The rest of my first week of school went by pretty quickly. I was swamped with homework every single day. Thankfully, I hadn't had to baby-sit my siblings or any of the neighbors' kids.

I'd also managed to develop a routine. It went a little something like this: Get up at five-thirty, get dressed, eat some breakfast, walk to school with Harm, go to my classes, eat lunch with Harm, Luna, and Karma, walk to Harm's house, do homework, come home, help Mom with dinner, reread 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', go to sleep, and repeat.

Unfortunately, avoiding Collin was not in my daily routine. Everyday during Geometry class, he would glance at me a lot and smile. After class he would hang back, waiting for me. (I tried to go as slow as possible so maybe he would just get fed up and leave. No such luck.) I'd try to ignore him as he followed me down the hall, but he wouldn't allow that. He'd follow me to my locker and ask me if I'd changed my mind about the dance. I'd tell him that I hadn't, he'd look sad, and then he'd slowly leave.

I couldn't for the life of me understand why he kept asking me. It was like he hoped he would eventually wear me down. It was like he hoped I would give in. I wished he would stop. People were beginning to look at me funny.

Finally, it was Saturday, the day of the dance that I didn't plan on going to. The morning started out normally enough. I got up around eleven, got dressed, and decided to have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. My attempt at breakfast was fruitless; we had run out of milk.

Dad was already at work, so Mom grabbed Danny and headed out to do some grocery shopping. She promised me that she wouldn't be gone long. However, I knew better.

Not long after that, the phone rang with calls for Mat and Mal from their friends to come outside and play. This left me and Faith alone for a few hours.

"So, what do you want to do?" I asked Faith, hoping that since it was just the two of us she'd want to do something normal and reasonable for once.

She sighed heavily. "I don't know." She looked really tired. This was probably because she just woke up and it wasn't an important day, like the first day of school. "Let's just go play catch."

I smiled, happy that she picked something simple. "Go get the ball out of your room and get dressed." I told her. "I'll meet you at the back door."

In just a few minutes, we were outside, playing and enjoying the rare sunshine. It was just one of those perfect days.

Or, it was until Collin walked into our backyard, grinning at me like a jack-o-lantern. Did he have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than come and bother me?

"Hey, Scout." he said, coming towards me with that stupid grin glued to his face. "This your little sister?" he asked, motioning towards Faith, who was tossing the ball up in the air and catching it.

I nodded, wishing he would go away and leave me alone. "Her name's Faith. She's seven."

Faith stopped tossing the ball when she heard her name and ran over to us. "Hi." she said shyly, sticking close to her big sister.

Collin grinned and crouched down to her level. "Wow." he said in mock amazement. "You're tall for a seven-year-old. You sure you're not eight?"

This made Faith really happy. She was grinning so big you could see a few of her missing teeth. "I'm actually seven and a half." she exclaimed proudly. "How old are you?"

"Me? I'm fifteen." he told her.

"You're tall for fifteen." Faith said, looking at me, frowning. "Scout, how come you aren't tall for your age?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, Faith." I looked at the ball, laying forgotten in the grass. "Hey, why don't you take the ball and head back inside while I talk to Collin?" Get rid of Collin more like.

However, Faith had other plans. "Let's play monkey in the middle!" she shouted, running off and grabbing her ball. "Collin's in the middle!" She ran to a spot near the porch and motioned for us to come.

Collin looked at me and shrugged. "I'm game if you are." he said. Seriously, what was with this kid? Why would a fifteen-year-old guy want to play monkey in the middle with the seven-year-old sister of the girl he terrorized for five years?

I sighed. This was definitely not how I wanted to spend my day. However, if I refused Faith would be upset. "Why not?" I knew I was going to regret this.

The game was actually pretty fun, considering who I was playing with. Collin hadn't been lying when he said he was good with little kids. Faith loved him.

When Faith threw the ball, he pretended that he couldn't quite reach it for a while. When Faith ended up in the middle and began getting frustrated because she couldn't get her hands on the ball, he tossed her an easy one and she caught it. I must admit, I was impressed.

After fifteen minutes of intense play, I finally gave up and sat down on the porch steps, trying to catch my breath. Collin and Faith quit playing and sat down with me.

"So, Scout." Collin said, not even out of breath. "You changed your mind about going to the dance with me? Last chance." Why'd he have to ask me that in front of my little sister?

"Sorry." I told him automatically. "I'm not going. I already told you." I still didn't know why he wanted to go with me. It had to be some kind of elaborate scheme to humiliate me.

Collin sighed, sounding legit. "Okay then. If you're sure."

Everything was silent for a few minutes. I hoped Mom would hurry up and get home. Maybe Collin would leave then.

"Collin?" Faith asked, breaking the silence. "Did you used to pick on Scout when you were my age?"

Collin quickly looked down, like he was ashamed. "Uh... yeah." he mumbled. "I wasn't a very nice kid. I'm really sorry I did it though." He looked up at me, his eyes begging my forgiveness. However, I wasn't stupid. I wasn't going to fall for it.

Faith nodded, understandingly. "So, do you like Scout?" she asked curiously. Great. She had actually taken Mom and Dad seriously at dinner on Monday.

Collin seemed to blush. "Well, I want to be friends with her." he told her. "I suppose I like her... as a friend." Yeah, right.

Faith grinned mischievously. She stood on her knees and stage-whispered in Collin's ear, "Scout loves daisies. She thinks they're beautiful."

Collin chuckled and then stage-whispered to Faith, "I'll keep that in mind then."

Thankfully, Mom pulled up before anyone could say anything else. Perfect. She decides to show up right after Faith embarrassed me in front of Collin. Who I hate. No matter how nice he is to my little sister.

Collin got up as Mom got out of her car. I supposed he was afraid. "I'll... uh... I'll see you later, Scout. This was really fun. I had a nice time." He smiled at me and for a moment, I was hypnotized.

However, I quickly snapped myself back to reality. "Bye." I told him simply. I was not sorry to see him leave. If anything, I was relieved.

On his way out of the yard, he passed my mom, who now had Danny in her arms. "See you, Mrs. Barlow."

Mom looked surprised, but replied, "Good-bye." and waved as Collin walked up the road. As she walked up the porch steps past me, she asked, "What went on while I was gone?" She was actually smiling! What the heck?

"Nothing." I muttered, getting angry. What was everyone's problem? Why couldn't they all leave me alone?

"Mommy, guess what!" Faith said, jumping up and down. "We played monkey in the middle with Collin and he said that I'm really tall for my age!"

"That's nice, dear." Mom said as she walked to the door. "Mat and Mal gone somewhere?"

"Beach with some friends." I said quietly as she opened it.

"Mommy, can we have lunch now?" Faith asked, following Mom inside, still jumping up and down.

"Soon, honey." she said as she shut the door.

I was now all alone, just the way I liked it. However, I couldn't seem to relax. I kept expecting Collin to come back since Mom was inside. He seemed kind of... in a hurry to leave when she got there.

I wrapped my arms around my knees and stared at the ground. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't notice that Harm was walking across the street towards me until the toes of her converses stopped in my line of sight.

I looked up and gave a half-hearted smile. "Hey." I whispered quietly as she sat down. I was not really in the mood for conversation.

"Okay, that's it." Harm said, sounding irritated. Well, that was some greeting. How about a hello next time? Jeezums. "Scout, you've been weird and mopey all week."

I sighed. "I'm sorry. It's been a crazy, tiring week." I wasn't lying. I had had a lot of homework and was really tired by ten. Unfortunately, every other night that stupid wolf would howl for hours. I didn't get to sleep until after two and I had to wake up at five-thirty so I could get ready for school.

"Well, I'm sick of it." she informed me. "So, Karen's going to ask your mom if you can go... shopping with us." She gagged on the word 'shopping' like it made her ill.

"Shopping?" I asked. "What for? You hate to shop." Harm would rather gouge out her eyes than shop. In fact, the only thing she hated more than doing that was her dad.

"We need dresses for the dance." The dance? Okay, who was this girl and what had she done with my best friend? It was like she was a pod-person or something. Should I be on the lookout for UFOs?

"Have you cracked your skull?" I asked incredulously. "We both agreed we weren't going. I don't want to embarrass myself and you think dances and other school functions are lame."

She shrugged. I guess she didn't want to do this anymore than I did. "It was Karen's idea. I told her how you've been acting. She figures some girl time will cheer you up." she said, sticking out her tongue. "I wouldn't have agreed if I didn't think it might help."

I groaned. I wasn't going to be getting out of this one. Harm would drag me against my will. If she had to go, so did I. Well, Collin would be getting a good laugh at me after all.

I heard the phone ring inside the house. That was probably Karen calling Mom to make sure it was okay to take me to Port Angeles and then drop me at the dance afterwards.

Sure enough, moments later Karen walked out of her house and motioned for Harm and I to go over there.

I sighed and hoisted myself up. This really sucked. How did such a nice day turn out so awful? I guess it was just my rotten luck.

"It's for your own good." Harm said as we stopped at the side of the road and looked for passing cars before crossing. You are never too old to practice safety.

I blamed myself for the mess I was in. I should've tried to act happier or, at least, lied better. I blamed Collin. None of this would've happened if he had just left me alone. I blamed that stupid pencil that I dropped in Geometry class. If it wasn't for that, my life wouldn't be ruined.