Last Chance Read online

  LAST CHANCE

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2015, Francine Pascal

  LAST CHANCE

  Amy tossed her hair back. "I've invited tons of people," she said loudly. Johanna felt as if Amy were staring straight at her. "Everyone's coming," she repeated.

  "Come on, Amy, let's get out of here," Jean whispered.

  "Oh, all right," said Amy. "I have to meet Peter anyway. He just goes insane if I'm late."

  The four girls walked out of the library, leaving Johanna alone to study. It was no good, though; she couldn't concentrate. All she could think about was Amy's party on Friday night and the PTA dance. She imagined Amy and Peter slow dancing together, and a lump formed in her throat. Finally she gathered her things together and hurried out of the library.

  To her surprise, Amy and her friends were standing just outside the door, still talking animatedly. Peter had joined them and was listening to something Amy was telling him. He barely looked up as Johanna walked past.

  He acted as if he hadn't seen her, as if she didn't exist. Because I don't exist for him, Johanna thought numbly, her eyes filling with tears. I was out of my mind to think it could possibly be different.

  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

  One

  "Is it my imagination," Jessica Wakefield asked, her blue-green eyes sparkling as she set her tray down across the table from her friend, Cara Walker, "or is the cafeteria food even worse than usual this week?"

  "They're trying to starve us," Winston Egbert said gloomily, an expression of mock anguish on his face as he peered underneath his soggy hamburger bun.

  Winston, a tall, lanky boy with a spattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, was the self-appointed clown of the junior class at Sweet Valley High. And the cafeteria food was a favorite subject for his jokes.

  Jessica giggled. "Well, at least it makes it easy to diet," she said cheerfully, pushing her tray away and leaning forward to talk to Cara. "I found the most fantastic dress at the mall yesterday," she confided, "but they only have a size four. It's absolutely perfect for the PTA dance—it's all sort of bare and filmy and everything—so I figure if I can lose about three or four pounds and if I don't eat anything the day of the dance . . ."

  Cara giggled. "Thank goodness they didn't just have a size sixteen left, or you'd have to eat a dozen hamburgers a day between now and the dance to grow into it!"

  Jessica tossed back her silky, sun-streaked blond hair and grimaced. The thought of gaining weight was all she needed to lose her appetite completely. Not that Jessica—a model-slim, perfect size six—ever had to worry about her weight. But she was fanatic about her appearance, and the PTA dance was one of the biggest events to be held at the school in a long time.

  "Who are you going with?" Cara asked curiously, taking a sip of milk.

  Jessica wrinkled her nose. "I don't know." She sighed. "Honestly, I'm so sick of all the guys around here." She lowered her voice, making sure Winston was concentrating on his conversation with his girlfriend, Maria Santelli, before she continued. "You know what I mean? They're all so . . . I don't know. Boring." She looked thoughtfully around the crowded cafeteria. "I may ask Rob Atkins, that guy from Bridgewater High I met at the soccer game. Remember?"

  Cara nodded as she picked up her sandwich. "I'm glad Steve's going to be in town," she remarked. "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't go with him. I can't think of a single guy at Sweet Valley High I'd feel like going with, either."

  Jessica's eyes clouded over briefly. Cara had been her friend for ages, and at first Jessica had been overjoyed when Cara started dating Steven, Jessica's eighteen-year-old brother. In fact Jessica had tried her hardest to get the two of them together. She thought Cara was exactly what Steven needed. Now . . . she wasn't so sure. For some time she'd been growing increasingly uneasy about her friend Cara. It seemed to Jessica that Cara was getting way too dependent on Steven, and vice versa. Fortunately Jessica thought, Steven lived in a dorm at the state university where he was a freshman. That meant that Cara didn't get to see him every weekend. But the next week Steven would be at home for a break. As much as she loved her brother, Jessica didn't want Cara to count on Steven too much. She felt Cara should be more independent.

  Jessica decided she wasn't going to encourage Cara one bit, not even by talking with her about the dance if Cara was going to drag Steven into it. She was relieved when she heard a familiar voice hailing her.

  "Jess! Can I come over and join you guys?"

  Winston and Maria looked up from their conversation, and Winston grinned as Elizabeth hurried over, plopped down into a chair, and pulled a brown paper lunch bag out of her nylon backpack. "Look," he said to Maria with a mischievous smile. "It's Jessica's better half!"

  Jessica ignored him. For as long as she could remember, she and Elizabeth had put up with being teased about being identical twins. But they had both gotten used to it long ago, and the truth was that neither minded. Anyway, as far as "identical" went, their likeness was all on the surface. It was almost impossible for strangers to tell them apart. Both had pretty, oval faces framed with shoulder-length, sun-kissed blond hair. The only physical difference between the girls was the tiny mole on Elizabeth's right shoulder.

  But when it came to personality; Well in that department the twins were entirely different. Elizabeth liked to remind her sister that she was four minutes older, and sometimes those four minutes felt like years! Elizabeth was as organized and dependable as her twin was haphazard and flighty. It was typical, for example, that Elizabeth had thought ahead the night before and had made herself a sandwich for lunch. Jessica could never plan so far in advance. She lived for the moment, throwing herself heart and soul into whatever activity absorbed her that week. Elizabeth often accused her of being fickle, but from Jessica's point of view, it was just that she loved variety, and having a good time. She couldn't see the point in limiting herself to a single boy, the way Elizabeth did. She had been going out with Jeffrey French for a while. Jessica preferred playing the field. Things that really counted to Jessica, such as cheerleading and the exclusive sorority of which she was president, were allotted a certain amount of time. Whatever was left over was for having fun.

  Elizabeth was much more serious and steady. Her lifelong dream was to be a writer, and she hoped the long hours she had logged at The Oracle, Sweet Valley High's student newspaper, would help her toward that end. She genuinely loved to study, something Jessica found baffling. And though she liked to enjoy herself as much as her twin did, Elizabeth's favorite past-times were reading, listening to music, and having long talks with her best friend, Enid Rollins, or Jeffrey. Jessica couldn't understand Elizabeth's feeling on either count. Enid Rollins seemed to Jessica to be the dullest girl in the school, and nothing Elizabeth said in her defense could change her mind. Jeffrey was OK; in fact, Jessica thought he was pretty cute. But she couldn't see the point in getting tied down so soon. First Cara, now Elizabeth, she thought, sighing. What was it that could make a sixteen-year-old girl want to ruin her social life by going out with only one guy?

  "I'm so excited about Steven's coming home," Elizabeth declared, glancing at her sister's untouched tray and offering her half of her sandwich.

  Jessica accepted automatically, forgetting about the dress at the mall and her resol
ve to diet. "Thanks," she said, taking a bite and wishing Elizabeth had chosen another subject. Sure enough, Cara's face lit up, and within seconds she and Elizabeth were going on and on about Steven's wonderful qualities. Jessica frowned. This wasn't the way to make Cara realize she needed to broaden her horizons. But then what was?

  "Hi, guys!" Amy Sutton called, pulling a chair up to their table and helping herself to Jessica's untouched french fries. "These are gross," she said, continuing to eat them anyway. "I bet you're all wondering whether or not I'm still going to have a predance party at my house next week, aren't you?"

  "Anticipation," Winston declared, "has us all breathless."

  Maria giggled and put her hand restrainingly on Winston's arm. "We were wondering," she said. Maria, Jessica, Cara, and Amy were all on the cheerleading squad, so Amy had already talked to the other three about the party.

  Amy Sutton was a pretty blond girl with a slightly haughty expression in her sky-blue eyes and an attitude that seemed to suggest everyone should drop what he or she was doing the minute she approached the table. Back in sixth grade, she and Elizabeth had been best friends, but after the Suttons moved to the East Coast, the friendship slowly faded. This year Amy's family moved back to Sweet Valley, and Elizabeth discovered that Amy had changed. Even Jessica was beginning to admit that Amy could be a pain, and Jessica had been her biggest champion, working hard to get her on the cheerleading squad and listening with delight to Amy's endless stories about boys.

  "Of course, this party is going to be a really big deal for Peter and me," Amy added, as if this were obvious. She helped herself to Jessica's hamburger without asking. "I mean, it's the first party we'll be—you know—giving together."

  "Peter?" Elizabeth said blankly. The last she knew, Amy was chasing after an intern who worked at her mother's TV station.

  "Peter DeHaven," Jessica filled in for her. "He and Amy have been going out."

  "Peter DeHaven?" Elizabeth repeated. She had to catch herself to avoid displaying the surprise she was feeling. She had been one second away from blurting out, "But he's so smart!" That was what everyone said about Peter DeHaven. And it was true; he was one of the brightest guys in the school. Elizabeth didn't know him very well, as Peter was a senior and had been enrolled in special science classes from the day he entered high school. She knew he'd been admitted early to MIT, and had won every prize for science there was, except the coveted Southern California Science Fair, which he was rumored to be entering that month. He was a tall, attractive, serious-looking boy with dark hair and hazel eyes—a well-liked, hard-working guy who happened to be an ace tennis player as well as a top-notch science student. Elizabeth couldn't imagine what he and Amy Sutton had in common. What on earth could they talk about together? she wondered.

  As if reading her mind, Amy began to launch into an extravagant description of their romance. "Peter's mad about me," she confided, unwrapping a brownie and taking a bite. "In fact, I'm getting a little nervous." She giggled. "I mean, he is older and everything. And you know how serious he is.

  "I never really thought Peter was your type, Amy," Cara said calmly, giving Jessica and Elizabeth a wink. "Isn't he kind of—I don't know—kind of a workaholic?"

  Amy looked indignant. "Not at all! Peter's just good at everything he does. He can't help being a superstar, can he?"

  "No," Cara said soothingly, "he can't. I just meant, are you really all that compatible? I didn't think you were interested in science."

  "Science," Amy repeated, as if it were a foreign word. "Oh, well, I'm not," she conceded. "I think it's about the most boring thing in the world. But Peter's adorable. And he never talks about any of that stuff when we're together. I wouldn't let him, even if he tried. We talk about fun things—like the party next week," she concluded dreamily. "You know, stuff like that."

  Jessica was about to ask another question when Winston cut her off. "Look, there's Julie," he said, getting to his feet and waving to the petite, red-haired junior who was balancing her lunch tray and looking around her in confusion. Julie Porter and Winston had become friendly during the past few weeks, after working together on a project for Cabaret Night. Julie was a talented musician, but she had always been shy about her piano playing. No one had known how good she was before she played at Cabaret Night, and Winston was still full of admiration every time he saw her.

  Everyone made room at the table so Julie could pull up a chair. "Thanks," she said shyly, setting down her tray. She gave Winston a grateful smile. Julie was somewhat of a loner, perhaps because she spent long hours practicing. She was well-liked at school, but few people knew her well. Watching her now, Elizabeth remembered what good friends they had been in the sixth grade.

  Though they had once been close, Elizabeth knew little more than the brief outlines of the Porter family's history. She knew that Julie and her older sister, Johanna, were the children of professional musicians. Mr. Porter played violin for the Los Angeles Symphony, and Mrs. Porter, before her tragic death over six months before, had been a well-known opera singer. The girls had traveled a great deal in summers and, when necessary, had been taken out of school. Julie had adjusted to their unusual life-style with little difficulty. She worked hard and did fairly well in all her courses, though as she grew older, most of her time was reserved for one great love—the piano.

  But Johanna, who should have been a senior that year, had a much harder time. Elizabeth didn't know the inside story. All she knew was that Johanna Porter had always been in academic trouble. She got C's and D's in almost every class, was constantly on probation, and seemed to suffer through each assignment. The previous year, about six months before Mrs. Porter was killed in a car crash, Johanna withdrew from school. At first no one could believe she was serious. What would she do without a high-school diploma? Everyone assumed she would change her mind, but she didn't. Johanna had decided to drop out, and that was that. But the very latest news was that Johanna was coming back. Robin Wilson had told Jessica so just the other day, and thanks to Jessica, the rumor had spread like wildfire.

  "I guess you've all heard the news," Julie said now, taking a deep breath as she faced the crowd at the table.

  "What news?" Winston asked curiously.

  Julie looked nervously around the table. "You haven't heard?" she asked. "I thought for sure it would be all over the place by now."

  "I haven't heard anything," Winston declared. "What's happened, Julie?"

  "It's Johanna," Julie said, trying to make her voice sound natural. She took another deep breath. "She's decided to come back to school, to give it another chance."

  Winston and Maria were the only ones at the table who hadn't heard the news, and clearly both were astonished.

  "Today's her first day," Julie continued matter-of-factly. "She's in the office right now, filling out all the forms." She paused. "She's going to be a junior again, so she'll be in some of your classes," she added.

  "Wow," Amy said, licking some chocolate off her finger. "I think I'd just die of mortification if my sister—"

  "Amy," Elizabeth hissed, cutting her off. "I think it's great," she said quickly, hoping to cover up Amy's rudeness. "Johanna must have a lot of courage. I bet it isn't easy starting over again."

  "I don't think it is," Julie said quietly. Her expression serious, she looked around the table. "And I think we're all going to have to do what we can to help her. Otherwise . . ."

  Julie never finished her sentence, but Elizabeth could feel the portent of what was left unsaid. They were going to have to help Johanna, she thought. Otherwise, the girl would never make it through school.

  Two

  Johanna Porter was in the girls' bathroom at the end of the main corridor, just across from the principal's office, looking numbly at her reflection in the mirror. She still couldn't believe this was happening. In one sense it all felt so familiar, so incredibly familiar. She had been in that same bathroom a million times before, had checked her reflection the same way, smoothin
g her dark eyebrows, running a brush through her long, wavy hair. She knew Sweet Valley High as well as the back of her hand. Hadn't she suffered through years there? That morning, when she had walked through the main door, she had been overwhelmed with memories.

  But in another sense she felt estranged. So much had happened since the day that she had walked out of Sweet Valley High supposedly for good. Her green eyes filled with tears, remembering: her mother's accident; the funeral; the long, numb days at work. First one job and then another, and none of them working out, until she ended up waitressing at the Whistle Stop, a café out on Route 1.

  Johanna had been living a life that few of her classmates would be able to fathom. She had worked long, hard hours, had grown accustomed to earning money, to working with people much older than she was, many of them from backgrounds entirely different from her own. She sighed now, running the hairbrush automatically through her hair. It had been a far cry from the narrow, protected life-style she and Julie had always known.

  It was funny how relative everything was. In school Johanna had always felt like the dummy, the one with bad grades, the one who couldn't keep up. But at the Whistle Stop everyone treated her with respect. The other waitresses always asked her how to spell things or to check a bill to see if it was added correctly. They hadn't thought of her as dumb, Johanna thought bitterly. But here—

  Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to the bathroom burst open and two seniors, Yvonne White and Lisa Howard, came hurrying in. Both girls stopped short when they saw Johanna. They had all grown up in Sweet Valley and had been in many classes together, Until now, Johanna reminded herself. Now she was a year behind them.

  "Johanna!" Lisa gasped in surprise. "What—I mean, are you—uh—"

  "I'm coming back to school," Johanna said, trying to sound calm, though her hands were shaking.

  Yvonne's black eyes widened. "You're kidding," she said. "I thought you said you wouldn't come back no matter what!"