SVH05-All Night Long (9 page)

For the first time, Elizabeth noticed that Jessica was dressed in her practice skirt and tank top and had her SVH cheerleading duffel bag with her. Liz's heart sank. She realized she had been hoping to

have a heart-to-heart with her sister about Todd once they got home, and to get some advice about how to approach him-all without divulging the particulars of their fight, of course. But Jessica wasn't even going to be around.

"But you missed all your classes," Elizabeth said in consternation. "What if you run into one of your teachers?"

"Whatever," Jessica said, rolling her eyes. "I'll just tell them I was in the nurse's office during their class and I forgot to get a pass. It's not like they actually
care
when they're halfway out the door already. And if you mention female troubles to the men, you can get away with anything."

Elizabeth sighed. Her sister, she hated to admit, made some valid points.

"I'd better go. Coach'll freak if I'm late," Jessica said, shouldering her bag. "I'll get a ride home from Lila later. And, Liz, thanks again for everything today. You're the best."

"You're welcome," Elizabeth said wanly. "But, Jess-"

She was about to tell her sister that she wasn't going to be doing anything like this again, but Jessica was already halfway across the front lawn to

the gym. Once again, functioning in her own little world.

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth turned toward the parking lot. She saw Todd striding away from his car in the opposite direction with his shoulder pads dangling from his fingers, taking a circuitous route to the practice field-probably to avoid bumping into her. Her heart instantly welled with sorrow and the realization of how much she had lost in one short day.

All for Jessica. All for a girl who cared more about not missing cheerleading practice than she did about her own sister.

***

"Jess! You are a total celebrity!" Cara bubbled, rushing over to Jessica in the locker room as Jessica adjusted her pleated red practice skirt.

"I am?" Jessica asked, arching her brows.

"I have been telling everyone how you humiliated Scott at the party," Cara told her, her green eyes twinkling with excitement as she toyed with her long, dark ponytail. "You're, like, infamous now."

Jessica blinked. How she had humiliated Scott? What had Elizabeth been up to that day?

"What exactly have you been telling everyone?" Jessica asked innocently, leaning down to retie her sneaker. "I just want to make sure you haven't left out any important details."

"Don't worry," Lila said, her light brown hair falling over her pretty face as she struggled in vain with the zipper on her own skirt. "She probably invented most of it. You know how skilled Cara is at exaggerating."

"Still, I'd like to know," Jessica prompted.

Quickly, Lila recounted the story the way she had heard it: How Jessica had shoved Scott into the lake and rowed away so that he couldn't reach the boat. How he'd lost his favorite sunglasses. How he'd freaked out like a little baby and broken his foot lacking a tree. It was all so vivid and perfect Jessica had to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure it was hilarious," Lila groused. "Now will you help me with this stupid zipper? I think I've got a thread stuck in it. I am so going to talk Daddy into buying us new uniforms. These are so cheap they're giving me hives."

Jessica reached over and freed the zipper with one quick yank. Her blue-green eyes glittered with secret amusement. Liz definitely knew how to weave a good story. Now no one would ever have to know what had actually happened up at the lake-the fear, the humiliation, the being forced to wait hours for Aubrey to drive her home that morning because Scott had taken off and stranded her there.

"Well, you know what they say," she told her friends, slamming her locker. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

And in this case, of course, it didn't hurt to have a twin with a vivid imagination.

"I'll bet Scott never thought hell would turn out to be so cold and wet," Cara said, earning a laugh from Jessica, Lila, and all the girls around them.

As the team filed out into the gym and toward the back door, Jessica spotted Ken Matthews--the SVH quarterback-chatting with some of his teammates as they made their way to the practice field. She walked over and linked arms with Ken, who smiled as if her presence was a pleasant surprise. At six foot four, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a

seriously lithe bod, Ken was hands down one of the hottest guys in school.

"What's up, Ken Doll?" Jessica said, flirting.

"Nada mucho, Barbie," he replied.

It was an old joke between them. Back when they were kids, someone had made a crack about the two of them looking like Barbie and Ken, and they had been teasing each other about it ever since.

"So, I feel like I never see you anymore. How are you?" Jessica asked as they strode out into the sun.

"Hot," Ken said, looking her up and down in her miniskirt. "And getting hotter all the time."

"Omigod! You are
so
cheesy!" Jessica teased, whacking his arm. But a pleased blush crept up her neck and into her face. What could be better than a gorgeous guy appreciating her own gorgeousness?

"What's up with you?" Ken asked, his eyes narrowing as he studied her. "You look like you just won the lottery or something."

Jessica laughed lightly. For the first time all day, she felt as if she could truly put the horror of the night before behind her. "You could say that," she replied. "You could definitely say that."

***

CHAPTER
10

IT was the longest week of Elizabeth's life. Not talking to Todd was torture. She kept her cell phone with her every minute of every hour of every day, just in case he decided to cave in and call. Watching TV with her parents-her phone was jammed in the front pocket of her jeans. Doing homework at the library-her phone was on vibrate right next to her books. Trying to relax by the pool--her phone was tucked safely under a towel, away from Jessica's splashing. Every time it rang, Elizabeth pounced on it like her sister on a

cosmetics freebie, but more often than not, it was just Enid or someone from The Oracle calling.

Wednesday night, Elizabeth was trying to concentrate on a paper for history when the phone trilled. Her heart hit her throat and she scrambled for her cell so quickly she knocked it and half her notebooks onto the floor. When she finally retrieved it, she was disappointed to see Enid's name on the caller ID.

"Hello?" she said as she dragged herself back into her desk chair.

"Wow. That was one happy greeting," Enid replied sarcastically.

"Sorry. I was just hoping ..."

Elizabeth sighed and toyed with a pencil on her desk. The sentence was too pathetic to finish.

"Liz, come on," Enid said. "This is getting ridiculous. So what if Todd hasn't called? If you want to talk to him, just call him."

"I know. I've almost done it like a million times," Elizabeth said, slumping down in her chair. "I just can't."

"Why not? It's just Todd. It's not like you're cold-calling Zac Efron or something," Enid joked.

Elizabeth managed a smile. "It's just... I keep trying to figure out what to say, how to start, and I can't get past 'hello.' What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

"Please. He is so sitting by the phone, waiting for you to call," Enid replied.

"You think?" Elizabeth asked hopefully.

"You don't?" Enid replied. "The guy is totally in love with you. It's kind of sickening, actually."

"I don't know," Elizabeth said. "Every time I see him in class, he looks right through me like I'm not even there."

"Well, then he's just being stubborn. Boys are so bad at making the first move after a fight. They, like, live to be right all the time," Enid said. "That should be the first line in the boy manual."

Elizabeth chuckled. A boy manual would be such a fabulous thing to have.

"Or maybe he's just not talking to you because you're not talking to him," Enid added. "He might
think
you're looking right through
him,
you know?
Wait!
That reminds me. I read something in
Cosmo
before..."

Elizabeth could hear Enid rustling through her

things on the other end of the line. As different as her best friend and her twin were, Enid's unkempt room resembled Jessica's much more than it resembled Liz's.

"Here it is." There was the distinct sound of pages flipping, and finally Enid spoke. " 'You never know how cold the relationship's water is until you stick your feet in,'" she read.

Elizabeth frowned. "Okay. What does that even mean?"

"It means that unless you talk to Todd, you're never going to know if he really is still mad or if he just thinks you're mad!" Enid exclaimed, as if it were so very obvious.

"Right. I guess that sort of makes sense," Elizabeth said.

"So you're going to call him?" Enid asked excitedly.

"No," Elizabeth said.

Enid groaned and slapped the magazine closed.

"Fine. If you're not going to work with me here, then I don't know what to tell you."

"I appreciate the effort, Enid," Elizabeth replied, staring at the blinking cursor on her computer

screen. "I just... I guess I'm not ready yet. I'm too afraid he's going to laugh in my face."

"He's not," Enid said confidently.

"Well, as soon as I think that's true, I'll call him."

"Swear?" Enid asked.

"Swear," Elizabeth replied.

***

Thursday morning, Elizabeth walked to her locker with her shoulders back and her head held high, trying not to look as morose as she felt. She couldn't believe she had gotten through another night with no call from Todd.

"He must really hate me," she muttered.

"He doesn't hate you," Enid said instantly.

Elizabeth blinked, startled. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Kinda." Enid looked at her with so much sympathy in her eyes it made Elizabeth want to cry for her own patheticness.

"Okay. We're not thinking about him," she said, shaking her blond hair back as she started her locker combination. "There are about two

million more important things going on in the world."

"Yes. Exactly," Enid said with a nod.
Now if I could only think of one
. . ,, Elizabeth thought.

"Hey, girls." Cara Walker greeted them from a few lockers over. She slammed her locker door and turned to them with a hungry glint in her eye. Elizabeth's heart dropped. It was blatantly obvious that Cara had overheard her conversation with Enid and that she was dying to know more. Just what she needed: the gossip brigade of SVH making her and Todd its story of the day.

"What's up, Cara?" Elizabeth asked, avoiding her curious gaze as she dug in her locker.

"I haven't seen you and Todd together much lately," Cara said, hugging her books to her chest. She kept her eye on the crowded hall around them, as if looking for bigger stories while she pumped Elizabeth for hers. "He's not, like, sick or something, is he? Because, I mean, I can't imagine him staying away from you for any other reason, unless something was really wrong...."

Elizabeth grabbed her heavy chemistry book and

suddenly saw herself flattening Cara with it, cartoon style.

"Speaking of being sick, have you guys noticed that Will Chase hasn't been in school since Monday?" Enid interjected.

Actually, Elizabeth had noticed. Will's absence had made it impossible for her to get the preliminary interview she needed for her story about the surfing competition that weekend.

Cara brightened. "You mean you haven't heard?" she practically squealed.

Elizabeth could have kissed Enid for diverting Cara's attention.

"Heard what?" Elizabeth asked.

"Will is, like, in
hiding,"
Cara said in a hushed tone.
"No one
has seen him. Not even the grunge factor he always hangs out with," she said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

Elizabeth and Enid both laughed. "Hiding from what?" Enid asked. "Is the FBI after him or something? Did he take someone out with his surfboard?"

Cara scoffed as if Enid were just so ignorant.

"No. The rumor is he's all depressed and stuff

about the competition and the whole Sonny Callahan thing. Now that he's not a lock to win, he's gone totally catatonic. He's been holed up in his room with the curtains drawn and hasn't set foot on the beach in days. People are saying he's not even going to compete."

"Seriously?" Elizabeth asked. "That doesn't sound like Will. He's been training for this since we were practically toddlers. He even has this big surf company sponsoring him. I don't think he could drop out even if he wanted to."

"Please! The sponsorship just puts more pressure on him. He can't handle it!" Cara informed them.

"He's so worried he's going to tank and disappoint everyone he's not even going to try."

"I don't see it," Elizabeth replied, slamming her locker. "There must be something else going on."

Cara rolled her eyes in exasperation. Nothing annoyed her more than when the students of SVH refused to take her gossip as gospel.

"Well, whatever. I'm putting my money on Callahan," she said. "He is
so
hot."

"Yeah, but not as hot as Will," Enid said loyally.

Cara sniffed. "To each her own," she replied haughtily. "See ya!"

As Cara sailed off toward homeroom, Elizabeth turned to Enid. "It's so weird. I knew Will wasn't here all week, but I never really thought about why. I guess I've been so distracted I didn't even think that something might really be wrong."

"Don't tell me you're going to beat yourself up about this, too," Enid said as they walked down the hallway together. "Between Todd and the tour guide scores coming out today, you have enough on your plate."

"Oh God, the scores!" Elizabeth said, nearly tripping herself, she stopped so abruptly. She put her hand over her stomach as it turned dangerously. "I totally forgot they were coming out today."