For this chapter I'm going to
jump to the past so we can check up
on Jessica. Conner left to get Liz on a Friday and found her Saturday.
This chapter takes place Friday and Saturday.
Jessica stepped out of the jeep
and gave the door a hard slam.
She readjusted her purse and glanced up at the sky. How ironic
that it was so sunny, when she felt so gray. She rummaged around
in her bag and pulled out her sunglasses. She then pulled out her
compact and looked in the small mirror. She had caked her face
with concealor to hide the redness of her eyes and the dark circles
under them. At least one thing was going her way. She didn't look
like she had been dumped. She took a deep breath. She could do
this, she was a great actress. All she had to do was not bring up
Jeremy's name, or if one of her friends were to mention him, she
could breezily change the subject and act like nothing was wrong.
Jessica clenched her eyes shut as she felt another wave of tears
come on. Maybe she should just avoid her friends. They weren't
the best people to be around with in a crisis. Jessica hated to admit
it, but her friends had never been sympathetic or understanding.
They had all been pretty selfish. Jessica leaned against the jeep
and glanced at her watch. There were fifteen minutes before
homeroom started. She would just hang out here until the last
possible minute.
She had spent all last night crying. She had finally been able to
stop around three in the morning. Then she had sat in bed numbly
until her mom had woken her up for school. Her mom hadn't noticed
that anything was wrong. They were wrapped up in
Elizabeth
. They
had the police combing the tri-county area for her and Mr. and Mrs.
Wakefield had gone out with them everyday. Jessica knew that
Elizabeth
didn't want to be found. She figured that she was out of
California
by now. With Jeremy dumping her…it was just too much.
She hadn't felt like this when she had caught Conner cheating on
her. Sure, she had been upset, but mostly because she had been
betrayed and lied to. Not because she was so in love with Conner,
that she couldn't imagine life without him. She hadn't been a mess
like
Elizabeth
had been. But with Jeremy…even though she hadn't
known him that long, when she was with him she felt happy and
alive…and loved.
Jessica knew he wasn't going to come back. Jeremy was big on
honesty and she had lied to him and now he thought she was a
heartless bh. He wasn't going to trust her.
Jessica glanced at her watch again. She should head in unless
she wanted to be marked tardy. She pulled out her lipstick and put
another coat on. Then she smoothed down her skirt. She had
taken extra time to make sure that she looked fabulous. It was
what every girl did after she was dumped. She had to look great
so the guy knew what he was missing. Only thing was, Jeremy
didn't go to her school. But it still didn't hurt.
Jessica marched defiantly into the school. She refused to make
eye contact with anyone but she could feel everyone staring at her.
She knew she looked good.
"Uh, Jess?" she turned. It was Melissa, Will, Tia, and Lila standing
by her locker. Busted.
"Hey," she said giving them a bright smile. "I'm running a little late
this morning. Shouldn't you guys be in homeroom?"
"Jess?" Melissa said staring at her. "Homeroom doesn't start for twenty
minutes.
Jessica glanced quickly at her watch. 7:40. what an idiot she was. It
must have been the lack of sleep. "I am such a spaz," she said,
trying to laugh it off. She opened her locker and started rummaging
around, pretending to look for her history book. Even though it was
in the same place it always was.
"Did Jeremy dump you or something?" Lila said, cracking her gum.
"What?" Jessica said turning towards Lila. "How did you know?" Of
course Lila knew she had known her forever.
"
Lila glanced at Tia and Melissa. "Come on Jess."
She gestured
towards her outfit. "I mean, you always look fabulous, but you never
dress like you're ready to hit the
L.A.
hot spots."
Jessica looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a short, black
leather skirt, with her knee high boots.
"Do I look like a slut?" Jessica said frantically.
"No," Lila quickly assured her. "You look awesome. But it's obvious
you're trying to look good on purpose. I mean leather?"
Jessica closed her locker and leaned against it. "It's that obvious? I'm
so pathetic!" she moaned.
"You're pathetic and hot," Josh Radinsky said, coming up to her
group with Cherie.
"Thanks," Jessica said rolling her eyes.
"So you and Jeremy broke up?" Melissa said sympathetically.
"What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Jessica said closing her eyes, trying to
hold back her tears. "I just…after Conner…maybe it's me."
"What?" Lila said laughing. "Are you kidding? It's so obvious it's the
guys.
Guys can be such idiot's sometimes."
"Jeremy wasn't making out with your sister, was he?" Gina said giggling.
"No,
Elizabeth
ran away, remember?" Cherie said. "She'd run out of
guys in
Sweet
Valley
who would sleep with her."
Jessica stared open mouthed at her two 'friends'. They had said worse
things before, but Jessica was finally beginning to realize how far things
had gotten. What had started out as a bitter speculation had turned into a
full blown mission to destroy her sister. Jessica wanted no part in it.
Jeremy was right. Even though she hadn't directly spread the rumors, she
had provided the fuel. And this needed to stop.
"Shut up," she said coldly. "My sister didn't do any of those things."
Cherie and Gina stared at her in shock. Melissa and Lila had raised their
eyebrows and Tia looked confused.
"Excuse me?" Cherie's shrill voice demanded. Gosh, the girl could be
really annoying sometimes. Her voice had gathered the attention of
most of the people in the hallway.
"My sister didn't sleep with Conner or any other guys," Jessica said a
little louder this time. Okay, so she had slept with Conner, but the
other part was true.
"What are you talking about?" Gina challenged. "Everyone knows it's
true. You saw them together, and Amy saw them going at it at the Riot."
"What?" she exclaimed. "None of that is remotely true. I saw Conner
and Liz kissing, sure. But that's all. None of the other stuff happened.
Come on, you guys all know Liz," she said looking at Lila and Amy.
"She would never do any of that stuff.
Elizabeth
is one of the nicest
girls in the school. I mean, how many of us have gone to her for help
when we had problems? How many times as she helped people out
of messes and problems? How can we say all those things about her
after all she's done for us? I mean, yeah, she made a mistake. But
every single one of us has before. I mean hello? I cheated on Ken.
Amy, you and Bruce cheated on
Regina
. Or how about when Todd and
I cheated on Liz? What she did was wrong, but she doesn't deserve
to be punished for it."
Jessica took a deep breath and looked around. Most people were
looking down and a couple were nodding there heads. Jessica smiled
slightly. She had finally gotten through to them. "If I hear anything being
said about Liz, you'll have to answer to me."
The crowd broke up as the early bell rang. All of Jessica's friends were
staring at her in surprise.
Tia opened her mouth, and then shut it. Then she opened it again "You
mean all those things about Conner and Liz aren't true? But you said
that you saw-"
"Tia, I think you might have misunderstood what Jessica was saying,"
Melissa said smoothly. "I was there."
"Are you calling me a liar?" Tia said, steeping towards Melissa. "I know
what I heard, and I think Jessica's covering."
"Are you calling me and liar? I was there, and I clearly remember
Jessica saying she thought they might be sleeping together."
Melissa said calmly.
Tia stared at them. She let out a breath and then stomped a way.
"What a freak," Lila said. "Is she trying to be unpopular?"
"Seriously," Amy said.
"Listen, Tia, about
yesterday," Jessica said early Saturday morning.
The cheerleaders were all warming up before the game that morning
against Big Mesa. Jessica didn't think she'd be able to get through it
watching Jeremy play, but at least she wouldn't be able to see his face.
"I don't want to talk about it Jess," Tia said, leaning over. "I think
you
deliberately made it sound like Conner and Liz were, you know. I
treated Conner horribly…"
"They were still messing around behind my back," Jessica reminded her.
"I know," Tia said. "That's not the point. Just forget it, okay?" Tia
walked
away and went to join Jade and Annie.
Jessica sighed. Jessica could definitely tell that her's and Tia's
friendship
had reached a freeze. It was a shame because of all her new El Carro
friends; Tia was the only one she was sure she could trust.
"Hey, hottie," Lila said joining her. "These new uniforms are sexy," she
said. "Melissa and Cherie have good taste."
"Yeah, but these seem, a little too much," Jessica said shrugging. The
new uniforms were short red, pleated skirts, with a short, red halter top
that had 'Sweet Valley' written across the top in white.
"At least they thought to ask for sewn in bra cups with all the jumping
around we do," Lila said readjusting her straps.
"Okay everyone!" Melissa called out. "Let's get into formation and do a
last minute check."
"Co-captain my butt," Jessica muttered. "She acts like she's the boss.
First the uniforms, and now the pregame pep talk…"
"Make sure everyone has their pom poms placed at least five inches
away so that they don't slip on them. Also, make sure you stay in
formation so don't step on someone else's. Remember, Gina you're
spotter for the pyramid this week and Tia, you're top girl. I'm glad
everyone remembered to wear the new uniforms, they were a big
hit last week, and we had every guy's eyes on us. Now everyone do
a boob check so we don't have an unnecessary peep show. Mr.
Spader, the vice-principal, made it clear that we represent the school,
and we have to be on our best behavior to show the adults and
parents how mature we are. Now, let's get in formation." Several
of the girls giggled. Jessica rolled her eyes. Mr. Spader was
okay, but please!
"Gooooo Gladiators!" the cheerleaders all shouted.
"Do you think Mr. Spader is hot?" Jessica said, rolling her eyes.
"Hell yeah!" Lila said placing her hands on her chest and rearranging
her top. "I'd flash him any day." Jessica giggled.
Jessica got into her place front and center. She looked out at the field
where the Big Mesa team was standing. Her heart leapt when she
saw #10, Jeremy's number. Then her heart froze. Talking with him was
a generic Big Mesa cheerleader. They weren't just talking; the girl's
body language was on full flirt mode. Jessica felt the tears start up
again. She saw Lila stare at her. "Jess,"
"I can't," she choked out. "I can't cheer."
Lila grabbed her arm. "You have to Jess or else you let him win."
"Ready, okay!" Melissa called out and they started in on the welcome
cheer.
As Jessica blindly went through the motions, she saw a couple of the
Big Mesa cheerleaders pointing at them and laughing. Jessica turned
beet red. Sure, the uniforms were a bit slutty…but is that how Jeremy
saw her? Jessica's eyes flew open and she finally saw what was
happening. Melissa had picked the uniforms, had met with Mr. Spader,
and was leading and choosing the cheers. Jessica was captain of the
squad; she had made Melissa her co-captain.
After they finished the welcome cheer, Jessica said "Okay, now we're
going to do the 'fight' cheer. Cherie and I are front and center."
"We were going to the 'spirit' cheer next," Melissa pointed out.
"That cheer is so boring," Jessica said rolling her eyes. "We'll save
that
one for the middle of the game." Melissa opened her mouth to protest,
but Jessica jumped in. "I'm captain." Jessica detected a faint smirk on
Lila's face. The other cheerleaders nodded and Jessica and Cherie
moved up front. They performed the cheer flawlessly and it ended
with Cherie and Jessica doing a triple back flip. After she had
completed the move, she felt a surge of energy go through her body.
It wasn't much, but it was something. Take that Jeremy! She thought
confidently.
Her early game energy quickly died out and Jessica cheered and led like
a robot, how she made it through the game, she had no idea. She thought
Sweet
Valley
had won, but she wasn't sure. After the grueling game
she trudged home. She so needed a bubble bath right now. She
walked in the front door and was surprised to hear how quiet it was
for a Saturday afternoon. It was so weird without Liz and Conner here.
She crawled up the stairs and flung herself into her room, and dumped
her pom poms on the bed. She walked into the bathroom. She
stopped. The door between her and Liz's room was open. She
had closed it the last time she was here. Curious, she poked her
head into Liz's room. She always fainted. There, in the middle of
the bed, was Elizabeth.
