"Mary

Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing these wonderful characters from J.E. to play with their lives… sadly I don't own them

"Mary! Not so loud! If my mother heard you then she would march us stra-"

"You think I'm being loud? Half the burg can probably hear you!"

I got up and put my ear to the door one more time. I'm not paranoid, honest! Well maybe just a bit. But you would be to if your mother was like mine.

"Stephanie have you cleaned your room yet? You know that grandma and grandpa are due her in an hour! Are you listening to me? Has Mary Lou gone home yet? I got a call from Rose's nephew's wife that she had been skulking out of her house! You know Rose from down the street don't you? I invited her for coffee cake last week." My mother called from the kitchen.

I could feel my eye beginning to twitch. It often started at the sound of my mother's voice. So I live in that little chunk of Trenton called the burg. Houses are small, cars are American, pot roast for Sunday dinner is a religion, being a house wife is a sport and divorce is the antichrist. If he puts a ring on your finger then you're stuck with him until God decides you've been through enough. Did I forget to mention that the people are mostly Italian, Hungarian and German? That explains Rose's call. Us Europeans, we know how to gossip. I turned back to Mary. She was flopped on my bed reading a magazine. The fact that someone had caught her sneaking over didn't seem to bother her as much as it did me. She looked at me.

"Come on Steph! You didn't really think that I would be able to sneak around the burg without getting seen did you?"

I looked at her surprised. This was coming from the girl who snuck out every night to see her boyfriend.

She caught my look. "This is different. I'm careful when I go and see Lenny."

I scowled at her. Didn't I deserve careful? I sighed. I wasn't going to argue. I didn't have the energy. I sat at my desk and rested my feet on my bed, snatching the magazine from her in the process. She made a noise of protest.

"I was reading that! Anyway… I was gonna tell you what Tina told me. She said that a friend of Connie's had a little sister who was best friends with the girl that was dating Joe Morelli about a month ago."

I felt a mixture of excitement and fear curl in my gut. Joseph Morelli, the youngest of the Morelli boy's, is bad in the best kind of way. He's tall and dreamy with his tussled hair and dark eyes. One minute they would be black as anger then the next melt-in-you-mouth chocolate. His reputation made mothers of teenage burg girls change locks and buy guns, if they didn't already have one. He also lived just two blocks over and I have a particularly interesting memory of him introducing me to a new game about ten years ago. I shivered, though I'm not quite sure what from, and listened to Mary's story.

"I heard from Tina that Morelli has a tongue like a lizard." She whispered

"Holy cow! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't let him near you alone or you'll find out. Once he gets you alone… that's it! You're done for."

I had heard about his reputation and I saw him everyday at school, but the rumours never ceased to amaze me. My eyes widened as what she said sunk in. "You don't mean rape do you?"

She shook her head. "Lust! If he wants you, you're doomed. He's irresistible!"

I would never fall for his charms anyway; I'm saving myself for marriage. "I'm still a virgin," not that Mary didn't know that. "I'm sure he doesn't mess with virgins."

"He specialises with virgins! One brush of his fingertips and bam! All coherent though goes out the window!"

The door of my room burst opened and my sister barged in. I gasped in shock and fell off my chair throwing the magazine in the air and hitting the ground with a thud. Valerie was in a bad mood. The storm clouds on her face said it all.

"Stephanie! Where is my CD player? If you have taken it again then you're dead!"

So much for being the perfect daughter. I didn't think that homicide was virtue. I scrambled up off the floor and yelled back at her. "For the last time! I did not take it last week! You lost it!"

She stormed out of my room, slamming the door behind her. I looked at Mary Lou. She was slightly amazed

"She seems so perfect most of the time"

"Ugh! Don't remind me!"

She put her hands up as if to say 'I just say what I see'. I scowled at her while I pulled the CD player from my cupboard. I stalked over to my door and opened it a crack to see Valerie storm down the narrow stairway. I ran to her room and stashed it in her cupboard. A door banged closed, scaring the bjeezers out of me and I bolted back to my room.

"Maybe you should just ask to use it next time."

"Puh-lease! She would never let me borrow it! It's far easier just to take it and when she gets suspicious I just put it back somewhere different." I smiled at my stealth and cunning.

Mary rolled her eyes and looked back to her magazine. "Oh yummy! I would eat him up in two seconds flat!" she exclaimed pointing to a picture in the magazine. I didn't bother looking. For someone with a boyfriend she had a pretty wild imagination. And for someone without a boyfriend, I wasn't all that desperate. I mean… yeah I read the odd Mills and Boon, but jeez, who doesn't. I mean I don't need a man to make me happy… who am I trying to kid here! I'm so jealous of Mary and Lenny. And my sister. Especially Valerie with her perfect looks and her perfect poise. She had guys after her all the time. I just don't get it. I'm not really that bad looking am I? Almost 5'7, leggy, decent bust… I guess it's my hair, the frizzy uncontrollable nest of snakes that it is. Brown and curly, nothing special. Maybe its my the teeny tiny fact that I have a habit of getting myself into bad situations… like in the garage with Morelli when I was six. But other than that I'm a normal Italian Hungarian blue eyed burg babe. Kind of. To a point. Ugh!

"Well," Mary started to get up. "I gotta go. My mum is cleaning the house today and I don't want her going into my room… never know what she'll dredge up from under my bed. See you at school."

"Bye."

Once she was gone I sighed and threw my self on to my bed. Only to be disturbed by my mothers shrill voice.

"Stephanie…"

I hate my life.

A/N: Haha! Done. The next chapter is going to be… interesting. Hope you liked it. Pease review!!