Before I go on any further, I should probably clear a few things up and perhaps introduce myself to you.

My name is Rebecca Ramsey. I'm 16 years old and I'm a junior at Stoneybrook High School. I have a sister named Jess, who is a sophomore at Tuskegee University, a historically black college in Alabama. If you ask me, I think it's somewhat hypocritical to attend a "black" college, but "white" colleges would be breaking some kind of law somewhere. I have a mother and a father, and a younger brother named JP(we used to call him Squirt, but the day he turned 3 he decided to assert his independence and speak out against it.). JP stands for John Phillip. He's 8 and a half years old.

We moved to Stoneybrook when I was JP's age, from a town in New Jersey. My family had a hard time fitting in here because we're black. I had a much easier time than Jess and my parents because I was so young. Young children tend to see life through rose colored lenses, I guess. To a child, everyone is the same color. Or maybe they don't see color at all. Either way, I'm grateful because I can't imagine how I would have handled racism at such a young age.

Sure there were kids who wouldn't talk to me because their parents had told them not to, and there were comments from kids like Zachary Dill, who told me that I was black because God accidentally left me in the oven for too long. And sometimes I can sense that people have a problem with me because of my race. Overall though, my experiences with racism have been rare (with a few exceptions).

I like to believe that one of the reasons I've been so lucky is because of the Pike family. Having them on your side is really like being backed by the mob. There are a lot of them to deal with, and if you make one angry, you have to deal with the whole group. I've been sort of adopted into that family over the years.

First there's Mallory, who is my sister Jess' on- again-off- again best friend. Their friendship is complicated, but they're the reason that I'm friends with the Pikes. Mallory is 19, and as I said before she's a student at Stoneybrook University. She is majoring in Public Relations, which is a decision that came from left-field. I see Public Relations as a cutthroat business,, and Mallory is the opposite of cutthroat. She can be opinionated—it took her awhile to learn to assert herself. Now that she's grown more comfortable in her skin, she can put a spin on anything. In those terms, her career choice makes sense. PR also involves a lot of writing, which Mallory loves. She used to dream of being an author,, but she gave up on that awhile ago.

Then we have Adam, Byron, and Jordan. Don't tell them that I'm grouping them together. They would kill me. They're 18 years old and they too also attend Stoneybrook University. Byron is majoring in Biology, Adam is majoring in Art, and Jordan? Well, he's majoring in Jordan as far as I know. He's somewhat self- obsessed and can be a jerk; he's definitely not my favorite person in the world. Luckily I never have to see him because he lives in an apartment with some friend of his. And Byron? Well, I'm indifferent to Byron. When he's not in his room or out with his girlfriend, he's in the lab at the University working on homework. I never see him either. He's definitely more sensitive than both Adam and Jordan. I like Adam because he's a happy medium. He isn't as sensitive as Byron, but he isn't a jerk like Jordan.

Adam and I started dating a couple of months ago.

When we were younger, we never saw much of each other because. As far as I was concerned, boys went to Jupiter to get more stupider, and his interest in girls was non-existent. It wasn't until my freshman year of high school that I noticed how nicely he had grown up. Years of baseball had done the boy good. You would think that he would look exactly like his brothers, and yes, physically there were similarities. There was just something different about Adam. Maybe it was the way he kept his brown hair short in a buzz cut, while his brothers kept theirs long and spiky. Or maybe it was the way he actually paid attention to me when I came over to visit Vanessa, unlike his brothers who ignored me. Whatever it was, I was in lust. We flirted a lot off and on over the course of the year, but in August, after he'd graduated high school, Adam got up enough courage to ask me out on a date. It was nothing special, really. We ate at Renwick's and then went for a walk around Stoneybrook. It was so simple and nice, and a night that I'll never forget.

Since then, we've been sneaking away and hanging out at various places around town that none of my friends or his family members frequent. If we have money, we will go to Stamford or Greenvale on a nice date. We've also spent many nights hanging out in his dorm room. But no one in his family knows that we're together, and that's my fault I guess. I'm not really even allowed to have a boyfriend,, so my parents don't know either. I'd rather keep it under wraps until we've been dating a little longer.

Vanessa is the next member of the Pike clan. She's a year older than me. She's 17 and a senior at SHS. We've been good friends since I moved to Stoneybrook and over the years we've ended up being best friends, just as our sisters were. She's been like a sister to me, for some reason she just…gets me. She understands me, and I understand her. We've been through thick and thin together, and I don't know what I'd do if I lost her as a friend. I was there for her when she decided that she no longer wanted to speak in rhyme. She was there for me when I decided that I no longer wanted to be a dancer like my older sister. And we were there for each other when we both decided to start-and stop-smoking. It was one of those things we wanted to do because it seemed to be the "cool" thing to do. Yeah, we were dumb.

Nick Pike is next. He's my age and is a junior like me. Even though we've grown up together and have had most of the same classes with each other, we're not particularly close. He frequents between the pot-head skater kids in school and the emo kids who start different bands every week. This week he's in a band called No Name Film.

Margo Pike is a sophomore at SHS and she's a cheerleader. She's become very self- obsessed lately, much like her brother Jordan and won't wear anything that doesn't come from Abercrombie and Fitch or Hollister. That presents a problem for her. Since it costs $50 to walk into those stores, her parents won't buy those clothes for her. So when she's not at cheerleading practice, she's working. She got a job at Abercrombie-hey, at least she gets a good discount.

Finally, there's Claire. She's in 8th grade at Stoneybrook Middle School, and she's a pretty cool kid. She's somewhat of a hippie. She makes it a point not to wash her hair, it wastes water. She recently decided that she wanted to be a vegetarian, and rants and raves about global warming and the environment. It's pretty funny to watch, and I'm disappointed to say that it's probably just a phase.

Oh, and the Pike parents are pretty cool too. They've always been so nice to me and my sister, and they take us on family vacations with them every summer. They tell me all the time that they'd like to trade one of their own children in for me because I'm "such a sweet young lady". I've never had a problem with them, and they've never had a problem with me. Generally, they're pretty liberal as far as parenting goes. When we were younger, I was always jealous of the Pike children because they could eat what they wanted, go to sleep when they wanted, and didn't have any rules at all short of not performing attempted murder on their siblings. As the kids got older, the rules loosened up even more and after the age of 16 curfew is non-existent as long as they check in by midnight and tell them where they'll be for the night.

And that's the Pike family. I love them and as far as I know they love me.

I pulled in front of the Pike house and shut off my car. Pushing the button to lock my doors, I made my way up to the front door and let myself in. I've been coming to this house for so long that I never even think to knock, nor am I expected to.

I dropped my bag in the front hall, and walked into the living room where I found Claire reading a book called Meet Your Meat. She looked up and smiled as she saw me.

"Did you know that by eating meat, we're not only hurting the animals but we're hurting the climate?" she greeted me.

"Uh...well...no I didn't know that Claire," I said. I felt like a deer caught in headlights. I'm sorry Mother Earth, but I love my bacon and I love my steak. I like the climate too. Just not as much as meat.

"There's a lot that meat eaters don't know," she replied. "I can't believe I've spent so many years harming those who can't even defend themselves..." she trailed off as she raised her book back to eye level.

I continued to make my way through the house. I said a quick hello to Byron who was headed into the basement. I found Vanessa in the kitchen, helping her mom chop vegetables.

"Hey Rebecca," Vanessa said looking up from the carrot she was chopping. She seemed to be in a deep concentration.

Mrs. Pike on the other hand, dropped her knife and made her way over to me with open arms. "Rebecca, it's been so long since we've seen you around here!"

I laughed. "It's only been like 4 days!" I told her.

"Yeah, but usually we can't get you to leave!" she said jokingly. She hugged me again.

"Well, I've been busy. School and stuff." When she let me go, I walked over to one of the bar stools placed at the counter and took a seat.

"Yeah, school. Is that what you kids are calling it nowadays?" She raised her eyebrow. "Come on, who's the boy?" she asked slyly. She came up to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "Is he cuuuuute?" she teased, rocking me from side to side.

I giggled. "There's no boy! I promise!"

"Fine, fine, don't tell me. I've only opened up my home to you and let you eat out of my refrigerator for the past 8 years.." She pretended to sniffle. "I'm no one important," she said, poking her bottom lip out. She walked back over to her cutting board.

I stared at her blankly. "What did you say your name was again, ma'am?"

She picked up a dish towel and threw it at me. "So what are you doing for dinner, kiddo? Are you joining us tonight?"

"Are you extending an invitation?" I asked walking over to the fridge. I grabbed a Capri Sun, and pulled out the straw. I fiddled with the little hole on the front. Why do they make these things so difficult to open?

"Well yes I am, my dear,." she said in a phony British accent. She could be so silly sometimes.

"I graciously accept then."

"You guys are so weird," Vanessa cut in, speaking for only the second time since I'd been there.

"No! You're just soooo boring!" Mrs. Pike replied dramatically, resting the back of her hand against her forehead.

"I'd rather be boring than a freak!" Vanessa shot back.

Mrs. Pike and I looked at each other, pretending to be offended. I put my hand over my heart. "She did NOT just...I'm speechless!" I said.

"You're speechless? For the first 9 years of her life I had to listen to her speak in rhyme!"

Vanessa will never live those years down. Ever.

I walked over to the counter and helped with dinner. When we were done, we had pork chops, mashed potatoes, and a salad for Claire.

Mrs. Pike rounded up the troops for dinner, and we took our places at the table. I ended up next to Adam, which was good for a number of reasons. For one, we couldn't make googley eyes at each other across the table and give ourselves away.

It's hard to pretend that he's just anyone else when we're around his family.

We have a very...physical relationship (we haven't gone all the way though), and it's hard to turn that off when we're together...but have to pretend that we're not together. As the food was being passed around the table, Adam made it a point to brush his fingers against mine as he passed each bowl of food to me. And I made it a point to rest my leg against his under the table.

Dinner with the Pike family is always fun, but there's always a huge mess to clean up afterwards as well. When I join them I always make it a point to help with the dishes. Adam knows that, which is why he made the initial offer to help with the dishes.

Mrs. Pike felt his forehead. "Honey, are you feeling okay?" she asked jokingly.

"Mooom, I'm fine," he said removing her hand. "I just feel like pitching in for once, what's wrong with that?"

"Everything when your name is Adam Pike," she replied. "But whatever, I'll take it." ," she said quickly getting up from the table.

She and the other Pike children left the room, and soon it was just me and Adam. Alone. Making sure the coast was clear, he made his way over to me slowly and pulled me into a kiss. I pushed him away quickly.

"Adam...you know we can't do this here," I told him.

"Becky, I'm tired of this. If I want to make out with my girlfriend, I should be able to," he replied.

"Adam...that's just not possible babe.." " I grabbed a few dishes off the table and carried them over to the sink. I ran some dishwater and began washing. "You know I don't want to tell anyone yet," I said as I washed ranch dressing off of a plate. I handed the plate to Adam.

Grabbing a towel, he dried the plate and sighed. "This isn't fair and you know it."

"Life isn't fair," I said simply.

We did the dishes in an awkward silence for awhile. At one point Mrs. Pike came in and took a picture of us, claiming that she would never get another opportunity to see Adam washing dishes. After she left, we got back to washing.

When we finally finished, I drained the water and moved closer to Adam. I stood on the tip of my toes to give him a peck on the cheek since he's considerably taller than me. Adam intercepted the move though, and stopped me.

"Why are you ashamed of me?" he asked pushing me away.

"What...I'm not ASHAMED of you!" I exclaimed. "Why would you think that?"

He sat down at the kitchen table and I joined him. "Well, you don't want to tell anyone that we're dating. What else am I supposed to think?"

I grabbed his hand. "Adam-" I began as Vanessa walked into the kitchen. I let go of his hand, feeling panicked. I must have looked it too.

"What's going on?" she asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Maybe I could play stupid.

"What are you guys talking about? Why do you both look so serious?" She looked at me and then she looked at her brother. Then she looked at me again. "Well?" she said when neither of us answered.

"Nothing," Adam said finally. He stood up from his chair. "I've gotta go, I have homework to do." He left the kitchen without looking back at either of us.

I sighed and forced a smile at Vanessa. "I'd better go too. I haven't even started my French project yet," I said quietly.

"Okay..." she said. "I'll walk you out?"

"No, that's okay. You don't have to, Nessa," I told her. "See you tomorrow." I gave her a quick hug and walked to the front hall where I'd left my stuff. I called goodbye to the rest of the family, and ran down the driveway to catch Adam who was just climbing into his car.

"Wait!" I called to him.

He paused. "Becky...I don't want to deal with this right now."

"Adam, I'm sorry," I whimpered, trying not to cry. The look in his eyes was unlike any I'd ever seen before. I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

"I know you are." He stared at me for a few seconds before speaking again. He sighed. I made him do that a lot. "Look, I can't do this anymore. Meet me back at my room. We need to settle this once and for all."

I nodded. It didn't sound like I had much of a choice in the matter. I walked to my car and climbed in. Adam backed out of the driveway and started down the street. I followed him. I could feel my heart beating in my throat the whole way to campus.