SVH08-Heartbreaker (10 page)

Mr. Gordon came up and shook Jessica's hand. "You gave a fine performance, dear. Keep up the good work."

Then he was gone, swallowed up by the crowd. Jessica blinked in astonishment. There was some kind of huge commotion going on over by Bill Chase. Mr. Gordon was pumping his hand, and Bill wore a dazed, happy look. DeeDee was hugging him. In a loud, excited voice, she cried, "I
knew
it! I just knew it had to be you!"

Jessica refused to believe it. There had to be some mistake. Everyone was congratulating Bill because they wanted to save him from disappointment when Mr. Gordon made the announcement it was
her
he'd picked. Of course, that had to be it....

Lila swooped down on her. "Can you

believe it? Bill Chase a movie star? They should put it on 'That's Incredible!' "

But Jessica wasn't listening. She just stood there, gaping at the drama unfolding around Bill, a sense of outrage growing within her. It wasn't fair! She was a million times more talented than Bill. How could they do this to her? How could they--

Elizabeth touched her sister's arm, jolting her back to reality. "I'm sorry, Jess. I really am."

Jessica turned on her, eyes glittering with unshed tears. "Say it, why don't you? Say I told you so.' "

"Look," Elizabeth said softly, "we all make mistakes. I'm not going to rub your nose in it."

Jessica's mouth narrowed to a hard line. "The only mistake I made was letting that DeeDee get her hooks into Bill. It's all her fault. She probably nagged her father into picking Bill. I'm positive I would have been his first choice if she hadn't gotten in the way."

Recognizing the look in her sister's eyes, Elizabeth said in a low voice, "Don't do it. Leave Bill alone. You've tortured him enough already. Let DeeDee have him now. She really loves him."

Jessica hadn't heard one word. She was already sailing off in Bill and DeeDee's direction, primed for attack.

She was momentarily detoured from her

track, however, by Tom McKay, who had come backstage to see her. "You were great, Jess," he said.

Distracted, Jessica tried to smile. Her thoughts were no longer on Tom. "Oh, uh, thanks."

"Will you be ready to go soon?"

Damn! Jessica thought. In all the excitement she had forgotten she had invited Tom to go with her to the cast party. She had to get out of it somehow. "I don't know how much longer I'll have to hang around here. It may be awhile. Anyway, I can't drive over with you. I had to get here early, so I took the Fiat." She gave Bill her most brilliant smile. "Why don't you just go on ahead? I'll meet you over there."

Tom looked annoyed, but he shrugged and said, "OK. I'll see you there."

Giving Tom one last dazzling smile, Jessica headed toward Bill.

Thirteen

"Congratulations, Bill," Jessica purred. "I just heard the news. It's a funny thing, but I had this feeling all along it was going to be you." She angled herself so that she stood between Bill and DeeDee. Her back was facing DeeDee.

"Thanks, Jessica," Bill said, acknowledging her congratulations with a solemn nod. "But I can't believe this. I never thought Mr. Gordon would single me out."

"Of course,
you
wouldn't think so. That would be conceited, and you're certainly not like that."

The funny part was, Jessica was actually starting to believe the flattery she was heaping on Bill. The edge had worn off her anger, and she was beginning to see him in a new light. He was actually much handsomer than she'd ever realized. Had his eyes always been so blue? She could imagine him blown up a hundred

times on a movie screen. With his light blond hair, he could almost be a young Robert Redford.

Yes, Elizabeth was right. She'd tortured him long enough. Now she was playing for keeps. Glancing over her shoulder, she was gratified to see that DeeDee wore a very worried look.

Jessica hooked her arm through Bill's. "You deserved it--more than anybody. Your kind of talent doesn't come along every day." She was glad to see she still had the power to make Bill blush.

"Well, we'll see," he said cautiously. "Mr. Gordon is going to set me up for a couple of screen tests. Until then, nothing's for sure."

"Oh, I just know you'll be great. Someday you're going to be a big star. You might even have your own fan club here at Sweet Valley High."

Bill shifted uncomfortably at the thought of becoming famous. "Yeah, well, like I said, we'll see. Nothing's set. I want to finish school before I make any big decisions about the future."

"If your invitation is still open to take me to the party, we could talk about it some more then," Jessica cooed. "I'm simply
dying
to hear all about your plans. Also, while we're on the subject--what are you doing next Saturday? I thought maybe we could do something to celebrate your success."

Bill didn't say anything. He just stood there, gaping at Jessica in astonishment. He didn't

notice when DeeDee slipped away, her eyes glistening with tears. Jessica did, though.

Serves her right,
Jessica thought. If it hadn't been for DeeDee's interference,
she
would be having those screen tests instead of Bill.

"Jessica, I can't go to the party with you," Bill said. "I--" He looked around for DeeDee, but she'd disappeared.

Jessica plunged in, saying, "Never mind. I'll meet you there, OK? We can make all our plans then. See you!" She blew him a kiss before whirling off in the opposite direction.

The party was being held at Lila Fowler's estate. Jessica had planned to make a grand entrance--the soon-to-be-superstar. Riding on Bill's glory would be a poor substitute, but it would have to suffice for the moment.

Outside, she breezed past DeeDee, who was sitting on a bench near the darkened gym, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. Jessica felt a momentary twinge of pity, which she quickly brushed away.

DeeDee was only getting what she deserved, she reminded herself.

DeeDee didn't know how long she'd been sitting outside. She shivered. It was starting to get chilly, and she'd forgotten to bring a sweater. Oh, well, what difference did it make? Forgetting that it seldom dropped below fifty degrees

in Sweet Valley this time of year, she decided she didn't care if she froze to death.

She should have known it was too good to have lasted with Bill. The only reason he'd paid so much attention to her this past week was because Jessica had been ignoring him. Now that Jessica had switched on the charm machine again, DeeDee didn't stand a chance. What had ever made her think she could compete with the dazzling Jessica Wakefield in the first place?

"I know how you feel," a quiet voice said.

Startled, DeeDee looked over to see that Roger Barrett had sat down next to her. Feeling embarrassed, she brushed her wet cheeks with the back of her hand.

"H-how do you know?" she asked.

Roger pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. "I may be invisible to most of the kids, but that doesn't mean I'm blind. I've seen the way it is when you're with Bill. I guess you notice stuff like that when you're in the same position."

"What do you mean?" DeeDee stared at Roger in surprise. He'd always seemed so shy and secretive. She couldn't believe he was talking like this.

He shrugged. "Lila and me, in case you haven't already guessed. I know she'd probably laugh in my face if she knew how I felt about her. I'll bet you probably think I'm crazy, too."

"I don't think you're crazy, Roger."

"I guess that's why I'm telling you all this. When you're in the same position as someone, you understand how that person feels."

DeeDee let out a long breath. "For a while I thought I had a chance. I really had myself convinced he'd forgotten about Jessica. But who could forget about Jessica?"

"She's not exactly the invisible type," Roger agreed. "But maybe it's, you know, one of those passing things."

"Maybe," DeeDee said, a bitter note creeping into her voice. "But I'm not going to sit around and wait for anybody. I have my pride."

Roger nodded sympathetically, and she had the feeling he really did understand. DeeDee sat straight, squaring her shoulders. She blew her nose into the tissue that was balled up in her fist.

"Are you going to the party?" she asked

him.

"I--I wasn't planning to."

"Why not?"

He paused, staring off into the darkness. Finally he confessed, "I don't have a ride."

"You can ride with me."

"You're going?"

She smiled weakly. "I wasn't planning to, either--until just a minute ago. But I can't go around hiding my head every time something doesn't work out the way I want it to."

Roger remained hesitant. "I don't know,

DeeDee. I feel like such a nothing around Lila. I'm sure nobody wants me there."

"Don't be silly, Roger." DeeDee gave him an unsteady smile as she pushed herself to her feet. "Besides, they say misery loves company. Let's see if it's true."

Fourteen

"Forget it, Jess, I'm not going to that party." Elizabeth was sitting on her bed, writing in her journal.

"Come on, Lizzie," Jessica cajoled. "You know I never have as much fun when you're not there. Besides, I
need
you."

"Why don't you get Tom to take you?"

Jessica didn't want to admit that she'd called her date with Tom off at the last minute--now that she had her sights set on Bill.

"Tom and I are finished," she confessed with a little hitch in her voice. Well, at least it
would
be true after that night. "And I should think you'd have a little more sympathy for me after what I've been through." She sniffled once for effect.

"I know how disappointed you are," Elizabeth said, softening. "But look at it this way-- you don't have to give up acting just because

you lost out on one opportunity. There are bound to be other ones if you keep at it."

"Easy for you to say. You're the one with all the talent," Jessica replied hopelessly.

"Well, I certainly don't expect my first book to be a best seller! I'll be lucky just to get it published. Besides, if you weren't talented, Mr. Jaworski would never have cast you in the lead in the first place."

"He probably did only because he felt sorry for me."

"Come off it, Jess. Don't make me laugh."

"I can't believe how selfish you're being, Liz," Jessica exploded. "Don't you care one bit about my feelings? How do you expect me to face everyone alone after the way I've been humiliated?" Her eyes brimmed with tears.

Elizabeth relented with a sigh. She rose to place a consoling arm about her sister's shoulders. "I do understand. Honestly I do. But I just can't bear the thought of seeing Todd there."

"What's one crummy boyfriend compared to a whole Hollywood career down the tubes?"

"I know it doesn't sound like much to you, but I really loved Todd. I still do, if you want to know the truth."

"Even after what he did to you?"

"I know it sounds weird, but I guess love is like that."

"Well, even so, you can't go on avoiding

him forever. How much longer do you think you can stay home sick from school?"

"That's not fair," Elizabeth protested. "I really
was
sick this week."

True, she thought, it might have been brought on partly by her misery over Todd, but she had been running a low-grade fever. She still felt a little sick to her stomach, too-- especially when she thought about Todd and Patsy.

Nonetheless, she recognized the truth in what Jessica was saying. She couldn't go on avoiding Todd forever the way she'd done this week, simply ducking his calls by having her mother say she was too ill to come to the phone. And if Todd and Patsy were in love with each other, she'd better start getting used to the idea, no matter how much it hurt.

"You're not sick anymore," Jessica pointed out impatiently.

"Oh, all right. I'll go." Elizabeth gave a long sigh. Once again, she was bailing her twin out. Once at the party, Elizabeth was sure Jessica would forget all about her, leaving her to deal with Todd alone.

She stood and shook a fist at her sister. "You
really
owe me one for this, Jess!"

Jessica wore her most angelic expression. "Why, Liz, you sound as if I ask for favors all the time."

Elizabeth gave an exasperated groan. She

loved her sister better than anyone, but there were times when she could have cheerfully tossed her into a tank of man-eating sharks.

The Fowler mansion was enormous. Elizabeth couldn't help thinking, as they pulled up in front of it, that three houses the size of the Wakefields' own comfortable split-level could have easily fit into this impressive building.

A uniformed maid ushered the twins into' a huge living room carpeted ankle-deep in champagne-colored shag. The party was already in full swing. A bunch of kids were dancing. Elizabeth felt a stab of jealousy as she watched a couple with their arms twined about each other's waist. She and Todd had once danced that way, oblivious to the rest of the world.

"Hi, Liz, I didn't know you were coming!" a girl's voice chirped.

Elizabeth swiveled about, neatly spilling the root beer Jessica had thrust into her hand before rushing off. Patsy! She looked stunning in a low-cut halter-top jumpsuit made of some shimmery, peach-colored fabric.

"Uh, hi," Elizabeth muttered, wishing the floor would open up to swallow her.

"Have you seen Todd?" Patsy asked, seemingly oblivious to Elizabeth's torture. "He said he was going out to get something from his car.

I just thought you might have run into him on your way in."

Elizabeth couldn't believe it. How could anyone be so insensitive? Tears stung her eyes. It had been a mistake to come here after all. Right now, all she wanted to do w
^a
s escape.

"Excuse me." She pushed past Patsy, heading back toward the front door.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Jessica, sitting next to Bill on the couch, working her spell on him. Elizabeth knew she should tell her sister she was leaving, but she didn't think that in her present state she could handle another argument. Besides, knowing her sister, Jessica would have at least a dozen ride offers by the end of the evening.