“Sure,” Jean West agreed. “I want Sandra!”
“Sandy’s your best friend, Jeanie,” Maria said. “But be honest. Isn’t Annie better?”
“I’m voting for Sandra,” Jean insisted.
“Now, listen, everyone,” said Jessica, “there’s more at stake here than just looking good.”
The other cheerleaders frowned. The subject of Annie’s reputation had never been openly discussed.
“We’re not just cheerleaders. We’re examples,” Jessica went on.
“Those stories may just be rumors,” Robin countered, defending Annie. “I’m voting for Annie, and that’s final.” Robin knew from a past experience, what it was like to have Jessica as an enemy. She hoped she could spare Annie the pain Jessica could cause.
“Well, I’m voting against Annie—I mean, I’m voting for Sandy Bacon,” Jessica said. “And that’s just as final.”
“I’m for Sandy, too,” Jeanie West said. “OK. I admit it. She’s my best friend.”
“I’m for Annie,” Maria said.
“Well, that makes it two and two so far,” Jessica said.
Usually Ricky Capaldo kept quiet during the voting, but now the girls were surprised to hear him speak up for Annie.
“Listen, I know I don’t get to vote. But the squad is just as important to me as it is to you,” he said. “I think Annie would make a terrific cheerleader. I hope you give her a chance.”
“You betcha,” Maria said.
Jessica, listening with growing annoyance, was glad she had left nothing to chance this time. The girls were looking at Helen Bradley.
“Helen, you aren’t going to tell me you think Sandy is better than Annie,” Robin challenged.
“Well…” Helen hedged.
“Did you see Annie?” Maria Santelli jumped in. “Why, she was a ballerina!”
“I know.” Helen sighed. “She’s the best I’ve ever seen.”
Jessica’s voice filled the gym like a clap of thunder. “Helen Bradley!”
Helen looked away and then back at a glowering Jessica. “Well, I know, Jess, but Annie really is something. And Sandy messed up,” she added plaintively. “You saw her! She won’t expect to beat out Annie after that. You know she won’t.”
“Well,” Robin Wilson said, smiling. “Then it looks like we have three votes for Annie Whitman. She’s in.”
“Wait a minute,” Jessica declared, her face red and trembling. “We’ve all been tippytoeing around the most important thing here, and you know it! Why do you think I want to keep Annie off this squad? Because if we take her, everybody will think we’re just like her. Everyone will think we’re as bad as Easy Annie.”
Jessica’s words filled the gym. Annie’s extraordinary talent had overshadowed all the rumors about her, but now Jessica was dragging them out into the open, demanding they be looked at and weighed and judged.
Ricky Capaldo felt an unbearable pain searing his insides as Jessica made her accusation. He closed his eyes and tried not to listen. But Jessica wasn’t through yet.
“We’ve voted Cara Walker onto the squad. That’s fine. Now we vote for Sandra Bacon or for Annie Whitman. I just want everybody to know that if you vote for Annie, you’ll have to find another cheerleader as well. Because you won’t have me anymore. Jessica Wakefield will not be on a cheerleading squad with Easy Annie.”
“But, Jess!” wailed a distraught Helen Bradley. “You’re the heart and soul of the squad. Without you, it wouldn’t be the Sweet Valley cheerleaders at all!”
“Make your choice,” Jessica said. “It’s either me or Easy Annie.”
Eight
As soon as she heard the front door slam, Elizabeth tossed aside her history book and jumped up from her bed. Like a shot, she was out of the room and down the stairs.
“Jess!”
Jessica was in the kitchen pouring herself a glass of milk when her sister reached her.
“What happened?” Elizabeth asked eagerly.
Jessica smiled innocently. “What happened where?”
“Come on, Jess, out with it.”
“Well,” Jessica said, talking a gulp of milk, “we voted.”
“And?”
“And I dropped off the list of the new cheerleaders in the box at the Oracle office, as I promised.”
“Jessica Wakefield!” Elizabeth wailed. “You know I won’t see your note until tomorrow morning. Now tell me who got picked?”
Jessica cocked her head as though in surprise. “But, Elizabeth, you don’t want to know in advance, do you?”
“It isn’t in advance anymore. Who was chosen?”
Jessica giggled. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
“Oh, are you asking for it!” Elizabeth fumed.
Jessica smiled maddeningly. “The best ones were selected.”
“Really?” Elizabeth asked hopefully. Did that mean that Jessica had come to her senses and voted for Annie? “Well, who did you vote for?”
“It took a lot of thought,” Jessica said with studied seriousness. “Finally, I voted for Pat Benetar!”
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Elizabeth exploded and was advancing around the counter toward her tormentor when they heard a car door slam.
“There’s Mom and Dad,” Elizabeth said. “Did you see their note? They want to talk to us as soon as possible.”
“What’s doing?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Got me.”
Ned and Alice Wakefield were talking excitedly as they entered the house. When they reached the kitchen area, they both stopped and looked at the twins and then at each other.
“OK, who tells them?” Ned Wakefield asked.
“You can.”
“Girls, we’ve got some news.”
“You’re going to love it,” said their mother, jumping in. “Wait till you hear.”
“What?” Jessica asked eagerly.
“What’s going on?” Elizabeth urged.
“Actually, it’s going to be kind of a difficult choice,” Alice Wakefield said. “Ned, you tell them.”
“I’m trying to,” said their father. “OK—”
“We’re going to have a house guest,” Mrs. Wakefield interrupted.
“I thought you wanted me to tell them,” Ned Wakefield reminded his wife.
“You take too long,” Alice Wakefield said.
“A house guest?” Jessica cried. “Anybody terrific like—a rock star?”
“You wish,” their father drawled.
Their mother laughed. “Now, Jess, be serious. You remember your father talking about Tom Devlin, his roommate at college who became a diplomat?”
“An ambassador is coming to stay?” said Elizabeth.
“Not Tom, honey, his daughter Suzanne.”
“She’s just your age,” their father said. “It’ll be like having another sister in the house.”
“Hey, wow,” Jessica exclaimed. “Suzanne Devlin! Don’t they live in New York?”
“Yes,” said Alice Wakefield.
“And Paris?” Elizabeth added.
“And in London, too,” said Ned Wakefield.
“Boy, she’s been all over,” Elizabeth said.
“Wow, a really sophisticated New Yorker who’s lived in Paris and London?” Even Jessica was impressed.
“She’s beautiful, too,” Ned Wakefield said.
Elizabeth laughed. “She would be.”
“Anyway,” their father said, with a glance at his wife, “if I’m allowed to get a word in here … Suzanne will be here for two weeks.”
“That’ll be fun,” Elizabeth said. “We can find out all about New York!”
The twins’ parents were looking at each other slyly and smiling again. Mrs. Wakefield whispered to Mr. Wakefield. He whispered back.
“What’s going on?” said Jessica.
“There’s more?” Elizabeth wanted to know.
“There’s more,” said their mother. “A lot more. But—”
“Uh-oh,” Jessica
moaned. “There had to be a ‘but’!”
“It’s good,” said their mother, laughing. “But part of it’s better than the other part.”
“Boy, you two ought to be diplomats yourselves,” Elizabeth said.
“While Suzanne Devlin is here with us, one of you will go to New York for the same two weeks,” said Mrs. Wakefield. “There, it’s out.”
Jessica and Elizabeth looked at each other in astonishment.
“One of us?” Elizabeth asked.
“But which one?” Jessica asked.
“We’re not going to decide that right now,” Alice Wakefield said. “But either way, it should be fun. One of you will get to show Suzanne Devlin around Sweet Valley, and the other will see New York.”
“Liz is already a lot more sophisticated than I am,” Jessica said. “So I think I need the New York trip the most.”
“Jess,” Elizabeth countered, “you are about as unsophisticated as a mink coat.”
Alice Wakefield laughed. “We’re not deciding now, so you can both compose yourselves.”
“It’s not fair!” Jessica wailed. “I won’t be able to sleep for days! I can’t stand secrets!”
“You can’t stand secrets,” Elizabeth remarked after their parents had retired to the study and she and Jessica were on their way back upstairs. “But you won’t tell me who you picked for the cheerleader squad.”
“Later, Liz, later. I have just had the most sensational idea!”
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth groaned. “Not another one of your sensational ideas. It could mean disaster.”
“Not this one,” Jessica insisted as she sat down on her sister’s bed. “You are going to flip over this one, I promise.”
“OK, Jess, out with it.”
“Suzanne and Steven!” Jessica announced with the air of someone who has just discovered the secrets of the universe.
Elizabeth stared at her. “Look at me closely, Jess. I am not flipping. And do you know why I am not flipping? It is because you, sister dear, are not making any sense.”
Jessica shot Elizabeth a look of disgust. “I really hate it when you talk to me like that, you know? If you would just take a minute to think about my idea, you would see how good it is. Suzanne Devlin is beautiful, talented, intelligent, and sophisticated,” Jessica pointed out.
“So?”
“So? You are deliberately being dense, Liz. Our visitor is the perfect girl to lure our brother away from Tricia Martin!”
“Do you have a death wish, Jess?” Elizabeth asked. “Steven would take you apart if you butted into his relationship with Tricia.”
“Not if you helped me,” Jessica suggested, reluctant to give up her plan.
“No, Jess, no way. Forget it,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head. “Tricia is sweet and lovely and a terrific girl for Steve. I absolutely refuse to take your side against her. Case closed. And now let’s get back to the real subject.”
“What subject is that?” Jessica asked innocently.
“About how you can’t stand secrets but won’t tell me who the second new cheerleader is.”
“Oh, that’s different.” Jessica pouted. “I already know that secret.”
“Jessica, you are being impossible!”
“OK.” Jessica grinned. “I’ll tell you half. We picked Cara Walker.”
Jessica’s self-satisfied little smile was suddenly buried under a pillow expertly thrown by her sister.
“OK, Liz, you asked for it.”
Jessica grabbed a pillow and charged. Elizabeth retaliated. Wham! Crash! The twins blasted each other, laughing wildly the whole time, tumbling over Elizabeth’s bed.
Downstairs, Alice Wakefield sighed. “Do you suppose they’re still fighting about who the more sophisticated one is?”
To Elizabeth’s astonishment, Jessica never did reveal the outcome of the cheering tryouts. It was practically the only time she could remember Jessica keeping any kind of a secret more than five minutes. When she went to sleep, Elizabeth was still wondering who the other new cheerleader was.
* * *
The secret of who had been chosen for the Sweet Valley High cheering squad caused even more suspense for another person at Sweet Valley High that night.
Annie Whitman tossed and turned and woke up again and again. She slept fitfully, dreaming of one cheer after another and waiting impatiently for the night to end.
Finally, another day began at Sweet Valley High. Annie knew she would get the note telling her if she was in or out during her fourth-period Spanish class, because that was the class she had with Ricky Capaldo. The first three periods seemed to last forever.
When he arrived at Spanish class, Ricky lingered outside until it was almost time for the bell. Then he slipped in and handed Annie her note at the last second.
Annie grabbed the little white envelope with a shaky hand and slid it into her book. Several times during the class period, she started to open it and read the message, but each time she stopped and told herself to wait until class was over.
After all, it wouldn’t do to leap up and do a cartwheel right down the aisle, she decided, laughing to herself.
She just had to have made the squad. Every one of her appearances had been a triumph, and Sandra Bacon had clearly put herself out of contention when she tripped.
I’m almost a cheerleader! A real Sweet Valley High cheerleader! Annie told herself over and over.
Annie peeked shyly across at Ricky Capaldo, but for once he was not looking at her. Ricky was staring straight down at his book.
Only after what seemed like endless hours did the bell ring to end the class. Annie sat rigidly at her seat until the other kids had gone out, and then she dashed out into the corridor, put her books down on the floor, and ripped open the little note.
It read:
“We are sorry to inform you that you have not been selected for the Sweet Valley High cheering squad this year. Thanks for trying, and good luck next time!”
Nine
Annie stood against the wall in the corridor, in a state of shock. The note slipped from her fingers and fluttered to the floor.
“They didn’t pick me?” she was finally able to ask herself in a stupor. Who else had been better? Who could possibly have been chosen over her?
Annie glanced down at the message on the floor. She leaned down to pick it up and turned it over to look at the words again.
The note hadn’t changed.
Annie crumpled the paper into a tight little ball in her fist. She swayed and thought she might faint. She felt nauseated. Seconds passed. Minutes. Hours. Years.
They don’t want me? she wondered to herself. But I was good! I was the best one there!
In her mind’s eye, Annie saw herself sailing through her cheers, felt the audience’s eyes on her, heard the applause. They were clapping for her. Because she was good. The applause rang in her ears. She heard something else, too—a voice, far away, in the back of her daydream.
Annie felt paralyzed, unable to move. She stood there, held by the applause, the object of the audience’s attention. The voice spoke again, this time from closer.
“Are you all right?”
Annie spun around. She saw Ricky Capaldo standing beside her, looking into her face with concern.
“All right?” she parroted. She felt as if she’d never be all right again.
“I’m really sorry, Annie.”
Annie saw the pity in Ricky’s face, and she couldn’t bear it another second. With a cry, she turned on her heel and rushed down the corridor, not bothering to pick up her books from the floor.
“Annie!” Ricky called after her.
She rushed to the staircase, down the stairs, and into the front hall. She dashed down the wide steps and across the green expanse of lawn.
“Wait!” she heard a voice calling.
But Annie did not stop running. All the way across the wide campus she raced, hardly able to see. She ran across the football field. On and on she ran, up an
aisle among the vast expanse of empty bleachers.
“Annie!” The voice still followed her.
Annie ran upward until she reached the wall at the very top of the back of the stadium, and there she could go no further. She slumped against the wall and slid to the floor of the top level, exhausted.
That’s where Ricky Capaldo found her.
“Hey, who do you think you are, a marathon runner?” he said brightly.
Annie huddled against the wall, silent, breathing in quick little gasps.
Ricky knelt down beside her. “Hey, Annie,” he said softly. “Come on.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Aw, Annie, how can I leave you alone? Way up here in the stadium all by yourself? Let’s go to the Dairi Burger for lunch, huh? Come on. I’ll buy you a shake. What kind do you like?”
No answer.
“Chocolate? Strawberry?”
“I worked so hard for it. How could I not get it?” Annie asked softly. “I can’t believe it.”
Ricky sat on the concrete beside her, trying desperately and unsuccessfully to think of some way to cheer her up.
“It isn’t possible not to get something you want as much as I want this,” Annie said, her voice faltering, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It … isn’t … poss—possible!”
Annie put her face in her hands and cried with abandon, her body wracked with sobs. Ricky had never felt so useless. He put his arm around her and pulled her close.
Annie’s head was on his chest. She leaned against him and sobbed as though her heart would surely break.
“I know,” was all Ricky could say. “I know, Annie.”
“Why?” Annie finally said, sniffing and looking up at him. “Why?”
“Well, there were only vacancies for two girls,” Ricky said.
“Yes, but I was the best one who tried out! Wasn’t I?”
“I thought you were,” Ricky admitted. “But I don’t get to vote. I spoke for you, honestly I did.”
Annie sat up and wiped her eyes and tried to think. “It was just such a surprise,” she said. “I mean, at first, I didn’t think I had a chance. But then, after the first tryout and after I found out I could get my grades up, I started to think I could do it. I really started feeling differently about a lot of things.”
Wrong Kind of Girl Page 7