When I came downstairs, Granddad was making eggs, and Lea was sitting at the table trying to control her anticipation. She had brushed her hair and straightened it, and she had changed into Abercrombie skinny jeans, a Hollister T-shirt, Ugg boots, and a Forever 21 cardigan.

"Good morning, Kimberly," said Granddad, as he turned around and smiled, his eyes glowing.

"Morning, Granddad." I turned to Lea, and said, "Okay, I'm here. What do you want?"

Her face lit up.

Before I knew it, we were back in the room Lea and I shared. It wasn't all that big, because we were living in a senior center, but Lea and I have somehow managed to fit our belongings in it without running out of space. Each of us had our own bed on either side of the room, and we each had our own armoires for our clothes. Lea liked to hang up Taylor Lautner posters on her side, but I preferred to post the photos I've taken over the years. I had some close-ups of flowers, a picture of a waterfall, one of the sunset over a lake, and even one of Granddad when he was typing a manuscript. My biggest wish was to take enough pictures to cover my side of our room, so I would only see my hard work, not some boring pink wall. Maybe it was a stupid wish, but it would sure be satisfying to look at in person.

Lea reached under her bed and pulled out an old cardboard box. My eyes widened as I spotted what was inside.

"Kim, check this out. It's full of your family's old artifacts," she whispered, pulling out a rather large book. On the aged chestnut-colored leather cover, it said Curtis Family Album, 1960-1970 in gold lettering.

I finally came to my senses and snatched the book away from her. "What do you think you're gonna do with these?" I hissed at her, holding the album close to me. "You can't touch these! They're still technically Granddad's."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Kim, don't you know me well enough by now to know that I wouldn't dare mess with your stuff?"

"Granddad's stuff," I corrected coldly. What the hell was she up to now, I thought to myself miserably.

"Whatever. His stuff," she said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "Anyway," she continued, "I was thinking we could blackmail your grandpa with all this crap to let us go to Sybil's party tomorrow night. I mean, really, it's the middle of spring break, and he won't let us go anywhere. It takes a lot of work to get this hellhole jumping," she griped while looking around our room.

I ignored her complaints for a minute and looked at the album cover again. Other than Lea, Granddad was my closest friend. He was the one to taught me how to read and write, the one who would drop everything to play dolls with me, the one who would fix up all of my cuts and comfort me when I was sad… would it really be fair to blackmail him, I asked myself. Even though Lea's my best friend, I just couldn't say yes. If I were to do anything to Granddad, it would be to thank him for making so many sacrifices for me. There was no way on the planet that I would take advantage of the many kind things he's done for me. I shook my head, not saying anything.

"Come on, girl, why not? I've had to tolerate you blabbing about the party since we got the tweet," argued Lea.

"Seriously? Well, two things for you, then: one, that was you blabbing about Sybil's party, and two, I can't blackmail Granddad! Not only did he let me live here with him, but he let you live here, too! Not a chance," I said.

Lea sighed in defeat. "Fine; no blackmailing, and no party," she groaned while standing up. "Since when were you so boring and bland, Kim? What happened to you?"

"I grew up," I merely stated. I took one last glance at the album, and carefully placed it back in the box. I then slid it back under Lea's bed, and stood up. It was a good thing that we were such close friends, because when we get into disagreements, they never grow into fights; they fizzle easily and quickly. Neither of us can stay mad at each other for long.

"Besides, where did you find that box, anyway?" I asked her while we went back down the spiral staircase to the kitchen.

She simply shrugged. "I dropped my mascara earlier. I looked under my bed to find it, and there it was, next to this random big box. When I looked in it, it was filled with your family stuff, so I wanted to show it to you and tell you my plan before I went through the thing."

By the time we sat down and I finished my now-cold eggs, Granddad was already in his office working on his newest novel. Soon, Lea stood up and left for the TV to watch cartoons, so that left me with nothing to do. I decided to go back upstairs to our bedroom to go through the rest of that box. I had a strong feeling that there was something in there that would be useful to recover; I just didn't know what.