Elizabeth Wakefield smiled up at her new boyfriend,
Conner Mcdermott.
Conner smiled back.
Elizabeth sighed dreamily. Life couldn't get any
better than this! She thought happily. Her destroyed
house was rebuilt, she had paired off with the only
guy she had been obsessing about since the beginning
of senior year, her best friend, Maria Slater, had
just gotten together with Ken Matthews, her twin
sister, Jessica was no longer known as a "slut"...yup,
things just can't get better.
"Liz?" Conner asked, looking around Elizabeth's "new"
room. Actually it was still exactly the same as her
"old" room. The cream walls, big desk, blue
bedspread-and of course, super neat.
"Yeah?" Elizabeth looked up at Conner as she pulled
him from the floor to her bed.
"Well, I need some advice." he said uncomfortably.
Elizabeth nodded encouragingly.
Silence.
"What is it?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrow.
"Um...OK. Here it is. My mom is getting the symptoms
again. You know of... of drinking. Locking herself up
in her room, coming home late, that sort of stuff."
Conner admitted worriedly.
Elizabeth ran her hand anxiously through her blond
hair.
"What?" Conner pressed.
"Conner, I want you to ask your mom about this." She
responded.
"But, why?" Conner couldn't help asking.
"Because it's not right to make false accusations
based on hunches only." Elizabeth calmly replied
matter-of-factly. She shivered slightly.
"I guess so." Conner said. "But-"
"Liz!" Jessica burst into her room through the
connecting door.
This house really identical as to before. Even Jess
and my rooms are still connected! Elizabeth thought.
"What is it, Jess?" Elizabeth turned to her twin.
Beside her, Conner sighed slightly.
"I need your help!" Jessica half screamed. "I don't
have my stockings! Jeremy's taking me to this really
formal place-to celebrate because his dad landed a job
in the Big Mesa bank-treasurer, I might add." Then she
looked at Conner. "Hi." she waved a bit.
"Hey." Conner smiled.
Jessica walked over to Elizabeth's drawer and began
throwing things out. "Liz, why are you so darn neat?
If you just left your stuff in plain sight like I
do..."
"My room would be condemned by the Board Of Health."
Elizabeth giggled.
Jessica rolled her eyes. "No, I would have gotten
your stockings already!" Jessica opened the drawer
that held Elizabeth's underwear and threw them all
over Elizabeth's room.
"Jessica!" Elizabeth exclaimed, looking at Conner who
had picked up a pink-colored bra that had landed on
his shoulder.
Elizabeth turned tomato red and grabbed the bra from
Conner. She stood up and walked over to where Jessica
was. She opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a
pair of stockings. "There." she said.
Jessica seized them. "Thanks." she said. Then she
looked at the clock in Elizabeth's room.
"Oh no! I only have an hour and a half to fix my
hair, my makeup, and dress up!" Jessica cried.
"I thought you date was at eight. It's already 7:15."
Elizabeth pointed out.
"I know!" Jessica said frantically.
Conner looked at Elizabeth questioningly.
"Don't ask. Elizabeth sighed.
"Okay. See you guys!" Jessica walked out of her room.
"It's cold." Elizabeth remarked. She stood up and
closed her window.
"Yeah. The November air is colder than it usually is.
Do you think it's going to rain?" Conner asked.
"Maybe." Elizabeth answered, brushing her lips with
Conner's.
"Liz,let's go and meet Tia, Andy and Angel
somewhere." Conner suggested.
"Sounds good." Elizabeth grinned. She went out into
the hallway, Conner tagging along behind her.
Elizabeth picked up the phone and dialed Tia's number.
It rang seven times before someone picked up.
"Hello?" the voice was Miguel's, Tia's brother.
"Miguel? Where's Tia?" Elizabeth said.
"Sure. Tia!" Miguel shouted. "One moment."
"Hello?" It was Tia.
"Tee?"
"Yep. That's my name. Don't wear it out. Liz?"
"Yeah. You want to meet at the Riot or something?
Conner's here. We can invite Andy and Angel."
"Sure! Say…8:45?"
"Sounds good to me. See you!" Elizabeth hung up.
Jessica rifled through her things, trying to find her long slinky black dress that had a low neckline. She pulled out a dress from the bottom of a clothing pile.
"Found it!" Jessica slipped it on. But then she decided needed something more special. This dress was too simple. Then she remembered her spaghetti-strap white dress that had little rhinestones studded along the collar.
"Where is it? Where is that dress?" she mumbled, face half hidden a pile of clothes.
Finally, after 15 mintues, she grabbed a little white piece of clothing balled up in the bottom of the pile in the corner of her purple room.
Jessica sniffed it testily. It was OK, she decided. Smoothing out all of the wrinkles, she decided the white sheath was the best choice for a formal.
Jessica smiled to herself and put it on. Suddenly the phone rang. She rushed out of the room to answer the phone.
"Hey. Wakefield's!"
"Jess?" It was Lila.
"Li?" Jessica blinked. She still wasn't used to her best-friend-again calling her up. Sure, she'd forgiven Lila and Amy for siding with Melissa in the beginning of the school year. Jessica hated to admit it, but if she were Lila, she would have done the same thing-siding with Melissa.
"Yeah. I wanted to know if you knew that Melissa Fox just began going out with Jonah Fresno."
"No kidding?" Jessica squealed.
"No kidding." Lila confirmed.
"Wow." Jessica murmured. "Well, Li, gotta go. Jeremy's about to arrive any minute and I haven't put on any makeup yet."
"Don't forget the 3rd rule of dating!" Lila warned.
"How could I forget?" Jessica exclaimed.
"Always be at least a few minutes late for your date!" they said simultaneously.
"Well, OK. Bye, Jess."
"Bye Li." Jessica put down the phone.
Jessica walked back into her room. "Let me see...what was the place we were supposed to go to?" she whispered to herself. It was something like Isabelle's, or Isa's or something.
Jessica snapped her fingers. "Isabella's!" she cried. "OK. What is their lighting style? Oh, yeah. Candle-light and dim chadeliers."
Jessica applied some base, glittery eye shadow and pink blush and mascara and wine red lipstick,non-stick, of course. Then she twisted her hair up into a bun with some wisps of blond hair hanging by her shoulders.
Ooh. I need to get a haircut. Chin length hair is the style for me! she decided. She checked her watch. 8:25.
Jeremy's probably listening to Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield's when-I-was-your-age-we-were-hippies stuff. Or worse. The how-me-and-Mrs. Wakefield-met-stories. The brave guy. Jessica smiled to herself. I'd better go save him.
Jessica walked smoothly down the stairs to be greeted by Jeremy-in-a-tux and, as Jessica expected, her parents were in the middle of a sentence-the opening sentence to the How-me-and-Mrs. Wakefield-met. Jessica let a sultry smile growing on her lips.
"Jeremy." she said slowly.
"J-Jessica!" Jeremy stood up and grinned. "You look great."
"Thanks." Jessica answered, puntuating her words with a kiss. "Sorry for being late. You know me." she made her 1000-watt smile a 2000-watt one.
"So," she remarked. "They say Isabella's is a very nice and classy place."
"Oh, it is." Jeremy agreed. "It's one of the top-notch restaurants around."
"That's nice. Is what I'm wearing appropriate?" Jessica wanted to know.
"It's very...appropriate." Jeremy echoed weakly, suddenly noticing the long slit up to her thigh.
"Well, thank you. You wanna leave?" Jessica looked at Jeremy.
"Yeah. Let's go." Jeremy said, finally tearing his eyes away from Jessica's body.
"Bye, mom, dad!" Jessica called over her shoulder as she and Conner slipped outside.
Elizabeth turned to Conner after hanging up the phone. "You'd better go back home. I still have to dress up." she smiled slightly.
"That's okay. I don't mind seeing you dress up." Conner grinned mischievously.
"Conner!" Elizabeth swatted him playfully. "Conner!"
"OK, OK, OK, OK!" Conner cried. "I'm leaving...I'm leaving..."
"Alright. Bye." Elizabeth placed her lips over his.
"Sure. Bye." Conner began walking down the stairs of the Wakefield home.
Our home. Elizabeth thought contentedly. Finally, I can actually come home and raid the fridge without hearing "What can I get for you, Ms. Wakefield?" or worse, resisting the urge to kiss a certain guy. she giggled.
"So, anyway. What do I wear?" Elizabeth murmured. Then something came into her mind. When Jessica was being tortured, I had started to...I don't know, act like her or something. But now that she's back to the Jessica Wakefield we knew and loved before Senior year, I'm morphing into my old self again.
Elizabeth picked out a sleeveless floral print blouse. It was a bit revealing, but it was still decent. She chose a denim skirt to go with it, and one of the very few comfortable sandals she had.
Then, at exactly 8:25, Conner came into her room, just as she had finished putting on the last touches of her mascara.
"Hi, Liz." Conner said. "Looking good."
Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you." Just as they were walking down the stairs, she heard Jessica say bye to their parents. Elizabeth chuckled. Jeremy's and Jessica's date was at 8, and they had left their house at 8:30! And here were she and Conner, all ready to leave just on time. Totally weird.
I can't believe Jessica has really moved on. I mean, I didn't expect her to wait forever, but still. And as for Melissa, how about that? Just a few weeks ago she had called me lying, cheating, bastard for breaking up with her, and now she's also going out! Will sighed sadly. It looks like everyone's paired up.
Conner Mcdermott and Elizabeth Wakefield, Jessica Wakefield and Jeremy Aames, Melissa Fox and Jonah Fresno, Maria Slater and Ken Matthews, Todd Wilkins and Alyssa Martin, Andy Marsden and that new girl Leslie McAnderson, Lila Fowler and Shawn Baker, Amy Sutton and Cory Stone, Tia Ramirez and Angel Desmond. Yup, it looks like everyone's paired off. Will took a deep breath.
Everyone but me.
"No!" Will cried. "I don't want to be alone!" He let a small grin take over his face. "I want Jessica Wakefield back. And I will get her back."
But then his smile faded as he remembered Melissa. Her blue eyes, her tiny, build...and then he realized that he missed both of them.
"God, what a situation." Will muttered.
Melissa Fox walked across the beach, hand in hand with Jonah Fresno. But they weren't talking. It was a big, awkward silence. But Melissa didn't mind. She had a lot of other things occupying her brain. Will Simmons. She missed him. A lot.