SVH05-All Night Long (12 page)

smoothly to shore without incident and started to paddle back in. Sonny caught the next: wave. He was good too, but if Elizabeth had been a judge, she would have awarded more points to Will for sheer style.

The other surfers came in. One of them fell head over heels and everyone on the shore gasped, then held their breath until he resurfaced. Another had his wave die on him halfway to shore and had to paddle back out again quickly. The third did fine but had nowhere near the skill of Will or Sonny.

After their second waves, Elizabeth was convinced. She told herself that she had to be impartial, but no matter how she weighed them, Will was far better than this infamous Sonny Callahan. She simply couldn't see what was so great about the guy. He had no flair. He was all substance, no style.

She made some notes in her book, feeling confident that Will had outshone Sonny. Still, it was just her opinion. She knew that some judges favored speed and power over grace and showmanship. There was no way of guessing which of the two had racked up more points.

"It's so obvious," Lila Fowler said from a few

feet away. "Sonny makes Will look like a chimp on a longboard. He has so much more finesse. I hope it translates on our date later."

Elizabeth's lip curled in disgust.
Way to be loyal to your classmate, Lila,
she thought.

After two hours and several heats, Elizabeth was still sure that Will and Sonny were the top two contenders. A couple of other guys from SVH had shown up and done well, but none had anything even close to the skills of the two leaders. Finally, it was time for the judges to tabulate their points. Elizabeth sat back on the sand with her friends while they waited, but she could hardly stand being so still.

"What do you guys think?" she asked.

"Will. No doubt," Todd answered instantly.

"Yeah, and you're not biased or anything," Enid joked.

"You don't think he pulled it out?" Todd asked in an accusatory way.

"No! No, I do," Enid replied. "Just messing with you. Touchy, touchy," she joked to Elizabeth.

Before long, the judges announced that they had their winners. Everyone scrambled to their feet to

hear the announcement and see the surfers come up to accept their prizes.

"In fifth place, with one hundred fifty points, Dirk Hallstead," the announcer called out.

The crowd went crazy as Dirk strolled up to accept his trophy. Dirk was a senior at SVH and had never competed before. Fifth was a huge accomplishment for him.

"In fourth place, with one hundred sixty points, Johnny Perez."

More applause. Elizabeth realized she was holding her breath and forced herself to inhale. She wrote down the names and the scores in her notebook, even though she could have gotten them online later. It was something to do while she waited for the big news.

"In third place, with one hundred eighty points, Gary Wallace!"

The crowd cheered loudly. Gary had been around for years and was an old fan fave.

"All right. This is it," Todd said, his voice tense.

"In second place, with two hundred thirty points..." The announcer fumbled with the microphone and there was a loud peal of feedback that

scraped along Elizabeth's nerves like fingernails on a blackboard. Everyone around her groaned. "Sorry about that, people," the announcer said. "In second place, Sonny Callahan. And our champion, with two hundred forty points and a bid to the state championship is... Will Chase!"

"Yes!" Elizabeth cheered as wild applause erupted around her. Todd grabbed her in a hug. A few of Will's more ardent friends and fans rushed forward to congratulate him. Before long they had hoisted him up on their shoulders, seated on his board, to parade him and his trophy through the crowd. The normally subdued Will raised his fist in the air and slapped hands with his well-wishers down below.

"So, what's your headline, Liz?" Enid asked giddily.

"I'm thinking...'Chase Can't Be Caught,'" Elizabeth replied. "Something like that."

"I like it!" Todd said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Check out the sore loser," George said.

Elizabeth followed his gaze. Sonny Callahan was reaming out the judges, his face red as spittle flew from his lips. Liz was happy to note that The

Oracle's photographer, Allen Walters, was getting a few shots of his display of poor sportsmanship, as well as a few choice ones of a triumphant Will. Just like that, Sonny's aura of confidence was blown and even Lila no longer seemed interested. Although for her it was probably more about the spittle than anything else.

In the midst of all the celebrating;, Cara found Elizabeth and her friends.

"Hey! Have you seen Jess? I can't believe she'd miss this," Cara said.

Elizabeth tried hard to hide her smirk. "Jessica couldn't make it. She wasn't feeling well."

"Are you kidding? For an event this big, that girl would rally through mono."

"True, but she wasn't about to show up here with ugly welts all over her," Elizabeth replied. "She does have a reputation to protect."

Cara's pert nose scrunched up in disgust. "Ew. What's wrong with her?"

"Just a raging case of poison oak," Elizabeth replied.

She didn't add that Jessica had caught it during her late-night trek through the woods with Scott

the past weekend. She was, after all, the only person in whom Jessica had confided the true story.

"Omigosh! She must be so upset! Missing this and the party tonight! She was so looking forward to it!" Cara said, briefly covering her mouth in shock. Then she leaned toward Elizabeth and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "So does she look really bad? Is it, like, all over her face?"

Elizabeth laughed. The fact that Cara was supposedly Jessica's best friend wouldn't even stop her from trying to get all the detailed dirt.

"She'll be fine," Elizabeth said, recalling Jessica's howls of rage when she'd realized that the small rash on her leg had blossomed into a full-blown case of itchiness everywhere. "I'm sure by Monday she'll be perfectly ready to function in normal society again."

Cara smirked. "That's
so
good to hear," she said. Then she turned and ran off toward her friends, no doubt to spread the story of Jessica Wakefield's hideous disfigurement.

"You could have played it down a
little
more," Todd scolded her as he watched Cara disappear into the crowd.

"I've done enough protecting of Jessica for one week," Elizabeth replied with a smile. She saw Lila cover her mouth and laugh at Cara's report as Caroline Pearce, another notorious gossip, leaned in to hear the news. "I'd say my work here is done."

DON'T MISS THE WAKEFIELD TWINS' CONTINUING STORY IN

FRANCINE PASCAL

SWEET VALLEY HIGH

Dangerous Love

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CHAPTER
1

"I don't understand why you suddenly have to take over the Jeep again," Jessica Wakefield grumbled, dropping into the passenger seat of the red auto she shared with her twin sister, Elizabeth.

"Where's Todd? I was getting used to driving myself to school."

"Todd has... other plans," Elizabeth replied, placing her bag in the back and blatantly avoiding eye contact. "And besides, I need the car after school. I'm covering a story for The Oracle."

Elizabeth slid into the driver's seat, checked all

the mirrors, and started the car. Instantly, the radio blared to life and Elizabeth jumped in surprise. She hit the Power button to silence the loud dance music Jessica had been listening to on every ride to school for the past two weeks.

"Does it have to be so loud?" Elizabeth admonished her, hand on her heart.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Grandma."

She turned the rearview mirror to her side and checked her makeup. Jessica had been running late and had dashed out of the Wakefield's split-level house without having time to perform her usual ritual in front of the bathroom mirror. Not that she really needed it. With her tan skin, naturally blond hair, big blue-green eyes, and athletic body, Jessica could go entirely without product and still be the hottest girl at Sweet Valley High. Or so her friends were always telling her.

"So, what's the big story?" Jessica asked. She actually had zero interest in her sister's journalistic pursuits, but they had to do something to fill the silence. She rummaged in her leather bag for her makeup kit and applied some blush to her cheeks as Elizabeth pulled out of the driveway.

"Can I please have the mirror back?" Elizabeth said testily, readjusting the rearview while Jessica was in mid-brush-swipe.

"God. You're obnoxious this morning," Jessica said. "So are you going to tell me, or not?"

"Tell you what?" Elizabeth asked as she came to the stop sign at the end of Calico Drive.

Jessica sighed impatiently. "What the story is about."

"Oh. I'm covering the reopening of the Valley Diner," Elizabeth said. "I figure I'll be able to pull double duty, since I'm running low on info for The Insider this week and a lot of people from school are going to be there."

"Yeah. All the losers," Jessica said, wrinkling her nose. "Everyone knows that Casa is the cool hangout now. The only people that are gonna be at the opening of that fat fest are the freshmen who are too intimidated to come to Casa del Sol, and the chunkies who have been salivating for the diner's chocolate milkshakes and cheese fries."

"One of your favorite meals until the place closed for renovations, as I recall," Elizabeth pointed out. "Are you calling yourself a chunky?"

"Liz! Take that back!" Jessica wailed, horrified. "I'm not chunky!"

"Hey, you said it, not me," Elizabeth replied with a short laugh.

Jessica slumped in her seat and stared petulantly out the window at the Pacific Ocean in the distance, the waves glinting in the sun. Even though it was only eight o'clock, the air was already pleasantly warm and a breeze ruffled the palm trees.
This is so unfair,
Jessica thought.
First Liz commandeers the car keys, and then she refuses to put the top down so as not to mess up her responsible ponytail; then she vetoes my music, and now she's picking on me.
She could have killed Liz's boyfriend, Todd Wilkins, for having "other plans."

"Hey, Liz. It's totally gorgeous out. Let's stop and take the top down," Jessica said.

"No. We'll be late," Elizabeth snapped.

"But I-"

"Jess! Give it up already!"

Jessica's jaw dropped. "Okay.
What
is with you this morning? It's a beautiful day and I'm just trying to have some fun before we're stuck in class for the rest of it! Why do you keep biting my head off?"

Elizabeth simply glowered out the windshield, and the answer hit Jessica like a brick to the head. Something was up between Elizabeth and Todd. Not only was he suddenly not picking Liz up for school, but a rift between the two members of SVH's über-couple was pretty much the only thing that could put her sister in this foul of a mood.

"Liz, is something going on with you and Todd?" Jessica asked.

"What? Why do you say that?" Elizabeth asked, her voice tense. Tense enough that Jessica knew she had hit the nail right on the head.

"What happened? Did you guys break up?" Jessica asked, concerned. Even though she often teased Elizabeth about her lovey-dovey relationship with the school's basketball and football star, she knew that Todd made Elizabeth happy, which made Jessica happy. Of course, if he hurt her sister, she would have to kill him, but that remained to be seen.

"No. Nothing like that," Elizabeth replied quickly, turning onto Main Street.

"But there's something," Jessica prompted.

Elizabeth heaved a sigh and looked at Jessica out of the corner of her eye. "He got a motorcycle."

"What?" Jessica blurted out, turning sideways in her seat. "No. He didn't. He's not that stupid."

"Apparently, he is," Elizabeth said through her teeth. Then she quickly backtracked. "I mean, he's not stupid. It's just... he's wanted one forever. He doesn't see them the same way we do. He thinks it's just going to be
so
much fun riding it up and down the coast...."

Jessica shook her head. If Todd thought a motorcycle was fun, then he was totally clueless. Motorcycles, in her opinion, were nothing but death traps.

"Anyway, he's driving it to school today," Elizabeth finished.

"Sometimes I really don't get that guy," Jessica said. "He's always walking around, talking about how much he loves you, but then he goes and puts his life at risk by buying this thing that he
knows
you can never be a part of. He didn't sell his car, did he? You guys will never go out alone together again!"

"I don't think he's sold his car yet," Elizabeth said. "And, Jess, he's not as heartless as you think

he is. He doesn't know about me not being allowed to get on a motorcycle."

"What? Why not?" Jessica asked.

"Because I didn't tell him yet. He thinks I'm as excited about the bike as he is."

"What?" Jessica cried. "Liz! You have to be kidding me! How could you?"

Lying was not a foreign concept to Jessica. She often stretched the truth when it served her purposes. She just couldn't believe that Liz had felt the need to lie about this, of all things, especially considering that lying usually was a last resort for her super-honest and respectable sister. Jessica would have expected her to be particularly forthcoming about this issue, considering what a huge one it was for their family. Jessica would love to see every motorcycle in the world banned from ever hitting pavement, and she had been sure Elizabeth felt the same way. Until now.

"Liz, you're not going to get on that thing, are you? I mean, after what happened to Rex-"

"I know, Jess. And trust me, I have no plans to go anywhere near the bike. We made a pact, remember?" Elizabeth said firmly. "I mean, honestly, it

makes me sick to even think of Todd driving around on one of those things, but what was I supposed to do? He's been dreaming of buying a motorcycle since he was a little kid. I couldn't just shatter his dream."