"How long have all of you been here?" she said softly. "How long have I been here?"

"Never mind that," Ricky said. "The important thing is that you're not going to be here much longer."

Annie reached a shaky hand toward Ricky. He moved closer and took it. Annie reached her other hand to touch Jessica's. "Thank you, both of you," she said in a feeble voice. "You really saved my life."

Jessica smiled broadly. Oddly enough, despite the long, exhausting hours she had spent beside Annie's bed, she felt wonderful and invigorated.

Moments later, in walked Dr. Hammond, looking very friendly and energetic. He immediately drew the curtains back so that light flooded into the room.

"Well, well," he said, moving over to Annie's bed and taking her wrist to feel her pulse. "What's happened here?"

"Are you the doctor?" Annie asked, looking up at him.

"No, no, not at all," Dr. Hammond said. "I'm only the assistant here. These three are the doctors."

"What happened?" Annie asked.

Dr. Hammond studied her face. "You don't recall?"

"Not very much."

The doctor smiled. "Well, it will come back to you. Just remember, you have good friends who care about you."

"Don't worry," Annie said faintly. "I'll never forget that."

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I don't know. Weak. Hungry."

"Hungry, you say? Well, then, let's get you some breakfast." Dr. Hammond was actually grinning by now.

But Annie had stopped listening to him. Instead, she was looking toward the door, blinking, trying to focus on someone who had just entered and was standing in the shadow of the doorway.

"Mom?" Annie said hesitantly.

Mrs. Whitman walked quickly to the bed and bent over to hug her daughter. "Yes, darling, it's me," she said. "Thank God you've come back to us."

Mona Whitman sat on the edge of the bed, smiling, tears of relief trickling down her cheeks.

Annie glanced toward the empty doorway. She looked back at her mother, studying her smartly tailored blue suit, the smooth hands that held her own, the beautiful face. Mother and daughter held each other's gaze for several minutes. It was almost as if they were seeing each other for the first time. Finally Annie broke the silence.

"Where's ... you know?" she asked, looking once again toward the doorway.

"Johnny won't be around anymore, honey," said Mrs. Whitman, her eyes clear and level now as she touched her daughter's face.

"He's gone?" Annie said, her face brightening.

"Never mind that," Mona replied. "It's going to be you and me from now on."

"What happened, Mom?"

"Annie, you might say the roof fell in on me. When you did this-when this happened-and I didn't have any idea why! Well, that's when I realized how far we had drifted apart. I'm sorry, Annie. I hope you can forgive a selfish, blind mother."

Annie rose in her bed for the first time, sitting up to clutch her mother around the neck. She held on for dear life until she felt her mother's strong arms around her, holding her.

"Oh, Mom," cried Annie. "Mom, I love you!"

"I know, honey," Mrs. Whitman said, slowly easing her daughter back down onto the bed. "I love you, too."

"How could I have done such a thing, Mom?" said Annie suddenly.

"You wouldn't have, if I'd been there for you to talk to," Mona Whitman said.

Dr. Hammond made a move toward Annie and her visitors then, indicating it was time for Annie to rest. "I think we've had enough excitement for one morning," he said. "Our patient needs some breakfast, and then I believe she'll want to sleep."

"Please, Doctor," Annie begged, interrupting him. "Just a few moments more. Jessica ... Ricky!"

Jessica and Ricky came over by her bed.

"Listen, I want to thank you again for pulling me through. It's coming back to me, what happened. I want you to know that I think I can make it now, without the cheerleading. Elizabeth told me not to put too much importance in it. You were right, Liz," she said. "I've got something more important now." Annie smiled, gazing at her mother.

"Oh, but we want you on the squad," Jessica insisted.

"Hey, you bet," Ricky said.

"You don't have to now," Annie said.

"Listen," Jessica said, drawing herself up. "If you're not on the squad, I'm quitting!"

"Quitting? Jessica-you? The co-captain? Oh, no, you can't do that," Annie said.

"Well, then," said Jessica. "That's that!"

"Yes, and that's all for today, too," said Dr. Hammond, shooing them all out. "You can come again this afternoon.'

"'Bye, Liz," Annie said, "'Bye Jess, Ricky ... 'bye, Mom!"

Walking down the hall toward the elevator, Jessica turned to Elizabeth and said with a big smile, "Hey, you know what? I'm hungry, too! Let's stop off for brunch on the way home."

"You're on," Elizabeth said. "You earned a pancakes and eggs breakfast with all the trimmings, and I'm buying! Gee, Jess, you were wonderful!"

"Really?" said Jessica.

"Really."

"OK. You drive to the diner, and on the way you can tell me how I was! And don't leave anything out."

Elizabeth laughed. "Jessica, you are too much!"

That afternoon the twins and Ricky returned to visit their patient and found a smiling, pretty Annie sitting up and looking almost like her old self.

"Mom brought me this kimono." She giggled. "Isn't it terrific?"

"It really is," Elizabeth agreed.

"Well, since she's got that neat kimono," Ricky said, "she might not want this."

In his hands Ricky held a large cardboard box with an immense red ribbon around it.

"What is it?" Annie asked eagerly, her eyes wide.

"You probably don't even want it now," Jessica teased.

"You guys better show me what that is before I scream," Annie threatened laughingly.

Ricky put the box on the bed, and Annie's hands attacked the ribbon feverishly. Off came the ribbon, and she snatched the cover off the box.

"Ohhhhhh!"

There it was, all red and white. A Sweet Valley High cheerleader sweater.

Annie looked at it for a moment, frozen as though afraid to touch it. Then she snatched it up fiercely and clutched it to herself. She held it out at arm's length and examined it everywhere.

"Ricky, get out of the room," Annie squealed.

"What?"

"Out!" she ordered.

Out went Ricky, and the giggling girls made short work of removing Annie's kimono and getting her into her cheerleader sweater. She grabbed her hand mirror and examined herself with satisfaction.

"Can I come back in?" Ricky yelled, rushing back through the door.

"How does it look?" Annie asked proudly.

"Perfect," he said. "Just perfect!" He walked to the window, looked out for a moment, and then came back to Annie.

"OK, Whitman," Ricky barked officially. "Now, as squad manager, I'm giving you your first order. Get out of that bed and get over here to the window."

"What?" said a puzzled Annie.

"You heard me!" Ricky snapped. "Jessica, Liz ... help her."

Mystified, Elizabeth and Jessica helped the still unsteady Annie out of her hospital bed and supported her as they moved to the window.

Ricky waved his arms above his head.

Looking out of the window, Annie saw them spread across the hospital's great front lawn in formation. Robin Wilson, Helen Bradley, Jeanie West, Maria Santelli, Cara Walker, and Sandra Bacon-the entire Sweet Valley High cheerleading squad.

At Robin's signal, they all let go with their loudest yell ever: "Get well, Annie!"

"Oh, my goodness," Annie said. "I'm going to cry."

When visiting hours ended that night and Annie Whitman was well on her way to recovery, Jessica and Elizabeth hurried to the hospital parking lot and climbed into the little red Fiat.

"Come on," Jessica ordered her sister. "Let's get this heap moving! This is D-Day!"

"I know it is," Elizabeth replied. "Just don't be in too much of a hurry. We don't want Decision Day to turn into Disaster Day."

Elizabeth started the little convertible and headed out of the hospital onto Walton Boulevard, whipping around for home.

"Well?" said Jessica. "Who's going to New York, and who's going to stay here and show Suzanne Devlin around?"

"You tell me," Elizabeth said.

"I wish I knew. Let's get home so we can both find out."

Elizabeth, with uncharacteristic impatience, pushed her foot down hard on the accelerator, and the red Fiat Spider zoomed toward the Wakefields' house.

Two weeks in New York City for one twin and two weeks showing off the fabulous, glamorous Suzanne Devlin of New York, Paris, and London! Both girls were filled with anticipation as they pulled into the driveway, jumped out of the car, and raced toward the house.

Both twins get more than they bargained for in Sweet Valley High #11, TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.

Too Good To Be True.

Pascal, Francine.

Dear Reader, The minute I came up with the idea of Sweet Valley High, now thirty years ago, I knew it was perfect. But I knew it needed something else. And that something else was girl power. Unlike the Sleeping Beauty version of romance novels, where the heroine has to wait for the wake-up kiss, in my series the girls would drive the action. And there would be two of them; the good and the bad in all of us.

After that all I needed were the stories. With my three daughters and my own teenage years to draw on, I had endless possibilities. I started with a bible where I developed the characters, the school, and the town, and then began writing the stories for first twelve books, and then twelve more and more and more until I had written 144 stories. And then with the help of other writers, they became the 144 books of the Sweet Valley High series, which more than 100 million fans have loved.

And now it's all back as e-books for a whole new generation of teenagers who want to lose themselves in the world of Sweet Valley, the fantasy of the eighties, and the best high school no one ever went to.

And for the grown women who want to look back at the love of their high school lives and revel in the nostalgia of life with the most incredible twins, read away.