Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal Page A

living room and over to where Jim, who wasn’t all that dumpy, though maybe a little short, is digging into the cooler to get a beer for Todd.
    “Todd,” I say, “this is Lianne.”
    “Great to meet you,” says Lianne. “I’ve watched you play every game this season. You’re fabulous.”
    Of course, Todd is flattered, and Lianne, at almost six feet, is not just a fan; she’s a player, too, and has to hear all about the fabulous last game.
    Meanwhile, I talk to Jim. Naturally, I expect that Todd will have explained about Elizabeth being sick. It doesn’t occur to me that he hasn’t and that Jim probably can’t tell the difference. Even though I know it happens more often than not, I still can never understand how people aren’t able to see the enormous difference between Elizabeth and me.
    Mostly Jim is talking about how hooked his girlfriend is on basketball; she was captain of the girls’ team at Sweet Valley High. She was there after us, he explains.
    Jim excuses himself to greet some people who have just come in, and since Todd is still deep in conversation with Lianne, I wander around looking for cute guys.
    After a few minutes I decide that even though the short and dumpy accusation wasn’t exactly fair, Todd is probably the cutest one there, so I stop looking and drift over to the cooler to get myself a beer. The bartender, a frat pledge, is too young but totally hot, so I stay and talk to him.
    At some point Todd breaks away from Lianne and finds me. We’re standing together when Jim comes over and introduces us to some of his frat brothers.
    That’s like when it first happens.
    “Hey, guys,” Jim says. “You saw that game Saturday, right? This is the big scorer, Todd Wilkins.”
    Lots of hand shaking and happy talk about the win and then Jim says, almost as an aside, “And this is Elizabeth Wakefield.”
    Before I can object, they all give me a quick, rather perfunctory hello, and the conversation moves back to Todd’s last game. I’m not even sure Todd hears the mistake. The moment passes, and I feel like it would be awkward and unimportant to correct them. I can see they don’t really care who I am, so I just let it go.
    A girl standing next to me asks where I live, and after I answer, introduces me to her boyfriend. “Hank, this is Elizabeth.”
    By now Todd has turned back to me and hears the error. He smiles.
    “I don’t think so.”
    But it doesn’t seem to register with anyone else.
    Except me, and I smile, too.
    “Elizabeth?” Hank says. “You go to Sweet Valley U, too, don’t you?”
    “Yes, but I’m not—”
    “Yeah, I’ve seen you around.”
    “Lots of times, I’ll bet.” Todd winks at me, and I smile back.
    “Yeah,” Hank says. “I see you around all the time. I think we even met before. At the newspaper.”
    “Right.” Now like I’m playing along, too.
    From there on it just grows. I become Elizabeth and begin to love the fun of it. Todd does, too. Now we’re beginning to get outrageous about it. Holding hands, being affectionate with each other; we become the perfect couple.
    As the night wears on we dance, joke around, and make lots of new friends. We’re having a great time. Both of us. And in the process we have a few too many beers. At least I do, but it’s okay because I’m not driving.
    For the first time I’m beginning to see why Elizabeth is so crazy about Todd. He is totally sexier than I’d realized and, now that he’s relaxed, is fun and warm. Maybe I hadn’t ever really taken a good look at him. Additionally, it feels good being a couple, even if it is only pretend.
    When it comes to committed relationships, I’m a moving target. No boyfriend has ever managed to hold me in his sights for like longer than half a term; and it isn’t because they don’t want to. Sometimes it bothers me that I lose interest so quickly. What seems sexy and exciting in the beginning becomes ordinary and then trying and finally annoying, and I can’t get away