SVH08-Heartbreaker (4 page)

"I wouldn't mind cooling off," said Todd, smiling up at Patsy.

Elizabeth felt as if she'd been kicked in the stomach. She didn't doubt Todd needed cooling off. His temperature had probably shot up fifty degrees the minute he laid eyes on Patsy!

"What about you, Liz?" Todd asked her. "You feel like going in for a swim?"

Elizabeth shook her head.

"You sure?" he asked again, but it didn't sound to Elizabeth as if he were trying very hard to convince her.

"Liz is afraid of sharks," Jessica teased, glancing quickly at Patsy. The double meaning was obvious.

Lila didn't pick up on it, however. "Really? I remember the first time I saw
jaws.
I was even afraid to go swimming in our pool afterward!"

Cara laughed. "That's because your pool is the size of the Pacific Ocean," she said, making reference to the conspicuousness of the Fowlers' wealth.

"I don't believe in sharks," Tom said, nuzzling Jessica's cheek. "Only mermaids."

"Are you implying there's something fishy about me?" Jessica twittered.

"There's only one way to find out."

Everyone laughed as Tom scooped her into his arms and carried her, kicking and squealing in protest, down toward the water.

Patsy and Todd followed suit, racing side by side. Their laughter as they hit the water could be heard all the way up the beach.

Suddenly Elizabeth felt like crying. She knew exactly how DeeDee must have felt when Bill abandoned her for Jessica.

Elizabeth had wandered up to the parking area to retrieve her book from Todd's car when

she spotted a bunch of girls piling out of a dusty green van driven by frizzy-haired Olivia Davidson, a friend who worked on the school paper with her. As she drew closer, Elizabeth spotted Lois Waller and Enid Rollins, too.

Enid pushed her big, round sunglasses onto the top of her head as she greeted Elizabeth. Her green eyes narrowed to a squint as she took in her best friend's miserable expression.

"You look like you've been crying," she noted with concern. "What's the matter, Liz?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Elizabeth ducked her head. She was reluctant to confide in Enid in front of the other girls. Lois Waller made her a little uncomfortable--always trying so hard to impress people, to be in the center of things. And though Elizabeth liked Olivia very much, she just wasn't as close a friend as Enid. "I--I must have gotten some sand in my eye," Elizabeth fibbed.

"The same thing happened to me the last time I was at the beach," Olivia recalled in sympathy. "Winston Egbert was clowning around as usual and accidentally kicked sand in my face. I thought I was going to go blind!"

"Please--spare me the cracks about being blind," Lois chimed in, blinking behind the thick glasses she wore. They were always slipping down her nose, no matter how often she poked them back into place. "I can't even find my way out of the shower without my glasses!"

They all laughed, and Elizabeth felt her mood lift slightly. But it sank down to her knees again as they neared the beach and she spied Todd and Patsy splashing around in the surf, batting foam at each other.

"Isn't that Patsy Webber with Todd?" Olivia asked. "I
heard
she'd moved back into the area. Boy, has she changed!"

"You know her?" Elizabeth asked.

"When Patsy lived in Palisades, my cousin Amy lived down the street from her. Gosh, I can remember when Patsy was just a skinny kid. All bones. I never could figure out what Todd saw in her. It sure looks like she really filled out in all the right places, though. Wow, I can hardly believe it!"

Elizabeth felt her heavy heart sink all the way down into her sandals.

"Todd did say he and Patsy used to be pretty close," she recalled dispiritedly.

"Close?" Olivia echoed. "Well, I guess that's one way of putting it."

Elizabeth bit her lip to keep from crying.

Enid laid a sympathetic hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, but that only made it worse. The lump in her throat swelled until she was afraid she was going to burst into tears at any second.

"Liz, don't be upset. Todd and Patsy were together ages ago," Enid pointed out. "It's practically ancient history.
You're
the one he loves."

"Enid's right," Olivia added quickly. "It

was a long time ago. I'm sure Todd's forgotten by now that he was ever in love with her."

All eyes followed Todd and Patsy as they frolicked in the water. Patsy's playful shrieks could be heard all the way up the beach.

Elizabeth swallowed hard. "They were in love?" she repeated slowly, to make sure she hadn't misunderstood.

Olivia reddened. "Oh, what's wrong with me? I think I must have terminal foot-in-mouth disease. I'm really sorry, Liz. I didn't mean to upset you. Listen, I don't know for sure whether they were in love or not. Patsy and I weren't that close, so she never told me much."

"When did they break up?" Elizabeth asked. She realized she was only torturing herself, but she had to find out.

Olivia looked more uncomfortable than ever. She twirled one brown curl around her index finger and avoided Elizabeth's gaze.

"I don't think they ever
really
broke up," she said. "I guess they just stopped seeing each other when Patsy moved away. But that doesn't mean.... Well, I'm sure it's not what you think...." Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

Elizabeth didn't know
what
to think anymore. If Todd hadn't really broken up with Patsy, did that mean he'd never really stopped loving her? What if they got back together again? How would she feel then? The thought was too

terrible to contemplate, so she pushed it to the back of her mind.

"It doesn't matter," Elizabeth said too brightly. "It's silly of me to get so worked up over this whole thing. Like you said, it happened a long time ago. I'm sure Todd has gotten over her by now."

But even as she said it, Elizabeth didn't quite believe it was true.

Jessica lay stretched on the bed, her face a twisted mask of anguish. Bill knelt beside her with his head buried in his hands.

"Oh, Bud," she whispered. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't face the thought of life without you...."

It was Tuesday, and the cast had gathered for a noon rehearsal in the auditorium. This was Jessica's biggest scene, where Deanie tries to commit suicide by drowning herself and afterward her boyfriend, Bud, feels so guilty he can hardly live with himself. Jessica, who had obviously seen more than one episode of "General Hospital," was pulling out all the stops in her performance.

DeeDee watched from the wings as Jessica lifted a limp hand to Bill's cheek. Real tears shimmered in her eyes. Bill looked as if he were on the verge of crying himself. DeeDee felt a tightening in her chest. She told herself it was

because she was being swept away by Bill's performance, but deep down she knew better. The painful truth was that she was falling in love with Bill.

It was hopeless, she told herself. Utterly hopeless. Bill liked her, but only as a friend. As far as anything more went, she might as well be invisible. At least, as long as he went on being blinded by Jessica's brilliance.

Someone jostled her elbow, and she turned to see Roger Barrett staring so fixedly at Lila Fowler he didn't even notice he'd bumped into DeeDee. Lila played Deanie's mother, and Roger had a small walk-on part. DeeDee had never paid much attention to Roger in the past-- probably because he seemed so secretive and kept mostly to himself--but at the moment she felt a sudden flaring of kinship between them. It was obvious Roger had a crush on Lila, one that was even more hopeless than DeeDee's crush on Bill. Lila was definitely out of Roger's league.

Then DeeDee's attention was diverted back to what was happening onstage.

Jessica threw her arms around Bill, burying her face against his chest. "Bud, oh, Bud!" she choked.

DeeDee sighed. Bill was so good-looking, even though he didn't seem to realize it. And so natural. In her mind she saw him as he rocketed through a wave, the wind whipping

the wet strands of hair back from his face, his blue eyes matching the color of the water.

As Bill took Jessica in his arms, planting a tender kiss on her lips, DeeDee's eyes filled with tears. When it was over, she was the only one who wasn't applauding.

"You sure disappeared in a hurry after rehearsal," Bill said, putting his tray down beside DeeDee's at the cafeteria table.

DeeDee looked up, surprised and pleased that he had sought her out. The tempo of her heart picked up. Maybe there was a chance....

"I--I was starving," she lied. "And we don't have much time to eat on rehearsal days."

"There was something I wanted to ask you," he said, sitting down and regarding her seriously.

Her pulse was hammering so loudly in her ears that she could hardly hear herself speak. "There was?"

"Actually, I wanted your opinion. You know the scene we were doing? Do you think I overplayed it? Jessica says I--"

"You were perfect, Bill," DeeDee interrupted. "I can't imagine how you could play it better." She had a feeling Jessica just didn't like being upstaged, but she refrained from making any comment.

"You really think so?" Bill's face lit up at her praise.

"I've been telling you all week how good you are," she scolded playfully. "Haven't you been listening?"

"I guess I just have a hard time believing it." He absentmindedly munched on a pickle spear.

"It's like what
you're
always telling
me
about surfing," DeeDee said. "Half of it is just having confidence in yourself."

He grinned sheepishly. "You're right. But when I'm up on that stage, it doesn't feel the same as shooting a curl."

DeeDee laughed. "I can just see it. The audience is going wild, and instead of taking a bow, you paddle off into the wings."

They both started laughing.

"What's so funny, you two?" a silken voice intruded.

DeeDee looked up just as Jessica adroitly slid in between them and set down her tray. Instantly Bill was reduced to Jell-O.

"Uh, hi, Jessica," he mumbled. Not knowing what else to say, he forked in a mouthful of potato salad. But he swallowed too quickly and fell into a fit of coughing.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Jessica inquired sweetly.

"No--no, of course not!" Bill recovered.

DeeDee was torn between wanting to melt under the table and wanting to stab Jessica with her fork.

"We were just talking about the play," she said, trying to keep her voice even.

Jessica gave Bill the full benefit of her dimpled smile. "It really went well today, didn't it? Mr. Jaworski says we'll have to hand out handkerchiefs at the door if we get any more convincing. Oh, I get goose bumps just thinking about it! Of course, I'm just a block of wood compared to you, Bill."

"Are you kidding?" Bill was blind to Jessica's obvious attempt at soliciting compliments. He leaped to her defense like a tiger. "I could never be as good as you in a million years! You're practically good enough to be in the movies."

"Really?" Jessica preened. "You really think

so?"

Bill looked past Jessica to DeeDee, oblivious to her anguish. "Don't you think she's great, DeeDee?"

Now it was DeeDee's turn to choke. Somehow, though, she managed to squeeze out a reply. "Sure," she said weakly.

But Jessica wasn't listening. It was more than apparent that she couldn't care less what DeeDee's opinion of her was. She peeled back her hamburger bun and looked dismayed.

"Oops! Would you believe I forgot the ketchup? My mind must be a million miles away!"

"I'll get it for you." Bill practically fell over in his haste to get up.

If Jessica had asked him to throw himself off a skyscraper, DeeDee thought, he'd probably ask her what floor.

"Oh, Bill, you're absolutely the
sweetest,"
Jessica gushed. "Honestly, sometimes I just don't know what I'd do without you around...."

DeeDee felt sick. Her lunch sat in her stomach in a hard lump. Bill, on the other hand, was positively glowing as he rushed off to do Jessica's bidding.

"Excuse me," DeeDee mumbled, pushing away from the table and picking up her tray. She hoped she could make it outside before she burst into tears.

Five

"Score another one for your sister," Todd commented as he observed the scene from the next table. "I'll say this for Jessica--she sure knows how to make a monkey out of Bill."

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "That's not fair. We can't hear what she said."

"Did you see the look on DeeDee's face? Talk about one picture being worth a thousand words!"

Elizabeth was silent as she pushed her food around on her plate with her fork. Her appetite hadn't been the same since the weekend, when Todd had practically thrown himself at Patsy at the beach. Elizabeth hadn't confronted him about it, but she'd made it a point to ask around the past couple of days--and what she discovered had only made her feel a million times worse.

Not only had Todd been seeing Patsy before she moved away, they'd been dating
only

each other. Now she was back--more gorgeous and sophisticated than ever, according to those who'd known her before. Elizabeth felt a stab of uneasiness every time she thought about it, which lately had been about a hundred times a day.

She longed to talk to Todd about it. They'd always been so close, no secrets between them. But this really had her worried. She was afraid of what she might find out if she asked for the truth. She tried to push this problem to the back of her mind and refocus on the one at hand.

"I know DeeDee's probably jealous, but it's not Jessica's fault she's got the lead opposite Bill," Elizabeth said. She felt compelled to defend her sister, even though she secretly believed Todd was right.

"What I saw just now didn't look like any rehearsal to me. Come off it, Liz. We've been through this before.
I
know what Jessica is like. You don't have to defend her to me."

"If you know her so well, then you must also know that she can be really sweet a lot of the time."