"Is that what I think it is?" Kristy asked alarmed, her eyes bulging.

"Well I guess that depends on what you think it is," Abby said. She and Dawn looked at each other and laughed.

"I can't believe you Abigail Stevenson. Getting caught last summer and kicked out of sports for a year wasn't enough for you? Now you want to drag everyone else down with you? I knew this sleepover was a bad idea. Come on, Mary Anne, let's go to your room." Kristy said

"What are they going to do to me now Kristy? I can't play sports for a year. We just wanted to have some fun," Abby responded defensively.

Up to this point, Mary Anne had been watching the scene play itself out silently. She turned to look directly at Dawn. "I thought you said that everything that you did last year was a mistake. I thought that you wanted to start over," she said, her eyes starting to well up with tears.

"Mary Anne, all of that was true, I meant it. Abby and I just thought that we could have one night of fun. There's so much going on right now, that we need something to help us forget about our problems for a little bit. You could forget about your problems too," Dawn said, encouragingly.

"Mary Anne, don't listen to her," Kristy said. "Let's go upstairs to your room and forget about everyone down here. We could even go to my house, if you wanted. You could spend the night there."

Mary Anne looked back and forth between Kristy and Dawn. At one point, these were her two best friends. Now Kristy was the best friend that she had, but that wasn't quite the same as a best friend. Dawn was her sister and sometimes confidante. How was she to know who she was supposed to listen to? She didn't want to make anyone mad. The confusion she felt at this moment, afraid to do anything that would cause her to lose any friends, reminded her of how she felt when she truly didn't have any friends, which wasn't so long ago. Even though things had gotten much better for her since then, the ache that had come to be that time hadn't completely gone away.

She turned to Dawn. "I'll try it."

"Alright Mary Anne!" Abby exclaimed.

Dawn took the bag that Abby had been holding. "You'll like it Mary Anne, I promise."

Just then Kristy reached out and grabbed the bag from Dawn's hands. She took it and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. A few seconds later, they all heard the toilet flush. The door opened, and Kristy walked out of the bathroom, smirking.

"Don't worry, you can thank me for that later."

"Kristy, you idiot!" Abby yelled, infuriated. "Do you have any idea how much that cost?"

"Do you have any idea how much I don't care?" Kristy responded. She pulled out her wallet and threw two twenties in Abby's direction. They landed softly at her feet. Kristy turned to Mary Anne.

"I know that you've had a rough couple of months, and you would like to make it all go away, but drugs aren't going to make it any better," Kristy said, looking straight into Mary Anne's eyes.

Before Mary Anne could respond, Dawn walked over to Kristy and shoved her, making her take a step backward.

"God Kristy, what the hell did you do that for? I don't come over to your house and flush your stuff down the toilet."

"I was looking out for your sister, which is something that you should consider doing sometime. She's spent that last three weeks doing nothing but worry about you," Kristy responded.

Abby took this moment to enter the conversation. "Say whatever you want Kristy, but playing the martyr isn't going to make your life better." She rolled her eyes. "Come on Dawn, let's get out of here."

Dawn turned to Mary Anne and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry Mary Anne. I'll see you later."

With that Dawn and Abby left the house, leaving Kristy and Mary Anne standing alone together in the entryway. As soon as the door was completely shut, Mary Anne burst into tears, and fell into Kristy's arms.

"I'm sorry Kristy, I don't know what I was thinking," Mary Anne said, gasping for breathe between her sobs.

"You weren't thinking, that was the problem." Even when Kristy was trying to be comforting, she was still as harsh as ever. "Don't worry about it. Nothing happened, and we're all fine."

The girls remained in the entryway holding each other for a few more minutes. Finally, Mary Anne pulled away, and brushed the tears out of her eyes.

"Thanks Kristy," she said simply.

"No problem," Kristy replied.

With this, Mary Anne went to the bathroom to wash her face, and Kristy went to the kitchen to see about putting something together for dinner. They didn't talk about it for the rest of the night.

-----------------------------------------------

The next morning, Mary Anne and Kristy slept late, and lounged around after breakfast. They gossiped about what was going on at school, but neither of them mentioned the fact that Dawn and Abby hadn't returned last night. Around eleven, Kristy called for a ride home and Elizabeth pulled into the driveway shortly thereafter. Karen was in the front seat of the Range Rover, admiring herself in a hand mirror.

After Kristy left, Mary Anne brought out her backpack and started studying for her upcoming biology test. Since Dawn had moved back, she had chosen at times to forego her studies in order to spend more time with her sister. She doubted that she would be making that mistake again.

Mary Anne made flashcards for biology and worked on her other homework for the next few hours.
Around three, she heard the front door open, and Dawn walked in. She was wearing the same clothes that she had on yesterday, and she had dark circles under her eyes. As she walked through the hallway and up to her room, Mary Anne heard her laugh silently to herself.

Mary Anne was torn. One part of her wanted to forget everything that had happened the night before in efforts to avoid losing the little closeness that she and Dawn had gained since she had returned. On the other hand, there was so much that she wanted to talk to Dawn about. Even though she hated Dawn for bringing drugs into the house, she hated herself more for even considering partaking in them.

Sighing, Mary Anne rose from her chair, and started walking upstairs. No matter what was going on between her and Dawn, she knew that they had to resolve, to a point at least. If her dad and Sharon didn't plan on ever being home and even pretending to be a family, Dawn was the only thing that she had. And she couldn't exactly let go of that.

She walked down the hallway and knocked on Dawn's door. "Dawn?" Mary Anne asked, hesitantly.

There was no response on the other side of the door. Mary Anne knocked again.

A few seconds later, Dawn opened the door. She had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt that said "Respect Your Planet." She looked exhausted. Behind her, Mary Anne could see a pile of books on her desk, an unmade bed, and clothes strewn about the room. The mess seemed to be quite the accomplishment for someone who had only taken up residence in the room two weeks ago.

"Did you have fun with Abby last night?" Mary Anne asked, timidly.

"Yeah, it was a good time. Sorry for ditching you," Dawn said stiffly.

"It's okay. Kristy and I had fun anyway." Mary Anne responded. The words hung in the air between them. There didn't seem to be much else to say.

Finally, Dawn broke the silence. "I need to take a nap. I didn't really sleep much last night."

"Okay. Let me know when you wake up. Maybe we can watch a movie or something."

"Maybe," Dawn said. "Abby said that she might call me tonight, but we don't have any real plans."

"Oh. Okay. I guess I'll let you sleep then."

"Thanks."

Mary Anne turned to walk back downstairs as Dawn closed the door behind her. An ache started to slowly grow inside of her; at this point she didn't know if she and Dawn would ever be close again. She didn't even know if the person that Dawn had become was one that she particularly wanted to be close to. Sure she had Kristy, which certainly counted, but somehow it wasn't good enough.

She had spent the entire last year wishing that she had just one friend to confide in and help to ease her loneliness. She hadn't in anyway imagined that the ache inside of her would still be there when she got her wish.