A/N: Lioness Black mentioned that she noticed a few age discrepancies in the fic. To explain, I'm working from ages outlined in the earlier BSC books. David Michael turned eight while Karen was still six, so there is just a bit more than a year age difference between them. At some point in the year, he would be 15 while Karen is still 13. They would be in the same grade at school, because Karen skipped a grade. Andrew is two years younger than Karen, which makes him eleven. Emily Michelle is between a year and a year and a half younger than Andrew, which would make her nine or ten, depending on which month each of them was born in. I've decided to make her ten. I hope this makes sense.

Karen grumps around the house the day after the party, feeling extremely sorry for herself. Kristy had freaked out in the car about responsibility and punctuality, and honked the horn repeatedly to get her point across. Karen sat with her arms crossed, mostly ignoring what Kristy had to say. Daddy surely won't go through with that punishment, Karen thought when Kristy announced that she'd have to prove herself by cleaning all of the bathrooms at the house once a week for a month, and coming home right after school every day until June.

Karen was very close to being right. "I think that's a little harsh," Watson told Kristy when she suggested the sentence to him.

Kristy stood her ground, and squared her shoulders. "Watson," she said firmly, "if you don't teach Karen early that there are consequences to breaking curfew, imagine the problems you'll have when she's older and wants more freedom. Remember Sam?" She paused to let Watson think about this.

Watson groaned a little. The headaches of so many late nights that he had spent waiting for his stepson to come in from a party came crashing back and pulsing behind his temples. "I think you're right about this one."

Of course, Kristy gloated. She always does, Karen thinks as she takes a bottle of toilet cleaner from the hallway closet. She decides not to start cleaning the bathroom she shares with Kristy and Emily Michelle. Instead, she goes down to the family room and throws herself dramatically on one of the couches. Dave and Andrew are in there playing a new video game that Andrew got for Christmas. Karen sighs loudly so that they'll hear her over the sound of cars crashing into each other.

Andrew wins the round, and Dave throws down his controller and tackles the younger boy. They playfully spar for a few minutes before noticing Karen.

Dave rubs his index finger against his thumb. "Do you hear that Karen? I'm playing Nobody Knows The Sorrow for you on the world's smallest violin." He knows it's a cheesy thing to say, but he also knows that it's the sort of thing that will irritate Karen like a fluffy cat with static electricity in its fur.

Karen sighs melodramatically again. "You don't understand!"

Andrew opens his mouth, closes it, and then bravely says, "I understand. I understand that the sink in my bathroom is clogged, and someone better unclog it today."

Dave is impressed. He never thought that Andrew had it in him to talk back to Karen. As a child, adults had assumed that whatever Karen was doing, Andrew would surely want to tag along because he admired his big sister. That couldn't be further from the truth. Andrew had been scared to death of Karen, and of any consequences that may have come from not following her many dimwitted schemes involving witches. Recently Karen lost some of her hold over Andrew after he had seen Dave and even ten year-old Emily Michelle call her out and tell her off.

Karen ignores him. "You don't understand the nature of true luv," she tells the boys. "If I have to be home right after school, how am I going to have a romance with James?"

Dave laughs. "You never would have had a romance with James. All he wants to do is feel you up." He knows that James is going to tell everyone all of the sordid details, and that's why none of the girls at SHS will date him.

Karen throws a pillow from the couch at Dave. "It would have led to luv. Stacey McGill told me so once."

"Stacey McGill once told me that if I wished on a starfish, a hunky lifeguard would fall hopelessly in love with me" Emily Michelle says as she enters the room. "If I had a nickel for every stupid thing Stacey McGill has said about love, I'd buy you a big box of chocolates for Valentine's Day. Come on Andrew, Dad's going to drive us to Alicia Gianelli's birthday party." As the baby of the family, Emily Michelle is ballsy and acts older than her age from growing up with so many siblings who are much older than her. She never backs down from an argument with Karen, and that is the main source of tension between the sisters. Karen sits up straight and snaps around, hoping to deliver a scathing remark to Emily Michelle.

Instead, she yells, "Why are you wearing my Hello Kitty t-shirt? That's my Hello Kitty t-shirt!"

"You outgrew it" Emily Michelle smirks. "Besides it looks better on me than on you. The anime trend does nothing for you, Karen. At least I'm Asian."

"Just because you're adopted doesn't mean you can steal my clothes!" Karen argues a bit incoherently. "That shirt makes me look like I've filled out! I want it back."

Emily laughs. "Filled out? You have no boobs!"

Andrew decides that this sisterly fight is just too much fun to keep out of. He quickly calls out, "That's not what James Hobart said!" and looks at the floor.

Karen's pale face goes red with anger. Her eyes flash, and she's not sure who she wants to hit first, Andrew or Emily. The decision is made for her when Dave says, "Nah, I bet James Hobart said that the Kleenex wasn't fooling anyone." She leaps from the couch, and lunges at him from behind, smacking him across the face and pulling his hair. Nobody humiliates Karen Brewer without taking a beating! she thinks.

"If you tell anyone that, I'll tell Elizabeth about the condoms in your room!" Karen screeches. Dave chuckles a little to himself. Karen is too weak to hurt him with her slaps, and his mom knows that the condoms came from a health class some time last year. She saw him and Linny using unlubricated ones as water balloons last summer.

"Whatever" says Emily Michelle. She motions to Andrew. "We better leave, Dad's waiting in the garage."

Karen releases Dave from her weak hold, and chases them out of the room. Dave can hear her yell, "Don't you leave, Emily Michelle. You better change into a different shirt, you hear me?" He knows that Karen is going to squawk around the house for the rest of the day. Maybe it would be a good idea to call Charlotte. He picks up the cordless phone, and heads to the shelf to find the phone book.