Friday night

"I'm seriously thinking about not going to class tonight," Niema sighed as she stretched out on the sofa. Becca smiled at her. "Then don't. You work out with your kick bag every day anyway. Take a night off," she said, looking up from her laptop. "I think I will. Could you hand me the phone, Blink?" The girl rolled her eyes and picked up the phone, holding it out to Niema. "Thanks, brat," she teased as she took the phone. Becca snorted softly and went back to what she'd been doing.

"Franco? Hi, it's Niema. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not going to make it to class tonight. Work was heinous and I'm exhausted. Okay, I'll see you next week then. Bye," was all Becca could hear of the conversation. As Niema hung up the phone, Becca looked up. "Soo, whatcha doin' tonight? Aside from lounging on the couch, that is?" she asked curiously. Niema shrugged. "I don't know. I thought about calling Mia and seeing if she wanted to come over. What do you think?" she replied. Becca looked thoughtful. "Cool. You want me out of the way?" "No. You live here too, squirt, so that means you're not in the way," Niema reminded her with a smile. A blush covered the girl's cheeks. "I know. I just don't want to be a bother to anybody," she said, smiling slightly. She was about to say something else when the phone rang. Niema glared at the phone. "I'm not answering it," she laughed. Becca giggled and picked it up.

"HoneyBear's Pleasure Palace, we'll leave you squeakin' from the freakin'," she said into the phone, making Niema laugh helplessly. "Damn, Becca Jane." The girl rolled her eyes at her. "Umm, yeah, she is. Hang on," Becca said a moment later and handed the phone to Niema. "Who is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mia, ya dork," the younger girl giggled. "Ahh so," Niema laughed, taking the phone, "Hi, Mia. What's up?" She listened for a few moments. "I'll ask her. Blinker, feel like going over to Mia's for a while with me?" she asked Becca. "Sure." "Okay. Blinker's cool with it. We'll be over in a little while. Okay. See you then." Niema hung up the phone and laid back down on the couch.

"I should change clothes, shouldn't I?" Becca asked suddenly, shutting down her laptop. "You like fine, Blink," Niema laughed as she sat up, "I'm the one who needs to change clothes." With that, she got up off the couch and headed down the hall to her room. Becca watched her for a moment and then decided to change her clothes as well.

When Ni came out of her room ten minutes later, she was surprised to see that Becca had changed clothes. Taking in the bib shorts, hot pink tank top and tennis shoes, she smiled. "You look cute in that, Blink. Hot pink is definitely your color," she complimented, chuckling softly when Becca blushed. "Well, I didn't want to look grungy, y'know?" "I know exactly what you mean. C'mon, brat. Let's get going," Niema told her, waving for her to come along. Becca rose from the chair and followed Niema out to her car.

On the way to Mia's, Becca was extremely quiet. That worried Niema. "She's been quiet since she got here. Something must be on her mind," Niema thought. "What's wrong, Becca? And don't say it's nothing. You're a lousy liar," she asked, glancing over at the girl. "I was just thinking." "About?" "Stuff. You know, why my mom hasn't called, is she having fun on her honeymoon? That kind of stuff," Becca replied, looking out the window. Niema understood now why Becca had been so quiet since she'd arrived. "Your mom's having one of those times when she needs time to herself. It doesn't mean that she doesn't love you, hon," Ni said softly, reaching over and squeezing Becca's hand. The girl looked at her. "She's been having one of those times for over a year and a half, Ni. The least she could have done was ask you and Pris if it was all right if I came to visit. That's just common courtesy," Becca told her before looking out the window again. Ni smiled. "Hey, you know me. I love surprises. And you're the best surprise anyone could have sent." She felt better when Becca looked back at her and smiled. "Thanks. I kinda needed to hear that. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a bother." "You're not a bother, Becca Jane, and don't let anyone tell you that you are. You're like my little sister and I'm glad you're here. Pris is too," Ni informed her, smiling. Becca giggled. "Wait two weeks. That'll change," she teased, making Ni laugh. "Probably. But I'll still be glad that you're here. And so will Pris. Provided you don't try to steal Leon away from her." "Yeah, right," Becca laughed as Ni came to a stop in front of Mia's.

Mia was on the porch when they got out of the car. She saw Ni, waved and turned her attention to Pris's little sister, Becca. "You must be Becca. It's nice to finally meet you," Mia said in a friendly voice. "Same here," the girl murmured shyly as Mia ushered the two of them into the house.

Vince and Jesse were in the middle of a surprisingly loud video game. Ni smiled mischievously, snuck up behind the couch and blew in V's ear. He jumped in surprise and quickly turned to see who was behind him. "Hey, Ni. How ya doin'?" he chuckled, smiling at her. "I'm all right. Jesse kicking your ass again?" she teased, smiling back at him. "Not until you blew in my ear." The young man beside him snorted. "You wish. I was beating you like you owed me money," Jesse retorted though he had a smile on his face. His smile faded slightly and the look in his eyes grew curious as he saw the girl standing next to Mia. Ni grinned. "Jesse, this is Becca Foster. Blinker, this is the mad scientist," she said by way of introduction. Jesse gave Becca a shy smile and kind of waved. "Hi," Becca murmured shyly, looking at Jesse through her lashes. Ni turned away and decided to see what happened when the two of them were left to their own devices. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" she asked Mia as she followed her and Vince into the kitchen.

Jesse simply stared at Becca for a little while and was surprised when she stared back at him. "She's so pretty," he thought, taking in the auburn ringlets that hung to her shoulders, the intelligent caramel brown eyes and the pretty heart-shaped face, "She looks like an angel." He was completely stunned by her but he was still aware that she was scrutinizing him the same way he was her. He just hoped that she wasn't thinking about how lame he was.

The first thought that crossed Becca's mind as she looked at Jesse was how normal he seemed. Back home, a lot of the so-called 'brains' had acted like snobs. She couldn't see that in Jesse. All she could see was a cute, sweet guy.

"So you're the mad scientist, huh?" she asked softly, taking a few steps toward the couch. "Ahh, yeah. Dom started calling me that a few years ago. I'm good at coming up with cool stuff for the team's cars," he answered, motioning for her to come closer.

"I kinda do that for Pris sometimes, but Ni uses my stuff more," Becca told him, coming around the couch and sitting down. "Why did she call you 'Blinker'? Is that some kind of nickname?" "Yeah. I'm really good at fixing things, especially cars," she said, glancing down at the Playstation 2. Her eyes widened. "You were playing Silent Hill 3? I haven't even been able to get a hold of it yet," she exclaimed, smiling at him. "You like Silent Hill?" Jesse asked her, a surprised look on his face. "I love Silent Hill."

He couldn't believe it. Finally, he'd met a girl that liked his favorite game aside from Grand Theft Auto. "Let's see how you do on this one," he said, handing her the controller that Vince had dropped. As she took it from him, her fingers brushed his and he nearly shivered. "If it's anything like the second one, I should do pretty well," she commented as he turned on the game. He gave her a wicked smile. "We'll see about that."

Two hours later

Laughter filtered into the kitchen and Ni got up. Peeking through the door, she smiled as she watched Becca and Jesse. "Cute, isn't it?" Vince whispered in her ear. "Yeah. I'm glad to see they're getting along." "Did you think they wouldn't?" Mia asked, peeking around Ni and smiling. "I thought they would. Becca's just kind of shy, you know?" Mia nodded. "Jesse can be the same way. Especially around girls he doesn't know. God, I wish I had a camera," she giggled, glancing up at Ni. "I was thinking the same thing," Ni laughed softly and then let the door close. She was glad that Becca had made a few new friends.