"This is the life," Jessica moaned as the masseuse rubbed out the tension
in Jessica's back. This was one of the benefits of having a wealthy friend.
Her, Lila, Melissa, and Tia were all lying on metal beds having first rate
massages. Then they were going to have facials and manicures and then
their hair done. Then they would all get dressed and their boyfriends
would pick them up here and a limo would whisk them off to the homecoming
dance. Jessica shivered as she pictured Jeremy in a tux.
"You are so lucky, Li," Melissa said lazily.
"I know," Lila said matter of factly and Jessica laughed.
"At least she's so giving," Tia said.
Jessica snorted. And Lila looked up at Jessica. "I'm just kidding," Jessica said.
"We all know you can be generous."
"I just want the four of us to be the most devastating girls at the dance
tonight. I mean, it's our last homecoming dance."
"I know," Jessica said sadly.
"But we have four years of frat parties," Melissa said mischievously.
"That's true," Jessica grinned. "I forgot about that."
"But we need to make this night unforgettable," Lila said wistfully. "I just
wish I weren't going with someone so forgettable."
"What's wrong with Josh?" Melissa asked defensively. "He's Will's
best friend!"
"There's nothing wrong with him," Lila said waving a hand. "He's just so
generic
. I wish I was going with someone special to me. Like Will is
to you or Angel is to you," she gestured at Tia.
"What about Jeremy?" Jessica said, offended.
Lila glanced over at Jessica's hurt expression. "He's really important
to you, isn't he?"
"No," Jessica said with a nervous laugh.
"He is," Lila said smirking.
Jessica was quiet. "I've only known him for a couple of weeks, but we
have so much fun together and when I'm not with him, I really want to be.
And I could talk to him for hours on the phone…"
Melissa and Lila giggled. But Tia looked thoughtful. "What about Conner?"
she said after a while. "I thought you really liked him."
"I did like Conner," Jessica said shrugging. "But in a way, I think he was
right. We weren't meant to be together. We're way too different I think I
just wanted a boyfriend so badly that I kind of made something out of
nothing."
"Plus, there's no sense in moping," Lila put in.
"So, if you and Conner weren't right for each other, then why did you
forbid Conner and Elizabeth from getting together?"
"Duh, Tee!" Melissa said impatiently. "When she found out about them,
she still wanted Conner."
"Yeah," Lila said shaking her head. "Liz and Conner were seeing each other
behind Jessica's back. That's just wrong."
" Elizabeth is my twin and she betrayed me," Jessica said coldly. "They
have no right to be together."
"Maybe," Tia said quietly.

Gabe leaned against his red Monte Carlo . He had just checked out fifteen
minutes ago and if he wanted to get into LA in time to find a motel then he
better get his butt going. But something, rather, someone was causing him
to stay. Elizabeth 's blond face popped back into his mind. It wasn't because
she was the prettiest girl that he had ever seen before (although she was); it
was the pained look on her face. Her eyes showed sadness and a great hurt
and a sense of not belonging. It was something Gabe himself was familiar
with. His mother had died when he was twelve and when he needed his
father the most, his father had retreated into his software company and had
never come back. Gabe had always had everything he had ever wanted. He
had gone to the best schools and had the best car. But he had never had a
deep personal relationship with anyone since his mom's death. The guys at
school only hung around him because he had a cool car and was a great
soccer player. Girls only wanted to be with him because he was popular and
rich. No one had ever wanted to be with him though. That's why he had taken
this trip, he needed to get away from everything and find out what he really
wanted. And what he really wanted was to be a landscape photographer. He
had been to some of the most beautiful places and had been inspired. Plus,
his favorite class in high school had been photography. And English. He
could vividly picture himself traveling around the world taking pictures and
writing about them. He could also picture the look on his father's face
when he told him.
Gabe sighed and looked down the street. Elizabeth wasn't coming. He
climbed into his car and started the engine. Just as he was about to pull
into drive, someone knocked on his window. Gabe glanced over and saw
Elizabeth standing there holding a backpack. She looked even worse than
yesterday, her eyes were all puffy like she had just been crying and she
looked out of breath. Gabe stared at her for a moment and his heart
clenched. He popped open her door and she gingerly climbed in.
"Thanks," she said softly.
He gave her a small smile and then he began to drive. He cleared his throat
and opened his mouth to ask her if she was okay but she interrupted him
before he could speak.
"Don't" she sobbed. Then she turned her gaze out her window and Gabe
shut his mouth. And they continued in silence.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Mr. Cooper shouted
into the microphone. "It's time to announce this year's homecoming
king and queen!"
A loud cheer went out and Jessica grinned at Jeremy. They had spent
the whole night dancing and kissing and laughing. Jeremy squeezed her
hand. "You're a shoo-in," he whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her
ear and making her glow.
"And Jessica shall be my lady," Will said bowing.
"What makes you so sure you're going to win?" Melissa said poking him
in the ribs.
"Yeah," Jessica said laughing. "They king is usually a joke. The guy who
won last year was the class clown."
"Did someone call my name?" Andy said coming up. He was joined by
his date, Jade Wu.
"This year's homecoming queen is….Jessica Wakefield !"
Jessica shrieked and hugged Jeremy. "Congratulations, baby!" he said
and gave her a big kiss in front of everybody. Jessica ran up to the stage
and Maria Slater handed her a huge bouquet of flowers and placed a small
tiara on her head. Jessica smiled as she looked out into the crowd of cheers.
She saw Jeremy blow her a kiss and Melissa and Tia and Lila were doing a
little wave. Jessica continued searching and realized the person she was looking
for wasn't there. The one person who she had shared everything with, wasn't going
to be here for this. Jessica felt sad and she realized she missed Elizabeth .
But feedback from Mr. Cooper's mike brought her back to reality.
"And Jessica's king is…Winston Egbert!"
A look of pure horror crossed Jessica face as cheers and laugher erupted.
Winston made his way through the crowd and hopped onto the stage. He
ignored Maria and walked right over to Jessica and said loudly, "My beautiful
queen!" Before Jessica could react, Winston had swept her back and gave
her a long, exaggerated kiss. The whole place went wild and Jessica had to
laugh. As she and Winston made their way down the platform into the crowd
for their dance, Jessica bumped into Enid and shot her a dirty look. She
and Winston danced to the class song and then they started in on another
ballad. Jeremy tapped Winston on the shoulder and grinned "Can I steal
your queen?"
"Usually I would have your head for saying that, but since you're bigger
than me…" Winston joked.
Jeremy took Jessica into his arms and they slowly swayed back and forth
to the music, each lost in the arms of the other.

"Hello, sleeping beauty," Mrs. Wakefield said to Jessica. Jessica groaned
and fell into the kitchen chair. She looked at the clock. It was two in the
afternoon. After the dance they had all gone to Will's for a party and then
she and Jeremy had driven around and had ended up at the beach. It
had been almost five in the morning when he had finally dropped her off.
"I was voted queen," Jessica said.
"Oh, sweetie, that's wonderful!" Mrs. Wakefield said beaming. "I'm so proud
of you. I just wish Liz had been there to see you. She and Enid spent
last night together."
"No they didn't," Jessica said confused. "I saw Enid at the dance last night."
"But she left a note saying that she and Enid were having a girl's night." Mrs.
Wakefield looked puzzled. Then she picked up the phone and dialed Enid 's
number. Then Maria's. Then Todd's. Half and hour later Mrs. Wakefield looked
worried. "I don't understand, why would Liz lie about where she was going
and why isn't she back yet?"
"Call Andy, 555-3481," Jessica said coldly. "Conner might know where she is."
"Why would Conner know?" Mrs. Wakefield said, but she dialed anyway.
Then she hung up. "Andy and Conner haven't seen her."
Jessica and Mrs. Wakefield went upstairs and into Elizabeth 's bedroom.
Jessica opened Elizabeth 's drawers and noticed they were mostly empty.
"I think she's run away," Jessica said simply.

The next chapter will be more exciting, I promise and a major turning point
in the story!!