Out of Control Read online

  OUT OF CONTROL

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2015, Francine Pascal

  To Casey Bernstein

  OUT OF CONTROL

  "You seem to think that everyone owes you an apology these days, Aaron," Jeffrey responded hotly. "But maybe you're the one who should be doing it, like apologizing to Brad, for one!"

  "Oh, yeah? So now you're against me, too, right?"

  "Jeez, Aaron! Grow up, will you? Stop acting like a spoiled brat."

  Suddenly Aaron lost whatever control he had left, and before anyone realized what was happening, he threw himself at Jeffrey and punched him in the mouth.

  "Jeffrey!" Elizabeth screamed.

  The impact threw him backward into the crowd, and there was a moment of shocked silence. All eyes were on Aaron Dallas as he looked down at his best friend, an expression of utter disbelief and horror on his face.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  One

  Elizabeth Wakefield gave her golden-blond hair a final stroke with the brush and checked her watch: four o'clock, just enough time to get to school and catch the last few minutes of Jeffrey's soccer practice.

  The thought of spending even a little time watching her boyfriend brought a smile to her lips. She winked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and turned to walk back into her bedroom. But when she heard a sound behind the other connecting door, she changed her mind.

  "Hi, Jess! When did you get home?" she called, her hand on the knob.

  She paused for a moment, expecting an answer. But there was only silence from the other room. "I must be hearing things," she told herself. But she decided to check anyway and opened the door to her identical twin's room.

  Most people would be more than a little taken aback by Jessica Wakefield's room. One day, on a whim, Jessica had painted the walls dark brown. And to add to the dark, cavelike feeling, every surface was covered with clothes, magazines, Sweet Dreams romances, and more clothes. But Elizabeth was accustomed to "The Hershey Bar," as the room was known in her family, and she barely noticed it as she looked for her sister.

  Jessica was lying on her stomach on the floor beside the bed, propped up on her elbows. Her blond hair was falling forward into her face, and her long, denim-clad legs were stretched out behind her. She absentmindedly fingered the gold lavaliere that hung from her neck. It was identical to the one Elizabeth wore, and both were presents for their sixteenth birthday.

  Identical down to the dimples in their left cheeks, the two were separated in age by only four minutes. Elizabeth was the "big sister," and Jessica loved to tease her about it. But right then Jessica was absorbed in reading a multicolored brochure. She seemed oblivious to Elizabeth.

  The tail of a handsome golden Labrador puppy thumped softly on a pile of clothes in a corner.

  "Hi, Prince Albert!" Elizabeth called to the puppy.

  Prince Albert scrambled to his feet and ran over to greet her.

  "Who's the zombie over there?" she asked, picking him up.

  He licked her cheek, ecstactic to see her. Elizabeth sat down on the bed and scratched the puppy's ears. Still Jessica did not look up.

  "Jess, just what is so fascinating that you can't even say hello to your own sister?" She leaned over so she could read the artistically styled lettering on the leaflet: " 'Tofu-Glo'? What on earth is that?" Elizabeth asked.

  Heaving a sigh, Jessica finally tore her eyes away from her reading and looked up at her sister. "Tofu-Glo just happens to be a product that's going to make me a millionaire." With that startling announcement, she turned back to the brochure.

  Elizabeth let out a peal of astonished laughter. "Oh, really, Jess? And how is it going to do that?"

  "Don't laugh," Jessica said, the expression in her blue-green eyes serious as she pushed herself up from the floor. "It's really great. Tons of Tofu-Glo girls make thousands of dollars selling the stuff." She tossed the brochure into Elizabeth's lap then sat down on her bed, pulling Prince Albert toward her.

  "Tofu-Glo is a line of beauty and health products made from soybeans," she continued as she tickled Prince Albert's stomach. "It's totally natural, and people go crazy for it. I bet I can sell a hundred and thirty-seven tons of the stuff."

  Elizabeth shook her head in amazement as she hastily scanned the Tofu-Glo literature. It sounded a little fishy to her. Cosmetics made from soybeans? "Are you really serious?" she asked.

  Jessica nodded emphatically, her blue-green eyes wide with excitement. "Just read the whole thing, Liz, OK? There's shampoo and facial cleanser, moisturizer, and some kind of diet supplement."

  "Hmm. 'Tofu-Shampu,' 'Soya-Soft.' Jess, this stuff sounds disgusting!"

  "Just read it, please?"

  After a skeptical glance at her twin, Elizabeth turned her full attention to the Tofu-Glo brochure. There were testimonials from Tofu-Glo girls on how much money they made, and there were endorsements from satisfied customers. One woman claimed that Soya-Soft moisturizer had made all her wrinkles disappear, and a Tofu-Glo girl from San Diego said she was putting her son through college on her sales of Tofu-Shampu alone.

  The brochure made it sound as though selling the products and making lots of money were easy. But Elizabeth, a reporter for The Oracle, the school newspaper at Sweet Valley High, knew enough to be suspicious of anything that sounded so simple. Her reporter's instinct was on "red alert" instantly.

  On the other hand, if there was one person who would make a good salesperson, it had to be Jessica Wakefield. She could be funny, persuasive, and enthusiastic about anything she wanted anyone to do for her; Elizabeth knew that very well. More than once she had told herself not to agree to some plan of her twin's, but miraculously she would find herself up to her neck in it anyway. And, Elizabeth thought, if Jessica did try to sell health and beauty products, she had to be successful because she was so healthy and beautiful, a walking advertisement.

  Elizabeth cast a sidelong glance at her twin. They did look identical, but on the inside, they were as different as could be. Elizabeth liked to take things slowly, liked to follow conventional paths. But Jessica! Jessica was always jumping from one thing to another, her enthusiasm running in high gear all the time.

  Right then Jessica was looking at her hopefully, and Elizabeth realized that her opinion meant a lot to her twin. She drew a deep breath.

  "I know you'll be great," she said, giving her sister a big hug. "I'll even buy some of it myself."

  "I knew you'd see it my way," Jesscia said, jumping up in a rush. "For starters I'll have a Tofu-Glo party, you know, invite everybody over and tell them all about it. It'll be so much fun!" She paced back and forth in a burst of frenetic exuberance. "I thought I could invite all the girls from Pi Beta Alpha over a week from Wednesday. I'll have the party then."

  Elizabeth found herself getting caught up in Jessica's enthusiasm. She didn't even care that it would mean actually attending a sorority meeting. She usually avoided them. All that the PBA sorority did, in her opinion, was get together to gossip. She had joined because Jessica asked her to, but she had very little to do with it. "Good idea," she said. "But why wait until then? Can't you start sooner?"

  "I need to get my sales pitch ready. I don't want to start selling until I've got it perfect. Besides, by then I'll have my samples."

  That was a practical idea f
or Jessica, Elizabeth thought. It sounded as though her sister was giving her new project quite a lot of thought.

  "And I'll invite some girls who aren't in PBA, too. I want to have everybody I know come."

  Prince Albert, caught up in their excitement, looked eagerly from one girl to the other. He let out an enthusiastic yip. The twins laughed, and as Jessica sat down again on the bed, they continued planning.

  "Will you go door-to-door, too?" Elizabeth asked. "You'll have to rehearse your sales pitch, so you sound professional."

  "Oh, right. You can help me with that, Liz." Jessica looked eagerly into her sister's face and bit her lower lip. "I really want to be good."

  "You will be, Jess. I know you will."

  "There's only one problem," she said, nervously pleating the material of her bedspread. She looked up quickly. "I need a hundred and fifty dollars to buy the starter kit, and I've only got a hundred. So can I borrow fifty dollars?" she finished in a rush, her face a picture of anxious anticipation.

  Elizabeth's heart sank. She knew that when Jessica borrowed money she meant to pay it back, but somehow she almost never did. It wasn't that Elizabeth wasn't glad to help her twin, but it took a lot of baby-sitting to make fifty dollars.

  Obviously, Jessica knew her well enough to sense the hesitation Elizabeth felt. "OK, forget it. It doesn't matter," she cried, turning away melodramatically. "I'll have to ask Lila, I guess."

  "Jessica, you know perfectly well you'd never borrow money from Lila Fowler." Jessica's friend was one of the richest girls in Sweet Valley, and she never let Jessica forget it.

  Jessica pouted. "Well it's not as if she couldn't afford to lend me fifty dollars."

  "But, Jess, why do you have to start out by handing over a hundred and fifty dollars? It doesn't make much sense to me."

  "But I'll make it all back selling just a third of the stuff I get. Really!" Jessica grabbed her sister's hand. "Please, Lizzie? I'll pay you right back, I swear!"

  "OK, OK! I give up!" Elizabeth laughed. "I can't have you begging in the streets, can I?" she teased.

  "Oh, I knew you would!" Jessica was instantly happy again. "That means I can get started right away. I'll call them right now and tell them I'm signing up." She began tossing her clothes around, searching for her telephone. "Hey, look! Here's that scarf I thought I lost," she announced.

  Elizabeth laughed and stood up, suddenly realizing how late she would be meeting Jeffrey. "OK, young Miss Entrepreneur, I'll give you the money tomorrow. See you later."

  She left her sister trying to find the phone by tracing the cord from the wall. She then ran down the stairs and out the door. Within minutes she was driving the red Fiat convertible that she and Jessica shared down the tree-lined streets of Sweet Valley, and she smiled to herself as she looked around. Elizabeth loved their quiet California town. It was big enough to be interesting and exciting, yet small enough so that everyone felt like a neighbor. She told herself for the thousandth time that she would never want to live anywhere else.

  Soon she turned into the Sweet Valley High driveway and deftly pulled the Fiat into a parking spot.

  As she made her way across campus to the playing fields, she thought again about Jessica's new scheme. Her sister was always getting involved in one money-making scheme after another. Like the time in the sixth grade, when she was supposed to take care of a neighbor's dog for a few days. But she managed to sneak off to a concert, and the dog ran away unnoticed. That was a nightmare! Maybe this time things would be different. Tofu products might be strange, but then, Elizabeth reminded herself, people would buy almost anything.

  Coach Horner's whistle blew shrilly as Elizabeth climbed up into the bleachers, her steps making a dull thunk-clunk on the wooden treads. Her eyes darted over the field, following the players as they raced back and forth with the soccer ball.

  Finally she saw the tall, athletic figure of Jeffrey French, and her heart gave a delighted little thump. They had been going out for a few months, since shortly after Jeffrey moved to Sweet Valley from Oregon.

  She had never dreamed they'd fall in love. But she and Jeffrey had been irresistibly drawn to each other, and now she couldn't imagine not loving him.

  As if he felt her looking at him, Jeffrey glanced up from the field and caught her eye. He gave her a friendly salute, then turned just in time to block a pass with his outstretched foot. Elizabeth laughed admiringly and then whistled through her fingers. Jeffrey looked up again and grinned.

  "Hey, I thought I might find you here," a familiar voice called up to her from below.

  Elizabeth's face lit up. "Enid! Come on up. I've got a great view."

  "Yeah, and I can guess what the view is of." Elizabeth's best friend laughed as she climbed up the bleachers.

  Enid Rollins sat down and dropped her book bag on the step in front of them. She brushed her brown hair away from her forehead and surveyed the playing field with her green eyes. "He really looks great, Liz. I don't know how you always manage to get the cutest guy around, but you do."

  "Oh, you poor thing," Elizabeth said, teasing her. "Remember, you had your chance." When Jeffrey had first moved to town, Elizabeth concocted a scheme to fix Enid up with him. The plan had backfired, but Enid hadn't minded at all. It was still a good joke between them, though.

  For a few moments the two girls sat in companionable silence, watching the boys below them. They exchanged a few comments as the scrimmage continued, first on one side then the other. The team was good this year, thanks to Aaron Dallas, the co-captain of the squad. He was a natural at soccer. Whenever his side scored, he was generally the point maker.

  Although she usually only watched Jeffrey, Elizabeth found herself observing Aaron more and more. "If we win the finals this year, it'll be because of Aaron," she commented, watching him block a pass with his knee and bounce the ball expertly onto his instep.

  As Aaron carefully herded the ball down the field, watching for an opening, Tony Esteban slipped in ahead of him and stole the ball. There was a brief scramble, and the ball went out of bounds.

  "It's out on Dallas!" called Tony.

  Aaron whirled around to face him. "Are you blind? It went out on you!"

  Tony shrugged and shook his head. "No way, Dallas." He turned and walked away.

  With an angry cry Aaron raced after Tony and pulled him around. "What do you think you're doing, calling a foul on me?"

  The rest of the players crowded around, and Elizabeth and Enid leaned forward, trying to make out what was going on. All they could hear was Aaron Dallas, yelling and swearing at Tony.

  "What's going on down there?" asked Enid. "Did Tony do something to Aaron?"

  Elizabeth shook her head impatiently. "I think they just collided. I'm not really sure."

  But apparently Aaron was not going to take the call, and he kept yelling at Tony, demanding that he agree. Coach Horner was running toward the knot of soccer players as Jeffrey French stepped forward and took Aaron's arm. Elizabeth couldn't hear Jeffrey's words, but he was obviously trying to calm Aaron down.

  The two boys moved away from the other players. Aaron was gesturing angrily and pointing back at Tony as Jeffrey led him away.

  "OK!" yelled Coach Horner, stepping into the group. "Time to pack it in! Hit the showers!"

  By ones and twos the soccer players drifted away from the crowd and headed for the gym and locker room. The coach stalked over to Aaron and Jeffrey, and the three had a short, obviously tense conference. Then the two boys started for the locker room.

  "I can't believe it!" Elizabeth said finally, shaking her head impatiently. "Aaron has been acting weird lately! Remember the way he got so upset when someone stepped on his foot at Lila's party?"

  Enid nodded slowly. "I know. I don't know what it is, but he's been angry at everybody. The other day I saw him arguing with Robin Wilson. He said she cheated off him on a math test, and she told me later she had just leaned down to pick up her pencil! Something must really be bothering h
im."

  With a momentary pang of sympathy, Elizabeth remembered that there was something: She knew Aaron was having some sort of family problems. Jeffrey had told her that a few days before, and he said that it might be serious. But whatever it was, Aaron had been getting more and more short-tempered. Now it seemed that almost anything could infuriate him.

  And it was hurting him, too. He used to be popular and friendly, but now he was only angry, impatient, and defensive. A lot of people were getting tired of his irrationality and hypersensitivity. Aaron was slowly losing all his friends.

  Except for Jeffrey French. He and Aaron had met at a soccer camp the previous summer, before Jeffrey moved to Sweet Valley. There was a special bond between them.

  Now it seemed that Jeffrey was the only one willing to put up with Aaron, the only one willing to give him a chance. And that was worrying Elizabeth more and more. She sympathized with Aaron over his family problems, but she could not forgive him for letting his emotions run so wild. It was irritating to see him not even try to control his temper.

  It would be one thing if it had hurt only him. But almost everyone at Sweet Valley High had been affected by his temper recently. And he seemed to expect sympathy, no matter what he had done. Elizabeth Wakefield used to like Aaron a lot. But her sympathy was running out now. She watched her boyfriend and Aaron as they disappeared through the locker room door.

  "You don't know how lucky you are," she muttered.

  "Huh?"

  Elizabeth turned to Enid and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'm just being grumpy." She nodded in the direction of the gym. "Jeffrey spends a lot of time with Aaron, that's all. And half the time now, I don't think Aaron deserves a friend like him."

  Two

  "Stop pacing, Liz. You're making me dizzy."

  Elizabeth shot Enid a guilty smile and tried to calm down. For some reason, Aaron's near-fight on the soccer field had left her worried and agitated. They were outside the boys' locker room, waiting for Jeffrey to come out.