I'm baaack! It's been a while, hasn't it? This is my second attempt at a multi-chaptered story. The first kind of…dwindled. Enjoy!

-BookProf101

Skye had not wanted to go. "It's the perfect night to view stars," she'd protested, telescope just waiting to be set up in the back yard. "Can't you and Jeffrey go by yourselves?"

Jane was persistent. "No, because deep down inside you, a voice is screaming for some fun, to get away from prime numbers and algebra."

"It's actually calculus," Skye interjected. She marched out of their bedroom to the kitchen, where Rosy was softly humming and making a pineapple upside down cake. Rosalind looked up from her ingredients at the thud of Skye's telescope suddenly resting on the floor. She swatted Skye's hand away from her sticky glaze.

"A night out would do you good, Skye."

The sister in question just licked her fingers, mumbling, "A night out under the stars, definitely."

"You've been shut up on the roof all weekend gazing at constellations and muttering about dark matter. Even Iantha thinks you need a night out." Rosalind turned back toward her cake. "It'll be good for you."

"I don't care; fresh night air is good for a person too."

"True, but one could argue about your social life." It was a low blow, and Rosalind knew it, but Skye really needed to get out. Her mutterings were getting even more undistinguishable and frantic. Batty was beginning to fear Skye was going to turn into a mad scientist.

"How about I go to the party, stay until ten, and then go home. I will still have time to star gaze, Jane will get to do…whatever people do at parties, and you'll have peace and quiet. Mostly." Skye was sure this was the best plan. It fit everyone.

"You will be OAP and have to look after Jane. You know she'll want to stay at least until eleven." Rosy slid her cake into the oven, setting the timer without even looking. Pineapple upside down cake was a recipe she loved. Skye nodded and was set upon by many hands belonging to her sisters. Her precious telescope was wrested out of her hands and a sleek black dress quickly shoved into them.

"I don't recall buying this," Skye said, eyeing it with distaste.

"Of course you don't; I bought it so you could at least say that you meet the closet quota of owning one Little Black Dress," Jane clomped down the staircase wearing an ink blue dress that went a little past her knees. Her shoes were simple blue sandals that strapped neatly to her heels. At that moment Batty popped out from the kitchen table where she's been searching for her essay about animal cruelty and why it had to be stopped. A grin lit her face when she saw the dress in Skye's arms.

"Let's get you dressed." The other three Penderwick sisters dragged a still-struggling Skye up the stairs.

"Come on, Skye. You've got to at least get out of the car," Jane pleaded.

Skye was wedged in the back seat, arms and legs tightly crossed. Technically, she was at the party. She closed her eyes to drown out the loud music emanating from the direction of the party.

"Go ahead Jane." That was Jeffrey. He had come with the sisters to take a break from constantly playing music. Even he needed a break from time to time. Skye cracked one eye open. He was wearing a crisp white shirt and jeans. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, he looked nice.

"I'm not going in."

"I wasn't going to ask you to." She heard him leave and opened her eyes. He was coming back now with a red plastic cup. "Water for you. Oh, and Jane's inside, wild and babbling about Sabrina Starr."

Skye, who had been gulping down the water, spewed it all over the seat in front of her. "What?" She could just barely handle a babbling Jane, but she wasn't about to let other people be tortured by Jane's ramblings.

Struggling a little to get out of the car (why did she have to wear this dress?) Skye raced as fast as she could for the door in the strappy black heels Batty had insisted she wear.

"They're gorgeous!" Batty had said. But not hardly as practical as sneakers.

Skye crashed through the door, grabbing Jeffrey's shoulder for balance. Never in my life will I wear these again.

"Come on." Taking her cautiously by the elbow, Jeffery steered Skye toward a group of teenagers where Jane was sitting in a circle with a black top hat in the center. Skye's eyes widened ever so slightly. She'd heard about this a long time ago during a family reunion from her third cousin Mel, who'd been to a party right before.

"It's called Seven Minutes of Heaven." Mel had said. "You sit in a circle and put something that symbolizes you in a hat, and the hat gets passed around until everyone's put something in. Someone is handed the hat and they pull out an object. Whomever that object belongs to goes into a closet with the person who picked it, and-" her voice dropped into a whisper, "-they kiss. Or at least, they're supposed to." Mel had sat back and smiled, giggling a little as if she'd just shared an enormous secret with the Penderwick sisters.

Skye went numb. Jane stretched up her hands and pulled Jeffrey, then Skye, to the floor.

"This will be fantastic!" said Jane's friend Lydia. "George, you've gotta play!" George was hanging on the sidelines and could only shake his head once before getting pulled in.

"Everyone, place something in the hat," said Catherine, another one of Jane's new acquaintances. She dropped a bill of Monopoly money into the hat before passing it to Skye.

"If you'll excuse me, I-" Skye was cut off.

"Skye Penderwick, sit down and drop something into the hat right this instant!" Jane snagged Skye's wrist and forced her back down.

With a sigh, Skye unwound a tatty, fraying gray shoelace from a strap on her heels. She'd tied it on for a sense of the familiar, though she hadn't been allowed to wear her sneakers.

"Why do you have that?" Jane asked.

"Sentimental reasons." It wasn't just any shoelace; it was a shoelace from the only pair of shoes not ruined by Hoover at Birches years ago. It was from the shoes that had beat Jeffrey and Jane so many times at soccer. But never would it be a popsicle stick or a knee pad.

"You? Sentimental? The world has gone mad!" Jane said, with her usual dramatic flair.

"Nope, I think the only mad one is you." Skye dropped the shoelace in. The odds were in her favor. Eleven people, only one of her. It was unlikely anyone would choose her shoelace anyway. Skye passed the hat to Jeffrey, who dropped in a small metal music note keychain. Skye had given it to him after Iantha and her father's wedding. Everyone dropped an object in, finally ending when it came to Jane, who, slightly tearfully, parted with her 54th best pen. The hat was then mischievously handed to Skye.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Skye tentatively stuck her hand in, eyes closed and trying not to pick something. She eventually closed her hands on the first thing her fingertips had remembered touching.

It was a tiny metal music note key chain. Definitely not supposed to happen.