"Are you satisfied?" Elizabeth snapped at her sister.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Liz," Jessica replied sourly. "She didn't mean what it sounded like."

Elizabeth got up. "I'm not so sure, Jessica. People can just take so much...."

Eight.

For the rest of the evening Elizabeth tried continually-and unsuccessfully-to get in touch with Robin.

"What happened?" Robin's mother pleaded when Elizabeth called her.

"The Pi Betas blackballed her, Mrs. Wilson."

"Oh, no! She was counting on it so much."

"I know. I'm the one who sponsored her."

"How can young people be so cruel?" Mrs. Wilson said softly.

"I really don't know, Mrs. Wilson," Elizabeth answered truthfully. Why Jessica, Lila, and Cara would work so hard to keep Robin out of their sorority bewildered her. And that Robin would let herself be humiliated to join such a bunch of snobs seemed just as mysterious.

Elizabeth was sitting in the Oracle office the next day, her fingers resting quietly on the typewriter keys. She was trying to think of what to write, but one question kept intruding: Why is it some people can enjoy being so mean?

"Five dollars for your thoughts." It was Roger Collins, the newspaper adviser, who had noticed her staring at the blank paper in her typewriter.

No response.

"OK, so forget the attempt at inflation humor," he said. "What's on your mind, Liz?"

"Mr. Collins, why would people who have just about everything-good looks, popularity, money-why would people like that want to hurt somebody else by excluding them?"

"Excluding them?" asked Mr. Collins. "How?"

"From an 'in' group. A sorority."

"Well, Elizabeth, what do you think?"

"I just can't understand it. As a matter of fact, as far as I'm concerned, those people are the deprived ones. Where's their kindness, their compassion? It's almost as if they're afraid they'll fall apart if they help anyone."

"What do you mean, Elizabeth?"

"Well, maybe that's the only way they can feel superior. Mr. Collins, sometimes I think the only way they keep themselves special is by keeping other people out."

"Hmm. Sounds like an article for The Oracle." Mr. Collins smiled encouragingly at Elizabeth and walked out of the office. Again, resting her fingers on the keys, a tentative Elizabeth finally began to work.

She found herself writing a spirited article entitled, "Snobbery Is Alive and Well at Sweet Valley High." It took her only an hour to complete, and she immediately gave it to Penny Ayala, the editor.

Elizabeth knew it was a public apology to Robin Wilson and a slap at the Three Witches of Pi Beta Alpha.

The day the article appeared, Elizabeth proudly read it several times. She thoroughly enjoyed the sour faces on some of the Pi Betas.

Her only disappointment was that Robin wasn't in school to see it; nobody had seen or talked to Robin since the blackball. Although Elizabeth had tried to reach her on the phone, Robin's mother kept insisting she was away and would probably be in touch when she got back. Elizabeth didn't like the sound of it.

Nor did she like the thought of discussing the awful mess with Jessica. She knew she'd get nowhere. But her "Snobbery at Sweet Valley" article brought things to a head. The day it came out, Jessica stormed into Elizabeth's room, waving The Oracle, fire flashing from her eyes.

"How could you?" she demanded. "Everybody in the entire state of California knows you're talking about me!"

"Well, at least I got that part clear." Elizabeth smiled in a way she knew would infuriate her sister.

"But we're not snobs!" Jessica screamed. "It's not our fault that everybody wants to join us. We can't take in everybody-we can't take in unsuitable people."

"So why did you encourage Robin and then knife her in the back, Jessica? Would you kindly tell me that?"

"I encouraged her? If I told her once, I told her eight hundred and thirty-seven times that blimps were not popular people!"

"Yes, you insulted her all the time. But you made her believe you would take her in sooner or later."

"That's not fair, Elizabeth Wakefield Buttinski! Who sponsored that fatso? Who put her name up?"

Elizabeth felt her face getting red and her arguments becoming scrambled. As always, Jessica could tell when she was feeling defensive. She stepped up her attack.

"You put her up! You-Miss Goody-Goody!"

"Yes, but you let her believe she was your best friend," Elizabeth countered.

"Accepting her offer to carry my cleaning was hardly encouraging her."

"I'm sorry, Jessica, but it was just horrible of you to tell her she had to get a date with Bruce Patman!"

"Is that so?" Jessica said circling her sister like a lion moving in on its prey. "Is that so? That's what really got her hopes up, isn't it? Bruce taking her to the dance?"

"Yes-I guess so."

"You guess so? And who put the fix in with Bruce Patman? Huh, double-dealer?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Sarcasm was positively dripping from Jessica's tongue. "Elizabeth Wakefield, don't pretend with me. I happen to know that you conned Bruce Patman into taking Robin to the dance. You did all this-not us!"

"Who told you that?" Elizabeth managed to say weakly.

"I got it almost straight from the horse's mouth. A thoroughbred named Bruce Patman told Cara."

What a fool I was to trust a rat like Bruce, Elizabeth thought. Well, at least there was the small satisfaction of knowing her ego-stroking article about him had never seen the light of day. She'd torn it to shreds before it ever went to print.

"He's not going to let himself look like a total fool, even though we both know he's the biggest one Sweet Valley High has ever seen. Everybody knows he took Robin to the dance because you talked him into it. My own sister."

"Listen, Jessica, maybe I shouldn't have meddled. But I'm worried about Robin. Nobody's seen her for days. What's happening to her?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. She's not our problem anymore. We're all snobs. Remember? And if that lardo does anything to make me look bad, I'll never do another favor for her-ever!" And Jessica stormed out of the room.

Finally, the next day Elizabeth got a phone call from Mrs. Wilson, to let her know about Robin. She'd gone to Los Angeles to visit an aunt, but she was back.

"How is she, Mrs. Wilson?"

"I can't really say, Elizabeth. I'm only calling because I knew you were worried, and it seems my daughter doesn't want to speak with anyone."

"Can I at least try?"

"I especially don't think she wants to have anything to do with you or anyone else in your sorority. I don't mean to hurt you, dear, but I must respect Robin's feelings." And she hung up.

Elizabeth spotted Robin after school the next day and immediately noticed a change. Gone was the open, friendly face and the eager, quick step. Robin wore no makeup now and was dressed in a drab blue tent dress that seemed a little too big for her. As she walked, Robin looked only straight ahead, as though the rest of the world didn't exist for her. She moved through the corridors of Sweet Valley High as though she were a stranger there. The enthusiastic old Robin Wilson seemed to have vanished.

"Robin, I want to talk to you," Elizabeth pleaded, catching up with her in the front of the school. Robin turned to face her with a look that seemed to cut right through her.

Elizabeth shivered.

"Yes?" Robin said in a sharp, challenging tone. She stopped and stood perfectly still, staring with unwavering eyes at Elizabeth, who began to feel like a bug pinned to the wall.

"Robin, I just wanted you to know how sorry I am."

"Is that all?"

"Robin, don't be like this. Don't let those-don't let them get to you."

"It's too late, Elizabeth. I'm sorry to say they did get to me. But don't worry. I'm fine now."

Suddenly Jessica came through the doors and seeing them, hurried over. Her face was wreathed with sympathy.

"Robin," she gushed. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you! I want to tell you..."

Jessica's words evaporated on her lips. Robin had walked away.

"Well, did you see that?" Jessica fumed. "Of all the ungrateful, impossible-! Elizabeth Wakefield, what are you smiling at!"

During the following hectic few weeks, Elizabeth saw Robin from time to time walking through the halls of the school. Always she focused straight ahead, not speaking to anyone, as though she were willing herself to be alone, to disappear. She even began to look different, though Elizabeth couldn't figure out what was changing. She was clearly a new person, and Elizabeth just didn't know whether it was for better or worse.

Something also happened with Lila Fowler. Elizabeth had noticed that Lila was dressing more and more wildly, wearing elaborate jewelry and extremely flashy clothes. At the same time, she seemed less involved with her friends and more interested in sounding off on her own desires and, as Elizabeth suspected, fantasies.

"I might be transferring," she said mysteriously one day. "I might go to school in the East."

"Where?" Jessica asked, wide-eyed.

"New York," said Lila. "My father knows the head of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I just may go there."

"Really?" Jessica was impressed.

"Actually, my father wants me to go to the Sorbonne in Paris," Lila went on. "He spends most of his time planning my future. It's really wonderful to have a father who wants to spend every minute with you."

Jessica filled Elizabeth's ears with Lila's extraordinary plans at every opportunity. Lila Fowler was not only the richest and one of the most beautiful girls at Sweet Valley High, it seemed to Jessica, but she also had the most adoring, generous father.

"Is she still giving you things?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, sometimes," Jessica said. "Are you jealous, Liz?"

"No," Elizabeth replied flatly. "Worried" would have been the better word, though she didn't say so.

"Do you like them?" Jessica asked, flicking the earrings that dangled attractively against her blond hair. Elizabeth took one between her fingers and looked at it. It was an exquisite, carefully detailed gold butterfly hanging from a delicate gold chain. Clearly very expensive. It was time for a showdown with her twin sister.

"Jessica, where did you get those earrings?" Elizabeth demanded.

"I told you-from Lila. Her aunt-"

"I asked Lila about her aunt in New York-and she's not a very good liar. I don't believe there's any such aunt, Jessica, so let's drop that."

Jessica turned an expression of total defiance toward her. "What are you saying, Liz?"

"Is that your story? Lila gave them to you?"

"It's the only story I know," Jessica snapped.

"You didn't get them yourself? From somewhere. Maybe at the mall?"

"I couldn't afford these earrings, and you know it. They probably cost fifty or sixty dollars."

"Jessica, they probably cost two hundred and fifty dollars! Will you wake up? Something's crazy here."

"Elizabeth, I will not listen to any more. Lila said her aunt gave them to her, and she gave them to me. What am I supposed to do-throw them back in her face? Anyway," Jessica rushed on, "maybe Lila just likes to buy me presents and was too embarrassed to admit it. She doesn't like to flaunt her money," Jessica added, knowing full well that wasn't true. She simply wanted to keep the gifts and was desperately searching for a good reason to do so.

"Jessica, I want your word-your absolute, solemn word-that you didn't ... take them from someplace."

Jessica looked completely stunned. But a moment later, her shock turned to intense indignation as she considered what her twin had suggested.

"Elizabeth, that's too much! I'm going to tell Mom!"