Kelsi woke up early the next morning. She pulled on a pair of hunter green capris and a yellow shirt. She put her favorite green hat over her long red hair that she had pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head.  She walked down the stairs to the kitchen. She was not used to living there yet so she didn’t know when they woke up here. She opened a cabinet and helped herself to the only cereal they had, honey nut cheerios, luckily that was her favorite kind. She poured herself a bowl of cereal. When she finished she washed the bow and put it back where she found it. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. What she didn’t notice was that the Jackson’s had an alarm system that was set. When she pushed it open it screamed loudly. Her mom, in a nightgown and hair curlers, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and Elliot, in nothing but boxers, ran toward the door.

            “Sorry, I didn’t know you had an alarm system.” Kelsi apologized.

            “It’s okay dear,” Mrs. Jackson said, “We should have told you we had an alarm.”

            “Yeah and you should have told us that you wake up at four in the morning!” Elliot yelled angrily.

            “I’m sorry I’m not used to the time change, plus I just wanted some fresh air.” She apologized again.

            “Whatever,” he mumbled, and walked back up the stairs to his room.

            “We’ll give you the number so you can unset the alarm and get out without waking us up every morning.”

            “Okay.”

            “The number is 1214. The age that Elliot got his first girlfriend and his first kiss.”

            “Okay, I can remember that.” She opened the door and walked out to sit on the tree stump where she was when she had met Tyler. She didn’t know why, but she kind of wanted to see him again.

            She perched herself on the stump and looked around. The sun had not risen yet, so the moon was still out. There was not a star in the sky. She missed the stars, the stars that she and Jason would look at every night in Albuquerque, the stars where she got her first kiss. She had grown up in New Mexico now it seemed as if the life she used to live was snatched from under her feet. She sat on that stump until someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Elliot.

            “I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the park with me and my friends, they have benches that are softer than this stump, basketball courts, monkey bars, a skate park, and a pool.” By the look in his eyes she could tell that his mom had forced him to come and ask her. She was going to say no, but then she decided to go, so she could make friends and play some basketball.

            “Yeah, I’ll go.” She stood up and walked toward the house so she could change her shoes from flip-flops to sneakers.

            Once inside her house her mom stopped her. “Honey, how about you go swimming at the park.”

            “I would, but I don’t want to get into a swimming suit.”

            “Honey, you’re not fat. Why won’t you wear normal clothes?”

            “Because, unlike every other girl my age I AM FLAT!”

            “Well that’s good because all that stuff is fat anyway. You know we can get you a transplant.”

            “NO!”

            “Then why are you complaining?”

            “Because I don’t like people looking at me.”

            “You’ll never get a boyfriend if you don’t want someone to look at you.”

            “I had Jason, and then we moved; now I have nothing. I gotta go get my sneakers on.” She ran up the stairs and pulled on her sneakers.  On her way down she saw Tyler standing at the doorway.

            “Hey Kelsi.” He smiled.

            “Hey Tyler, how did you know I lived here?”

            “Well, you ran off toward this house yesterday, so it wasn’t that hard to find you.”

            “Oh yeah, Why are you here anyway?”

            “I wanted to go to the park and maybe play a little basketball or something.”

            “Sorry, I’m going with Elliot.”

            “Elliot Jackson?”

            “Yeah, we’re living with him and his parents until we find a house.”

            “Well, I gotta go.” He turned and ran off down the driveway.

            “Okay, that was weird.” She said to herself.

            “You ready to go?” Elliot asked.

            “Yeah.”

            “We gotta go meet Dylan and James at the corner.”

            “Okay.”

            They walked down the driveway to go meet Dylan and James, and go to the park. There was one thing that bothered her, ‘Why did Tyler run off when he found out she was going to the park with Elliot?’

            They walked to the park in silence, actually Kelsi did, James, Dylan, Elliot talked the whole time.