Love or friendship?

Annie Whitman's new stepsister, Cheryl, is finally having fun in Sweet Valley, thanks to the friendship of Steven Wakefield. Soon everyone - even Steven's twin sisters, Jessica and Elizabeth - assumes that Steven and Cheryl must be a couple. After all, they're almost always together.
Cheryl and Steven decide that perhaps they should give romance a try. But are they dating for the right reasons? Or are they only trying to prove something to the town and to themselves?

Cheryl wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she looked at Steven and burst out in laughter again.
"What?" He raised his eyebrows. "What's so funny?"
Cheryl shook her head. "I was just thinking about . . . this. You and me and the slalom course. Annie's convinced there's something going on between you and me, that these driving lessons are just an excuse for us to be alone together."
Steven nodded. "She must not have taken a good look at the VW. It doesn't have much in the way of a backseat."
"Ridiculous, isn't it?"
Steven nodded. "But Annie's not the only one. Jessica was on my case last night, trying to get me to confess that I'm secretly madly in love with you."
"Just because we've been hanging ou together, and you happen to be a guy and I happen to be a girl. How absurd."
"It's the way many rumors always work," Steven pointed out. "You're guilty until proven innocent."
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter what other people think, as long as we know the truth, right?" Cheryl said lightly.
"Right," Steven confirmed.
They looked at each other on silence for a moment. Cheryl's eyes were warm with amusement . . . and something else. A question? A challenge? Steven felt his body tense with expectation. Is she wondering what it would be like too?

After the next Sweet Valley High prom, life will never be the same . . . A Night to Remember