"I was wondering if you might want to go to the cast party with me on opening night." He stared down at his feet. Talking to Julianne had never been this hard. Why did he always get so tongue-tied around Jessica? "I thought-well, since we're the leads and all, it might be the thing to do."

"Sorry, Bill," Jessica said, "but I already have a date for the party. Tom's taking me."

"Oh." Bill hung his head in disappointment. "Well, I just thought I'd ask. I guess I should've known you'd be busy."

Jessica flashed him an insincere grin. "I am pretty busy, but don't worry. I'm sure you won't have trouble getting another date for the party. Why don't you ask DeeDee?"

"DeeDee?" Bill looked down at the floor.

"Sure. I'll bet she'd go with you in a minute."

Blushing even more furiously, Bill muttered, "I'll think about it."

Jessica scooped up her purse and books. "I'm late. Got to run."

Bill watched forlornly as she darted down the hall toward Tom McKay, who was leaning against the wall and grinning at Jessica.

Bill felt as if he'd been kicked in the stomach. Any last tiny hope he might have nourished that Jessica would ever go out with him was permanently dashed. Obviously she couldn't care less about him. It was hopeless, completely hopeless. She'd even encouraged him to take DeeDee instead.

Well, maybe he would. Maybe he'd show Jessica. And maybe he'd even enjoy taking DeeDee. At least with DeeDee he didn't have to feel awkward and foolish. He could relax and not worry about whether the things he said sounded dumb. His flattened spirits rose slightly when he realized he was looking forward to surfing with her this afternoon. Even if he was doomed to be unlucky in love for the rest of his life, it was nice to know there was at least one girl he liked who liked him back.

"Paddle faster!" Bill yelled above the pounding surf. "You've got to pick up speed so you're in the right position to shoot into the curl. Here, let me show you."

He angled his board as he paddled furiously into the next wave. DeeDee watched in admiration as he glided down the green slope of the swell with seemingly effortless grace. The wind tore the top off the wave, flinging speckles of foam back at her. That day the swells were larger than she'd ever seen them-almost scary. DeeDee fought hard to keep her balance as the choppy sea rolled beneath her board. The water seemed colder, too. Even in her wet suit she was shivering.

Nevertheless, nothing could have induced her to trade the challenge of the ocean and these precious moments alone with Bill for the safety and comfort of shore. DeeDee was never happier than when she and Bill were surfing together. The waves were Bill's domain, and he had invited her to be a part of it. Not even Jessica would dare come between them out here on a rough day like this.

But DeeDee knew Bill was thinking about Jessica, and she couldn't do anything about that. At least he was trying hard not to let his misery show. She would have to be satisfied with that, and learn to accept the fact that Bill would never see her as anything more than a friend.

But the truth was that it hurt, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself it didn't. DeeDee longed to have Bill look at her the way he looked at Jessica. But that was hopeless, wasn't it? She would never be even half as beautiful or popular as Jessica. Not in a million years.

The wave had leveled into swirls of foam. Bill touched down, then turned to wave at DeeDee with two fingers held high in the victory sign. DeeDee's chest felt tight. It was no use denying she was in love with Bill. The trouble was, he would always be too blinded by Jessica to see it.

"Your turn!" Bill shouted out to her over the churning, gray-green expanse.

A new set of swells was rolling in. They were enormous. DeeDee was scared, but she didn't want to let Bill down. He was counting on her to do her best. If she acted like a baby now, what chance did she have of placing in the championship?

Ignoring the knot of fear in her stomach, she dropped down flat on the board, propelling herself forward with a flurry of frantic strokes. Then, suddenly, she was no longer moving under her own momentum. The swell picked her up, flinging her forward. DeeDee lifted herself quickly into a low crouching position as Bill had taught her to do. She flexed her trembling knees, fighting to hold her balance as the board shook and swayed underneath her.

The wave was much bigger and more powerful than any she'd ever ridden before. She was having trouble staying on her feet. She blinked. The icy spray stung her face like handfuls of sand. Bill was a distant, blurry speck. The shore seemed a thousand miles away.

The board tilted up at the nose. Foam was boiling wildly all around her. Your timing is off! she could hear Bill saying inside her head. She entered the wave a second too late. It was breaking over her instead of underneath her.

DeeDee fought desperately to stay on, to keep from flying out of control. She opened her mouth to shout to Bill, but the sound was lost in the surging thunder. The board shot out from under her and flipped over in the air. She tumbled backward, catching a glimpse of gray sky tilted at a crazy angle before she went under.

Then she was thrashing and spinning helplessly in the churning surf. Panic closed over her in a tight, wet fist. She couldn't breathe. Sand was being ground into her mouth and eyes. Something hard struck her in the temple, and a brief buzzing filled her head before everything went totally black.

Bill was so lost in his misery over Jessica, it was several crucial seconds before he noticed that DeeDee had vanished from sight. His first thought was that the wave had washed her in farther down the beach. Then he saw her board. It bounced over the waves and skimmed to a stop on the sand. Bill stood frozen as he scanned the horizon.

OK, he told himself. She had to be OK. At the same time, he knew how easy it was for even a good swimmer to be sucked into an undertow and lose control. A friend of his had once been knocked unconscious by his board and had nearly drowned. Bill was gripped with guilt. He should never have taken her out on a day like this. The surf was just too unpredictable. She wasn't experienced enough to handle it. If anything happened to DeeDee ...

He caught a glimpse of her, and he gave a sigh of relief. It was a second or two before he realized that she wasn't swimming, that she was facedown in the water.

Instantly Bill was galvanized into action. Every other thought except that of rescuing DeeDee was blotted from his mind as he dove into the crashing surf. He had to save her. He couldn't let her drown. Suddenly the idea of losing her was too unbearable to imagine.

Bill was a strong swimmer. Less than a minute more had passed by the time he reached her. She was unconscious. He might already be too late, he realized sickly. She didn't resist as he slipped an arm about her rib cage, supporting her against his chest the way he'd been taught in the lifesaving course he'd taken the previous summer.

"Don't worry, DeeDee," he gasped, "you're going to be OK.... You're going to make it...."

She wasn't responding. Terror washed over him. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing. Her face was a frightening blue-white color. The bruise on her temple where her board had struck her stood out like a smear of red paint on a white canvas.

Bill swam harder than he ever had in his life. It was almost as if there were someone outside him, guiding his arms and legs, giving him a strength he didn't know he had.

He swam blindly, struggling to keep DeeDee's head above water. His eyes were stinging so badly he could scarcely see. He wasn't sure if it was the salt from the water or from his tears.

Then he had her stretched out on the wet sand. He pressed down hard against her stomach with the heel of his hand to push out the water she'd taken in. The bruise on her temple was darkening to an ugly purple.

Please be OK, DeeDee, please, please, please....

As if in answer to his prayers, DeeDee stirred weakly and coughed. Bill felt his hopes surge. As he bent close to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he became aware of how pale her skin was next to the dark, wet swirls of her hair. How come he'd never noticed before how pretty she was? Even the freckles that stood out sharply on the bridge of her adorable snub nose seemed precious to him.

Unlike the rest of her, DeeDee's lips were warm. Warm and soft. He felt them move gently against his mouth as he lowered it to hers.

He knew now that DeeDee was very special to him. The feeling must have been there all along, tugging at him like an undertow beneath the calm surface of their friendship.

DeeDee's eyes fluttered open. Brown. They were a beautiful buttery-toffee brown. How come he'd never noticed that before, either? As Bill stared into her eyes, he suddenly felt as if he were the one who was drowning.

Eleven.

A set of blurred features swam in front of her for a moment before she focused on a pair of concerned blue eyes and a mouth that hovered inches from her own.

"Bill..." DeeDee murmured weakly.

She was stopped from saying any more by the warm, gentle pressure of Bill's lips against hers. DeeDee forgot that she was half drowned and shivering with cold. She forgot that her head was throbbing as if she'd charged straight into a brick wall. The only thing she was aware of was the wet, salty warmth of Bill's kiss.

Heat flooded through her. Her frozen toes and fingers tingled as they thawed. She sighed-a long, shuddery sigh-as Bill gathered her to him in a sandy embrace. With her cheek pressed to his strong chest, she could hear the steady hammering of his heart. A strange, floaty feeling crept over her. None of what was happening seemed real somehow. Was she dreaming it?

His lips were moving over her hair, gently brushing against her cheek. His mouth closed over hers once again. At that moment they were caught in a sudden surge of white water. It swirled around them, sending up fans of foamy spray. DeeDee forgot how threatening the sea had seemed such a short while ago. Now the water felt teasing and delicious as it fizzed over her body, mingling with the salty taste of Bill's kiss.

Before they could be swept out to sea, Bill scooped DeeDee up in his arms and carried her up the beach to their towels. There he helped her strip off her wet suit, then tenderly dried her. DeeDee felt weak. When she tried to stand up, her knees collapsed beneath her, and she plopped back down on the sand.

"Hey, take it easy," Bill cautioned, sliding a a protective arm about her. "I figured I'd lost you back there. I wouldn't want to have you flaking out on me now."

"You're shaking, too," she said, content to curl up against the warm, solid bulk of his chest.

"You really had me scared," he admitted. "Boy, when you wipe out, you really know how to do it Hollywood style." He smoothed her hair away from her cheek. Gingerly he touched her bruised temple. "Are you OK now?"

"I think so. I don't even remember how it happened. It seemed like one minute I was hanging on for dear life, and the next minute you were...." Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

Bill reddened. "Look, DeeDee, I know what a jerk you must think I am. I mean, there you are practically drowned, and I-I-" He hung his head. "I guess I don't know what got into me."

"Whatever it was, I'm glad it did." She laughed shakily. "You know, when we were learning mouth-to-mouth on that dumb doll in health ed, I never knew it could be so much fun."

A slow grin spread across his face. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Bill?"

"Yeah?"

"What I really want to say is thanks. For rescuing me. I feel like such an idiot, putting you through all that."

Bill was staring at her in an odd, intense way. "I'm the one who's been an idiot, DeeDee," he said softly. "I guess I was so flipped about Jessica, I couldn't see past the end of my nose."

"I understand, Bill. I really do."

"I mean, who was I kidding?" he went on. "As far as she was concerned, I didn't even exist-unless she wanted something."

So he hadn't been so blind to Jessica's manipulations after all, DeeDee realized. "Bill, you don't have to explain anything to me," she said.

"I want to." He cupped her face in his hands as tenderly as if she'd been a fragile, priceless treasure. "DeeDee, I must have been totally out of it not to see what a terrific person you are."

DeeDee tried to speak, but she couldn't find her voice.

"Not just terrific," he went on, "but terrific-looking, too. And a great kisser."

"Oh, Bill..."

He drew her closer, kissing her with a passionate tenderness that made her feel as if the sky had shaken loose and the ground had been snatched out from under her. She started to feel dizzy again. There was a strange humming in her ears.

"I love you, Bill," she whispered, only half aware that it was she, and not someone else, who had said the words.

He paused for the space of a heartbeat, then said, "I think I'm in love with you, too. In fact, I must've been all along, only I was too stupid to see it."

"What about Jessica?" she asked timidly, afraid to rock this precious boat but knowing she couldn't bear to be held in suspense.

Bill's answer left no room for doubt. "Jessica who?" he murmured as he eased her back onto the sand and covered her mouth with his.

Twelve.

"If you don't watch what you're doing, you're going to burn a hole in my head with that thing!" Jessica warned her sister.

Elizabeth was so wrapped up in her thoughts about Todd, she'd accidentally pressed the curling iron up against Jessica's scalp as she styled her sister's hair for the play.

"Sorry, Jess. Guess my mind was somewhere else."

Jessica let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Give me three guesses-Todd, right? You've been moping around all week about that creep. Honestly, Liz. Here I am starring in a play that could be the beginning of a Hollywood career. I'm the one who should be a wreck."

Clearly, she was anything but. In fact, Elizabeth thought, if her sister had been any more buoyant this past week, they would've had to anchor her to keep her from floating off into space. There was obviously no doubt in Jessica's mind that she was the one DeeDee's father had noticed.

By contrast, Elizabeth's week had been the longest, most miserable one of her life. She had been sick most of the week, which had enabled her to avoid Todd. But staying at home hadn't helped. Without Todd, she felt empty and alone. She tried hating him, but it was no use. The truth was she really missed him. The night before, Enid had talked her into going to a movie, but Elizabeth hadn't been able to concentrate on what was happening on the screen. All she could see was Todd and Patsy, their arms locked about one another in a passionate embrace....

"Really, Liz, what did you expect?" Jessica babbled on. "I told you in the very beginning he was trouble. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later."

Elizabeth resisted the impulse to remind her sister that she had gone after Todd herself before he made it clear he was interested in Elizabeth. Jessica was wound up as it was over this play. It wouldn't do to get her any more excited.

"I'm not mad at Todd anymore," Elizabeth replied glumly. "After all, he was in love with Patsy before he met me."

"There you go, making excuses again. Honestly, Liz, there is such a thing as being too forgiving."

"I never heard you complain when it was you I was forgiving," she said, twisting a lock of Jessica's hair around the curling iron.

"Ouch! Careful, will you? I'm not starring in The Bride of Frankenstein, remember? I won't make much of an impression on DeeDee's father with my hair in shreds."

"Sorry."

"Look, Liz, I am sorry about what happened with Todd, but don't let it get you down. Anyway, he's nothing compared to the men you'll be meeting in Hollywood."

"Hollywood?" Elizabeth echoed. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"You didn't think I was going to leave you behind, did you? Lizzie, you're my very own dearest twin sister! I'd simply die if you weren't there with me."

Uh-oh, Elizabeth said silently, here we go again. "What exactly did you picture me doing while you're busy being a star?"

"You'll be my stand-in, of course!"

"Gee, thanks a lot, Jess."

But Jessica had obviously missed the sarcasm in her sister's voice. "Don't you see? It's absolutely perfect. What other superstar has an identical double?"

Elizabeth giggled. "If Richard Gere has one, I'd like to know where he lives."

"You could even sign autographs for me when my hand got tired. No one would have to know it wasn't me." She grinned mischievously. "And just think of all the fun we could have playing tricks on everybody."