing of beauty, with lovely boats sailing on a sea the color of Jess and Liz's eyes. Dennis, however, declares it "the worst-looking mural" he's ever seen. He points at it with a "dirty" finger. Olivia tells him to knock it off.

Liz tries to stand up to Dennis (those Wakefield twins, they're so brave)... He ignores her, so Liz goes off to talk to her teacher about her project.

Awhile later, Sarah Thomas comes over to Liz in a panic and begs for her help. Dennis is still taunting Olivia. Now he's kicking her easel. Dennis's big feet make Olivia splatter black paint all over her perfect mural. Olivia cries, and Liz thinks once more that something NEEDS to be done about Dennis!

Summit conference time. Larson's lot is a creepy place with a big hole at the end called Dead Man's Cave. Liz and Amy arrive at the lot and talk about how scary it is. They meet up with Ken and Jimmy Underwood, and are joined shortly afterward by Jess, Lila, Ellen, and Aaron Dallas.

The kids talk about needing to get back at Dennis. Jimmy (a nerdy-sounding boy with glasses held together by masking tape) suggests giving Dennis a taste of his own medicine. But how can they scare Dennis? Jimmy says throw him in Dead Man's Cave. Everyone titters nervously at the very thought.

Then Steven just happens to walk past (oh, hi Steven). He asks what's up and the kids explain their problem with Dennis. Mature Steven thinks they should just tell a teacher. At first the kids are like, "no way" as everyone chimes in with all of the horrible things Dennis has done. (He even made "Rockin'" Peter DeHaven drink muddy water ... which does sound rather freak-like. Did he go to the trouble of scooping it into a cup, or did he just make Peter lap it up like a dog? I can only imagine...)

Steven stands firm. He thinks the group is nuts to let Dennis keep bullying them. I guess Steven really learned from his run-in with Tony Rizzo a few books back. Steven leaves, and the kids tentatively decide to give his suggestion a shot. They agree to talk to Mr. Bowman the next day.

The following morning, on their walk to school, Liz and Amy discuss Grace Oliver and how mean the Unicorns are to give her initiation tasks. Now they're making her collect six kids' homework. If they're willing to give it to her, then who cares?

Liz and Amy get to school and see Dennis looming over Jimmy Underwood. Amy intervenes by making up a story about how she oveheard a group of eighth-graders call Dennis a wimp. Dennis falls for it, warns Jimmy one last time, and storms away to give the eighth-graders a piece of his mind.

Meanwhile, Liz and Amy rush over and ask Jimmy what happened. Jimmy (talk about wimps) shakily tells them that Dennis stole his pocket calculator. He tries to brush it off as no big deal, but he's pale and trembling; and Liz thinks firmly that they must tell Mr. Bowman what's going on that day at lunch.

Mr. Bowman (who, appropriately for his name, is wearing a polka-dot bow tie with his plaid shirt) listens to their story and assures the group that he'll talk with Dennis. Mr. Bowman points out that, like all bullies, Dennis must be very insecure. Jimmy doesn't buy it, but Liz naively thinks the talk will mean the end of the bullying. She leaves in a chipper mood. Jimmy remains skeptical.

Sure enough, right after school, Liz and Amy and Ken and Jimmy and Aaron all head off to the park to watch a Little League game. They're stopped by Dennis, who is lurking in the bushes (for real). Dennis is like, "Well, well, if it isn't the tattletales out for a little walk." Aaron tells him to move over. Dennis mockingly replies, "Are you gonna tell Mr. Bowman if I don't?" Hee. Ken tries to speak up and be the voice of reason, but Dennis jumps on him. A second later it's an all-out brawl, with Aaron and Ken vs. Dennis! Aaron and Ken are pretty much down just like that, so Dennis turns on Jimmy, who tried (unsuccessfully) to run to the bushes. Dennis torments Jimmy for a bit; Jimmy screams, "They made me tell! I didn't want to!" Finally, Dennis throws Jimmy down with disgust, warns the group, "I'll git you all!" and stomps away.

Liz and Amy (who were standing there uselessly this whole time) scramble over to help the boys. Jimmy cries and cries, and Aaron declares the group back to the drawing board. Obviously telling an adult about Dennis was the wrong thing to do. Liz feels guilty about going to Mr. Bowman.

Time for a Unicorn meeting. Grace passed both of her pledge tasks, but Jess still thinks she should do something else to prove her worth to the Unicorns. Ellen changes the subject back to Dennis ... which gives Jess the "brilliant" idea to make Gace ask Dennis to eat lunch with her as her final task. WTF? Is Grace overweight or something? Why does Jessica hate her? Lila and Ellen both think the task is too mean, but Jessica (a sociopath even at 12) is determined to get her way.

The next day, Ken holds another summit conference at Larson's lot (again, with Aaron, Jimmy, Liz, and Amy). Somehow Aaron comes up with a complicated plan to get back at Dennis. The group will trick Dennis into spending the night inside Dead Man's Cave (which will ... scare him straight?). Aaron, Ken, and Jimmy will all pretend to spend the night in the cave, but really they'll escape through a pipe that just happens to be in the back of the cave (it leads into the woods, so they'll each go home, then come back through the cave the next morning). Aaron just knows Dennis will feel compelled to spend the night in there, himself; and since Dennis doesn't know about the pipe, he'll have to REALLY do it. Oh, Aaron, you are brilliant. Too bad you will become a bully yourself one day (well, sort of).

Now it's Friday. Jess, Lila, and Ellen invite Grace to sit with them at lunch. Jess tells Grace about her new initiation task. Grace is beyond horrified, but she nervously agrees to try to get Dennis to have lunch with her. Grace looks across the cafeteria at Dennis, who is blowing air into lunch bags (he has more than one?) and popping them.

Meanwhile, over at Liz's table, the "Fearless Five" are busy putting their plan into action. Caroline Pearce is there, too, which will work in their favor. Amy performs her assigned task of "daring" Aaron to spend the night inside Dead Man's Cave. Dennis (within hearing distance, of course) scoffs at the idea, but he agrees to be there at the lot the next night to watch Aaron "make a fool of himself."

After lunch, Grace watches Dennis leave the cafeteria. She skulks after him and follows him down the hallway. Dennis whirls around and demands to know what she's doing. Maybe she wants you to be her bodyguard, Dennis? Grace stammers out a reply, but Dennis tells her to get lost. Grace tearfully finds Jess and tells her that she can't do the task, but Jess (who doesn't want to look wrong in front of Lila and Ellen) encourages Grace to keep working on it.

This book has even more plot contrivances than usual. That afternoon, Grace finds a baseball mitt on the field that has "Cookman" scrawled across the front. So she has the perfect excuse to go to Dennis's house the next day. When Grace gets to the house, Dennis's mom answers the door. She acts overly pleased that "Denny" has a new "friend." Dennis himself isn't so happy to see Grace, but he
(almost) manages to thank her for bringing the mitt back.

That night, a bunch of kids gather at Larson's Lot to watch Aaron begin his supposed big night inside the cave. Dennis is there, too. Aaron enters the cave, and some of the kids hang out for awhile to make sure he doesn't chicken out. Dennis makes some snarky comments, but eventually the kids get bored and Dennis leaves with everyone else.

They return the next morning, and everyone's surprised to see Aaron emerge from the cave. Jess screams, "Aaron, you're a hero!" Ken speaks up and volunteers to be the next person to spend the night inside the cave. Dennis, who is onto them, skeptically demands that someone guard the entrance to make sure Ken doesn't just leave and come back. Ken says that Dennis
should do this, but Dennis insists that someone should be there with him. For some reason, he chooses Jimmy for the job. Jimmy shakily agrees (he knows he must do so for the good of The Plan).

After that exchange, Liz and Aaron and the rest of the fab five go out for breakfast and talk about how awesome they are because their plan is working. Then Liz goes home, where she hears Grace in another room crying to Jess about her initiation task. Grace leaves. Liz bursts in and chews Jess out for being so mean. Jess finally agrees to change Grace's task, but only if she can take credit for it (Jess figures everyone will think she's so "compassionate" to understand Grace's fear).

Nighttime comes. Dennis and Jimmy spend the night outside the cave as planned. Jimmy's parents think he's at Aaron's house (who knows what Dennis's mom thinks) so all Jimmy has to worry about is making it through the evening with Dennis. He manages to do so. The next morning, Ken comes out through the entrance to the cave, all in one piece. Now it's Jimmy's turn to volunteer to spend the night inside. Dennis laughs at the thought, but a moment later, he falls right into Aaron's trap, after Aaron challenges him to spend the night in the cave himself. Dennis knows that if "little" Jimmy Underwood can do something, he'd better be able to do it, too. Or else.

On Monday, Grace musters up the courage to ask Dennis to eat lunch with her. He blows her off. Grace sadly thinks that she just lost her chance at the Unicorns. Fortunately, as we already know, Jess changed her mind, and when Grace finds her, Jess says that all Grace has to do now is scout around some stores and tell each Unicorn where she can find a purple sweatshirt. Grace is thrilled by the news.

However, at lunchtime, Grace hears a "gruff" voice ask if he can join her. It's Dennis! He wants to eat with her after all. Grace nervously makes room for him at her table. Dennis is all, "I don't know why you wanna sit with me." Grace lies that she was just curious about him and wondered why no one ever sat with him. Grace casually calls Dennis a bully, and Dennis shoots back that people are mean to him, too. (I was hoping he would have more of a story behind his bullying, like he was illiterate or something, but apparently Dennis is just self-conscious aout his size.)

Grace re-iterates that she just wanted to get to know Dennis. Dennis is like, "Oh, okay." He takes a bite of his sandwich, then asks Grace if she wants a bite. His mother made it. Dennis holds out the sandwich (yuck, Dennis, break off a piece) and Grace takes a bite, thinking she will "hurt Dennis's feelings" if she declines. Dennis grins, "It ain't so bad having lunch with you" and he and Grace proceed to have a relatively peaceful lunch period.

After school, Jimmy walks home with Aaron and Ken. They give him tips about pretending to sleep in the cave. After they part ways, Dennis goes by and tries to warn Jimmy not to go through with it. Because inside, Dennis is just a big scared oaf. Jimmy doesn't back down, he just "bravely" points out that after tonight ... it's Dennis's turn. Dennis blinks, and Jimmy walks off feeling like he won a small victory.

Jimmy's turn at the cave plot goes off without a hitch. The next morning, after Jimmy emerges, everyone looks at Dennis. At first Dennis tries to pretend he has a sore throat, but after everyone laughs at him, he grudgingly agrees to spend that evening inside Dead Man's Cave.

That day at school, Caroline and Aaron spread the word about Dennis trying to chicken out. All of the kids make a point to tease Dennis that day (the Unicorns even make it "official business"). When lunchtime comes, Dennis goes to sit with his new friend Grace. She snobbishly feels embarrassed about it, but she lets him sit down.

Dennis confides that he doesn't think he can spend the night inside the cave. He tries to bring up his so-called sore throat. Grace just firmly tells him that she thinks he should go through with it (a deal's a deal, etc.) Dennis gives her the "I thought you were different!" line and stomps away.

Before school lets out, Aaron and the others make some last-minute plans for the night. Liz suddenly has a "bad feeling" about the plan. Amy looks out the window and predicts a storm. You know where this is going...

Evening comes and Dennis arrives late to his big night in the cave. A huge crowd is there at the lot to watch him go inside. Dennis points out the impending storm and says that no one else had to spend the night in the cave during a storm, so why should he? Of course this question only results in more taunting from the group. Dennis gulps, looks at the ground, then ... enters the cave.

At about that moment, heavy rain starts to fall outside. St. Liz feels bad about leaving Dennis, but Amy brushes off the concern and tries to hurry Liz along. Liz notices Aaron standing there looking panicked, so she asks him what's wrong. It turns out that pipe inside the cave doesn't drain the way it's supposed to. If it rains hard enough, the cave might flood and Dennis might die! They have to get him out of there fast!

The kids all shout Dennis's name at the top of their lungs, but he doesn't answer. Aaron grimly announces that he and Ken are going inside the cave to grab Dennis. Jimmy volunteers to go with them.. Liz and Amy stay outside with Jessica and Grace (Grace is crying because she thinks it's all her fault that Dennis is trapped in the cave).

Aaron, Ken, and Jimmy don't see Dennis at first , but they can tell the cave is indeed flooding. They finally notice Dennis on top of a ledge, "hugging himself with terror" after each clap of thunder. The boys try to convince Dennis to come down, but he refuses. He thinks they just want to laugh at him. Jimmy runs back to try to get some help from the girls.

Grace runs back in the cave with Jimmy. She's finally able to convince Dennis to come down from the ledge. But Dennis is just so darn big that Aaron can't pull him up (from where?), so the kids have to make a chain "halfway across the lot" to heave Dennis out of there. I don't get this. Jimmy and Grace made it out of the cave just fine; why do they have to yank Dennis out?

It doesn't matter. Dennis makes it out alive, and he's so grateful that he hugs Aaron. Dennis realizes the group played a trick on him, but he's a humbled bully now, so he forgives them and goes home to "think things over."

Grace watches him. She feels proud about reaching out to poor lonely Dennis, but she's ashamed that it was all part of a Unicorn dare. She makes the other Unicorns promise to never tell Dennis why she ate lunch with him. This will be an easy promise to keep because (like Jimmy) Dennis never appears in another book.

We end back at the Unicorner, where Grace is now a proud member of the club. The Unicorns watch Dennis and Jimmy eat lunch together at another table and marvel over what a change a rainstorm can make. They switch the subject to Kent Kellerman, the hot soap star who's coming to town, which you can read all about in "Playing Hooky."

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