*****Nine years previous (summer)***** *****IZZY***** “Mom, this is Izzy.” Isaac introduced me to his parents. “Nice to meet you Izzy,” she replied, shaking my hand. “Can she stay the night?” Taylor asked. “Taylor! I don’t even know her parents yet, or where she lives-” “She lives across the street.” Isaac told his mother. “Well, I still don’t know her parents,” she said matter-of-factly. “Parent,” I mumbled. “Or dear, I’m sorry.” she said, looking sympathetically at me. “No, don’t be,” I said. “My father left my mom & me when I was 3. I don’t care about him anymore. It’s in my past,” I said. “Well, I still need to meet your mother,” she said. “Well, that’s fine. We could probably go over there now. She’ll be home. Come on,” I said. “Well, alright. I’ll just have to go get Jessica & we’ll be back in a minute,” she said, walking upstairs. “Who’s Jessica?” I asked. “She’s our little sister,” Jordan replied. “She’s almost one.” Mrs. Hanson reappeared with a small baby in a pink jumpsuit in her arms. “OK, let’s go!” she said. We walked over to my house. I let them in & I went into my mother’s room to get her. “Mom. You have company,” I said. “What? I told you, I don’t really want to see anyone today, especially not your grandparents,” she said. My mother & grandmother had just had an awful argument & my grandfather always tried to get them back together. “Mom, it’s the people from across the street. The Hansons,” I told her. “Oh. Tell them I’ll be out in just a second, OK?” she asked. I turned & went back out to the living room. Mrs. Hanson, Jessica, and Zachary were sitting on the couch. Isaac and Jordan were looking around at everything in the living room. “She’ll be out in a little bit,” I told Mrs. Hanson. My mother had taught me how to be very polite to guests. Plus, I wanted to make a good impression so I might be able to stay the night at their house. “Would you like something to drink?” I asked her. “No, I’m fine thank you,” she said. I went over to talk to Isaac and Jordan. “I hope I can stay the night,” I said. “Yeah. It’s not like you’re gonna kill us or anything, so why does Mom have to know your parents,” Isaac said. Jordan took off his baseball cap & smacked Isaac. “What was that for?” Isaac asked. “I dunno, I felt like it,” Jordan replied. My mother came out & she & Mrs. Hanson talked for awhile. They called us over. “Izzy, will you be good for Mrs. Hanson?” my mother asked me. “Yes Mommy,” I replied. “Alright, I suppose you can go. You need to be home by noon, OK?” she said. “OK,” I said. “Well, we’d better get going. Daddy’s gonna be home soon,” Mrs. Hanson said to Zachary. “Daddy!” he shrieked. “Shh, don’t yell,” she told him. “OK. Mom, when can I go over?” I asked. “Well, what do you think Diana?” my mother asked. “Well, if it’s alright with you, I think she could come over now,” she said. “OK. Isabelle, go pack your things,” she said, pointing to the stairs. I’d had my room in the basement ever since I moved out of my parent’s room it seemed like. It seemed like my own little house. “Jordan, Clarke. Go help her. We need to hurry,” Diane said, pushing them toward me. “C’mon!” I said, running toward the stairs. “Diana & I will be across the street. Come back when you’re done,” my mother yelled to us, walking out the door. Jordan & Isaac were right behind me. I jumped onto the stairs & started running but something was wrong. I’d forgotten my jump rope & left it on the stairs. My legs got tangled up in it & I tripped. I fell face-first down the stairs. I hit the bottom right on my head. I could hear thundering in my ears. I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I had to because I was so scared. I opened my eyes to see Jordan sitting beside me & Isaac just getting downstairs. “Are you OK?” Jordan asked. “Uh. I’m not sure. I-I fell,” I explained. “Man, you banged yourself up. You’re head looks funny,” Isaac said. Jordan saw my head & moved me so my head was in his lap. “Jordan, make sure she doesn’t fall asleep. I’ll go get Mom,” he said, running back upstairs. “It’s gonna be OK,” Jordan comforted me. “It’s gonna be OK.”

*****Present***** *****IZZY****** I woke up out of my trance, but I kept remembering what happened afterwards. That incident had sealed our friendship. It turned out that I had a concussion. The doctors said that if he hadn’t put something under my head & kept me awake I would’ve died. He actually saved my life, but he ruined it too. But it wasn’t his fault, it was Diana’s. None of this would’ve happened if Diana hadn’t overreacted. I skipped over to when their first single, MMMBop, hit number one. Each of the guys got to invite a hundred friends each to LaserQuest. Ike & I were best friends at that time, as we had been for the past eight years, so he invited me. Taylor completely ignored me, but Zac stopped to chat a few times. Diana told him the same story, but Zac was closer to Ike than his mom. Ike had at least convinced him to talk to me, but Zac still believed the story Diana told him. But Ike remembered the truth & stayed with me through it all. Why am I hiding? I asked myself. I was always trying to disguise who I was. About 7 months ago I bleached my black hair a platinum blonde. Now my roots had grown out about an inch & a half. My apperance isn’t going to matter when I’m gone. I thought. I want to be me. So I grabbed my scissors. I hacked off my hair up to the blonde roots. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was uneven, jagged, & sticking up. Who cares I said. I went back to remembering & concentrating. *****IKE***** I watched Taylor take a deep breath. “It was Christmas eve, 1990. We had the Gray family over for Christmas. We were sitting around in the living room, watching some Christmas show. Since Isabelle & were friends I guess then, and we were only 7, we were sitting in the same chair, side by side. Then she kissed me. I told her to stop, but she didn’t know what she was doing, so she didn’t. I started yelling & Mom came to my rescue. She dragged me away from Isabelle & we all went home. I was scared out of my wits. So I didn’t want to see her. She got mad & didn’t talk to me for a few years. Then she wanted to be friends again, but she was so mean I didn’t want to be her friend either. And I still don’t,” he ended. I shook my head. He went back to his book. “Taylor, you have no idea. I wasn’t anything like that,” I told him. “Yes it was. You just want to convince everybody because you guys are best friends,” he said, glancing up. “Yeah, we’re best friends, but you guys were best friends then. She turned to me for help because you were....unavailable,” I hesitated. “Oh really? Well then Mr. Know-it-all, what happened?” he sarcastically said. “Fine,” I said. “Like you said, it was Christmas eve.....” *****IZZY***** I remembered all the movie’s I’d seen, where right before they die, they remember all the important events of their life in full detail. I knew I had to do this sometime I thought. I slosed my eyes & recreated that night in my mind.

*****Eight years previous***** It was Christmas Eve. The Hansons invited the Gray family to celebrate with them, & of course, they agreed. Everyone had already opened presents. Their parents had each given the kids money to buy eachother gifts, so they bought eachother something nice & fairly expensive. But they also bought eachother gifts with their own money. Since Isaac was starting to love writing, Izzy got him a pad of paper and some pens. She bought Jordan a baseball cap, since he’d nearly worn a hole in the one he usually wore. Isaac bought Izzy some paint, since she was always drawing of painting something. Jordan bought Izzy a red & black ribbons for her hair. As soon as they opened them, Izzy ran into the bathroom & put the ribbons in her hair. Jordan switched hats & Isaac quickly wrote down some ideas he just had for a song. Zachary, who was 5, and Jessica, 2, started getting too rowdy so the two families decided to sit down & watch a Christmas special on TV. Finally, they found one & settled down. After a half hour Jessica & Zachary had fallen asleep. It was about 9:30, and the program was almost over. Jordan & Izzy were completely bored. Jordan started tugging at her ribbons. She didn’t want to take them out, so she kept batting his hands away. She turned to start scolding him & their eyes met. They leaned over & pecked eachother on the lips. Unfortunately, Diana had turned around at that very second and saw them. “Omigosh!!! Isabelle get away from him!” she screamed, jumping up. She yanked Jordan away & turned to Isabelle. “How could you do such a thing! Why would you do that sort of thing! I should’ve never let you get near him!” Diana screamed. “What! don’t you DARE yell at her! She didn’t do a thing! I saw!” Izzy’s mom shouted, standing up. “You saw! You mean you watched her do that & didn’t do anything! Why!!!” Diana yelled. “She didn’t do anything wrong! Neither of them did!” she yelled. By this time, Zachary & Jessica had woken up & were crying. Isaac hurried to comfort them, but was still watching. “Of course Jordan didn’t do anything wrong! But Isabelle-” “C’mon Izzy, we’re leaving,” Izzy’s mother interrupted. She lifted Izzy into her arms & headed to the door. Izzy & Jordan had kept their eyes locked on eachother’s the whole time. They had no idea what was going on & couldn’t react. Right before Izzy’s mother carried her out the door, Izzy & Jordan saw a tear fall from eachother’s eyes. Then she was gone.

*****Present***** *****IKE***** Taylor stared at me. I knew he’d react, but not like this. He just sat there, his mouth hanging open. He shook his head, as if trying not to believe it. “If you don’t believe me, you can tell Mom the story. Ask her if it’s true. Go ahead,” I challenged him. He didn’t move a muscle. Finally, he let out a breath. I glanced at the clock. 11:42. I didn’t know it would take that long to explain. “Taylor, you have to do something,” I whispered. “But what? I haven’t spoken a word to her for 8 years. How can I now? She probably hates me now anyway,” he sighed. “No, she doesn’t hate you. She hates Mom, but she doesn’t hate you. She doesn’t blame you for any of this because it wasn’t your fault. She's heartbroken,” I said. He closed his eyes. “You’re right. But I should’ve believed you when you told me. You wouldn’t lie to me. I’ll call her tomorrow. It’s to late now,” he said & went back to his book, but he wasn’t reading. “No,” I said sternly. “You have to do it now,” I said desperately. “I can’t call her, I’ll get grounded. And I definitely can’t go over. Besides, what do I do?” he said. “Go over there. Now. Trust me, or you’ll regret it,” I said, my voice cracking. “Wha-” “Just, go,” I whispered. It was 11:46. 14 minutes left. Izzy’s clock had seconds, and she did everything to the second. Taylor slowly stood up & walked toward the door. “How do I get out?” he asked. “Out the side. Just hurry,” I said, sitting on his bed. He walked out the door. 'Please, hurry' I said to myself as I closed my eyes.