Note: Hello! This is Meet the Order of the Phoenix, the 4th in the Meet the... series (the others in reading order being Meet the Lupins, Meet the Muggles and Meet the Marauders!). This is an AU story in that Remus and Tonks survived the final battle! Although it is par of a series you are welcome to read it on it's own – all you need to know is that Caroline "Carrie" Winters is a muggle girl who befriended Teddy and learnt about the Wizarding World! I won't say much else because I'm supposed to be sleeping, but stayed up to finish Meet the Marauders...so...I'll just finish by saying that I hope you enjoy this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

1: Betrayal

It was a calm, quiet early summer's evening in the town of Eddington and the town's inhabitants were beginning to wind down for the evening. Yet on the outskirts of town, within the confines of Goodwin College, the local student population was intent on being very lively indeed.

As she stood just outside of the college's main entrance, the dull thud of music drifting out the open doors from the party within, Carrie Winters reached to hug her bare arms around herself with a shiver. The seventeen year old stared blankly at the wall opposite her where, some half an hour earlier, she had found herself sandwiched between said brick wall and a certain Austin Myers, who had seemed intent on snogging her senseless, possibly in the hope that she might not notice his non-too discreet attempt to grope her bust through the flimsy material of the new party dress that she had worn specially for the evening.

It had all been rather like the scene she had witnessed a short while later, except it hadn't been a brick wall, it had been the smooth plastered wall of the college's entrance hall.

And it hadn't been Austin and Carrie.

It had been Austin and Melanie Porter.

Melanie bloody Porter. The orange stick insect with the massive boobs and the disgusting piercings in places people only whispered about. And Austin. Carrie's boyfriend of three whole months!

Carrie pursed her lips together against the swell of nausea that seemed to twist her insides.

"He's a dick." a voice announced flatly from the doorway to her left, and at the sound of scuffling footsteps, Carrie mumbled:

"Hmm."

"They all are. Boys, I mean. I don't know why you bother with them."

Carrie said nothing to acknowledge her friend Cleo Clancy's words. She was much too busy remembering the conversation that she and Austin had had just after she had laid eyes upon the horrible spectacle.

The thing is, Carrie...well the thing is...I like you. A lot. But...but the thing is...

She wasn't orange enough. She didn't stuff enough tissue down her bra.

It's just sometimes...sometimes I think that your not really...committed. To...us, you know? It's like...

She didn't want to have sex with him. She didn't think they were old enough, she didn't think she'd known him long enough.

The fact of the matter is, Caroline, Austin has been into me for ages, the orange monstrosity had announced, one hand still groping the back of Austin's jeans. It's not your fault or anything it's just...well you're just not right for him. You know, he wants...

A slut.

A proper woman. Not a girl. It's okay, you know, we all grow up differently...

I didn't mean for you to find out like this, the traitor had told her. I'm dead sorry.

He hadn't looked dead sorry. He hadn't followed her when she had turned and fled out of the doors. He'd probably gone back to tongue wrestling the orange monstrosity in the nearest broom cupboard instead.

"Jessica Bates says that Laura Temple heard from the Dixon twins that he shagged her after Ben Simpson's house party the other week." Cleo informed her, and Carrie reached to sweep the hair back from her face with a heavy sigh.

"I don't care." she told the dark haired girl beside her, still not turning to face her, and Cleo reached to slap her enthusiastically upon the arm as she declared:

"Exactly! Screw them, they aren't worth it! I always thought he was a idiot, you know..."

As Cleo launched into an increasingly vicious attack upon Austin's deeply flawed and disgraceful character, Carrie gritted her teeth together against tears and wondered why, if she didn't care, she felt such a overwhelming urge to cry.

It was true, to a degree, she wasn't that bothered that she and Austin were no longer together. She hadn't really liked him all that much. Sometimes he had been quite boring, in fact looking back over the course of their time together Carrie could not recall one significent outing or event that they had shared. Most of the time they had sat around in the local park and chatted. Except Austin wasn't a very good speaker, or listener for that matter. Or kisser, which was surprising given that kissing was the only thing that they had really done as a couple with any real enthusiasm, on his part at the very least.

As a matter of fact, Carrie had only agreed to go out with Austin because during the Easter Holidays she'd looked over her garden fence and seen Teddy Lupin kissing Victoire Weasley, when they were halfway through hiding Easter eggs for their horde of younger cousins to search for later that afternoon.

Not that Carrie had been jealous or anything. After all, she and Teddy were just best friends.

It didn't matter that she hadn't really liked Austin all that much, or that breaking up with him was actually a bit of a relief. It still made her feel sick. It still made her feel pathetic and unwanted. It was still humiliating, horrible, horrendous, hurtful...

It still made her want to burst into tears...

"You know," Carrie mumbled, interrupting Cleo's latest complaint about the state of Austin's wardrobe, "I don't really feel like partying anymore. I think I might just go home."

"Do you want me to go in there and give him a good smack in the face?" Cleo asked rather hopefully, and her face fell when Carrie shook her head.

"No thanks, Cleo."

"What about her? Go on, I've always wanted to see what she'd do if somebody yanked out those hideous hair extensions..."

"No, it's fine. I'm just going to go home."

"Won't the rest of your family still be at your aunt's house?"

"Probably. It's fine, I've got a key."

The walk home was a long and depressing one. Unlike the secondary school that she had attended the year beforehand, Goodwin College was quite a distance from Carrie's house. Usually she took a bus there and back each day, but since she had gotten a lift there in Austin's car and had expected him to drive her back again at the end of the night, she had left her bus pass at home. The majority of the walk was spent wondering just what Austin could possibly see in Melanie bloody Porter, and what were the chances of the two of them breaking up before the start of the new term in September, so that Carrie wouldn't have to see them slobbering all over one another when she passed by in the corridor. By the time she reach home her feet had grown sore, and she was considering just going straight to bed and crying herself to sleep when she came to a halt at the bottom of her driveway, eyes coming to rest upon the house next door and the sight instantly cheered her.

Carrie had lived next door to Teddy Lupin and his parents, Remus and Dora, ever since the summer before her first year at secondary school, and it had not been long before she had become very attached to them indeed. They were, as far as Carrie was concerned, her second family, and in many ways she felt that she was more close to them than her own relatives. There were a great number of reasons for this, such as the fact that during the summer holidays she spent more time in their house than her own, or the fact that Teddy knew her better than anybody else in the whole world, but the main reason was simply this:

The Lupins understood her better than anybody else ever could.

Because the Lupins knew about Carrie's Big Secret.

And the reason that the Lupins knew about Carrie's Big Secret was because they were her Big Secret.

Carrie knew something about the Lupins that nobody else could ever know:

They were magical.

Not magical as in the Disney World full of people dressed in costumes sort of magical, nor magical as in the creepy, disturbing sense of the word that involved pins and voodoo dolls. No, the Lupins were magical as in proper, real magic.

Yes, Carrie lived next door to a couple of wizards and a witch, and yet more astonishing still was the fact that the Lupin family also consisted of a pair of shape shifters and a werewolf.

It was said werewolf who greeted Carrie a moment later when, before she could quite decide why, the muggle had made a beeline for the Lupins' front door and gave the large brass knocker a few firm taps. She later supposed that she simply couldn't stand the idea of sitting home alone after her ordeal. After all, if she was to sulk properly she would require a large supply of chocolate. And if Teddy's father Remus could be relied upon for anything, it was the ability to produce a substantial horde of Honeyduke's Finest on demand.

"Hi..." Carrie mumbled once the door had been pulled open, desperately attempting to think of an excuse to invite herself inside. She was about to ask if Teddy was home, only to remember that he had told her the previous day that he was going to be having dinner at his grandmother's house. She wondered what time he would be home.

"Evening Carrie," Remus greeted, and as if reading her mind he supplied: "Ted's not home yet, I'm afraid."

"Oh..." Carrie mumbled, gaze falling to her shoes. She frowned at them, sure that her feet would be covered in blisters when she finally got the chance to take them off.

"You're looking rather dressed up!" Remus observed cheerfully, which only made her feel even more wretched. "Are you going somewhere nice?"

"No...not really." the muggle admitted with a shrug, eying the hallway behind him rather longingly. "I was just coming home, actually..." struck by sudden inspiration, she decided: "But I've locked myself out."

"Do you want me to unlock the door for you?" Remus asked, and before she could stop herself, Carrie found herself again saying:

"No...not really."

"I see..." the werewolf said, glancing over his shoulder in order to follow her gaze before turning back to offer her a raised eyebrow. "Cup of tea, then?" he said, and she wasted no time in squeezing past him through the doorway with a marginally more cheerful:

"Yes please."

As she set about pulling the high heels from her feet, wincing at the sores, she glanced down the hallway towards the empty kitchen and wondered:

"Where's Dora?"

"She's still at work." Remus said as he shut the door and turned to head for the kitchen. Once shoe free, Carrie hobbled after him, coming to a halt in the kitchen doorway. She observed him filling the kettle in silence, an odd sort of relief slowly falling over her, only to drop her gaze to the floor when he glanced round at her to ask:

"What have you been up to, then?"

"College party." she managed to mumble reluctantly, and the werewolf asked:

"How was it?"

Carrie felt an odd urge to laugh at the simplicity of the question that had such a complicated and muddled answer. It took her a good few seconds before she settled on:

"Humiliating."

"Hm."

Carrie looked up to find Remus frowning into the pair of mugs that he had just splashed milk into the bottoms of. As the kettle began to hiss and bubble, he reached to drop a couple of teabags into the nearby teapot before asking: "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe..." Carrie mumbled, and as he set about pouring the water into the teapot she wandered forwards to take a seat at the kitchen table, glad to be off of her feet. Reaching to fold her arms upon the table before her, she leant forward to bury her face in them with a heavy sigh. Staring into the blackness of her eyelids, she listened to him move about the kitchen, replacing the milk in the fridge, stirring the tea in the pot before pouring it into the mugs. A drawer was briefly opened and closed before Carrie heard him take a seat opposite her and she looked up to find herself offered a steaming mug of tea and, to her amusement despite herself, a large bar of milk chocolate wrapped in shiny golden foil.

"Thank you." she whispered with a sniff, and it suddenly occurred to her that a few tears had managed to escape her eyes, leaving shining salty trails down her cheeks.

"You're very welcome." came the warm response, and Remus leant back in his chair, hands wrapped tightly around his own mug, waiting patiently for her to begin talking.

Because she would start talking, Carrie knew that she would. If there was anybody who could shed some sort of clarity on a situation and make it all seem better, it was Remus. Carrie had presented him with all manner of problems and scenarios over the years, and he always seemed able to make her feel better about them, no matter how upset she felt. They had never talked about boys before. Usually, that was Dora's job, or possibly if Carrie felt desperate, her own mother's. Mrs. Winters was, to her daughter's mind, a little useless, for her advice was usually limited to: it'll be better in the morning, Carrie love. Dora, on the other hand, had some years previously given Carrie one piece of advice that the muggle swore to live by. And yet right now, Carrie was struggling.

Which was why Austin and Melanie Bloody Porter seemed so utterly dreadful. If Dora wasn't here to help, Remus would have to do instead.

"I caught Austin snogging Melanie Porter, in front of half my class!" Carrie announced, tears immediately blurring her vision at the memory. "And they weren't even...even embarrassed or...or anything! And...and the stupid cow said in front of everybody that I was...that I was immature and that Austin liked her better than me! And...and Cleo says they slept together at this other party we went to and everybody knew about it except for me!" She paused in her babbling to look up and gage the wizard's reaction to these revelations to find him apparantly engrossed in an examination of a small paper cut upon his index finger, a small frown creasing his brow.

"I know it's...it's stupid," she went on, assuming that he was listening equally as intently to what she was saying. "I know what Dora said that time, how she said it doesn't really matter when your young and you aren't like...like properly in love. I know she said there's no point getting upset about boys you like, that it only matters when it's a man you love...but...but I feel HORRIBLE!"

Remus abandoned his examination in order to lean forward in his chair, elbows coming to rest upon the table.

"Well of course you feel horrible." he told her. "You thought you could trust Austin, that he liked you as much as you liked him..."

"I don't really like him that much..." Carrie muttered, and the werewolf shrugged.

"You thought he liked you enough, then. Enough not to hurt you or betray you. But you were wrong. And it doesn't matter who he is, or what you really think of him, the fact of the matter is, Carrie, that betrayal hurts. No matter what its nature."

"How long does it hurt for?" the teenager wondered dejectedly, and he smiled sadly and recalled:

"It can hurt for an eternity, if you let it." he paused to take a sip of tea as she slumped further down into her seat at the thought, but then he set the mug firmly back down upon the table and rose purposefully to his feet. "But of course you won't do that, will you? After all, we're talking teenage crushes, not a thirty year marriage. You say you don't really like him that much and, from what Teddy tells me, this Austin of yours is...what was the phrase? Ah, yes...a bit of a prat."

At last, Carrie sniggered, and he smiled encouragingly.

"There are plenty of people who love and care for you, Carrie." Remus told her as he reached to pick up the chocolate bar, tearing the foil open and breaking off a couple of squares. "And there are some people out there who don't have anybody at all. So what if a boy at college decides he prefers some other girl to you? Your lucky enough to have plenty of other friends...some of whom might not even be prats like he was. I mean I can't speak for Teddy, obviously, but...well, there are others, aren't there?" As she sniggered again he paused to take a generous bite of chocolate before offering her the rest of the bar. "Tell you what," he said as she accepted it with a grateful smile. "You eat the rest of that and we'll see what we can do about that dress of yours. You can't get all dressed up like that and not go out somewhere nice."

And with that, he disappeared out of the door, up the hallway and into the living room.

Carrie sat at the table, chewing thoughtfully on chocolate for a long, curious moment before hearing the distinct roaring sound of somebody using the floo network. She got to her feet and wandered down the hallway, pausing beside the large mirror upon the wall as she heard footsteps from outside and the front door's lock gave a loud click. With that, it was pushed open and the muggle watched Teddy's mother Dora step across the threshold, dressed in her scarlet Auror robes, today sporting a head of sleek, dark red hair. As the witch paused to shrug the bag from her shoulder, before reaching to hook it upon one of the cloak hooks upon the wall, she spotted the watching teenager and, apparantly entirely unsurprised to see her, greeted:

"Wotcher, Carrie love."

"Hi Dora." Carrie replied, watching as the witch stooped to unlace the hefty black boots upon her feet.

When she straightened up a moment later, reaching to stretch her arms above her head with a yawn, the witch announced to the house at large:

"I don't smell chicken curry!"

There was a sizable pause as from inside the living room Remus pulled his head free from the emerald flames and got back to his feet. Reaching to dust soot from his hair, he called:

"Sorry, Dora, I forgot."

"You forgot?" Dora repeated, sounding distinctly disbelieving as she set off up the hallway, past Carrie and into the kitchen. "It's dinner, Remus, you know that meal we have once every day? How could you possibly forget it?" Carrie turned to watch her observe the mugs and chocolate wrapper upon the table with a deep frown as she asked: "Are we having CHOCOLATE instead?"

"I might have gotten a bit distracted." Remus admitted as he went to follow her. "Are you alright? You're rather late."

Dora's expression contorted in a manner that suggested to Carrie that no, she wasn't alright in the slightest. Remus appeared to reach the same conclusion, for he pursed his lips together rather apprehensively before venturing:

"Not a brilliant day at the Ministry today, no?"

His wife rounded on him with a look of such fury that Carrie thought he ought regret opening his mouth.

"They've got a PETITION going!" Dora announced, eyes wide in outrage. "A bloody PETITION! And they say they're going to submit it to the Wizengamot to try and alter the bloody law!"

Carrie had absolutely no idea who they were, or what law they were trying to change, but she could only assume that this was bad news indeed, for Remus' face fell considerably and he reached to run a worried hand through his hair.

"Well...surely nothing will come of it..." he began hesitantly, only for Dora to shake her head and tell him:

"Are you kidding? I've seen the bloody list of names, some moron was trying to get me to sign it, it's longer than one of Mad-Eye's prep talks!" With that, she went to drop moodily down into Carrie's vacated chair and Remus pursed his lips together in an attempt to think of something comforting to say. But at that precise moment, there came the sound of somebody exiting the floo network and the werewolf made for the living room again.

Carrie halted her curious staring as Dora leant back to gaze up at the ceiling with a deep frown, when she heard a familiar voice drifting out from the living room.

"But Dad...I've already eaten dinner..."

Carrie's gaze darted over towards the living room doorway as she heard Remus say:

"I don't care, take her anyway."

"But...it was one of GRAN'S dinners! I couldn't eat another mouthful if I TRIED..."

"Excellent. In which case I'll be paying for dinner for one. Go and put a shirt on, won't you? you look a mess."

And with that, a rather bewildered looking Teddy Lupin emerged from the living room, eyes coming to rest upon the girl stood before the mirror with a broad smile.

"Hey Carrie!"

"Hi Ted..."

"Give me just a minute!" the turquoise haired boy announced cheerily as his father appeared behind him and gave him a firm push towards the stairs. "I'll be right back!" And with that, he disappeared with a loud crack, making the werewolf beside him jump.

"For the last time, Theodore, no apparating inside the house!" Remus bellowed up the staircase as a loud crash sounded from somewhere above. "We've had enough smashed ornaments, thank you very much!" As he passed Carrie on his way back to the kitchen, he shook his head with a heavy sigh.

"Don't tell me you didn't apparate from room to room when you first passed." Dora said with a grin, apparantly beginning to get over her mood.

"Of course I did." Remus muttered as he reached to grab a saucepan from a cupboard and set it down upon the stove. "And I'm pretty sure the furniture never recovered."

As talk turned to what was the quickest meal that could be cooked with what was left in the fridge, because Dora was starving, and whether or not it would be easier simply to apparate into town and order a pizza, Carrie turned to gaze at her reflection in the mirror opposite her.

And despite herself, it was not long before she began to ponder a very troubling question:

Did Austin prefer Melanie Bloody Porter because she was prettier than average? Or did Austin not prefer Carrie because she was uglier than average?

Carrie watched herself purse her lips together in consideration.

Was that a spot on her chin?

And had she always had that many freckles?

She reached to flatten a wayward strand of hair, but it didn't seem to want to lie flat.

She glanced sideways into the kitchen where Dora was still sitting at the table, one leg propped lazily up on the chair opposite. Carrie had idolized Teddy's mother for almost as long as she had known her, for the most part because she was a witch. For many years Carrie had wanted nothing more than to be able to do magic, but she had rarely given much thought to Dora's ability to change her appearance. Carrie had always labeled it as just another form of magic.

But what a wonderful form of magic it was.

Carrie was pretty sure that Dora had never had a spot on her face in living memory. Indeed, her complexion was bordering on flawless, because she could simply make it that way.

Beautiful wasn't exactly the right word to describe Dora Lupin, because that was far too girly a word. But her features were entirely in proportion to one another, and under the rather baggy clothes that she had worn to work that day was a slender, rather petite frame. She'd be forever slim without trying.

Whereas Carrie's features didn't seem to match, her nose was too narrow, jaw too wide, her bottom lip too thick...

As Remus set about breaking eggs into a bowl, having finally settled upon omletes for dinner, Dora headed for the stairs, only for Carrie to halt her with a mumble.

"Dora...?"

The Deputy Head of Aurors paused to turn and offer the muggle a questioning look, and the girl turned to fix her with a deadly serious expression.

"Am I ugly?"

Dora blinked. And then she blinked again, and a soft snort of laughter escaped her lips as she said:

"What?"

"I said am I ugly?" Carrie repeated, entirely unamused, and Dora's eyes widened at the realization that she was being serious.

"Don't be ridiculous, Carrie love." the metamorphmagus said, reaching to put her hands upon the girl's shoulders and turning her back to face the mirror, peering over her shoulder at their reflections. "Why in Merlin's name would you think that?"

"I don't know..." Carrie mumbled, and she watched, cheeks reddening as Dora scrunched up her face for a moment, and her features shifted and changed, her hair suddenly lengthening until Carrie found herself staring at a second face that was identical to her own.

"Of course you know!" the second face insisted with a broad smile.

"Well..." Carrie said, reaching to hug her arms around herself. "My...my lips."

"What's wrong with them?"

"They're fat."

"Hmm..." Dora pressed Carrie's lips together thoughtfully and as she did so, they seemingly thinned. Carrie frowned. It looked...strange...

"And...and my chin's too square." the muggle went on, watching the face lengthen and become more pointy. "And I...I don't like my freckles, and...my nose looks too narrow..." She watched in awed silence as Dora's face carefully shifted and changed, before the Auror straightened up and summoned her husband from the kitchen.

"Who's the prettiest?" Dora asked, throwing an arm around Carrie's shoulders and turning her to face the werewolf, who eyed them both with a raised eyebrow.

"You look sickly." Remus informed his wife with a frown. "Your face is too thin and pale..."

"Exactly!" Dora agreed, giving Carrie's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, only for them both to jump at the sound of a loud popping noise as Teddy appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Theodore!" both parents immediately snapped, but their son, now dressed in pale brown corded trousers and a nearly ironed open neck shirt with sandy blonde hair to match, merely grinned broadly at them, only for the smile to falter somewhat at the sight of his mother's latest face.

"That's a little bit creepy, Mum." he informed her as he reached into his pocket and drew out his wand, giving it a flick and causing a tan leather jacket to unhook itself from where it hung and levitate across the room towards him. As he caught the garment in his free hand he said: "It's like Carrie with anorexia or something."

"There you have it." Dora concluded, and with a toss of the head her long chestnut hair had darkened to a shiny shade of blue, face shifting back to it's usual heart shape and eyes darkening to their twinkling selves. "D'you need to borrow a coat, Carrie love?"

Carrie wasn't really sure how to answer this question, for she was not entirely sure what was going on.

"She does." Teddy supplied helpfully as he shrugged on his jacket, and before Dora could say another word he offered: "I'll get one!"

And then he once again disapparated with a crack, eliciting yet another shout of disapproval from his parents.

Once she had retrieved her shoes and Teddy had presented her with a denim jacket that he had discovered in his mother's wardrobe, Carrie found herself being led by the arm out of the house, a handful of Remus' coins and a ten pound note jingling cheerfully in Teddy's pocket.

"Where are we going?" she asked as they crunched their way down the gravel driveway, his grip upon her arm tightening as she wobbled in her heels.

"I'm taking you out for dinner." Teddy announced cheerfully, offering her a broad grin.

Carrie felt her cheeks warming in embarrassment.

"Because your dad feels sorry for me and reckons I need cheering up?" she guessed, wincing at the thought, only for her best friend to turn to present her with a mildly offended look.

"Of course not!" the young wizard exclaimed as they turned right up the road, heading for the middle of town. "I'm taking you out for dinner, Miss Winters, because you're wearing a very pretty dress and looking particularly stunning this evening. We mustn't let all that lip gloss and hairspray go to waste!"

Carrie felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Maybe, but your dad's making you do it. He flooed and told you to come home..."

"He suggested I come home. There's a difference. Besides, who doesn't want an opportunity for some free ice cream? You will have ice cream for dessert, won't you? So we can ask for two spoons?"

Carrie sniggered as they crossed over the road and around the corner.

"Of course I will." she agreed, sniggering yet again when Teddy exclaimed:

"Brilliant!"

They walked for several minutes without speaking, and after a while Teddy began to whistle a tune that Carrie recognized but could not quite place. Carrie's mind began to wander back to what Remus had said to her in the kitchen some while earlier, and she smiled at the thought that she had a friend as good as Teddy.

Remus was right. Who cared what Austin thought of her, when she had Teddy instead?

As a friend, of course. Nothing more...

He fancies you, you know. That had been Cleo's observation the previous Christmas when the two girls had bumped into Teddy outside of Carrie's house whilst on their way to a Christmas gathering at Cleo's aunt's house. Teddy had given Carrie a one armed hug as they passed and commented that she looked beautiful. Cleo had immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion, and Carrie had been quick to point this out to her.

Teddy tells everybody they look nice, she'd explained, and Cleo had given a snort and said:

Well he didn't tell me. And you're blushing, did you know?

Carrie was sure that Cleo was a special case, for she often heard Teddy complimenting people on their appearance. And after all, he couldn't possibly fancy his best friend...could he?

As she glanced sideways at the tall young man beside her, Carrie pursed her lips together thoughtfully at the recollection that there did seem to be a few words that he kept reserved for her. She'd never heard him refer to anybody else as beautiful or stunning, not even Victoire Weasley, which was surprising because not only was Victoire Teddy's girlfriend, she was also undoubtedly the most beautiful girl that Carrie had ever lain eyes upon.

The beautiful Victoire was the other reason that Cleo's theory was so deeply, deeply flawed. How on earth Teddy could fancy anybody else on the planet whilst the silvery blonde sixteen year old was around was beyond comprehension. In fact Carrie didn't even know why she was giving any of this a moment's thought.

She seemed to be giving it more and more thought, lately. It worried her.

Because Carrie Winters was becoming increasingly certain that something utterly dreadful and unthinkable was happening.

She was falling in love with her best friend in the whole entire world.

But that was all they were. Best friends. And it had been that way for so long that she could not imagine them being anything else besides that.