SVH07-Dear Sister (3 page)

"You don't think I overdid it, do you?" Jessica asked. "I wanted your homecoming to be special."

"You, Jessica Wakefield, overdo anything? Such a ridiculous thought never crossed my mind," Elizabeth teased.

"I could have gotten the marching band and the cheerleading squad to come over."

"Now
that
would have been overdoing it."

Alice Wakefield put her arm around her daughter's shoulder. "I think it's time we got you up to bed, honey."

"Don't bug me about rest, Mom," Elizabeth said.

"The doctor said--"

"Oh, all right," Elizabeth grumbled as she went up the stairs with her mother.

Jessica turned a worried face toward her father.

"Don't worry, Jess," he reassured her. "Liz just needs time to recover, that's all."

***

"Boring, boring, boring!" Jessica heard her sister complain as she was coming in to see Elizabeth after school.

"Don't tell me all this rest and relaxation is getting to you, Liz. I'll be glad to trade places with you--especially during science class," Jessica said and laughed.

"Nothing is more boring than five straight days of soaps and game shows," Elizabeth muttered.

"How about those books over there?" Jessica said, pointing at the stack of paperbacks on Elizabeth's writing table. "You've always said you wanted more time to read."

"That's
supposed to be fun?" Elizabeth snapped.

"Hey, don't get bent out of shape, Liz. Reading isn't
my
idea of fun, but you always said you liked it."

"Maybe it's time I did less reading and more living, Jess. What do you think?"

Jessica cocked her head to one side and tapped it with the heel of her hand, like a swimmer trying to get the water out of her ears.

"I think I'm not hearing right. Are you sure you're my work-first-play-later twin sister, the very same sister who tells
me
to study
more?
"

"Oh, come on, Jessica, you make me sound

like some kind of creep," Elizabeth said, punching her pillow. "I've been taking it slowly ever since I got out of the hospital. I'm more than ready for some fun. After being bored out of my skull with television for five days, I've come up with an idea. A party! That's what we need. That's what
I
need."

"Great! But wait a minute, Liz, you can't go to a party, not yet anyway."

"One more week, Jess, that's all. Then I'll be out on parole, so then comes the party, OK?"

"Yeah, yeah, let me think a minute." Jessica walked around the room, her hands stuck in the back pockets of her jeans. "I heard Lila Fowler is thinking of having a party. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"Forget Lila. I'm talking about
our
party, Jess."

"Ours?"

"Why not? We haven't had a pool party in months. Mom and Dad are sure to go along with it. We could tell them it would be--what's that medical term you used?"

"Therapeutic?"

"That's right. A party would be therapeutic for me."

Jessica couldn't have been happier. For a change she and Elizabeth seemed to want the same kind of fun. "I love it, Liz. I really love it. We'll invite every terrific guy we know. It'll be great." She began planning instantly. "Now,

which girls do we invite, Liz? Lila and Cara Walker, of course," Jessica said, naming two of their Pi Beta Alpha sorority sisters. "And I suppose
you'll
want to include Enid Rollins."

"Why invite any of them, Jess? Can't the Wakefield sisters handle all those guys by themselves?"

Three

"Huh?" Jessica couldn't believe her ears. "Liz, you can't be serious. There's no way we could do that."

"Why not?"

"Well, because ..." Jessica tried to think of a reason. Actually, she thought, that was the kind of party she'd always wanted. But certainly not the kind Elizabeth ever had. Then common sense caught up with Jessica. "We can't do it because every girl we know would hate us, Liz. And they'd stop inviting us to their parties. Guys almost never give parties, so we'd be out in the cold, Right?"

"OK, we'll invite some girls," Elizabeth conceded.

Jessica stared at her sister. There
was
something different about her. But what was it? Jessica

peered closer. It
was
her twin sister sitting there on the bed, although she had traded in her UCLA nightshirt for a sexy satin nightgown.

"Why are you staring at me as if I've suddenly grown another head?" Elizabeth demanded.

"I was just wondering if Todd's seen you in that nightgown. I bet it'd raise his temperature about a hundred and thirty-seven degrees!"

"No, he hasn't! And he's not likely to," Elizabeth said angrily.

"Why not, for heaven's sake? If a guy
I
liked came to see
me
in my sickbed, I'd sure make the most of it." Jessica sighed dramatically, placed the back of her right hand on her forehead, and intoned, "Dahling, so good of you to come when I am at death's door!"

Mimicking Jessica, Elizabeth put her own hand to her head. She giggled. "That's a great line, Jess. I'll have to use it sometime."

"Oh, Liz, it is so terrific having you home again," Jessica said, giggling herself. "I never have as much fun with anyone else. Besides, in a week you'll be well enough to do
your
share of the dishes and the vacuuming and all the other boring chores I've been stuck with for the past lifetime and a half." She said the words with a grin, but Jessica was only half kidding. Even though doing dishes usually involved nothing more strenuous than loading and unloading

the dishwasher, she was always looking for excuses to avoid her turn at it.

Elizabeth raised her right hand and in her most serious voice said, "I solemnly swear to take over my share of the chores as soon as I have made a total recovery--which should be in about three months!"

"What!"

Elizabeth smiled mischievously.

Jessica was about to give Elizabeth a snappy answer when she heard the chimes of the front doorbell. She scrambled off the bed and started for the door. "I'll bet
that
is the star of the Sweet Valley High basketball team. He said he was going to come over this afternoon."

"Todd is coming over here?"

"Yeah. Fix your face. I'll bring him right up."

"No!"

Jessica looked at her sister in amazement. "You don't want to see Todd?"

"No. Tell him I'm too tired to see anyone. Tell him I'll see him when I'm allowed to go back to school."

"Well, if you're sure...."

Elizabeth's eyes were already closed. She did look tired, Jessica thought.

Jessica hurried down the stairs as the chimes sounded again. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she called.

She swung the door open and found Todd standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Jess. Can I see--"

"Shush," she whispered. "Into the kitchen."

Todd followed her through the large, airy living room and dining room to the kitchen at the back of the house.

"Why are you shushing me, Jess? Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not. It's just that Liz is sleeping. She can't have any visitors."

"She's all right, isn't she?" Jessica saw the look of worry on Todd's face.

"She's fine. But can't you understand that she's
tired?
She's been through so much in the past few weeks."

"Yes, but she seemed so different when I saw her in the hospital, as if something were wrong. I know she's tired and the doctors say she's all right--physically. But the accident was a nightmare. It must have been terrible for her."

"You're absolutely right, Todd. It was just awful. And that's why she needs as much rest as she can get, as few people bothering her as possible."

"Then she does remember the accident?"

"Oh, sure," Jessica said, not quite certain if that were true.

Todd's expression was haggard. "Does it haunt her, Jessica? Does she blame me? Jessica, does she ever ask for me?"

"Oh, Todd, she's too busy getting well to ask for
anyone
yet."

Todd's face fell. Then he looked straight at Jessica. "Tell me, do
you
think anything is different about Liz?"

"Todd Wilkins, don't talk like a jerk! Of course nothing's different. She's my twin sister, and I'd notice if there were. She's absolutely fine."

"I hope you're right, Jess." Todd got up and paced back and forth across the kitchen floor, uncertain what to do next. Finally he walked to the back door. "Tell Liz I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon, will you? Maybe she'll feel better then."

"Don't do that, Todd."

"Huh?"

Elizabeth always knew how to break bad news to people without making them feel rotten, Jessica thought. That was because she could understand how they were feeling.
But I'm not that way
,
Jessica said to herself.
How does she do it?

Crossing her fingers under the table, Jessica said, "My folks have decided that Liz shouldn't have any visitors until she's ready to go back to school."

"But that's over a week," Todd protested.

"Orders are orders," Jessica insisted. "Once Liz gets back to school, everything will return to normal. You know how much she likes school. She'll probably have all the work made up and a dozen stories written for
The Oracle
before I finish that one stupid book report on
Moby Dick.

I mean, Todd, who really cares about whales?" Jessica asked in annoyance.

Todd did, but he let the comment slide by. For the first time that afternoon, he smiled. "You're right, Jess, I am being a jerk. When Liz gets back to school, everything will be terrific again. I mean, Liz is really something. She's smart, she's hardworking, she's a good writer, she's nice to everybody--and she's beautiful!"

Todd suddenly stopped talking and looked at Jessica, who was grinning up at him. He had forgotten for a few moments that he had an audience. Embarrassed, he mumbled, "You're her twin, so I guess that makes you beautiful, too."

"Thanks a heap, Todd," she said, still grinning. "Why don't you get out of here now and go bounce a basketball or something? I have to get dinner started."

Jessica watched Todd's tall, lean form disappear around the corner of the house and thought how curious life could be sometimes. Who would have thought the two of them would ever be able to talk together like friends? They had been barely civil to each other ever since she'd tried to steal Todd away from her sister. Now they had a common cause--helping Elizabeth.

The sharp ring of the telephone interrupted Jessica's thoughts. She picked up the kitchen extension.

"Hello? Oh, hi, Mom." Jessica wound a strand

of hair around her finger as she listened to her mother.

"Yes, Mom. Liz is fine.... Yes, I'm fine, too.... Of course I've already started dinner. Didn't I promise I would? 'Bye."

For the next twenty minutes, Jessica rushed from refrigerator to counter to pantry to oven in a frantic effort to get dinner ready on time. "How did Liz do it?" she muttered, remembering that her sister had almost always been the one to start dinner. But that was before the accident.

"Hey, you almost ready?" Jessica asked, coming into Elizabeth's room. "This is the big day. You--"

Jessica completely forgot what she was going to say when she got a look at her sister standing in front of the full-length mirror.

"Freedom day, Jess, that's what it is. How do I look?" she asked, turning around.

"Terrific, Liz, really terrific," she said, eyeing her sister's green minidress with envy. "Where'd the new outfit come from?"

"Mom let me pick out a 'return to the world' dress. And get that look out of your eye, Jessica. This is definitely not borrowable."

"Why in the world would you think--?"

"Because I know you, sister dear," Elizabeth answered, grinning. "Hands off."

Jessica looked at her own reflection in the mirror. The jeans and shirt had looked great five minutes ago. Now they looked dull and uninteresting.

Throughout breakfast, Elizabeth was subdued. She smiled and said "yes" every time her mother and father asked her if she felt well enough to return to school. During the ride to the Sweet Valley High campus, she nodded and smiled occasionally as Jessica kept up a steady stream of chatter. Jessica was in great spirits, as she always was when she was allowed to drive the little red Fiat Spider to school.

"You're not nervous, are you, Liz?" she asked. "I mean, it's not like you've been gone for years. It's only been a few weeks. You won't have any trouble catching up," she assured her sister.

"Jess, you're beginning to bug me." Elizabeth snapped. "I am fine. I am not nervous. I am not worried about catching up--or anything else!"

"Of course you're not," Jessica said quickly, realizing she was the one who was nervous. She wanted everything to go perfectly for her sister that day. It just had to.

Jessica pulled the car into a spot in the student parking lot with her usual flourish. She halfway expected Elizabeth to tell her to stop showing off, but Elizabeth got out of the car without giving the expected lecture on safe driving.

At that moment Enid Rollins dashed over to

welcome her best friend back to school. Her large green eyes glowed happily, lighting up her whole face.

"Liz!" she cried, throwing her arms around Jessica. "I've been dying to talk to you, but Todd said you couldn't have visitors or telephone calls. It's so great to see you! You look terrific!"

"Enid, you are about to choke me, for heaven's sake," Jessica said, pulling away. "You are really dumb, you know that? I'm
Jessica,
can't you tell?"

Enid dropped her arms quickly. "But I thought you were--" she hesitated. "Where's Liz?"

"There she goes," Jessica said, pointing to the figure in green hurrying across the wide front lawn. Elizabeth waved to friends as she made her way quickly under the columns and through the front entrance of the school building.