Free SVH01-Double Love by Francine Pascal Page A

system.
    "Coach Schultz, please report to the principal's office!"
    "What are we going to do?" Jessica shouted, having pushed through the crowd to head up the cheerleaders.
    "I'll tell you what we're going to do," Todd yelled. "We're going to stage a sit-in right on the football field!"
    A cheer went up.
    "If they want to build anything on this field, they're going to have to build it on top of us," Ken shouted to the crowd.
    Another cheer went up, and the students began rushing across the great lawn toward the field.
    "Come on!" Jessica yelled, piloting the cheerleaders.
    "Follow me, Gladiators," Ken shouted.
    And just like an army of Roman warriors, the student body cascaded across the campus, pouring out of the school, dropping everything, racing to take possession of the football field.
    Inside his office Mr. Cooper watched in frustration.
    "We've got to stop them!" he said.
    But nobody could stop the rush of students now.
    Elizabeth ran behind them, furiously taking notes on her steno pad about what was now the most exciting story ever to hit campus. And there was Todd, right in the middle of it all. By the time she got to the field, a group of angry kids had cornered Lila Fowler and Bruce Patman, the children of the two families involved.
    "Hey, Fowler, what's with you?" Winston Egbert demanded of Lila. "Isn't your father rich enough already?"
    "You leave my father out of this!" Lila screamed.
    "A factory--how gross." Bruce Patman sneered. "That's all the Fowlers think of--grubby newcomers!"
    "Listen to Mr. Two-Face," spat Winston.
    "Yeah, your father wants some look-but-don't- touch garden," said Emily Mayer.
    "Watch your face, Emily," Bruce said. "A garden would be an improvement over this mud shop. Besides, all the practice in the world won't help those lousy Gladiators!"
    "You're a traitor, Patman!" somebody yelled.
    "Where's your school spirit?" Jessica yelled at him.
    "Aw, save it, Wakefield!"
    "You and your family don't care about Sweet Valley High. You're a disgrace!" Jessica yelled.
    "Hey, when it comes to having a disgrace in the family, Jessica Wakefield, just consider your dear sister, the pub crawler. And I do mean crawler!"
    Elizabeth was taking notes when she heard it, and her face went bright red. Instantly she felt all eyes on her.
    "You leave my sister out of this!" Jessica yelled.
    "Why should we?" said Lila Fowler. "You're all treating Bruce and me like we're lepers! I thought you were a friend of mine, Jessica Wakefield."
    "Lila, I am, but--"
    "But, my backside," said Bruce. "And when it comes to a disgraceful family, Wakefield, how about your father and Marianna West--that trampy broad he's fooling around with."
    "Now, just a minute," Elizabeth said, stepping forward. "Marianna West works for my father's law firm."
    "Yeah? Where? On the couch, maybe?" Bruce sneered.
    "You liar!"
    Bruce laughed. "Sure! Your father spends all his time running around with a sexy woman, and you call that 'working for the firm.' "
    "They're working together--to stop you," Elizabeth shouted.
    "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Go put it in the paper!"
    "Never mind that," Todd was saying, pushing his way to the front. "We're interested in saving the field. I think that's enough out of you," he told Bruce.
    "OK," Ken shouted, climbing up onto the bleacher seats and addressing them all. "Are we giving up the field?"
    "No!" came the roaring response.
    "Are they putting up a factory?"
    "No!"
    "A garden?"
    "No!"
    "Come on, everybody," Jessica shouted. "The Gladiator cheer!"
    She leaped down onto the track and led everybody in a Sweet Valley fight song.
    Elizabeth frantically took notes, watching Todd from the corner of her eye.
    This was the biggest story she had ever been given, but still Elizabeth kept hearing the hateful words Bruce Patman had flung out about her father and Marianna West.
    Suddenly, as if seeing a missing puzzle piece falling into place, Elizabeth remembered the day the previous week when she'd accidentally walked into her