Tagline: They were flirting—with death.
Back tagline: This guy’s got killer looks.
Summary: Lauren and Crystal think Scott has it all. he’s handsome. He’s the new star of Shadyside High’s football team. And he’s moved in right next door! Both girls will do anything. Say anything. Try anything to get the chance to go out with him. That’s all either of them want.
But that’s all Scott’s last girlfriend wanted, too—and now she’s dead.
First impressions: This doesn’t sound like the most interesting book, but I’m willing to give it a chance! On the cover we’ve got Scott hiding behind a tree while peeking into a girl’s window. The girl is presumably Lauren or Crystal, but she’s got a striking resemblance to Reva Dalby, specifically from the cover of Silent Night 3. I wonder if there’s any relation!
The blurb is pretty generic and it sounds like the plot of several other Point Horrors and Fear Street, but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Let’s find out!
*******TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide is mentioned in this book**********
Recap
Let’s start with the role call:
Crystal — Our outgoing, flirty protagonist who’s super into Scott.
Lynne— Crystal’s even more outgoing, flirtier best friend who’s also super into Scott.
Melinda — Crystal’s older sister who’s not outgoing or flirty but is also into Scott.
Scott — The titular boy next door with an old-fashioned view on women.
The book begins with a first person POV prologue as who I’m assuming is Scott attends his girlfriend Dana Potter’s funeral. A flashback reveals he’d talked her into coming over on a warm night and sneaking into the neighbour’s yard to use the pool, ‘a black hole in the darkness.’ Dana climbed up to the diving board and did a perfect swan dive, landing head-first on the cement at the bottom of the empty pool. [Is Stine serious? Not to victim blame and I get it’s dark outside, but it’s not going to be pitch black. There’s absolutely no way Dana didn’t notice the pool had no water in it. Scott obviously knew it was empty already, but there’s no way she couldn’t see that herself, right? Who even dives into a pool without testing the water’s temperature first, anyway? We’re starting off on the wrong foot already and we’re only on the second page lol] Scott climbs into the pool and kneels beside the still-breathing girl as ‘thick purple blood oozed out of her head.’ [Purple?????] He waits until she takes her final breath before screaming for help.
Back to the funeral, and Scott pushes the awful memories out of his mind as he watches Dana’s coffin be lowered into the ground. He wonders why Dana made him kill her, but quickly corrects himself. He didn’t kill her; yes, he knew the pool was empty, but he didn’t push Dana! She dove in all by herself. It’s her fault. Besides, it had to be done; ‘I had no choice. Anyone would agree with me.’ [I’m not sure about that. She probably wore a short skirt or revealing top or something] Dana had been such a sweetheart when they first started dating, and he loved her so much. But then she went waaaaaay over the line when she started wearing short skirts and all that makeup, ‘acting so wild, so disgusting.’ [I knew it!] That’s no way for a lady to behave, and next time he’ll know better. He’ll stay far away from girls like Dana because he doesn’t want to watch another girlfriend die in front of him. He just doesn’t want that! Ok?! Got that?! [We’ve got misogyny, controlling behaviour and victim blaming already, and we’re still in the prologue! This is going to be interesting]
We jump forward a year and change to third-person perspective as our protagonist, Crystal Thomas, chats on the phone to her bestie Lynne Palmer. [Lynne? Not Lauren, like on the blurb? Or is Lauren someone else?] They’ve been besties since third grade when Crystal’s family moved to Fear Street after her dad died. It’s the first day of their junior year tomorrow, and both girls are hopeful they’ll find love. Lynne, who loves to brag and complain at the same time, laments that half the good-looking guys are dying to go out with her, but she finds them boring. She went on a date with a guy named Kyle last night, but he was a sloppy kisser so she won’t be doing that again. There’s also Jake Roberts, who calls Lynne 2550506990 times a day. They’re both nice boys, and Crystal teases that Lynne just doesn’t like anyone who likes her. [Seems like it!]
Talk turns to the new neighbours moving in next door as a station wagon pulls up to the house, and a good looking mom, dad and teenage boy exit and head into the house. Crystal describes the hunk to Lynne, likening him to Keanu Reeves. She discovers that the boy is taking the bedroom directly opposite hers and quickly steps behind the curtain to avoid being seen, peering out as he drops a box onto his bed. Then he takes his shirt off to reveal washboard abs, and a hesitant Crystal continues to watch, strongly encouraged by Lynne. [Horny girl!]
The boy suddenly strides over to the window and looks out, forcing Crystal to duck behind the curtain again. When she peeks out again, the curtain is closed and she realises he must have seen her being a peeping Tom! Lynne assures her that he’ll be used to girls staring at him if he’s that hot, and Crystal hopes she’s right. Maybe he’s the boy she’s supposed to meet this year… ‘the boy next door.’
Over to the boy next door for another first-person POV, and we learn Scott caught the girl next door after all: ‘Who does she think she is? Staring into my bedroom. Wearing that low-cut leotard and those jeans. Red lipstick smeared over her lips. Disgusting.’ He has to admit that she is quite pretty though, which is bad luck. Or, as he puts it, ‘bad, bad, bad, bad luck.’ because his family moved away from Harris where Dana lived and they’ve ended up next door to a girl exactly like her! Scott will keep his distance this time though. He won’t let anything bad happen. He won’t. He won’t!!! What happened with Dana was a freak accident. But this time Scott will be fine. There’ll be no accidents. ‘From now on, no one has to die.’ [We’ll see about that!]
An unspecified amount of days later, there’s a knock at Crystal’s door and she immediately assumes it’s the boy next door and starts to panic. What will she say? How should she act? As she rushes downstairs to answer the door, she asks herself WWLD — what would Lynne do? Lynne would use her husky voice, which she learned from Demi Moore movies, and she’d stand super close. But Crystal isn’t Lynne, and she’d feel like an idiot doing that. Luckily it’s only Lynne at the door, perfectly made up with her blonde hair in ‘about a thousand tiny braids.’ [Do I smell cultural appropriation?] Judging by Crystal’s visible disappointment, Lynne quickly deduces that she’d been hoping it was the boy next door and tells her she’s lucky to live so close to him. Leading Lynne into the kitchen, Crystal complains she’s only seen him five times and said no more than six words to him! All she’s managed to find out is his name — Scott Collins.
The girls grab a tub of Häagen-Dazs Triple Brownie Overload from the freezer [What, no cans of Coke to go along with that product placement?] and head to the kitchen window to stare at Scott’s house. Lynne learned from Jake that Scott is going to be starting tailback on the football team, and Jake reckons the Tigers could be state champs with Scott on their side! They’re interrupted by Crystal’s mother, who comments on how dressed up the girls are. Lynne’s wearing a slip dress which Crystal hasn’t seen before; she probably went shopping for something that would grab Scott’s attention. [You’d need everything but your face and hands covered to grab his attention, Lynne! ] She doesn’t pry further because she’s a cool mum who doesn’t need to know everything, which Crystal is happy about. Crystal asks what her mother’s up to today, and Mum says she’s just doing the usual. Crystal feels a familiar pang, knowing she’ll just be hanging out at the house alone. Mum hasn’t been on a single date since Dad died, and Crystal wishes she’d find someone. She’s pretty, with green eyes and auburn hair like Crystal’s, and Crystal’s sure a lot of men would be keen if Mum just showed some interest.
After Mum leaves, Crystal’s older sister Melinda enters the kitchen and looks surprised to see Lynne, who doesn’t even say hi until Crystal scowls at her. There’s clear, awkward tension between Lynne and Melinda, which isn’t helped by Lynne deciding to tell Crystal right at this very moment that she saw Todd Warner at the gym this morning. He goes to Warfield Academy now but was asking about Crystal, so he obviously still has a thing for her. We learn that Melinda had a huge crush on Todd last year but never even gave him a hint that she was interested, and he ended up asking Crystal out. [OK, but why is there tension between Lynne and Melinda] Melinda and Crystal start to argue about the situation but quickly stop themselves, and talk turns back to Scott, with Lynne keen to know what Melinda thinks. Blushing, she admits he’s good-looking, and Crystal feels sorry for her — she can’t even talk about guys without getting embarrassed! And ‘how could she expect to attract a guy’s attention in those awful brown sweaters and sloppy, wrinkled jeans? It’s as if she was terrified to look good, Crystal thought.’ [She sounds like just Scott’s type!!] Melinda and Scott are in the same English class, but she tells the girls he’s pretty quiet and keeps to himself. Lynne’s determined to go out with him, but so is Crystal, and they end up making a deal, roping in Melinda too; no matter who ends up snagging Scott, the others will be happy for her. They also agree not to sabotage each other’s chances. [OK, I guess it’s safe to assume there’s no Lauren and the blurb is supposed to say Lynne or Melinda]
Melinda leaves the kitchen to go back to reading her book, and Lynne follows after her to go to the bathroom. She stops in the doorway and throws a new lipstick to Crystal, wanting her to try it. Crystal applies the glossy coffee-coloured lipstick, using the oven door as a mirror, then has the feeling she’s being watched. Glancing out the window, she spots Scott in his backyard with a hoe, staring at her. She offers a smile and a wave and to her shock, his face fills with disgust and he starts slamming the hoe into the ground, leaving Crystal to wonder what the heck is wrong with him.
Another unspecified amount of time later, Crystal and Lynne are in the cafeteria at school when Lynne declares she’s tired of waiting for Scott to notice her. She takes her lunch tray over to where the footballers sit and plonks down between Scott and Jake, who you may remember has a crush on her. She introduces herself to Scott before Crystal takes the seat opposite them and is also introduced to Scott. He seems to like her, so she decides his hoe slamming the other day must have been because he was angry about something, like a fight with his parents maybe.
Upon learning Scott and Crystal are neighbours, Jake starts talking about the rumours about Fear Street. Lynne, resting her hand on Scott’s arm, is confident that he doesn’t care about any of that stuff, and Crystal notices with pleasure that Jake’s trying to ease his arm away from her grasp. Jake asks Lynne if she got the message he’d left last night, and she apologises for not calling him back and quickly refocuses on Scott. She tells him her parents will be away on Sunday so she’s having some people over for a pool party, and she’d like him to come. Jake clearly hasn’t heard about this, and Lynne quickly invites him too once Crystal directs her attention towards him. Scott’s focussed on cutting the meat on his tray as he informs her he isn’t free on Sunday, which is a big relief to Crystal because that means Lynne can’t win their little contest so easily. Lynne’s sorry to hear that, placing her hand back on his arm. Scott’s gaze goes to her hand, and he stares and stares and stares, and Crystal gasps when he raises his knife in the air. Scott swoops the knife down, then back up again starts cheering, and Crystal quickly realises he’s just joining in with the cheerleaders, who are holding a lunchtime pep rally.
We jump forward to Saturday afternoon as Crystal ventures into Melinda’s room to ask if she’s gotten to know Scott in class at all. Melinda hasn’t, much to Crystal’s relief, but she has has sensed that he’s trying to get over something. Crystal makes a joke about it, but Melinda reminds her that ”You know my premonitions are usually right,”‘ which makes Crystal wonder if Scott has some kind of secret past. Crystal starts complaining that it’s been two weeks since the girls made their deal and Scott still hasn’t called her. She knows he likes her though, she can feel it! She’s sure Lynne will win, what with her confidence and all, and Melinda points out that Crystal isn’t exactly shy herself. Crystal argues that she’s shy compared to Lynne, and complains further that she’s received zero calls from boys this week/ She quickly realises how tone deaf she’s being considering Melinda doesn’t get any calls ever. She asks if Melinda likes Scott too, but Melinda isn’t sure since she’s never spoken to him.
The phone in Crystal’s room rings, but she’s not gonna bother answering it since it won’t be Scott. [Girl, you don’t even know the guy, move on] Melinda answers it instead, and it’s just Lynne, who initially thinks Melinda is Crystal. Apparently there’s not many people who can tell their voices apart, which I’m sure will have some relevance later. [Maybe Scott will be dating Crystal or Melinda and the other sister will pretend to be her over the phone!] Crystal takes the phone from her sister and learns that Lynne is glum because Scott hasn’t called her either! Even though she slipped a Valentine’s Day Card in his locker! In September!
Crystal confesses she spoke to Jake about Scott, but all she learned is that Scott’s a great guy and a great tailback. Lynne can’t believe Jake hasn’t said anything to her, and Crystal reminds her she hasn’t been very nice to him lately. Besides, why would he want to discuss other guys with Lynne when he’s got a huge crush on her? Lynne decides she’ll call Jake right now and force him to give her something useful about Scott, and hangs up without saying goodbye.
Crystal checks the mail and finds that a magazine called ‘American Family’ addressed to Scott’s father, Michael, has been delivered here by mistake. A kind neighbour, Crystal decides she’ll take it over to Scott and strike up a conversation while she’s there. But first she needs to touch up her lipstick!
Meanwhile, next door, Scott’s woken up from apparently dream where he was about to start trimming the hedges in the yard and a dog walked over. He had recognised the dog — it belongs to a girl on the next block who’s always parading around in short shorts, with her bleach-blonde hair and nose ring. She made kissing noises at him one day as he walked to football practice. It’s very embarrassing for Scott, so he decided she needs to be punished. And when the dog strolled over all alone, he knew exactly what to do. Using the hedge trimmers, he snipped the dog’s throat and the poor thing died instantly. And then Scott woke up standing in a puddle of blood, surprised to see a dead dog at his feet and bloodied hedge trimmers in his hands:
Not a dream after all.
I guess I didn’t fall asleep. I guess I didn’t dream what happened to the dog.
Blood all over my hands. Still warm.
But it was an hour before lunchtime. I knew I had time to bury the dog. And clean it all up.
I guess these things happen. Not always in dreams.
These things happen to me. If I’m not careful.
Crystal makes her way over to Scott’s house, noticing how the unruly hedges greatly contrast the neatly mowed lawns, and knocks on the door. There’s no answer so she knocks again and the door swings open a few inches. Instead of leaving the magazine at the doorstep and heading home, she pokes her head in and calls out to Scott before taking a step inside. She realises she shouldn’t be doing this, but then thinks of Lynne — ‘Lynne would be upstairs in Scott’s room by now.’ [Hahaha yeah, that does sound like Lynne] Crystal continues to call out to Scott and hears laughter coming from upstairs. She ventures up there and heads in the direction Scott’s room would be, only for a door to suddenly fly open, a growling figure leaping out to grab Crystal by the throat!
It’s just Jake, who apologises for scaring her. Scott follows him out, and Crystal explains why she’s here, handing him the magazine. She agrees to stay for a bit and follows the boys into Scott’s room, which is incredibly neat and tidy. Scott stares at Crystal a lot, and Jake mentions how their bedrooms face each other, telling Scott he could spy on Crystal if he wanted. Scott immediately gets defensive and assures Crystal he would never do that. The doorbell rings, [Why didn’t Crystal use that?] and Scott returns from downstairs with Lynne, who’s carrying roller skates and wearing a black and pink skating outfit, even though Crystal knows she hates skating. Lynne lies that she’d been trying to phone Jake and his mother mentioned he was here, so she made her way over. Jake asks why she was calling, and she lies that she needs help with her math homework.
Scott says everyone needs to go now anyway because he has a lot of homework to do and also needs to trim the hedges, and Jake picks up Lynne and carries her out of the house, much to her annoyance. Crystal asks if Scott wants her to go too [Especially you!] because she can’t believe he’d want her to leave when he’s been staring at her nonstop. He tells her he does want her to go, and she wonders if he’s shy; should she make it more obvious she’s into him? As she walks past him in the to the door, he grabs her hand and insists again that he’d never spy on her, and she tells him it’s no problem. Then she brushes some hair off his forehead, half-closes her eyes, parts her lips and leans in, silently commanding him to kiss her. He doesn’t [This is so awkward] and she quickly leaves, embarrassed. [That’s sooooo embarrassing. I don’t know if I could ever face him again if I was her]
Cut to Scott’s POV as Crystal leaves, and not a moment too soon because he was about to choke on her perfume! How dare she invade his room like a disease! And she was expecting a kiss! If she had kissed him, he’d need to punish her. She almost made him do something bad. But what would he have done to her? What would he have done with the taste of that cheap lipstick clinging to his lips? Would he strangle her? Break her neck? He quickly shuts his door then hurries to the window to lowers the window shade, angry that her spying forces him to keep it down. He’s still holding the magazine she’d brought over and suspects that she stole it from his mailbox so she could worm her way into his bedroom — ‘I wouldn’t put anything past a girl like that.’ [Yeah, what a slut! Lol] ‘American Family’ is the only magazine he can stand, and he quickly takes off the plastic wrapping with some scissors. He flips through the pages of happy, well-behaved and well-dressed families until he comes across an ad for jeans featuring a young girl. The slut has wet lips and her shirt is halfway unbuttoned, and she’s got a certain expression on her face that he loathes:
That look that made me crazy.
A bad girl.
Someone had to be punished. In my dream, someone had to be punished.
Me.
I had to be punished.
Did I fall asleep again? Was I dreaming or awake?
I wasn’t sure as I raised the scissors high.
And plunged the blade deep into the back of my hand.
[Why does he always think he’s dreaming? This boy is waaaaay too unhinged to be passing off as a normal teenager. Why is he even like this? Do his parents share the same values?] Three days later, Crystal’s walking home from school obsessing over the fact that Scott hasn’t called her. She’s almost called him several times, but why should she make a fool out of herself? [More than you already have, you mean?] She’s already displayed her interest in him. [Take a fkn hint, girl] But maybe Scott didn’t understand that she was showing interest. She decides to give it one more try [Please don’t] and heads straight to his house. To her dismay, Lynne is waiting on the porch with a six pack of Coke and some chips, and Jake and Scott show up shortly after. Crystal asks what happened to his hand, which is bandaged up, and he lies that he burnt it taking the pizza out of the oven. What a klutz!
In the living room, Scott’s channel surfing when Crystal comes right out and says what every girl at Shadyside wants to know — does he have a girlfriend back where he used to live? He doesn’t, and Lynne asks why he hasn’t asked anyone at Shadyside out yet. Jake’s curious too, because if he had a girl like Crystal throwing herself at him, he’d go out with her for sure! Lynne frowns at this [Jake and Crystal will probably end up together] and Crystal snaps that she’s not throwing herself at anybody, and Jake quickly apologises. Scott explains he’s just not ready to see anyone yet, and there’s an uncomfortable silence in the room.
Jake takes the remote and switches to sports, and Scott moves seats to the arm of the sofa, near Crystal. Studying his solemn face, she wonders if Melinda’s right about his past; did something happen to girlfriend? She decides to pry even further [I’m nosy AF too but I wouldn’t take it this far. Show some tact, Crystal!] and asks why he doesn’t feel ready — ‘”You went through something really painful, didn’t you?”‘ Lynne, who’s been eavesdropping, asks what happened because she’s got no tact either, and Crystal tells her to leave him alone; ‘”He’s probably not ready to talk about it. Right, Scott?”‘ [Then you leave him alone too, Crystal!] Scott confirms he’s not ready and feels silly about it since it’s been over a year, but Crystal is very understanding. She silently realises her and Lynne have probably been driving him nuts, drooling over him while he’s suffering from his broken heart.
Lynne suggests they all ride out to the lake since it’s such nice weather, but suggests Crystal might like to stay and watch TV with Jake. [Lynne, plz] Scott apparently has a lot of homework to do though, so he kicks everyone again, much to Lynne’s annoyance. Crystal invites the others to her place, but as they make their way next door, Lynne realises she “forgot” her backpack and hurries back to Scott’s. The others wait on the lawn and note that Lynne takes way longer than she should, but she soon reappears with a big smile on her face.
The trio hang out at Crystal’s for an hour or so until Jake leaves, and Crystal can finally accuse Lynne of kissing Scott. Lynne confirms it, and Crystal’s grudgingly happy for her, remembering their rule. She does point out that one kiss doesn’t mean they’re dating though, but Lynne could tell by the way he kissed her back that Scott’s interested, and she promises they’ll be the talk of Shadyside High from now on. [Yeah because he’ll probably kill her]
Over to Scott, who is scrubbing his lips and face with scalding hot water to rid himself of the taste of Lynne — ‘It’s like a fungus, I thought. Something slimy growing on me.’ [Hahahaha drag her] He rinses his mouth with mouthwash several times before noticing his razor, and then he imagines slashing Lynne’s throat with it. We learn she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, even though he tried to push her away. That’s no way to behave, Lynne! He hopes that she doesn’t have an accident, but ‘I know what my dreams are like. My dreams that aren’t dreams.’ But he’s not hoping too hard, because he immediately decides she needs to die. He’ll dream of the perfect way to kill her…
A little while later, Scott jogs over to Lynne’s house and lets himself in, finding her in the kitchen drinking milk out of the carton. She’d previously let him know her parents always get home late, which makes his plan so much easier! She’s startled at first but happy to see him, and he suggests they head up to River Ridge to talk, secretly planning to push her off the cliff. [And despite being a known makeout spot, it’ll probably be empty] Lynne likes that idea — she’s been to River Ridge a few times [I bet!] but never with someone as cute as Scott. He explains he jogged here, trying to keep in shape for football, so they’ll need to take Lynne’s car. Once parked, he suggests they check out the view, but Lynne prefers the view inside the car and stops him from getting out. She confesses she’s been going crazy the last few weeks, unsure if he really liked her, but she could finally tell today that he does. She kisses him, then breaks away and acts shy, admitting she felt really bad when she wasn’t getting any attention from him, despite everyone thinking she’s so confident. She notices how distant he’s acting suddenly and calls him out for playing games with her, since it was his idea to come here. The games are working though, and to his horror she starts kissing his neck. He can’t take it anymore, so he grabs a fistful of her hair, forcing her head back. He’s about to slam it against the dashboard when they’re interrupted by a knock at the window. It’s a man who’s gotten very lost on his way to the Old Village. Lynne gives him directions, and Scott realises he can’t kill her now because the man might remember he’d seen them up here. He wonders if she knows he was about to kill her, but to his relief the silly girl just thinks he just likes it rough. [What exactly was his plan? Leave her car there to make it seem like she went up there alone and just fell off the cliff? Was he going to walk home? People would see him walking, wouldn’t they? And the whole point is that no-one is supposed to know he was here]
A week later, Crystal’s over at Lynne’s house, bored out of her mind as they wait by the phone. Lynne has been obsessing over Scott all week because he hasn’t called or spoken to her at all since that night at River Ridge, and it’s all she’s been talking about. She’s been calling his house every night, has left notes and presents in his locker, and has even been hanging around football practice, but Scott just avoids her. It doesn’t make sense; he came over that day all on his own, wanting to talk, and now he’s gone crickets! ‘”Why did that stupid man have to interrupt and ask for stupid directions? He ruined everything.”‘ [If only she knew] Crystal reminds her that Lynne’s made more progress with him than she has, but Lynne wishes she’d lost if this is what winning feels like.
Trying to cheer Lynne up, Crystal grabs the phone and calls Scott’s house, and fakes a French accent when his mother answers. The girls can’t stop laughing, so Crystal quickly hangs up. She tries again, but they still can’t hold their laughter in, and Crystal ends the call again. Lynne wants to take a whack at it, but this time Scott answers and knows it’s Lynne right away. Lynne tries to keep up the French accent but quickly drops it, admitting she was just goofing around. She tells him she’s been trying to get in touch for a while, and he lies that football has kept him very busy. Then she reveals her parents have flown to San Diego and invites him over tonight, but he can’t because he’s got to clean his room. [Take the damn hint, Lynne! Also I would have thought he’d love to come over while she’s home alone, but I guess saying no gives him an alibi when he sneaks over later to murder her]
Over to Scott, who’s pissed because he’d had to let his mother eat dinner alone while he took Lynne’s call; Dad’s working late, so it’s just them tonight. As he sits back down at the dinner table, he can tell Mum’s angry too:
“That Lynne is very persistent, isn’t she?” Mom asked. She chuckled, but I could tell she didn’t think it was funny. “I don’t know how many messages she’s left for you this week,” Mom added.
“I know. I’m—I’m sorry.”
I sure didn’t want to talk about Lynne with Mom. I took a big forkful of spaghetti, hoping she wouldn’t say anything else.
“And now this?” Mom continued, shaking her head. “Making prank calls? Maybe we should call her parents, Scott.”
“No, Mom! Please don’t worry about it. I—I’ll take care of it. I’ll tell her not to call here anymore. I’ll—”
Mom narrowed her eyes at me. “You don’t have feelings for this girl, do you?”
“Mom! Of course not, I—”
“You sure you didn’t encourage her in some way?” she demanded.
Those eyes. Staring into mine. I felt a drop of sweat run down my forehead. “No, Mom, I promise you, she’s nothing. A nuisance.”
Red patches appeared on Mom’s round cheeks, as if she’d been slapped. “Because it wouldn’t do, Scott,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “It wouldn’t do if you got involved with a girl like that. You understand that, don’t you? That girl doesn’t know how to behave!”
I nodded.
“No way to behave,” Mom repeated, muttering to herself.
[Well, that explains why Scott’s the way he is] Scott’s so nervous that he drops his fork on his plate, prompting a dirty look from Mum for almost scratching her china. Scott blames Lynne for Mum’s anger, and his spaghetti suddenly looks like piles of intestines. He pictures Lynne with her stomach sliced open, spaghetti pouring out. [Spaghetti? Not intestines? Okeh]
Late that night, Crystal tries to call Lynne, who doesn’t answer. Crystal wonders if she’s gone out, even though she’d refused to hang out tonight. She heads out into the hall and notices light coming from the attic, so she heads up to find Melinda curled up on an old easy chair reading a book, a regular habit of hers. Crystal rarely comes up here and gazes around at all the old junk, including their father’s belongings. They briefly discuss their memories of him, but Crystal doesn’t remember much because he wasn’t home often. Melinda comments that he liked to be alone, and Crystal realises just how similar her older sister is to their dad. She asks if being alone all the time ever annoys her, and while Melinda admits it sometimes does, she doesn’t want to go out just for the sake of going out, and doesn’t want ‘”someone around whose main purpose is to keep me from being alone.”‘ Crystal nods, but finds it hard to understand because she loves being around people.
It’s obvious Melinda wants to get back to her book, so Crystal heads to bed. She can’t sleep, so she tries calling Lynne again, but there’s no answer. Worried because she knows Lynne hasn’t been very happy lately, she decides to drive over to her place to make sure she’s OK. She The house is dark and Crystal notices a strange smell as she rings the doorbell. There’s no answer, so she finds the spare key under the old flowerpot and heads inside, calling to Lynne. She makes her way up to Lynne’s room and is startled by her own reflection before turning on the light and laughing at herself. Then she notices that Lynne’s room is super tidy, which is not like Lynne at all. [Did Scott do some cleaning after disposing of Lynne?] Crystal can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong and soon discovers a handwritten note on the Lynne’s desk. It’s a suicide note addressed to Lynne’s parents, apologising for the hurt she’s about to cause and explaining that she’s not the wild, happy girl everyone thinks she is. She states that she’s done many things she regrets, and “I realize now that this was no way to behave—” [Did Scott write this? Or force Lynne to write it? It seems to be her handwriting] Crystal drops the note without reading the rest, remembering the weird smell outside the house. She dashes outside to the garage, hoping she’s not too late. It’s locked, but she can hear a car running inside; that’s what’s causing the smell! She jumps up and down, trying to see through the small window near the top of the door, and quickly spots Lynne sitting inside the car.
We jump forward to Lynne’s funeral as Scott stares into the open grave, tears in his eyes. He doesn’t deserve this; why did another disgusting girl have to throw herself at him? Why did another girl have to make him kill her? It can’t possibly be his fault, but he knows the police wouldn’t see it like that. But Scott’s not bad, Lynne was the evil one!
Crystal sobs in front of him, and he’s glad that she’s dressed properly for once, in a black dress that falls below her knees. He puts his hand on her shoulder and Crystal turns around and hugs him. Scott spots Melinda watching and nods to her, but she looks away. Crystal tells Scott how sad she is that she’ll never see Lynne again, and Scott can’t believe how stupid Crystal is; the funeral isn’t sad because Lynne’s dead, but because she couldn’t behave and forced him to kill again!
We learn that he planned everything out carefully, just like he had with Dana. He’d held a knife to Lynne’s throat until she wrote the suicide note, not bothering to explain why he was doing all this because she would never understand. Then he held a pillow to her face until she lost consciousness and hauled her down to the garage. He stuck her in the car and turned the engine on, then locked the garage door from the inside and returned to the house, leaving through the front door. [Why didn’t Crystal go to the garage through the door connecting it to the house? Why did she go outside to the main door?]
Crystal starts crying again, and Melinda comes over to comfort her. Scott wonders why he doesn’t see Melinda around much, outside of English class. She’s so different from her sister; a nice, good girl. Gazing around at the rest of the funeral-goers, he knows that no-one suspects him of murder. Which means his problems are over and he can have a normal life again! ‘Unless Crystal hasn’t learned to behave’, that is!
Three weeks later, Crystal’s struggling with Lynne’s death and Melinda’s in her room trying to cheer her up. Crystal admits that she feels angry at Lynne for leaving her, and Melinda comforts her. For whatever reason, Melinda also decides now is the perfect time to tell Crystal she never liked Lynne, but Crystal is already aware of that. Melinda isn’t sure why she didn’t like Lynne, and supposes she was jealous of how close she was to Crystal, and how popular they were with boys. She also didn’t like how Lynne acted around boys. Crystal is surprised that Melinda wants to be closer, but doesn’t comment on it, and just asks her not to criticise Lynne to her. [Yeah Melinda, have some sympathy]
Jake, who’s been a great friend to Crystal the past few weeks, calls because he’s having some people over tonight and wants Crystal to come, but she’s not really in the mood. Jake reveals that Scott will be there, and while Crystal would like to talk to him, she just wants to be alone for now. She tells Jake she may pop by later but it’s unlikely, and after hanging up, Melinda decides that if she’s not going to Jake’s, Crystal will have to hang out with her tonight instead. Crystal agrees, and the phone rings again. It’s Scott this time, who tells Crystal he’s been thinking about her a lot. Specifically, he keeps thinking about how close she and Lynne were — ‘”I sure wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to you.”‘ [I’m sure he’s trying to make it seem like he’s worried about her and checking in, but that’s definitely not how it sounds!]
Crystal also thinks it’s a weird thing to say, but realises he’s just worried. He must really care about her! To her shock, he’s actually calling to speak to Melinda, who he invites over to Jake’s. Melinda’s super excited and rushes to her room to change, returning to Crystal’s room a short time later in a brown skirt and a baggy, shapeless sweater. Crystal’s horrified and tries to get her to change into a leather mini skirt, but Melinda would never wear that. At Crystal’s insistence, she does try on another skirt that’s only a few inches longer — ‘”You could be prettier than me if you tried. When you’re with Scott, you don’t want to hide behind those unflattering clothes of yours, do you?”‘ Melinda looks great in the skirt, and Crystal’s proud of herself for improving her sister’s chances with Scott ‘by one thousand percent.’
We jump over to Scott now, who’s at the party and disgusted by MTV on the television, with a bunch of girls in bikinis dancing to rock music on the screen. He changes the channel to sport, but someone changes it back again, so Scott moves to a different room. Jake had said only a few people were coming, but it’s starting to turn into a real party! He’s considering calling Melinda to tell her not to come since a nice, sweet girl like her shouldn’t be at a party like this, but someone calls out to him that Melinda’s just arrived. Some guys in the kitchen whistle, telling each other to check out her hot outfit, and Scott starts to worry.
He hurries to the porch, which has a screen door, and spots Melinda coming up the path. Something snaps, and he starts to go into one of his little dream state things, pissed off about the evil dress she’s wearing. He can’t believe her audacity when she says hi and proceeds to smash his fist into her face. Except, for the first time, this actually is a dream, and he’s only punched a hole in the screen door, and Melinda is dressed in nice, proper clothes. Those boys inside were just making fun of her! He plays off the hole in the screen as an accident and tells her he’s glad she came. She apologises for being late, explaining that Crystal was trying to make her wear something else. Scott takes her inside, wondering if he’s finally found a girl who knows how to behave.
When Melinda returns home, Crystal is keen to know all the details. She frowns when she learns Scott hadn’t kissed Melinda and points out that he probably would have if she’d listened to her about the skirt. [Crystal, shut up] Melinda’s not going to change her whole way of dressing for a boy though, and Crystal quickly apologises. Melinda says they had a great time, and Scott had cried for a moment when he’d opened up about the death of his previous girlfriend. He also asked her to see a movie Saturday night! Crystal’s a little jealous, since she wanted to be the one to help heal Scott’s heart, but tries to be excited for Melinda — something nice is finally happening to her, after all. But why doesn’t she feel happier? Is it just jealousy, or something else?
It’s Saturday night now, right before Scott’s about to arrive, Crystal’s chasing Melinda around with some blush, trying to force her to wear it because she’s sooooo0oOoo0000oOo pale. Melinda’s sick of Crystal always making her feel bad about her looks, and Crystal apologises, insisting she just wants to help. Melinda rightfully points out that if Scott didn’t like her appearance as is, he wouldn’t have asked her out. The doorbell rings, and Crystal quickly dabs the blush on Melinda’s cheeks before she can escape down the stairs. Melinda jerks away, smearing it, and hurries out of the house.
Over to Scott, who is disgusted by the blush when she approaches his car. He plasters on a fake smile and acts like nothing is wrong, but is internally dreading the rest of the night. As they drive to the movies, a rattling sound makes him realise Melinda’s door isn’t shut properly and he comes up with a plan. He speeds onto the highway, claiming it’s faster, and is glad to see it’s practically empty. As he continues to gain speed, he shoots his hand out, unfastens Melinda’s seatbelt and flings open her door, throwing his body towards her to shove her out as she screams. At the last second he grabs her arm and yanks her back in, slamming the door shut. He apologises for scaring her, explaining the door was rattling and he just had to close it properly. She buys it, because I guess she didn’t see that he undid her seatbelt, and he wonders why he stopped himself from killing her. He decides that he likes her so much that she deserves a second chance, because he’s such a nice guy!
Later that night, a bored Crystal wanders up to the attic and narrowly avoids the missing floorboards we’re just learning about, exposing the hallways below. [Which I’m sure will be relevant later!] After looking at all the old stuff, she eventually takes a seat in Melinda’s chair and flicks through a magazine, noting how sad it is that she and Melinda seem to have swapped places. Melinda returns from the date devastated, sure that Scott hates her because he seemed so angry the whole time. Crystal reckons it’s because Melinda’s sending him the wrong signals and insists that all they need to do is make some more changes to Melinda’s appearance.
It’s Monday afternoon at school now, and Melinda’s spent the whole day being confused for Crystal thanks to a little makeover. The sisters are at Melinda’s locker, and Melinda complains that she’s still not comfortable with her new appearance, but Crystal dismisses her. Crystal spots Scott down the hall at his locker and hurries to fetch him, ordering Melinda not to go anywhere. She rushes up behind him and stares in shock as he repeatedly pounds a fist against his locker. The expression on his face is so twisted, full of rage, and he’s muttering the same words over and over under his breath — ‘”No way to behave! No way to behave!”‘ [Unfortunately she doesn’t clock that the same words were in Lynne’s suicide note despite her never talking like that before] Scott notices her before she can scurry away and explains he forgot his locker combination. That’s good enough for Crystal, even though that’s a very intense reaction for such a small issue, and she tugs at his arm, explaining there’s someone she wants him to see. He glances down at her hand on his arm and she feels the chemistry between them, the sparks flying, [Delusional lol] but tries to ignore it since he’s with Melinda now. She leads him down the hall to Melinda and can’t help but grin when his face goes red and his mouth drops open in amazement.
It’s a stormy Saturday night now and Melinda has started to enjoy her new look over the past few days. She’s swapped her glasses for contacts, and with Crystal’s clothes and makeup, people can hardly tell the girls apart. Melinda’s raiding Crystal’s closet for an outfit to wear to her date with Scott tonight, and Crystal’s sure Scott’s going to go nuts for her! Melinda’s not so sure, but Crystal points out that he’s asked her out two Saturdays in a row, so he’s obviously keen on her. Scott arrives and Melinda leaves while Crystal picks an outfit to wear for herself; she didn’t want to spend another Saturday night alone, so she’s heading to Red Heat with a girl named Meg Hollander.
At the club, Crystal can’t stop thinking about Lynne, since they’d come here often. Scott banging on his locker also pops into her mind, but she’s not sure why. She eventually decides to leave early and hurries home in the rain. Parked in her driveway, she gazes over at Scott’s house — ‘He had appeared so furious earlier today, banging on his locker like a crazy person. Crystal had actually felt scared watching him.’ [It says earlier today here, but it can’t be the same day. It’s not specifically stated that it’s Saturday right now, but the context clues all point to that, especially since it’s been a few days since Melinda’s makeover, and we know the locker incident was the first day of school when she’d dressed like Crystal] As she heads inside her own house, she recalls the phrase he kept muttering and wonders where she’d heard it before. As the storm rages outside, she eventually remembers that ‘No way to behave’ was written in Lynne’s suicide note!
Over to Scott, who’s driving Melinda home in the rain after their dinner date. He’s once again pissed at her outfit and just wants to get rid of her. He eventually pulls over because the rain is coming down way too hard to drive. He takes out his pocket knife, contemplating whether or not to slit Melinda’s throat. [I don’t think you’d be getting away with that one, Scott!] She can tell he’s in a mood and gets upset, complaining that she’s done everything Crystal said so Scott would like her, but he’s still not having a good time. Realising that Crystal has been the issue the whole time and Melinda’s a nice girl after all, he confesses he liked her the way she was and understands she was being influenced by Crystal. Now that he knows everything is Crystal’s fault, Crystal will have to die.
Back to Crystal, who’s just gotten out of the shower and is still in a robe as Melinda arrives home to confront her about Scott, who told her everything — ”How you always liked him. How you kept flirting with him. Coming on to him. How you got so jealous when he decided to go out with me. You wrecked my relationship with Scott on purpose!”‘ She accuses Crystal of convincing her to dress like this knowing Scott would hate it, just like he hated her and Lynne for how they dressed and flirted; Melinda always knew it was no way to behave! Something clicks into place in Crystal’s brain and she tries to tell Melinda that Scott’s dangerous and may have something to do with Lynne’s death. Two girls he’s dated have died, which is an awfully big coincidence. He can’t be that unlucky, can he? Melinda’s not buying it and locks herself in her room to get away from Crystal’s lies.
Crystal returns to her own own room and glimpses Scott in his bedroom with a big knife, practicing slashes and thrusts. He disappears, and she spots him making his way over to her house outside. She pounds on Melinda’s door but gets ignored, and the doorbell rings. Melinda scurries out of her room in her robe and races to the door, opening it despite Crystal’s protests. Scott barges in, and Melinda gasps when she spots the glistening knife in his hand.
We move to Scott’s POV now as he calmly tells Melinda he’s not there to hurt her. He manages to catch Crystal as she tries to escape up their stairs, grabbing her ankle and making her hit her chin on a step. She claws at the stairs, trying to break free, and one of her nails rip off. Scott laughs at this, because the evil ones deserve to suffer like that! He finally gets Crystal pinned and is just about to stab her when a voice behind him cries out, ‘”Stop! That’s Melinda! I—I’m Crystal!”‘ Confused, Scott glances from one girl to another as the room begins to spin around him. They’re both in robes with wet hair, so he can’t tell who is who. Did he make a mistake? Which one is really Crystal? He decides he’s got the wrong girl and charges for the other one.
We jump to Melinda’s perspective now, relieved that her trick worked. But now Scott’s coming after her, so now what is she supposed to do? As he corners her, she claims that she’s the real Melinda, but Scott brings the knife down anyway.
Over to Crystal, who creeps up behind Scott and smashes a vase over his head, knocking him out. The girls try to call for help, but the phone lines are down due to the storm. They hear Scott beginning to stir and realise they need to escape. Melinda insists they won’t get far in the rain if they run away from the house, [Huh? Go to a neighbour’s house? Drive the car to the police station or something?] so instead they go up to the attic and hide in an upright steamer trunk, leaving the twin doors open a crack so they can see out. [I honestly cannot believe what the hell I’m reading here. Instead of fleeing the house where you have a huge chance of escaping and hiding from him, you go up to the top level of the house where you won’t be able to escape at all???????????? Like????] It’s not long before they hear footsteps creaking under the attic stairs…
Back to Scott, who steps into the attic with the knife in his hand, urging Crystal to be a good girl for once and come out. He turn on the light and spots the steamer trunk standing at an odd angle and knocks it against the wall. The two girls scramble out, but Scott still can’t tell who’s who and demands they tell him which one is Crystal. The girls stay silent and quickly run past him to the far wall. He decides they’ll both have to die and charges at them.
Over to Crystal, who watches Scott’s startled expression as he plunges through the hole in the floor where there’s no floorboards. There’s a heavy thud, and then the sisters are alone in the attic. They creep over to the hole and spot Scott facedown in the hallway below, an arm twisted beneath him at an unnatural angle, his other hand still clutching the knife. He’s completely still. [Surely that didn’t kill him, that fall wasn’t that far] They soon join him in the hallway, and Crystal keeps watch over the body as Melinda goes downstairs to try the phone. Scott suddenly grabs Crystal’s ankle and states, “Good always triumphs. Evil never wins.”‘ Crystal accuses him of killing Lynne, and he comments that Lynne was as evil as Crystal is. Then his grip loosens, and he says softly, ‘”All a dream…”‘ before his hand slides off her ankle completely — ‘Crystal heard a gurgling sound from his throat. And a wave of bright red blood poured from his open mouth. It puddled thickly around his head. His eyes closed. He didn’t move.’
It’s a Sunday afternoon three months later now, and Crystal and Melinda are getting ready to watch an old movie on TV. The girls have grown much closer, and not only has Melinda started to wear trendier clothes and a bit of makeup, but Crystal’s made an effort to enjoy the stuff Melinda likes too, such as black-and-white movies. We learn Scott is alive and living in a mental hospital, and his parents moved away.
A sound outside the window gets Crystal’s attention, and the book ends as she spots a car pulling up behind a large moving van next door:
“New neighbours,” Melinda said. “Someone is moving in.”
Crystal squinted into the gray light, watching the new family climb out of the car. “Oh, wow,” she murmured. “Check out that guy! Is he our new neighbor? What a major babe!”
“Move over!” Melinda cried, elbowing Crystal out of the way. “I saw him first!”
Final thoughts
I was pretty worried in the prologue, but this one turned out pretty good! The suicide aspect was unexpected and quite dark for a Fear Street book, and the book felt more like a super early entry in the series when the stories were serious in tone with more realistic plots. The wackier stories can be most fun to read, but a lot of the time it’s scarier when the plot is something that could happen in real life.
I liked Crystal and Lynne for the most part, but it was kind of annoying how obsessed they were with Scott. Like, how can you be that into a guy that you know nothing about? I know crushes can be pretty intense, but this was a lot. I also wish we’d learned more about Scott’s family to explain further why he is the way he is. Why is a short skirt and makeup such bad behaviour, but killing someone is totally fine in Scott’s eyes?
It’s really weird that the blurb mentioned a Lauren. Was Lynne or Melinda originally called that, and Stine changed it for some reason? How did nobody catch the error before printing 34045698945698 copies?
All up it was a quick, easy and fun read, so 302 characters mentioned in a blurb that aren’t actually in the book out of 377!
