Starring Jessica! Page 2

  But at least the chef story had some basis in reality. Jessica had no idea how Lila could have claimed to be a photographer! Had she once snapped a couple of Polaroids at a family party? And a tutor at school? Lila was the one who needed tutoring. Her grades were awful! Then she had had the nerve to mention her role as co-chair of the Sweet Valley Centennial Celebration picnic. Jessica, as the other co-chair, had done virtually all the work! But Lila had really launched into science fiction with her "plans for the future." She had talked as if she were going to change the world, when everyone knew she would just go on doing what she always did—sitting on her fanny and spending her father's money. And what Lila had neglected to mention on her application angered Jessica almost as much as what she had written. There was absolutely no hint of Lila's wealthy, privileged background or of the fact that she had been kicked off the cheerleading squad as punishment for a prank she had pulled.

  Lila's application had infuriated Jessica—and also worried her. "If only I were a little more like you," she told Elizabeth now. "I mean, mostly like me, but with a little of your nerdiness thrown in for balance."

  "Gee, thanks," Elizabeth remarked dryly.

  "You know what I mean. You're a columnist for the school newspaper—that's just the sort of thing that would impress Eric Parker."

  Elizabeth considered her sister's comment for a moment. Then her eyes lit up. "Hey, why don't you write an article for The Oracle?"

  "Me?"

  "Yes, you," said Elizabeth. "Penny's still looking for a special feature for the next issue." Penny Ayala was editor in chief of The Oracle. "In fact, she's starting to get desperate. We were just talking about it today. Maybe you should give her a call."

  "Hey, Liz, that's a great idea!" Jessica leaped from the lounge chair and dashed into the house. A minute later she was back by the poolside with the cordless telephone. Quickly she punched in the number Elizabeth recited.

  "Penny, hi, it's Jessica Wakefield. How are you? Well, actually my sister suggested I call. She said you were looking for an article for the newspaper, and I'd like to offer myself as a guest columnist."

  Jessica shot a look at Elizabeth. "Um, my idea for a story?" Think fast, Wakefield. She tried to think of what she did best, and flirting and dating came to mind. Then inspiration struck. "Well, I thought I'd try my hand at some humor. How does 'The Worst Dates of My Life' sound?"

  Penny laughed; so did Elizabeth. Jessica grinned. She did have a reputation as a social butterfly—she had probably been on more dates than any girl at Sweet Valley High. And she definitely had had her share of romantic disasters!

  "I like it," Penny said. "Can you put something together tonight? Then we could look it over at school tomorrow and decide whether it would work for The Oracle."

  "You're on!" Jessica turned off the phone and flashed a triumphant smile at Elizabeth. "Liz," she announced, "I'm borrowing your typewriter!"

  Elizabeth stood in the Wakefields' Spanish-tiled kitchen, slicing vegetables for a big tossed salad. When she had checked on her twin a little earlier, almost two hours after she had flown upstairs to work on her article, Jessica had been typing energetically with two fingers, pausing every ten seconds or so to correct a mistake.

  Suddenly Jessica burst into the kitchen, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright. "Here!" she said, proudly presenting Elizabeth with three single-spaced, typewritten pages. "Take a look. This writing business isn't so hard after all!"

  "So you're ready to take over my column?" Elizabeth joked.

  "Just read it," Jessica urged. "I really want to know what you think."

  Elizabeth took a seat at the kitchen table and began to read her sister's article. Jessica's very first sentence made her laugh out loud: "Whoever said 'Chivalry is dead' and 'It's a jungle out there' must have had the Sweet Valley High dating scene in mind." In fact, Elizabeth didn't stop laughing all the way through.

  "You have had some truly awful dating experiences, Jess! And you hit just the right comedic tone," she said with admiration. Elizabeth was genuinely surprised and impressed—she could not have written a better article herself. "It's funny, biting—perfect satire!"

  Jessica shrugged. The literary critique meant nothing to her; she was more interested in the entertainment factor. "What part do you like best?"

  "The part about the longest date of your life, with Winston on the deserted island, is good. But I think the funniest of all are your computer-dating-service disasters," answered Elizabeth, chuckling again as she recalled her sister's stories. "Scrawny Spence Millgate with glasses three inches thick and his dream of becoming an undertaker. And John Karger, the guy you met through the personal ad, who turned out to be studying you for a sociology project!"

  "I didn't laugh at the time," admitted Jessica, "but it makes a funny story now."

  "I notice that you didn't say anything about the reason behind your getting stuck with so many rotten blind dates. Don't you think people would love to hear about your signing yourself up at a dating service? And about the fake personalities you invented, Magenta Galaxy and Daniella Fromage?" teased Elizabeth.

  Jessica grinned. "Poetic license, right?"

  "But are you sure . . ." Elizabeth paused as she glanced back through the article for a particular paragraph. "Are you sure you should include this part about Bruce Patman?"

  It had been months since Jessica's last date with Bruce Patman, the richest and most conceited boy at Sweet Valley High, but Jessica still got a sour taste in her mouth when she thought about having gone out with him—and about having made such a fool of herself. "Why not?" she asked. "It's the truth!"

  " 'The worst dates are with the type of guy who thinks wearing too much expensive cologne and throwing around a lot of money can make up for the fact that all he does is talk about himself. Bruce Patman falls into this category,' " read Elizabeth. " 'I thought it would be fun to go parking in his black Porsche—until I discovered he kisses like a dead jellyfish!' " Elizabeth giggled in spite of herself. The anecdote about Bruce was mean, but it was also hilarious. Elizabeth couldn't resist asking, "Does Bruce really kiss like a dead jellyfish?"

  Jessica shrugged. "I have to admit I took a few liberties with that description. But he deserves it."

  "Well, Bruce isn't my favorite person, but I still think you should tone down his part a bit," Elizabeth said. "First of all, writing nasty things that aren't true about people is called libel."

  Jessica rolled her eyes. "Oh, Liz, you take everything so seriously!"

  "Well, it is serious," Elizabeth protested. "We're talking about journalistic ethics."

  "It's just one little article," said Jessica.

  "One little article can have lots of big repercussions," her sister pointed out. "Besides, I'm not the only one who will warn you. Penny will tell you the same thing. I mean, think about it, Jess. The entire school is going to be reading this article."

  Jessica smiled devilishly. "Exactly! Admit it, Liz, it's no more than Bruce deserves."

  "Well, then at least change his name," Elizabeth suggested. "You can still make your point and you'll keep yourself out of trouble at the same time."

  "Maybe you're right," Jessica reluctantly agreed. "OK. Will you help me revise it? I'll change anything to make sure that Penny prints my article!"

  On Friday Jessica and Elizabeth stopped by the newspaper office during lunch period. Jessica held her breath as Penny read "The Worst Dates of My Life." Jessica had made most of the changes her sister recommended—but not all. She had blurred some of the details and had given all the Sweet Valley High boys silly, phony names that only hinted at their real identities. Winston Egbert had become Kevin Klutz, Bruce was dubbed Reginald Rich, and so on. It would be entertaining, Jessica thought, to see just how long it took The Oracle's readers to figure out who was whom. Penny was the first real test.

  And so far, Penny was laughing even harder than Elizabeth had. "It's terrific, Jessica," Penny said at last. "Liz, I didn't know your sister shared you
r flair for writing!"

  "I didn't either," Elizabeth said without much enthusiasm.

  "It took us both by surprise," Jessica said breezily. "Everyone just assumed Liz had a corner on the literary talent in our family."

  "One thing though, Penny," Elizabeth said. "Don't you think Jessica should try a little harder to disguise the boys' identities? Reginald Rich in particular?"

  Penny's hazel eyes crinkled in a smile. "Not really, but it's up to her. The article's fine by my standards, and what makes it so funny is that we know these are Sweet Valley guys and we can try to guess who they are—although it isn't hard. Still, it's up to you, Jess. If you're prepared to deal with a few offended egos, I'd leave it. It's perfect as it is."

  " 'Perfect as it is,' " repeated Jessica, pleased with herself. "Hear that, Liz?"

  Elizabeth had heard. Perfect as it is—Elizabeth couldn't recall that Penny had ever said that about any of her articles.

  "I can deal with bruised male egos," Jessica said with a sly grin. "Besides, I like stirring things up."

  "Then I'll definitely use the piece." Penny squeezed Jessica's arm. "Thanks for coming through for me. I'll send your article to the typesetter today with the rest of the material for the next issue!"

  "Great!" exclaimed Jessica. "And let me know if you ever need another special feature. I have a few more ideas that you just might like!"

  "Will do," Penny assured her. " 'Bye, you two."

  They had hardly passed through the door of the Oracle office when Jessica whipped the Eric Parker Show application out of her notebook. Resting the sheet against the wall, she quickly added "Feature writer for school newspaper" to the list of her interests and activities. "Now I'll be picked for sure!" she declared.

  Elizabeth followed as Jessica hurried to the main office to submit her application.

  "I can't believe he'll be right here in Sweet Valley in less than twenty-four hours!" breathed Jessica. "Eric Parker in the flesh!"

  "I for one can't wait," Elizabeth said seriously.

  "You can't?" Enid Rollins, Elizabeth's best friend, was surprised.

  "I can't wait until Eric Parker gets here and picks somebody to be on his TV show and puts an end to all this fuss," Elizabeth elaborated.

  Todd nodded his head. "I agree. I'm ready for a new topic of conversation at school."

  It was Monday evening, and the four were sitting at the picnic table by the Wakefields' pool eating take-out Chinese food. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield both were working late; they had phoned to tell the twins to go ahead and have dinner without them.

  "You mean you don't even care whether I'm chosen or not?" Jessica asked, sounding hurt.

  "Of course I care, Jess," Elizabeth assured her. "I think you'd be a great representative of Sweet Valley High, and when Eric Parker reads your application, I bet he'll think the same."

  Elizabeth wasn't just trying to flatter her twin; she meant what she said. Jessica had really put together a fantastic application. In fact, Jessica's efforts had started Elizabeth thinking. Maybe she was the one who wasn't well-rounded enough.

  "I wonder what kind of application I could have put together for Eric Parker," Elizabeth said now. "Not that I wanted to be on TV, but even if I had, too many of my extracurricular activities are literary—my column for The Oracle, doing feature articles, writing poetry, keeping a journal."

  "But you like being literary," Jessica pointed out as she picked up a piece of shrimp with her chopsticks.

  "You're going to be a famous writer someday, "Enid reminded her.

  "That's what I've always thought I wanted. But . . ." Elizabeth paused. But maybe I don't have what it takes, she had been about to say. Elizabeth remembered what a hard time she had had recently getting a successful interview out of Claire Middleton. As it turned out, the problem had been Claire's and not her own; Claire had been going through a difficult time and was reluctant to talk to anyone. Still, Penny Ayala's praise of Jessica's writing the other day had rankled Elizabeth more than she wanted to admit. Penny never gushed over Elizabeth's weekly "Eyes and Ears" column or even about any of her feature articles.

  Maybe I'm losing my touch, Elizabeth thought. What was the point, anyway, of being the supposedly literary twin if Jessica could write just as well as she could? And she made it seem so easy!

  Elizabeth realized that Jessica, Enid, and Todd were still waiting for her to finish her sentence. "But . . . oh, I don't know. Maybe I've settled on a career path too soon," she concluded somewhat lamely.

  "Would you rather have absolutely no idea what you want to be when you grow up?" her twin asked seriously. Jessica had hedged on the "Plans for the Future" question on the application. She had made a bit of a joke out of it, writing that she was still deciding among various possibilities, which included being a lawyer, an actress, an astronaut, and of course, President of the United States.

  "There might be a happy medium," Elizabeth replied earnestly. "Like what you were saying the other day, Jess. About how you wished you were just a little bit more like me. Well, sometimes I wish I were just a little bit more like you. You're not afraid to try new things. You wrote for the newspaper, and you were a total success!"

  "Beginner's luck," Jessica said modestly.

  "No, it was more than that. There's something to be said for the way you approach life."

  "I do like to experiment," agreed Jessica.

  "I guess what I'm wondering is how I know there's not something out there I'd like more than writing?" And something I'd be better at, Elizabeth added silently.

  Todd put a hand on Elizabeth's upper arm, playfully testing her muscle tone. "A little flabby," he teased. "Maybe you're too much of a bookworm. You need a sport to balance you out."

  "Just don't do anything nutty like you did that time you took up surfing," interjected Enid.

  "How about trying out for the Sweet Valley High girls' basketball team?" suggested Todd. "I'd be more than happy to give you a little private coaching." He bent forward to brush her cheek with a kiss. "Maybe some one-on-one . . .

  "Give me a break," said Jessica, then groaned. "As if you two don't already dribble enough over each other!"

  Elizabeth smiled at Todd. "Let me remind you, Hotshot Wilkins, that I couldn't sink a basket to save my life. And I don't have time to practice with a team every day after school—I could only spare a few afternoons a week at this point. Besides, a sport isn't quite what I had in mind. Like Enid said, I've tried that already." She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. It wasn't easy to express the vague feelings she was having. "I'm talking about more than just trying something new. Maybe I should start thinking about a different career, at least branch out a little."

  Todd raised his eyebrows. "Sounds drastic, Liz."

  "Well, why not?" she countered. Suddenly she felt sure of herself. "There are more important things in life than writing. Like the environment. Dad talked a lot about conservation issues during his mayoral campaign. He got me interested in the subject."

  "She has me scrubbing out Prince Albert's dog food cans for recycling," Jessica confirmed, wrinkling her nose.

  Enid leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "You know, that reminds me of something I read in the paper today. There's a new program starting up at Secca Lake. The park's recruiting high school students to volunteer as junior rangers and tour guides. I was thinking about dropping in at the first meeting tomorrow night, just to check it out. Why don't you come with me, Liz?"

  Elizabeth considered Enid's proposal. "Volunteering at Secca Lake—that's kind of a neat idea."

  "You can read about it yourself. I tore out the article," Enid explained. "It's in here somewhere." She shuffled through her tote bag and finally pulled the article out. "Here it is." Enid handed it to Elizabeth.

  " 'Junior rangers will lead nature walks, educate visitors about Secca Lake's ecosystem and the threat of pollution, and organize craft workshops for children,' " Elizabeth read out loud. "That does sound like fun."

&nbsp
; "It wouldn't hurt to investigate," said Todd.

  "Come with me to the meeting," Enid urged.

  "I think I will," Elizabeth decided. "Being a junior ranger could be a real challenge. I mean, anyone can write."

  "That's not true," Todd said earnestly. "Not everybody can write as well as you."

  "I don't know about that." Elizabeth glanced at Jessica, who was happily polishing off the last of the egg roll. Elizabeth had always considered her creative talent above average, but perhaps she had been wrong; maybe it was not so special after all. No, she wouldn't just sit back and write about the world—she would go out there and get involved.

  Three

  "Here comes the part about Eric Parker. Everybody shut up!" Lila commanded.

  After school on Tuesday, a rowdy group of Sweet Valley High students was gathered in the entertainment room at Fowler Crest for an informal party celebrating Eric Parker's arrival in town. The talk show host had flown in that afternoon from New York City, where his program was usually taped.

  A local news program was showing highlights of Eric Parker's gala reception at the mayor's office. Jessica popped the top on a can of soda, her eyes glued to the big-screen TV. "Just take a look at that man." She sighed, imagining what it would be like to gaze into his eyes, face to face.

  Amy took a pretzel from the bag Cara Walker held out to her. "Maybe I should have filled out an application after all," she admitted.

  Jessica sighed again. Eric Parker looked especially wonderful on the big screen—even better than when she watched his show on her own family's TV. Jet black hair swept back from a high forehead, smoky gray eyes set in a chiseled, sun-bronzed face—and what a smile! How could anybody's teeth be so white? Jessica wondered.

  "The mayor's really bending over backward," observed Cara, a good friend of Jessica's who dated the twins' older brother, Steven, a freshman at the nearby state university.