Free SVH05-All Night Long by Francine Pascal Page A

hope.
    "Please," Olivia replied. "Todd is one of the very few enlightened and evolved guys at this school. I know it's gonna be fine. But if you want, I can read your cards for you. I just learned how from my
    aunt out in Colorado, and I think I'm getting really good at it."
    Olivia had always been into a green lifestyle, and lately she had started to dabble in new age stuff as well. She always had some colorful crystal or another around her neck, and apparently tarot cards were a new obsession.
    "Thanks anyway," Elizabeth replied. "I kind of just want to get home."
    "Okay! Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I keep the cards with me at all times, so I can do your reading at lunch tomorrow if you want," Olivia offered, patting her brown hemp bag.
    "Thanks. See you later, Liv."
    Elizabeth slipped past her friend into the hall and trudged slowly toward the lobby. She was glad that both Olivia and Enid had such positive views of her relationship, but she couldn't seem to muster up the same kind of confidence.
    Maybe if I at least knew that Jessica was okay, she thought, checking her cell for messages, then I could concentrate on how to fix the situation with Todd.
    There was nothing on her phone but a bolstering text from Enid. What if Jessica still wasn't home?
    What was Elizabeth supposed to tell her parents if Jessica never showed for dinner? With another sigh, Elizabeth shoved through the front doors of SVH, out into the bright California sunshine, thinking that this day was never going to end. That was when she saw her sister bounding toward her, blond hair shimmering in the sun, with enough energy to put a golden retriever puppy to shame.
    ***
     

CHAPTER 9
     
    "Jessica! Thank God you're all-"
    "Omigosh, Liz. The whole thing was so utterly humiliating I could die," Jessica gushed, pulling her sister over to one of the benches that lined the front walk. "You wouldn't believe what a jerk Scott turned out to be. I blocked his e-mail and deleted all his numbers from my cell. If he ever tries to call me again, he's going to be so--"
    Jessica stopped talking abruptly and her eyes widened.
    "What are you doing in my dress?" she demanded.
    "And my new sandals! I'm gone one morning and you take that as a free pass to raid my closet?"
    Elizabeth looked down at her lap. She was so exhausted and disoriented she had forgotten she was wearing Jessica's clothes.
    "Oh, I-"
    Suddenly, Jessica's expression morphed from irritated to excited. "You pretended to be me, didn't you?" she exclaimed, cutting Elizabeth off. She grabbed Liz up in a hug and crushed her so hard Liz was sure she heard a rib crack. "I knew it! I knew you'd find a way to fix everything! You are the best sister in the entire state of California. Have I ever told you that?"
    "Not recently," Elizabeth replied with a wan smile.
    "So you took the test for me?" Jessica said, her blue-green eyes twinkling. "How brill! You ace everything. We are going to have so much fun next summer!"
    Elizabeth was finding it hard to breathe in the face of all Jessica's exuberance. "Jess, about the test-"
    "Oh, don't worry. I'll make it up to you somehow,"
    Jessica said, waving a hand. "You don't know what this means to me, Liz. I was so sure that Scott had ruined our entire summer. But of course you wouldn't let that happen."
    Exhausted, Elizabeth felt her shoulders slump. Suddenly, she found that she didn't have the heart to tell Jessica what had happened that day. Not about Todd or the fact that she had half wept her way through Jessica's test-none of it. She was just relieved that Jessica was home safe and sound and that she could finally go back to her room and curl up under the covers to wallow. Besides, the test scores would be posted soon enough. Until then, Elizabeth would hold on to the dim hope that somehow, by some miracle, she had managed to pass the exam for both of them.
    "So, who else did you fool?" Jessica asked, crossing her legs and turning toward Elizabeth with