Her blonde hair was sweaty and windblown, her shirt had a smear of mud across the front, and she was breathing heavily.

"Over here!" she yelled, waving her arms. She jumped from foot to foot, energy pulsing through her, looking like she'd never stop.

Pim stood with her arms folded over her chest, watching her with raised eyebrows.

"Okay, wherever you think this ball is going to come from, it's not," she stated. "You're not on a soccer field anymore, Repli-girl."

The replicate kept jogging in place. "Huh?" she gasped out between breaths.

"Okay, could you stop?" Pim grabbed her arm, holding her in place. "Listen to me. We're going to give you a name, call you my summer buddy so Mom won't bug me about it, and…ew, definitely get you cleaned up. Capice?"

"Okay." The replicate shrugged.

"All right then." Pim grabbed the magazine from off of her bed, looking at the page about a high school soccer team from which she had gotten her replicate. "Hmm…doesn't tell me a name here," she said. She looked back up at the girl. "You look like…eh…we'll call you…Ashley."

"Ashley."

"Right. Now, give Pim a minute to come up with a halfway believable story about how we became friends."

She tapped her chin. "Okay, got it. I think. Now…I'm kind of sick of smelling you. We've gotta replicate you a new outfit before I introduce you to my parents."

She selected another magazine from her shelf, some frilly girly one she just used for show. It went pretty well with the rest of the nice, adorable bedroom that her mom so readily approved of.

Her Replicator…her brother's Replicator…easily reproduced the perfect parentally approved outfit. "Ashley" stood before her in a denim miniskirt, lacy white tank top and light pink blazer. The finishing touch was transforming her hair from sweaty and messy to straight, golden and gorgeous, falling a few inches past her replicated shoulders.

"Should do it for now," Pim decided. "A little Ivy League, but that's all the more reason for Mom to buy it." She glanced towards her door. "All right, now let's get you saved in the Replicator's memory bank before my parents wonder how a complete stranger got upstairs in my room."

Ashley looked down at her outfit, smoothing her hands over the material. She caught sight of herself in Pim's mirror and smiled fondly, but in a robotic kind of way, at her beautified reflection, patting her hair into place.

"Yeah, you're gorgeous, thank me later." Pim ran the Replicator over the length of Ashley's body, and pixel by pixel, she was gone.

For then.

The perfect silence was pierced with a loud buzzing accompanied by the most annoying ringing she'd ever heard.

Keely peeked out from beneath her bedspread, squinting against the light. "Ughhhhh!" she exclaimed, pulling it back over her head.

The ringing persisted, and she shoved her covers back down. "Whose is that!" she grumbled in annoyance.

The vibrations coming from within the phone moved it steadily over to the edge of the nightstand until, suddenly, it dropped down onto Keely's pillow, inches from her face.

"Oh," she mumbled. "It's mine."

Sighing, she grabbed the phone and flipped it open, not bothering to check the ID.

"Hello?" She didn't care how legible she sounded.

"Keely! I'm glad you're awake." Via's voice was loud and chipper on the other end.

Keely rolled her eyes.

Via continued. "Listen, can you come over in a little bit this morning? I bought some food for the party and I need to know what you think of it."

Keely rubbed her eyes. "Food? Vi, can't people just decide for themselves what they do and don't want to eat?"

"Hey, you never know," Via maintained. "There's probably at least a dozen lactose intolerants coming, and I know a few people who are severely allergic to pineapple. We've gotta make sure of these things."

Keely rolled over on her back, hand on her forehead. What time does this girl get up!

"So, can you come? The party's only a few days away and I've got almost everything worked out. I just need to make certain of the menu. People come for the party, but they always stay for the food."

Keely looked at the clock. It was 10:30. Had she really slept so late? Not that it felt late…oh, whatever.

"Yeah…yeah. Okay. Just give me some time to get ready."

Keely hung up her phone and sat up. As she looked down, it all hit her again. The family being here. Yesterday. Last night.

And her cousin hadn't stirred at all. Despite the seemingly deafening ringing of Keely's cell phone, she was still buried under her blanket, motionless, breathing steadily with sleep. Just the top of her blonde tresses could be seen, along with an arm that was slung over her pillow, the black nail polish on her fingers offsetting the white fabric.

Keely giggled as she looked upon Melody.

Her mind took her back to their conversation the night before. The two of them sharing a love for guitar, the conversation they'd had, gave her a new kind of hope and reassurance about Melody living here, even just for a short time. Maybe she didn't have a clue what it was like to have a sister, but last night had felt, for the first time, like something close to it.

Quietly, she slipped out of the room.

…………………

Despite dragging sleepily through the getting ready process, one never would have guessed that Keely's efforts had been half hearted. She looked perfectly put together in a white fit n' flair tunic topped off with a short-sleeved green zip up hoodie and jeans, the kind with a few purposely placed holes in the front. She strung on some long beaded necklaces and put in silver leaf-shaped earrings, leaving her hair down in tousled waves. (A/N- I love plotting out Keely's outfits, mwaha.)

Finally she retreated downstairs, already smelling her mom's coffee.

"Morning, Mom," she greeted her mother in the kitchen.

"Oh, hi sweetie!" her mom answered. "You look nice today. Going somewhere with Phil?"

"No, actually," Keely responded, taking a seat at the table. "I mean, not now. Via called me earlier and asked if I could come help with some last minute party plans." She sighed. "I almost wish we could just get the thing over with."

"Oh, muffin, it'll be fun. You always have fun with Olivia." Mandy tousled her daughter's hair and set a glass of orange juice down in front of her. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "Oh, and you know what? I just got the best idea!"

Keely was mid-sip in the orange juice when she raised her eyes to her mom. She set her glass down, looking up at her questioningly.

"You should ask your cousin to come to the party with you!" Mandy exclaimed, her eyes bright.

Keely paused a second, thinking it over. Her eyebrows knit together.

"Should I?" she questioned.

"Yes, I really think so," Mandy replied, sitting down in front of her daughter. "She's new here, and it's going to be hard to make any friends until she starts school, which isn't for another few weeks. Even then, it might be difficult. A party would be a perfect way to meet people." She grinned ecstatically.

Keely considered all of that for a moment. She traced the tabletop with her finger.

"I could," she decided finally, nodding. She smiled.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," Mandy told her, patting her hand.

Keely nodded. "You're right." Her mom smiled gladly at her, then stood up.

Keely took another sip of her juice, then looked around curiously.

"By the way, where are Uncle Bob and…Dad?" she asked, twirling a strand of hair absently around one slender finger.

Mandy busied herself with the coffee. "Oh…they went out. Said something about checking out what Pickford has to offer. They left pretty early this morning."

Keely scoffed. "Well, coming from Tucson, let's just hope they aren't too disappointed."

Mandy laughed. "Oh, don't worry about it," she retorted. "Your uncle has gotten adjusted to our little hometown already."

Keely nodded, watching the pool of orangey-yellow at the bottom of her glass.

That made one of them.

"Hey, Mom," she said, breaking herself away from the somehow hypnotizing color of her juice. "I think I'll head over to Via's now. She's freaking out over this party. I'm afraid she's steadily becoming a threat to the environment."

"Oh, well," Mandy nodded. "That's a shame. A party should be something fun." She offered her daughter a smile.

"Yeah," Keely muttered. "Would you like to come with me and tell that to Via?"

Mandy just laughed. "Go, have fun, don't let it get to you." She patted Keely's head. "You've been a real trooper lately," she praised, leaning down to kiss it.

Keely drew the corner of her lips up into a smile meant for encouraging her mom. "Thanks, I guess." She stood up from the table and carried her glass to the sink. "I better get out of here. Wish me luck," she called, waving over her shoulder as she departed the room.

Mandy just smiled as she watched Keely go. Part of her ached to follow the young blonde, to hug her and give some motherly consolation for the jumbled thoughts that seemed evident on her face. That was the thing, though. It was hard to be sure what Keely was thinking about.

………………..

Phil punched lazily at the remote button, surfing through the channels without relief for his boredom. Lame reality show, cartoons, a lady demonstrating how to make the perfect lemon squares, golf.

He silently reminded himself to not complain about the century he now lived in…

Sighing, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, glancing at the digitalized time. Being as Party Day was drawing steadily closer, he hoped to catch Keely sometime today and just take her somewhere the two of them could be alone. Nothing involving the Skyak (his dad was currently making some repairs on the outside, anyway; now that the time engine wasn't taking up his time, he grabbed every opportunity he could to fix something), or any of his futuristic gadgets at all. He just wanted to hold her hand and walk with her. He wanted them to talk about everything that was on their minds, be it important or completely without a point. He loved to talk to her. He wanted to spend an hour at the park with her as they sun set; holding contests to see who could get the highest first on the swings, and then, who could jump off the furthest. He usually won the swinging part, but Keely most often jumped farther than him. He guessed it was her long legs, which put her just barely an inch above him in height, even though he was gaining on her, just a little. He guessed that within a couple years, by the time he was finished growing, he might even stand tall enough for her to lean against his chest as she stood, and have to stand tippy-toed to kiss him…

Just as he felt the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips, someone stepped directly in front of him, obscuring his view of the TV screen and all the junk playing on it.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt…this," Pim said, glancing curiously at the game of golf, "but would you happen to know where Mom is?"

"Uh…" Phil snapped out of his daydreams. Mostly. He shook his head. "Um, I think she's out back." He grabbed the remote and shut the TV off, succumbing to the lame daytime lineup of shows. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, just out enjoying the sunshine."

Phil raised his eyebrows.

"And you'll never guess who I ran into!"

Phil glanced sideways, then back at his sister. "Um…you're right, I probably won't."

The words had barely left his lips when a second blonde, dressed as if she were headed to a job interview and around Pim's age, jogged into the room, stopping just short of her. Phil gazed confusedly at the stranger.

Pim smiled cheesily. "This," she said, "is Ashley. She and I were partners for a science lab last year, and just now, I ran into her outside and had to help get her dog out of Hackett's flower bed. What a funny way to reunite, huh? So Ashley, Phil; Phil, Ashley. All right, gotta go find mom. Enjoy your golf, big brother. Now buh-bye!" She turned to leave, tugging Ashley's arm.

"Um," Phil got out, not really sure what to think of the anonymous teenage girl, and at the same time, curiously eyeing his obviously anxious sister. "Well, uh, nice to meet you, Ashley…?"

"I'm open!" she exclaimed in response, breaking free of Pim's grasp on her, waving her arms.

Phil jumped in surprise, his eyes widening. Pim quickly pulled Ashley's arms out of the air.

"No, you're Ashley, remember?" she laughed stiffly. "She's a real clown, I'll tell ya. Her sense of humor is probably the only thing that got me through all those science labs!"

Phil gazed open-mouthed at the two girls, for all of his intelligence, trying to comprehend this situation.

Before he had any chance to question it, they were gone.

With a final glance in the direction Pim had gone, he flipped open his cell phone to text Keely.

This is the part where that announcer would say, "Don't go away! Phil of the Future will be right back."

Almost party time. PLEASE tell me what you think. :) I would have added more onto this chapter, but it's so hot and I really want to go get some lemonade.

It's still okay, right? Eh.. more coming your way. :)