The New Elizabeth (Sweet Valley High Book 63) Read online

  "Who would have thought that Liz would have the guts to enter a surfing competition?" Enid said proudly.

  "And to think I was mad about it," Todd said, shaking his head and smiling. "She really had me fooled!"

  Twelve

  "NEXT IS LAURIE MACNEIL OF BIG MESA!" cried the announcer, just as Elizabeth was climbing out of the water.

  Elizabeth saw Laurie making her way toward the ocean and made sure that Laurie noticed the old, beat-up purple board that she had used. Elizabeth wanted to be absolutely positive that Laurie knew she hadn't used Sean's special surfboard.

  "Good luck, Laurie," Elizabeth cried as the two girls passed each other. "I hope you do better than I did!"

  "Thanks," Laurie replied confidently.

  Elizabeth stood for a minute, watching Laurie paddle out. Just then, Sean walked up and grabbed Elizabeth's arm.

  "Liz, what happened out there?" he asked, his expression showing his disappointment.

  "I don't know." Elizabeth shrugged. "Did you hear? Laurie's the next competitor! Isn't that great?"

  "Laurie MacNeil?" Sean asked.

  Elizabeth nodded and pointed out at the water.

  "What's she doing out there? She doesn't know how to surf." Sean's voice was filled with concern.

  "I think she's been practicing all month," Elizabeth explained. Laurie was waiting for the perfect wave.

  "Just like someone else I know." Sean sighed. "I really wanted you to win, Liz."

  "I know, and I'm sorry. I hope those guys don't make you stick to the bet and work all those weekends," Elizabeth said.

  "I don't care about that," Sean said. "I just think you deserved to win. I've never seen anyone pick up surfing the way you did. It was incredible."

  Elizabeth shrugged. "I had a great time," she said. "And I know my friends were impressed—even if I did wipe out."

  "Do you think you'll keep surfing?" Sean asked. "You should."

  "I don't know. But if I do, I'll come back for some brush-up lessons, OK?"

  "They'll always be on the house for you, Liz." Sean grinned at her. "And maybe next time we'll win something."

  Elizabeth looked out at the ocean and saw Laurie catch a beautiful wave. "Look, Sean—Laurie's got her wave!"

  Sean turned away from Elizabeth and stared at Laurie as she turned and began to slide along the wave. Her ride was going perfectly. She stayed up for what seemed like minutes. "Wow!" Sean gasped. "She's really good!"

  Laurie doubled back and turned around and was obviously racking up points from the judges. Finally, when the wave began to crest, she pulled out of it beautifully. The whole crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause.

  "I'll see you later, Liz. I want to congratulate Laurie!" Sean announced. When Laurie came out of the water, Sean ran up to her and swept her off her feet in a giant hug.

  Mission accomplished, Elizabeth thought as she watched Laurie's face light up with a huge smile. The crowd was still cheering for Laurie's ride, and just for a second Elizabeth imagined how impressed all of her friends would have been if she had done as well as Laurie.

  But I guess I didn't learn to surf just to prove to my friends I could be adventurous, Elizabeth thought. I did it to prove something to myself.

  And now that she had proved to herself that she could be as daring as Jessica—or anyone else—Elizabeth had to admit she was looking forward to getting back to her old life, even if it was as predictable as everyone said.

  And more than anything, she was looking forward to getting back to Todd.

  "You were great!" Jessica cried. "But I still can't believe it was you!"

  "You better believe it," Elizabeth answered, smiling.

  "Does this mean we don't have to go to any marine biology presentation this afternoon? Or did you practice your surfing in spare moments away from the seaweed and turtle eggs?" Jessica asked.

  "Don't worry, Jess," Elizabeth replied, her eyes shining with happiness. "There never was any marine biology project."

  "Your wipeout was the most hysterical thing I've ever seen!" Jessica howled. "Your legs were flying up in the air, and you did a few flips and—I have to say it, Liz—you looked like a total klutz!"

  "Some sister you are," Elizabeth said teasingly, wrapping a towel around her waist.

  "Hey, Liz! Liz!"

  Todd and Enid came running up to Elizabeth, and they both gave her big hugs.

  "You were terrific!" Enid exclaimed. "Everyone had a hard time believing it was you at first!"

  "Yeah," Todd said, "I thought I'd heard the name wrong."

  "Well, what do you think of my big surprise?" Elizabeth asked Todd shyly.

  "What do I think?" Todd answered, taking Elizabeth's hand and giving it a squeeze. "I think it was the funniest wipeout I've ever seen. But I know you had to have a lot of guts to get up there in the first place."

  At that moment, the whole Sweet Valley group came rushing up to shake Elizabeth's hand and congratulate her. If Elizabeth didn't know better, she would have thought she had just won the first prize. And, in fact, she felt as if she had.

  Elizabeth was walking toward the parking lot with Todd when Bill Chase came up beside her. Bill was a Sweet Valley student who had won a number of surfing competitons.

  "Hey, Liz," Bill said, "can I talk to you a second?"

  "Sure, Bill," Elizabeth said, stopping for a moment while Todd walked on ahead.

  "Why did you decide to wipe out like that?" Bill asked, his expression incredulous. "It was the strangest thing I've ever seen!"

  "You could tell that I wiped out intentionally?" Elizabeth asked, amazed.

  "Of course I could tell," Bill exclaimed."And I could also tell that you're a really good surfer, just by the way you got up on the board. I mean, you did that like a total pro. If you had just finished your ride, you might have gotten first place."

  "Well, Bill," Elizabeth said, shrugging, "thanks for saying that. I did work really hard in the past month. But I had to mess up today . . . well, let's just say it was all in the name of romance."

  "OK, Liz," Bill said, smiling and shaking his head. "Whatever you say."

  Elizabeth glanced back toward the beach and was not surprised to see Sean and Laurie wrapped up in deep conversation, oblivious to everything else. It looked like her plan had worked. So what if everyone thought she was a klutz?

  Elizabeth gave a satisfied sigh and ran to catch up with Todd.

  "So tell me, surfer girl," Todd said as they left Moon Beach, "where can I take you to celebrate your surfing debut?"

  "I've got an idea," Elizabeth said. "How about dinner at Mario's? But I need to go home and change first."

  "Are you sure you don't want to go to the ocean somewhere, so you can study the surf?" Todd teased.

  "Oh, I think I've had enough ocean to last for a while!" Elizabeth told him honestly. "I hope you're not mad that I kept the whole thing a secret from you," Elizabeth went on. "But I wanted to surprise everyone with how daring I could be."

  "Oh, you did!" Todd laughed. "Believe me, you did!"

  "And I really do feel great, just having taken a big risk," Elizabeth reflected. "Even if I didn't do too well."

  "I guess it might have been fun to have a surfer-champion girlfriend," Todd remarked a few minutes later as he drove up to the Wakefield's house and parked his car. "But I'm much happier to have you back again, full-time."

  "And I'm happy to be back!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

  "Can I tell you something?" Todd asked shyly.

  "Of course you can," whispered Elizabeth.

  "I was awfully happy to find out that my only competition was a surfboard," Todd said, "and a borrowed one at that!"

  "Oh, don't worry, Todd," Elizabeth whispered. "You don't have any competition at all." And she leaned over to give Todd a long and passionate kiss.

  On Sunday afternoon Elizabeth and her brother, Steven, were wandering through the Sweet Valley Mall, keeping each other company as they ran errands. Steven was in his fir
st year at the nearby State University. He had come home this weekend to start a month-long independent study project. While he did his research, he planned on seeing a lot of his girlfriend, Cara Walker, who was in the twins' class at Sweet Valley High.

  "I need to visit the Sports Shop," Steven said, hurrying through the mall. "I mean, before you drag me into one of those clothing stores."

  "Why do you want to visit the Sports Shop so badly?" Elizabeth asked, barely able to keep up with her brother's long strides.

  "You're actually to blame for it," Steven responded.

  "What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Well, you remember all those outdoor adventure magazines you bought a while ago, when you decided to be more adventurous?" he began. "The ones about surfing and scuba diving and hang gliding and everything?"

  Elizabeth nodded.

  "Well, I started reading one," Steven continued excitedly, "and I've decided to take up hang gliding."

  "Hang gliding?" Elizabeth asked. "That can be really dangerous, Steve—and expensive, too."

  "Don't start worrying yet," Steven said as they walked into the Sports Shop. "I'm only here to find out more about lessons. Besides, you're the one who told the whole family how good it was for you to take some risks. I don't know how you did it, Liz, but you even convinced Mom and Dad that it had been a good idea."

  "But that was only because I needed to prove something to myself," Elizabeth answered. "And you don't have the reputation of being conservative and predictable."

  But when Steven decided on something, there was no changing his mind. They stayed in the Sports Shop long enough for him to ask a few questions about lessons, and then it was Elizabeth's turn to lead Steven into the Unique Boutique. After all the stories she had heard, Elizabeth was curious about the store.

  "Oh, no," Steven moaned. "You're going to be in here all day trying things on."

  "No, I'm not, I promise," Elizabeth answered. "I just want to look around."

  As a salesgirl approached them, both Steven and Elizabeth were shocked into silence. The girl looked exactly like Steven's old girlfriend, who had died of leukemia months ago.

  Steven turned as pale as a ghost. "Tricia?" he whispered at last.

  "No, my name's not Tricia," the girl responded politely. "It's Andrea. Can I help you?"

  Elizabeth could tell by the look on Steven's face that they needed to get out of the Unique Boutique as fast as possible.

  "We're actually in a big hurry to get home, but thanks anyway," Elizabeth mumbled, dragging Steven back out into the mall.

  As the two of them walked toward the car in stunned silence, Elizabeth thought, So this is what Caroline was talking about that day at lunch.

  "I'm really sorry, Cara," Steven said later that afternoon, "but something just came up, and I don't think I can make it to the movies tomorrow. I have to get started on my Legal Ethics research."

  "Oh, that's too bad," Cara said sadly. "I was really looking forward to seeing you."

  "Don't worry, Cara," Steven said, "we'll get together soon."

  "I hope so," Cara answered. "Because I don't see you enough as it is."

  "I know," Steven replied. "I'll call you tomorrow."

  As soon as Steven hung up the phone with Cara, he quickly dialed another number.

  "Good afternoon, Unique Boutique. May I help you?" a woman asked.

  "Is this Andrea?" Steven asked.

  "Yes," she replied.

  "You don't know me, but I was in your store today. My name is Steven Wakefield, and I was wondering if you'd consider going out with me tomorrow night."

  What's going to happen between Cara and Steven now that Andrea's around? Find out in Sweet Valley High #64, THE GHOST OF TRICIA MARTIN.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve