A month and a half later

"I think we're all done!" Jessica said, smiling at her sister.
"We?" Elizabeth said raising an eyebrow. "What, may I ask, did you
do?"
Jessica glanced over at the large cooler in the corner of Elizabeth's
room, and the trays of food. Then she grabbed a small wooden bowl of
onion dip. "I put the dip into this cute little bowl," she said triumphantly.
"Wow, Jess. I think you saved the party, I don't think we would have
been able to have it if it weren't for that stupid dip," Liz said walking
downstairs toward the kitchen.
"Don't be such a bh," Jessica said, following her. "Just because
you're like the wonder twin. I told you I'd take care of everything. This
is supposed to be your party. I mean, you're finally ungrounded."
"Finally," Elizabeth said, sighing with pleasure. She opened the
fridge, and began rooting inside.
"I mean," Jessica continued. "We couldn't have it last night when you
were officially free because you had to go suck face with Conner."
"And what is wrong with that?" a deep voice came from by the patio
door. Liz and Jessica both spun around.
"Conner, you know we do have something called a doorbell," Jessica
said. "Plus, what are you doing here?"
Elizabeth slammed the fridge shut, and holding a can of frosting she
went over and threw her arms around Conner.
"Hey babe," he said, wrapping her protectively to his chest. "Got any
big plans tonight? I thought we'd go to Secca Lake for a swim."
"It's seven-thirty," Jessica pointed out.
"I know," Conner said, lightly kissing Liz.
"As wonderful as that sounds," Elizabeth said pulling back. She pulled
open a drawer and grabbed a spatula. She began frosting a pan of
brownies that she had made earlier that afternoon. Conner eyed them hungrily.
"First off, these aren't for you," she said, jabbing him lightly. "And
I already have plans. Jess and I are having a sleepover party."
"Oh, so that explains Jessica's clothing," Conner said laughing.
"Hey," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "These are cute!"
"Come on Jess," he snorted. "Rainbow ponies?"
"My Little Pony," Jessica corrected him. Then she grabbed the plate of
watermelon slices and hurried upstairs. "Spare me, I caught the Liz and
Conner reunion last night. You guys were sick," she said referring to their
bump and grind dancing at the Riot the previous evening.
So what kind of sexy pajamas are you going to wear?" Conner said,
sitting on the barstool next to Liz.
"I haven't had time to change. Of course since it was Jessica's party
that meant I had to do all the work."
"Can I stay," Conner said in a gravelly voice. "I'll be really quiet."
"No," Elizabeth said smiling. "I don't want you checking other girls
out."
"I wouldn't," he said staring at her intently.
"If you want, I'll model them for you later, privately," she said. She
started to cut the brownies up. "Crap, I got some frosting on my
finger." She prepared to get up, but Conner grabbed her finger and gently
sucked it off her finger.
Conner stood up. "I'll see ya, Wakefield."
"Wait," Elizabeth said. Conner turned around and Elizabeth jammed a
brownie in his mouth.
Conner sputtered and she grabbed his hand. "The guests will be another
half hour," she said smiling at him. "Now it's my turn to taste you."

An hour later, Elizabeth went up to her room. All of their friends were
sprawled out across her floor, gossiping, doing each other's hair, and
flipping through magazines. They had decided to have the party in
Elizabeth's room, because you could hardly even walk across Jessica's.
Amy, Lila, Melissa, Gina, Cherie, Tia, Maria, and Enid all looked up at
her as she walked in.
"Late for your own party," Lila teased.
"What were you doing? Rolling around in a field?" Maria said.
Elizabeth glanced in the mirror at her rumpled clothing and disarrayed
hair.
"Leave her alone," Cherie said. "She's just enjoying her freedom. If
Conner was my boyfriend, I wouldn't be hanging out with you guys."
Gina snorted. "You just wish Conner was your boyfriend."
Cherie bopped Gina with her pillow. "You're right, I do wish that," she
said finally. "No offense Liz."
"Why should Liz be offended," Melissa said smirking. "You're never
going to get him. Not that you haven't tried."
Tia, Melissa, and Gina all snickered.
"What?" Liz said, running a brush through her hair.
"Oh, I used to do dumb things to get his attention," Cherie said
lightly. "They're probably thinking of the time that I was wearing these four
inch heels and I was about ready to go down the stairs at school, but I
saw Conner coming, so I stopped and stood there real flirty, and as he
passed by, I kind of shifted seductively, my heel got caught on the
step, and I tumbled down the stairs."
Everyone started laughing. "And the worst part," Tia said, as she
braided Amy's hair. "Was that he didn't notice her!"
"That wasn't what I was remembering," Melissa said, shooting Cherie a
knowing look. "It was during our sophomore year, and Cherie read an
article that said guys like girls who bake. And Cherie isn't exactly Julia
Child. But she made a tray of chocolate chip cookies, and gave Conner
one."
"And Conner will eat anything," Tia interrupted.
"But Cherie had misread the recipe," Melissa continued. Instead of half
a teaspoon of salt, she put in one and a half tablespoons of salt!"
"You should have seen the look on Conner's face," Gina hooted.
Cherie was blushing. "Like any of you haven't embarrassed yourself over
a guy before," she muttered.
"You're better off not going out with him," Tia assured her. "You would
have just been one of his generic flavor of the weeks girls."
"I miss those," Melissa said wistfully.
"What?" Elizabeth said, pulling her jeans off, and putting on a pair of
stain unicorn pajama shorts.
"Oh, they were just so…funny," Melissa, said, biting on a brownie.
"Remember Amanda Dobson?" Gina said between giggles.
"What did she do?" Enid asked.
"She brought her hamster on their date!" Tia said. "Conner dumped her
that night. I think it lasted for an hour."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Enough with the Conner talk." Jessica turned
towards Cherie. "So, what happened between you and Bruce? From personal
experience, I'll say you made a mistake. He kisses like a dead
jellyfish," and she exploded into giggles.
Lila, Amy, and Liz all agreed. "You all kissed him," Cherie said
incredulously. She waved her hand. "It was okay, I just wanted to get away
from Andy."
"He's such a geek, you were psycho to even think about dating him,"
Gina said snidely.
"Seriously," Amy chimed in.
"Hey," Tia protested.
"Sorry, Tee. But it's true," Cherie said. "I probably made his year by
agreeing to go to the party with him. "He picked me up, and when we had
parked in Li's driveway, he jumped on me. His hands were everywhere. My
face, my shoulders, my dress straps, my zipper. I swear, he spent the
whole evening staring at my chest."
"Why did you invite Bruce anyway?" Amy asked Lila.
"Yeah," Jessica said curiously.
Lila blushed. "Well, fine, it's like this. Remember how I said I was
only dating college guys? Well, after school I began heading towards
south point beach, I mean it's right near the university. But all the guys
that were there were kind of lame. But there was this one guy whom was
always running by himself. I kept going back to see if there was any
guy that would be cool enough to be seen in public with. But usually I
just watched that guy run. He seemed so sad and alone. And soon I realized
I was going to the beach just to see him." Lila took a deep breath.
"It's Ken. I'm dating Ken Matthews."
Enid's eyes widened. "Wow, he's been like a walking zombie all year
since Olivia died."
"Yeah, for a while I just ran with him. We didn't even talk. Then we
started talking and stuff. But I invited Bruce because I didn't want to
seem like a hypocrite."
"Wow," Jess said softly. "It sounds serious."
"It is," Lila said happily. "He's not so sullen and I'm trying not to
be so snobby."
"You're lucky," Maria said. "I would kill for a boyfriend. Something
long term like you and Will," she said to Melissa.
"Yeah," Amy said. "You guys are so lucky."
"Yeah," Melissa said, agreeing.
"When did you know that he was the one?" Enid said smiling.
"It was our freshman year," Melissa began. "Every morning Will, Cherie,
and I walked to school. We always stopped at the House of Java for
take out coffee because Cherie and I are caffeine addicts. I always
ordered a latte with one sugar and 2 creams; Cherie always had a latte with
two sugars. One morning, Cherie was late so we went on ahead of her. We
stopped, and I ordered both of our coffees, but forgot to stop at the
table to pick up our sugars and creams. Will stopped me and handed me
two creams and a sugar. I thanked him and asked what Cherie usually took,
and he told me he had no idea."
"That's so sweet," Amy said.
Elizabeth smiled as Tia launched into a funny story about her and
Angel. She grabbed a brownie and stuffed it into her mouth. She was so happy
to finally be free, and as she looked at the laughing and smiling faces
of her friends, she could hardly believe that just two months ago she
hadn't had any friends. But here she was with great friends, an awesome
boyfriend, and the best sister that she could have asked for. She knew she didn't
deserve to have all these good people around her, but she was grateful all the same.
She thought back to the letter that she had received from Gabe that week.

Dear Liz,

Hey, I hope you're doing all right. I'm doing fine...actually that's a lie. (I just don't want
you to worry about me! You have enough problems.) Right after you left I decided to
go home. It wasn't until after I had left you that I realized how lonely I was. I loved
being on my own and seeing America...but I really missed my home. To make a long story
short, I came back home and my dad and I are working things out. We both were unhappy
with how things had been going, and we're talking about stuff. Plus, I'm going to start college
this winter (I'd knew you'd be proud!). But I'm not doing law or business like my dad wanted. I'm
majoring in English and art. I really hope you're okay (and not back with that jerk, Conner). I miss
you. Thanks for everything you did for me. I know you don't think that you did anything,
but you did so much. Thanks for being a great friend, and keep in touch!

Love, Gabe

Elizabeth caught her sister's eye and smiled. Yes, she had a lot to be thankful for.
The worst year of her life, might very well end up one of her best.

Wow, I finally finished! I hope everyone enjoyed it...I think it turned out okay. Thanks
so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome!!!