Elizabeth Wakefield

Elizabeth Wakefield was one of the two main fictional characters in the book series Sweet Valley High. She was portrayed by Cynthia Daniel in the TV series of the same name. Her twin sister, Jessica was portrayed by Cynthia's twin, Brittany Daniel. ^[1]

Character

According to the SVH novel Last Wish the twins' birthday is June 13th, which would place them at Gemini, the sign of the twins on the zodiac.^[2] Despite being more sensible and down to earth than her twin sister, Elizabeth was one of few students in Sweet Valley who rivaled Jessica in the popularity stakes. She was known for being practical and a good listener, and her peers often confided in her. Elizabeth was born four minutes before Jessica. Like her sister, she was named after one of her ancestors, Elisabeth Johnson.^[3]

Although Liz has many friends, her best friend was Enid Rollins and later Maria Slater, a close friend from middle school. Her first boyfriend and first love was Todd Wilkins. She first fell for him in a way when she saw him in kindergarten and offered him a tissue when he was crying. She felt some sort of kismet with him ever since. It wasn't until high school that her goal of being with Todd became a reality.

Another dream of Liz's is to be a professional journalist and she was a dedicated staff member of her school newspaper The Oracle in which she wrote several features stories. She considered Oracle editor in chief Penny Ayala, arts editor Olivia Davidson, cartoonist Abbie Richardson; and, for a brief period, sports editor John Pfiefer amongst her closest friends. Staff advisor Roger Collins was her mentor. She also worked as an intern briefly at a magazine entitled "Flair" where she started to ignore Todd for work only to find out Todd himself got discovered as a model and was having an affair with his modeling partner, supermodel Simone.

At the insistence of her twin sister, Liz pledged and was accepted into Pi Beta Alpha,^[4] but she considered herself a member in name only.

Liz was close to Regina Morrow and her brother Nicholas, which was unusual, since she usually doesn't like to mingle with the wealthy, finding many of them to be selfish snobs. However, their sincerity swayed her and they became two of her closest friends. She was the recipient of Nicholas's affections when he first moved to Sweet Valley, but she insisted that she loved only Todd and the two stayed good friends. Regina's death affected her deeply, particularly since they had fought the last time they spoke.

Other friends of Liz's include Julie Porter, whom she also knew since middle school; and Caroline Pearce. She initially had little time for Jessica's friends although she and Cara Walker developed a friendship after she began dating Steven. Liz tolerated Lila for Jessica's sake, and even sprang to her rescue when Lila was arrested for shoplifting.^[5] She unbent more towards Lila after she was nearly raped by John Pfeifer; and was firmly on her side during the nightmare. Although she still didn't get along with her, Elizabeth and Lila did become more civil towards one another.

After Todd moved to Vermont, Liz began dating new student Jeffrey French, a photographer for The Oracle and star of the soccer team. They broke up when Todd returned to Sweet Valley. Elizabeth got back together with her first love and first boyfriend. The couple stayed together for a long time, until the Jungle Prom when a jealous Jessica spiked Elizabeth's drink to keep her from winning Prom Queen. The alcohol led a drunken Elizabeth to get into a car with Jessica's boyfriend Sam, ultimately leading to his death in a drunk driving accident. Jessica then has an affair with Todd. But after Liz and Todd work things out, they get back together and are a couple again. At the end of the series she was torn between old flame Todd and sexy bad-boy Devon Whitelaw, who turned out to be a liar and a coward. She cheated on Todd with him, but then broke up with Devon when she saw him for what he really was. Liz broke up with Todd again in the last book of the Sweet Valley High series, Aftershock.^[6] Liz and Todd were often unfaithful to each other, but Liz was the one truly betrayed when she found out Todd had been having a long-time recurring affair with Jessica which eventually led to their marriage in "Sweet Valley Confidential."

The Secret Diary Super Editions reveal that Liz had secret flings with two of Jessica's boyfriends, Ken Matthews and Sam Woodruff, although both relationships occurred before Jessica began dating them.

Sweet Valley High Senior Year

Elizabeth became more outgoing in this series. She also became the editor-in-chief of The Oracle. She had moved out of the house for a while when they were staying in Lila Fowler's house. Her love interests were Conner McDermott and Jeff French. Another one of her love interest was Evan Plummer. She dated him for a while after Conner left for rehab. Her best friends in this series were Maria Slater and Tia Ramirez and Andy Marsden.

Sweet Valley University

Elizabeth goes through a lot of changes in college, ending both her relationship with Todd Wilkins and her friendship with Enid (now Alexandra) Rollins. Both Todd and Alexandra begin seeing each other. She gains a friend in African-American student, Nina Harper, whom she bonds with because of them being studious. She soon falls in love with Tom Watts, who is a fellow journalist at the campus news station and a former football star. Elizabeth and Tom have a serious relationship; their most serious challenge comes when Elizabeth tells Tom that his recently discovered biological father has been hitting on her and he refuses to believe her, causing their breakup. After her split with Tom, she finds comfort with Todd and the two revive their former feelings for each other to some extent. This ends when Todd's ex-girlfriend is diagnosed with cancer and he decides that he must be with her. Tom and Elizabeth get back together again once he learns she was telling the truth, but irreparable damage has been done to their relationship. She eventually patches things up with Alexandra, and even though they are friends again, they are no longer as close as they were in high school.

During sophomore year, Liz endures a tempestuous relationship with her roommate, Sam Burgess, which later turns into romantic involvement. Convinced that Sam is a cheater and not good enough for her twin sister, Jessica sets out to prove this to Liz by getting Sam to kiss her. Liz catches her boyfriend making out with her twin sister and, without waiting for an explanation, sets off for London, where the Elizabeth series took place.

Books in the Elizabeth series

Sweet Valley Confidential

Ten Years in the future, Elizabeth is living in New York after discovering that Jessica and Todd had an affair, and vowing never to speak to either one of them again. She then conspires to break them up, but then forgives them both. During this time, she realizes that Bruce Patman, a long time presence in her life, was deeply in love with her.

The Sweet Life

Three years after the events of Sweet Valley Confidential, Elizabeth is back in Sweet Valley and she is in a serious relationship with Bruce Patman. She is involved in a scandal when Bruce is accused of rape. This echoes back from when Bruce attempted to rape Elizabeth herself in high school when she was acting differently following a head injury. Elizabeth confronts Bruce, still having strong feelings for him--hoping he feels the same way. But Bruce confesses to having feelings for another woman--Annie Whitman.

References

External links

• Elizabeth Wakefield Character Profile
• Everlasting: an Elizabeth Wakefield & Todd Wilkins fansite