Jessica Wakefield
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Jessica Wakefield is one of the main characters in the Sweet Valley High book series. She was played by Brittany Daniel in the TV series of the same name.[1]
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[edit] Character
Outgoing, party loving Jessica is the wilder of the Wakefield twins. She is more concerned with fashion and looks than twin sister Elizabeth, and tends towards snobbery, often judging other people by their appearances.
Jessica's interests change regularly. Her more regular hobbies include acting, shopping and dancing, while her true passion is cheerleading.
Jessica remains close to Lila Fowler throughout the majority of the Sweet Valley series. Her best friend, however, is always Elizabeth, her sister.
[edit] Sweet Valley High
As one of the most popular girls in school, Jessica only associates with those who are (almost) as attractive and stylish as she. Her closest friends included fabulously wealthy Lila, gossipy Cara Walker and boy-crazy Amy Sutton. She began the series as cheerleading captain, a position she later shared with the newly slimmed down Robin Wilson, and was made President of exclusive high school sorority Pi Beta Alpha in the first book.
Jessica often uses her looks and popularity to get what she wanted (see Annie Whitman). Her tendency to wreak havoc with her schemes earned her the nickname Hurricane Jessica.
Although she loved her sister dearly, she did get jealous because she felt that Elizabeth was always doing things well, and she always messed up. One of these resentment periods almost made her run away to San Francisco[2]. Another time, after being grounded for letting her math grade nosedive, she nearly joined a cult[3], to get the friendship and affection she craved.
Boy crazy, Jessica dated around, refusing to be tied down to one particular boy. She pursued only attractive, preferably wealthy, candidates. Her relationship with rich, spoiled Bruce Patman, whom she had a crush on since she was a freshman, turned into one of absolute animosity.[4] She had almost thrown her self-respect away, as he treated her like a slave.
When she discovered he was cheating on her, she humiliated him by hitting him with a pizza and dumping a soda on top of him. They remained rivals, even when, in a brief bit of womanly pride, she joined an all-boy club, which caused Bruce to rig a wheel to make sure Jessica did all the dares. This situation coincided with a foreign delegation of teachers were visiting Sweet Valley High, and the club did everything possible to disrupt it. Her time in the so-called "Club X" caused her to get detention. [5]
Transfer student AJ Morgan was Jessica's first serious boyfriend. Although she tried to tone down her more flirtatious ways, her personality proved too much for the more modest AJ. The Secret Diary special edition later revealed that she had a secret fling with Todd Wilkins while she was dating AJ.
Jessica's next boyfriend, and arguably the love of her life, was Sam Woodruff, a dirt bike enthusiast from Bridgewater Academy. The pair shared a passionate and loving relationship that was proving to stand the test of time. Later, Jessica spiked Elizabeth's drink when they were both competing to be prom queen, in order to humiliate her, and Elizabeth then left the dance with Sam leading to Sam's death in a car crash. Furious with Elizabeth, Jessica dated Todd Wilkins in retaliation.(She'd been dancing with various boys just to try to ruin Elizabeth's chances of being crowned "Prom Queen", and went to a crowd known for drugs to get her drunk.) Elizabeth was not convicted because at the 11th hour, the other driver confessed his wrongdoing.
In The Evil Twin (magna edition), pyschotic Margo attempts to impersonate Elizabeth by killing her at Lila's New Year's Eve party but Jessica jumps to her twin's rescue, getting wounded herself. Josh came, knocked her away, and a huge piece of glass tore through Margo's throat. Elizabeth, initially, angry with Jessica for stealing Todd's apology letter, for abandoning her during the trial, and for dating her boyfriend, looked Jessica eye to eye. Believing the eyes tell the soul, Elizabeth forgave her sister, telling her she remembered the incident, briefly before Lila's party. Elizabeth realized how horrible her often thoughtless sister felt, because Jessica loved her sister.
Margo had killed James, Jessica's new boyfriend whom she had only been dating a short while. (They met during the Woodruff Memorial she organized.) James was hired by Margo to help get Jessica out of the way, but before he was about to tell Jessica the full story, explaining why he broke up with her (to save both their lives). He realized he could not abandon her, but his call was intercepted by Margo, who fulfilled her promise to kill him.
Her next relationship was with Jeremy Randall, the ex-fiance of a family friend. They were briefly engaged, until she discovered that he was using her as part of a grand scheme to gain his ex-fiancee's inheritance.
Old friend Ken Matthews supported her throughout this period and before long, the two were dating. Their relationship survived the revelation that Ken and Elizabeth had been together after Todd moved to Vermont, but ended when Jessica fell in love with her surfing instructor, Christian Gorman. Christian later died in a gang-related incident.
Jessica's next conquest was Devon Whitelaw. She was hurt and angry when she discovered he preferred her twin sister and made several attempts to sabotage the relationship. None of them worked and Jessica would spend the rest of junior year alone.
One other aspect of Jessica's life is that there were few involved projects she could do on her own. Despite complaining about being in Elizabeth's shadow, Jessica often relied on her sister to cover for her, pretend to be her, tie up lose ends, run a project itself, or bail her out of a sticky situation. Despite often vowing to make Jessica do things on her own, Elizabeth continually "helped" her sister, which was her weak spot. As a result, Jessica became rather spoiled and dependent. Despite her sister's help, she often manipulated Elizabeth or tried to corrupt Elizabeth's relationship with boys she liked herself.
[edit] Sweet Valley High Senior Year
Senior year saw a lot of changes in Jessica's life. After the Earthquake that shattered Sweet Valley left nearby high school, El Carro High in ruins, several new students came to SVH. After hooking up with Will Simmons, Jessica incurred the wrath of his girlfriend, Melissa Fox, who spread rumors about Jessica. Lila and Amy took Melissa's side and Jessica's golden-girl image was temporarily shattered.
Despite Melissa's attempts to sabotage her try-out, Jessica remained on the cheerleading squad, although the captainship was passed on to Tia Ramirez.
A turbulent on/off relationship with Will was followed by a steadier, more compassionate relationship with Jeremy Aames. Jessica eventually patched up her life, making new friends and sorting things out with Lila at the end of the series. After a struggle with figuring out what to do after high school, she decided to attend Sweet Valley University.
[edit] Sweet Valley University
Shortly after starting college, Jessica became involved in a whirlwind relationship with Mike McAllery, to whom she lost her virginity . The pair moved in together early in the relationship and eloped soon after in a Las Vegas ceremony. She didn't tell her family until much later.
Jessica and Mike had a rocky marriage, but in the end Jessica left Mike. When Mike came looking for Jessica, a scuffle between Mike and Steven led to Mike being shot and paralysed. Their marriage was annulled soon after. Although during Billie's pregnancy they did rekindle their romance, however they felt it was not the right time to do so, in the novel ``here come the bride.``
Several ill-fated relationships followed, including a nightmarish fling with quarterback James Montgomery, who assaulted her, and an affair with her married professor, Louis Miles.
She next dated undercover police officer Nick Fox, a relationship that almost led to her being jailed for cocaine possession. During the course of their relationship, Jessica developed an interest in detective work and even attended a "private eye" boot camp.
Nick was murdered shortly after testifying against Clay DiPalma, a criminal he'd been chasing for years. Jessica became deeply depressed following his death and was expelled from college. However, she later discovered that Nick had faked his death to protect her.
Jessica met Neil Martin when she took part in the "Coast to Coast Road Trip Challenge." Although initially attracted to Neil (who turned out to be gay), he later became her closest friend and housemate.
Jessica is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
[edit] References
- ^ Brittany Daniel
- ^ Amazon.com: Runaway (Sweet Valley High #21): Francine Pascal: Books
- ^ Amazon.com: KIDNAPPED BY THE CULT! (Sweet Valley High): Francine Pascal: Books
- ^ Amazon.com: Playing with Fire (Sweet Valley High, No 3): Francine Pascal: Books
- ^ Amazon.com: JESSICA AGAINST BRUCE (Sweet Valley High): Francine Pascal: Books
[edit] External links
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