When I came to, I saw Glen, Homer, Shelly, Melba, and Frankie all standing over me while I lay on the couch. I guess they moved me over here after I passed out. Man, I ate so much food. I wasn't even sure I would want any more for the rest of the night. I scanned my eyes to see how everyone reacted when I woke up.

"You gave us quite a scare, Jessica," Glen said. "Mom and Dad were scared, too, but you didn't seem to hurt yourself too bad."

"I-I didn't?" I asked, confused on what he was talking about.

"Course not, though you did hit your head a bit when you hit the floor. Don't worry, I don't reckon you have a concussion or anything."

"Okay." I just left it at that. "What time is it?"

"It's about 7 PM."

I looked at Glen with intrigue. "Do we have any movies we could watch before going to bed?"

"We got some movies, yeah. What kind you wanna watch? Something like Robin Hood, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Care Bears Movie or...?"

"I wanna see The Exorcist."

Glen, Homer, Shelly, Melba, and Frankie just gave me weird and confused looks.

"The Exorcist?" Frankie asked me, slightly scared of my suggestion. "Isn't that the movie where a demon possesses a little girl?"

I nodded proudly. "That's the one."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to watch that one..."

I gave her a mocking smile. "Why not? Afraid it'll give you nightmares or something?"

I could tell Frankie was trying not to let my teasing get to her. "No. Mom and Dad think it's too violent for us kids."

I couldn't help but laugh at her answer. "Grow up, will ya? Surely, we can handle this stuff by now. I mean, we ain't babies anymore."

Frankie gave my suggestion some thought. "Well, this could be the first time we've seen a horror movie, let alone by ourselves. I don't know how long we could watch before Mom and Dad find out, though..."

I eagerly leaned in in anticipation. "So you'll at least give it a chance?"

Frankie's eyes darted down to the ground. "I mean... I guess I don't see why not. I'm getting tired of watching baby shows anyway."

I beamed with glee. "That's the spirit!"

And so me and the McBride kids just watched The Exorcist while Newt and Jewell were off in another room. We all had gleams in our eyes as we saw Lankester Merrin find a sculpture resembling Pazuzu and then soon after come across a statue towering over him in the image of Pazuzu; an omen warning him of a looming confrontation. The other kids and I were practically on the edges of our seats, waiting to see what would happen next. However, around the time Regan's bed began to shake and levitate violently, Glen and Homer tapped out and started getting ready for bed. That left me, Shelly, Melba, and Frankie to sit through the rest of the movie. I was so pumped to get through this thing. I didn't care if the others didn't feel the same way. It was the first time I got to watch a scary movie all by myself, and it was especially the first time I would get to see a movie without an adult nearby to supervise. Right when we got to the part where Father Damien Karras was trying to perform an exorcism on Regan, I couldn't help but notice how tired Shelly and Melba were getting. Frankie noticed as well, and she lightly poked Melba in the arm.

"H-Hey, Melba," Frankie said. "Melba, wake up."

Melba lifted her head up slightly, and she looked at us with heavy eyelids and kind of a squint. Frankie and I had to suppress chuckles.

"W-Wha?" Melba could barely muster up. "What is it, Frankie?"

"You look tired," Frankie replied. "So does Shelly."

Melba made a brief glance over to Shelly and saw that Shelly was about five seconds away from falling face-first into the carpet and drifting off to sleep.

"Oh yeah..." Melba muttered. "I guess we should get to bed. Good night, guys. See you in the morning, I guess."

With that, Melba slowly pulled herself and Shelly up to stand, and they headed off for bed. Soon, it was just me and Frankie. We were just glued to the television for the longest time, eager to see how it would all end. Okay, I knew how it would end because I'd seen it before with Namęšéme, but Frankie didn't. I was curious to see how much she enjoyed the experience by the time the movie would be over. As if in the blink of an eye, the ending unfolded right there in front of us. Karras threw himself out the window in a final moment of both strength and self-sacrifice, and he died upon tumbling down some steps, managing to stop the spirit that had been possessing Regan from hurting anyone else. Father Dyer administered Karras' last rites, Regan and her mother left for Los Angeles, and the movie was over. I looked over briefly to see Frankie staring at the screen with a slight smile on her face.

"So whatcha think?" I asked her. "Did you like it?"

Frankie's smile grew larger as she turned to look at me. "I thought it was fun."

"I know, right? So spooky and fun, especially with all that supernatural stuff."

"Yeah." Frankie then bit her lip. "You ever feel like that spirit that possessed Regan?"

"Say what?"

"Like, I'm sure you felt like you just had to make yourself known somehow. I thought I'd ask 'cause... you know..."

I caught on to what she was saying. "Yeah. That's why I'm not so eager to go back to school. What if another girl points out I'm trans to other girls? I'm not sure I'd want all that attention for myself, especially when I won't be going through the same puberty they are."

"It's nothing to be ashamed about, Jessica."

I was surprised to hear her say that, especially when I initially thought she'd hate me for it. "It's not?"

Frankie squeezed my hand. "Of course not. I look different from the rest of my family, but I've never felt any real shame from it. Mom told me once that when I was born, I was the prettiest baby to come out of her."

"So you never got to feel any real rejection because of how you look?"

"Uh-uh." She then leaned closer to where I was. "I don't want you to feel rejected, either."

And then, without warning, she kissed me. It took me a few seconds to reciprocate and then pass out.