Mila Littlesea was a petite Native girl, a little taller than Penelope, but with the same athletic build. Her father, Collin Littlesea, was Brady's best friend in the whole wide world, besides Coraline. When the two of them got in a room together, Pen swore the nerd-level spiked. As a result, Penelope had developed a strong friendship with Mila when both of them were little girls, before Coraline had decided to send Penelope to middle and high school in California. Over the eight years that Penelope had been away, Mila had been the only friend that she'd been able to maintain a long-distance friendship with. Mila always wrote back, and like Pen, simply carried on giving friendly advice and input, even when many miles lay between them.

When Mila walked in through the front door of the Fuller household, about a week after Penelope's arrival, Pen knew immediately that they'd still have the same chemistry they'd discovered years ago.

"They remind me of gremlins," Mila had said, watching Tommy and Toby squabble over a plastic dump-truck.

"I know!" Pen had shrieked, and their fates as best friends were settled right then and there. They spent an hour or two catching up. Mila wanted to know what school had been like in California. Pen wanted to know all the latest gossip. She'd spent her childhood with most of the La Push kids and it was fascinating to hear how they'd all grown.

"Oh, yeah. Kate Cameron's engaged to Pace Uley now."

"Really? That's crazy," Penelope mused, leaning back against the headboard of her bed. Mila nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, he's head over heels for her. It happened all of the sudden too," she added. "One day last year Kate came back from a trip to Seattle with Mrs. Cameron, and bam! Pace was hooked."

They took a moment to think over the news.

"Remember when we all had crushes on him?" Pen said, smiling at the memory.

Mila snorted. "'Course I do. He bought us ice cream and gave us piggy back rides. We loved him."

"She never seemed all that interested," Pen said after a moment. She popped a grape into her mouth. "Kate, I mean."

"Well, Kate never seems all that interested about anything," Mila said decidedly, and also reached for the tray of snacks on Pen's bedspread. "I don't know. She looks pretty into him now."

Pen hummed in understanding. She chewed thoughtfully, and then giggled at a thought. "I told you about Liam's little episode last week, right?"

Mila grinned. "You sent me an email, but my dad had already told me about it."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, I think he talked to yours."

"Huh. Anyways, without giving you any ideas, let me just say that both of the younger Uleys are looking fine."

"Without giving you any ideas, I'd have to agree whole heartedly."

"What happened?" Penelope asked, still giggling a little. Mila was too. She scrambled up by Pen on the bed.

"I have no idea. Puberty?"

"Bullshit - that's the best case of puberty I've ever seen! The twins better not hit it like that, or I'm going to be swatting girls away with a two-by-four."

Mila smothered her laughter in a pillow. "Okay, okay, so which one is nicer? Liam or Nate?"

Pen felt her tummy twist with giddiness. "Whaaaaat?"

"Come on, Pen. Tall and lean or big and beefy?"

"All four of those descriptors fit both of them. You're going to have to do better."

"Pen! You know what I mean."

"Aw, geez. I mean, they both look good, but Nate will always be a sort of little brother person. And he's got that really annoying laugh. And he's a punk."

"So Liam."

"I didn't say that."

"The question was either or and you picked either."

"I did no such thing. I just picked not or."

"Fine, fine. Be like that," Mila sniffed, stretched out along the bed. "I know the truth. I've seen it in your eyes."

This triggered another bout of hysterical giggles that only subsided when Cora came to let them know that Mrs. Littlesea had called to say that Mila was half an hour late for dinner.