Mary Anne woke up Sunday morning after a restless sleep. Instantly she was flooded with thoughts of everything that had happened in the past few days. She rolled over to look at the clock that sat on her bedside table. It was almost eight-thirty. Knowing that she would be unable to fall back to sleep, she dragged herself out of her warm bed and to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day.

After getting dressed and grabbing a granola bar for breakfast, Mary Anne set out the door and headed down Burnt Hill Road, to Slate Street, towards United Faith, Stoneybrook's Presbyterian Church. Even though her family wasn't extremely religious, Mary Anne had found the she liked going to church services when she had a lot on her mind. Somehow, it comforted her.

Mary Anne didn't really pay that close attention to the service, instead using the time to quietly reflect on everything that had occurred in the last month. She wasn't really sure that she understood it, just as she didn't have any idea as to what would come next. But maybe that was okay.

After the service, Mary Anne exited with the rest of the congregation. She was almost out the door when Gabbie Perkins came up and gave her a big hug from behind, followed by Myriah, with Laura toddling behind. The three girls were dressed in slightly different variations of the same outfit.

"How are you doing today, Mary Anne Spier?" Gabbie asked.

Mary Anne rolled her eyes. It was cute when Gabbie had called people by their full names when she was two, but now it was just annoying. "I'm doing great Gabbie, how are you?"

"Great! Mommy and Daddy are taking us to the museum in Stamford today."

"We are very excited," Myriah added. "Expect Laura doesn't really know what to expect, because she is just a baby."

"I'm sure she will still have fun," Mary Anne assured.

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins joined the group to get the girls. "How are you doing Mary Anne?" Mrs. Perkins asked warmly.

"Really good," Mary Anne replied.

"Could you take the kids to the car, honey?" Mrs. Perkins asked. "I want to talk with Mary Anne a bit."

"Sure thing, come on girls." He picked up Laura, and guided the older girls towards the exit. "Good-bye Mary Anne," Mr. Perkins said.

Mary Anne stood next to Mrs. Perkins, waving good-bye to the girls. She wasn't really sure what Mrs. Perkins wanted to talk to her about at all. It had been over a year since she had been over to baby-sit.

"Mary Anne, are you still friends with Kristy?"

"Yes, why?" Mary Anne responded.

Mrs. Perkins sighed. "I've been worried about her. She babysat for us a lot last year after the club broke up. She was great with the girls, don't get me wrong, but something about her seemed different. She just seemed so worn out. At the beginning of last summer she called and told me that she couldn't baby-sit anymore, that there was too much going on at home. I've thought of that a lot these past few months. Are things okay with her?

Mary Anne bit her lip. While she was glad that Mrs. Perkins was concerned, she really didn't want to give out that much information. It was Kristy's story, not hers.

"She's doing okay," Mary Anne said carefully. "Things are starting to get better for her."

"I'm so glad to hear that," Mrs. Perkins said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Do let us know if they're anything that we can ever do to help either of you girls out."

"I will." Mary Anne promised.

"Good-bye Mary Anne. I hope to see you around here more often," Mrs. Perkins said, giving her a hug. "I better go catch up with my husband and the girls."

"Good-bye," said Mary Anne, waving.

After the Perkins family mini van drove out of the parking lot, Mary Anne looked around the lobby and realized that it was mostly empty. She zipped up the windbreaker that she was wearing, and headed out the door to begin her walk home.

Walking into her house, she passed Sharon who was in the kitchen, turning the pages of a cookbook. "Hi Mary Anne, how was church?"

"It was nice," Mary Anne replied.

"Good. How does vegetable pasta tofu zucchini sound for dinner tonight?"

Mary Anne wrinkled her nose. "Good, I guess. Would you mind if Kristy came over for the day?"

"Not at all, as long as you two are quiet. Your dad and I have had so much to deal with these last couple days, we really just want to spend some time together without having to worry about you girls."

Mary Anne chose to ignore the last part of what Sharon said. "Thanks. I'll give her a call." she says, running out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room.

She picks up the phone and dials Kristy's number. It's answered right after the first ring.

"This is Karen Brewer, how may I help you?"

Mary Anne groans inwardly. "Hi Karen, can I talk to Kristy?"

"How come nobody ever wants to talk to me?" Karen pouted.

"I'll talk to you next time I come over, I promise. Can you please get Kristy?"

"Fine."

Mary Anne hears the phone drop, and Karen yell for Kristy. A few moments later, Kristy picks up the extension.

"You can hang up now," Kristy said.

Mary Anne heard a click, and Kristy let out a sigh. "Ignore her. She's been really annoying lately."

Mary Anne tried not to laugh. She had always though that Karen was annoying, but Kristy had only just recently begun to realize this. Sometimes she didn't catch on to things right away.

"No problem. Do you have any plans for today?"

"Not really. Why?"

"I thought you might like to come over. We could do homework together, or watch a movie or something," Mary Anne proposed.

"That would be great; I need to get out of the house. And I think that Sam is picking up Stacey to go to lunch and then the movies, so he should be able to give me a ride over. Let me ask him."

"Okay," Mary Anne responded.

Mary Anne teased Tigger with a string while she waited for Kristy to come back to the phone. Tigget rolled over on his back and looked adorable, as usual.

"He can drop me off." Kristy affirmed, coming back on the line. "I should be there in about half an hour."

"Sounds great, I'll see you then." Mary Anne said.

"Bye."

While she waited for Kristy, Mary Anne some reading for her English class, though it was hard for her to concentrate. Music was blaring from Dawn's room again. She wondered if Dawn had even left her room all morning. Then she pushed the question out of her mind. She was trying to not worry about Dawn It wasn't really working.

Hearing a loud car coming down the street, Mary Anne looked outside to see Kristy coming out from the back seat of the Junk Bucket, glaring at Sam and Stacey, who were sitting close together in the front seat.

"Bye," She heard Kristy shout. A few seconds later she heard the doorbell. Sharon opened the door and greeted Kristy, and seconds later Mary Anne could hear her bounding up the stairs.

"Hey Mary Anne," Kristy greeted her, jumping up onto the bed. "What's up?"

"I'm just working on some homework- it's nothing too exciting."

"Not what's up with that," Kristy said impatiently. "What's going on with Dawn?"

"Oh, that," Mary Anne said giggling. "I officially think she's crazy. I have no idea what goes on in her head."

"Well then she's a perfect match for Abby," Kristy said. "Is she still mad at you about the party? Did she even talk to you?"

"I don't think she's mad at me. Not for that, anyway. I think that she is just mad at everyone."

Kristy nodded. "I can see that. I just can't figure out why."

Mary Anne frowned. "Me either. And it seems like she is never going to let me in. I just feel so bad. I mean, she's my sister. I want to help.

Kristy hung her head down. "Sometimes things don't work out like that. I haven't talked to Charlie since he went off to school like five weeks ago. He's just so upset with everything that Watson's put us through. And I don't blame him, but I wish he could deal with it without shutting us all out."

"I'm not even sure that Dawn realizes that she has stuff to deal with."

"Maybe she's just not ready," Kristy replied.

"Do you remember when we were growing up, and we would always pretend to be sisters?" Mary Anne mused.

"Yeah," Kristy replied.

"I always loved that. I always wanted siblings. That's part of the reason why I was so happy when Dad married Sharon. It's just so different then I ever imagined. I hardly ever see Jeff. And Dawn has just changed so much."

Kristy nodded. "Charlie used to be the strongest one out of us all. I don't know what happened to him."

"I hate it when people change."

"It's not so bad," Kristy pointed out. "You've changed a lot for the better. You're a lot stronger then you were in eighth grade. Change isn't all bad."

"I guess not," Mary Anne agreed.

The girls sat together on Mary Anne's bed not saying anything for a few moments.

"Kristy?" Mary Anne asked

"Yeah?"

"Why did you ditch me last year?"

Kristy blushed. "I'm really sorry about that…"

"I know. And I'm not mad. Not anymore at least. I just really need to know why," Mary Anne said.

Kristy shrugged her shoulders. "It was just so easy with Abby. We had classes together, and played sports together, and she was over at my house all the time. She was just always around. It was easy. And then Abby started, well, everything that she's doing now, I guess. But at the same time, everything was falling apart at home. I felt it was best that I didn't have any close friends. I didn't want them to know what was going on with me.

Mary Anne nodded, and Kristy continued.

"I missed you a lot. But I figured that you would be mad at me, so I didn't try to talk to you. Plus, Charlie didn't want any of us to talk about what was going on at home." Kristy looked her in the eye. "I really am sorry, Mary Anne. I don't want anything like that to happen between us again."

"Me either. I don't know what I would do without someone to talk to about everything. Last year kind of sucked for me."

"It won't happen again," Kristy said, suddenly confident. "I was the one who let go last year. I'm not sure if I would let that happen again or not. I hope not. But I know that you are stronger than that. You're better than that. You wouldn't let me go. You were the one who sought me out this fall. You've grown up a lot, Mary Anne. I hope I can say the same."

"You have. I can tell," Mary Anne responded.

Mary Anne grabbed for a tissue to wipe away the tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes. Some things never changed. She then reached over to Kristy to give her friend a hug. Kristy held tight for a second, and then pulled away.

"Do you think that things will ever be like they were before?" Kristy asked

Mary Anne shrugged. "I wanted that for a long time. But now I'm not so sure that I do. Things were nice before, especially eighth grade, but now I don't think that I could go back."

"I guess," Kristy said, her voice uncertain.

"We can't focus on going back Kristy. We need to just look ahead and hope to make things better. That's all we can really do."

Kristy looked at Mary Anne and smiled. "I think you're right."

Mary Anne smiled back at Kristy. It had taken her a long time to figure out, but she was pretty sure that she was right too.