Power Play is the fourth book in the Sweet Valley High book series.
Robin Wilson, a newcomer to Sweet Valley, is an obese girl who is intent on joining Pi Beta Alpha, the most popular and prestigious sorority at SVH. She also thinks that Jessica Wakefield, the sorority's president, is her best friend. Jessica has always made certain that PBA would only take in the most popular people, and to exclude any undesirable people....people like Robin! When her twin sister, Liz nominates Robin for membership, Jessica is truly enraged. She doesn't see Robin as Pi Beta material, and is, as usual, only concerned for appearances. She sees PBA as a group that many aspire to, but only a select few can attain. However, she takes the nomination, and she and her two friends, Lila and Cara personally plan to take Robin through her pledging period.
However, their scheme is to haze Robin so mercilessly, that she would want to drop out of the pledging. Among other things, they make her jog around the track, to the derisive amusement of the rest of the school; make her wear a bikini to the beach; and also to have Bruce Patman bring her to the Disco Marathon dance, later dubbed Disco Disaster. Bruce having brought her due to some uncharacteristic blackmail done by Elizabeth. Bruce does bring her, but then humiliates her in public by calling her the Queen Mary!
Elizabeth is enraged at Jessica, Lila and Cara for their snobbishness and tries to help Robin during this time. Allen Walters whom is a photographer for The Oracle comforts Robin. The vote came up, and Jessica got even with Elizabeth for daring to nominate Robin, by blackballing her. However, Lila and Cara later feels guilty over their involvement in Jessica's scheme. Robin was told the news by Jessica, who did not even bother to hide her utter glee. Elizabeth is furious and calls her out for it. She tells Jessica off that her poor behavior will come back to haunt her one day. Jessica didn't even care to listen, and was pleased she had won. Jessica and her vicious spiteful gloating had proved to be too much for Robin, and she shut herself from everyone in Sweet Valley High, all the while, shedding the weight. However, Enid and her mother, Mrs. Wilson, convinces her to be her friendly self again. Robin does and realizes that not only her mom cared for her, but also that Elizabeth and Enid are her true friends.
In the book's B-Storyline, Jessica has been receiving lavish gifts from Lila, which makes Elizabeth suspicious. While at the mall, she sees Lila shoplifting from Lisette's, an expensive boutique. When Jessica is arrested after she came into the same shop and calls Elizabeth for help, she confronts Lila about it. She then discovers the sad truth about Lila and her family life. Lila sadly reveals to Liz that she is incredibly lonely. With her father constantly away on business all the time, she feels that she doesn't have his attention. Since her parents had divorced, her only real confidante at home is the Fowler's long time housekeeper, Eva. Lila reveals that Liz is one of the only real friends that she had due to how she put other people's needs and feelings before her own. When Elizabeth asks about why she's friends with Jessica, Lila confesses it was because of sheer desperation because she always wanted to be Liz's friend and felt jealous of Enid for being her friend. She admits to Elizabeth that she despises Jessica for her shallowness and how cruel she could be towards people. Lila wasn't only shoplifting from Lisette's to gain her father's attention, but also to set Jessica up to be blamed for the shoplifting as revenge for how she treated Robin and sabotaging her efforts to join the Pi Beta Alpha. That she and Cara both felt guilty over their earlier behavior. They tried to apologize to Robin earlier, but her mom told them to leave. Both Lila and Cara did not like how Jessica was behaving and how remorseless she was in hurting Robin. This showed that in spite of her snobbish and haughty ways, Lila DID have a conscience. George Fowler, Lila's father, makes restitution, and Lila is put on probation. Liz also gives Lila a good character reference saying that she wasn't a bad person. The Fowlers and Elizabeth go and eat at the Palomar House, one of the top restaurants in town.
Jessica is trying to find out what is going on with Lila, but Elizabeth, true to her word to Lila, wouldn't reveal the story to her. This helps plant the seeds of a possible friendship between Elizabeth and Lila, however small, which would become important later on in the series.
After the shoplifting episode is taken care of, the Miss Sweet Valley High contest was in full swing. Jessica was certain that she would win, as she was already Queen of the Fall Dance, and was scheming to be the winner. Then, Robin, who had shed the weight, and was now the cheerleading co-captain, along with her nemesis, Jessica, made an accusation that the Pi Betas would not allow her to be in the running because she had been blackballed by them. The accusation threw the Pi Betas off guard, not expecting that someone would do that to them. The members tries to appeal to the public that they had no prior knowledge of the blackball and they will investigate it. Despite the skepticism, the public agrees to let them investigate the blackball. During the investigation, the members discovered it Jessica who intentionally blackballed Robin from their sorority and rejecting other pledges in the past based on their families' incomes, unpopularity and their looks. Lila and Cara admits this along with their own guilt over how they treated Robin. Because of Jessica's selfish selections in choosing those whom are from wealth, are popular in school, and whose mothers were once part of the Pi Beta Alpha, people considered the sorority as elitist.
Then, at the homecoming game, it was announced that Robin had won Miss Sweet Valley High, to Jessica's complete shock and anger. Robin chose as her escort, Allen, instead of Bruce. A furious Jessica, deprived of a title that she felt she was entitled to, demanded that Robin turn the crown over to her at once. Jessica humiliates her by saying to everyone that nobody wanted her to join Pi Beta Alpha due to her family's income, unpopularity and how embarrassing her obesity would have been to everyone if she HAD joined! She still thinks of Robin as a fat and ugly person compared her whom is beautiful and sexy. Jessica's demand for the title and confession to how she blackballed Robin intentionally only succeeds in turning everyone against her, as it revealed her true selfish and conniving nature for all to see.
Mr. Cooper demands that she come to his office at once, while calling Ned and Alice over. He confronts her for how she was treating others' pledging and weeding out those whom she deemed undesirable. Jessica tried to defend herself, but Ned and Alice tells her to shut up. Cooper then informs them of her actions. Ned and Alice express their disappointment with Jessica for her behavior. She tries to explain herself, but Ned tells her to save her excuses. Alice tells Jessica off that she'll be getting a proper punishment fitting of her horrible treatment.
The rest of the Pi Betas felt bad for Robin's humiliation at Jessica's hands during her pledging and her rejection, offers her both an apology and a position there. Although she has forgiven them for what happened earlier, she still rejects the membership. Robin points out that she doesn't need a sorority to define herself anymore. She has her mother, true friends in Elizabeth and Enid, and her boyfriend, Allen, supporting her. Since then, Robin has found better activities to fulfill her time. In The Oracle, Liz is applauded for her good character by Lila's father, who is pleased that she would help her. In the same paper, Jessica was exposed and publicly humiliated for the cruelty she had exhibited at Robin. It is also implied that she was grounded by Ned and Alice, kicked out of the Pi Betas for her elitist behavior and her popularity dropped since then.