SVH01-Double Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn't hold back her tears any longer. "Acting like myself--what's that,
    Mom? Liz Wakefield is supposed to be good, sweet, kind, generous. ..." The tears were streaming down her face. "Do you know what that adds up to, Mom? Boring, boring, boring! Sometimes I get hurt--sometimes I get angry. . . ."
    "Honey, it's all right, I understand."
    "Hey, is everybody in this family totally wacko?"
    "Steve! I didn't know you were home."
    "Hi, Mom. Bye, Mom." He dropped a kiss somewhere in the vicinity of his mother's forehead on his way to the door.
    "Steve, I haven't had a chance to talk to you. Where are you going?"
    "Out, Mom."
    "Out? Out where? With whom?"
    "Jeez! Is privacy a dirty word around here? The district attorney upstairs drove me up the wall with those kinds of questions. Fortunately, I was saved by the bell. The telephone bell. Sweet Jess is on the phone gushing all over some poor jerk named Todd. Ciao, you two!" Steven was out the door before Elizabeth or her mother could say another word.
    Todd was on the phone with Jessica!
    Elizabeth couldn't stand it one more minute. With tears streaming down her face, she threw the sponge in the sink and charged up to her room, leaving her mother openmouthed with surprise.
     

Four
     
    Elizabeth's problems buzzed in her head like bees. Sitting in the Oracle office, she didn't know what to do first. She hadn't written a word for her "Eyes and Ears" column yet, and she still hadn't thought of a topic for her history paper. And then there was Steven--something was going on with him that wasn't quite right. It made her uneasy. And she couldn't get over an even more alarming suspicion about her father and Ms. West. She had seen Marianna recently, driving by with her father. She was a very beautiful woman. And she and her father had been so wrapped up in each other they hadn't even noticed Elizabeth. Even though she wanted to ignore it, Elizabeth smelled smoke. Did that mean there was fire? She sighed. She didn't seem to have any
    answers lately. She looked down at her writing pad, which was absolutely blank except for the name Todd Wilkins scribbled across the top in large, dark letters. She knew it was hopeless to try to work when all she really wanted to do was lose herself in her special daydream. It was always the same funny little dream, but it made her feel so warm and good: They were sitting together, she and Todd, in the lunchroom at noon. It was jammed, and she was chattering on with Enid or some other friend when she became aware of Todd's hand affectionately caressing her hair. She turned to smile at him, and he pulled her close and kissed her gently on the forehead. That was it. Nothing more, but it was done right out there where everybody could see, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Todd loving her. . . .
    The daydream was like a favorite film Elizabeth played over and over again and never got tired of watching. That's what she was doing when Cara Walker burst noisily into the Oracle office, shattering the dream and bringing her back to her terrible reality.
    "Liz," Cara gushed breathlessly, "I've got a great idea for an item."
    "Good, Cara, what is it?"
    "Well--do you know who writes the 'Eyes and Ears' column?"
    "That's a secret, Cara. Nobody knows that except Mr. Collins."
    "OK. Well, would you pass it on to him? The hottest new couple in the whole school is your very own sister Jessica--"
    "Jessica?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.
    "Yes! Now, I'm not a columnist," Cara gushed, "but the item could say something like--'The hottest new couple at Sweet Valley High is the co-captain of the cheerleaders and the captain of the basketball team!' "
    "What?"
    "See--they're both captains." Cara giggled. "That's why it's so neat!"
    "Who told you about them?" Elizabeth asked, her heart thumping.
    "It's all over school, Liz! Everybody's talking about it. They were driving around the other day in your mom's red convertible!"
    "Oh."
    "They were even seen up at Miller's