"Isn't this great?" I said to Kit. "Girls' night out means guys' night in. We haven't done this in a while."

"No, we haven't."

Tonight it was just the two of us. Kase had gone to a movie with Maya and Lacey, in an attempt to make nice. We were watching A Hard Day's Night and sharing a carton of ice cream.

"So tell me," Kit said. "You and Kase . . . you've known each other your whole lives?"

"Almost. We were about seven, when we met. We were the first two kids at the training school, and I think we bonded right away."

**********

"You're a jerk!" the little blonde girl screamed, threw a handful of crushed flowers at me, and stomped off.

Okay, so it wasn't right from the beginning.

Let me go back a bit. I was not happy to be here. I had really had high hopes that Helene and Jerry would be the ones, the family I ended up staying with for more than a few months. I really liked them. Helene had gotten me into martial arts lessons, which I loved, and Jerry had taught me how to fix motorcycles, which I also loved. I wanted to stay with them so bad, and then all of a sudden I was yanked out of school and dragged to this strange place because I was "chosen". Chosen for what? Why? And didn't I have a choice in the matter?

And then this little girl comes up to me and says, "Hi, you wanna flower?"

She was holding a bunch of dandelions she had just pulled out of the ground. I looked at them, and then at her.

"What are those for?"

"Cause flowers are pretty!"

"Those are weeds!" I snapped at her. Yeah, it was kinda unfair to take out my frustrations on someone I'd just met, who didn't even know what it was that I was upset about, but I didn't care. I suppose that I thought, somewhere in the back of my brain, that maybe if I really acted up, they'd send me back to Helene and Jerry, where I really wanted to be.

"I think they're pretty," she said, holding them out. "Take them!"

I reached out and squished the flowers in my hand. "Leave me alone!"

And that's when she called me a jerk and stomped away. And I have to admit, I deserved it.

***

It wasn't until later that night that I decided to apologize to her. It was more out of a sense of loneliness than actual regret; I didn't want to have no one to talk to at this place. There were only the two of us right now, so either I made up with her, or I would spend all my time alone.

I went to her room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Um . . . it's me," I said, wondering if she would remember me.

"Me who?"

Was she playing around, or did she really not remember? "From this afternoon? I'm sorry about the flowers. They were nice."

The door opened, and she yanked me inside. "Hurry up! You're just in time!"

"For what?" I asked.

"For the tea party! Oh, you have to wear The Hat."

I swear, I heard her pronounce the capital letters. "Hat? What hat?" I asked, and then a giant frilly monstrosity was jammed over my eyes. I pulled it off and looked at it.

The Hat was a fancy lace picture hat, about four feet wide, in a lovely lavender shade. It had pink roses around the crown and a feather sticking up in the back.

I handed it back to her. "I don't wanna wear the hat."

"You have to! If you come to the tea party, you have to wear The Hat!" And she plunked it right back on my head.

"Sit down! Tea's almost ready."

I took a seat between a huge red bear and a little fleecy bunny, feeling really, really embarrassed. At least there was no one else around to see me in all my lacy-hatted, stuffed-animal-loving glory.

"This is Pedro," she said, indicating the bear, "and this is Zachary."

"Hi," I mumbled.

The girl leaned forward and whispered, "You have to tell them your name now."

"Why?" I asked.

"Cause I can't introduce you, cause I don't know your name."

It was then that I realized I didn't know her name either. "Oh. Um . . . I'm Len."

She held the bear's paw and waved it at me. "Hi, Len!" she said in a weird voice.

"Hi, Zachary," I said, feeling more and more foolish by the second.

She giggled. "That's Pedro! This is Zachary, here!" She waggled the bunny's ears.

"Oh, sorry."

"And I'm Kase."

"Casey?"

"No! Just Kase."

"Why just Kase?"

"Why are you just Len?"

I just shrugged.

All of a sudden she stood up. "I forgot the tea! Wait right here, I'll be back."

It wasn't really tea, of course; it was water, in little plastic cups. But I played along anyway. The only problem was, every time I went to take a sip, that stupid hat--excuse me, Hat--would get in my way. I wanted to just rip it off and throw it on the floor, but she was watching me, and I knew that if I did that, I wouldn't be invited to another tea party again, ever. I didn't want to be all alone.

"More tea, Len?" she asked, holding up the pot. It was made of the same colored plastic as the cups.

"No, thanks," I said. "I should be going."

"Bring your animal next time!" she said.

"I, um . . . I don't have one," I admitted.

"Why not?"

"I left it behind two families ago. Never replaced it."

"Oh, that's so sad." She plucked something fuzzy off her bed and handed it to me. "This is Zachary's sister Annabelle. You can borrow her until you get one of your own."

"Thanks," I said. Annabelle looked just like Zachary, except that she had a flower in between her ears, and she had a dress and fake patent leather shoes on. I thought it was awfully girly, but I wasn't about to insult her by handing it back. It wasn't like I was going to sleep with it or anything.

I never did give Annabelle back. I think I lost her when we moved into the Tower, but I slept with that bunny for the next six years.

***********

At this point, Kit was rolling around on the floor in hysterics. "Oh, man!" he gasped, in between fits of helpless laughter. "I can just see you in that hat . . ."

"We do not speak of The Hat," I warned him. "Not to anyone."

"And she gave you a girl bunny! Oh, my God . . ."

"We were seven years old! I only kept it for sentimental reasons!"

"Tea parties . . . oh, God . . ." And he was off again.

I heard the click of a key in the lock. I had finally made a copy of my key (since Kit seemed to have forgotten about it) and given it to Kase just days before. I heard female voices chattering happily. Must have been a good movie.

I stood up as they came in. Kit was still lying on the floor, trying to catch his breath. "Hey, how was the movie?" I asked.

"It was great," she said. "So, you girls want to come in for a minute?"

Lacey and Maya looked at each other, and came to the same conclusion at once. "Um, we should really be going," Maya said.

"Yeah," Lacey said quickly. "Stuff to do. You know."

Kase walked them to the door. "Okay, then. I'll call you."

"Bye, guys!" Maya said, as she and Lacey went out the door.

"So," Kase said, as she flopped down on the couch beside me, "what have you been up to?"

"Not much," I said. "Just talking about . . . things."

"What kind of things?"

"Old childhood memories," Kit said.

Kase looked down at him. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"I fell," he said.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged. "Okay. What childhood memories? Anything good?"

"Not really," I said, trying to change the subject quickly. "Want some ice cream?"

"No, thanks, I'm stuffed full of popcorn."

"You getting along okay with the girls?" Kit asked her.

"Yeah, I guess so. But, you know, bonding is okay, but sometimes it's nice to come home to someone who understands me."

"And looks good in a frilly hat."

Kase turned on me. "You told him about The Hat?"

I grinned. "Now you've got nothing to blackmail me with."

"Oh, I've still got plenty of blackmail material!"

"I think," Kit said, getting up, "you two should work this out between yourselves. I'll be in my room." And he took the rest of the ice cream with him.