Troublemaker

  TROUBLEMAKER

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2015, Francine Pascal

  TROUBLEMAKER

  If anyone had told Julie five minutes ago that she'd stick around at Casey's with Bruce Patman instead of walking home with Elizabeth and Josh, she wouldn't have believed it. But Bruce was being so friendly. How could she pass up this chance to spend some time with him?

  Shyly, Julie looked up at Bruce. Now that they were alone, he seemed even more gentle. "Josh is a good guy," he said.

  "Yes," Julie said in a soft voice.

  "Is he your, you know . . ." Bruce let his question trail off.

  "Boyfriend? No," Julie replied, realizing as soon as she said it that she'd jumped a little too fast to finish his sentence. "We're just good friends. Our parents are close, and we live next door to each other."

  "Uh-huh," Bruce said, nodding. "That's good."

  Julie swallowed and tried to compose herself to ask her next question. "Wh-what do you mean, Bruce?"

  When Bruce turned to face her, his dark eyes seemed to burn right into hers. "I might as well ask you now. I've been meaning to ever since I saw you by your locker a couple of days ago."

  Julie held her breath. Suddenly she felt a little light-headed.

  "I know it's short notice," Bruce continued, "but would you like to go out on Friday night?"

  Julie thought she must be dreaming. She didn't even have time to think before an ecstatic "Yes!" flew out of her mouth. She'd never been more sure about anything in her life—or more deliriously happy.

  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

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  One

  "Arghhh!"

  It never seemed to fail. Just when Elizabeth Wakefield got to the end of a beautiful melody on her recorder, she hit a clinker of a note.

  Well, at least no one can hear me, she thought, looking around the soundproof practice room. For the last week she and Julie Porter had been playing duets in this room after school. At first Elizabeth had felt a little intimidated about learning the recorder from Julie. After all, Julie was one of the most talented musicians at Sweet Valley High. But Julie had turned out to be a wonderful teacher, patient and encouraging, and Elizabeth felt comfortable playing in front of her. This week Elizabeth was determined to learn her parts perfectly, and it was worth giving up her lunch period on Monday to do it.

  With a sigh she put the long wooden instrument to her lips again, took a deep breath, and blew.

  As the door to the practice room flew open, the only sound that came out of the recorder was a loud, embarrassing squawk!

  "Liz, you're just as bad as I was!" Jessica Wakefield remarked as she walked into the room.

  "Well, if you hadn't barged in—"

  Elizabeth turned to frown at her twin sister, ready to give her a lecture on respecting privacy. But when she saw how excited Jessica was, she just couldn't be annoyed anymore. Obviously there was something on her twin's mind that couldn't wait—something of absolute, earth-shaking importance, which, for Jessica, usually meant a new outfit or a cute guy who had started paying attention to her.

  "Can we talk?" Jessica asked. She pulled up a chair, not waiting for an answer.

  Elizabeth nodded. She knew she would hear every last detail no matter what she said. When her twin wanted to say something, she didn't let anything get in her way. It was just part of Jessica's personality. From a one-to-one conversation to the largest party, Jessica never failed to make herself the center of attention.

  There was no one in the world whom Elizabeth felt closer to than Jessica. But even though they were twins, she couldn't imagine two people being more different—at least, in personality and interests—on the outside, Elizabeth knew that she and Jessica looked exactly alike. The hair that cascaded just past Jessica's shoulders was the same sun-streaked blond as Elizabeth's, her eyes the same sparkling blue-green. Every feature and every last detail matched, from their size-six figures to the dimples in their left cheeks. It was enough to keep classmates and teachers confused about who was whom.

  "Liz, I have great news," Jessica blurted. "Guess who's going to be the biggest star in Sweet Valley High stage history!"

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. She hoped it wasn't another one of Jessica's crazy schemes to become a famous actress. How could she ever forget Jessica's debut in a drama club production—and the look of devastation on her face when DeeDee Gordon's movie-agent father had passed over Jessica and offered a screen test to her costar, Bill Chase?

  "I thought Splendor in the Grass had gotten the theater bug out of your system," Elizabeth said.

  Jessica shook her head. "That was just a warm-up. This really sounds like the role of a lifetime. It not only requires great acting, but dancing, too."

  "Dancing? But you—"

  "DeeDee Gordon told me all about it. She's the new president of the drama club. So I said that I knew ballet, and she mentioned it to Mr. Jaworski." Her face lit up. Mr. Jaworski was the drama coach. "And he personally asked me to come to the audition on Thursday! Isn't that great?"

  Elizabeth laughed. "Jess, have you forgotten? You haven't taken ballet in years!"

  "Oh, that won't really matter. I mean, we still have the barre set up in the basement, so I can practice from now till the audition. And besides, there's probably no one else trying out. DeeDee told me they wanted to cast it from the regular drama club members, but no one knew ballet. And there was no general audition notice. You know what that means. I have the inside track!"

  The twins had both studied ballet when they were twelve years old. Elizabeth remembered the agony of doing endless pliés, relevés, and arabesques at Madame André's dance school. Leave it to Jessica to think she can pick it all back up in four days, Elizabeth thought. "I don't know about this, Jess. Are you sure you can do it?"

  "Oh, Liz! Where's your sense of adventure? Really, sometimes I find it hard to believe that you and I are related."

  Elizabeth smiled and nodded in agreement. For every ounce of enthusiasm Jessica had, Elizabeth had an equal ounce of common sense. Not only did it show in their personalities, but also in their style of dress. While Jessica wore trendy clothes, Elizabeth tended to be more casual and conservative. The two of them often joked that because Elizabeth had been born four minutes earlier than Jessica, she was more mature. Not that Elizabeth didn't have fun, but to her, fun didn't necessarily mean socializing and shopping. Elizabeth preferred to spend her free time reading, writing for The Oracle, Sweet Valley High's newspaper, or having long conversations with her best friend, Enid Rollins, or her steady boyfriend, Jeffrey French.

  "Forget that I said that, Jess. Knowing you, I'm sure you can do it," Elizabeth said. "What play is it?"

  "You Can't Take It With You. It's supposed to be a classic."

  "You mean you haven't read it? How do you know what the part's like?"

  Jessica laughed. "How could I have read it, Liz? I just heard about the audition today!"

  Elizabeth nodded. "That's true. But aren't you going to go to the library and at least read the play?"

  "Yeah, right, Liz. I'm going to spend time reading when my poor body has four years of catching up to do in ballet! This is going to take all my time and concentration, Liz. Practicing in every spare moment, strict dietin
g. . . ." With a sigh she rested her elbows on her knees and propped her chin up in her hands. "There's one problem, though."

  "What's that?"

  "Callbacks are the same night as the big Phi Epsilon party at Bruce Patman's house. Doesn't that figure? I mean, what am I going to do if I have to miss it?"

  "Jess, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to shower and change beforehand. The party's not till eight, and the audition is probably right after school. Besides . . ." Elizabeth paused. She knew she had to phrase her next words carefully. "I don't mean to be negative or anything, but don't you think you're jumping the gun a little bit? I mean, you don't know for sure that you'll even make the callback."

  "Not make the callback?" Jessica's face showed wounded pride for a split second. Then she jumped up from the chair and put her feet in a perfect fifth position as she smiled at Elizabeth. "You must be kidding, Liz! Look at my form." She raised her chin in the air and leaned forward into an arabesque. It looked a little lopsided to Elizabeth, but she thought it best to keep her mouth shut. "Watch out, Baryshnikov, here I come!" Jessica proclaimed, sailing out of the practice room as quickly as she had come in.

  Elizabeth turned back to her music. As she lifted her recorder to her lips, she couldn't help thinking that her sister was setting herself up for a big disappointment. Although with Jessica, you never knew. When she wanted something, she usually got it, whether it was a new outfit, a new boyfriend, or a part in the school play. Shaking her head, Elizabeth thought, Wouldn't it be just like her to actually get the part?

  "I found this great new program," Johanna Porter said to her sister, Julie, as they walked down the hall. "Much better than the primitive one I showed you before. You can write music directly into the computer, and it's all driven by pull-down menus. You can even hook up a digital sampler and play right into the program—and you can correct your mistakes!"

  "Whoa, wait a minute," Julie said with a laugh as she stopped in front of her locker. "I have no idea what you're talking about. What language are you speaking?" Johanna's transformation still amazed Julie. It wasn't long ago that her sister had been a high-school dropout, waitressing at a local restaurant. As the only one in the Porter family without musical ability, Johanna had felt incredibly inferior. But when she decided to give school another try, she discovered her hidden talents in science and technology. And now Julie was convinced that Johanna was turning into a computer engineer!

  "Sorry," Johanna said, an embarrassed smile on her face. "I'll demonstrate it for you at home. I just know this will help your music writing."

  Julie's face lit up with a fond smile as she looked into her sister's green eyes. She thought about how much their lives had changed since their mother's tragic death in an auto collision over six months before. When she was alive, the sound of Mrs. Porter's beautiful operatic voice had filled their house every day. After the accident, the house had seemed eerily quiet. But both girls had come a long way since then.

  Julie was proud that her sister had pulled herself together and returned to school. Johanna had done it because she knew it had been her mother's deepest wish. But Julie often still felt stung by the tragedy. Her mother had always been the person she turned to whenever she was confused or depressed. Lately Julie had plunged into her music, practicing piano longer and harder than ever. It was so much easier to play what she was feeling rather than to open up to other people. All her life she had been labeled the shy, sensitive type. It wasn't that she didn't like other kids—she just didn't feel comfortable hanging out in big groups. There were always one or two close friends in her life, preferably ones who shared her love of music, such as Elizabeth Wakefield, her newest friend. Actually, Elizabeth and Julie had known each other for years. They had been very good friends back in Sweet Valley Middle School. But they had started hanging out with different crowds when they reached high school, and it was only in the last few weeks that they had grown close again. Julie was finally starting to feel she could really talk to Elizabeth about whatever was on her mind.

  "Uh, sure, Johanna," Julie said. "I'd love to look at the program. Maybe after dinner. I'm going over to Elizabeth's to play duets in a few minutes."

  "OK. I'll ask Dad if I can set it up for you on his computer. See you later!"

  As Johanna disappeared down the hallway, Julie reached into her locker for her history book.

  Suddenly she heard Elizabeth's voice behind her. "Don't try to hide from me, Julie. I mean, I know I make a lot of mistakes, but you agreed to practice with me today!"

  "Oh, hi, Liz!" Julie answered. "Don't worry, I'm not hiding. Just give me a couple of minutes to get organized." The petite redhead stretched up on her toes to get a look at the top shelf. From a messy pile of loose-leaf papers, notebooks, and music manuscripts, she pulled out her book of recorder duets.

  "Hey, I wonder what those guys are up to," Elizabeth said.

  "What guys?" Julie asked.

  "Bruce Patman, Ronnie Edwards, and Winston Egbert. They're standing around the corner in their Phi Epsilon jackets, staring at the lockers and laughing as if something really hysterical just happened."

  Julie shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows?" She reached all the way to the back of the top shelf to grab her recorder case. "You know, they really don't make these lockers for short people. OK, I think I've finally got all my stuff. Ready?"

  Elizabeth nodded. "I've already practiced a lot since last time."

  "Great! I just found an incredibly gorgeous Renaissance piece that we could work on next. It's a lot harder, but—"

  Suddenly Julie stopped talking. With a quizzical look she turned around toward the lockers.

  "Did you forget something?" Elizabeth asked.

  "No," Julie replied. She shrugged her shoulders. "I must be hearing things. I could have sworn I heard a noise coming from one of the lockers."

  Elizabeth laughed. "Well, I'm sure you'll be hearing lots of strange noises, as soon as I start playing."

  "Oh, come on, Elizabeth. You're starting to play really well. And I'm having a great time playing with you. You know, it's strange, but even though I come from a family of musicians, we all play alone. Dad's always in his study learning some new piece for the orchestra, and when Mom was alive she'd practice her singing all day, and I spend a lot of time on the piano. So I really look forward to our duets."

  As they started down the hallway toward the front door of the school, a loud thumping noise made them stop in their tracks, and they both turned back to face the row of lockers.

  "There it is again," Julie said. "And it did come from inside a locker!"

  "Come on, let me out!" a muffled voice cried.

  Julie and Elizabeth exchanged confused glances.

  "What in the world . . ." Elizabeth muttered. Before she could say another word, the sound of laughter rang out from the other end of the hallway.

  The two girls looked over and saw Bruce, Winston, and Ronnie run around the corner in an attempt to hide.

  "Haven't I been in here long enough, guys? Where are you?" the voice in the locker pleaded.

  The laughing around the corner grew louder, and then someone said, "Go ahead, Egbert. You get him!"

  Then, stumbling as if he had been pushed, Winston Egbert appeared in the hallway. Tall, gangly Winston was known as the junior class clown.

  "Oh, uh, hi, Elizabeth. Hi, Julie. What's happening?" he asked, nervously running his fingers through his hair as he backed across the hallway toward the mysterious voice.

  "I was just going to ask you that same question, Winston," Elizabeth replied.

  "Oh! You must mean the, um, voice in there," he said, gesturing toward the locker.

  "Mm-hmm," Elizabeth said, sounding suspicious. "You haven't become a ventriloquist, have you?"

  Julie knew Winston liked practical jokes, but trapping someone in a locker was definitely too mean a trick for him to think of doing. "Winston, tell me that's a tape recording playing in there," she said.

  "Uh, well,
no," Winston answered, looking uncomfortable. "It's just a little joke, really. You see, it's pledging time for Phi Epsilon, and, well—"

  A deep, assertive voice cut him off. "Terrific, Egbert! Talk to the girls while we're all waiting for you!"

  They turned to see tall, athletic Bruce Patman striding toward them, glaring at Winston. Bruce belonged to one of Sweet Valley's wealthiest families, and it showed. He walked with a self-confident swagger, as if he owned the school. Aside from his fraternity jacket, everything he wore was the best, the most expensive, right down to his gold watch and his Italian glove-leather loafers. Right behind Bruce was Ronnie Edwards, doubled over with laughter. Ronnie was just as arrogant as Bruce. Elizabeth didn't like either of them.

  Bruce shook his head as he passed Winston. "While you're running off at the mouth, the poor guy is going to die in there!"

  Twirling the combination, Bruce yanked open the locker. A tall boy with brown hair peered out, his body scrunched up and drenched with sweat. His face turned beet red when he saw the two girls.

  Julie's eyes widened with recognition. "Josh!" she exclaimed.

  Josh Bowen flashed a sheepish smile as he squeezed out of the locker. "Hi, Julie."

  "Cozy in there, huh, Bowen?" Bruce said to him with a smirk.

  Josh smoothed down his shirt and stretched his arms over his head. "It really wasn't that bad."

  "Well, I'm glad you feel that way," Bruce said smoothly, "because we have a whole list of activities planned for you out in back of school."

  Josh gave a subdued nod. "Sure, Bruce," he mumbled.

  "Hey," Bruce said with a cocky grin, putting his arm around Josh's shoulders, "is this the guy who was so crazy about joining the frat a couple of weeks ago? Look, Bowen, if you want to be in Phi Epsilon, this is the part that separates the men from the boys. We all went through it—me, Ronnie, your brother, even Winston. I don't know, though. Do you really think you've got what it takes?"

  Josh looked right into Bruce's eyes with a defiant glare. The two of them were the same height and build, and for a minute Julie thought there was going to be a fight. But instead Josh inhaled deeply and said, "You better believe I do!" Pulling his shoulders back, he walked resolutely toward the back exit, followed by Ronnie.