SVH05-All Night Long (6 page)

"Yeah?" she asked uncertainly.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck on the test," her mother said with a smile.

"Thanks," Elizabeth said, relieved. "Bye, Mom!"

She was out the door in a flash and fled down the driveway as if she were being chased. Her breathing didn't return to normal until she and the Jeep were halfway down the block. She stopped at the stop sign at the end of Calico Drive and wiped her sweaty palms on her sister's dress.

"I pulled it off," she told herself. But instead of feeling triumphant, she just felt guilty and nauseated. She hated deceiving her mother, and her stomach was so full she could have body-doubled for the Goodyear blimp. And what had possessed her to ask for that skirt? Jessica's selfishness must have really taken over at that moment.

Maybe she was a better actress than she thought. Too bad that made her anything but proud.

***

CHAPTER
6

The sweet, clean scent of freshly mown grass greeted Elizabeth as she trudged up the sloping front lawn of Sweet Valley High. It was a perfect fall day. A cloudless blue sky spanned the roof of the sprawling stucco school building, and the sun gleamed down on the flowers and palms that lined the walks. Normally, Elizabeth would have taken a deep breath and smiled, appreciating the beauty that surrounded her, but today, she was not in the mood. She spotted Enid, who was on her way through the front door, and quickened her step.

"Enid! Wait up!" Elizabeth called.

Enid glanced over her shoulder at Elizabeth and her face turned to stone. She turned around and slipped into the school.

What the
... ?

Elizabeth jogged to catch up-not an easy feat in Jessica's high-heeled sandals-and was out of breath by the time she found her best friend at her locker.

"Why didn't you wait?" she gasped.

Enid barely looked at her. "What do you want, Jessica?" she asked coolly.

Elizabeth blinked. She looked down at her clothes. For a moment she had forgotten her game of dress up. "Enid, it's me, Liz."

Rolling her eyes, Enid looked at her again, but this time she did a double take. "Omigod, Liz! I'm so sorry. Why did I think you were..." Her eyes trailed down Elizabeth's too-sexy-for-a-school-day outfit. "Wait a minute. What are you doing in Jessica's clothes?"

Elizabeth sighed. "It's a long story."

"I'll bet," Enid said with a smirk as she pulled out her textbooks. She was dressed as conservatively as ever in a blue cotton cable-knit sweater and khaki shorts. "Give me the short version."

"Basically she never came home last night and then called me this morning and begged me to cover for her," Elizabeth said, leaning back against the cool metal lockers.

"Why am I not surprised?" Enid asked, shaking her head.

"Actually, it's not like that," Elizabeth replied. Somehow, her irritation with her sister always withered and died in the face of other people's judgment of Jessica. No matter what the situation, it was her knee-jerk reaction to come to her sister's defense. "She said she had the worst night of her life. I don't even know where she is right now. I hope she's okay."

Enid let out a sigh and slammed her locker.

"Look, Liz, whatever else Jessica is, she's always been very... self-sufficient," she said. "I know those parties can get out of control and everything, but she can take care of herself. At least she didn't call you from a hospital or a police station or something." Enid paused. "She didn't, right?"

"No! No," Elizabeth said quickly, though she wasn't sure
where
Jessica had been calling from. "I mean, she even said she'd see me here today. She must be getting a ride to school from Scott or

something. I just hope she's not too late. We have that tour guide test this morning. What if she misses it?"

"Well, then it's her loss," Enid said, moving down the hall.

Elizabeth fell into step with her. "It's just... we always planned on being guides together," she said. "It wouldn't be the same without her. So technically, it'll be my loss too."

"Don't worry. I'm sure she'll show up," Enid said, though she sounded anything
but
sure.

"When is the test, anyway?"

"I'm taking mine right after homeroom, but Jessica's isn't scheduled until second period," Elizabeth replied, checking her watch. She realized with a start that she had forgotten to take it off when she had morphed into Jessica. It was a good thing her mother hadn't noticed that detail. It would have been a dead giveaway. Jessica didn't even own a watch, and there was a long-standing family joke that she had been born four minutes after Elizabeth because she couldn't bother to be on time.

"So, that's an hour away," Enid told her, pausing

in front of her homeroom and pulling out her dogeared copy of
Macbeth.
"She's got plenty of time."

"I guess...," Elizabeth said. In reality, she wasn't too confident in Jessica's ability to show up on time for anything. Their birthday wasn't the only time she had been late.

"If the test is so important to her, she'll find a way to get here," Enid said, glancing over her shoulder into her classroom. "I'd better get in there. I have to catch up on the English reading before first period. Good luck on the test, Liz."

"Thanks," Elizabeth said with a wan smile.

Enid ducked into her classroom and Elizabeth walked to the end of the junior hallway, keeping an eye out for a flash of familiar blond hair. She stopped a few of her friends to ask if they had seen Jessica, and several people did a double take, thinking she
was
Jessica, but no one had seen her twin. Before long, Elizabeth glimpsed Bruce Patman sauntering toward her, his dark hair falling perfectly over his piercing blue eyes. She turned her back on him, but it didn't thwart him for a second.

"What's up, Wakefield?" he said, getting in front of her and leaning one shoulder against the wall.

He flashed his infamous smile-the one that had always made Jessica weak in the knees but only made Elizabeth want to hurl. "Nice dress," he said, his eyes pawing all over her. "Why did we ever break up?"

Elizabeth smirked. So Bruce thought she was Jessica too. "Uh, because you're a total loser?" she shot back.

Brace's face fell and for once in his life he was at a loss for words. For the first time that day, Elizabeth didn't mind playing her twin's double. A short distance down the hallway, she spotted Todd leaning casually back against his locker as he spoke to Will Chase. Liz breezed by Bruce to join them.

"Hey!" Elizabeth said cheerily as she reached Todd's side.

He blinked down at her. "Liz?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Yeah, it's me."

Todd straightened up and glanced past her at the now retreating Bruce. "Wait, so Bruce Patman was just checking
you
out like you were his own personal property?"

"Um, I think that's my cue," Will said, combing his fingers through his long blond hair.

"Later, dudes."

"Later!" Todd called after him as he loped away. Todd glanced at Elizabeth, his brown eyes annoyed. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to annihilate that jackass."

"Who? Will?" Elizabeth asked distractedly.

"No. Bruce," Todd said. He laced his fingers through Elizabeth's and squeezed. "What were you two talking about, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing. He thought I was Jessica," she said with a wave of her free hand. "So I called him a loser and walked away."

"Nice," Todd said with a grin. "There is something very Jessica about you today. What's with the evil twin costume?"

Elizabeth saw a flash of blond from the corner of her eye and glanced past Todd down the hall, but it wasn't Jessica. Just one of the many other girls who attended SVH.

"Hello? Liz! Are you in there?" Todd asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "What's with you today? Did you get hit over the head or something?"

Elizabeth sighed, thinking of the anvil-to-the-head that was Jessica Wakefield. "You could say that, I guess."

Todd's brows knit. "Okay. Be mysterious," he said with a shrug. He started down the hall toward their homeroom, swinging their hands between them. "I don't care. I am in too good a mood to care about you playing dress-up in your sister's closet."

"Really? And what's this good mood all about?" Elizabeth asked, forgetting about Jessica for the moment.

"I finally have enough money to buy that Ducati I've had my eye on," Todd said excitedly. "I can't wait. I've wanted a motorcycle my entire life and it's finally going to happen."

Elizabeth swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. "That's... great."

"And I can't wait to take my girl for a ride," Todd said in a sexy voice as he leaned down for a quick kiss.

Elizabeth attempted to smile, but it wasn't easy. Her parents had absolutely forbidden her ever to ride on a motorcycle. It was one of their strictest rules. What was she going to tell Todd when he swung by her house to pick her up for their first ride?

Okay, he doesn't even have the thing yet
, she thought.

No point in worrying about it now.
She already had enough on her mind.

"Hey. Are you sure you're okay?" Todd asked, concern in his voice as they walked into homeroom. "Is it the test? Because I'm sure you're going to do fine."

Elizabeth dropped into her usual chair next to Todd and turned to face him. "It's not the test. It's Jessica."

She quickly spilled out the entire story, whispering through the morning announcements, and all the while, her eyes kept darting to the door as she hoped that Jessica would breeze inside. By the time she was done, Todd had grown utterly still and silent and Jessica still hadn't arrived. Elizabeth could tell by the way Todd was avoiding her gaze that he was annoyed.

Todd blew out a sigh. "You really shouldn't let Jessica get away with so much, Liz," he said. "I hate the way she uses you."

"I know. I hate it too," Elizabeth replied, relieved that he wasn't going to harp on the fact that she had semi-lied to him. "But she
is
my sister. I just have this uncontrollable urge to help her."

Todd smiled as the bell rang to end homeroom.

"You're such a pushover."

"Yeah. That's me," Elizabeth said, slinging her book bag over her shoulder. "The Clueless Protector Pushover."

"Huh?" Todd asked.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Nothing."

Todd walked Elizabeth to a classroom on the second floor where she was taking her test, and paused outside the room.

"Okay, the way I see it, there's no real harm done so far," Todd said, holding her hand. "She could show up any minute and all of this will be over."

"True," Elizabeth said with a nod.

"You've done everything you can, so now it's time to concentrate on you," Todd told her firmly.

"You
have a test to take and
.
you want to do well. So quit thinking about Jessica and focus."

Elizabeth laughed. "Yes, Mr. Basketball Captain."

Todd grinned. "My pep talks
are
world renowned." He pushed her hair behind her shoulder and leaned down to kiss her lightly on the mouth. He smelled faintly of toothpaste and the spicy aftershave he used. The mixture of scents caused

her skin to tingle pleasantly. "For good luck," he said quietly.

Elizabeth blushed, her heart fluttering like mad.

"Thanks, Todd. You're right. There's nothing else I can do right now."

"No, thank
you
, Jessica," Todd said loudly, smacking his lips together with relish. "Even your sister doesn't kiss like that!"

Elizabeth whacked him on the arm and Todd ducked away.

"Good luck!" he shouted, backing down the hall.

Elizabeth shook her head as she walked into the classroom, but she was so flush with Todd's attention she had all but forgotten about Jessica. Smiling happily, her heart as light as air, she sailed through the test. A lot of the questions had been worded to be deliberately confusing, but Elizabeth had no trouble sorting them out. She was one of the first to hand her answer sheet in to Miss Bascombe, the teacher monitoring the first-period test. She spent the rest of the time rereading her English homework as everyone else scratched away with their pencils.

The bell finally rang and Elizabeth walked

outside, hoping to see Jessica waiting there to take her own test. Instead, she was greeted by Cara Walker, who swooped in out of nowhere and grabbed her arm.

"There you are! I thought you were taking the test next period!" Cara said urgently.

So Jessica never showed up
for first period, Elizabeth thought with a thump of foreboding. But that feeling passed quickly, replaced by a much more intense emotion--anger. Was Jessica not even going to bother to show up? Did she completely space about the test? What the heck was her sister's problem?

And why was Cara still clutching her arm? Elizabeth opened her mouth to explain. "Cara, I'm not-"

"You have to tell me everything about the party. Everything," Cara demanded. "Like, now."

Elizabeth smiled mischievously. If Jessica wasn't going to bother coming to school that day, then fine. She was just going to have to accept the consequences. It was time for the "good twin" to have a little fun.

"Omigod, Cara, it was so intense," she gushed in Jessica's voice. "I don't even know where to begin!"

***

CHAPTER
7

Standing in the outdoor hallway, Cara had Elizabeth's arm in a clench that would have made a WWE wrestler proud.

"I don't
believe
it." Her green eyes were wide with wonder. "You actually told Scott off in front of all his friends? But he's so hot!"

"Not when you get to know him," Elizabeth said blithely. She was really beginning to enjoy this. It wasn't often that her flair for storytelling was given such free rein. "Scott was acting like such a jerk when we were rowing around the lake, I totally pushed him overboard."