In a day and age when tanning was considered evil and hair dye and makeup were nonexistent, Emily Collins may have been very pretty. But in the very last year of the twentieth century, when darkly tanned skin, blonde-highlighted hair and perfect complexions were “all the rage,” Emily was, at best, considered cute. She refused to step into a tanning booth for fear of having cancer later in life; she was not allowed to dye her hair, and did not really want to, anyway; and, despite her best efforts to keep her face clean, she still suffered from acne breakouts, and she had never learned how to properly use makeup. Nor did she care to.
 
She was small for seventeen, and slender--although she had some obscure problem with her back that caused it to be crooked and to curve in too far. But it was never anything that required surgery or a back-brace. She had a sweet, gentle face--large, dark brown, alluring eyes which were her best feature; a pale complexion, marred by a few blemishes and scars from old breakouts, with a bit of color in her cheeks and a few light freckles sprinkled across her rounded nose; a smile that was slow to start and never really finished; and a graceful chin and throat. She disliked her eyebrows, which were too heavy, but she refused to pluck them to save herself some pain. Surrounding her little face was a veritable mop of longish, soft, dark brown hair that was badly damaged. She had tried growing her hair long, but it usually ended up stringy and scraggly at the ends, despite her best efforts to take care of it. She had never considered herself a beauty, but she was clean and comfortable, and that was good enough for her.

 Emily was generally quiet--she never made a show of herself, but never completely faded into the background. She had a gentle nature, but also a quick wit, and sometimes her tongue was a little too sharp. She was also horribly moody--she would be jumpy, nervous and talkative one moment, and the next be quiet and sedated. Bright and talented, but sharp-tongued and sarcastic. She had a style of writing that caught almost anyone’s interest, and she had sat in the first chair position of the French horn section in the Farmingville band for four years.

 The year before was Emily’s “rebel year.” She wore baggy black clothes and never noticed that she was filling out. She refused to make any friends in school other than the ones she already had, and made fun of the “preppies.” She got in trouble with her parents, mostly because of her boyfriend, Ben Clark. She had lost her virginity to him and tried to run away from home with him during that wild year. Strangely enough, though, her grade point soared and allowed her to join National Honor Society the following year. She, Ben, Betsy Kennedy and Jeremy Sullivan liked to drive around local parks, randomly visit friends and egg and teepee houses on weekends. Once, they egged the home of Emily’s ex-boyfriend, Nate Wallace, in the middle of December. Emily hit a string of their Christmas lights with an egg and cause the entire string to short out. Most of all, Emily hid her “sweet side” and only allowed herself to be witty and sarcastic.

 Senior year called for some changes. As a start, Emily donated her baggy clothes to charity and adopted an entirely new wardrobe. She broke up with Ben and began socializing less with the people that were causing her trouble. She had band camp coming up, with a lot of “new friend potential.” She was determined to be nice to everyone, to make up for the mean nature she’d had the year before. She set goals for herself and decided to challenge herself in school, taking tough courses like trigonometry and physics, while most of the other seniors would take “easy-A” classes that year. She was still unsure of what college she would attend--she had offers pouring in from across the nation--but she knew she wanted to stay close to home.
 The night before band camp found Emily frantically packing. Although she was trying to cut down on the procrastination, packing for trips was one thing she hated to do and always put it off until the last minute. Her younger brother, Justin, was also going to band camp as a freshman tenor sax player. Emily would be the only mellophone player for the third year in a row.
 Justin poked his head into Emily’s bedroom door and asked, “Hey, are we going to share that big bottle of sunblock?”

 “Like you need it,” said Emily. Both Justin and his identical twin, Josh, had inherited their father’s easily tanned, virtually “un-burnable” skin. Emily, having inherited her mother’s somewhat fair skin, got a mild sunburn if she was in the sun too long without sunblock.

 “Well, okay,” Justin shrugged. He closed the door. Of Emily’s twin brothers, Justin was the quieter one, who was more easygoing and good-natured. Until that summer, Josh had been basically the same, although he tended to be somewhat louder. When Emily stopped being a rebel, Josh took her place. He got a guitar for his fourteenth birthday and was trying to start a heavy-metal band. Although he couldn’t take Emily’s clothes, he did take her old jewelry--her ball-and-chain choker, suitable for both sexes, and the spiked bracelet that Betsy had given to Emily for Christmas the year before. He also took the chain that she had for her wallet that she no longer used. He dressed almost entirely in black, baggy clothes, and he grew his hair long. Sometimes, he would not wash it for a few days, and then twist it into dreadlocks. Emily cringed whenever she saw her “baby brother” walking around with those dreadlocks. Josh also had a habit of staying up late in his room, practicing on his guitar or listening to Metallica and Pantera. Although he kept it fairly quiet at night, Emily’s room was next door to his, and despite her best efforts to block out the noise, she still suffered from a few sleepless nights.

 “I wasn’t even that bad,” Emily often thought while covering her ears with her pillow.

 Justin, on the other hand, was clean-cut and polite. He and Josh both had their father’s brown hair and eyes, but while Josh kept it long, Justin had his cut neatly. His taste in clothes was better--he chose sweaters, polo shirts, khakis and jeans that weren’t too baggy. He even wore the very latest Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts--something that Josh regularly teased him about and even Emily occasionally snickered at. She would not even dare go so far as to wear Abercrombie & Fitch.

 Emily finished packing and stepped outside. The evening August air was fresh and cool, and the sun was setting just behind the trees in the small strip of forest that separated the Collins’ small plot of land from the Stantons’ enormous property. Greg and Rob Stanton, also twins, were friends with Emily. Greg and Emily had even had a “one-night fling” the year before at one of Curtis Johnson’s parties. However, Greg was hardly the type to settle down, and Emily was not disappointed.
 Mrs. Collins was across the street, talking to their neighbor, Mrs. Crawford. Emily had recently learned that the Crawfords, who were unable to have children, were adopting a girl. That was all Emily knew--the age and origin of the girl had been kept a mystery. She decided to go across the street and join her mother, so that she could possibly hear about this new girl.

 Emily and her mother were very similar as far as their personalities went--and their looks, for that matter. Meg Collins was shy and rather meek, but very generous and caring. She was very imaginative and was sometimes seen walking around the house or the garden, reciting her own poetry or singing lullabies. The family knew that Mrs. Collins had been singing the lullabies ever since her last baby, Amy, had died at three months of age. Emily, who was five at the time, only remembered one gruesome detail of the funeral. She remembered reaching into the tiny coffin and touching Amy’s cold, lifeless little face--then screaming in terror and flying into her father’s arms. Josh and Justin had been seventeen months old at the time and remembered nothing. Since Amy’s death, Mr. Collins insisted that his wife had never been quite the same, but never forced her into getting any help.

 “Well, here’s Emily now,” Mrs. Collins told Mrs. Crawford when she saw Emily approaching. “Emily, there’s someone Mrs. Crawford wants you to meet.”

 “If she’ll come out here,” said Mrs. Crawford. She turned toward the house and yelled, “Nina!”

 A girl that looked to be Emily’s age burst through the screen door and clambered down the porch steps to join Mrs. Crawford. She was very tall, with a mane of curly red hair that was only somewhat tamed by a green scrunchie. She had bright, snapping green eyes and a fresh-complected face with a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She smiled brightly when she saw Mrs. Collins and Emily.

 “Finally, someone my own age!” she said cheerfully. “There’s so many old people around here, I almost thought this was a retirement community!”

 “And what’s wrong with old people?” asked Mrs. Crawford, who was a grayish fifty-something woman.

 “Nothing,” Nina smiled sheepishly. She reached out to shake hands with Emily. “I’m Nina Monroe. Or Nina Crawford. Whatever you wanna call me. But I’ve been a Monroe for the past seventeen years of my life, and a Monroe I shall stay, whatever the legalities are.”

 “I’m Emily Collins,” said Emily. “And that’s about it.”

 “Emily, why don’t you be a dear and show Nina around the neighborhood?” asked Mrs. Crawford. “Your mother and I are going to step into the house for a while. It’s getting rather chilly out here.”

 “Chilly?” asked Emily. “It’s nice out here. But I guess I can take her around. There isn’t much to see, though.”
 Mrs. Collins and Mrs. Crawford went into the house, while Emily and Nina began their tour.

 “Are you going to the high school here?” Emily asked.

 “Yeah. I’m gonna be a senior.”

 “Me, too. Maybe we’ll have classes together.”

 “Well, what’d you sign up for?”

 “French, physics, psychology, English, trig and band. But everyone has to take English.”

 “I know. I signed up for trig this year, but other than that, all our classes are different. Unless we have the same English class. What do you play in band?”

 “French horn.”

 “I used to play alto sax in middle school, but I wasn’t very good. So I took up acting. Last year my school put on Les Miserables. Ever seen it?”

 “Heard of it. You must have gone to a good school. I heard Les Miserables is an expensive one to do.”

 “Not really. But I went to school in Farmington Hills. If you’ve only heard of it you wouldn’t know what character I played. But I had an important one. It was great.”

 “I’ve been in two pit orchestras--for Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music. Never on stage, though.”

 “You should try it sometime. It’s fun. I’m going to be an actress someday. I want to be on Broadway. Does anyone else live around here?”

 “Yeah, a few people. You’ll meet a lot of them in school. I’m only around till tomorrow--I’m leaving for band camp.”

 “And how long is that?”

 “A week.”

 “Man, I’m gonna be bored.”

 “Well, some of my friends are having a get-together tonight. They wanted to do it for me before I leave--even though it’s only a week. You can come along if you want, and meet some of my friends.”

 “That sounds like fun. I’m not a bit nervous. I love meeting new people.”

 As Emily and Nina talked, Emily learned more about Nina’s history. She had lived with her parents until she was twelve, when they were jailed for government conspiracy. Even she did not know the details of that. She had been in and out of several foster homes until she was legally adopted by the Crawfords, who were her original godparents. Nina already knew the Crawfords well and had no trouble adjusting to them. However, because of the legal “red tape,” the adoption process had taken so long that Nina could not live with them until she was seventeen.

 Emily took Nina to the get-together at Betsy’s house that night and introduced her to everyone. Betsy herself was Emily’s best friend--but their friendship was dwindling slowly because of Betsy’s demanding boyfriend, Jeremy Sullivan. Betsy was blonde-haired, blue-eyed and gorgeous, but rebellious. She was usually cheerful, witty and sarcastic, and she jokingly hurled insults at everyone and everything. Jeremy was a sharp contrast to Betsy--dark, sullen and quiet. He had a fascination with Japanese animation and the popular Nintendo game, “Pokemon.” He had the same wit and sarcasm that Betsy had, but used it more often and rather cruelly, in some cases.

 Jeremy’s sister, Melissa Sullivan, was also an opposite. She had a very sunny disposition and laughed easily. She was plump and fair, with wavy brown hair, laughing blue eyes and a bright smile. Hannah Kramer was also there with her boyfriend, Jason Malcolm. They lived together, since Jason moved up from Texas and Hannah dropped out of school.

 Curtis Johnson was a very close friend of Emily’s. He and his girlfriend, Jen Smith, were also going away to band camp--Curtis was a trombone player, while Jen was in the colorguard. Curtis was tall, skinny and gruff-looking, but he was very gentle. Nick McStandish, also going away to band camp as a trumpet player, stuck around only long enough to shake hands with Nina and introduce himself before bolting out the door.

 Ben Clark tagged along relentlessly with Emily wherever she went in hopes of winning her back. He was short and fat, with dark skin and wild hair that he had dyed several times. His personal hygiene was questionable, and he was a smoker and a bit of a troublemaker. Emily often wondered why she had ever been with him.

 They sat around the bonfire that Betsy’s brother Paul had made and chatted. Nina told all of her stories and got along very well with everyone. Emily smiled and knew she would be a wonderful addition to their group.