The Other Side of the School: Janet Howell

I have decided that The Other Side of the School will be my own little “segment” to discuss characters that were put on a bus/sent to the other side of the school/made zombies and hope that maybe readers will correct me, because I swear with some of these things I really hope I’m wrong/missed a book somewhere.

That said, I know that characters being put on a bus or sent to the other side of the school to never return is just normal in Sweet Valley. It kind of always disturbed me in the case of Janet Howell from Sweet Valley Twins.

Janet Howell is two years older than Elizabeth, Jessica, and Lila, so I can’t call shenanigans on this one, really. She’d have already been at college, or something more epic, or dead, by the time SVH took place. The biggest problem I have with this is that Janet Howell is Lila’s cousin. I know the Fowler’s are like the crappiest family ever (unless money equals love, because I would definitely sign up to be a Fowler to have Lila’s monetary clout), but every other extended family member in Lila’s family managed to get a mention in SVH and SVU, but there’s no mention of Janet, ever.

I live in the same town as my cousin who’s two years younger than me. We didn’t even go to the same high school and we would still run into each other in public places. What, did Janet give up the mall?

Ooh! Janet became a nun right out of high school. That’s the only way I’m going to accept that she is never mentioned again despite being a relative to the most important character who’s last name isn’t Wakefield ever.

I mean, they brought Maria Slater back from the other side of the school New York, and I didn’t even care that much about her. Maria made me feel “less than”, I’m not going to lie. Plus, they already had Maria Santanelli, so that was just confusing. Can’t even say Maria S.

Basically, Janet Howell is the one character I need to know what happened to her RIGHT NOW or my brain will implode. Did she really even have to be related to Lila at all? I know they used it as a plot device in Best Friends because that’s how Lila got an in to the Unicorns, but – she’s Lila Freaking Fowler. If they didn’t let her in, she would have started an even more exclusive club that made the Unicorns look less popular than Lois Waller. Plus, Janet wasn’t even rich. I always had a feeling that the Fowler’s had old money, so I just imagined Janet would be a little better off than the Wakefields.

I bet the other kids of Sweet Valley disowned her for having a crappy car. It was probably a Toyota with the T fallen off and missing part of the bumper and one of the headlights didn’t work. Or worse, she didn’t have a car at all and had to TAKE THE BUS. That, or the nun thing.