Chapter 1

Somewhere in Omaha, Nebraska
[It was March 16, 2011 ... My Birthday]

I was finally allowed to walk to the School Bus Stop by myself. Mom didn’t understand why I needed to leave so early.

That was because of Rebecca ‘Becky’ Knowles, we had been riding to school together for a long time, making a deal to get to the bus stop early enough to talk before the other kids and the bus came along.

Becky’s birthday was June 12, 2011, so I was only three months older than her. She is shorter than I by a foot and looks only to be eleven or twelve, but the bus stop was a block closer to her than it was to me.

We talked about school, ourselves and our families. We also sat next to one another on the bus, which generated a lot of “Becky and Ricky, sitting in the tree, K I S S I N G.”

She’s a blonde, with blue eyes and I am a blond with brown eyes. Her eyes are kind of pretty -- I try not to stare at her.

Over the next couple of years, we kept seeing each other at the school bus stop, me getting taller and she was getting prettier. We started to hold hands, which started up the song, again and again.

When we both turned fourteen, our mothers decided to start driving us to school. They did not yet know each other, and so we didn’t get our time alone at the bus stop at the beginning of the day anymore.

We were given a project to work on in Science class, so I had to talk to my mother about one of us going to the other one’s house...

“My little Ricky has a girlfriend?” she teased.

“Mom, she’s a girl AND she’s a friend, but she’s not a girlfriend.”

My sister Tiffany, two years older than I - brown hair, brown eyes walked in just then.

“Did I hear right, that my little brother has a girlfriend? What species is she?”

I went over to my sister and did the really adult thing to do and stomped on her left foot, causing her to scream her bloody head off, while mom just covered her mouth and went back to fixing dinner.

She said, “Where does this young lady live, Ricky?”

“Five blocks from here, Mom – we have got a Science project to work on, and one of us needs to go to the other’s house to work on it. It’s 30% of the grade and the best project goes on to the school district Science Fair!”

“Have you picked out a project yet, Ricky?”

“Nope, we don’t have time during the day to talk about it, so I was hoping you would let me go over to her house for a couple of hours, so we can come up with a cool project.”

“Mom, he just wants to go over to her house to breed with her!” Tiffany said laughing crazily, while she rubbed her foot.

Blushing, I said, “Mom, that is not true, we have known each other for years. We are ‘school’ friends – that’s all. I’m sorry for my sister’s tantrums. I think it’s time to take her in to see the psychiatrist and find out what the voices in her head are saying to one another.”

Tiffany stormed out, still limping, while I saw Mom not completely able to control her laughter.

“Fine, take your phone with you and be home for dinner two hours from now. I usually require a ‘friend’ to meet your father and me first, but something tells me this Becky’s all right. Call me when you get there, honey?”

“Thanks Mom – you are pretty cool,” I said on my way out.

I called Becky, to tell her I would meet her at the bus stop. We did, and walked to her house, holding hands the whole way.

“Are we boyfriend and girlfriend, Becky?” I asked, causing her to stop and look at me.

“Why do you ask me that, Ricky?”

“I don’t know, my older sister said something – something about you, that made me think of asking.”

“Your older sister doesn’t even know me, why would she say anything about someone she doesn’t even know?” Becky said.

“She’s sixteen and kind of mean all of the time, and I got upset when she said what she said. I stepped on her foot.”

“Really, you did that for me?” Becky said, now with a real sweet smile on her face. “You defended my honor; thank you, Ricky.”

“Well, here is my house,” Becky declared.

“Did you tell anyone I was coming over?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as we are quiet, but I should introduce you to my mother.”

“What is her first name, Becky?”

“Norah,” she answered.

We walked into the kitchen and I saw an older version of Becky fixing food. She looked at us and smiled.

“Who is this young man, Becky?” she said, slicing some potatoes, I think.

“This is Ricky Summers, Mom. We have been best friends since fourth grade. We met at the bus stop and now we are in the same Science class together. We have a project to design and show for class.”

“Nice to meet you Ricky. You can call me Norah if you would like. I never much liked being called Mrs. Knowles.”

“My mother has said the same thing to me before, Norah. I really don’t understand, but I never thought anyone as pretty as you, should be called ‘Mrs. Anything!’”

“Why thank you Ricky, that is awfully nice of you to say. Dinner will be in less than an hour, you’re invited if you would like?” Norah said.

“Just a minute, please?” I got my phone out and called home.

“Hello?” mom said.

“I’m here, Mom. I was asked to stay for dinner – Is that all right with you?”

“Let me talk to Becky’s mother, please?” mom asked.

I handed the phone to Norah and they spoke for a couple of minutes, then I got the phone back.

Smiling, Norah said, “She sounds like a lovely lady – It’s been OK’d. Work on whatever it is you two have to work on, and then you are staying for dinner. Then I’ll get someone, if not myself, to take you home later. Did you walk here, Ricky?”

“We both walked to the bus stop, then I took Becky’s arm and we got here.”

“You are a very considerate young man.”