THE GREAT BOYFRIEND WAR
ONE
"This doesn't make any sense!" Jessica Wakefield cried, throwing a purple miniskirt over her shoulder, hitting her twin sister Elizabeth on the face.
Elizabeth tossed the skirt on the floor and flopped down on Jessica's unmade bed. "If you only cleaned your room more often, you wouldn't have to go through all this," she lectured, gesturing towards the pile of clothes and accessories scattered all over Jessica's room.
"Stop it with the 'mom-talk'," Jessica shot back, as she dug deeper into her overflowing closet. "OK, maybe I always leave things a little messy—"
"A little?" Elizabeth pressed.
"Lizzie!" Jessica cried, facing her sister with her hands on her hips. Elizabeth shrugged and Jessica sighed, sitting down next to Elizabeth. "OK, everything's a big mess," she admitted. "But I don't understand it. Even though I leave things like this, I always, always find everything. Now I can't find the frilly blouse Aaron gave me for Christmas! He asked me about it yesterday and I told him I always wear it, even though I only really wore it once."
Elizabeth wrapped an arm around Jessica's shoulders. "Oh, Jess, you'll find it," she assured. "I'm sure it's here somewhere, it couldn't have lost itself, you know. And besides, you can wear it some other day."
"That's just it!" Jessica exclaimed, starting to panic again. "I have to wear it today. I promised him I would, and if he finds out I've lost it he would—I don't want to know what he would do. He'd probably get angry with me and that's the last thing I need right now."
Elizabeth tightened her grip on Jessica and gave her a warm embrace. "Oh, Jess," she said. "Come on, I'll help you."
Jessica's face brightened as Elizabeth stood up and started digging among the clothes. "Really?" she asked.
"I'm already doing it, aren't I?" Elizabeth laughed.
"O-of course!" Jessica said. She came up beside Elizabeth and helped her, feeling slightly calm already. She smiled. It was nice to have a twin sister.
Although they looked the same from the outside, they were two very different people on the inside. Jessica loves to have fun, to be the center of attention and was always getting into a lot of trouble. She was also a member of the Unicorn Club, a group of girls who considered themselves the prettiest and most popular in Sweet Valley Middle School. Elizabeth had nicknamed them 'The Snob Squad'.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, was the more serious twin. She was more interested in reading books than gossiping. She was a member of the Sixers, Sweet Valley Middle School's sixth grade newspaper. Her biggest ambition was to become a writer.
But even though they were very different, Jessica knew that Elizabeth would never let her go to war alone. And the same goes for her.
"Hey! I think I found it! Is this it?" Elizabeth exclaimed, pulling out a crumpled purple blouse with big frills on the front under the sock drawer.
Jessica's eyes widened. "Oh yes!" she cried, grabbing the blouse from Elizabeth's hands and hugging it, jumping up and down. She spread it out in front of her, smiling. Then, she frowned.
Elizabeth went up to her. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"Well…" Jessica's frown deepened as she surveyed the blouse. "It's not exactly that fashionable."
Elizabeth giggled. "Jessica, you're unbelievable," she said.
Jessica shrugged. "Anyway, at least it's purple. I'll take this down to mom and ask her to iron it for me," she said.
"OK, I'll wait for you downstairs," Elizabeth said, following Jessica out the door.
Jessica walked along the corridors of Sweet Valley Middle School, hoping to run into Aaron. The blouse turned out to be a little bit on the fashionable side after all, especially when she paired it up with her knee-length white skirt, the one with the awesome beadwork. Now she felt great and Aaron has to see her! Well, including the Unicorns, especially Lila. Then she'll know that Aaron has a sense of fashion, very ideal on a perfect boyfriend, she thought, smirking. Not like Jake Hamilton, with his 'wash-and-wear' sense.
Unfortunately, she was having the worst luck in finding all the people she wanted to see. She stopped by her locker and bit her lip in anticipation. Aaron would definitely drop by her locker to see her…right? Well, he does it every time, why would today be any different? But he's nowhere in sight! Of all days—ugh!
Jessica grabbed her English book and slammed her locker door shut. And it revealed a cute smile. Her heart thumped wildly.
"Hey," Aaron greeted, leaning on the lockers.
Jessica blushed. "Hey," she greeted back, trying to look cool and collected. She smoothed her blouse and skirt for Aaron to notice.
"Guess what?" Aaron said, barely looking at Jessica's outfit.
You first. Guess what I'm wearing… "What?" Jessica asked, trying to get Aaron's attention to the blouse.
"You won't believe what I'm going to do starting today," Aaron pressed, completely ignorant of the outfit. "Come on, three guesses."
Jessica tried to hide her frown and gave a small smile, which she hoped looked teasing. "Hmm…" she said. "You're going to play for the nationals?"
"Man, I wish!" Aaron exclaimed, laughing. It was his dream to play in the national basketball tournament with the official state team. "No, that's not it. Guess again."
"Umm…you're going to be spending your one month detention coding library books?"
"Ugh! No! I wouldn't be excited about that!" Aaron grimaced. He got detention for pushing over a whole shelf of library books. Of course, it wasn't deliberate. Jake Hamilton pushed him hard toward it and the librarian wouldn't believe a thing that Aaron says. "But it has something to do with that detention. You're getting closer."
Jessica sighed, frowning deeply this time. "Can't you honestly notice?" she asked, her patience teetering over the edge.
Aaron's face clouded with confusion. "What?" he asked. "Notice what?"
Jessica clenched her fists in frustration. "Aaron!" she cried. "You—you're—you know what, just forget about it." She began to storm away from Aaron but he caught up with her, wearing an expression of mixed confusion and worry.
"What is it, Jess? Come on, please tell me," he pleaded. "Whatever it is, I'm sorry."
"You'd better be!" Jessica said through gritted teeth. "After all the trouble I went through just to show you how much I loved your gift, you suddenly act like an insensitive prick!"
Aaron stopped dead in his tracks and caught Jessica's hand. He pulled her close, smiling. "Is that it?" he asked. "I'm sorry, Jess. But you look fabulous today. You really do."
In spite of herself, Jessica's lips slowly curved into a smile and her insides felt like they were dancing a jig. She just couldn't stay mad with Aaron. He was such a sweet guy.
Aaron squeezed Jessica's hand and looked at her from head to toe. "I really must have good taste," he said. "You look great in that blouse."
Jessica giggled. "Let's just say I have a flair for matching clothes," she said. "But I do—"
The bell suddenly rang, cutting off Jessica. Aaron quickly let go of her hand. "Whoops, gotta go," he said. He gave one last smile and started to head for class.
"Wait!" Jessica cried, taking a few steps forward. "What was it you were going to tell me?"
"Tell you later! Meet me at the benches, lunchtime! See ya!"
Jessica's heart fluttered, staring at Aaron's disappearing form. She stood there dazed for a few minutes until she realized that she had o go to class too!
Jessica excitedly rushed out of the classroom when the lunch bell rang. She told the Unicorns she wasn't going to hang-out with them because she had a 'lunch date' with Aaron. It was so thrilling to say it. She'd never been so in to Aaron like that before.
She arrived at the benches but Aaron wasn't there yet. Of course, Jessica thought. He wouldn't be here right away. He's probably waiting for the right time to sweep me in his arms!
Jessica sighed. Just thinking about it made her blush. Wait a minute, she thought, suddenly sitting up. I should be at least little late! It's actually not good for the lady to be so early. Maybe I should play a bit hard-to-get. Then, I'll sweep up to him graciously and he would catch me by the waist, tilt me oh-so-slowly backwards and he will lean down and—
Jessica stopped, trying hard to stop blushing. I should get out of here before anything else comes up, she thought. But where will I go? Hmm…somewhere near…ah! Elizabeth! The Sixers office! I'm sure she's there. I'll just hang-out there for a few minutes.
She stood up and made her way to the Sixers office. When she came up to the door, she heard a very familiar voice. "Uh, yeah, it's somewhere in there." It was Elizabeth's. Good. She's here.
She opened the door and walked in. "Hey!" she greeted.
Elizabeth's face lit up. "Oh, hey! What is it?" she asked.
"Oh nothing, just—" Jessica stopped as someone suddenly showed up from behind a desk. Her eyes grew wide. "Aaron?"
