Too Good to Be True

by Francine Pascal

  Suzanne slid an arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders. “Poor Liz. You’re imagining things again. How could I have stolen your necklace? You’re wearing it. Look, you’re probably just tired. I really think you should get some rest. Tell Todd to take you home. And don’t worry about Lila—I’m sure she’ll understand.”

  Elizabeth pushed Suzanne away. “There’s nothing wrong with me! You’re the one who—”

  Her protests were swallowed by the buzz of the crowd that had gathered around them. Elizabeth was shaking with anger, but Suzanne’s cool seemed to remain intact. It was at that moment that Elizabeth realized she was dealing with no ordinary liar. Suzanne was a monster. Her beauty was all on the surface. Underneath she was pure poison.

  Elizabeth waited for some of the noise to die down. “Mr. Collins was right about you. He knew from the beginning how evil you were.”

  At the reminder of Roger Collins, the corner of Suzanne’s mouth turned up in a tiny, almost imperceptible sneer. But Elizabeth didn’t miss it. A spark of hope flared inside her. Maybe I can crack her angelic veneer after all, she thought.

  “No wonder he wouldn’t look twice at you,” she added for good measure, mimicking a tone she’d heard Jessica use on numerous occasions.

  At that moment Winston jostled his way through the crowd, holding a cup of punch. He extended it toward Suzanne, a foolish grin pasted across his face.

  “I thought you might be getting thirsty,” he gushed. Literally tripping over his own feet, he lurched forward, spilling the entire contents of the cup down the front of Suzanne’s beautiful white dress. Instantly he was full of tortured contriteness. “Oh, wow, I’m really sorry, Suzy! Gee, I hope your dress isn’t ruined! I don’t know how I could have been so clumsy!”

  Suzanne stood frozen for a long, speechless moment, as if she didn’t quite believe what had happened. Then she looked down at the huge reddish stain seeping into the expensive fabric. This was clearly the last straw in an evening that wasn’t turning out at all the way she’d planned. The color drained from her face. The same ugliness Elizabeth had glimpsed earlier that evening flashed to the surface once again.

  “You idiot!” Suzanne shrieked. “Look what you’ve done!”

  “Gosh, Suzy, I really feel awful about it. Here, let me help you.” Winston made a clumsy attempt at mopping up the front of Suzanne’s dress with a crumpled handkerchief he’d fished from his pocket.

  Suzanne shoved him away. “Get off me, you dumb clod! You’re only making it worse! Can’t you just leave me alone? You’ve been following me around like some kind of big, stupid dog ever since I met you.”

  Suddenly she realized everyone was staring at her. Abruptly she stopped screaming. Her sweet, smiling mask shifted back into place. She even attempted a weak laugh, as if the whole thing had been a joke, as if she hadn’t really meant all those cruel things she’d said to Winston. But it was too late. The suspicious looks that had been directed at Elizabeth a minute ago were now on her.

  “Never mind, Winston,” she simpered. “It was just a silly accident. I’m sorry I blew up at you. I was getting tired of this dress anyway, so you probably did me a favor.” Turning to Aaron, she cooed, “Would you mind taking me home so I can change? I must look an absolute disaster.”

  Aaron gave her a calculating look and said coolly, “I don’t know, Suzanne. I think it suits you just fine the way it is.”

  He started to walk away, and Suzanne screeched, “How dare you treat me this way! I was only doing you a favor by going out with you in the first place.”

  Aaron didn’t look back. He just kept on walking. Suzanne cast frantically about for a replacement, but they were all walking away, some of them looking over their shoulders in disgust. All her admirers. This couldn’t be happening! Not to her!

  Her face crumpled, and she began to cry in shrill, noisy gasps. They were the first real tears she had shed in a long time.

  * * *

  “I should probably thank you, Win,” Elizabeth said when she’d caught up with him at the refreshment table.

  “Thank me? What for?” Winston looked up from a plate piled high with food.

  “That was the best-timed accident I’d ever seen. You really saved me.”

  “Yeah, I know. I heard you talking to Suzanne in the coatroom.”

  “You knew?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah. It made me realize how stupid I’ve been. Falling for someone without getting to know what she was really like. I should be the one thanking you, Liz. For setting me straight. As for the accident, well”—he winked—“let’s just say that clumsiness comes in handy sometimes.”

  “Oh, Winston, you spilled that drink on purpose. I love you!” Elizabeth cried, kissing him on the cheek.

  “You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type,” Todd growled, wrapping his arms around her from behind. “Where’ve you been, anyway? I’ve been all over the club grounds looking for you.”

  “I was having a private talk with Suzanne in the coatroom. And then”—Elizabeth paused to smile at Winston—“Win and I were taking care of a little unfinished business.”

  “So I heard. The whole place is buzzing about what happened. Sorry I missed all the action. Guess you really showed Suzanne up.”

  “The main thing is that now Mr. Collins won’t have to lose his job. I think we have enough witnesses who’ll tell the school board what that girl is really like. And Winston and I heard her admit she was lying. I don’t think she’ll be able to do any more damage now.”

  “Boy, Jessica is going to be mad when she hears about all the stuff she missed out on,” Winston commented, cramming an entire chopped-olive sandwich into his mouth at once.

  Elizabeth laughed. “Knowing Jessica, I’m sure she’ll have a few stories of her own to tell.”

  Seventeen

  Home, sweet boring home, Jessica thought as she, her parents, and Steven entered the house. Instantly she flung herself into Elizabeth’s arms. She never thought she’d be so happy to be back in dull old Sweet Valley, but after the “excitement” of New York, she could use a little dullness. For a little while, at least. Jessica rarely went for long without a fasten-your-seatbelt thrill of some kind.

  “Would you believe I actually missed your ugly face?” Jessica gushed, as Elizabeth helped her upstairs with her suitcases.

  “Hey, watch who you call ugly,” Elizabeth warned with a laugh. “You’re talking about yourself, too, you know.”

  “In that case, I take it back. You’re absolutely gorgeous. I was just getting back at you for not coming with Mom and Dad to meet me at the airport. Where were you?”

  Elizabeth sighed. It was such a long story. Suzanne … the stolen necklace … Mr. Collins. Elizabeth’s own head was still spinning over the whole ugly mess. She didn’t want to think about it right then. And if she ever heard Suzanne’s name again, it would probably be too soon. Jessica would know what had happened soon enough—probably the minute she phoned Cara.

  “Uh, sorry, Jess, I just didn’t feel like riding to the airport, that’s all.”

  It wasn’t a lie, really. The prospect of a chilly ride with Suzanne had been enough to quell her excitement at seeing Jessica again. Suzanne hadn’t spoken a word to her since Lila’s party. She hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye.

  Jessica acted hurt. “I suppose you and what’s-her-name were having such a fabulous time you didn’t even know I was gone. What was she like? Mom and Dad didn’t tell me anything!”

  A smile tugged at the corners of Elizabeth’s mouth, but she held it in. “Oh, Suzanne was really—something else.”

  Jessica felt a pinprick of jealousy. Things hadn’t worked out at all the way she’d imagined. She was the one who was supposed to have had all the fun, not Elizabeth. Instead, the tables had been turned. It wasn’t fair!

  After they deposited the suitcases in Jessica’s room, Elizabeth pulled Jessica into her own room. “Now, I want to hear everything about your trip—and don’t you dare leave out
a single detail. I’m dying to know who this mystery man is.” Elizabeth sat down on her bed and tugged Jessica down beside her.

  “Oh, him.” Jessica had forgotten all about the phone call to her sister before she’d found out what Pete was really like. “His name’s Pete McCafferty.”

  “Suzanne’s boyfriend! He’s the mystery man?” Elizabeth broke into a huge grin.

  “What’s so funny?” Jessica wanted to know.

  “Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what Suzanne would do if she knew, that’s all. What’s he like?”

  “A real dream,” Jessica said.

  Well, it was true, wasn’t it? Nightmares were dreams. Anyway, why not let everyone think she’d had a fantastic time in New York. It would be humiliating if they knew the truth.

  “He sounds breathtaking,” said Elizabeth.

  “Oh, he’s certainly that.” How could I catch my breath with him on top of me?

  “You really fell hard for him, I can see.”

  “Positively.” Like falling off the Empire State Building.

  “And he’s crazy about you, too, right?”

  “Insanely.”

  Inexplicably, Elizabeth’s grin broadened. Jessica was confused. If Elizabeth and Suzanne were such good friends, why should she be happy about her sister stealing Suzanne’s boyfriend? It didn’t make sense. What was the big joke? Elizabeth couldn’t possibly have found out the real story about Pete, could she?

  Jessica’s mind whirled back to that awful night when Suzanne’s parents had walked in and found her struggling with Pete in their living room. The second the lights were on, Pete had snapped to his feet, red-faced and sputtering apologies right and left. Jessica had taken the more direct approach—she’d burst into tears. The Devlins immediately took pity on her and assumed the whole thing was Pete’s fault—which, of course, it was. They told him they never wanted to see him again, and neither would Suzanne when she discovered the truth about him.

  “Anyway,” Elizabeth said, giving her sister a hug, “I am glad you’re back. It was getting a little too boring around here without you.”

  Jessica brightened. “You really mean it?”

  “Sure. What would we do without you to stir things up now and then?”

  “I’m not sure that’s a compliment, but I’ll let you off this time. Hey, what’s this?”

  Jessica spied the gift that was still sitting on Elizabeth’s dresser, the one that had been intended for Suzanne. Elizabeth had been planning to return it to the store for a refund, but she could see it was too late now. Jessica had seized it and was tearing the paper off.

  “Oh, Liz, you didn’t have to get me a welcome-home present—but I’m so glad you did. You’re the sweetest sister in the whole world! How did you know? It’s exactly the blouse I wanted. And a scarf to match!”

  Elizabeth sighed in defeat. Hang on tight. Here we go again, she thought.

  * * *

  Later on, after Jessica had finished trying on the blouse and admiring her reflection from a hundred different angles, she wanted Elizabeth to give her a complete update of everything that had happened while she was gone. Especially where their brother was concerned.

  “Steve hardly said a word on the way home from the airport,” Jessica reported. “He acted like he was at a funeral. Honestly, you’d think he would have been a little more excited to see his own sister.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with you,” Elizabeth reassured her. “He’s just upset about Tricia.”

  “Is she still trying to dump him?”

  “Come on, Jess, she’s only broken a couple of dates. I honestly don’t think that qualifies as dumping someone.”

  Jessica sniffed. “Call it what you like, but if you ask me, I think he’d be better off without her anyhow. It’s positively humiliating having my own brother dating a girl from one of the worst families in town.”

  “I’m glad to see you’re so concerned about it from Steven’s point of view,” Elizabeth commented dryly.

  “Well, if you cared just the teensy-weensiest bit about your own reputation, you’d be embarrassed, too!”

  “I’m more worried about Steve than I am about either of our reputations. He’s really been down over this thing. You should have seen his face when Tricia called this morning to cancel their latest date.”

  “Oh, he’ll get over it,” Jessica predicted blithely. “Come on, let’s go talk to him. I’ll bet we could cheer him up if we tried.”

  “Jess, I don’t think—”

  But Jessica had grabbed her hand and was dragging her down the hallway to Steven’s room. Elizabeth didn’t even have a chance to finish her sentence.

  They found Steven hunched at his desk, staring glumly out the window instead of at the textbook that lay open in front of him. Jessica flopped down on the bed.

  “Hey, Steve, you want to hear a good joke? A girl sitting next to me on the plane told it to me.”

  He glanced at her, then went back to staring out the window. “Not now, Jess. I’m not in the mood.”

  “Oh, come on, it can’t be that bad. Forget about Tricia. If she won’t go out with you, I can think of plenty of other girls who would. She’s not the only girl in the world, you know.”

  “To me she is.”

  Jessica rolled her eyes. “How did I ever end up with such a softhearted brother?”

  “Don’t pay any attention to her, Steve,” Elizabeth put in. “Tricia’s lucky to have someone who feels the way you do about her.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Steven said mournfully. “How I feel about Tricia isn’t the problem. It’s how she feels about me. Or doesn’t feel, I should say. I thought maybe it was my imagination, the way she was acting. But this morning, when she called off our date, I—well, I just don’t know what to think anymore. I wish I knew what was wrong.”

  “Maybe someone else is what’s wrong,” Jessica suggested nastily.

  Steven’s expression grew stormy. “Tricia wouldn’t do that! She wouldn’t sneak around behind my back with another guy. I know her better than that.”

  “If you know her so well, how come you can’t figure out why she’s being so cold?” Jessica asked. “Honestly, you men can be so naive sometimes.”

  “Not every girl is like you, Jess,” Elizabeth pointed out.

  Jessica frowned. “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that just because you wouldn’t think twice about sneaking around behind someone’s back, it doesn’t have to be the same with Tricia.”

  Jessica stood up haughtily. “Whatever you say. Of course, I should have known that Tricia could never do anything wrong. She probably broke your date so she could go to church.”

  “That isn’t funny, Jess,” Steven growled.

  “Or maybe she’s busy nursing her sick father back to health.”

  Steven grabbed a pillow, brandishing it threateningly in Jessica’s direction. “I’m warning you.…”

  “OK, I can take a hint.” Jessica scooted out of the way, blowing her brother a kiss on her way out the door. “You know it’s only because I care about you, Stevie. It would just break my heart to see my favorite brother get hurt.”

  “What favorite brother? I’m your only brother!” he called after her. When she was gone, he gave Elizabeth a look of despair. “Do you think she could be right? Do you think Tricia is seeing someone else?”

  “Don’t let Jessica get to you,” Elizabeth advised. “She’s just being her usual meddling self.”

  “Maybe…” Steven nibbled on the end of his pen. Elizabeth could feel his anguish. “Oh, Liz, it would just kill me if she was seeing some other guy!”

  Poor Steven! Elizabeth wished there was some way she could comfort him, but the truth was she felt just as uncertain about Tricia’s feelings as Steven did at this moment. As much as Elizabeth liked Tricia, she couldn’t help wondering if there was some truth in what Jessica was suggesting. Why else would Tricia be acting so secretive?

  On
the other hand, her recent experience with Suzanne had taught her that appearances could be deceiving. It was best not to form judgments based on superficial evidence.

  “You can’t be sure of anything until you talk to Tricia,” Elizabeth said gently.

  Steven was close to tears. “I’ve tried. But—but she says nothing is wrong. Liz, I know she’s hiding something. I can see it in her eyes. And it’s driving me crazy!”

  What terrible secret is Tricia keeping from Steven? Find out in Sweet Valley #12, WHEN LOVE DIES.

  Also by Francine Pascal

  SERIES

  Sweet Valley High

  Sweet Valley Twins

  Sweet Valley Kids

  Fearless

  NOVELS

  Save Johanna

  If Wishes Were Horses (La Villa)

  My First Love and Other Disasters

  Hanging Out with Cici

  NON-FICTION

  The Strange Case of Patty Hearst

  TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Copyright 1984 by Francine Pascal. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  Sweet Valley ® is a registered trademark of Francine Pascal

  ISBN 1-250-03057-9

  EAN 978-1-250-03057-3

  First published in the United States by Bantam Books.

  First U.S. Edition: August 1984

  eISBN 9781250030573

  First eBook edition: November 2012