A special bonus for fans of Sweet Valley High! Here’s more about some of the people you’ve met in Sweet Valley and would like to know better.…

□  BILL CHASE The kind of guy people at Sweet Valley High love to speculate about. He’s good-looking—a real California golden boy with wind-tossed blond hair, summer-blue eyes, and a deep tan—but he’s somewhat of a loner. He hangs out at the beach a lot and seems to answer only to the call of the waves. Bill practically lives to surf, and he’s really good, too. He’s already won several surfing championships and plans to go to the world championship in Hawaii someday.

Girls, especially Jessica Wakefield, are attracted to him, but he seems immune to their flirtations. Once, Jessica really went after Bill, even going so far as to ask him to a dance. He turned her down, and she was furious. Nobody had ever turned her down before! She’s been looking for a way to get back at him ever since. Knowing Jessica, she’ll find it, too.

What most people don’t know about Bill is that he’s terribly shy. One of the reasons he likes surfing so much is because it’s a solitary sport. He feels most content when he’s alone out on the water, at one with the wind, the waves, and the sky. No wonder his favorite book is Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Bill feels very close to the ocean, and though he hasn’t discussed this with anyone yet, he’s thinking about becoming a marine biologist someday. In spite of the time he puts in at the beach, he’s a pretty good student. His grades are high enough to get him into college after he graduates.

Another thing people don’t know about Bill is that he had a girlfriend once, someone he loved deeply. It was before his parents got divorced and he moved with his mother from Santa Monica to Sweet Valley. Her name was Julianne. They went steady for two years and had even talked about getting married someday. They were devoted to each other and enjoyed doing all the same things together. Julianne was a surf nut like Bill. One of the things they loved best was getting up at the crack of dawn, piling into Bill’s truck with their surfboards, and driving down to the beach. They would watch the sunrise while they rode the waves. Bill can never forget how wonderful it was sharing his life with Julianne.

It ended two days before her sixteenth birthday, when she was killed in a horrible car accident. Bill, haunted by her death, blamed himself. They’d had an argument that night. They were at a party, so she grabbed a ride home with someone else—a boy who had been drinking. It was raining, and his car skidded out of control and hit an embankment. Julianne died instantly.

If only they hadn’t gotten into that silly argument! he thought over and over. If only he’d insisted on driving her home himself!

For a long time he couldn’t even look at another girl without seeing Julianne’s face. The night after she died, he went surfing even though there was a storm raging. He nearly drowned. The result was a bad case of pneumonia that kept him in bed for weeks. During that time, he thought a lot about Julianne and finally came to the conclusion that she wouldn’t want him to blame himself for her death. She was much too sweet and generous for that. He realized that the right way for him to remember their love was to go on living as best he could.

It’s been almost a year, and there have been a lot of changes in his life since then. He’s had to adjust to his parents’ divorce. Bill was really close to his father, from whom he inherited his freewheeling spirit and love of the outdoors. Bill’s father is a forest ranger who lives in Idaho now. The previous winter, Bill spent Christmas in the mountains with his father and discovered he liked skiing almost as much as surfing.

Bill has more trouble getting along with his mother. She’s the nervous type and is always afraid Bill is going to hurt himself. They argue a lot about his surfing, which she thinks is dangerous. Bill loves her, but he’s not going to let her run his life the way he thinks she tried to run his father’s. In his own quiet way, he’s very strong-willed.

All in all, Bill is getting his life together again. He’ll never forget Julianne, but he doesn’t ache so much for her anymore. He would even like to fall in love again, but he doesn’t feel ready to make a move with any of the girls he knows. The only girl he can really talk to is Elizabeth Wakefield, and she already has a boyfriend. Sometimes, when he’s depressed, he’s afraid he’ll never find someone to love the way he loved Julianne.

Little does Bill know what fate has in store for him where love is concerned!

□  LILA FOWLER Pretty, rich, spoiled, and the daughter of George Fowler, one of the richest men in Sweet Valley. The Fowlers represent the new money brought into the valley by the prospering computer-chip industry. They’re in direct opposition to the Patmans, once the most powerful family in town, who are fighting to keep Sweet Valley the same as it was thirty years ago, when the big industry was canning.

Lila’s main concern in life is status and image. She’s one of the biggest snobs at Sweet Valley High. She has little patience for those who don’t measure up to her standards. It’s one of the reasons she and Jessica are such good friends. Together they intend to keep Pi Beta Alpha, the snobby sorority to which they belong, free of nerds, fatties, and other types they’ve deemed undesirable. Elizabeth steers clear of Lila whenever possible. If there’s one thing she hates, it’s snobs.

The truth about Lila, though, is that she’s very insecure. Although she has a sleek, sophisticated image, she feels unloved and neglected. Her parents have always given her anything she wanted—except their attention. Now they’re divorced, and she’s living with her father, who travels a lot of the time. Mother is living it up in Europe with her jet-setter friends. Lila is an only child, so she doesn’t have any brothers or sisters to hang out with. A live-in housekeeper is her closest companion at home. Though Lila would never admit it to anyone, she’s so lonely she could scream.

Once Lila was caught shoplifting in the mall. Her father couldn’t understand it. Why would she steal something she could easily afford to buy? If she needed more money, why didn’t she just ask him? He doesn’t realize that Lila was trying to get his attention the only way she could. Obviously, being pretty, popular, and talented isn’t enough.

Something she found out this year has made her more insecure than ever. During one of her mother’s infrequent visits, she admitted to Lila that George Fowler isn’t her real father. Mrs. Fowler was pregnant with Lila when she met him, but he agreed to marry her and give the baby his name. Lila sees him in a new, more unselfish light, but at the same time she’s worried sick. Since she’s not George’s real daughter, maybe he’ll lose interest in her altogether someday. Maybe that’s the reason he doesn’t want to spend time with her, she thinks. She’s terrified he’ll get married again and have a child of his own. Also, she wonders about her real father. Who is he? Her mother won’t tell. “Better not to open old wounds,” she tells Lila. Nevertheless, Lila is dying of curiosity. Maybe he’s someone rich and famous—a Hollywood celebrity. Her mother used to be a bit actress in Hollywood before she met George. Now, whenever Lila goes to the movies with her friends, she searches the faces of the actors on screen for any resemblance of her.

When Lila’s mind isn’t on her father, she’s thinking about boys. The summer before, while visiting relatives in Boston, she fell in love with a boy named Ted Whitlock. For once in her life, Lila learned what it was like to be looked down upon. The Whitlocks are old, old Boston society—their ancestors came over on the Mayflower. Ted was crazy about Lila, but his parents didn’t approve. Lila wasn’t socially acceptable as far as they were concerned. Nevertheless, Lila and Ted managed to sneak out together quite a bit. They played tennis, went for long walks, and hid out in museums and movie theaters. When it was time for Lila to return home, they kissed tearfully and promised to write. Well, Lila wrote—five letters. Ted wrote her once—to ask her why she hadn’t written. Lila’s positive his parents have been intercepting the letters she sent him. The one time she tried to phone, Mrs. Whitlock icily informed her Ted wasn’t home. Lila is desperate for some way to show Ted she still cares. He’s the most fantastic guy she’s ever met—also the richest and most well-connected. The boys she’s dated at Sweet Valley High are nothing compared to Ted.

Lila’s dream is to marry Ted Whitlock someday. Also, she wants to become a professional tennis star like her idol, Chris Evert Lloyd. When she’s a big star, married to a man who’s even richer than her father, then Daddy will have to notice her, won’t he?