Ten
It was turning out to be the longest week of Elizabeth’s life. Each night she found convenient excuses to hover near the phone in the bleak hope that Todd might call. But when it rang, sending her heart leaping into her throat, it was usually Enid, or someone for Jessica.
“You sound disappointed that it’s only me,” Enid complained on one of these occasions. “You were expecting Princess Di, maybe?”
“Oh, come on, Enid, you know I’m glad to hear from you. It’s just that I was sort of, well, you know, hoping…” Her voice trailed off in despair.
“Listen, this is getting ridiculous. If Todd hasn’t called you, why on earth don’t you just call him? Someone has to make the first move.”
“I already thought of that,” Elizabeth replied glumly. “It won’t work.”
“Why not? How can you say that before you’ve even tried it?”
“Because I already know what he’d say. Face it, Enid, he’s never going to want to speak to me as long as I live.”
“Is that what your crystal ball told you?”
“You don’t have to make jokes. I’m absolutely serious.”
“So am I. How do you know Todd isn’t waiting by the phone for you to call him?”
“Because I saw him yesterday in study hall, and he looked right through me as if I were the Invisible Woman or something.” Elizabeth sighed. “He didn’t even take the trouble to give me a dirty look. It was as if I didn’t exist. It was awful!”
“Maybe he really didn’t see you,” Enid offered hopefully.
“Maybe he just didn’t want to see me.”
It was Enid’s turn to sigh. “OK, I’m not going to try to convince you. Just remember, when it comes to romance, you don’t know how cold the water is until you stick your feet in.”
Elizabeth giggled in spite of herself. “Where did you get that—out of a fortune cookie?”
“I read it in Cosmopolitan, if you want to know,” Enid said defensively. She was a big magazine reader.
“Thanks,” Elizabeth said, “but my feet are cold enough as it is. I have a feeling Todd’s are, too.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Nothing. Haven’t I bungled it enough as it is? Every time I try to fix things, they get even worse.”
“I still think it would be better if you went to Todd and told him what you’re feeling. Maybe he thinks you’re still mad at him. Believe me, being honest is always the best way. Much better than keeping something locked up inside. Look at what that did to me. Not that I’m sorry about the way things turned out, of course. One look at George, and who could be sorry?”
She was referring to George Warren, once a part of her terrible past, but now back in her life in a new and wonderful way.
“That was different,” Elizabeth argued.
“Only because it was me and not you.”
“I think you’ve been reading Cosmo a little too long,” Elizabeth commented dryly.
“OK, I can see I’m wasting my breath. Do it your own way. Whatever that is,” she added pointedly. “And good luck. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
* * *
By Thursday Todd still hadn’t called, and Elizabeth was more miserable than ever. She and Enid ran into Cara by the lockers on their way to class. Cara greeted Elizabeth with far less enthusiasm than when she’d mistaken her for Jessica. Nevertheless, she was chatty enough, if for no other reason than that it was a chance to pick up a hot item of gossip.
“I haven’t seen you hanging around with Todd lately,” she commented, then yawned, as if to emphasize that she couldn’t care less. “Is he sick or something?”
Enid nudged Elizabeth with her binder and deftly changed the subject. “Speaking of absences, has anyone seen Bill Chase around lately? He’s been absent from my history class for the past three days.”
Cara brightened. “You mean you haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?” asked Elizabeth.
“The latest word is that Bill Chase is in hiding. No one’s seen him.”
“Hiding from what?” Enid wanted to know. “The FBI?” She giggled. “Somehow I just can’t imagine Bill on the Ten Most Wanted List.”
“The rumor is that he’s avoiding the surfing championship,” Cara went on, undeterred by Enid’s sarcasm. “I suppose he can’t stand the idea of getting slaughtered by Sonny Callahan.”
“I don’t know,” said Elizabeth. “That just doesn’t sound like Bill somehow. I know he seems laid-back and all, but he’s pretty involved in this whole thing from what I understand. There’s even some surf shop that’s sponsoring him, I heard.”
Cara’s eyes widened at this unexpected tidbit. “Don’t you see? That’s all the more reason why he should be hiding out. He probably can’t bear the thought of facing his sponsor after he gets creamed.”
“Sounds pretty drastic to me,” Elizabeth said doubtfully. On the other hand, she recalled how glum Bill had looked the previous Sunday at the beach, watching Sonny glide through that curl.
Cara sniffed. “Well, I’m putting my money on Sonny. Besides, he’s a hunk.”
“I think Bill’s kind of cute,” Enid defended. He wasn’t really her type, but she felt obliged to root for him for some reason.
Cara gave her a scathing look. “To each his own,” she remarked haughtily as she sailed off toward class.
Elizabeth turned to Enid. “I guess I’ve been so involved in my own problems I haven’t been paying much attention to what anyone else has been doing.”
“What can you expect? As if Todd wasn’t enough, you have the tour-guide test to worry about, too.”
“Every time I think about those scores, I get this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
“They’re posting the results today, aren’t they?” asked Enid.
“After fourth period.” Elizabeth groaned.
“Have you told Jessica you’re worried?”
“I didn’t have the heart. She’s been on cloud nine this whole week. Besides, miracles have been known to happen. Maybe she’ll pass.”
* * *
“I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it!” Jessica stared at the test results posted on the bulletin board outside the principal’s office for several minutes before turning to her sister with a look of despair.
“I—I can’t imagine how it happened, Jess,” Elizabeth stammered, her cheeks growing pink.
Jessica’s eyes remained riveted on her sister’s, her expression of agony slowly hardening into one of suspicion.
“You passed,” she observed, her voice soft but piercing.
“The questions on your test were a little different,” Elizabeth offered weakly.
“Yeah, but it was all pretty much the same stuff. They wouldn’t make it harder for one group of kids. That wouldn’t be fair.” Jessica leaned against the wall, one hip slightly forward in a defiant pose. “Liz—how could you do this to me?”
“I didn’t do anything to you,” Elizabeth shot back defensively, starting to feel a little angry herself. “Remember, if you hadn’t sneaked off with Scott, you would have been here to take the test yourself. Then you would have had only yourself to blame if you’d flunked.”
“I knew it!” Jessica jabbed an accusing, ruby-nailed finger at her twin sister. “I knew all along you were jealous. I’ll bet you flunked me on purpose, just to get back at me.”
“That’s an awful thing to say! Besides, why would I be jealous?”
“You were jealous because secretly you wanted to go out with Scott. And all along I thought you were doing me this big favor because I was your sweet baby sister. God, how could I have been so utterly naive!”
“Not naive, Jess,” said Elizabeth coldly. “Just plain stupid. If you think I’d care about going out with a creep like Scott—”
But Jessica wasn’t even listening. “You did it on purpose,” she ranted, staring harshly into Elizabeth’s face. “Maybe you didn’t plan it that way, but I’ll bet you didn’t try as hard on my test as you did on yours!”
Elizabeth stared back with a stricken expression. Part of what Jessica said was true, in a weird way. She hadn’t tried as hard; she’d been too upset. It wasn’t on purpose, but the result was the same.
“That’s ridiculous,” she argued, but her voice lacked conviction. “It wasn’t up to me to take the test, anyway. It was your responsibility.”
“Don’t you remember?” Jessica flung back at her, her face contorted with fury. “You promised! You promised you’d help me. And I trusted you. I believed you.”
Elizabeth felt herself go white. “I’ve never done anything to hurt you,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you’d even think such a thing.”
“Oh, don’t bother playing sweet, innocent Lizzie with me,” Jessica hissed. “If you were so sweet and innocent, you never would have pretended to be me in the first place.”
She’s right, Elizabeth thought with a dull shock. It had been wrong from the very beginning. She’d known, yet she’d gone ahead with it anyway. Maybe she and Jessica were more alike than she’d ever realized.
Jessica wheeled around in dramatic fury. “I’ll never forgive you for this,” she directed back at Elizabeth, and her voice was pure ice.
Elizabeth slumped down on the bench outside the principal’s office. Her head was buzzing. She was so upset that she actually felt sick. Her mouth was dry, her legs like rubber. She’d only tried to be helpful, and now her life lay in shambles as a result. How had something that had started out as a favor managed to go so terribly, hideously wrong?