Anya lay on her bed, listening to a scratched Bobby Darrin record while her parents fought outside her door. She blinked back tears. She just wished she hadn't screwed up everything with Lorelei. Yeah, she really liked Chris, but Lorelei had been her best friend since before kindergarten, and she loved her to death. She had been there through all her family issues, and Anya had helped her with her occasional emotional issues.

She rolled over onto her side, bringing the hand-stitched quilt with her.

Her mother yelled for her husband to get out of her sight, as always in heavy Polish.

He shouted back at her, telling her to go to hell.

Maybe she could go to Gordie's, Anya thought. But he had missed school that day; maybe he would be too sick to see her.

"Anna," a small voice called, and her sister came into her bedroom without a warning knock.

"Hey, Ilonka," she whispered, quickly wiping away her own tears. "Are they upsetting you, babe?"

Nineteen-year-old Ilonka, who had been born with Down syndrome, nodded mutely and crawled into bed with her sister. Tears streamed down her innocently child-like face.

Anya played with her sister's hair, whispering softly. It felt good to comfort someone else.

"Are you done your homework?" Mr. Grey called after his daughter as she was on her way out the door.

"Yes," Cassie replied, letting the screen door slam shut behind her. She collapsed on the porch swing, frustrated and sighing.

Looking across the street to the Aaron's house, she watched as Mr. Aaron walked out of the house and got into his truck, no doubt on his way to the Mellow Tiger bar. One would think he would stop drinking after he'd caused the car wreck that had killed the older Lachance brother, but he was still drinking heavily even six years later.

Cassie did have some studying she should probably be doing, but it was only the third week of school and she was already feeling burnt out. There was so much pressure now that she was a senior, and she just wished everyone would leave her alone and stop expecting so much from her.

"Hey Cassie," Brooke, her across-the-street-neighbour, called, crossing over the Grey's lawn with her long, obnoxiously shapely legs.

Cassie sighed. She had wanted to be alone. The last person she wanted to be with right now was the aloof, Homecoming Queen-destined Brooke Aarons.

"It's pretty out, hey?" Brooke asked, and Cassie could see her breathing in the smell of the hyacinths and lilacs her mother had always prided herself on.

"Yeah, I guess so," she replied tersely. Then she looked up at her expectant face. "Do you want to sit down?" she muttered.

"Oh. Thanks." Brooke sat next to her on the porch swing and they swayed silently for a moment.

"So, where were you just coming from?" Cassie asked to break the silence.

"I went for a walk with Gordie," Brooke said, smiling. "A cat followed him home. They were in love."

Cassie nodded, then looked at her sharply. "Lachance?"

"Yep. It surprised me when he called too, don't worry."

"But you--and his family…" Cassie stuttered, wishing she could put her foot in her mouth. "It's like Romeo and Juliet, with your families all hating each other…but only, he kinda…um…"

"He kinda hates me too?" Brooke filled in the blank indifferently. "Yeah. But we talked tonight so I think we're good now. And it's nice."

"Wow," she murmured. "Times do change. Brooke Aarons and Gordie Lachance. Go figure."

"Nah, we're not an 'and.' I mean, I guess I kinda like him, but he's still pretty wary of me, so there's no 'me and Gordie.' There probably won't ever be. It's too weird with what happened between our families."

"Yeah, I guess so. But he called you, didn't he? Maybe you could read into that."

"I choose not to. I'd prefer not to get hurt, thanks." She smiled and nudged Cassie like they were old friends from way back. "So, you and Vern!"

"No me and Vern," Cassie snapped.

"Oh come on!" Brooke giggled. "He's in love with you! And you gotta admit, he's adorable."

Cassie squirmed. "Ahhhh those flowers smell good!"

Grinning, Brooke leaned her head back against the wood of the swing to look up at the sky. "That's funny. I've known you like all my life and I never knew you were cute when you get flustered."

She laughed. "Are you coming on to me, Brooke?"

"Yes, Cassie, yes I am," she replied teasingly. "Remember, I like Gordie. You're out of luck."

"DAMN," she laughed.

"Hey," Brooke suddenly exclaimed. "You can see Orion's belt tonight."

"What?" Cassie demanded.

"In the sky," she explained, pointing out the constellation. "Can you see it?"

"No…Ohh, yeah I see it. Hey, is that a constellation?" she asked excitedly, and pointed to a cluster of something in the sky.

"That's a street light." Smirking, Brooke asked, "When's the last time you had enough free time to just sit back and look at the stars?"

"I don't know," Cassie replied, realizing that she'd never in her life found the time for looking at a peaceful night sky. She'd never seen the relevance in it until then.

Lorelei stared at the phone in the kitchen.

Her brother hurled peach slices at her.

Maybe she could phone Anya and wait for an apology?

"Why won't you react?" Alexander grumbled.

She really did miss Anya. She'd never gone so long without talking to her.

Alexander threw harder.

But Anya had made her cry. She'd hurt her feelings. Anya knew that Lorelei very seldom fell for a guy, yet she took that guy out of her reach.

"I'm annoying you!"

Then again, she couldn't hold Anya responsible for the fact that Chris liked her better. And she hadn't known that Lorelei liked him when she'd done whatever the hell she had done with him. She was probably just scared of causing a fight. Still--Lorelei figured she had every right to be mad. She would wait for Anya to talk to her first.

"Pay attention to me!" Alexander pleaded.

Lorelei felt a peach slice go down the back of her sweatpants. "ALEX!" she screeched, throwing it back at him, but missed and hit her older sister, Aurora.

"LORELEI!" Aurora screeched.

"I'm sorry, that was in my pants!"