Slam Book Fever Read online

  SLAM BOOK FEVER

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2015, Francine Pascal

  SLAM BOOK FEVER

  "Biggest Flirt," A.J. read aloud from a slam book. His eyes ran down the page. Jessica felt her stomach doing flip-flops. "Wow," he said. "Ten votes for Jessica Wakefield." Everyone at the table laughed, except for Jessica, who felt her cheeks burning. A.J. looked at her curiously. "That sure doesn't seem right to me," he said warmly, staring straight into her eyes.

  Jessica looked away. She couldn't believe how happy it made her to hear him say that. Did that mean he liked her? She hoped so! Jessica knew no one in the world would believe it, but she was in love. She was so much in love that she felt like a totally new person, and all she wanted to think about was A.J.

  "Hey, look at this," Aaron said, taking the slam book from A.J. and flipping ahead to the Crystal Ball category. "Future Couples . . . Olivia Davidson and Jeffrey French."

  "Oh," Ken Matthews moaned. "Watch out, Liz!"

  Everyone laughed. Everyone, that is, except Elizabeth.

  "And look what's right under it! Elizabeth—and A.J. Morgan!"

  This exclamation was greeted with a surprised silence. Everyone looked nervously from Elizabeth to A.J. to see what their response would be.

  "That's pretty flattering," A.J. said with a grin, and the tension broke. Everyone laughed again, including Elizabeth.

  Everyone but Jeffrey—and Jessica, who stared at her sister with a look of abject horror in her eyes.

  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

  "Jessica!" Amy Sutton cried, her gray eyes flashing. "Come over here!" She motioned to the empty seat beside her in the crowded cafeteria of Sweet Valley High.

  Jessica was relieved that Amy had saved her a place, and she hurried over and threw herself dramatically into the seat. "Phew," she sighed. "What's going on here? Why's it so crowded today?"

  "I don't know, but it sure can't be the menu," Lila Fowler said with a sniff, poking at that day's entree—Special Chicken—with a look of distaste.

  The table of girls erupted into giggles. "Not like Chez Victoire, huh?" Cara Walker said. The restaurant she was referring to was one of the most exclusive and high-priced French restaurants in Los Angeles, and of course everyone knew that Lila had eaten there the weekend before. It was a long-standing tradition to needle Lila about her father's incredible wealth. As the only daughter of a computer tycoon, Lila was used to what she called "certain fineries." Apparently Special Chicken wasn't one of them!

  "We've been waiting and waiting for you, Jess," Maria Santelli said. "Amy's been promising to tell us about slam books, but she made us wait until you got here."

  "Slam books?" Jessica unwrapped her sandwich. "What are they?"

  Amy tossed her blond hair back over her shoulders. "I told you before. They're exactly what Sweet Valley High needs. In fact, I can't even believe you guys don't have them here yet. Everyone had them in Connecticut."

  Although she had been born and raised in Sweet Valley, Amy had moved to Connecticut for most of junior high and part of high school. Recently her mother had been hired as a sportscaster for a TV station near Sweet Valley, and the family had moved back. Already Amy had gotten a reputation for being, among other things, boy-crazy, slightly bossy, and somewhat snobby.

  "Go on, then. Tell us what they are," Jessica said.

  "OK, here's the deal." Amy was obviously enjoying being the center of attention at the lunch table. She cleared her throat, paused, and slowly looked at each girl around her. "Everyone who wants to take part buys a notebook. Any notebook is fine, but we can all get the same ones. The best ones, like the ones we used back in Connecticut, are those black-and-white speckled ones—you know, composition books. You write your name on the inside cover. Next you divide your book up into the girls' part and the boys' part. And then you start inventing categories. Best Looking, for instance, or Most Popular. We had lots of different categories: Best Sense of Humor, Biggest Flirt, Best Kisser, things like that. You get the idea. You invent a bunch of categories, then swap books with someone else. Then you fill in names in their book and swap again. At the end of the day, you return the notebook you've got to the girl whose name is on the inside cover."

  "Wow, Amy, this sounds great!" Lila exclaimed.

  "I don't know," Cara Walker said skeptically. "It sounds kind of confusing to me. What's the point, Amy?"

  "The point," Amy said, "is to have a good time! The books are incredibly fun, you guys. And it's totally anonymous. There's no way anyone can find out if you've said—well, like, say you think Jessica's the most flirtatious girl in school, and you enter her in that category. And then some other people do. And so on and so on. Well, wouldn't it be fun when we all sat around reading them and saw how many people thought she was the biggest flirt?"

  Jessica's blue-green eyes narrowed. "Who thinks I'm flirtatious?" she demanded.

  "That was just an example," Amy said. "But do you all get the point?" She rummaged around in her book bag. "Look. Here's a slam book from my school in Connecticut. You guys won't know any of the names, but you can kind of get the idea from this."

  She passed a black-and-white notebook around the table, and everyone took turns looking at the categories.

  "This is great." Maria giggled. "I love the category Least Down-to-Earth!"

  "Yeah," Lila said. "I like the Best Dressed category. This is going to be great, Amy! Let's get notebooks. I'm ready to start."

  "But who's going to take part?" Maria Santelli asked.

  Amy shrugged. "Whoever wants to. The way it happened at my school in Connecticut was that just a few of us had slam books at first. Then it caught on, and soon everyone had one—at least, all the girls."

  "What a cool idea!" Jessica exclaimed. "Just think, we're all going to know exactly what everyone thinks of us!"

  Jessica was certain that she was only going to find out good things about herself. Or, at least, things she already knew. She wouldn't be surprised if she were described as most popular. After all, she was a co-captain of the cheerleading squad and the president of Pi Beta Alpha, the exclusive sorority at Sweet Valley High. Or maybe even most beautiful. . . . Jessica was off in a reverie and barely noticed when Elizabeth, her twin sister, set her tray down on the table.

  "Hey, can you guys squeeze me in? The lunchroom is really crowded today," Elizabeth said.

  "Sure," Amy said, sliding her tray over. "I was just in the middle of telling everyone about slam books." Her eyes twinkled. "You'd better prepare yourself, Liz. This is going to be the biggest thing to hit this school in a long time."

  "Slam books? What are they?" Elizabeth asked.

  It took Amy a few minutes to go over what she'd already said, but this time several of the others, especially Lila and Jessica, interrupted her, adding categories they had just devised.

  "Like, we could have Least Likely to Go Out on a Date Before the Year 2000," Jessica cried.

  "Or, Most Likely to Always Be a Millionaire," Lila offered.

  Elizabeth unwrapped her ham and swiss cheese sandwich and took a bite. "Sounds potentially mean, you guys. What happens if people read things about themselves that they don't like?"

  Amy and Jessica exchanged a glance. It was just like Elizabeth to come up with a sensible objection.

  "Look, Liz. It's just for fun. No one's going to get hurt," Lila said.

  Elizabeth shrugged. "It just sounds like the sort of thing where someone's going to end up feeling crummy." She took another bite of her sandwich. "You've got to remember, I've had some experience with this sort of thing from writing the 'Eyes and Ears' column for The Oracle. You wouldn't believe the kinds of suggestions people drop in the box. If I didn't edit them. . . ." Elizabeth wrote the gossip column for the school paper, and she took her job very seriously. She tried never to print any piece of gossip that would hurt a fellow student.

  "It's just for fun, Liz. Don't be such a spoilsport," Jessica said.

  "Uh-oh! It's twin against twin," Lila said with a giggle. "Round twelve."

  At this, everyone laughed, including Jessica and Elizabeth. They knew better than the others what Lila meant. It wasn't easy being part of a pair that was identical on the outside and totally opposite on the inside!

  When it came to looks, identical was the word for Jessica and Elizabeth. With their sun-streaked blond hair and their perfect size-six figures, the twins were exactly alike in every detail—from their wide-set, blue-green eyes to the tiny dimple each showed in her left cheek when she smiled.

  But when it came to personalities, it wasn't hard to tell the girls apart. Jessica thrived on change and excitement. She loved being a part of the action, and that's why she was a cheerleader and a member of the sorority. Whatever the latest trend, Jessica was sure to be part of it. She went through fashions, friendships, and flirtations with lightning speed. And she just couldn't understand how her twin could be so steady, so serious, so conscientious.

  Elizabeth loved school—even the schoolwork part. She adored working on the newspaper and hoped one day to be a writer. She liked to
take her time with whatever projects she started, and she liked to know, when they were done, that they were done right. She also liked spending time alone, or just relaxing with Enid Rollins, her best friend, or Jeffrey French, her steady boyfriend.

  "Look," Elizabeth said, taking a sip of milk, "the slam books will probably turn out to be perfectly harmless. I just thought— "

  "You're right," Jessica interrupted. She jumped up from her seat. "I want to get one right away!"

  Everyone at the table laughed again. Nothing could be more characteristic of the Wakefield twins. Elizabeth just wanted everyone to be cautious, to think the idea over, to make sure no one would get hurt in the process.

  But not Jessica. Jessica was full steam ahead, and nothing in the world would stop her now!

  "Liz," Jessica gasped, hurrying up to her twin after school. "Cheerleading practice was canceled. Any chance you'll give your favorite sister a ride home?"

  The twins shared the use of a red Fiat Spider. But Jeffrey didn't have his car that day, and Elizabeth had made plans to take him home. "Sorry," she said, "but I told Jeffrey that I'd drive him home. And he's got some work to finish up at the Oracle office first."

  Jessica's face screwed up with impatience. As far as she was concerned, Elizabeth and Jeffrey spent far too much time together. She couldn't understand why neither of them was interested in dating anyone else. She couldn't imagine anything more boring.

  "Maybe I could drop you off, Jess, and then go on. If you don't mind coming with me to get Jeffrey from the office and—"

  "Do you know who that guy is?" Jessica interrupted, pointing to a tall redhead fumbling with his locker.

  Elizabeth shook her head. "I've never seen him before. Why?"

  To Elizabeth's surprise her twin blushed, an honest to goodness blush.

  "I'm going to go find Lila and try to get a ride from her." And with that Jessica was off, without another glance at the redheaded guy.

  Elizabeth smiled as she turned down the hall toward the newspaper office. Leave it to Jessica, she was thinking. With that girl you really never knew what was up. If that redhead knew what was good for him, he'd watch out from now on.

  The door to the Oracle office was open, and Jeffrey and Olivia Davidson were inside, deep in conversation. Olivia, a pretty girl with hazel eyes and thick, slightly frizzy hair, was the arts editor for the paper. She was well known around school for being slightly bohemian, more artsy than most of her classmates. Jeffrey was a staff photographer, and they had done a number of projects together in the past few months.

  "Hey, guys," Elizabeth said, setting her books down on the table. "What's up?"

  "Oh, I'm just trying to talk your boyfriend into co-editing the new literary magazine with me," Olivia said. About a month earlier, Olivia had asked Elizabeth to co-edit the literary magazine she was starting. But between writing the "Eyes and Ears" column, writing regular features for The Oracle, and keeping up with homework, Elizabeth knew she wouldn't have time, so she had turned Olivia down.

  "First, you said no," Olivia went on, "and now Jeffrey's trying to. I think he's afraid he'll end up spending all his time working. Then he won't have any time with you."

  Elizabeth smiled affectionately at Jeffrey. "Oh, is that so?" she said. Jeffrey's eyes crinkled up as he smiled back and leaned over to give her a kiss.

  "You got the story I submitted, didn't you?" Elizabeth asked Olivia. "When's the first issue coming out? I can't wait to read it!"

  "Well, I'm hoping in three or four weeks. I got a lot of submissions, and I've already picked out what I want to use. And your story is one of them, Liz. Then I've got some poems and cartoons, and Jeffrey's agreed to do a special photo essay and the cover. Right, Jeffrey?"

  "Right." Jeffrey smiled. "I figure it's the least I can do."

  "Mr. Collins is going to help me set up stuff with a printer and all that." Olivia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "But I can tell I'm still going to have my hands full." Her voice quavered slightly, and she added, "Probably a good thing, too."

  Jeffrey glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

  Olivia shrugged. "Oh, you know. Just that sometimes it's good to have too much to do."

  Elizabeth studied Olivia closely. Was it her imagination, or was something wrong? Olivia seemed a little distraught, and her voice sounded slightly unnatural, almost as if she were stubbornly trying to present a cheerful front.

  Jeffrey had to go down the hall to the darkroom, so he left the two girls alone. Elizabeth watched Olivia quietly for a minute. "Are you OK, Olivia? You seem kind of distracted. Maybe you've been working too hard," she said.

  Elizabeth had always liked and admired Olivia, but had never spent a lot of time with her other than working on The Oracle. Olivia had been dating Roger Barret Patman for quite a while and spent most of her time with him.

  Olivia bit her lip. "Actually, Roger and I . . . well, lately we've been having some pretty serious problems. I've been upset about it. That's why I've been throwing myself into work, I think. I'm afraid to face what's going on with the two of us."

  Elizabeth was extremely surprised. Roger and Olivia having problems? She couldn't believe it. They seemed so perfect together. True, the couple had gone through some rough times when Roger had been adopted by his uncle, Henry Wilson Patman, one of the richest men in Sweet Valley and the father of one of the snobbiest, most gorgeous members of the senior class, Bruce Patman. But that was all ancient history. Roger came from a poor family. When his mother died of heart disease, he was shocked to discover that Mr. Patman, who had helped pay for his mother's medical expenses, was in fact his uncle. Roger turned out to be the illegitimate son of Mr. Patman's own dead brother. The revelation, and its subsequent change in Roger's life-style, had made things hard for the couple. At first everyone feared that Olivia wouldn't fit into—or be accepted by—Roger's glitzy new family. But they had worked through it and ever since had been very, very close. Elizabeth was shocked now to discover there was friction between them.

  "Oh, Olivia. I'm so sorry."

  Olivia nodded. "Thanks, Liz, I think things are going to be rough for a while. That's one reason I'm glad I've got this new literary magazine to keep me busy." She tried hard to smile, but Elizabeth could see how sad Olivia was.

  When she drove Jeffrey home, Elizabeth asked him if he had noticed that Olivia and Roger were having problems.

  Jeffrey shook his head. "Olivia never talks about stuff like that. She's all business," he said. "But I guess she has seemed kind of upset lately. Why? Did she tell you they're not getting along or something?"

  "Yeah. She said they're having serious problems, but she didn't elaborate. She's definitely upset, though," Elizabeth said.

  "Wow. That's too bad," Jeffrey said softly.

  "I know." They had stopped at a light, and Elizabeth put her hand over Jeffrey's. It was scary to think a couple they both liked so much was having problems. She hoped Olivia and Roger could manage to work out their problems.

  She could tell Jeffrey was a little bit scared, too. He squeezed her hand tightly. Elizabeth was thinking how lucky they were to be able to talk things through.

  Jeffrey gave her a big hug when she stopped the car at his house. "I happen to love you, Elizabeth Wakefield," he murmured.

  Every time Jeffrey said that, Elizabeth felt like the luckiest girl in the world. It made her feel less anxious about Olivia and Roger—at least for the moment.

  But she found herself wondering about the couple as she pulled up into the driveway of her own house. She knew Olivia would be strong no matter what. But she hoped that what seemed like serious trouble now would soon blow over.

  Two

  By the next day half a dozen girls had slam books. Amy had organized a trip to the stationery shop after school on Monday, and everyone bought the same kind of notebook—black-and-white speckled covers with ruled paper inside. Each girl had carefully written her name on the inside cover, divided her book into two sections, and invented a number of categories for each. So far Jessica, Lila, Cara, Robin, Maria, and Amy had the notebooks. But so many other girls asked about them on Tuesday that Jessica was sure they would catch on in no time. A number of girls from the sorority said they were going over to the stationery shop after school to get composition books. Amy had definitely started a new fad!