luxken27: (Heroes - Peter contemplation)
LuxKen27 ([personal profile] luxken27) wrote2014-06-03 08:11 pm

Sweet Valley Sophomores | 3: Like a Prayer


Title: Like a Prayer
Fandom: Sweet Valley High
Universe: Pre-canon (sophomore year)
Genre: General (Introspective)
Rating: T
Warning: Language
Word Count: 2,915
Summary: On the first day of her sophomore year, Enid Rollins comes to terms with her tumultuous past – and looks to move forward in her new life at her new school.

Links: DW | FF.net | AO3

Written for [community profile] cottoncandy_bingo prompt "finding self."

And now, nine months later, here is my other 2013 SMC SVH idea :P

One of the things I'm trying to do with this series is piece together some of the more iconic moments in early SVH history. I think it's mentioned in an offhand way in Book #1 that Enid and Elizabeth meet during their creative writing class sophomore year - and that one of the reasons why Jessica despised Enid so much was because she had tried to befriend her first! :P (LOL, obviously that particular line of reasoning was quickly dropped as the series went on.) This intrigued me, especially given the bombshell of a background story Enid is given in Book #2, Secrets.

It seems Enid had a teenage rebellion thing going on (although, given that she was only fifteen at the start of SVH, it was more of a pre-teen rebellion) before the canon begins. And, considering that she went off the rails in a similar way during Sweet Valley University - only this time she started going by her middle name, Alex - that gave me the opportunity to play around with the idea of her identity.

Identity, as a concept, fascinates me (see: my SessMom series, where she is given every sort of descriptor EXCEPT a name). Given the contrast between who Enid is in the beginning of SVH, and who she was *before* SVH, I was struck with this idea of her shedding her rebellious identity like a snake shedding its skin. She has changed her life around completely, and stays that way for the grand majority of SVH canon, no small feat considering the personality transplants that happen especially later in the series. It's also one of the reasons why Alex is such a striking character in SVU. I decided to play with that - along with the Super Star Special Edition Enid's Story - and the idea that our true identities are closer to us than we like to think (and are comfortable with) sometimes.

This is a fairly simple fic on the surface - basically, Enid contemplating her recent past on her walk to school for her first day at Sweet Valley High, and then meeting Elizabeth in creative writing class. We know that her moving to Sweet Valley is canon, thanks to Book #2 Bitter Rivals, when Liz's first BFF Amy Sutton rolls into town and tries to usurp Enid's place. I fudged things a bit (Enid actually moved to the Valley in 8th grade, which was the time of her rebellious rebellion) because I'd think something like nearly killing somebody would not only spread like wildfire, but would stick to a person like white on rice. You'd know that person from a mile away, which totally defeats the purpose of this fic :P So, instead, I had Enid living in one of the nearby towns often featured as an SVH rival - close enough to be around, but not close enough to be known.

She has a run-in with Jessica in her past life, one that spooks her when she sees a pretty blonde holding court in the creative writing class. Given Jessica's known reputation for being a sociopathic bitch, Enid is rightfully worried that her big break has been totally blown, because Jess witnessed her at a low point. Luckily for her, Robert-Redford-lookalike Mr. Collins swoops in and saves the day, giving her a reason to confront this person and learn the truth about her identity.

It was fun to write about Enid's sordid past. I tried to take some of the camp out of it (the infamous bennies), while keeping it true to the era of the early 80s. Punk(ers) were all the rage in London, and considering punk was the music of rebellion I can easily see it translating across the pond in the more rough-and-tumble parts of America. Given the reason for her parents' divorce, and her own later problems with alcohol, I thought it realistic to set Enid down the path that I did, with alcohol as her gateway drug, and her absolute adoration of George Warren her tipping point. It was fairly easy to keep in mind that she's only 13, too, given my ongoing reread+edit of SiB. All in all, I'm pretty proud of this fic.

The inspiration song was (let's put on our surprised faces!) "Like a Prayer" by Madonna:



with relevant lyrics pulled as interstitals in the fic itself.

This is the third of my five prompts for my [community profile] cottoncandy_bingo card, yay! I have another idea sketched out, but am not sure what I'm going to do for the fifth one. I still have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to finish before the end of the round, though - maybe this year's Summer Mini Challenge will help push me over the hump? =)