Chapter 2

I was 12 and Les was 11 when I started Jr. High. I don't know about today, but back then Jr. High was a rite of passage. You went to a completely different school, you were in a new social class, you were no longer a kid. Instead of going a couple of blocks to the elementary school, I rode my bike almost 2 miles. There were parties, school dances, sports, all kinds of things that didn't exist in elementary school.

This was no place for a kid sister to be hanging around. I never said anything. I think Mom probably sat Les down and told her she was going to have to let me go. But I think she was ready to spread her own wings, as well.

Les's body was going through some major changes. She and Mom started having secret conversations around the same time each month. I was told to leave them alone on several occasions by each of them, something new for me. Les was obsessively covering up parts of her body she hadn't even worn clothes over six months before.

Les was also starting to think for herself. She started questioning things. Just because I said it didn't make it true anymore.

This all seemed to happen at once. One minute we spent most of our time together and I was her hero. The next minute we hardly communicated with each other.

The next year we were both in Jr. High but we led separate lives. She and Sam walked or rode bikes to school, Joey and I went alone. The next year I was a big tough High School kid and wouldn't have had anything to do with her even if she wanted it.

So now we were back in the same school. In Jr. High, you're either in the lower class or the upper class. High School was different. Let's face it - there isn't a hell of a lot of difference between freshmen and sophomores.

Les and Sam decided they wanted to be cheerleaders. They both tried out and made the JV team. That summer, it seemed that they wore their uniforms all the time, either practicing in the front yard or at school, going over routines with the rest of the squad.

Something happened that summer that really bothered me. Les and I had always played hard and were in good shape. We also did well in school. We weren't the nerds of the class or anything, but we both did pretty well, mostly As and Bs. I probably got more Bs than she did, but we both did OK.

Well, the center of the varsity football team started paying attention to Les. I thought of it as sniffing around. This guy weighed about 300 pounds and probably did 3^rd grade 3 or 4 times. He was 19, she was 14. To complete the stereotype, everyone called him Bubba. Bubba had a GTO convertible, which was the only classy thing about him as far as I was concerned. They didn't go out on dates or anything, but it seemed that every time I rode my bike by the school they'd be talking. I saw him drop her off a couple of times after practice while I was mowing lawns. And it seemed like any time I saw them together she would do something physical like grab a hand or hug him. She developed a giggle that sounded like one a blond with an IQ of 65 would have. She'd sort of glance over at me and have this weird smile like when she was trying to get away with something with Dad.