"You mean you noticed me?" she whispered. "You noticed little old me in a school this big?"

  Impossible though it seemed, the grin became even more mindless. "I'd notice you anywhere."

  "Did you hear that, William? Your friend's been wanting to meet me." Celine glanced over her shoulder.

  William White was gone.

  Celine stared at the space where William had been, her pretty mouth set in a smile as hard as industrial steel. The fact that she hadn't been able to turn William White into a horned toad or a hunchback with black teeth and b.o. wasn't really important. She was going to destroy his happiness anyway. Totally and completely. It was just going to take her a little longer to do without the help of witchcraft.

  Elizabeth spent so much time in the library that by now she usually found a few familiar—even friendly—faces in the study carrels. Tom Watts, Elizabeth's boss at the TV station, was often there, working late. So was Nina Harper, who lived on her floor in Dickenson Hall, and who seemed to be one of the few girls on their hall who hadn't completely fallen under Celine's spell. And then there was the coolly handsome blond man with the glacier eyes, William White. At least two or three times a week Elizabeth found him sitting at the back when she arrived, watching her as though he'd been waiting just for her.

  But none of them were in the library tonight. The only students bent over the desks were people who, like Elizabeth, obviously had nothing else to do. The losers of Sweet Valley U.

  Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Elizabeth scolded, trying to concentrate on what H. F. Mullerman had to say about the wit and irony of Jane Austen. But she couldn't stop feeling sorry for herself. Seeing Enid had upset her too much.

  Elizabeth stared blankly at the page in front of her. It wasn't really Enid that had upset her. She was relieved that she and Enid were at least speaking again. It was because talking about the basketball team had made her start thinking about Todd again.

  Sometimes Elizabeth almost thought that she was over the break-up. It had been her decision as much as his. Todd had wanted to take their relationship further than she was prepared to go. He seemed to think that now he was a Big Man on Campus Elizabeth should automatically want to sleep with him; but Elizabeth hadn't wanted to. She'd wanted to get used to her new world with all its new experiences and feelings before she made a commitment like that. A vision of Todd and her, holding each other as they had the night before school started, covered the page of Professor Mullerman's flawless prose. Elizabeth brushed away a tear. Sometimes she thought she was over him; other times she knew she wasn't.

  Unable to concentrate, Elizabeth checked her watch. It was getting late, but not late enough to go back to the dorm. Elizabeth couldn't do that until she was sure she'd fall asleep right away. The last thing she wanted was to be awake when Celine got back. Celine sober in the middle of the day was bad enough, but Celine after she'd been partying all night was unbearable. They almost always wound up having a fight.

  Elizabeth pushed her notebook aside with a sigh. Maybe she'd just lean back and close her eyes for a few minutes, try to re-energize herself. All she needed was to relax a little. From somewhere behind her, cellophane crackled.

  Her eyes snapped open. I don't believe this. Somebody's eating! If it wasn't her broken heart giving her a hard time, it was her stomach.

  This is really unfair, she said to herself. You're not supposed to eat in the library. It's against the rules. There was another crackle of a wrapper being torn, this one from the other side of the aisle. She was sure she could smell chocolate.

  I can't take this. I'll have to go get a cup of coffee. Elizabeth started gathering her things together.

  "I knew I'd find you here."

  Every thought in Elizabeth's head drained away. She had never heard that voice before—not this close, not speaking to her—but she knew before she raised her eyes whose voice it was. She looked up to find herself staring into a pair of blue eyes so light they looked like ice.

  He had a smile that was as secretive as it was dazzling. Elizabeth could never decide whether she thought the secrets it hid were good or bad.

  He leaned against the carrel. His eyes might be cool, but his breath was warm. Warm and smelling faintly of wine.

  "Tell me one thing," he whispered. "What's someone like you doing in the library on a night shot-through with stars?"

  She said the first thing that came to her mind. The truth. "Jane Austen."

  "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to deprive Jane Austen of your company." He lifted his hand. "But I got this for you."

  Elizabeth took the delicate white flower and stared at it for several seconds, not quite knowing what to say. It didn't matter. When she looked up again, William White was gone.

 

 

  Francine Pascal, The Verdict (Sweet Valley High Book 97)

 

 

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