After school let out, Nyoko and her sisters headed straight home. They couldn't wait to be back, especially Nyoko. She just wanted to get a headstart on reading already. Besides, it was nice not to have to talk to anyone for a while. She could just read her assigned reading in peace and then maybe write out some poetry for a bit. She would've been perfectly content on writing poetry all weekend, too, but Tammy had invited her and her sisters to her 15th birthday party at Skate City Littleton. It was going to be held this Saturday. Nyoko was conflicted. On one hand, she wasn't sure she really wanted to go to that party. On the other hand, she didn't want to wallow in self-pity all the time. Perhaps her mother was right. Maybe she just... needed to move on with her life.

For the rest of the week, Nyoko tried to focus on her life in the now, hanging out with her friends at school and doing her homework. She was determined to not let the ectopic pregnancy take over her life. Even for just a little while, she decided to pretend things were as they always were, regardless of how often the painful memories seemed to creep into her head. She even participated in buying gifts that she and the rest of the Goshimas were sure that Tammy would like. Finally, Saturday came, and it was time for the whole Goshima family to head off to Skate City Littleton for Tammy's birthday.

"Alright, everyone, into the car," Mr. Goshima said as everyone started heading out the door. "We don't want to be late for Tammy's party."

Everyone crowded together into the navy blue 1987 Chevrolet Suburban and then started on the road for Littleton. It was about a half and hour drive from Conifer to Littleton, plus four minutes. Nyoko and her sisters decided to kill some time by playing Super Mario Advance on their Game Boy Advances and listening to Jennifer Lopez, Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, No Doubt, Janet Jackson, and Christina Aguilera on their iPods. Nyoko couldn't help but get distracted by the future again, though. She tried once again not to dwell on her ectopic pregnancy, but it seemed to stick around despite her best efforts. Why couldn't she just do what her mother had asked of her?

Eventually, the Goshimas arrived at their destination and found a parking spot. Mrs. Goshima was the first one to step out of the car.

"Alright, gang, we're here," Mrs. Goshima announced. "Let's gather up all the gifts we got for Tammy and bring them inside. Make sure you don't forget anything."

Everyone else did so, and they all headed inside the building. Once inside, they quickly made a beeline for the table reserved for Tammy's party, which had most of the Conifer High School student body in attendance (well, most of the freshmen and sophomores, anyway). Tammy the birthday girl was wearing a hot pink bandana that covered up her scalp and was tied at the back, as well as a white ribbed tank top, capris, and white tennis shoes. She also happened to be wearing silver hoop earrings and a gold necklace with her first initial around her neck.

"Hey, guys!" Tammy called out to the Goshima family. "Thanks for coming to my party!"

Mrs. Goshima chuckled while placing her gift bag besides Tammy's seat. "You're welcome, Tammy. We wouldn't miss it for the whole world, right, girls?"

The Goshima triplets replied with a "yeah" or an equivalent thereof.

"Cool," Tammy said. "I'm glad you guys could make it. I'd hate to not share my cake with you."

Nyoko looked around to see who else Tammy had invited to the party. She saw Kyle, Kenny, and Stan there, but not Eric. Nyoko was almost relieved not to see him here. She couldn't deal with him right now anyway, not when he'd tried so desperately to ruin her life. She scanned the building some more, and she was genuinely shocked to see Goldie Diamond there. How exactly would Tammy have known this woman anyway? Maybe Kenny had convinced her to invite the woman who was willing to manage Fingerbang. With Goldie were four other women that Nyoko didn't recognize.

One of the unfamiliar women had light coffee-colored skin. She also had dark chocolate brown hair just like Goldie, but her eyes were slate blue instead of hazel and her hair wasn't as tightly curled. Her skin was also slightly ashy, but not enough to give her a totally bluish hue. Nyoko also noticed bags that had formed underneath the woman's eyes. She was wearing a dark blue pinstripe jacket over a satin navy blue halterneck dress and matching dark blue pinstripe pants, navy blue open-toed platform high heels, silver hoop earrings, and a clutter necklace in all sorts of different shades of blue.

The second of the four unfamiliar women was a white woman with blonde hair (which was done up in a bob with flipped ends and some bangs swooped over her right eyebrow) and grayish-blue eyes. One thing that immediately stuck out about her was that she happened to be wearing dark gray hearing aids. Was this woman... deaf? Nyoko could also see that the woman was wearing a light gray business jacket with slightly exaggerated shoulder pads over a white puffy blouse and matching skirt, gray chunky high-heels, shiny silver diamond-shaped earrings, and a silver necklace adorned with clear diamonds.

Then there were the last two unfamiliar women. One of them appeared to be wearing a periwinkle blue hijab that covered her head and neck, while the other had a short blonde haircut with two points sticking out at the top. Both were wearing uniforms consisting of a pair of pants, flats, a boxy long-sleeved jacket with padded shoulders and darker trim along the bottom, and a cravat. However, the hijabed woman's uniform consisted of shades of blue (the most prominent being baby blue), while the short-haired woman's uniform consisted of shades of yellow. Both of the women had slim figures, slim oval faces, and long slim noses.

"Hey, Tammy," Nyoko suddenly said again.

"What?" Tammy asked.

"Who are the women who came in with Goldie over there?" Nyoko pointed to the women conversing with Goldie. "I don't think I've ever seen them before."

Tammy looked over to where Nyoko was pointing. "Oh, the woman wearing the dress over the pants is her sister Maya and the woman with the hearing aids is their mom Whitney."

"Okay, that makes sense, but then who are the other two women?"

Tammy squinted at the hijabed woman and her short-haired companion. "Oh, I think those women are their lawyers. The one with the head scarf thing is Kontara Rezayee, and the other one who's blonde is Jennifer Sedaris."

Nyoko nodded to show that she understood. "Okay, so what are they doing here?"

Tammy could only give with a shrug. "I guess someone told her to invite them to the party."

"Was it Kenny who did that?"

"I don't think so. He would've told me if he did. Besides, we're boyfriend and girlfriend. We're supposed to tell each other everything."

Nyoko decided to just take her word for it and move on. Besides, the song "Electric Boogie" by Marcia Griffiths had just started playing, and Nyoko wanted to get her groove on. She ran over to the dance floor where Momoko and Miyako were and started doling out her favorite dance moves.

You can't see it.
(It's electric!)
You gotta feel it.
(It's electric!)
Ooh, it's shockin'!
(It's electric!)
(Jiggle-a-mesa-cara,
She's a pumpin' like a matic,
She's a movin' like electric.
She sure got the boogie!)

As the music played, Nyoko tried to do the Electric Slide (which, from what she understood, was an eighteen-step dance that involved sliding her feet across the floor) along with everyone else. All throughout, thoughts about her ectopic pregnancy still occasionally distracted her despite trying her best not to let them. Eventually, "Electric Boogie" ended and another song began. Nyoko decided to break away from the dancing crowd for a moment and see what the deal was with Kontara and Jennifer. She couldn't hear much of anything, but they seemed to be talking about whether it would be a good idea to bring her and her sisters on-board as backup dancers.

"I'm just saying," Jennifer was beginning to speak. "They're only minors. Besides, I don't want a repeat of what happened with Nyoko. It would reflect badly on us."

"What happened to Nyoko wasn't her fault!" Kontara retorted.

"I know, but you get my point, don't you? If word were to get out that one of our backup dancers was raped by another musician, a musician who's a member of one of the biggest rock bands no less, we'd have a ton of controversy on our hands. Not to mention it would blow up his relationship with his girlfriend. It'd be the only thing people would remember about him. It'd be one of the few things people would remember about us."

"I don't doubt that, but my point still stands."

Jennifer crossed her arms. "Well, maybe if Nyoko and her sisters hadn't been wearing those outfits, then she wouldn't have been assaulted like she was."

Just thinking about what Jennifer said was enough to get Nyoko angry. It seemed Jennifer was operating under the same kind of logic as her mother; that, somehow, she deserved what happened to her as some sort of punishment for getting the "wrong" kind of attention; that she was asking for it just by wearing a costume for a concert. How was she supposed to react?