SVH08-Heartbreaker (6 page)

"Good going, Jess!" Tom McKay called.

Tom wasn't part of the drama club crowd. He'd stopped by on his way back from a tennis match over at the country club. Bill envied the easy, confident way Tom could banter with Jessica. He wished he didn't get so tied up in knots every time he spoke to her.

Suddenly Tom was in the water beside Jessica. He grabbed her by the waist while she squealed with laughter and tried to splash water in his face. Watching them, Bill felt a surge of jealousy. Jessica had acted as if she really wanted him to come in the beginning, but ever since Tom had arrived, she'd really ignored him.

The way you ignored DeeDee,
a tiny voice inside reminded him.

At the thought of DeeDee, Bill immediately felt guilty. He shouldn't have dropped her like that, even though she'd insisted. She was a good friend, and he had promised he'd take her surfing. He was really proud of the progress

she'd made. She was a fast learner, and a terrific sport, too. Besides, she was someone he could really talk to. With DeeDee, he could open up and be himself, the way he'd been with Julianne.

Bill winced at the memory. True, DeeDee didn't look like Julianne the way Jessica did, but there were other similarities. They shared the same easy, bubbling laugh, they were both sympathetic listeners, and they were naturals when it came to surfing.

He quickly brushed aside the comparison. How could he be thinking about DeeDee this way when Jessica was the one he cared about?

Jessica squirted a mouthful of water at Tom, and he retaliated by dunking her under. They were really having a great time, Bill thought glumly. He understood about Tom--he really did. Why should Jessica allow herself to be tied down to one guy when she could have her pick of fifty million others?

The trouble was, Bill didn't normally go in for the crowd scene and standing in line. It was one reason he spent so much time in the water. It was so quiet out there, really peaceful, with the waves lapping against his surfboard, and the cries of the sea gulls keeping him company. He'd explained it to DeeDee one time, and she had really seemed to understand.

Somehow he didn't think Jessica would

have understood. Looking at her now, as she climbed out of the pool with Tom at her heels, both of them laughing, Bill felt a surge of despair.

Being in love was a lot like getting wiped out by a wave, he thought.

Elizabeth could hear the splashing and laughter coming from the backyard as she pulled the little red Fiat Spider into the driveway. It was such a hot day that she'd put the top down even though the ride from the library was a short one. She had just spent a couple of stuffy hours researching the term paper she was working on for her civics class.

Her father greeted her as she walked inside. He was sitting on the living room couch, bent over a pile of papers spread across the coffee table. Elizabeth was struck, as she often was, by how athletic her father looked for someone who spent so much of his time at a desk poring over legal briefs. He was tall enough to be a basketball player, with the densely muscled trimness of a swimmer or track star.

"Hi," she said, flopping down on the couch beside him. "What are you doing shut up inside on such a glorious day?"

"I'm hiding out," he confessed, chuckling. "I'm not sure, but judging from the sound of it,

I think a band of Apaches has taken over the backyard."

"Jess and the drama crowd?"

"Yup." Ned Wakefield winked. "And either Jessica's been taken captive or it's the other way around. I vote for the latter."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress a giggle. "Oh, Dad, be serious!"

"I'm serious all week long in court. Don't you think I'm entitled to a few laughs on the weekend?" He gave a mock sigh of exasperation.

Alice Wakefield sailed in from the kitchen, where she had been in the midst of preparing guacamole dip.

"Your sister's got the whole gang over," she explained. Outside, there was a scream, followed by a splash. "If you ask me, it sounds like they're rehearsing the Pearl Harbor scene from
From Here to Eternity."

"I'd better get into my suit before all the water's gone," Elizabeth said, bolting for the I stairs.

"Todd's out there, too," her mother called after her.

Todd! Elizabeth's mouth went dry, and I her heart beat at a quickened pace. She hadn't I seen much of him these past few days--both of them had been so busy--and she'd really | missed him. She felt a little silly now about the way she'd doubted him. She'd made such

a big thing out of Todd's being nice to an old girlfriend.

She imagined confronting him with her fears. Todd would laugh and tell her how crazy she was for thinking he could be in love with someone else--even someone as gorgeous as Patsy. He'd take her in his arms and with one kiss blot out all the misery of this past week.

Elizabeth hurriedly slipped into her striped two-piece bathing suit and snatched a towel from the bathroom she shared with her sister. After giving her reflection a quick once-over in the mirror on her way out the door, she ended up yanking the rubber band off her ponytail. There. With her hair shimmering loose about her shoulders, she looked much more seductive. More like Jessica, she decided, a twinkle of secret amusement creeping into her eyes.

Wild shrieks and a tumult of splashing greeted her as she stepped out through the sliding glass patio door. She was momentarily blinded by the sun's glare, but then the scene before her sharpened into focus.

Elizabeth gave a muffled cry at what she saw. There was Todd, crouching over Patsy as she lay stretched in golden, queenly splendor on the chaise longue. She was on her stomach, and the back tie to her bikini top was undone.

Todd was rubbing suntan lotion on her back with slow, circular strokes.

At that moment he looked up, and his eyes met Elizabeth's. He stood up as if to greet her, but she'd already fled back inside.

Seven

"Liz,
please,
talk to me. I want to know what the heck is going on!"

Todd's concerned voice filtered through the locked bedroom door, causing Elizabeth to spill a fresh torrent of tears. Why was he pretending to be so innocent? Did he think she was blind?

"I don't want to talk!" came her reply, muffled by the pillow she had pulled over her head. "And I'm canceling our date for tonight!"

But Todd wasn't the type to give up easily. "Liz, this is crazy. You've been acting really strange these past few days. Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm just fine!"

"Look, if it's because I was rubbing suntan oil on Patsy's back ..."

So he knew she wasn't blind after all! "Rub all you like. I couldn't care less!"

"Liz, this is really crazy," he repeated. "It was just a little sun--"

But Elizabeth had shut out his feeble explanations with her pillow. She couldn't bear to listen to any more. The evidence had been right there before her eyes.

Even so, she longed to believe Todd, to let herself be convinced it was all a hideous mistake. But it was useless. She might have inherited her looks from her mother, but her rock-hard sense of logic had come straight from her father. It was logical for Todd to fall in love with Patsy. And there were simply too many places in Todd's life where Patsy fit in just a little too neatly.

Gingerly she lifted the pillow from her head. The thud of receding footsteps sounded Todd's retreat. For some reason that only made her feel worse. She felt abandoned, even though
she
was the one who had told him to leave. She couldn't help thinking that if he really cared, he would have tried a little harder to convince her.

Abruptly the door to the bathroom that connected the twins' bedrooms burst open. Jessica, dripping wet, hurtled across the room to throw her arms around her sister.

"I was coming up for extra towels, and I saw Todd. He said you'd locked yourself in your room and wouldn't talk to anyone. But I
know
you couldn't have meant me! Oh, Liz, what is it? Did you two have a fight?"

Todd was wrong about Jessica, Elizabeth

thought. Her sister really did have a good heart, even if it didn't always seem that way. Still, she was quick to disengage herself from Jessica's damp embrace.

"I guess you can't call it an argument when you're not even speaking to someone," she sniffled, brushing the wetness from her cheeks.

"Todd must have done something really awful to make you feel this way. You know, I've always suspected he was kind of a rat."

Elizabeth wasn't sure she liked hearing Todd called a rat, even if she did feel like boiling him in oil at the moment.

She sighed. "I guess I really shouldn't blame Todd so much. I mean, Patsy is--is--well,
look
at her. What boy wouldn't be attracted to her?"

"Todd and Patsy?" Jessica's eyes widened. "I didn't know anything was going on between them."

"Todd used to go out with her before he met me. Before she moved away."

"How come I'm just now finding all this out? For heaven's sake, Liz, why didn't you tell me sooner?" She made it plain how hurt she was that Elizabeth hadn't confided in her.

Suddenly the tables had turned, and Elizabeth was consoling Jessica. "I'm sorry, Jess. I wanted to tell you. It's just that--well, you've been so busy with the play and all. It seems like I hardly see you anymore."

The truth was, Jessica was usually too

involved in her own romantic exploits to pay much attention to Elizabeth's. But she had always resented the relationship between Todd and her sister. There were two big reasons why. Number one: In the beginning she'd wanted him for herself, and he'd passed her over for Elizabeth. Number two: He monopolized entirely too much of her sister's time.

"Hmmm." Jessica stared down at the bedspread, plucking at a loose thread. "Now that you mention it, I
have
noticed Todd spending a lot of time with Patsy at rehearsals. They must have been pretty close, huh?"

Elizabeth's heart dropped down another notch. It was one thing to have suspicions, another to have them confirmed.

"Oh, but I'm sure it doesn't mean anything," Jessica was quick to throw in. "Maybe he's just being nice because she's sort of new and stuff. He probably doesn't even want to, only he feels obligated."

"Obligated? Jess, have you really looked at Patsy? Can you imagine any guy feeling
obligated
to be nice to her?"

"I guess you're right. But honestly, Liz, there's no reason to go off the deep end about it. There are other things besides looks."

Elizabeth groaned and rolled over onto her back. "Right now I can't think of any."

"Anyway," Jessica plowed on mercilessly, "if he really is in love with her, it's probably

just temporary. You know, like a crush. I'm sure it'll pass."

"Jess!" Elizabeth sat bolt upright. "Do you really think he's in love with her?"

Jessica lifted her shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. "How would I know? But if you ask me, it does look kind of suspicious."

Elizabeth moaned and buried her face in her pillow once again. How was it that whenever Jessica tried to console her, she always ended up feeling worse?

Writing was one of the few things that made Elizabeth feel better when she was really down. It had always been that way, since the day she'd started filling the pages of her very first diary, when she was nine or ten. Now she not only kept a journal faithfully but also worked as a reporter and columnist for
The Oracle,
the school paper. At the moment her article on summer job opportunities was coming along nicely.

After crying her eyes out over Todd for nearly an hour, Elizabeth decided to spend the rest of the afternoon working on the article as an antidote to her misery. It was a poor substitute for Todd, but it was certainly better than sitting around feeling sorry for herself.

Her father had promised to get her an interview with the man who owned the building his office was in. Mr. Pendergast often hired

teenagers, though it was rumored he only did so to save money. Elizabeth knew he worked on Saturdays, so on impulse she decided to drive over there. If he wasn't too busy, maybe he wouldn't mind talking to her for a few minutes.

Fortunately, her dad didn't mind letting her use the Fiat, since it was for a good cause. His office was a four-story gray building just off Calico Drive, only ten minutes away. Elizabeth parked the little red convertible in front, then made her way through the heavy plate-glass door. The first thing she noticed was the sharp, damp smell of disinfectant.

A boy dressed in dark green overalls was swabbing the floor with a wet mop. A janitor's pushcart full of cleaning supplies was angled alongside him. As Elizabeth walked in, the boy looked up at her in surprise. She was equally surprised. It was Roger Barrett!

"L-Liz," he stammered. "W-w-what are you doing here?"

She grinned. "I should be asking you the same thing. How come you never mentioned you worked in my dad's building? You're the one I should be interviewing for my article."

"No! Please, I--I don't want anyone to--" He stopped, his gaze dropping down to the scuffed toes of his shoes.

Roger's reaction took Elizabeth by surprise. Had she said something wrong? He almost seemed afraid of her. Then she looked at his

flaming cheeks, and she knew what it was. He was embarrassed to be working as a janitor.

"I think it's great," she said softly. "I'll bet there are at least fifty kids who would love to trade places with you. There aren't really all that many good jobs for kids our age in Sweet Valley."

Roger shook his head. "I doubt it. I'll bet most of them wouldn't be caught dead doing what I do."

"I don't see what's wrong with it."

"Please, Liz, just don't tell anyone you saw me," he begged. "I--I have my reasons. Besides, they'd only make fun of me if they knew."

"I think you're wrong," Elizabeth said. "I really admire you for what you're doing. Not everyone has enough ambition to get a job on top of their schoolwork and everything else."