Runaway

by Francine Pascal

  Elizabeth walked into the kitchen just as her father and mother were just finishing their coffee. She set her notebook and purse on the counter.

  Ned Wakefield looked up at his daughter. "Good morning. All ready for the first day?"

  "Yeah, I guess so." Elizabeth got some cereal, then poured herself a glass of orange juice. She sat across from her mother. "Dad?" she began.

  "What?"

  "I think maybe you should go upstairs and talk to Jessica."

  "Why? What's the problem?"

  Elizabeth took a bite of her cereal. "Well, I think we might have hurt her feelings last night. I mean, I think Jess would like to go to the hearing, but she feels as if you don't really care if she's there or not. So maybe if you went up and asked her—"

  "Look, Liz," Ned Wakefield interrupted, "I know you have Jessica's best interests at heart, but I don't think your mother and I should have to bow to her every whim. First of all, you two are very different, and I just don't think this is the kind of thing Jessica would be interested in."

  "But, Dad, maybe if you just talked to her—"

  Her father cut her off again. "No, Liz. We've always tried to raise you two as individuals. Jessica can make up her own mind, and you have to start realizing that. There are lots of times when we do things for Jessica that don't suit you. If Jess wants to come along, fine, but I'm not going to go up and beg her."

  Elizabeth looked down at her glass. She debated whether or not to tell them about Nicky, but realized that if she did, she would have to get into Nicky's reputation, which was mostly rumor anyway. Elizabeth decided to drop the whole thing. Eventually Jessica would get over whatever was bugging her.

  "Now," her father said after taking the last sip of coffee, "finish up. We're going to have to hustle."

  Mrs. Wakefield took her coffee cup and put it in the sink. "Did you talk to the paper about an article?"

  "Yes," Elizabeth answered. "I called the features editor yesterday, and he thought it'd be a great idea. He wants me to start today with the preliminary hearing."

  "That's a fine idea." Mr. Wakefield picked up his briefcase and motioned toward the door. "All set, star reporter?"

  Elizabeth gulped the last of her orange juice, stood up, and grabbed her notebook and purse. "Right!"

  She gave her mother a quick kiss and headed out the door after her father. As she walked to the car, Elizabeth decided her father was right about Jessica. This was a big assignment, the biggest the Sweet Valley newspaper had allowed her so far. She was going to have to concentrate all her energies on the hearing. Jessica's problems were just going to have to wait a while.

  The preliminary hearing lasted only about an hour. The proceedings were supposed to be informal, but it all looked pretty formal to Elizabeth, who sat off to the side and took notes.

  Elizabeth often had to strain to hear what everyone was saying to the judge. They all spoke quietly in the big, wood-paneled courtroom.

  Several times Elizabeth studied Ricky, who sat silently between his mother and his younger sister. None of the family members ever looked at one another. It seemed as though they were afraid to make eye contact.

  Ricky's grandparents sat at a table next to Mr. Wakefield and Marianna West, one of his partners at the law firm. Elizabeth was immediately struck with compassion for the two old people her father was defending. They spoke with strong Italian accents and often had to have the proceedings explained to them. They looked down at the floor whenever their son, Ricky's father, was mentioned. Mr. Wakefield had told Elizabeth that the grandparents had come to America from Italy. They'd worked hard all their lives to set aside enough money for a comfortable retirement. Now their savings were slowly being eaten away by this legal battle to retain the right to see their grandchildren.

  Elizabeth was almost startled by the abrupt way the hearing ended. The judge simply struck his gavel and announced that the court was adjourned. It seemed that nothing had been decided other than that everyone would meet again on Friday for final arguments and a decision by the judge.

  Ned Wakefield looked up at Elizabeth and indicated that she should wait for him in the hall. He looked concerned as he began to speak with his clients.

  Elizabeth slowly gathered her papers and walked into the corridor to wait. She went to a nearby water fountain and was about to take a drink when she saw Ricky Capaldo approaching her. "Hi," she said quietly.

  Ricky's mouth was set in a dark, hostile expression. "I hear you're doing an article on all of this for the newspaper," he said coldly.

  Elizabeth found it hard to look Ricky in the eye. "Yes. Yes, I am."

  "Liz, I think I've been a pretty good friend to you, haven't I?"

  "Sure, Ricky."

  "Then, look." His voice got more forceful than Elizabeth had ever heard it. "I'm asking you not to write this article."

  Elizabeth didn't know what to say. "Why—I—" she stammered.

  Ricky cut her off. "I know it's a good story for you, but it's my life, and I don't exactly appreciate it's being made public. Please, Elizabeth." Ricky's eyes got a little misty. Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and hurried down the corridor.

  Annie Whitman, Ricky's girlfriend, had also come to the preliminary hearing and had sat not far from Elizabeth. While Ricky had been talking to Elizabeth, Annie had been standing off to the side, watching. She looked after Ricky as he ran off but didn't follow him. She knew Ricky needed to be alone.

  She walked over to Elizabeth, who was still standing next to the water fountain, trying to catch her breath. Annie pushed a strand of her dark, curly hair away from her face and smiled sympathetically. "Don't be too upset, Liz. Ricky isn't himself lately. This whole thing has been pretty hard on him."

  "I guess so," Elizabeth answered.

  "He's really angry at his father for leaving. Now his family's got money problems. Ricky's had to take that job at Casey's and everything, just to make ends meet at home."

  "I didn't know anything about it until this week."

  Annie led Elizabeth to a bench, where they both sat down. "Nobody did. Ricky hardly ever talks about it, even with me. I finally got him to tell me what he felt about the whole thing. That's why I came down here today. He really needs someone."

  "How can he let his mother do this?" Elizabeth asked. "Doesn't he care about his grandparents?"

  "Ricky loves his grandparents," Annie said sympathetically. "That's why the whole thing is so upsetting. I think he's really bitter toward his father, and he's taking it all out on his grandparents. He won't have anything to do with them, and he's supporting his mother through this hearing." Annie bit her lip as she looked down the hall, where Ricky had disappeared.

  Elizabeth said softly, "I think you'd better go find him."

  Annie smiled. "You're right." She stood up and walked down the hall.

  Elizabeth was touched by how much Annie felt for Ricky. She was there to share his pain and, more importantly, to love him. Elizabeth knew that Ricky needed all the love he could get.

  Ned Wakefield's voice brought Elizabeth out of her thoughts. "So, did you get enough stuff for a beginning?"

  "I just talked to Ricky." Elizabeth sighed.

  Her father exchanged a look with Marianna West, who stood at his side. "Oh? What did he have to say?"

  "He doesn't want me to write the article," Elizabeth answered. "He says he doesn't want this whole thing made public. I'm not so sure I don't agree with him." Elizabeth shook her head as she remembered his words. "He just seems so bitter about the whole thing."

  Elizabeth's father took her arm and began to lead her down the hall. "So. What are you going to do about the article?" he asked.

  "I don't know," Elizabeth answered. "It does seem personal."

  "Well, I think with any good story you're going to step on some toes," her father offered. "You just have to ask yourself if the pain you cause some people is greater than the enlightenment you give others."

  Elizabeth stopped and sm
iled at her father. "You know, for an old guy, you can be pretty smart sometimes."

  Her father laughed. "Does that solve your problem?"

  "No," Elizabeth answered, "but it gives me something to think about."

  "Well, I don't know about you two," Marianna West said, smiling. "But all I can think about right now is lunch. How about it? My treat."

  Ned Wakefield leaned toward Elizabeth. "I'll give you another piece of advice, my darling daughter. Never turn down a free lunch."

  "You're on," Elizabeth said to Marianna West, and the three of them left the courthouse.

  Eight

  For the fourth time Sheila offered Jessica a beer, and for the fourth time, Jessica declined.

  Nicky had picked her up at six o'clock and told her they were going to a party. He didn't tell her the party was going to be in Tierra Verde, about an hour's drive from Sweet Valley. Usually Jessica loved parties, but this one was different. She hardly knew anyone, and the people she did know, she didn't know well. And unlike most of the parties she went to, there was a lot of beer being passed around.

  Don't worry, Jessica told herself, you can handle it. It was the first time she had been around Nicky's friends, and she was anxious to show him that she could fit in—or rather, that they could find a kind of common ground between their two very different life-styles. That didn't mean that she was going to sit around drinking beer with Nicky's friends, but she was going to try to fit in as much as possible, if only to please Nicky.

  The party was being held at the home of a boy named Mike. Jessica hadn't heard his last name. Mike's parents were in Florida for a week, and Mike was taking care of the house. Evidently the party had been going on since they had left. The house was a mess: empty beer cans and pizza boxes littered the basement; the furniture had been moved to one side to make room for dancing; and the driveway in front of the house was a mass of cars and motorcycles. Jessica thought the condition of Mike's house made her bedroom look immaculate in comparison.

  She was sitting on a sofa, speaking with two girls she didn't know. Sheila, the one who sat across from her and was doing most of the talking, was a dyed redhead who wore so much mascara and eye liner that she looked like a raccoon. Jessica liked the other girl, who was sitting on the couch beside her. Her name was June. She was petite, with dark, curly hair and very pretty blue eyes. Jessica thought that the reason she liked June was that she had hardly said a word and wasn't a drinker either. She seemed perfectly content to sit there, drinking a Coke and listening to Sheila talk on and on about her boyfriend, Tad.

  Nicky hadn't spent much time with Jessica. Soon after they'd arrived, he had been hustled into a game of pool at the table across the room. But every few minutes, Jessica looked up to find Nicky staring at her. He was smiling sympathetically, a smile that seemed to thank Jessica for putting up with his friends.

  Seeing Nicky in this atmosphere only made Jessica feel closer to him. He didn't seem to fit in with these people, either. He didn't talk much and refused the marijuana joint that was being passed around. He had drunk a few beers but didn't seem to be affected by them.

  "Don't you think so, Jess?"

  Jessica looked at Sheila, who had obviously just asked her a question. "What? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

  "Boy, are you out of it." Sheila laughed. "I said, just because Tad was dancing with Susan, it doesn't mean that he still likes her, right?"

  "Right," Jessica agreed, not having the slightest idea who Susan was or what Sheila was talking about.

  "See, June," Sheila turned to the other girl. "That's what I told you. People who went out together once can still be friends. It doesn't mean anything." She reached into the cooler next to her and pulled out another beer. "You want one, Jess?"

  Jessica smiled. "No, thanks."

  "Here, Jess." June handed Jessica a can of diet Pepsi. "Want one of these?"

  Jessica took the can and popped the top open. "Thanks. Where do you go to school, June?"

  Before the dark-haired girl could answer, Sheila interrupted. "Oh, she doesn't go to school."

  "You don't?" Jessica eyed the girl. She couldn't be more than sixteen.

  "No." June seemed a little embarrassed. "I quit last year. I got a job as a waitress."

  Jessica decided to drop the subject. "Nicky's a pretty good pool player, isn't he?"

  "Oh, yeah," Sheila answered. "But you should see Tad."

  Jessica sighed with relief as she noticed the game breaking up. Mike and Nicky walked over to the girls.

  "Well," Nicky said, smiling at Jessica, "everyone getting along?"

  "Oh, sure." June nodded.

  Jessica smiled and tried to look like one of the group. "Sure," she agreed.

  Nicky sat on the arm of the couch and put his arm around Jessica. She noticed he was sipping out of a fresh can of beer. He still didn't seem drunk, but Jessica was starting to worry about the drive home.

  "We probably should be going pretty soon, Nicky," Jessica said, trying to sound casual.

  "Why, the party's just starting," said Mike, sitting down in a chair across from June. He handed her the joint he was smoking.

  June accepted the joint and took a quick puff. She didn't seem to enjoy it. Jessica thanked June silently when the girl passed the joint to someone else, and not to Jessica. She hated to draw attention to herself by not accepting, but she was pleased to notice that Nicky refused the joint, too, when it came around to him.

  See, she said to herself triumphantly, all that drug talk was just rumors.

  Just then Tad sauntered over to the group. Jessica could see Sheila brimming with pride as he walked over. Tad was good-looking in a rough sort of way, with longish, straight, black hair and dark, piercing eyes. He sat down on the arm of the chair in which Sheila was sitting. "Did I hear Shepard say something about leaving?" he asked.

  "Not him," Mike said. "His girl."

  Jessica resisted the urge to tell this baboon that she was nobody's "girl."

  "I thought we were going to go all night." Tad's tone seemed to challenge Nicky.

  But Nicky didn't seem to notice. "Not me." He smiled at Jessica. "I've got a big day tomorrow."

  Jessica breathed a sigh of relief as he got up. She took the hand he offered, and after saying quick goodbyes, the two of them went up the stairs and outside.

  It worried Jessica that Nicky was walking a little unsteadily. Maybe the beer had affected him more than she'd thought. She was about to ask him if he thought she should drive when he stopped and leaned against a tree.

  "Wait up a second," he said.

  Jessica walked over and put her arm around him. "Are you OK?" she asked.

  "Sure," he replied. "I just want to take in this beautiful night for a minute."

  Jessica rested her head against his chest and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful night. Mike's house was in a wooded section of Tierra Verde. The air was beautifully clear, and, aside from the muffled music from the stereo in the basement, it was quiet.

  "I'm sorry," Nicky said quietly.

  "About what?"

  "You must've been pretty bored in there."

  Jessica looked up into his eyes. "I wasn't. Honest."

  Nicky smiled as if he could see right through her. "It's nice of you to say that, but I know better. Sometimes I get bored with them, too." He was quiet for a moment. "Listen, I've noticed you've been kind of down tonight. Is it me?"

  Jessica reached up and kissed him softly. "Oh, no, Nicky. Everything's fine with you. Really. It's just—it's just some stuff at home."

  "Like what?" Nicky asked her. "It might make you feel better if you talk about it. Tell me, Jess."

  Jessica looked at him. She hadn't really talked to anyone about this, not even Cara. But Nicky seemed so concerned, so caring, that she felt she could open up to him.

  She told him everything she was feeling. Everything about how her family treated her at home, how she felt about Elizabeth, her parents, Steven. She found herself tellin
g Nicky things she had never even admitted to herself. How she felt that her parents really didn't want her around and that their lives would be easier without her.

  "It's always been me who makes all the trouble," Jessica concluded. "Elizabeth either pays for my mistakes or smooths them over. Sometimes"—Jessica felt tears welling up in her throat as she finished—"I think they wish I'd never been born."

  Nicky just held her for a moment as she cried quietly. She could tell from his voice that he understood. "I know you hate to hear people say, 'I know how you're feeling,' but I do, Jess. All my life I've felt like that, too. I know nobody at home would miss me if I weren't around. All my dad wants to do is make money, and my mom needs a lot of time to look after my little brother."

  "I'd miss you," Jessica said quietly.

  Nicky was silent for a moment. "You wouldn't have to," he said finally.

  Jessica pulled back from him slightly. "What?"

  "Well." Nicky's mouth was set with determination. "You know I told you about this deal in San Francisco?"

  "Yes?"

  "Well, I'm going through with it. I called my friend and told him I'd be coming on Friday."

  "Friday?" Jessica said. "This Friday? The day after tomorrow?"

  "Yes," Nicky replied.

  "That's so soon."

  "Not when you've been thinking about it for years." Nicky took both of Jessica's hands and looked into her eyes. "I wanted to ask you. . . . Look, I want you to come with me."

  Jessica was stunned. She almost laughed until she saw how serious Nicky was. "Oh, Nicky . . ."

  "Just listen to me for a second. You don't think two people could be more different, right? But why do you think we got together? Maybe it's because we aren't so different, Jess. Maybe we're looking for the same thing. And maybe there's nobody around here who knows how to deal with that. You're different, Jess. You're different from anyone I know. You're just the kind of person I've always been looking for, and I'm not going to let you go."

  Jessica stood there silently, letting Nicky's words wash over her. He was speaking too quickly to give her a chance to think, but in her heart, what he was saying began to make sense.