"Ugh, I just want to get out of here," Jeremy complained to Elizabeth.
"Come on," she said cheerfully. "We only have twenty minutes left."
"Twenty looong minutes," Jeremy replied. "I mean come on, it's a
Saturday, and it should be against the law for teenagers to work on a
Saturday. Plus, I want you to go back to being mopey and complaining.
You're way to cheerful for a seven hour shift."
"Big plans with Amanda?" Elizabeth said teasingly.
"No, she's going to her sister's baby shower. I'm going to a party with
Trent and Stan. I haven't hung with the guys in a while."
The bell over the door rang.
"I want to take that bell and throw it in into the Pacific," Jeremy said.
"If I have to make another latte I'll scream," Elizabeth said,
squeezing her eyes shut.
"Hey Jer," a bright voice said.
"Oh thank God it's you," Jeremy said, sighing with relief. "We thought
you were a customer."
"Well I am, sort of," she said grinning. "I thought I'd stop by and say
hi before I need to be at my sister's. But I would like a mocha latte,"
she said smiling.
"I'll get it," Jeremy said, shooting a bemused look at Elizabeth.
"So, how are things at the good old HOJ?" Amanda asked.
"Hell," Elizabeth said. "I have never seen this place so packed. This
is the first moment of quiet that we've had all day."
Jeremy placed her drink in front of her. She gave him a quick kiss.
"It's a shame we both have plans tonight," she said quietly.
"Gag me," Elizabeth said rolling her eyes. "So what did you get your
sister?" she said changing the subject.
Amanda's eyes lit up. "Oh, I got her this adorable stuffed kitten that
has a music recorder inside that plays a whole bunch of nursery rhymes.
Plus, I got her a baby book and two Mickey Mouse sleepers that would be
cute for a girl or a boy."
"Neat," Elizabeth said. "When's she due?"
"In four weeks," Amanda said happily. "I am so excited. I cannot wait
to be an aunt."
"You're so lucky," Elizabeth said dreamily. "I love babies."
"So how are you feeling?" Amanda asked Jeremy with concern.
"I'm fine, I probably won't even have a bruise."
"Why? What happened?" Elizabeth asked.
"Some three hundred pound gorilla linebacker knocked Jeremy down pretty
hard yesterday," Amanda said.
"At least we won," Jeremy said excitedly. "We're now seven and zero
with only three games left."
"Unfortunately for you we won as well," Elizabeth said laughing. "My
sister is practically bouncing off the walls, she really wants to go to
state this year."
"Well, so do we and I think we can beat you," Jeremy said, punching
Elizabeth playfully on the shoulder.
"I don't know," Elizabeth said shaking her head. "Even though Will's a
jerk, he's a pretty good quarterback. But I do wish it were Ken
Matthews leading us."
Amanda quickly took a big sip of coffee and changed the
subject. "So," she said shooting Jeremy a look. "What's up Liz?"
"What do you mean?"
"I haven't seen you this happy in a while. So come on, spill."
Elizabeth blushed. Jeremy leaned in to Amanda. "Lizzie's got a date,"
he said teasingly. Elizabeth blushed even harder.
Amanda's eyes light up. "That's great! It's time you forgot about that
idiot Conner."
"Yeah, it's some guy I go to school with," she said shrugging. "No big
deal."
"But it is a big deal! What's his name? Where is he taking you?"
"His name is Cody-"
"What a great name!" Amanda interrupted. "That's what Heather should
name her baby if it's a boy."
"Anyway, he's taking me to the Cosmo."
Amanda's eyes widened. "That place is so cool."
"I've never been," Elizabeth confessed.
"We've only been once," Jeremy said. "It's pretty wild but there's tons
of great local bands."
"What are you going to wear?" Amanda asked.
"I'm not sure, I'll probably have to borrow something from Jessica,"
Elizabeth said thoughtfully.
"This is great," Amanda said giddily. "Aren't you just the tiniest bit
excited about going out?"
"Yes," Elizabeth admitted.
Amanda glanced at her watch. "I really have to get going. I promised to
pick up the cake from the bakery."
Jeremy tugged on Liz's arm. "Come on, I hear Cory and Daniel in the
back. I think we can punch out now."
"Bye," Amanda said heading out the door. "I'll call you tonight, Jer.
And you," she said pointing at Elizabeth. "I want to hear everything
about your date."

Amanda parked her car in the cul-de-sac of the small street that her
sister and brother-in-law lived on. Mitch had told her to park down there
so that Heather wouldn't see all the cars in the driveway and become
suspicious. She walked quickly towards her sister's house trying to
juggle the large cake box and the small stack of presents. She opened the
door to her sister's small, two floor house and Jackie, her sister's best
friend, took the cake from her and led Amanda into the living room.
"Thanks again for getting the cake," Jackie said, placing it next to
the rest of the food.
Amanda placed her presents next to Jackie's. "So where are Heather and
Mitch?" she asked curiously.
"They went to an afternoon matinee at the movies. They'll be back in
about half an hour."
For the next half hour Amanda helped to stream crepe paper across the
room while her sister's friends arrived. Soon the room looked festive
and bright thanks to the balloons, crepe paper, and twinkling gold
Christmas lights.
Suddenly they all heard the rumble of the garage door going up.
"Everybody hide," Jackie hissed.
Smiling, Amanda crouched behind the large potted tree her sister had in
the living room. The door opened and Mitch led her very pregnant sister
into the living room.
"Surprise!" everyone shouted. Heather looked very surprised and gave Jackie
a huge hug. "Thank you," she said, dabbing her eyes.
Amanda went over and gave her sister a quick hug. Heather could not
have looked more different from Amanda. Heather was short, and had light brown
hair. Plus, while Amanda was dressed in a pale pink Calvin Klein tank
dress, Heather was wearing a pair of black slacks and a pale yellow
blouse.
For the next couple of hours everyone ate and exclaimed over the cute
items that Heather had received. Mitch had retreated to the basement
hours ago. Soon, Heather and Amanda were the only ones left and they were
munching on the leftover vegetables on the couch.
"Ahh, it feels good to sit down," Heather said, sounding a little
tired. She glanced over at her sister.
"So how are you?" Amanda asked concerned.
"I'm tired a lot," Heather admitted. "At least I stopped working on Friday." She
paused, "Is that a new necklace?" she asked.
Amanda fingered the small gold links of her necklace. "Yeah, dad got it
at Tiffany's."
"At least he has one daughter that he can shower with jewelry," she
said wryly.
"He doesn't love me more, if that's what you mean," Amanda said
quickly.
"I know that," Heather reassured her. "But I do think that they're
disappointed that I was never into their wealthy lifestyle like you are. I
was thrilled to get out of that mansion."
"I like it," Amanda said shrugging. Personally she didn't understand
why her sister would like to live in such a small house when she knew her
sister could afford to live somewhere much nicer.
"I know, I just never cared much about wearing designer clothes and
having dinner at the country club."
The sisters ate in silence for a while. "So how's Jeremy," Heather said
at last.
"Great," Amanda said smiling. "The football team is doing really well
this year."
"Still dating each other exclusively?" Heather asked, raising an
eyebrow.
"Yes," Amanda replied defensively. "Why?"
"No reason. It's just with college starting soon I think it might be a
good idea for you to cool off and allow yourself to meet new people."
"We're going to go to the same college."
"I know, it's just that you will both meet so many different kinds
of people. I dated several guys before I met Mitch."
"But weren't you always looking for that special person that you wanted
to share your life with?"
"Well, yes," Heather said.
"I've already found that person," Amanda stated confidently.
"Yes, but if Mitch had been the first guy I dated I don't know if we
would have ended up staying together. All those other guys impacted me
and helped me come to understand what I was looking for in a guy."
Amanda responded by jamming a piece of cauliflower in her mouth.
"There's this really great guy that you should meet," Heather said
carefully. "He's the son of Mitch's best friend. He's really nice and
really cute. Plus he's been going through a rough time lately."
Amanda sighed. When Mitch was fresh out of college he had been a sports
reporter for the Sweet Valley News and he had grown really close to his
boss, the sports editor. Even though the guy was quite a bit older than
Mitch, and even though Mitch had left to be a sportscaster on the TV
station, they had remained close. The guy had a son that went to Sweet
Valley High and was a senior like Amanda. She hadn't spoken to him since
they were fourteen, at Mitch and Heather's wedding. Plus, from what she
had heard, he wasn't really her type. His idea of fun seemed like a
picnic and a football game while Amanda enjoyed going to fancy restaurants
and plays. "I don't know, Heather," Amanda sighed. "Moody guys are not
my specialty. Plus, didn't Mitch say he worked at a landscaping business?"
she added, crinkling her perfect little nose.
"Amanda Kathleen Robertson, sometimes you can be such a snob. You
sounded exactly like mom," Heather snapped
"I'm sorry," retorted Amanda.
"Just think about it," Heather said, giving her sister a glance.
"Maybe," Amanda said absentmindedly. She didn't want to hurt her
sister's feelings but she knew that her and Jeremy had never been better.
Plus, she hated to admit it, but she knew she sounded like a snob and it
made her angry with herself.

"Hey!" Rick said grinning to Trent, Stan, and Jeremy as he opened his
front door. "Come on in, there's food in the kitchen, music, dancing in
the family room, and the games are downstairs."
"Awesome," Trent said looking around. "Where are your parents," he
shouted. The music was playing pretty loud.
"At my Grandma's," Rick said grinning. "Plus, our house is pretty
isolated so we shouldn't hear any complaints."
"Great!" Stand said.
"Well, I'm headed downstairs. A couple of guys brought their
PlayStations and we have them all hooked up. We're all playing Madden NFL and
each guy has a team and we're playing a full season. Want me to reserve a
team for you guys?"
"Green Bay," Stan said quickly.
"Colts," Jeremy said.
"You only wish you could play as well as Manning," Trent said laughing.
"How 'bout you, Maynor?" Rick asked.
"I'm a good ol' homeboy. I'll be the Raiders."
"We'll just grab some drinks and snacks and then we'll be down," Stan
said.
Rick nodded and headed towards the basement. Trent, Stan, and Jeremy
gravitated towards the food.
"Hey, check out that girl," Trent said pointing not so subtly.
Stan nodded appreciatively while Jeremy shrugged.
"Come on," Trent said incredulously, "you don't think she's hot?"
"She pretty, but I didn't really notice," Jeremy admitted. "I have
Amanda so I don't need to worry about stuff like that. I mean, yeah, there
are lots of nice looking girls out there, but I don't like, check them
out or anything."
Trent stared at Jeremy is disbelief. "I mean, don't get me wrong,
Amanda's hot and everything, but she's not perfect."
Jeremy just shrugged and grabbed a handful of pretzels. "Come on, let's
get some food and go downstairs."
Trent shot one last look at the girl and followed Jeremy downstairs.
An hour or two later Jeremy threw down his control. "Oh yeah,
forty-five yard touchdown. Who's the man?"
"You are," Trent said scowling. "Butt-head," he murmured and turned to
Stan. "Oh, well. At least I get to play you next and you suck."
Jeremy laughed. "I don't have a game next so I'm going upstairs for a
refill."
Trent grunted and Jeremy headed up the stairs. The place had filled up
and Jeremy could hardly move, and the music was so loud he could hardly
hear. He headed to the kitchen and saw that there wasn't much food
left. He found a Mountain Dew and popped it open. He didn't hurry back
downstairs because a game usually took about half an hour. He glanced
around the room and saw a lot of people he knew and an awful lot he didn't.
He figured they must have been El Carro students that had gone to Sweet
Valley. As his eyes drifted over the throng of people, he noticed two
girls standing off to the side. One of the girls was a petite Hispanic
girl who was bopping her head and swaying her hips to the music. She
seemed really giddy and outgoing. Jeremy smiled. She'd be perfect for Trent.
He'd have to point her out to him later. His eyes drifted over to the
girl standing next to her. While the other girl had been cute, this girl
caught his eye. Mainly, because for a second, he thought it was
Elizabeth. But when he got a closer look at her he realized that though
she looked like Elizabeth there was something different about her. He
wasn't exactly attracted to her at that moment. Mainly because he thought
she was Elizabeth, and while he liked Elizabeth, he wasn't attracted to
her. He figured that this must be Jessica, Elizabeth's twin sister.
Elizabeth had talked about her, but Jeremy had never met her. As he looked
at her more intently he realized something. First, even though she
looked a little down, there was a strength, a fire in her that Elizabeth
didn't seem to posses (not that Elizabeth was weak). And second, that
made her sexier than Elizabeth. Jeremy concluded from his intent gazing
that there was only one possible conclusion. He was attracted to Jessica
Wakefield. He had only seen her for about one minute and he had never
spoken to her, but that didn't matter. He thought about Amanda guiltily
for second, but for some reason he hardly remembered what she looked
like.
Amanda was hot, probably hotter than Jessica since she was so regal and
sophisticated, but Jessica Wakefield was pure eye candy. Her blonde
hair was slightly tousled and she was wearing one of the wildest outfits
that Jeremy had seen on a girl that wasn't a rocker. She was wearing a
hot pink and black tiger striped mini-skirt and hot pink boots. She was
also wearing a black tank top.
Jeremy had no idea what possessed him, but he began to walk over to
Jessica and her friend. He had no idea what he would say to her. He would
think of that later. Soon he was standing right in front of them.
The other girl noticed him first. "Hey," she said with a confused look
on her face.
"I'm Jeremy," he blurted out. "I work with your sister."
Jessica gave him a weird glance. "I know. Liz has talked about you."
She looked bored. Jeremy didn't think that that was a good sign.
"I'm Tia," the other girl said. She smiled flirtatiously at Jeremy. She
also poked Jessica's side and gave her a meaningful glance. "Listen, I
need to get another drink," she said giggling and wandered off.
"Is she okay?" Jeremy asked, concerned.
Jessica turned back to him and smiled. Jeremy decided that she had one
of the best smiles that he had ever seen. "Yeah, I hope so. She's had a
little too much to drink, though. And when she gets tipsy she gets silly,
plus she starts acting kind of flirty."
"Really," Jeremy said raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah, you know. Dancing and hanging all over random guys."
"She should meet my friend Trent. He loves slutty girls." He laughed.
At that Jessica gave him a weird look and glanced down at her shoes.
Jeremy knew instantly that he had said something wrong. "I didn't mean it
like that," he said quickly.
"I know," Jessica said looking up and giving him a tiny smile. She
started to walk away, heading towards the living room, which was quieter.
Jeremy hesitated for a second, and then followed her. He knew he
shouldn't because things could get heavy. If he were to walk away now it would
just have been casual conversation with the sister of his co-worker.
But in the five minutes that had passed, Jeremy knew it was already more
than that.
Jessica flopped down onto the long, leather couch. Jeremy sat down
close to her, but not too close. "Aah, quiet," she sighed. "I really didn't
want to come here tonight."
"Why?" Jeremy asked curiously. Based on her clothes and what Elizabeth
had told him he thought that parties were her thing.
"I kind of wanted to sit home and watch a movie, eat ice cream, and
mope, but Tia dragged me here." She looked over at him. "Lame, I know."
"Well, I noticed that you looked kind of sad. Plus, when I said that
thing about Trent, you looked like you were going to cry."
Jessica stared at him with surprise. "Well, I just broke up with this
guy," she started. "But at the beginning of the year when I met this guy I
really liked him and we started hanging out, but I found out later that
he had a girlfriend. Needless to say she was not thrilled and started
spreading rumors about what a slut I was. Then her boyfriend broke up
with her to date me and he just broke up with me to go back to her."
"Drama," Jeremy said and Jessica laughed.
"It does sound sort of silly," Jessica admitted. "But, I'm fine. The
guy's a jerk. Mostly my pride is hurt."
"Sound like that girl is evil."
"She is," Jessica agreed. "But I learned my lesson. I'm never going to
go out with another guy who has a girlfriend."
"How can you tell?" Jeremy asked, fidgeting slightly. He realized that
he liked Jessica a lot, but that he was exactly the kind of guy she
was staying away from. Plus, Jeremy loved Amanda and didn't want to risk
that relationship. But he couldn't deny his attraction to Jessica.
"You can tell," Jessica assured him. "Guys that are in love have this
happy, taken look on their face."
"What about me," Jeremy asked cautiously, curious as to what she would
say. He loved Amanda and figured it would show on his face.
Jessica stared intently at him for a moment. "You look fine," she said
with a small smile. "So am I right? Do you have a girlfriend?" She was
staring at Jeremy hopefully.
Jeremy smiled at her. "No."