Regina's Legacy (Sweet Valley High Book 73)

by Francine Pascal

  REGINA'S LEGACY

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2015, Francine Pascal

  Dedicated to Yocheved Kurz

  The door to her bedroom was ajar. Elizabeth nudged it all the way open.

  She blinked. Clothes pulled out of the dresser drawers, pillows tossed about, her desk and closet in total disarray. . . .

  Elizabeth clutched the door. Her knees were weak. She tried to call Todd's name, but no sound came out.

  "Liz, what's the matter?" Todd asked when he came up and saw her pale face.

  "My room has been ransacked. It's just like what happened to the darkroom at school," Elizabeth said with quiet conviction. "They were here, the men from the beach, trying to find the photograph. When they didn't find it in the darkroom, they tracked me home somehow." It was an awful thought. She hadn't found them yet, but they had found her!

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  One

  "I just don't see the attraction of the photography club," Jessica Wakefield confessed to her twin sister, Elizabeth, after school on Wednesday. Jessica was on her way to cheerleading practice while Elizabeth was heading to a meeting of the new Sweet Valley High photography club. "It seems to me that if you were going to take the trouble to join a club, you should have gone for something a little more exciting." Jessica shook a finger at Elizabeth. "I'd better keep my eye on you, Liz. Next thing you know, you'll be trying out for the chess club!"

  Elizabeth laughed. Trust Jessica to think of being in the chess club—or having a sister who was—as a fate worse than death. "Don't worry," Elizabeth promised, her eyes sparkling. "I only do one new thing at a time. I'm not joining the chess club until next week."

  Jessica stopped with Elizabeth at the door to the room where the photography club meetings were held. She peeked inside. "Geek city," she whispered. "No fun hanging around in the darkroom with any of those guys!"

  "You're terrible," Elizabeth whispered back. "Get out of here!"

  "I'm on my way." Jessica waltzed off down the corridor toward the gym. "Wouldn't want to linger too long in the vicinity of such dullness," she remarked over her shoulder. "It might be contagious!"

  Elizabeth waved Jessica off. Her sister liked teasing her about being too serious, but Elizabeth knew it was just a question of relativity. Almost everyone seemed too serious compared to Jessica!

  On the outside, the sixteen-year-old twins were mirror images of each other, but their personalities were far from identical. They were both blond and slender with blue-green eyes and Southern California suntans. For Jessica, sunbathing was an end in itself; Elizabeth's tan was more incidental, a result of doing her homework by the family swimming pool. Elizabeth believed in a balance of work and play, and she enjoyed her classes as well as being a regular contributor to the Sweet Valley High newspaper, The Oracle. Jessica, on the other hand, always put recreation first. When it came to homework or chores, her philosophy was not to put off until tomorrow what she could put off until the day after that. Who could study when there were stores to shop in, parties to go to, boys to flirt with, and a telephone to talk on?

  Elizabeth didn't think it was such a bad thing to be serious. Keeping a journal and writing her newspaper column, "Eyes and Ears," were important steps toward achieving her goal of becoming a professional writer. And Elizabeth suspected that someday, when her twin discovered what it was she wanted more than anything else in the world, Jessica would find out she had a serious side, too.

  "Hi, Liz," Olivia Davidson called as Elizabeth entered the room where the photography club was meeting.

  "Hi," Elizabeth said as she took the empty chair between Olivia and Patty Gilbert. "Are you two as hooked as I am on this photography stuff?"

  "I haven't put my camera down for days," Patty confessed.

  "Me, neither," Olivia said. "I'd like to start taking some of my own pictures to go with my articles for The Oracle." Olivia was the arts editor of the newspaper.

  "Me, too. That's one of the reasons I joined the club." Elizabeth already knew how to develop black-and-white film, but she wanted to learn more advanced techniques. Photography could add a new dimension to her abilities as a journalist.

  "Are you trying to put us out of business?" joked Tina Ayala, a staff photographer for The Oracle.

  "Don't worry. It will take Liz and me years to catch up with you and Allen," Olivia assured Tina.

  Elizabeth smiled across the table at Allen Walters. "I'm definitely no threat. I just developed a roll of film, and every single photo is out of focus!"

  "You'll get the hang of it," Allen said reassuringly.

  The chairs were filling up fast. Current events instructor Mr. Marks, the photography club's faculty adviser, came in followed by Claire Middleton and Andrea Slade. Elizabeth was glad to see Claire and Andrea, both of whom were relatively new members of the Sweet Valley High junior class. Claire had jumped right into the thick of things by being the first girl ever to try out for the football team. Elizabeth knew that Andrea had tried to keep a low profile, however. She had been wary at first about letting her new friends know that her father was rock star Jamie Peters.

  "Is it too late to join?" Claire asked Jim Roberts, the photography buff who had organized the club.

  "Nope. This is just our second week."

  "I don't know very much about photography," admitted Andrea.

  "We've got a lot of beginners," Mr. Marks said. "So our Monday meetings are for instruction. Jim teaches the beginners, and Allen works with people who are ready to move beyond the basics. On Wednesdays, anything goes."

  As DeeDee Gordon, Neil Freemount, and Andy Jenkins hurried in and grabbed the last few empty chairs, Elizabeth relaxed. At the last meeting she had overheard John Pfeifer, sports editor for the school paper, telling Allen and Tina that Jeffrey French, another Oracle staff photographer, probably wouldn't be able to join the club because of daily soccer team practices. It looked as if John had gotten the story right, and Elizabeth was relieved. She and Jeffrey had been dating when Elizabeth's first love and current boyfriend, Todd Wilkins, moved back to Sweet Valley from Vermont. Breaking up with Jeffrey had been painful, and she was still a little uncomfortable around him.

  "Before we head into the darkroom, let's have a look at what everyone's working on," suggested Mr. Marks.

  Elizabeth handed her out-of-focus photographs to Patty; in turn, Patty handed her photos to Elizabeth. Patty's pictures were of dancers at the academy where she took ballet and jazz classes. She had had them developed and printed at a lab in town because the school wasn't set up to do color. "These are beautiful," Elizabeth breathed. "They remind me of Degas paintings."

  "Do you really think so?" Patty looked pleased. "That was the effect I was aiming for."

  DeeDee Gordon, Patty's best friend and an artist, leaned forward to see. "Liz is right. They're wonderful, Pat."

  "There are a lot of first-rate photographs here," Mr. Marks observed. "We should really come up with a way to show our stuff to the rest of the school. Maybe the club needs a project, something we can concentrate on and that will get us recognition from the school at the same time."

  "We could print some of our pictures in The Oracle," Allen sug
gested. "You know, like 'Guest Photographer of the Week.' "

  "That's a good idea," said Jim. "But a group project might be more fun. Something we could work on together."

  DeeDee leaned forward, her elbows on the table and her eyes bright with inspiration. "The other day I made a collage out of some of my pictures. What if the club worked on a giant collage? A sort of mural."

  "That would be cool!" Andy exclaimed.

  "But what would it be about?" asked Neil. "We need some kind of unifying theme."

  "It could be about life at Sweet Valley High," Elizabeth suggested. "We could create a photo essay."

  Mr. Marks nodded. "I think we're on to something here. A photo essay in the form of a mural would be a great gift to the school right now."

  Elizabeth knew what Mr. Marks meant. Not long ago, some racist incidents had disturbed the usually tranquil surface of Sweet Valley High, forcing everyone at the school to confront some very difficult issues. Neil Freemount and Andy Jenkins had been pulled into the center of the turmoil, and their friendship had deteriorated. Elizabeth was glad to see that even though the two boys were no longer as close as they had been, they were still able to participate in the same school activities, such as the new photography club, and to treat each other with respect.

  Elizabeth wasn't the only one thinking about those recent problems. "There has been some division in the school," said Patty. "The photo essay could be a way of pulling us all back together."

  "It would be great for school spirit," Olivia concurred.

  "Everyone in the club has different interests, a unique angle on Sweet Valley High," observed Andy.

  "Right. And we'd put all those perspectives together. It would be like a tapestry," said DeeDee.

  "I think we have a consensus," Mr. Marks declared. "A photo essay it is!"

  "Let's keep our project a secret from the rest of the school until it's unveiled," Jim said with a conspiratorial grin.

  There was enthusiastic assent. "OK then, it's settled. Let's aim for two weeks from Monday," Mr. Marks decided. "We'll put the collage together over the preceding weekend."

  The club members spent the rest of the time discussing various subjects for the mural. Each person had his or her own ideas. Elizabeth could hardly wait to start shooting. It would be fun—and maybe enlightening—to see what kind of Sweet Valley High their cameras discovered!

  "I'm never going to be able to memorize all these formulas," Enid Rollins moaned, slamming her textbook shut.

  "You always say that when you're studying for a math quiz," Elizabeth pointed out to her best friend, "and you always get A's!"

  Enid's green eyes crinkled in a smile. "True. I guess complaining like that is a good luck charm."

  "Then maybe I should try it. I have a French quiz tomorrow." In an imitation of Enid, Elizabeth slammed her book shut and declared, "I'll never be able to memorize all these verbs!"

  It was Thursday afternoon and the two girls were studying and sunbathing beside the Wakefields' swimming pool. Just as Elizabeth reopened her French book, the phone rang. She hopped up from the chaise longue, dashed through the sliding doors, and hurried into the kitchen to answer the call. "Hello?"

  "May I speak to Elizabeth?"

  "This is she."

  "Elizabeth, it's Skye Morrow."

  "Mrs. Morrow! How are you?"

  "Quite well, and happy to catch you at home. As I mentioned last week, I have something of Regina's I'd like to give you. I'm sorry I couldn't come by over the weekend as I'd promised. Can I stop by this afternoon?"

  "Of course," Elizabeth said. "Whenever you want."

  "How about within the next twenty minutes?"

  "That would be fine," Elizabeth replied warmly. "I'll see you soon!"

  Elizabeth returned to the poolside and told Enid about the phone call. Enid raised her eyebrows. "Mrs. Morrow? Why would she call you?"

  "It's kind of mysterious. She's coming over to give me something that belonged to Regina, but I don't know what it is."

  "I wonder what it could be?"

  Elizabeth wondered, too, as she pulled her T-shirt on over her bathing suit and stepped into her shorts. Skye Morrow was the mother of Elizabeth's friend Nicholas, a recent Sweet Valley High graduate who was dating Andrea Slade. Elizabeth told Enid about having run into Mrs. Morrow in downtown Sweet Valley the previous week. "It had been ages since I'd seen her," Elizabeth mused. "In fact, I think the last time was . . ." Her voice trailed off, and a pained expression clouded her face.

  "Regina's funeral?" Enid said quietly.

  Elizabeth nodded sadly.

  It was a very sad time for Elizabeth. Nicholas Morrow's younger sister Regina had been a junior at Sweet Valley High and a good friend. Upset because her boyfriend had left her for another girl, Regina impetuously took up with a bad crowd. At a party she was pressured into trying cocaine, and she died from a rare reaction to the drug.

  The Wakefields' golden Labrador retriever, Prince Albert, had been snoozing in the sun. Now he pricked up his ears and barked as he heard a car in the driveway. "That must be Mrs. Morrow now."

  "I'll stay out here," Enid offered.

  Elizabeth reached the front door just as Mrs. Morrow rang the bell. She greeted her friend's mother with a warm smile. "Come on in!"

  Mrs. Morrow stepped into the hall, and Elizabeth noticed she was carrying a small box. "Why don't we sit in the living room?" she suggested. "Can I get you anything first? A glass of iced tea?"

  "No, thank you," Mrs. Morrow said. "I can only stay a minute."

  As she sat down on the couch and faced Mrs. Morrow, Elizabeth couldn't help but picture Regina. Skye Morrow had been a model once, and she was still very beautiful. Regina had had her mother's long, wavy black hair and her dark, dramatic eyes. Elizabeth felt a lump form in her throat, but she willed herself to smile brightly. She didn't want Mrs. Morrow to know she was thinking melancholy thoughts about Regina.

  Elizabeth couldn't fool the older woman. Mrs. Morrow put her hand on Elizabeth's. "I know you miss Regina," she said softly. "We do, too. The months since her death . . . In all my life, time has never seemed to pass so slowly."

  Now it was Elizabeth's turn to squeeze Mrs. Morrow's hand. "I'm sure it's been difficult."

  Mrs. Morrow sighed. "At first, I wanted to leave Regina's room just as it was, but now I'm trying to be practical. Mr. Morrow and I are going to donate Regina's clothes and books to charities, but as I was going through her belongings I came across something I thought you'd like to have—and something I know Regina would have liked you to have."

  Mrs. Morrow handed the box to Elizabeth.

  A photograph was taped to the lid of the box. As Elizabeth gazed at it, the lump returned to her throat. The picture was of Regina and her. "I remember this day. It was Regina's sixteenth birthday party."

  Mrs. Morrow nodded. "Her father and I had given her a new camera."

  "Mr. Morrow used it to take the picture," Elizabeth recalled.

  "That's right." Mrs. Morrow smiled. "Go ahead. Open the box."

  Elizabeth had a hunch she knew what was inside. She was right: it was the camera. "Oh, Mrs. Morrow, it's beautiful. This is so generous of you! I don't know what to say."

  "Andrea was over with Nicholas yesterday, and she told me about the new photography club at school. She mentioned that you had joined," Mrs. Morrow explained. "I knew then that I had been right in wanting to give the camera to you. Regina was getting so interested in photography. Her father had built a darkroom in the basement for her, and she was just learning to develop her own pictures when she died." Mrs. Morrow's dark eyes grew misty.

  "It's a lovely gift," Elizabeth whispered. She knew it must be hard for Mrs. Morrow to part with a possession that had been so precious to her daughter. At the same time, Elizabeth saw that by giving away Regina's things, Mrs. Morrow was slowly coming to terms with her grief. "Thank you, Mrs. Morrow."

  "It will mean a lot to me to know that you're enjoying the camer
a."

  "I'll take good care of it," Elizabeth promised her.

  Elizabeth stood at the door and waved as Mrs. Morrow drove off. Then she went back to the living room and took the camera from its black leather case. For a long moment, she just held it and thought about Regina. Then she went back to the pool to rejoin Enid and show her the camera.

  Two

  "Mind if we join you?" Elizabeth asked Shelley Novak and Jim Roberts in the cafeteria on Monday.

  Shelley welcomed Elizabeth and Todd with a broad smile. "Of course not!" She shot a playful look at Jim. "I had thought maybe we'd have a quiet lunch, just the two of us, but I should have known. There's always a third party. His camera!"

  Jim patted the camera, which was sitting on the table next to his lunch tray. "Sorry, Shell. I've had this camera a lot longer than I've had you."

  "What if I carried my basketball with me everywhere I went?" Shelley asked. "Wouldn't that drive you crazy?"

  "Maybe you don't carry it with you all the time, but you're as wacky about basketball as I am about photography," Jim countered. "Tell me I'm right, Liz. Aren't basketball nuts the worst?"

  Elizabeth looked at her boyfriend. Tall, handsome Todd Wilkins was the star forward for the boys' basketball team. "Definitely the worst," Elizabeth joked.

  "These two have no compassion for the life of an athlete," Todd told Shelley. "And I know what you mean about all this picture taking. I used to worry about Liz writing things about me. She has a notebook and pencil with her all the time. Now I've got to watch out for her camera, too. Just when I think I can relax and be myself, she's pointing it at me again."

  "Oh, please," Elizabeth laughed. "You love it. Don't deny it. You're always posing!"

  Todd grinned. "I just figure if you're going to take pictures of me, they might as well be good ones."

  "I wouldn't mind if Jim only took pictures of me," said Shelley, twisting the stem off her apple. "Although I used to hate it."

  Elizabeth knew Shelley had once been very self-conscious, particularly about her height, even though she was very pretty. She'd been known to yell at the photographers, including Jim, who took pictures of her when she was on the court with the girls' basketball team. Since she had started dating Jim, however, Shelley seemed to have grown more comfortable with herself.