Elizabeth straightened her top. She could do this, really she could.
Never mind that yesterday Conner had moved out. And Jessica
had probably told all her friends what an evil sister she had. She
knew people like Lila and Amy and Melissa would probably give
her dirty looks for a while, nothing she couldn't handle. Besides,
she didn't really care what Jessica friends thought about her. All
she cared about was getting Jessica to talk to her, and Conner to…
Kiss her? Hold her? Elizabeth felt tears start to form in her eyes.
"Stop," she commanded herself. "I will not cry again." She slowly
climbed from the jeep. Lila had driven Jessica this morning so they
didn't have to ride in cold silence together.
She needed to find Maria. After school, then they would get
together and she would cry it all out with her best friend. But would
that even help? Maria didn't even know that her and Conner had
gotten together. Plus, when Maria had found out that she had a
crush on Conner, Maria had acted all disapproving. Maybe Maria
wouldn't understand. Conner was the only person who understood
and he was the one person she couldn't go to. She missed him so
much…she craved him. Who was she kidding? There was no way
she was going to make it through the day without breaking down.
She pulled open the doors to Sweet Valley High and threw herself
in the large mass of students pushing their way to their lockers and
homerooms. Elizabeth weaved her way through the crowd. She
noticed a few girls who giggled and pointed in her direction. Elizabeth
quickly scanned her outfit. Nothing was loose, on backward, or exposed.
She shrugged…not everything was about her. Another girl hissed
something that sounded like 'slug' in her direction. She also noticed
that a lot of people were staring at her. Stop being paranoid! She
commanded herself. Just because you know what kind of scum you are
doesn't mean that the rest of the school does too!
She slowed down when she got to her locker. She fumbled with her
combination and then opened up her locker. She noticed that there
was a piece of paper stuck in the vent and she pulled it out. Maybe it
was from Conner, wanting to get back together. She quickly shook that
idea away. Conner didn't do stuff like that. She unfolded it and turned
white when she saw what it said. It was written in a girlish handwriting
and it bold black letters it said:

Elizabeth Wakefield is a slut.

This day had been the worst day of Conner's life. And he had had
some pretty bad ones. Tia had avoided him all day, which meant
Jessica had told her what an incredible jerk he was. People had been
giving him weird looks all day and he could have sworn people had
been avoiding him. Or it could have been that he had just been avoiding
people. The last bell had just rung which meant the day would be looking
up. He was staying at Andy's again, back on the floor right where he
started. The other good thing was that he hadn't seen Elizabeth all day.
That would have pushed him over the edge. Yesterday when he had
left her sobbing on the stairs, it had almost killed him, seeing her
vulnerable like that. But Elizabeth deserved better. He had to keep telling
himself that or else he would go crawling back to her and beg her to take
him back. He hated to admit it, but he missed Elizabeth like crazy. After
having her like that and then not being able to anymore was like having
your stomach ripped out.
He saw the exit and right when he thought he was going to make it, he
saw Elizabeth standing outside. She looked awful. Her face was all
red and splotchy like she had been crying. Conner's heart contracted.
He hated to think that he was the one causing her pain. If he could just
reach out and…and what? Make a fool of himself? Destroy Elizabeth's
relationship with her sister? What made him think that he and Elizabeth
would work anyway? She was just another girl. He could find another like
her in a second. He had to move on. He was never going to be with
Elizabeth again. He spotted a girl standing by the doors. She looked
cute. She had short brown hair and was small and cute as a button.
She looked like she would be a lot of fun. He didn't really feel anything
towards her but feelings could develop later, right? She walked up to
her and gave her his trademark lazy smile.
"Hey."
The girl glanced up at him wary. She shifted uncomfortably and Conner
smirked. No girl could resist him. He'd make out with her tonight and
forget all about Elizabeth Wakefield. Sweet Valley High was full of hot
eligible girls looking for a good time.
"Uh…hey," she said.
"I saw you just now and I said to myself that you were a girl looking
for a good time, uh…"
"Penny," she said pulling down on her tank top. Conner smiled at her bare
stomach and barely there shirt. But it didn't turn him on like it usually did.
Give it time his body ordered. Penny was super sexy and her body
was even better than Elizabeth's. But why was it Elizabeth's body that
kept popping into his mind?
"Penny, how would you be interested in you know, hanging out?"
She gave him a weird look and suddenly a slow smile played on her lips.
"Conner," she purred into his ear. "I wouldn't go out with you if you were
the last guy on earth."
"Wh-What?" Conner said shocked.
"I'm not like Elizabeth…I won't cheat on another girl's guy. What you did
was disgusting." And she whirled around and stormed away.

"Hello?" Jessica said into the phone.
"Jessica?" a familiar voice said.
"Yeah, who is this?"
"Jeremy. Jeremy Aames."
Jessica paled. What did he want with her? He was probably calling to mock
her on her lame choice in men. "Uh, hey Jeremy."
"Listen, I know we don't really know each other but I really need your help.
See, I'm on the student government and there's a really important meeting
tonight and my parents are going out and my friends are all busy so I was
wondering if you would like to baby-sit my two younger sisters."
Jessica was speechless. He wanted her to baby-sit? "Uh, you're
joking, right?"
"No, listen, I only called because I'm really desperate."
Jessica was silent. "Okay," she agreed. "But only because of
your sisters."
"Thanks, you're a lifesaver Jess."
Sometimes too much for my own good, she thought.

Jessica flung herself onto the huge leather couch in the Aames's living
room. Trisha and Emma were such sweethearts that it almost didn't feel
like work. But she had a pile of homework back at home and Jeremy
still wasn't back yet. She noticed a pile of books and notebooks on the
table and saw that they were Jeremy's schoolbooks. She also noticed
that he had the same history book that her class was using. She picked
it up and opened it to the section she was supposed to read tonight.
Might was well get her work started. A piece of paper was jammed in
where she started to read and she noticed it was rough draft of a paper.
She glanced at it.

The turning point of World War II was when Hitler attempted to take
control of his own troops on the march to Leningrad….

Jessica's face paled. That handwriting was the same handwriting that
was on her love letters. Which meant…Jeremy was her secret admirer!
She didn't know what to do or feel. She slammed the book shut and
looked up to see Jeremy standing above her.
"I'm…I'm really. Who do you think you are?" she demanded.
"So you know," Jeremy said running his hands through his hair.
"Yeah," she said. She tried to notice how cute he was. "Why?"
"Because I like you," Jeremy said shrugging his shoulders. "I think you
are the prettiest, feistiest, most interesting girl I had ever met. But
you were dating that jerk…"
"Actually he was a jerk, we broke up."
Jeremy's face brightened. "Because of my letters?"
"No, because he was cheating on me with Elizabeth. Your letters
were sweet, though."
"You still have feelings for him," Jeremy said disappointed.
Jessica didn't say anything.
"Listen, I want us to go on a date. I think we'd be really good together.
But we're going to take it slow…I don't want to be the rebound."
"What makes you think I'd want to go on a date with you anyway?"
Jessica said.
Jeremy captured her lips in a sweet kiss and Jessica was surprised at how
good it felt.
He pulled back and smiled at her stunned expression. "That's why."