"I am a lovely little coconut," Tabitha sang, bouncing about. "Look at my milky white juiciness…I'm bursting with fruit flavour!"

"Make her stop," Gordie pleaded to no one in particular.

They were on the bus on Monday, on their way home from school. The seating arrangements were somewhat awkward. Abby and Gordie sat together, Tabitha sat with Andie, Chris sat with Vern, Teddy had sat next to Libby without permission, and Delia had a seat to herself.

Tabitha was so unbelievably flipping hyper; she had begun to sing about what she'd be like if she were a fruit. She stopped bouncing. "Why isn't there a light in the freezer?"

Vern looked over at her and smiled.

Delia also slowly turned to stare at her, but then rolled her eyes, frowning.

"There is a light in the freezer," Abby told her.

"No there isn't," Tabitha said. "There's a light in the refrigerator, but not in the freezer."

Abby shook her head. "No…Okay. You know how when you close the fridge door, the light turns off and no one knows where that light goes? The light goes to the freezer. But then when you open the freezer door, it goes back into the fridge, so you never see it."

"Abby," Delia said. "There's a light switch in the refrigerator. That's why the light turns on. And there's no light in the freezer because that's the way God intended it to be."

"It's elves, dammit!" Abby shot back tearfully.

Delia shook her head again, giving up.

"I like the elves idea," Tabitha said with a grin on her face. "I'm going to meet one some day and we'll get married."

"Then you'll have to live in the refrigerator," Libby reminded her. "You like the heat remember?"

"Crap," Tabitha muttered.

"Look, a bunch of flowers," Teddy observed, tugging on Libby's sleeve.

Tolerantly, she looked out the window. "Impressive. Flowers. What with there being dirt and all, one would never imagine."

He sighed.

Delia smiled coolly. She sang softly and teasingly, "She's mad at you."

Libby looked up and met his sad gaze. He wanted reassurance. He wanted her to tell him that Delia was wrong and she had forgiven him.

Suddenly she hated his simple eagerness. She hated how victimized he saw himself and she hated his simplistic, sincere sweetness. She felt her eyes tear away from his, not wanting to look at him anymore.

"Sorry," she said. "Umm…do you want to like, go for ice cream or something later?"

He shook his head. "It's okay. You look tired."

"Well, thank you, that's just how my face is."

"I didn't mean you look bad," he insisted. "I just mean you look like you've had a long day."

"I did have a long day, sorry. I'm just a little snippy today," she told him.

"Snippy?" he asked. "Is that another one of your Canadian words?"

"No, it's a universal word, thank you," she told him. "If I were to say aboot, though, then I would be speaking Canadianese."

"A boot? I have a boot. I use it to kick people."

"Abby, get your hands out of my hair!" Gordie yelled.

"Are we even close to being home yet?" Libby asked. "Delia, I don't know how much more of your sister I can handle."

"My sister?" she demanded. "What about your sister? Tabitha's trying to eat a sucker with her nose!"

"Tabitha, you're going to get all sticky," Vern warned her.

"Not if I plan this just right," Tabitha said, her eyebrows knit in concentration.

"It's not going to work," Vern told her. "Your nose does not have a tongue or a mouth, therefore it cannot suck the sucker."

Tabitha laughed hysterically. "Say that again!"

"Tabitha, shut up, you're making an ass of yourself," Libby said.

"I don't need you, you're not my friend," she grumbled. "You're not even my sister because I pretend that you're adopted. I'm going to make a sock puppet when I get home and he'll be my friend!"

"You can use Mr. Sock for many things," Vern told her.

"Wanna help me make him?" Tabitha asked him.

Chris tapped Libby on the shoulder and she turned around. "Is that ice cream offer open to anyone or just Teddy?"

She grinned. "You know how much I like ice cream."

Andie shot a look at her and then looked away again.

Teddy, Andie, Chris, Libby, Delia and Tabitha all got off at the same stop. Tabitha was going to go to Andie's house, and Teddy invited himself along for ice cream with Libby and Chris. Since Teddy was going to be there, Libby decided to invite Delia so that it wouldn't be all awkward-y.

Teddy tried to take Libby's hand but she shoved her hand in her pocket. He looked at her, almost wounded.

She shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, sweaty hands," she said with a nervous laugh, and then she noticed Andie.

Andie approached her like she owned the world and she had a definite mission. "Hey," she called, catching up to her and grabbing her arm. "Please don't think I don't know."

"About what?" she asked nervously, gently pulling her arm back.

"You and my boyfriend."

"What about me and your boyfriend?"

Tabitha grinned. "That's right, Libby," she murmured to herself. "Just play dumb and no one will expect you're capable of anything."

Teddy smiled at her. "You're such a loving sister."

"What about you and Chris?" Andie shrilled. "The fact that now that he's mad at me, you've decided that now is a good time to snatch him up." She stared at her coldly.

Libby stared back, but not coldly, just blankly. "Um…okay." She shrugged and continued walking.

"Libby!" Andie called after her again, catching up. "You liked him from the moment you got here, I know you have. So right now is a great time to seize the opportunity. He hates me, you're new and he doesn't know anything bad about you. You figure you're perfect for him."

Delia said, "Andie, don't."

"Screw you," she shot back. "What the hell do you know about relationships, Delia? The only thing you know how to do is get used by a guy."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You can think whatever you want about me, Andie. But don't approach Libby when you don't even know anything about what you're talking about."

"Libby is messing around with my boyfriend, so don't stick up for her just because she's your only friend," Andie said.

"First of all Andie, Libby isn't messing around with Chris, but secondly, who the fuck are you to tell her she can't?" Tabitha demanded, surprising both Andie and Libby for different reasons. "You hurt him and you don't own him, so now you no longer have the right to tell him what he can and cannot do. You fucked up on your own. The world doesn't owe you anything, and it doesn't revolve around you either. "

"Crap," Libby muttered. "I'm gonna go before they start hurling monkey poop at me." She walked away, her shoulders slumped defeatedly. Teddy went with her.

Tabitha just stood there when Andie stormed off. Delia squeezed her arm reassuringly; knowing what it was like to lose a friend because of having to stick up for a sibling.

Chris shook his head angrily and jogged to catch up to Andie.

That night, Libby snuck inside around eleven. She crept upstairs, moonbeams streaming in through the window like a spotlight, caught her foot on one of the steps and flew into the railing. "Shit," she murmured, getting back up.

"Libby," Jake whispered from behind her.

She whirled around, startled. "You scared the crap out of me, Jake. What do you want? It's late."

"Were you out getting laid?" he asked eagerly.

Libby tucked her hair neatly behind her ears. "Yes, Jake. I'll leave you with the images now. Goodnight." She laughed and went to her room. She closed the door gently behind her, so as not to wake her sister. She changed quickly into her nightshirt, praying that Tabitha wouldn't wake up and scream, "BOOBIES!" Before she slid under her covers, she looked at Tabitha to see if she really was sleeping. Then she curled her lip in revolt at the sight of her sister's mouth wide open and the drool on her pillow. "Tabby," she whispered, poking at her.

Tabitha's mouth twitched at the sound of her name, and she muttered, "Bleurg…?"

"Wake up, you're drowning in your slobber."

Her eyes fluttered open, finally focusing on her. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm your sister, remember?"

"I have no sister, only a hairy creature that snores."

"YOU snore, you stupid cow. I just yell 'Oh God oh God oh God' in my sleep."

"I don't snore," she mumbled. "And I'm not a cow, you stupid mule."

"You drool too," Libby informed her.

"Granted." Tabitha smiled tiredly. "Why did you wake me up?"

Libby shrugged. "Well, I was thinking…"

She giggled. "If you insist."

"I was thinking that you might actually be a nice sister."

"That would touch my heart if I wasn't so tired," she told her.

"Thanks for sticking up for me."

Looking up at her with a faint smile, Tabitha said, "Blame it on a random mood swing."

"Sometimes you surprise me."

"Ahh, I surprise myself sometimes too." She sighed. "Andie hates me now. The things I do for you."

"It'll be okay, really."

"Why did Teddy follow you?"

"To break up with me."

"Oh."

"I wasn't very heartbroken though."

"Chris went after Andie."

"Damn. Did they make up?"

"Don't know. Guess you'll find out tomorrow morning."

"I hate surprises."

"May I sleep now?"

"Whatever. Goodnight," she said, poking her in the eye because Tabitha couldn't see in the dark, therefore didn't see it coming. "Whoops, my bad."

"I will kill you for that," Tabitha grumbled.

Libby dove under her blankets, and pressed the rosary her grandmother had given her years ago into her hand like she did every night. "Sure you will, Tabitha. Goodniiiiiight, Sugar-Booger!"

"Will you two SHUT UP?" Gage shouted from his room.

"SCREW YOU!" Libby shouted back.

Tabitha's voice was muffled from having her face in her pillow. "You'd think we'd kick you out of the family…"