Morning dawned bright and beautiful. I slowly opened my eyes. Miguel and Roni's wedding day! It was finally here!

The house was a flurry of activity. The hairdresser arrived to do hair for my mother and I, Mom nervously ran a steamer to get the last of the wrinkles from her dress, Dad was scrambling to set out food and drinks for family that would be stopping by before heading to the church.

As for me, I put on my maid of honor dress and stood before the fun length mirror in my old bedroom. I smiled, proud of the girl I saw on the other side of the mirror. The scars were there, if you knew where to look, but they only made me stronger in the end. It was hard to believe that in just six months I'd be walking down the aisle myself! Now that I was ready, there was just one important person missing, and one person I wanted to have a moment alone with before the real craziness of the day began.

I tapped on Miguel's door.

"Come in!"

I opened the door and drew in my breath. "Wow Miggy, you clean up nicely!" And it was true. My brother looked very handsome in his classic black tuxedo and his hair neatly combed. He smiled and happiness shone in his eyes.

"Thanks sis, you too." He fumbled at his lapel, trying to pin on his orchid boutonnière. "Hey, Ali, give me a hand with this will ya?"

I smiled and pinned it on. I looked around his room and memories flooded back to me "Hey, remember that tropical storm when I was six? We were both so scared, but we stayed in here all night telling each other stories and singing songs to distract ourselves?"

He laughed. "How could I forget? What about that time Izzy gave us that cat and we tried to hide it from Mom and Dad in my closet?"

I giggled. "Muffin! He was such a good cat. And remember those tea parties Roni and I used to make you have with us? And she always wanted you to dress up as the handsome prince?"

"I remember! And just think, now I really am her handsome prince!"

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Don't flatter yourself, big brother." I paused and sat on the bed and Miguel sat beside me. "I can't believe you're going to be married after today," I remarked wistfully. "Sometimes I miss those innocent days, before everything changed."

He put an arm around me and I leaned into his shoulder.

"I do too, Ali. But there are good things ahead. Before you know it, you'll be walking down the aisle with Ryan. Everything's coming together. hey, remember that time we cut school together?"

"Oh no! Miguel, I think we should make a pact right now to never tell our kids about that!"

September 2006

"Hey, watch it Ali!" Miguel grumbled when I accidentally bumped into him coming out of the bathroom.

"Watch it yourself, big brother." As usual, I was still in my pajamas, not showered and nowhere near ready to go. My brother was always popping out of bed like a jack in the box as soon as his alarm went off, and ready to go long before the first bell. He hated being late. As for me, I took a more relaxed approach to mornings. I don't know how he functioned, so stressed out and orderly all the time. It was just one of the many, many ways we were different.

He ran downstairs and helped himself to a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereal. "Good morning sweetie," Mom greeted him, kissing the top of his head.

"Morning, Mom."

Dad came downstairs, kissed Mom, and patted my brother on the shoulder. "Good morning Miguel. Busy day today?"

Miguel shook his head. "Not too bad. I have a calculus test tomorrow though."

Dad smiled at his son. "Well, not to worry. I know you've been studying, and you've always been good at math."

"Where is your sister? Alison! Hurry up!" Mom shouted up the stairwell impatiently. "Miguel, I'm afraid you'll have to make sure Ali gets out the door on time. Dad and I have to leave now for an early meeting."

He sighed. "Alright, Mom. But she'd better be ready soon."

Mom smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Have a good day, Miguelito. We'll see you later tonight." They hurried out the door and soon he could hear the car crunch down the gravel driveway.

"Ali! Come on! We gotta go!"

"Alright! I'm ready. You're so impatient!" I dashed down the stairs and appeared in front of him, grabbing a banana from the bowl on the counter. "Wait, where are Mom and Dad?"

"Left already… they had a meeting this morning," he explained through a mouthful of cereal. Miguel then picked up his cereal bowl and slurped up the remaining milk while I looked on in disgust.

"That is so gross. If you ever want to get a date you might want to reevaluate your eating habits."

"How else am I supposed to eat it?"

I looked mischievously thoughtful for a minute, then finally spoke. A great idea just popped in my mind. "Hey, you know what we should do?"

"What, use a straw?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, dummy. I'm not talking about your stupid cereal, I'm talking about us." I lowered my voice, "We should skip school!"

Miguel's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. "What? Are you kidding? No way, I have a perfect attendance record. You want me to blow that?"

That was the problem with Miguel. He was always so focused on doing everything just right, he never had any fun. "Oh come on, you honestly think Harvard is going to pass you up because you miss one day of school your junior year? Stop being such a nerd all the time, live a little!"

Miguel stood up to bring his dishes to the sink. "It's a stupid idea, Ali. As soon as our first period teachers take role, the school will realize we're not there and then do you know what will happen? They'll call Mom and Dad at work and we will be dead! Actually just me because there's no way Dad will believe that his perfect little princess hatched this plot."

"I already thought that part through, genius. You can make your voice sound like Dad's on the phone, call the school and tell them we're sick! Then we're home free!" She looked at Miguel with pleading eyes. "Come on, it'll be the best brother/sister day ever! We never do anything together anymore!"

Miguel stared at me for nearly a minute before sighing deeply. "Oh alright. But if we get caught, I'm putting all the blame on you, Ali! Give me the phone."

"Yes!" I jumped up and squeezed him in a big hug. I reached over to the counter and grabbed the cordless phone, and dialed the school's number that was posted beside the phone. "Here ya go!" I cheerfully handed my brother the phone, who took it carefully, looking as though it might bite him.

He held the phone to his ear and cleared his throat. "Yes, this is Martin Castillo. I'm calling to report that my children, Alison and Miguel Castillo will be absent today… yes, very sick... they've been, um, throwing up all night. And, um, they have pinkeye." He glanced over at me and I made a disgusted face. "Yes, it is pretty disgusting. Thank you, Have a nice day." Carefully he hung up the phone.

"Throwing up? Pinkeye? Don't you think that's a bit of overkill?"

"I couldn't think of anything else! All I could think of was that time I got sick back in second grade. Remember that?"

I laughed until my eyes watered. "Yeah, I don't think Britt Wheeler's forgotten about that time either. She was bragging nonstop about her fancy, expensive new shoes until you threw up all over them in the middle of the lunchroom!"

"Believe me, she sure has not forgotten that." Miguel muttered.

"Well, on the positive side, you do sound just like Dad on the phone!"

He smiled back. "Really? I can totally do that crazy stare he does too… watch!"

"Don't push it, Miguel. Alright, the first thing we have to do is get out of here."

My brother was surprised. "Why? I was kind of looking forward to a day of taking naps and watching trashy daytime TV!"

"No way! Look outside, Mrs. Harris is in her front yard. If she doesn't see us leave or thinks we're hanging around the house, she'll call Mom and then we're in for it." I pointed out the kitchen window where our nosey elderly neighbor was watering her yard, pausing occasionally to try to get a glimpse through our window.

"Ugh, Mrs. Harris." Miguel groaned. "She's always calls me 'Marco' and accuses me of playing loud heavy metal music."

I laughed, trying to picture that in my mind. "You playing heavy metal? She really is crazy! Alright, lets get our backpacks and head out. We can go to the beach or something."

Miguel slung his backpack over his shoulder while I opened the front door. He took a deep breath and was probably feeling slightly rebellious for going through with my plan. In fact, this was probably the most rebellious thing he had ever done.

"Good morning, Mrs. Harris!" We chorused, smiling and waving at our neighbor, who looked up and frowned.

"Marco! Was that you I heard playing that heavy metal music yesterday?"

Miguel continued to smile politely. "I don't think it was me, Mrs. Harris. I play classical violin. And my name is actually…"

Mrs. Harris cut him off and waved her cane in his direction. "You teenagers and your rowdy music full of filth and obscenities! All that racket is causing my petunias to wilt! You'd better quit playing those drums, Marco, or I'm going to have a word with your parents!"

He opened his mouth to protest further, but I quickly stopped him and gave him a push to continue toward the sidewalk. "Don't worry, my brother will have his band practice elsewhere, won't you, Marco? Have a nice day, Mrs. Harris! We wouldn't want to be late for class!"

"'l'll have her know that I play first violin in the school orchestra! How can she confuse Bach and Beethoven with heavy metal? There is no way…"

I interrupted him again. "Don't listen to Mrs. Harris, she also thinks her cat is Richard Nixon reincarnated. Come on, Miguel! No more talk about your nerdy accomplishments. I'm determined to see you have some fun today!"

Miguel sighed, a bit defeated. "If you say so."

Our first stop was a sketchy looking arcade, which Miguel was hesitant about at first. I practically had to pull him in! Where did he think we were going to hang out, the library? But after beating me at ten rounds of Street Fighter, I practically had to drag him away.

The next stop was the beach, which as usual was crowded with tourists. I guess we did stand out a bit in our school clothes, but still managed to try to blend in.

Immediately, I spied found a cart and bought a hot dog with extra mustard. "Mmmm…delicious!" I exclaimed taking a bite. "Want one, Miguel?"

He made a face. "Alison, if you knew what was really in that, you'd never eat one again!"

I rolled her eyes. Miguel always wanted to eat healthy except at breakfast when he slurped down some neon-colored sugar-laden cereal. "I swear, you sound just like Roni!" I remarked, putting on my sunglasses and laying back in the sand with my head resting on my backpack. Miguel sat beside me.

"You know I hate the beach, Ali."

"Stop complaining! How can you live in Miami and hate the beach? It should be against the law! Plus, you loved it when we were kids! Remember how we used to bury each other in the sand?"

"I guess I like the idea of the beach, just not going home and finding sand in places I didn't know I had."

I made a disgusted face at the image. "Well you can scrape the sand out later, we're here and we're going to relax."

"I don't know if I remember how to relax."

"That's your problem! You take yourself way too seriously. You're 16! Live it up!"

He shook his head. "I'm not really a 'live it up' kind of guy."

"Miguel, look at it this way. In 5 years you'll be finishing college, and in 10 years you'll probably be some big successful lawyer, getting married, having kids… What other time will you really be able to enjoy yourself?"

Miguel smiled. "Well, I'm here aren't I? Baby steps Ali."

There was a long pause between us and finally Ali spoke up. "I can't believe in less that two years you'll be away at college."

"Yeah, I bet you can't wait. What, are you going to turn my room into your yoga room?"

I laughed. "Maybe! Seriously though, I'm going to miss you. Just maybe not the smell of your dirty laundry, your underwear on the bathroom floor, or seeing you drink orange juice from the carton."

He gave me a smile. "Thanks. I might even miss you too."

"You're so lucky, you know? You've got everything figured out. You're graduating after next year, and everyone knows you've got valedictorian in the bag. And then you're off to some fancy college, and then law school…" my voice trailed off. "I wish I knew where I was going."

"Ali, you've got 4 years to decide! You're smart, you get good grades, you'll figure it out. And what's more, you're popular! Half the guys in school would give anything to date you. Sometimes I wish I had that."

"You want half the guys in school to date you?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, but I wouldn't mind being more than nerdy Miguel." He looked away out towards the water. "Sometimes I wish I had something to hold on a Friday night other than my violin, you know? But the girls at our school don't see me as boyfriend material, I guess. Take Britt Wheeler… last year she turned me down for homecoming and prom… and I didn't even ask her to either one!"

I snickered. "Britt Wheeler… believe me Miguel, you don't want anything to do with a slut like that. I bet she has every disease in the book. The dumb girls at our school might not appreciate you, and don't tell anyone I said this, but you're a catch! Your sweet and smart and funny… believe me, in college you'll have girls all over you."

Miguel's eyes brightened and he smiled. "Thanks, Ali. You're not so bad for an annoying little sister."

I shoved him playfully on the shoulder. "And you're not too bad for a nerdy big brother." I smiled mysteriously, wondering if I should even say what I really wanted to. "Besides, I know someone who would love to go out with you. She's had a crush on you for years, not that you would notice."

Miguel was puzzled. "What? Really? Who?"

I made a motion like she was zipping my lips. "Sorry! I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Oh come on!"

"Nope, if there's one person who can keep a secret it's Alison Castillo"

Miguel rolled his eyes. "Oh really? Is that why you were so quick to tell Veronica that I still sleep with a stuffed Snoopy?"

I gave him a smirk and winked at him. "Don't worry, she thought it was really cute. In fact… despite your milk-slurping tendencies, she actually thinks you're not so terrible."

He tilted his head in confusion for a moment, then his eyes widened. "Wait, you mean?" Miguel had been friends with Veronica his whole life, and had never thought of her in that way before. But now he imagined her sparkling hazel eyes and radiant smile and it made him feel… something.

"Hey, Earth to Romeo! Wipe that goofy grin off your face! Don't you dare say anything to her!"

"Well, well, look what we have here!" bellowed a voice from behind us, startling us both. "If it isn't Thing One and Thing Two!"

"Oh crap…" Miguel mumbled under his breath, his eyes wide and his face bright red.

We were busted.

I gasped, but tried to remain casual. "Oh, hey Uncle Stan. What are you doing here?" I asked sweetly.

"I could ask you two the same thing! Last I checked Wednesday is a school day."

I put on my best smile and put my arm around Miguel. Maybe I could sweet-talk Uncle Stan. "Oh, we were just spending some quality family time together. Weren't we, big brother?"

Miguel looked like a deer caught in the headlights and just stared at Stan. "Um, yeah, right…"

"Well, I'm sure your parents will be so excited to hear all about that! Get in the Bug Van, kids."

The ride to OCB was quiet and embarrassing. "My father is going to kill me!" Miguel fretted.

Poor Miguel, he was always afraid of disappointing Dad. I was too, but I knew it was always temporary so I didn't let it get to me too much. "Can I have your room?" I joked.

"Shut up Ali, I'm serious!"

"Now calm down you two. You might not know this, but you're not the first ones to take an unauthorized day off."

"Did you skip school once Uncle Stan?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, but even worse I skipped work! I went on this horrible game show, but told your dad Uncle Larry and I were sick. We were busted when Uncle Sonny and Rico saw us on TV. The next day I tried to come up with an excuse and was running it by your mom but turns out your dad was standing right behind me."

"That must have been pretty embarrassing," I remarked.

"It was, and it would have been one thing if he had yelled at us. He just stared me down and acted very disappointed. I would have much rather been yelled at."

"Tell me about it," Miguel mumbled. Miguel knew all about that stare, and both of us had been on the receiving end of it more than once.

Stan threw open the door to OCB with Miguel and I trailing sheepishly behind. Mom was sitting at her desk thumbing through a file. "Look what I found, Gina!" Stan announced.

Mom looked up. "Ali! Miguel! Why aren't you two in school?"

We exchanged a nervous glance. Thinking fast, I put my arm around my brother. "Miguel wasn't feeling well, I though he needed a little fresh air today. Doesn't he look pale to you, Mom?" Miguel just stared at Mom with the same deer in the headlights look he had given Stan.

Billy laughed out loud from his desk and Mom quickly shot him a look. She turned back to us, sighed and rubbed her temples like she always did when one of us was in trouble. "Both of you, go in your father's office and wait for me there. I have to be in an interrogation down the hall in a few minutes. Dad and I will be in after that. Billy, keep an eye on them please." Mom walked out in a huff.

"Uh oh, the Wonder Twins are in trouble! I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when your father gets here." Billy whispered as he escorted us into Dad's office. I bet he felt a bit resentful getting stuck babysitting the boss' kids.

Scowling, Miguel sat on the couch with his arms crossed while I took a seat on the other side of the room. Billy perched on the edge of Dad's desk, surveying the room like a referee.

"Come on big brother, it won't be so bad!"

"Billy, can you please inform my sister that I am not speaking to her?"

Billy turned to me with a hint of amusement in his eye. "He says he's not speaking to you."

"Oh yeah? Please tell my brother that getting in trouble one time won't kill him. He doesn't have to be so annoyingly perfect all the time."

"Well tell her that's easy for her to say. All she has to do is cry and dad will feel sorry for her."

"Billy, remind Miguel about the time last week when he cried while watching a National Geographic documentary about penguins! Dad sure felt sorry for him then."

"You shut up, Ali!"

"Ha! Looks like you're speaking to me again!"

"Alright, enough!" Billy hopped down from Dad's desk and stood between us. "You two are ridiculous! Now I know your parents, they're fair people. I'm sure you'll both be punished equally."

"Which is unfortunate because it was all her idea!" Miguel protested.

Billy shook his head. "Miguel, you're one of the smartest guys I know, if not the smartest. You still chose to go with Ali, right?"

Miguel sighed and looked over toward the glass block window. "Yeah."

"So now you both need to pay the price."

We were pretty silent on the way home. In the front seat of the car, Mom looked like she should have steam coming out of her ears and Dad managed to glare at us both periodically through the rear view mirror.

Finally, Mom spoke. "I have never been so disappointed in you both. For the next month you are grounded and you can use your spare time on weekends to clean out the garage."

I leaned over and whispered to Miguel. "Now would be a good time to cry."

"Shut it, Ali," he whispered.

"Just think about the baby penguin in that show!"

"I said shut up!"

"Do you have something to add, Miguel?" Dad snapped.

"No, Dad." Miguel sank into his seat and crossed his arms, giving me a dirty look.

Late that night, Miguel was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling, drifting in and out of sleep, when he saw me peeking in through the door. "You awake, big brother?" I asked, my voice unusually timid.

"I am now," he grumbled sitting up.

I on the edge of his bed. "Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dragged you into trouble."

Miguel sighed. "No, don't be. I made my own choice." He paused a moment and smiled. "Besides, I actually had fun while it lasted.""

"Really?" I grinned back at him. "So was it worth it?"

"Hmmm… I'll have to get back to you after I spend the next four weekends cleaning out the garage.'

"Agreed! And hey, next month you owe me a Street Fighter rematch! That is, if you have time between rehearsals and studying and student government meetings..."

"I can always find time for my pesky little sister." He put an arm around me and hugged me.

That day seemed like just yesterday, but we couldn't have imagined how our lives would change. Here we were, preparing for Miguel to marry my best friend, and I would be having my own wedding in a few short months. But one thing would never change, we could always count on one another when times got rough.