Dear Sister

by Francine Pascal

  “Oh!” Think fast, she told herself. “Look, Danny, there’s been just a small change in tonight’s plans. You’re really going to freak out when you hear this. I mean, it’s really the funniest thing.”

  “Funny? Funny like in ha-ha or funny like in strange?”

  “Oh, it’s funny ha-ha, I promise you.” Taking a deep breath, she led him into the living room.

  “These are the Percys. That’s Jean, and that’s Joan.”

  “She’s Jean, I’m Joan.”

  “That’s right. I’m Jean, she’s Joan.”

  “Thanks for clearing that up,” Jessica said through clenched teeth. Turning her brightest smile on Danny, she tried to explain the situation.

  “You see, Danny, Jean and Joan, whichever one is which, are staying with us for a few weeks. My parents have gone out for the evening and so has my sister.

  “So?”

  “Soooo, they have to come with us to the drive-in.”

  Danny stepped back a little, looking at Jessica as if she were a candidate for the funny farm.

  “Those two”—he gestured in the general direction of Jean and Joan—“Those two whatevers are going to come with us to the drive-in? I don’t believe this!”

  Jessica pulled him out of the twins’ earshot and began speaking as fast as she could.

  “Danny, please listen to me. It’ll be all right, I promise you. Look at them. They’re small, they’re quiet, they hardly ever say a word. They’ll fade right into the upholstery. Trust me!”

  Danny didn’t even bother looking at the twins again. He looked directly into Jessica’s eyes and said, “No way, Jess. I told you what I had planned for tonight. There is no way I want an audience. I’m leaving.” He started for the front door.

  Jessica was desperate. If Danny left, she was not only stuck with the twerps for the night, she would probably never get another chance to go out with him.

  “Danny, don’t go!” She grabbed his arm. “Please don’t go. It won’t be so bad. They’ll be in the backseat. We’ll still be alone in the front.”

  “Whoopee.” The look on his face was anything but friendly. “That’s not what I had in mind.”

  “Danny,” she said hesitantly. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Make it up? How?”

  Jessica knew she was getting in deeper than she wanted to, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Any way you want,” she finally said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “OK! Let’s go, munchkins. You don’t look much like lucky charms, but that’s what you’re turning out to be.”

  Jessica scrawled a quick note to her parents and stuck it under a magnet on the refrigerator door before dashing off to get into the car with Danny and the twins.

  * * *

  Three misery-filled hours later, Jessica unlocked the front door for herself and Jean and Joan. She knew it hadn’t really been three hours. It had been three weeks or maybe even three centuries. She didn’t want to see twins or movies or maybe even Danny Stauffer ever again. With any luck at all, she would die sometime during the night.

  Just as she was going to send the twins upstairs, she saw her parents come out from the kitchen.

  “Jess, we saw your note,” her mother said. “How nice of you to take the twins out with you tonight. Did you have fun, girls?”

  “Yes, thank you,” they said in unison.

  “Isn’t that nice? You two better get up to your room. It’s late. Sleep well.”

  Jessica watched in disbelief as they went quietly up the stairs. As a matter of fact, she regarded the whole evening with disbelief.

  “Honey, I’m so proud of you,” Alice Wakefield said.

  Ned Wakefield put an arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “We can always count on our little pumpkin, can’t we?”

  “Mom! Dad! This has positively been the grossest night of my life!” Jessica burst into tears of rage.

  “Jessica, what’s wrong?”

  “Everything’s wrong, Dad!”

  Alice and Ned Wakefield exchanged questioning looks, and Jessica wondered if they were aware of what was going on under their very own roof.

  “OK, for starters, Mom, those two little people who just went upstairs are not what they seem to be. Oh, boy, are they not what you think they are!” Jessica was just getting warmed up when her father interrupted her.

  “Jessica, those girls are our guests. They are sweet, shy, and quiet. It’s up to us to make them feel wanted and comfortable in our home.” He was wearing his grim don’t-talk-back-to-me face.

  Jessica was too frustrated and angry to pay attention to any danger signals. “Sweet? Shy? Quiet?” The words came out of Jessica’s mouth like bullets. “Those two little jerks are about as quiet as a disco on Saturday night. They did nothing but talk and eat from the time we left this house! Danny spent an absolute fortune on pizza, soda, and popcorn for them. Do you know they can even talk with a faceful of popcorn?” Jessica stormed around the room, picking up pillows, tossing them down, stamping her feet.

  “Danny couldn’t talk to me. I couldn’t talk to him. It was the worst date of my entire life. And do you know whose fault it is? Do you even care whose fault it is?”

  “Calm down, Jess. You’re not making any sense.”

  Jessica turned on her mother. “Not making any sense? Nothing makes any sense in this house anymore! Liz is ruining my entire life—and you don’t care!”

  Jessica regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth.

  “What has Liz got to do with what happened tonight?”

  “What has Liz got to do with it? Well, practically nothing, really. I thought she was going to take care of the twins tonight. I had made plans—important plans. But Liz just took off without a word to me.”

  “Liz has a right to go out and have a good time,” her mother said, “but that does seem thoughtless of her.”

  Jessica sighed. “It was probably just a mix-up, Mom. And, look, I didn’t mean it when I said she was ruining my life.”

  “We know you didn’t, honey,” her mother said. “We appreciate how responsibly you acted tonight.”

  “You know something,” Jessica said, looking first at her mother and then at her father. “Responsibility can get in the way of having a good time.”

  Grinning broadly, Ned Wakefield walked over to her. “I do believe you just discovered one of the great truths of the world,” he said, hugging her. “I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” she said, basking in the glow of approval and yawning at the same time. “I’m tired. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  As she walked up the stairs, Jessica heard her mother say, “Quite a girl, our Jessica.”

  The muffled sound of crying hit Jessica’s ears as she passed Elizabeth’s door. She stopped to listen. She could hear her sister moaning between sobs.

  She pushed the door open slowly. “Liz? Hey, Liz, are you OK?” The sobs and moans didn’t stop.

  Jessica walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. “Lizzie? It’s Jess. What’s wrong?”

  Elizabeth sat up and wrapped her arms around Jessica’s neck tightly. “Oh, Jessie, I’m so glad you’re here! I had the most awful nightmare!”

  Jessica hugged her sister tightly. “Lizzie, take it easy. Everything’s all right.”

  Elizabeth’s arms tightened around Jessica’s neck.

  “Nightmares don’t last forever, Liz,” Jessica soothed.

  I hope I know what I’m talking about, she added to herself.

  Seven

  “Is that french toast I smell, Mom?” Jessica asked as she came into the kitchen.

  “It’s nearly ready, honey. Juice and milk are on the table. Why don’t you sit down and get started?”

  “It’s not fair of you to fix my favorite breakfast.”

  “Not fair?”

  “How am I supposed to fit into my cheerleading outfit, or anything else, if I stuff my face?”

&nb
sp; Alice Wakefield smiled as she turned from the stove. “Oh, I think you’ve got a few pounds to go before people start calling you Tubby. Is Elizabeth on her way down?”

  “In a few minutes. She’s drying her hair.” Jessica flipped open her French book as she sipped her orange juice. “Do you understand irregular verbs, Mom?”

  Alice Wakefield appeared lost in thought.

  “Mom?”

  “Sorry, Jessica. Did you say something?”

  “Is anything wrong?”

  Alice Wakefield brought her coffee cup over to the table and sat next to Jessica. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about Elizabeth.”

  Jessica felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She and Todd weren’t the only ones worried about her twin. She knew her parents were too observant not to have noticed the changes in Elizabeth.

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you, too, Mom.”

  Alice Wakefield held up her hand. “Before you say a word, honey, I want you to know that your father and I are aware of what you’re going through. You have every right to complain, but you haven’t. We’re grateful for that, Jess.”

  “Huh?” What in the world was her mother talking about?

  “We’ve been paying a lot more attention to Elizabeth than to you lately, but I don’t want you to think we don’t love you every bit as much.”

  “Mom, I know—”

  “Let me finish. I don’t want you to resent your sister because of that extra attention.”

  “Mom, I could never resent Liz!”

  “Good. Now, what did you want to say?”

  “Oh … nothing important, Mom.” Nothing except I’m feeling miserable and guilty and worried, she thought.

  If her parents hadn’t noticed the changes in Elizabeth, how could she tell them?

  * * *

  Elizabeth and Jessica were walking across the front lawn of Sweet Valley High when Jessica spotted Enid Rollins.

  “Liz, there’s Enid waving at you.”

  “So?”

  “So, if you want to stop and talk to her, I’ll see you later.”

  Elizabeth shrugged irritably. “Enid Rollins is a drag, Jess, and you know it. You always told me to drop her.”

  Stumped for an answer, Jessica decided it was safer to change the subject. “How’s Todd these days? I haven’t seen much of him around the house.”

  “You’d know the answer to that better than I would. I’ve seen you talking to him often enough, Jess.”

  Jessica scrambled in her mind for a safe subject. “Ready for today’s French test?”

  “I plan to have a headache that period,” Elizabeth said flatly. “I can always make it up later.”

  “But, Liz—”

  “Don’t bug me, Jess. Oh, there’s Lila Fowler near the columns. I want to talk to her about tonight’s Pi Beta Alpha meeting.” Jessica watched her sister dash right past Enid without so much as a nod.

  She felt like screaming. Her sister had never cared much about the sorority before. She’d joined only because Jessica had begged and pleaded with her. Now Elizabeth couldn’t wait for the next meeting.

  “What a joke,” Jessica mumbled. “And I’m the one who’s president of that dumb sorority.”

  “Who are you talking to, Jess?”

  Jessica focused on the figure in front of her. “Oh, hello, Enid.”

  “Are you all right? You look funny.”

  “Well, I’m feeling a little funny,” she snapped. “What do you want?”

  “I want to talk to you about Liz.”

  “You and the rest of the world,” Jessica said, under her breath.

  “What?”

  “Spit it out, Enid. The first bell’s about to ring.”

  “I was just wondering if Liz has said anything to you about me. It seems like she avoids me at school, and she’s never around when I call her. Is she mad at me about something?”

  “Not that I know of.” Jessica wondered why she didn’t tell Enid the truth. Elizabeth didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Jessica would have enjoyed telling her to get lost a month ago. For some reason, she felt sympathy for Enid now.

  The two girls walked across the lawn in silence for a few moments. As they approached the columns, Jessica said, “I’m sure Liz isn’t mad at you, Enid. We’re going to the Dairi Burger after school. Why don’t you meet us?”

  “Hey, thanks, Jess! I’ll be there!”

  Jessica couldn’t understand why she had said that. She certainly didn’t care about Enid Rollins’s feelings, did she?

  If Jessica was enrolled in the “Worrying About Elizabeth” course, Todd was, too. He followed Elizabeth as she hurried under the Romanesque clock and into school. He was close behind when she headed for the bulletin board, and he saw her smile at Ken Matthews. He tried to remember how long it had been since she’d smiled at him in that way. He wished he could hear what they were saying, but with the mob of kids coming into school and going to their lockers, it was impossible.

  “Hi, Ken!” said a bubbly Elizabeth.

  “Hi, Liz.”

  “What’s new, All-American?”

  Ken blushed attractively. “Not much.”

  “Is that so?” said Elizabeth. “What about the basketball game on Friday? You going?”

  Ken looked at her in surprise. “Sure.” Everyone knew he never missed a sports event.

  “Wish I were going,” she said.

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Nobody’s asked me,” said Elizabeth, her blue-green eyes flashing a seductive glance at him.

  “But I thought you always went to see Todd play.”

  Elizabeth tossed her head and looked annoyed. “That’s ancient history.”

  “Oh,” said Ken. He shuffled his feet and looked at the bulletin board and then at the floor.

  Elizabeth was still standing very close to Ken when Susan Stewart came down the hall. Practically the whole student body knew that Ken and the pretty redhead had become a twosome lately. Susan spotted them together and walked over quickly.

  “Hi, honey,” Ken said to Susan as she walked up.

  “Hi, Ken,” she said, darting a murderous look at Elizabeth.

  “Well, see you soon,” Elizabeth cooed, then walked off, swaying her hips provocatively. She tried to avoid Todd by turning into the stairwell, but he called to her.

  “Liz!”

  “Hi, Todd,” she said coolly.

  “You coming to the game on Friday?”

  Elizabeth looked away. “Well, I don’t know, Todd. I haven’t decided. Listen, I’ve really got to run. Got to go see Mrs. Green.”

  “The guidance counselor?” asked Todd.

  “Yeah. She’s gotten on my case something awful. I’ve got to tell her to buzz off. See you.”

  Todd watched her walk away toward Sylvia Green’s office and felt more worried than ever.

  * * *

  Mrs. Green watched as Elizabeth came in and sat before her. The guidance counselor was on the alert for signs of change in the former honor student and Oracle star reporter. Disturbing reports had been coming in from Elizabeth’s teachers.

  “Hi,” said Elizabeth brightly, looking cheerful.

  “Hello, Elizabeth. All recovered, I understand?”

  Elizabeth smiled. “I’m better than ever,” she said.

  “Well,” said Mrs. Green. “That’s good.”

  The guidance counselor opened a file before her on her desk and studied it. “I called you in to talk about some of the work you missed.”

  It was completely unfair, Elizabeth had complained to Jessica. Those crazy teachers actually expected her to make up all the work she’d missed while she was in the hospital, even though it hadn’t been her fault she’d been absent. If she did all that homework and those term papers, she’d turn into a drudge. She wouldn’t be able to go out at all except on weekends for a month. Out of the question, she had told her sister.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Elizabeth smiled at the guidance counselor.
/>
  “I understand you haven’t made up any of the work yet.”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “I realize that, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to make some sacrifices to catch up.”

  Elizabeth said, “Oh, I know. I’ll get to it. I’m just having dizzy spells sometimes.”

  “Dizzy spells?” Mrs. Green looked at her with concern.

  “Yes ma’am. Sometimes I think I’m going to black out.”

  Mrs. Green studied her. “Maybe you should go back to your doctor?”

  “Oh, no,” said Elizabeth. “He said I’ll be fine. As long as I don’t overextend myself. With too many projects.” She smiled innocently.

  “Well, all right,” said Mrs. Green. “It doesn’t really matter how soon you do the missed schoolwork. As soon as you feel better. But it must be made up.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Elizabeth said obediently.

  * * *

  Winston Egbert was surprised when Elizabeth slid into a chair beside him in the cafeteria. They had always been friends, especially after he’d taken her to a dance and confessed how crazy he was about Jessica. Of course, Jessica hadn’t given him a second glance. Still, Winston had always been grateful to Elizabeth for listening to him that night. But lately, he’d been so busy with Mandy he hadn’t talked much to Elizabeth since the accident.

  “Hi, Win,” she bubbled.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Before you ask, I’m all better from my vacation in the hospital,” said Elizabeth.

  “I can see that,” said Winston. “I saw you at your pool party.”

  “I hope I didn’t disappoint everybody,” she said coquettishly. “I know I looked hopelessly dreadful that night.”

  “Huh?” said Winston. “Hey, you looked better than Miss America.”

  “Thanks, you’re sweet,” she said, picking at a chicken sandwich. “If I were capable of feeling happy, your overly kind words would do it.”

  “What’s the matter?” Winston asked.

  Elizabeth sighed deeply.

  “Liz?”

  “Nothing.” A deeper, even more mournful sigh.

  “You can tell me, Liz. We’re buddies, remember?” Winston Egbert was now a helpless mass of sympathy. “I’d do anything for you, Liz, you know that.”

  “They expect me to make up hundreds of pages of work I missed and do five hundred term papers, and it makes me so sick I could scream,” she said.