Too Good to Be True

by Francine Pascal

Pete was hard to figure out. He wasn’t a bit like the boys she dated back in Sweet Valley, who were usually like lumps of wet clay in her hands. Flirting seemed to be having no effect on him whatsoever. For Jessica, that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She became more determined than ever to get him.

  It wasn’t going to be easy, though. At the concert she fought to keep from yawning. Classical music was more Elizabeth’s style. Personally, Jessica preferred something with a snappy beat, something she could get up and dance to. If only Pete would hold her hand or put his arm around her. He might as well be on a date with his sister the way he was acting! Was it because he was so loyal to Suzanne? Maybe. Even so, she had to find a way of tempting him away.

  “I just hate the idea of going up to that big old empty apartment all by myself,” she told him as they were driving home. “I know it must sound silly, but I’m just an awful scaredycat. Would you mind terribly waiting around with me until the Devlins get back? Maybe we could listen to the stereo or something.” She put the emphasis on the “or something.”

  Pete smiled. “Don’t worry, Jessica. I have a feeling you won’t have any trouble taking care of yourself. Sorry, but I have to run.”

  Jessica’s hands clenched into fists in her lap, her long fingernails digging into her palms. She could feel her cheeks burning. She felt like screaming. What was the matter with him? How could he ignore her this way?

  Pete’s Ferrari glided to a smooth stop in front of the Devlins’ Park Avenue building. He bent toward her, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. This is it! she thought excitedly. He’s finally going to kiss me! She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips and let her eyelids droop seductively. She was glad now that she’d sat through the concert. Pete’s kiss would certainly be worth it. This was going to be a perfect moment.

  But instead of taking hold of her, Pete merely leaned across her and flipped open the door. “Sleep tight, little Jessica,” he said as she was getting out.

  Jessica was left to stand fuming on the sidewalk as he spun off into the night, red taillights winking as if mocking her. Tears of anger and frustration stung her eyes.

  She’d never been so humiliated in her whole life.

  Six

  “Has anyone seen my gold necklace?” Elizabeth asked, drifting into the kitchen. She sat down at the breakfast table. “I left it on my dresser last night, and now it’s gone.”

  Mrs. Wakefield looked up from buttering a slice of bread she’d just plucked from the toaster. “Maybe it slipped off. Did you check the floor?”

  “I even looked behind the dresser. And under the bed.” She frowned. “It’s as if it disappeared into thin air!”

  Her mother put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her, but Elizabeth wasn’t hungry. She felt terrible about losing her necklace. The twins’ parents had given them identical gold lavalieres on their sixteenth birthday. Elizabeth knew how disappointed they would be if she couldn’t find it. Usually it was Jessica who was always losing things.

  “After breakfast I’ll help you look,” Suzanne volunteered readily. Her lovely face wore a concerned look. “Sometimes a thing can be right there under your nose and you don’t see it.”

  Elizabeth sighed. “But I really looked. I don’t know how it could’ve gotten on the floor. I remember taking it off and putting it in the middle of the dresser.”

  Suzanne reached across the table to give Elizabeth’s hand a sympathetic squeeze. “Don’t worry, Liz, I’m sure it’ll turn up, even if we have to spend all morning looking for it.”

  Elizabeth flashed her a grateful smile. “It seems so unfair. Here you are on vacation, and you’ve hardly relaxed a minute since you got here.”

  Sunday morning Suzanne had gotten up early and surprised them all with an elegant breakfast of french toast made with grated lemon peel and sprinkled with powdered sugar. On Monday she’d spent the afternoon helping Steven put a coat of varnish on an old canoe he was restoring out in the garage. The list was endless. Whenever there were dishes to be done, Suzanne was the first to volunteer. She was never too tired to run an errand, or too elegant to don a pair of rubber gloves and help with the cleaning around the house. More than once Mrs. Wakefield had teased Suzanne about wanting to adopt her.

  Everyone loved Suzanne. Even Lila, who usually considered every pretty girl competition, had called one afternoon to ask Elizabeth and Suzanne over to play tennis at the Fowlers’ private court. It was the first time Elizabeth could remember Lila inviting her anywhere. Afterward she couldn’t believe how Lila had acted—hanging on Suzanne’s every word, asking her a million questions about life in New York City.

  “You know, you could really be a model,” Lila had told her. “The next Brooke Shields. Just think how famous you’d be.”

  Suzanne wrinkled her nose at the prospect. “Maybe, but I’d probably get pretty bored just standing around having my picture taken all day long. Besides, I want to go to college. And maybe law school after that. By the time I got around to doing anything else, I’d be an old hag.”

  Lila seemed to find that hilarious. “Somehow, Suzy, I just can’t imagine you as a hag.”

  “Oh, I can be a real witch sometimes.” Suzanne tossed her black hair over one shoulder with a slinky movement. She smiled. “I’ll have to show you my magic potions sometime.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “In that case, you must’ve cast a spell over the entire male population of Sweet Valley.”

  Ever since the picnic, the Wakefields’ phone had been ringing almost nonstop. Elizabeth had jokingly threatened to keep score. So far Tom McKay had called twice. Aaron Dallas three times. Mr. Cool himself, Bruce Patman, had asked Suzanne out only once (Elizabeth smiled every time she imagined the look on his face when Suzanne turned him down). The front runner by a mile, however, was Winston Egbert, with twelve calls—not counting the night he serenaded Suzanne from out on the lawn.

  Suzanne told them all how flattered she was but she just couldn’t accept. She was only going to be in Sweet Valley such a short while, and she wanted to spend as much time as possible with the Wakefields, especially Elizabeth, who had been so wonderful to her.

  This morning Elizabeth was planning on taking Suzanne to the beach. They even had a picnic lunch all packed. Todd would be picking them up in a little while.

  “Never mind about the necklace, Suzy,” Elizabeth said. “We can look for it later.” She didn’t want anything to spoil their day at the beach. “As long as no one vacuums my room while I’m gone, I’m OK.”

  Mrs. Wakefield laughed. “Don’t look at me. I’m not planning on doing any cleaning. I’m supposed to be going into the office today. I have to be there in”—she looked at her watch, then hastily gulped the rest of her coffee—“exactly three minutes. I have to go over those new designs with a client.” Mrs. Wakefield was an interior designer.

  “Don’t worry about the dishes, Mrs. Wakefield,” Suzanne said. “I’ll take care of them.” She turned her attention to Steven. “More coffee? I’m getting up anyway, so it’s no trouble at all.”

  Steven shook his head, managing only a weak smile of thanks. Elizabeth knew he was still brooding over his broken date with Tricia. He’d been moping around the house all vacation, acting as if the world were coming to an end. Elizabeth felt selfish for worrying over a misplaced necklace while Steven was contemplating the possible loss of the girl he loved.

  “Why don’t you come to the beach with us, Steve?” Elizabeth urged. “You’re looking kind of pale. It wouldn’t hurt you to get some sun on that puny bod of yours.”

  “Puny? Who’s calling who ‘puny’?” Elizabeth was glad to see she’d managed to coax a genuine smile out of him. “If you turned sideways and stuck your tongue out, you could probably pass for a zipper.”

  “Don’t I wish!” Elizabeth flicked her napkin at him. “So what do you say—are you coming or not?”

  He shook his head regretfully. “Sorry. Can’t. I’ve got a big exam coming up when I get b
ack to school. If I don’t hit the books, I can think of a few professors who’ll be using them to hit me.”

  When the breakfast dishes were done, Elizabeth and Suzanne went upstairs and changed into their bathing suits and shorts. By the time they had gathered together their towels and suntan lotion, Todd was beeping his horn outside. Elizabeth took one last, unsuccessful look behind the drawers for her necklace.

  “Don’t worry, Liz,” Suzanne reassured her, slinging her canvas beach bag over one shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll find it when we get back. It’s got to be around here somewhere.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Elizabeth said.

  “Is it very valuable?”

  “Oh, I’m sure Mom and Dad paid a lot for it, but that’s not the only reason I’d hate to lose it.” She touched the absent place on her neck where it usually hung. “It’s just that—well, you know how it is when you get attached to something. I guess you’d call it sentimental value.”

  Suzanne’s full mouth turned up in a sympathetic smile. “Sure, I understand. Once I lost a bracelet my father had bought me in Paris. I felt just sick about it! I couldn’t stop crying for a whole day!”

  She hooked an arm through Elizabeth’s as they headed out the door. Still smiling, she reached into her shorts pocket with her other hand, fingering the gold necklace that lay coiled inside. A pretty little trinket, she thought with satisfaction.

  Seven

  “Oh, Todd, would you mind stopping at Mr. Collins’s?” Elizabeth asked as they were heading down Calico Drive. “I have to drop off some stuff for the paper. It’ll only take a second.”

  “At your service, madam.” Todd grinned, tipping an imaginary chauffeur’s cap.

  Suzanne, sitting in the backseat of Todd’s secondhand Datsun, giggled. “Todd, you’re such a nut!”

  “Better watch out,” he joked. “We nuts are sensitive to cracks.”

  Todd turned off onto a narrow, tree-lined street, pulling up in front of a neat frame house painted a sunny yellow. A child’s bike lay overturned on the lawn.

  “I didn’t know Mr. Collins had children,” Suzanne said, peering out the window at the bike. “Is he married?”

  “Divorced,” Elizabeth answered. “And he’s only got one child. Teddy—he’s six and a real sweetie. I baby-sit for him sometimes. Though it’s hardly what I’d call work. Teddy is practically no trouble at all.”

  “Really? I absolutely adore children myself. If I ever get married, I’ll probably have about a dozen.” Suzanne reached over toward the manila envelope that Elizabeth had brought for Mr. Collins. “Look, let me run in with this. I want to thank Mr. Collins for rescuing me the other day.”

  Elizabeth sighed in mock exasperation. “Suzy, you’re spoiling me to death! Don’t you ever stop being nice?”

  “Yeah,” Todd agreed laughingly, “give the poor kid a break. How do you expect her to be able to put up with Jessica after all this?”

  While Elizabeth pretended to strangle Todd, Suzanne hopped out of the car. No one answered when she knocked at the front door. She could hear water running, so she walked around to the back of the house. Mr. Collins was standing out on the lawn watering the shrubbery. Quietly she crept up behind him, a low, mischievous laugh escaping her. Mr. Collins whipped about in surprise, nearly dropping the hose.

  “Sorry,” she said, smiling. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  He smiled back, but the smile didn’t reach up to his blue eyes. “Don’t worry, I don’t scare that easily. You just surprised me, that’s all. I didn’t hear you come up. Is there something I can do for you?”

  She stared unwaveringly into his eyes, widening her own ever so slightly. It was a game she liked to play, but half the fun of it was that most of the men she played it with didn’t even know what was going on. They would start blushing and stammering, or they’d look down at their feet. It gave her such a feeling of power to control people without their even knowing they were being controlled.

  Take that dopey Elizabeth, for instance. How could anyone be so naive? She’d probably spend the next hundred years crawling around on her hands and knees looking for that necklace without ever even suspecting that her dear, sweet friend Suzy had taken it. They were all so gullible, the whole bunch of them. None of the Wakefields knew how she was really sneering at them behind their backs. Them and just about everybody else in this little hick town.

  The trouble with Mr. Collins was that he didn’t seem as eager to fall into her net as the others. He stared right back without blinking or shifting his gaze. For an uneasy moment Suzanne wondered if he’d seen through her pretenses. On the other hand, maybe he just needed a little more persuasion. Teachers always put themselves up on pedestals that way. Like they were better than everyone else. Oh, how she’d like to bring this teacher to his knees!

  “Liz asked me to give you this,” she explained, handing the envelope to him. “But I wanted to see you anyway. I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for the way you saved my life. I never did get a chance to thank you appropriately at the picnic. I really owe you a lot.”

  “Forget it,” Mr. Collins replied with an edge of gruffness to his voice. “I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t have done the same.”

  He was wearing only a pair of white jogging shorts and a red bandanna to keep his longish strawberry-blond hair out of his eyes. Suzanne’s gaze strayed down to his bare, muscular chest, which was deeply tanned and slick with perspiration.

  “It’s so hot!” she exclaimed, wilting into a nearby chaise longue. She propped her slender legs up to give him a better view. The tan she’d acquired the past few days was perfectly shown off by the skimpy yellow shorts she wore. “Mind if I steal a quick drink from the hose?”

  Silently he handed it to her. Suzanne laughed merrily as the cool water bubbled over her lips and nose. She let it dribble down her chin until the front of her thin T-shirt was soaked, making it cling to her very brief bikini top. Mr. Collins couldn’t help but look. Suzanne smiled to herself in triumph as she noticed the color mounting in his cheeks.

  “Thanks,” she said, handing the hose back to him. She looked down with a tiny cry of chagrin. “Oh, will you look at that—I’m all wet. Honestly, Mr. Collins, you must think I’m the klutziest girl in the whole world!”

  He bent down to yank a weed from the grass. In a low voice he muttered something that sounded like, “I think you know exactly what you’re doing.” But she couldn’t be sure she’d heard it right.

  At that moment a blond, blue-eyed miniature version of Mr. Collins came banging out through the screen door. When he caught sight of Suzanne, he stopped and stared up at her as if he’d just discovered a movie star standing out on his back lawn.

  Suzanne went over to him and put her hand out, giving the little boy her most winning smile. “Hi, I’m Suzy. And I’ll bet your name is Teddy.”

  His face lit up. “How’d you know?”

  “I’m a good guesser.”

  Teddy pointed over at Mr. Collins. “He’s my dad.”

  “I know. Aren’t you lucky to have such a nice daddy?”

  “Do you go to school with my dad?” Teddy asked.

  “No, but I wish I did. I’ll bet he’s the best teacher in the whole school.”

  “The best in the whole world!”

  Suzanne laughed. “You’re absolutely right, Teddy. I’m sure he is the best in the world.”

  She straightened to face Mr. Collins. “He’s adorable. I just love kids.”

  Mr. Collins looked fondly down on Teddy. “Yeah, he’s great.” For a minute Suzanne thought she’d won him over, but then he drew back. “Well, thanks for bringing this stuff by. Tell Liz I said thanks, too.”

  It was obviously a dismissal. Suzanne was annoyed. She’d been counting on something more—a word, a glance, some small sign that he found her irresistible. Nevertheless, she hid her disappointment behind a brilliant smile.

  “Don’t mention it,” she replied airily. “It was the leas
t I could do after—well, you know.” She made it sound as if his saving her at the picnic had been something private and special.

  Mr. Collins blushed. As Suzanne turned to go, she wore a smug expression. The invincible Mr. Collins wasn’t so invincible after all.

  * * *

  “Sorry I took so long.” Suzanne slid into the backseat. “Mr. Collins was telling me about the paper and how great the kids who work on it are. Especially you, Liz.”

  Elizabeth sat up straighter. “Me?”

  Todd nudged her teasingly as he started the engine. “Maybe I should be jealous.”

  Suzanne giggled. “He didn’t mean it that way, silly. Anyway, I really think you’re lucky, Liz. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, only I’m terrible at it.”

  “I can’t imagine you being terrible at anything,” Elizabeth protested warmly.

  Suzanne grinned. I’ll just bet you can’t.

  Aloud, she said, “I’m afraid I’m just not as talented as you, Liz.”

  “She’s a hard act to follow, all right,” said Todd as he turned onto the coast highway.

  “Will you two stop it!” Elizabeth cried. “If you don’t watch it, I’m going to have trouble squeezing my head out the door by the time we get there.”

  “What head?” Todd teased.

  By the time they arrived at the beach, Elizabeth’s side hurt from laughing so much. They all joined Enid and George by the lifeguard station, where a small village of towels, coolers, and beach chairs had sprung up. Within minutes their blanket was besieged by a crowd of boys competing for Suzanne’s attention.

  “How does she manage?” Enid asked Elizabeth, watching as Suzanne settled an argument between Aaron and Tom over who would rub suntan lotion on her back. “I wonder what it’d be like to have so many guys chasing after you at once.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Noisy. Between the phone ringing and Winston serenading Suzy from the lawn, I’m about ready to go deaf.”

  “Well, at least now you know what it’d be like living with a movie star.”