SVH05-All Night Long (7 page)

"You didn't!"

"I did!"

"Like, with all his clothes on and everything?" Cara asked, grinning.

"Even his precious Ray-Bans," Elizabeth replied. "Which, by the way, are now somewhere on the bottom of Secca Lake."

Cara laughed. "Jessica! You are evil!" She beamed with undisguised admiration. "But, God, it sounds like he really deserved it. Guys can be such losers sometimes. What did he do afterward?"

"He tried to climb back in the boat, but I rowed away," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "He ended up having to swim back to shore and he was
not
pleased. He actually kicked a tree, he was so mad, and totally broke two of his toes. Cried like a baby."

Cara cracked up laughing. "I wish I had been there! I'd give anything to see that."

Me too,
Elizabeth thought wickedly, conjuring up a picture of Scott with lake gunk dripping from that awful chin fuzz of his. The guy was such a jerk. Elizabeth would have bet money that he was a big part of why Jessica had had the worst night ever.

Why didn't she listen to me when I warned her about him?
Elizabeth wondered. But then she realized that her own disapproval had probably just made him more attractive. In the future maybe she should start talking up the egotists and morons and talking down the nice guys like Winston Egbert. Jessica would probably start following Winston around like a puppy dog.

Over Cara's shoulder, Elizabeth caught sight of Todd ambling toward them. She made a gesture with her hand to let him know she didn't want her cover blown. Todd paused and nodded, his eyes twinkling as he picked up on her message. He walked over and lazily looped an arm about Elizabeth's shoulders.

"Hey, Jess. You know something? You remind me more of your sister every day," he said with a thoughtful frown.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Elizabeth said flirtatiously, bumping her hip against his.

Cara's jaw dropped slightly as she looked from Elizabeth to Todd and back again, thinking that Jessica was flirting with Todd. Everyone knew that Todd had once been the source of competition

between the two sisters. Knowing Cara and her big mouth, Elizabeth figured the gossip would be bouncing off the walls by the time she got to gym class that afternoon. A laugh bubbled up in Elizabeth's throat at the thought and she covered it with a cough.

"You okay, Jess?" Cara asked.

"Yeah. Fine. Just a little tickle," Elizabeth replied.

Cara bit her lip. Liz could tell she was dying to pump her for more info about the party but didn't want to go there in front of Todd.

"Well, I guess I'd better go," she said reluctantly.

"I have a history quiz next period and I haven't even glanced at the homework assignment."

"We'll catch up more later," Elizabeth promised Cara.

Cara's eyes twinkled with excitement as she looked up at Todd. "I'm sure we will. Bye, you two!" She waggled her fingers and slipped off into the crowd. "Lila!" she shouted moments later, catching up with her friend Lila Fowler. "Omigod! You are
so
not going to believe this!"

Elizabeth laughed. "What do you think? In ten years Cara is the head gossip columnist for
Us Weekly?
"

"Sounds about right," Todd mused.

"One thing you've gotta love about Cara: if you want a story spread around school, she's your girl," Elizabeth said, wrapping her arms around Todd's waist.

"And what story do you want spread all over school?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her as well.

Elizabeth quickly recounted all the tidbits she'd made up about Scott and Jessica. Todd laughed in wonder. "Nice imagery."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, preening. "Honestly, I hope she did shove him overboard or something. I had a feeling that guy was going to end up getting her in trouble."

"Yeah, like Jessica has nothing to do with making her own decisions," Todd joked, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I wouldn't be surprised if
she
got
him
in trouble."

Elizabeth pulled away slightly, bristling. "Why do you have to be like that?"

"Like what?" Todd's eyes widened.

"Not everything is necessarily her fault, you know," Elizabeth said, removing her arms from his hips and crossing them over her chest. "I know she

doesn't have the best track record, but sometimes things do happen
to
her."

"Yeah. Right," Todd said with a snort.

"Real nice," Elizabeth replied. "You'd be sorry if you found out he'd really hurt her or something."

Todd glanced at her, confused. "Why are you defending her all of a sudden?"

"I'm not! I'm just saying... I hate the way you and Enid always think the absolute worst of her, that's all," Elizabeth replied. "She is still my sister, and she does occasionally try to do the right thing."

"I know," Todd said, his voice softening. "So, where is she, anyway? She did make it in time for her test, right?"

Elizabeth swallowed hard before responding. The last thing she wanted to do after getting all high-and-mighty with him was admit the truth-that Jessica still hadn't shown up. But what choice did she have?

"Actually... she's not here yet," Elizabeth replied, biting her lip as she glanced back toward the classroom where the test was being administered.

"Shocker," Todd said sarcastically.

"I wonder who's proctoring the second exam,'' Elizabeth mused aloud, so deep in thought she hardly noticed Todd's biting remark.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. I know that look," Todd said. He put both hands on Elizabeth's shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. She blinked up at him, startled from her thoughts. "Liz, you are not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"What am I thinking?" Elizabeth hedged.

"You're thinking about taking the test
for
her," Todd said, lowering his voice urgently. "You're thinking about cheating for her."

Elizabeth's stomach turned at his use of the word "cheating." He was right, of course. But still. It wouldn't be just for Jessica. Elizabeth wanted the two of them to get this job more than anything. They had been talking about it ever since they were little kids. There was no way she was going to let Scott Daniels get in the way of that.

"It's not
really
cheating," Elizabeth said lamely.

Todd scoffed. "How do you figure?"

"Well, Jessica knows the answers. If she were here, she'd pass," Elizabeth said, reasoning. "She's just. .. not here."

"Exactly!" Todd blurted out, his face starting to turn pink. "The girl is too irresponsible to even show up to school on a day that is supposed to be so insanely important to both of you. You should be offended, but instead you're thinking about risking yourself for her."

"Yeah, but-"

"And you know what really pisses me off?" Todd added, venom practically dripping from his teeth.

"There is no way in hell she would bother to do the same thing for you."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped and her heart all but stopped beating. She couldn't believe that Todd was yelling at her right there in the middle of the crowded hallway.

"You don't know that," Elizabeth replied through her teeth. "Jessica would do anything for me."

"Yeah, except not force you to lie to your parents. Except not try to steal away the guy you like. Except not backstab your best friend," Todd rambled, growing more animated by the second.

"Look, Todd, I know Jessica can be selfish sometimes, but if there's one thing I know, it's that if I needed help, she would be there for me," Elizabeth told him, fuming.

"As long as there wasn't someplace better to be," Todd snapped. "Like a sale at the mall or the backseat of some jerk's car."

Elizabeth whipped back as if she'd been slapped.

"I can't believe you just said that," she told him, tears in her eyes.

Todd took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked down at the ground as if gathering his thoughts. "Okay. Okay. Maybe that was a little bit over the line-"

"Over the line? Todd, you just implied in one sentence not only that my sister couldn't give a crap about me, but that she is both shallow and a slut. I'd say that's so far beyond the line you can't even see the line anymore."

"Liz," Todd said, reaching for her arm.

Elizabeth flinched away, mortified, disgusted, and confused. She knew that people had a lot of opinions about Jessica; she simply hadn't realized that her own boyfriend's opinions were so vehemently negative.

"I have to go," she mumbled under her breath, turning for the door.

"Liz, don't be mad," Todd said. But he sounded more exasperated than sorry.

"I don't know what else I'm supposed to be," she told him. "Honestly, I can't even look at you right now."

Todd's jaw clenched and he shoved one hand into the pocket of his varsity jacket. "Then I guess you don't have to anymore," he said coolly. He turned on his heel and walked stiffly away.

Elizabeth couldn't move. After a long moment when she was aware of nothing other than her sweating palms and her racing heart, she suddenly noticed the crowd of gawkers who had paused to watch the fight. When she looked at them, they all quickly looked away. Elizabeth turned and shoved her way back into the school, burning with humiliation. As soon as she was inside the cool building, she paused against the wall to take a breath and try to make sense of what had just happened.

Had she and Todd just broken up? Was that what his parting shot had meant?

Omigod,
Elizabeth thought, her breathing becoming labored.
No, no, no, no, no!

"Jessica? Jessica? Hello... ?"

Elizabeth looked up into the eyes of her chemistry teacher, Mr. Russo. He smiled tightly and glanced down at the clipboard he was holding.

"You're taking the Sweet Valley Tour Guide test this period, right? You're on my list," he said.

"Oh... uh... right," Elizabeth replied, her voice a croak.

"Well then, shall we?" he asked, holding the door to the classroom open. "Everyone else is already inside."

Elizabeth felt like curling up into a ball and crying. She felt like running to the nurse to ask for a pass home. But someone had to take this test for Jessica. And with the hall rapidly emptying and Jessica nowhere in sight, it looked like it was going to have to be her heartbroken twin.

***

CHAPTER
8

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think," Enid said sympathetically. She yanked a paper towel from the dispenser in the girls' room and wet it in the sink before handing it to Liz.

"It's worse!" Elizabeth dabbed at her swollen red eyes with the towel. "I was so upset I could hardly think straight. I know I flunked."

The second version of the test had probably been no harder than the one Elizabeth had taken earlier, even though the questions were worded differently. But as far as Elizabeth was concerned, it might as

well have been written in Greek. The words swam about on the page, blurred by her uncontrollable tears. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate, all she could think about was Todd and his ire toward Jessica. Not to mention the closed-off expression on his face right before he'd walked away. It was almost as if he didn't care at all. As if walking away from her was the easiest thing in the world.

This time around, she had been the last one in the classroom to hand in her answer sheet. As she fled the room, Mr. Russo called out Jessica's name, but she pretended not to hear. If she'd stopped and turned around right then, her chem teacher would have been greeted with the sight of her blubbering red face, and that wouldn't have been good for either of them.

"I totally screwed up everything," Elizabeth said with a sniffle.

"Oh, please. It's not like this is all your fault," Enid replied. "You did have help."

Enid didn't name names, but her meaning was clear: if it weren't for Jessica, Elizabeth wouldn't be in the second-floor girls' room right now crying. Liz, however, didn't call her on it. She had already

fought with Todd over Jessica that day. She didn't want to fight with Enid, too.

She took a deep breath and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was all blotchy and pink, and the lip gloss and blush she had applied in Jessica's room that morning were completely gone.

"Look at me," she said, sniffling again. "I'm a total mess."

"Now, that I won't disagree with," Enid said as she offered Liz a dry towel.

Elizabeth snorted a laugh. "Thanks a lot."

"Hey! You're laughing! There's hope!" Enid said with a smile. She dug in her bag and offered Liz some lip gloss and a brush. "Here. Fix yourself up and you'll feel better."

Elizabeth did as she was told, sweeping her hair into a ponytail and taking a few more deep breaths. Soon her skin started to return to its normal hue, even if her eyes did still look sad and tired.

"See? It's not the end of the world," Enid said, patting Liz on the back.

"No. But it is the end of Todd and me." Elizabeth was barely able to croak out the words. "And it's the end of next summer, too. If Jessica doesn't pass, it's going to totally suck."

"Look at it this way," Enid said, lifting one shoulder. "She has a better shot of passing with you taking the test for her than she would have if she'd taken it herself. She hasn't opened a book the entire time I've known her. At least this way you have a chance."

Elizabeth smirked. "Wow. You are just full of bright sides today."

"Always," Enid replied, fluffing her brown hair in the mirror. "And if that doesn't work, you can always try thinking about something really depressing--like starving people and genocide in Darfur. Always kind of puts things in perspective for me:"

"Thanks a lot," Elizabeth replied. "Now I feel miserable
and
shallow."

"Sorry. I was only trying to help," Enid said.

"I know." Elizabeth turned around and leaned back against the cold sink. "Todd was too, I think. Until I totally bit his head off and he went all defensive on me."