Last Chance by Pascal Francine

Author:Pascal, Francine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-01-26T16:00:00+00:00

Eight

"Cara, you look like you've lost your best friend," Lila Fowler commented, unwrapping her straw and taking a sip of diet soda. Lila, Cara, and Jessica were eating lunch together at one of the tables on the sunny patio outside the school, but Cara had barely said a word while Jessica and Lila discussed at length what they were going to wear to the dance on Friday night. Jessica, as planned, was bringing Rob Atkins as her date, and she was going to double with Lila, who was also going with a guy from Bridgewater.

"It's good advance planning," Lila had commented earlier. "After all, you know the Bridgewater Ball is coming up next month."

"What's the Bridgewater Ball?" Jessica had asked, transfixed.

Lila gave her one of her scathing, don't-you-know-anything-about-the-things-that-matter looks. "It's the ball of the season. It's when all the debutantes come out. You know what Bridgewater's like," she had added. "We're going to have to campaign to get invited." Bridgewater was a very exclusive suburb about twenty minutes away from Sweet Valley.

It struck Jessica now as a lucky coincidence that she had just happened to invite Rob to the Sweet Valley PTA dance. Perhaps he would know someone in Bridgewater who could get them tickets to the ball.

But Cara had shown absolutely no interest in the ball or the PTA dance. Not even Jessica's announcement that she had purchased the wonderful size-four dress from the mall seemed to cheer her.

"Hey, Cara, what's wrong with you?" Jessica asked her friend.

"Oh—I don't know," Cara muttered, pushing her tuna salad around on her plate with her fork. "I guess I'm just upset about Steve."

"Why?" Jessica asked innocently. "Is anything wrong?" She couldn't help feeling a tiny twinge of guilt, but she reminded herself that both Cara and Steven would thank her in the long run.

"I can't understand it. All of a sudden we seem to be having communication problems. We keep getting into these ridiculous fights. He's convinced I've been seeing other guys, which is crazy. I think he's the one who's been cheating, to tell you the truth. Anyway, last night I was so miserable I just didn't care anymore. I figured I'd just go ahead and invite him to the dance on Friday. And he got really angry! He started saying I should go with one of the guys I've been seeing!" Cara's dark eyes filled with tears. "I don't even know what he's talking about. What guys? You two know I haven't gone out with anybody but Steven!"

"Maybe," Jessica said judiciously, "that's part of the problem. Don't you think so, Lila?"

"It could be," Lila said vaguely, opening the latest issue of Glamour and thumbing through it.

"I think you ought to give Steve something real to worry about," Jessica advised. "Look, Ken Matthews doesn't have a date yet for the dance. Why don't you ask him to go with you? That'll teach Steve!"

Cara looked dubious. "But if he's already jealous," she began doubtfully, "won't it—"

"Trust me," Jessica insisted. By now she was certain Steven and Cara weren't right for each other.

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