Enid watched as Todd walked away, his long legs taking him quickly across the spacious lawn to the main building. When she turned back, she noticed that Elizabeth looked upset.

"Hey, earth to Liz." Enid snapped her fingers in front of her friend, who'd taken on a faraway look again. "Anyone home?"

"Sorry, Enid."

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were jealous. I saw the way you tensed up when Todd mentioned Mandy. Liz, it's only a school project."

Elizabeth sighed deeply. "It's the bike, Enid. Todd's motorcycle. It's really gotten to me."

"What do you mean?"

Now that Elizabeth had begun to talk about it, she was glad; she could use a sympathetic ear. "For starters, Enid, it's made me envious. Do you know why I was edgy with you when I gave you back your books this morning? I was jealous of you."

"Of me?" Enid's eyes grew wide. "Why?"

"Because you were sharing Todd in a way I never will," Elizabeth admitted.

"I knew something was going on. I'm sorry, Liz. If I'd known-"

Elizabeth stopped her. "You didn't do anything. Don't you see? I'm the one who's mixed up. I'm letting this bike come between Todd and me. A stupid piece of machinery-and it's causing me more grief than a busload of girls ever could."

Six.

Guy Chesney caught up with Elizabeth by her locker after school. "Hey, Liz, how's my favorite newspaper reporter?"

Elizabeth looked into the friendly brown eyes of The Droids' keyboardist. "Fine," she said, giving him a smile.

"I just saw Todd, and he told me you're not riding with him. Thought you might like a lift to the Dairi Burger."

"Thanks, Guy. It sure beats taking the bus," Elizabeth replied.

Guy's grin brought out the dimple in his left cheek. "This way, my dear," he said, taking her by the arm and leading her down the nearly empty hall. "Here, let me take those," he added, gesturing toward the books resting in her other arm.

"That's all right, I can handle them," she said, declining the offer. "So how are things with The Droids?"

"Fine. I've been writing up a bunch of new songs, and if you ask me, I think Dana's voice is getting better and better."

"I'm glad you guys didn't decide to break up after the fiasco you had with that manager."

"As Max said, it just wasn't meant to be," Guy said philosophically, referring to the band's failed first attempt at stardom.

"That doesn't mean it won't ever happen," Elizabeth countered. "It's just going to take a little more time."

"By the way," Guy interjected. "I never really thanked you for the help you gave us, writing all those articles in The Oracle about us and everything."

"It was my pleasure," Elizabeth told him. "I wish I could have helped you more."

"That's all right. At least the experience proved that we aren't ready for the big time yet. But we will be one day soon, I'm sure of it."

They arrived at Guy's car, a late-model station wagon, its back filled with musical equipment. "You take your keyboards everyplace you go?" Elizabeth asked after Guy opened the passenger door for her.

"Never know when someone's going to need some music," Guy said, grinning. "Actually, I'm going over to Max's later, to practice. After I get a bite to eat."

Elizabeth marveled at the change in Guy since the last time she'd talked to him. He was so relaxed and confident, nothing like the tightly wound, nervous musician who was ready to explode anytime one of his group members hit a wrong note. "You're going to be playing at Enid's party, aren't you?" she asked.

Guy started up the car and steered out of the parking lot with his left hand while he rested his right arm on the top edge of the front seat. "That's our next gig. You going with Todd?"

"Of course," Elizabeth said, looking out the window as she spoke.

"Todd's sure a lucky guy," Guy remarked, "to have a girl like you."

"Thanks, Guy," Elizabeth said.

"I mean it. But could I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How come you're not riding with him?"

Elizabeth felt her stomach tighten again. He was only about the eighth person who'd asked her that question that day, and she was getting tired of explaining why. "Personal reasons," she said tersely.

Guy picked up on her uneasiness. "Doesn't sound like you're too happy about it."

Elizabeth sat straight "It's nothing I can't handle, Guy."

"Well, I just want to let you know that anytime you need a ride, just say the word, and I'll be there." Guy let his arm slip a little, just enough so that it now rested on Elizabeth's shoulder.

She moved away. "That's sweet of you," she said, watching the scenery rush past her.

Stretching his arm as far as he could, Guy edged her back toward his side. "A closed car can be a lot more fun than a motorcycle," he hinted.

Elizabeth turned to face him, the signal he was sending quite obvious to her. "Thanks, but no thanks, Guy," she said, moving as close to the door as she could.

"I mean it, Liz. As a friend."

"Just as a friend, Guy. OK?" Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as, at that moment, they pulled into the Dairi Burger parking lot.

Todd was already there, leaning against his bike, waiting for her. "I've got to go," she said, turning back to Guy. "But thanks for the ride. See ya." Quickly she got out of the car and walked toward her boyfriend.

She saw Todd's smile begin to fade as she approached, with Guy following persistently, not too far behind her. "Hey, you forgot these," he said, catching up to her. He handed Elizabeth her books and added with a flirtatious wink, "Think about what I said, will you?"

"What was that all about?" Todd grumbled as the two of them went inside and approached the counter.

"Nothing," Elizabeth said, before ordering the hot clam special and a root beer.

"Why are you ordering that?" he whispered after ordering a cheeseburger and fries for himself. "It's awful."

"I want to give it one more chance. Maybe it's improved."

Neither one said another word until their food was ready and they had grabbed an empty table near the window. Then Todd spoke up.

"You still haven't explained what you were doing in Chesney's car."

"Nothing," she repeated. "He gave me a ride, that's all."

"Well, I don't like it," Todd muttered darkly, taking a bite of his burger.

"Don't like what?" Elizabeth asked, scooping up some of the clam mixture with her fork.

"You riding with another guy."

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide as an amazing revelation sunk in. "Todd Wilkins, I believe you're jealous."

"Darn right, I am!"

Without warning, Elizabeth began to laugh, loud enough so that some heads turned in the next booth.

"Would you mind telling me what's going on here?" Todd demanded, anger rising as Elizabeth's giggles continued.

She took a deep breath, then quieted down. "I'm sorry, Todd. It's just that you've made a light bulb go on in my head."

"Now I'm really confused."

"You've made me see how silly I've been acting for the past two days," she explained.

"About what?"

"That thing out there." She waved her fork in the direction of the parking lot.

"You mean my bike? I thought we cleared that up."

"I thought so, too, until I saw you riding with Mandy yesterday. And Enid this morning."

Todd looked hard at Elizabeth as he grasped the meaning of her words. "Are you trying to tell me you were jealous also?" Then he smiled as he realized they had been feeling the same way, without being aware of it. "Gosh, Liz, I thought you knew better," he said, breaking into a laugh that matched hers.

Elizabeth reached across the table and ruffled his hair playfully. "And I thought you knew better than to think I'd have something going with Guy. Which I don't," she added for emphasis. "All I did was catch a ride with him."

"I guess I knew that all along," Todd said. "But something inside me didn't like seeing you with him."

"And I guess I know that you meant nothing by giving Mandy a ride. But when I saw her holding on to you, I couldn't help but think that you liked that feeling-and that if I couldn't be on the back of your bike, then eventually you'd find someone who was more willing."

"Why didn't you tell me it bothered you so much?"

"I guess I was afraid of sounding too demanding."

"Well, you don't. And I don't ever want you to be afraid of talking to me about anything again. I'm glad you finally spoke up. Now that I know it bothers you, I won't offer any more rides to other girls."

"Todd, you don't have to-"

He shook his head emphatically. "It's what I want to do, not what I have to do. You're the only person I really want to ride with me, and if you can't, then nobody else will, either. I want to pretend you're on the bike with me every minute. From now on that empty seat's reserved-even if you can't use it, it still belongs to you."

"Thanks," Elizabeth said. "I couldn't ask for anything nicer."

"Anyway," Todd continued, "if you were worried about Mandy going after me, you can forget it." He pointed to one of the corner booths, where Mandy was sitting with Winston Egbert. They were seemingly lost in their own world, feeding each other french fries.

"When did that happen?" Elizabeth asked.

"They both discovered they have this thing about whales," Todd said, adding, "I'm sure going to be glad when this project we're working on is over. Having to watch the way those two act when they're together is beginning to get to me."

"And so is this clam special." Elizabeth smiled and tossed her fork down on her plate in playful disgust.

Seven.

Elizabeth was doing her French homework when the phone rang that evening. Thinking it might be Todd, she dropped everything and picked it up on the second ring. It wasn't Todd, but it was for her.

"Hey, what's going on with you and Todd?" Enid asked her. "When I got to the Dairi Burger, you guys were huddled so close together I thought I'd be intruding."

"You could have joined us," Elizabeth said happily. "We were just celebrating the realization that Elizabeth Wakefield isn't going Loonytoons after all."

"That's a relief. For a while there I was getting really worried about you. Do you mean you're all sorted out on that bike business?"

"Yes. I've finally come to terms with it. It's only a means of getting from place A to place B. Nothing more, nothing less. And my not riding on it hasn't changed Todd's feelings about me one bit."

"That's terrific news," Enid responded. "But now on to another subject. Did you tell Jessica what I told you about Brian?"

"Yeah, when I got home. I can't say she took it too well. She hardly ate a thing during dinner."

"That's too bad," Enid fretted. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I've changed my mind. I've decided to fix up Jessica and Brian."

"You really mean it?" Elizabeth couldn't believe her ears. "That's great, Enid. Jess is going to love to hear that. But what made you reconsider?"

"I had a long talk with George about it, and he made me see how wrong it was to keep punishing her for what happened. 'Keep the past in the past', he told me. By turning her down, I was just being spiteful, and that's a pretty dumb thing to do-particularly since I know Brian would have a good time with her. I just called him to let him know what was going on, and he thinks it's a great idea. He had such a good time that day we all spent at the beach last summer. He can't wait to see her again."

"And I can't wait to tell her," Elizabeth bubbled.

"I hope you can wait a couple of minutes," Enid interrupted, "'cause there's something else on my mind. My mother."