He stared at her, his green eyes seeming to burn. "Change your plans."
"No." Jessica made a sudden grab for the door handle, but Christopher was too fast for her. He lunged and locked the door. Jessica cringed, terrified.
"Don't do that. You could get hurt."
Giving her a threatening look, Christopher started the car again and floored the accelerator. When he spun the steering wheel, they were suddenly rocketing straight across the parking lot toward the building.
Jessica stared at the onrushing brick wall and felt a strangled cry tear out of her throat. "OK. All right, I will!"
The car stopped with a screech of brakes and tires, and Jessica caught herself from plunging forward. She was so frightened by that time, she couldn't even cry.
"I knew you'd change your mind," Christopher said. He beamed at her cheerfully. "I'll call you during the week, and we can make plans."
Still smiling, he put the car in gear and drove sedately back to the highway. For the entire ride back, he talked about all the fun, wonderful things they would do together, and Jessica stared blindly out the window.
I can't believe this is happening to me. This can't be real!
She had no intention whatsoever of actually going out with Christopher again. But she would have said anything to snap him out of that strange, frightening mood.
When they turned onto A.J.'s street, Jessica nearly cried with relief. As soon as the car stopped, she fumbled with the door handle and pushed with her shoulder. For one wild moment of panic she thought she was trapped. But A.J. was outside her door, pointing to the lock. Feeling foolish and embarrassed, she unlocked the door and climbed out.
A.J. looked at her curiously and then glanced at Christopher. It was clear he could see something was wrong. "How did it go?" A.J.'s voice held an edge of suspicion.
Christopher handed over the keys and smiled sheepishly. "I think I drove too fast," he explained. "The accelerator was softer than I'm used to. I guess Jessica was a little shook up. Sorry."
When she didn't say anything, A.J. shrugged. "Well . . . OK. So what do you think?"
"Let me think about it, and I'll get back to you, all right?" Christopher smiled again and strode back to his VW convertible. "Thanks a lot. I'll be in touch." With a wave, he climbed into his car and drove away.
Jessica and A.J. stood in the driveway after he was gone. Jessica felt too numb to speak. It was no longer merely a question of worrying that A.J. would find out. Christopher was dangerous, and she didn't know what to do about it.
"Is everything OK?" A.J. asked. He wore an expression of tender concern. "How fast was he going?"
With an effort, Jessica forced herself to smile. "Oh—it wasn't that bad. It's just that he stopped kind of suddenly a couple of times. I guess he was testing the brakes. That's all. Really," she added when A.J. looked unconvinced.
"You sure? I don't think I like that guy," he mused, frowning at the street.
Jessica clenched her jaw. "Me, either."
Eight
On Wednesday afternoon Elizabeth drove to the elementary school, on the other side of town from Sweet Valley High. She arrived just as the final bell rang, and hordes of small children started pouring out of the front door. Elizabeth waited for Kim Edgars to appear.
When Elizabeth and Enid had started up the Sweet Valley High chapter of the Big Sister program, Elizabeth had thought she would be too busy to take on a little sister of her own. But being involved in the matching-up process hadn't been enough for her. On paper, Kim had looked like the kind of little girl Elizabeth's heart would go out to. So she had volunteered.
Since then, Elizabeth had tried to do something with Kim at least once a week—either see a movie, go out for milk shakes, or play on the swings in the playground. Almost anything was all right to do, because the object of the program was just to be a friend to a lonely motherless child.
Trailing behind the crowd of yelling kids came a small dark-haired girl. The moment Elizabeth spotted her she waved enthusiastically. Kim's face lit up with excitement when she saw Elizabeth. She came running over.
"I didn't think you would really come," she confessed as she opened the car door.
Elizabeth felt her heart tighten. Kim had learned never to expect anything nice or good to come true for her. It was pitiful.
But she made herself give Kim a teasing smile. "Would I stand you up? Get on in here, you brat." Her twinkling eyes took all the sting out of her words, and the little girl ducked her head shyly.
"Do you want to go to the mall today?" Elizabeth asked as they headed downtown. "I need some books, and I thought we could pick out one for you. How's that?"
Kim nodded, her eyes shining. "OK."
"Good."
Sending her little sister a wink, Elizabeth signaled for a right turn. Soon they were in the parking lot of the sprawling Valley Mall, hunting for a space.
"There's one!" Kim said excitedly. She leaned forward and pointed.
Elizabeth made an exaggerated expression of relief and exhaustion, and the little girl giggled. Elizabeth pulled the Fiat into the space. Over in the next aisle, she saw a white Volkswagen convertible slow to a halt. The attractive, dark-haired boy in the driver's seat looked at her intently, almost as though he expected her to say something or wave to him. But Elizabeth ignored him. Flirtatious boys exasperated her.
"Come on," she said to Kim. Elizabeth swung her bag over her arm and led the way to the mall entrance. Kim walked close by her side and seemed a little overwhelmed. "Have you been here before?" Elizabeth asked.
Kim shook her head silently, and again Elizabeth almost winced. All of the things she and Jessica and their friends took for granted were magical experiences for the little girl.
"Liz?" Kim glanced over her shoulder as they passed through the doors. "Do you know that boy?"
Startled, Elizabeth looked back and saw the boy from the parking lot just behind them. She faced forward again and took the little girl's hand. "No."
"Is he following you?"
"Of course not! He's just coming into the mall like we are, silly," Elizabeth teased.
Not wanting Kim to be worried, Elizabeth forced herself not to look back again as she led the way to the bookstore.
In minutes they were poring over the selection of paperbacks in the children's section. From the look on Kim's face, it was obvious no one had ever offered to buy her a book before. Her solemn expression made it clear she was considering her choice with extreme care.
"I loved this one when I was your age," Elizabeth said. She pulled Johnny Tremain off the shelf and handed it to Kim. "It's about a boy in Boston at the beginning of the American Revolution," she explained. "It's really good."
"Is that the one you want me to get?" Kim's voice was soft and uncertain.
Elizabeth's eyes widened with alarm. "It's up to you, Kim. Honest. Pick anything you want. Anything." She could have kicked herself for making the little girl think she didn't have a choice. With an encouraging smile, she said, "Listen, I'm going to look at some of those books over in the adult section, OK? You pick out the book you want and meet me over by the cash register."
"OK, Liz," Kim whispered. Her eyes turned back to the children's books.
Elizabeth felt both relief and pity as she walked away. Of all the volunteer jobs she had ever had, she thought this one was the hardest, because there was so much in Kim's life that she wanted to make better but couldn't. There was only so much she could do to help the little girl, and Elizabeth knew she had to be satisfied with that. Deep in thought, she wandered among the book racks.
"Why do you keep avoiding me?"
The dark-haired boy from the parking lot stepped out in front of Elizabeth without warning. She jumped, startled and annoyed. If there was one thing she was not in the mood for, it was being nice to a pest. Besides, this was one of the most arrogant, obnoxious pickup lines she had ever heard. She turned her back on him.
"Please leave me alone," she mu
mbled. Her cheeks flaming, Elizabeth wove through the aisles and saw Kim waiting for her up ahead. Elizabeth already had her money in her hand when she joined the little girl, and she paid for their books and hurried out of the bookstore.
"I need to go to the ladies' room," she told Kim. "Why don't you come in with me?"
A hasty backward glance told her the boy was still watching her, and she angrily pushed open the swinging door of the rest room. Fortunately it was in the center of the mall, with doors at the far end leading to the other side. In a few short minutes Elizabeth was leading Kim through the opposite pair of doors and back to the parking lot.
"We have to cut this short today," she explained as they reached the car. "Sorry."
Kim rewarded her with a luminous, grateful smile. "That's OK. I had a good time."
"Me, too," Elizabeth replied warmly. She looked back toward the mall briefly before smiling at the little girl again.
After Elizabeth dropped Kim off, she headed home and spent the time before dinner practicing her recorder and doing homework. After dinner she wrote down some questions to ask Shelley Novak about the basketball playoffs for the school newspaper. Finally she treated herself to one of the books she had bought at the mall. She was just settling down to read when the phone rang by her bed. She cast a frustrated glance at it and waited, hoping Jessica would pick up in the other room. Eventually the ringing cut off in mid trill.
After a pause to make sure she wasn't about to be summoned, Elizabeth started to read. She was already several pages into her book when there was a timid knock on her door. Elizabeth glanced up, wondering if it had been a knock or her imagination. The knock came again, but not any louder.
"Come in," she called out.
The door opened a crack, and Jessica peeked in. "If you're busy, I can come back."
"No—come in. What's up?' Elizabeth looked at her twin and saw that Jessica's face was pale and strained. "Jess?"
Jessica took a few hesitant steps into the room, then hovered near the window, not speaking. From the way she was looking down at the floor, it was obvious she was deeply troubled. Elizabeth put her book down and crossed the room to her sister.
"Jess, what's wrong?" she begged. Elizabeth's voice caught when she saw the look of anxiety on her twin's face.
"I—uh—" Jessica swallowed and tried to speak. "Liz, I—"
Elizabeth took Jessica's arm and steered her toward the bed. Firmly pushing her sister down, Elizabeth sat beside her and clasped her hand. "Jessica, whatever it is you've got to tell me. I can't stand to see you so upset!" When Jessica still couldn't speak, Elizabeth got a glimmer of a suspicion. "Who was on the phone just now?"
"Oh, Lizzie!" Jessica spoke in a pitiful wail. Her face crumpled as she burst into tears. "Liz! What am I going to do?"
Baffled, Elizabeth put her arms around her twin and waited for the storm to pass. "It's OK. Just tell me what it is, Jess. We can work it out, it's all right."
But for several minutes all Jessica could do was cry in Elizabeth's arms. Once in a while she choked out a few garbled words, but Elizabeth couldn't make any sense out of what she was saying.
Finally Jessica's sobs died down. She sniffed miserably into Elizabeth's shoulder. "I'm such a total jerk," she cried. "I'm the stupidest fool in the universe. I can't believe I did something so mean and—and sneaky!"
"What did you do now, Jess?"
"I—last weekend when I—" Jessica's eyes were brimming with tears and she couldn't meet Elizabeth's searching look. "Remember I told you last Friday I was having dinner with someone I met on the beach?"
Elizabeth nodded but looked puzzled. She didn't have a clue what her sister was leading up to. "Right. That girl Chris."
"Well . . ." Squirming, Jessica said, "I never really said Chris was a girl—you just took it for granted. . . ." She faltered to a stop.
Elizabeth's eyebrows arched in disbelief. "You mean—Chris was a guy? You met a guy on the beach and went to dinner with him?" Jessica's mysterious disappearances from the weekend before came back to her in a rush. "And then you were with him all that Saturday, and Sunday, too, weren't you?"
"Yes," Jessica admitted in a tiny voice.
"And—A.J.?" Elizabeth was almost afraid to ask.
Jessica pursed her lips and met Elizabeth's eyes warily. "I didn't tell him. I knew he'd be really hurt!" she rushed on, seeing the look on Elizabeth's face. "I couldn't tell him."
"Jessica." The name came out in an exasperated sigh. Elizabeth shook her head. No matter how many times Jessica did something wrong, Elizabeth always hoped she would learn her lesson. But there was no way to change things once they were done. "Well. So why are you so upset? Did A.J. find out?"
Jessica jumped up from the bed and began pacing. "No. That's not it. But he might. Might? What am I talking about? He will," she corrected herself with bitter sarcasm.
Elizabeth was bewildered, but Jessica stormed on. "See, Christopher keeps calling me and telling me I have to go out with him again. And, Liz! He follows me wherever I go," she added with wide eyes. "And he acts so strange and creepy, and he says I have to go out with him this Saturday, or he'll tell A.J." The words tumbled out so fast, Jessica was breathless.
Elizabeth couldn't think of anything to say. She just stared silently at her twin.
"Lizzie!" Tears started streaming down Jessica's face again. "What am I going to do? If he tells A.J., that's it! A.J. will hate me forever—I know he will!" Overcome, Jessica slumped down at Elizabeth's desk and started sobbing all over again.
Elizabeth felt a turmoil of emotions. On the one hand, she was shocked that her twin had cheated on A.J. so casually. But on the other hand, if Christopher truly was unbalanced in some way, Jessica was being punished more than she deserved. And another sneaking suspicion occurred to her, too.
"Jess? What does he look like? Is he cute, with curly brown hair? And green eyes?"
Jessica sniffled and ran one hand across her tear-stained cheeks. "Yeah. How—did you know?"
"He must have thought I was you," Elizabeth mused. Looking up, she explained, "I was at the mall today, and a boy was following me around, trying to talk to me. It must have been Christopher."
"It must have been him," Jessica agreed. "He won't leave me alone! It was the biggest mistake of my entire life, Liz. And you know what else?"
Wide-eyed, Elizabeth listened while Jessica told her about the scene in A.J.'s car, when Christopher threatened to smash them both into the shopping center wall. In a ragged voice Jessica concluded, "Liz, what am I going to do?"
Elizabeth hunched forward with her elbows on her knees and tried to think. Jessica didn't need a lecture on honesty and fairness at this point. She needed serious help.
"Look," she began, thinking hard, "the only way to get rid of this power he has over you is to tell A.J. yourself. Yes," she insisted when Jessica flinched. ''You have to tell him, Jess. Even if Christopher wasn't blackmailing you, you have to tell A.J. What you did to him just wasn't right. You know it, too."
Jessica nodded meekly, but the look she gave Elizabeth was pure despair. "I know, but I feel so bad, Liz. It'll really hurt his feelings."
"I know," Elizabeth went on more gently. "But Christopher is blackmailing you. You can't let him keep doing it. He can't force you to like him or go out with him. Or else when will he stop?"
"But if I tell A.J., he'll break up with me," Jessica whispered, looking down at the floor. "And I don't want to break up with him—I still like him. And I really want to be the queen of the dance, Liz. I want to so much."
Elizabeth let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, Jess."
"I really do! I can't tell him before Saturday, Liz. I just can't."
"Is that the only thing that would matter?" Elizabeth asked. She looked sadly at her twin. "It's not breaking up with A.J. that matters as much as not being the star at the dance?"
A fiery blush swept across Jessica's cheeks. "That's—that's not what I meant," she faltered. She twisted a lock
of hair between her fingers and sighed. "I'll tell him, Liz. But not until after the dance."
"It's your choice," Elizabeth said with a touch of disappointment in her voice. "But I think you're making an even bigger mistake."
"I'll make it work out, Liz. I promise," Jessica insisted.
Elizabeth tried to smile, to show Jessica she was on her side. It was another classic Jessica disaster. And, knowing her twin, the situation was probably going to get a whole lot worse.
Nine
"Isn't there any lettuce?" Elizabeth asked, poking her head into the refrigerator.
Jessica pulled open the silverware drawer and shrugged. "I don't know," she said. She glanced at the telephone and bit her lower lip. It was Friday evening, and Christopher had called every day that week—sometimes even twice a day. She knew it was only a matter of time before he called again.
She swallowed hard. The whole situation was getting too crazy to handle, and she just couldn't understand how she had gotten into it in the first place. She knew she and A.J. didn't always get along perfectly and that their relationship wasn't trouble-free. But she couldn't figure out how she could have let herself cheat on him. It was all too confusing. Between her worries about Christopher, her guilt over A.J., and her own mixed-up feelings, she thought she was going out of her mind.
"Oh, here it is. You know," Elizabeth continued, crossing to the counter with her arms full of salad fixings, "Steve hasn't been home in weeks. Have you noticed?"
As she scooped up a handful of forks and knives, Jessica sent her sister a distracted look. "What? Steve?"
"Right. I—"
Just then the phone rang. Both girls tensed and exchanged a worried look. Wincing, Jessica whispered, "It's him. I know it."
"Well, answer it," Elizabeth whispered back. She darted a nervous glance toward the living room, where their parents were talking. Elizabeth jerked her head toward the phone. "Go on."
Jessica squared her shoulders and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Hi—Jessica?"
Two-Boy Weekend (Sweet Valley High Book 54) Page 6