Fear Street: Secret Admirer (R.L. Stine)

Secret Admirer starts with a letter addressed to Selena from someone named The Sun that's all about how she is oh so beautiful and has hair of gold. Either she's a Wakefield twin or part of The Brady Bunch.

Selena is the top actress in Shadyside High School and super popular too. After finishing up her latest performance, she steps off stage and rolls her eyes when her friend Jake calls her Moon. It's a nickname from when she was a kid because her name literally means moon. Selena then chats with her best friend Katy who is one the backstage crew. They were both overweight as kids, Selena lost some weight, and since Katy still has 20 extra pounds on her frame, she's clearly a loser. Backstage, Selena finds a bunch of dead flowers waiting for her and a note that says tonight was her final performance.

On her way out, she has a run in with her ex-boyfriend Danny. Even though he's handsome, a football player, and super popular, she dumped him after six months. While he still likes her, she blows him off to take a ride to the cast after party with Katy. They stop by her house to see that someone used a ladder to peek into her room. The ladder has an orange sticker of a sun on the bottom rung. On the way to the party, someone starts following them, but it's just Danny being a pest.

Both girls notice a hot new guy at the party. The director introduces him as Eddy, an intern from the junior college. Selena encourages Katy to go over and talk to them, even though she knows that he can't take his eyes off her. Yeah, I already don't like this chick. Eddy blows off Katy to come and flirt with her, but then Danny walks in completely covered in blood and moaning. He collapses right at her feet. It's really just him playing a prank, but she later gets a threatening call from someone.

Jake and Danny really don't get along, and there's something up with Jake too. He snaps at Selena when she tries to talk to him at the party, and he then confronts Danny when the other guy tries to hit on Selena again. They get into a pushing match that ends with Jake on the ground. Katy tries to ask Selena what's up with him, but she's way too busy getting ready for the next play auditions.

They're putting on Romeo & Juliet. While everyone thinks she's a shoe-in, she tries to act like she may not get it. Alison, a girl also trying out for Juliet, is sitting on a bench and makes a rude comment about how Selena probably wants her to get up and leave. Seconds later, a heavy cabinet falls on top of her and crushes her. Selena then finds an orange sun sticker on the cabinet.

Eddy calls her that night to tell her that the show will go on. He mentions they way she looked as freshman, complete with baggy clothes. When she asks how he knew what she looked like, he says he looked through the yearbook and changes the subject. He also talks about how she's the best actress in the school and asks her out but tells her not to tell anyone because he's not supposed to date students. When she gets off the phone, she finds a package on her doorstep that the rain almost ruined. She opens it and finds a dead rat inside. The rat is missing its head and came with a note from someone saying that he killed the wrong person and that she's next.

Worried and freaked out, she calls Katy. Katy recommends that she pull out of the play before her stalker does something worse. Selena initially refuses because she has a shot at getting a college scholarship, but then she consider it. She also hears a noise and freaks out. Selena hides behind a door and plans to attack her stalker, but it's actually just her mom.

Jake later flips out when he learns that Danny got the role of Romeo, which was the role he wanted. Katy tells Selena that she just found out his parents are getting divorced, but I think he's secretly in love with Selena. While on stage, she hears a noise, the lights go out, and there's a loud noise. She thinks she's dead because a light dropped onto the stage, but the light actually knocked Katy out.

Selena doesn't see too concerned because she goes on her date with Eddy. Since he's a “serious” drama student, he takes her to a Chinese film with subtitles. They then go to a burger restaurant near the college, which is an odd choice for someone trying to keep their relationship a secret. Eddy offers to help her rehearse for the play, as long as she doesn't tell anyone because he doesn't want them to accuse him of playing favorites. Eddy makes it clear that he wants to date her seriously, but there's something about him that turns her off.

Selena then jumps up and freaks out because she sees Danny. She accuses him of following her and stalking her, but he introduces her to his date who lives nearby. Embarrassed, Selena rushes outside and sees Eddy waiting for her. He says that he took off to keep Danny from seeing them together. She gets home to see Danny standing outside her house and staring at her.

The next morning, she finds a bouquet of flowers waiting for her. Though she's super excited, her mom flips out because the leaves are actually poison ivy. Turns out that she's really allergic and her face swells up for over a week. Tired of the BS, she “borrows” a list of locker combinations from the office and goes through all the lockers until she finds a roll of orange sun stickers. Though she thinks it's proof Danny is her stalker, the locker actually belongs to Jake.

Selena rushes home and calls Katy. Katy isn't sure what to think but eventually believes her. Jake calls in on the other line and says he needs to see her right away. When she asks about the stickers, he says that if she meets him at the school, he will explain everything. Katy has to wait for something being delivered for her mom and can't go, so Selena takes the bus. When she gets to the school auditorium, she finds Jake's script and then Jake's dead body. The police say he accidentally fell off the catwalk and died when he hit the stage.

During their next rehearsal, the teacher tells them that the show will go on. Katy finally convinces Selena that she should drop out of the play, but when she goes to tell the teacher, he's too busy to listen to her. Danny then confronts her and tells her that if she drops out now, she'll disappoint a lot of people,. He snaps at her about how this is the last chance to act for a lot of them and how not everyone will go off to acting school.

Selena then gets a note from the stalker, claiming that he's not going anywhere soon. She keeps going through life until she gets a second note that warns her someone else close to her will die and that she needs to go to the school. Eddy calls and Selena gets him off the phone fast. She rushes to the school and hears someone crying in pain and then sees blood on the stage.

When she climbs up the ladder to the catwalk, she finds Danny waiting for her. It takes her a few seconds to see the big bruise on his head and to realize that he's tied up. Danny wakes up and says that he got a call from her to meet him and someone knocked him out. She runs to find clippers to cut the ropes off him and sees a shadow coming closer.

Katy steps closer and out of the shadows, wearing an all black outfit. She mumbles something about how Danny will never bother her again before slamming him over the head with a heavy flashlight. Katy then says that she and Selena can be best friends forever, just like they were in the old days. She holds up her hand and shows the roll of sun stickers.

Though Selena says that they are friends, Katy says it wasn't like the old days. The only reason she joined the theater department was because she thought it she let Selena get away, Selena would drop her as a friend. She also says that Jake found the stickers in her locker and was going to tell Selena the truth, so Katy lured him to the catwalk and pushed him over.

The two start struggling. Katy hits her in the arm with the flashlight and then pushes her hard enough that she falls over the side. Selena manages to grab the railing, but Katy gets ready to push her again when Eddy shows up. Eddy saves her life and then fights with Katy himself. He finally gets her under control, ties her up, and carries her to the prop room. Selena collapses, he asks if she's still acting, and when she says she isn't, he tells her this is just the first act of their story. Blah.

Yeah, so I totally thought I hadn't read this book before until halfway through, when I realized that Katy was the killer.