Daphne slowed the car at the curb of the circular driveway in front of Chinook Elementary School and smiled at her son. It had been a long time since she'd seen him this happy and she silently chided herself for not offering to let him bring his friends over to their home more often.

But it was David's decision to make and this girl must be really special because he hadn't stopped talking about her since they left the Montana. He told her all about Andrea's family and her pet cat Fluffy, whom he just knew would never get along with Eddie, as Eddie wasn't too fond of cats. He remembered a story that his grandpa told him about when his Uncle Frasier had to take care of a cat named Mr. Bottomsly who didn't like Eddie at all. The story made him laugh every time he heard it and he couldn't wait to tell it to Andrea.

"Do you want me to come in with you and we can ask her together? I can call her mother if you want." Daphne said.

"Nah, it'll be okay. Her mother's really nice. I met her once." David said.

This was news to Daphne. "Oh. I didn't know you had met her."

"Yeah, Andrea had a doctor's appointment the other day and her mother came to pick her up. Mrs. Hale let me walk Andrea to the office to meet her mom, so that she wouldn't get lost on the way."

Overwhelmed with love for her son, Daphne's eyes filled with tears, causing David to become concerned.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Darling. Now run along before the bell rings, or Miss Hale will start to worry. I love you sweetheart, and I'll be here to get you after school."

David smiled and hugged his mom. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now run along, okay?"

David scrambled out of the car waving to his mother as she drove off.

Once he was safely in school he hurried to his classroom, hoping to find Andrea. And just when he thought she wasn't there, he saw her, sitting at her desk reading a book.

"Hi." He said, approaching her slowly so that he wouldn't startle her.

She looked up and smiled. "Hi. Thanks for helping me get on the bus yesterday. My mom said that it was really nice of you to do that. I feel dumb because it's hard for me to do it myself. I told her that, but she can't come and pick me up after school. She works at a big law firm and doesn't get home till way after school is over."

David began to worry, because he knew a lot of kids that had to stay home by themselves after school. Even though it was starting to stay daylight until well past dinner time, he knew that it could be scary being at home alone when it finally did turn dark. He hoped that didn't happen to her.

"You mean you stay home by yourself?" He asked, worrying about the answer that she would give.

"No, I go to our neighbor's house, but it's pretty boring over there. They don't have any kids and I just sit there and watch television."

"Oh..."

He swallowed hard, suddenly nervous about what he was going to ask her. But that was silly. He was just asking her to come over for the afternoon, not on a date! His dad had told him many times about how nervous he was when he was trying to get his mom to like him for more than a friend.

The thought made him laugh because he simply couldn't understand how anyone could not like his dad. Even though he didn't know anything about sports, he knew a lot more than other kids' dads and that's why David was so smart. He could even recognize certain songs from his dad's favorite operas, and David wasn't really sure what an opera was. It seemed like just a bunch of people singing on a stage wearing costumes.

His mom always laughed when he tried to get her to explain them, and her answer was always to ask his dad. But somehow he never really felt like asking, so he let the subject drop. It seemed like a grownup thing anyway.

The bell rang, signaling that they just had a few minutes before Mrs. Hale was going to start class and he knew that he couldn't ask her with a bunch of kids around. He was friend with everyone in his class, but he didn't want to embarrass Andrea. The older kids had taken care of that.

He became angry remembering how they had laughed at the way she walked and he wished that he was bigger so that he could teach those kids a lesson. But he didn't dare tell his parents.

They wouldn't be too happy if he got into a fight. His cousin Freddy had gotten into a fight once and his uncle Frasier and Aunt Lillith were really mad at him. But it wasn't nice of those kids to treat Andrea the way they did. So maybe fighting was a good idea.

However, his grandpa had told him about how his dad had gotten into a few fights and come home all beaten and bruised. And David certainly didn't want that to happen. His parents worried about him enough. He wished he could tell his dad how sorry he was that he got into those fights when he was a kid, but he didn't want to embarrass him. His dad didn't like to talk about his childhood too much. So David was thankful that he was happy most of the time and didn't have to worry about as many things as his father and his Uncle Frasier did.

The best thing to do was to just ask Andrea to come over, while he had the chance. So he took a deep breath and turned to her.

"Andrea, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Um... Would you..."

"What?"

"Would you like to come over to my house after school?"

The girl's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah, our house is really cool. Well, it's not really a house but it's a house to me. It's in this place called the Montana and it looks like a castle!"

"Really! Wow!"

"So you'll come over?"

"Sure, but how would I get there?"

"Oh, my mom said she'd come pick us up. She always picks me up after school. And I'm sure she'd drive you home after."

"I don't know... I don't get to go to many people's houses."

"It'll be fun! It has an upstairs and everything!"

Her smile faded and she looked down at the carpeted floor.

"Oh..."

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. Are you sure it'll be okay?"

"Yeah, my mom and dad said it would. You can meet them both and you can see our cool dragon statue!"

"Well... Okay. But I need to get Miss Hale to call my mom and make sure I can."

"Okay. But you'd better ask her quick before she starts class."

"I will!" Andrea said, walking as fast as she could (which wasn't very fast at all) to find Mrs. Hale.

David watched as she talked to Miss Hale, and then pointed to David, causing his teacher to nod and smile.

He could hardly concentrate during Spelling and Math and he noticed that Miss Hale left the room a few times and then returned. When he saw his teacher call Andrea up to her desk, he could feel his chest tighten with nerves. He was supposed to be working on his Creative Writing story, but he just couldn't concentrate until he knew whether or not Andrea could come over.

Finally his wait was over, because he saw Andrea smile and then rush back to her desk, faster than he'd ever seen her move before. And he had to try very hard to watch her and make sure that she didn't hurt herself.

"David! She said yes! My mom said yes!"

David was beaming with happiness. And he could hardly wait until three o'clock.