Chapter 2: Jackie

Two days ago my parents held one of their famous family meetings. I sat at the dinner table with Mom, Dad, and my sister, Mo. After the usual "how's school going" talk, Dad dropped the bomb.

"Girls, Mom, and I have agreed to let your cousin, Jonathon, live with us for a while," Dad said. "He and your Aunt Sarah will be here on Saturday."

I was stunned! Why was my cousin, someone I didn't really know, going to be moving in with us? Just as I was about to pose the question, Dad answered it for me.

"JR has had some trouble and your aunt thinks it will be helpful if he gets away from his friends for a little while."

"What kind of trouble?" Mo asked.

"Nothing real serious, but serious enough that my sister wants to try to nip it in the bud. JR has had trouble since Uncle Bob was killed. His grades aren't where they should be and he's been running with a rough crowd. Aunt Sarah asked if we could help."

Great, I thought, we're going to be living with a hood. How could things get any worse? Well, they did.

"Jackie, you and Mo are going to have to share a bedroom for now," Mom said. "I know this is disruptive, but we have no choice if we're going to help Aunt Sarah and Jonathon."

I was about to go ballistic, but I took a deep breath and calmed down. My sister and I had been brought up to think of others as well as ourselves. Mo and I were adopted when we were infants. We weren't blood sisters, but we were as close as any two sisters could be. Our parents told us about the adoption when we were younger. I never resented the fact my parents weren't my real parents and loved them dearly.

"Which room are we going to have?" Mo asked.

"You and Jackie will move into Jackie's room. It's the largest one."

Our house was nice. It was a split ranch with the master bedroom on one end and three bedrooms on the other. Mom and Dad's bedroom had a bathroom in it. The three bedrooms on the other end of the house shared two bathrooms. My room and my sister's room shared one of the bathrooms. Each of the rooms had a door into the bathroom. The third bath was accessed through the hallway. The third bedroom served as an office. It had a futon that was made into a bed when we had an overnight guest.

Between the bedrooms, there was a great room with a sliding glass door that led to the backyard. We had a covered patio and a pool. The kitchen and dinning area, along with the great room, separated the three bedrooms on one end from my parents' bedroom. From the kitchen, there was a door to the garage and laundry area.

"Are we going to have to share Jackie's bed?" my sister asked.

"No, we're going out today to buy another bed. Dad measured the room and we can make it work. We can rearrange the room a bit so there is room for you two girls," Mom said.

Mom and Dad told us what they knew about the trouble my cousin had been in. They asked my sister and me to try to understand and to make JR feel welcome. After our meeting, my Mom and Dad thanked Mo and me for being considerate of the situation.

The four of us spent Saturday rearranging my room. Dad went to the furniture store and came back with a new bed. Once we were finished, I decided it wouldn't be that bad. Mo and I cleaned her room and made sure we had everything moved.

I changed into my bathing suit and hit the pool. I was on the swimming team and practiced every day. Our pool was long enough to swim laps. Mo came out and swam with me. After my workout, I climbed out to relax in the sun.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Mo asked me.

"If you're asking if I'm happy, no, not really. I am okay with it though. You know it's the right thing to do, don't you?" I said.

"Yes, but I really liked having my own room."

"Me too, Mo. Look, this is going to take some adjustment for both of us." I glanced at my sister and giggled. "I'll try not to make too much noise when I play with myself if you try too."

I giggled again when Mo's face turned red. "What—I don't do that!" she said indignantly.

"You are such a liar! I've heard you when I was in the bathroom. It's no big deal, everyone does it."

Mo continued to blush, covering her face with both hands.