Danny said goodbye to Robin at her front door. When she entered the house, she saw that her mother was eating dinner. Across from her was an untouched plate.

"You're probably gonna have to heat it up," Helen told her daughter. "You must really enjoy this girl's company to have spent so much time with her."

"She was showing me her stickers," Robin replied. "You'd never believe how many she has!" She didn't mention the mugger because she didn't want to scare her mother.

Leah sat with Robin and her friends at lunch again the following day and was much more talkative than she'd been before. The group continued to eat together for the rest of that week, and on Friday, Ashlynn slipped Robin a note underneath the table. When Robin got to Mrs. French's class, she opened the note and read it.

'Hey Robin, Blake's having a party at his house tomorrow night, and a bunch of us are going. We'd love for you to join us, just don't bring Leah, OK? See ya later, Ashlynn.'

When Robin got home that evening, she called Ashlynn. "Hey! Can you come tomorrow night?" asked Ashlynn.

"Why don't you want Leah to come?" asked Robin.

Ashlynn sighed. "Oh, Robin, who wants to listen to her go on and on about stickers? Talk about boring!"

"She can't help it, Ashlynn. She has something called Asperger syndrome."

"I don't care. She's no fun, and I don't want her around."

Robin felt depressed as she hung up. She loved hanging out with her friends, but she felt guilty about Leah's being left out. She wondered what Danny would say about the situation.

No sooner had she thought of him than there he stood, smiling at her. Startled, she giggled. "I should be used to that by now," she remarked.

"You know I'll always come whenever you need me," he replied.

"Well, I'm glad you're here, because I have kind of a dilemma."

"Want to talk about it over frozen yogurt?"

The next minute, she found herself at Dee-Lite, where Danny bought her a pina colada frozen yogurt with pineapple chunks and shredded coconut. "Ashlynn invited me to a party at Blake's tomorrow night, but she said Leah wasn't invited because she talks about stickers so much. She does talk about them an awful lot."

"Do you mind that?" asked Danny.

"I guess not, but it does get tedious sometimes."

"How important is this party to you?"

"Well, I do like hanging out with Ashlynn and Blake and the others."

"What if I told you there was something even more fun happening tomorrow night?"

"There is?"

He nodded. "Life Way Church is having game night tomorrow. Why don't you go and take Leah? Everyone will be playing games, so she won't have to struggle to come up with small talk that doesn't involve stickers."

"Are you gonna be there?"

"You bet!"

"That sounds like a great idea! I'll call and invite her as soon as I get back home!"

Wren and Iceas were eating lunch together when they saw a group of Cosmetology students enter the cafeteria. Shelby was among them. Wren waved and called to her, and she smiled and walked over.

"Let me get my lunch, and I'll come back." She joined the line at the front and returned about fifteen minutes later with a hamburger, fries, and a cola. "Is the food here good?" she asked Wren.

"Not as good as McDonald's or Burger King, but it's edible," Wren replied.

Shelby bit into her hamburger, then nodded in agreement.

"What's your morning been like?" Wren asked after she'd swallowed.

"Absolutely overwhelming! There's just so much to remember! I forgot school was so hard!"

"You'll get through it," said Wren.

"I sure hope so! I don't want to ring up groceries for the rest of my life!"

"My Mom has her own hair salon. She's always enjoyed that kind of work," said Wren.

"It would be cool to have my own salon," Shelby replied. "Maybe someday."

"She had to work really hard to get it going," said Wren. "That was right after Dad died. We were really poor for a long time."

"I've always admired your Mom," said Iceas. "Mine has had to work from time to time when things got tough, but she's never had to completely support the family."

"My Mom hasn't worked at all since she got married," said Shelby. "My Dad never wanted her to. He always said he didn't want people thinking he couldn't support his family."

"That sounds kind of old-fashioned to me," said Iceas.

"Trey told he his family's very traditional," Wren put in.

"That's right, you're Trey's sister, aren't you?" asked Iceas. "How's he doing?"

"All right, I guess," Shelby replied. "I haven't talked to him in a couple of weeks."

"He was fine when we went out Saturday," said Wren.

"Looks like there's gonna be a wedding soon," Iceas said in a singsong voice.

"We haven't even talked about that!" Wren exclaimed.

Iceas just giggled.

"You mean with a bunch of people I don't even know?" Leah was incredulous.

"You know me," Robin replied. "And the others are all really nice, especially Danny. I can't wait for you to meet him."

"I never know what to say to boys," said Leah.

"Danny isn't just any boy. He's a very special boy."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"Sort of."

"I've never had a boyfriend before."

"You will someday."

"I've always wanted one really bad. I feel so jealous every time I see a boy and girl walking together holding hands in school."

"I'm sure there's a guy somewhere in the world who's perfect for you. Just be patient and never give up."

Leah sighed.