Chapter 1

Like most people, I like sunny days but the day I came home to ask my brother, Danny, the question from school, it was rainy and damp. No, I don't believe it was an omen; actually, I don't believe in that kind of stuff at all.

Mrs. Johns, who teaches us Language Arts, asked us, "What do you most hope for?" It really is a simple question but it stopped me in my tracks when I heard it. It's only six words, but I didn't have an exact answer. There are many things I hope for, how could I single out just one?

Danny is a senior, two years older, and I hoped, a bit wiser. So, I planned on asking him the same question. We get along pretty well for a brother and sister, that didn't always hold true, but in the last two years or so, we're pretty good friends.

First, a bit about my brother. He's really smart, get good grades, wants to be an engineer of some kind, is five feet ten, very nice looking (I have a few friends who think he's a "throb."), doesn't play much sports but is pretty muscular, has ash blond hair and brown eyes that crinkle when he laughs, which he does a lot, he's got a great sense of humor.

He has his driver's license, shaves about three times a week and dates occasionally but no steady girlfriend.

His sister, me (Heather), is drop-dead gorgeous, five foot six, one hundred and six pounds, platinum blond hair down to my waist, and a 38DD bra. I also have a great sense of humor and my description above comes from that. Well, the name is right, Heather.

Five foot three, one hundred and eight pounds, ash blond hair to my shoulders and a 32B is much closer to reality. Like Dan, I get good grades (Usually better than his but I try not to rub it in) and want to be either in finance or in banking. Yeah, I'm a kind of a brain, but I'm a cute brain.

So, anyway, my teacher posed this question that I just didn't have a ready answer to. I mean, there were some pat answers like "A happy life" or "Good health" and things like that but none of them were very impressive, at least to me.

Dan was in the kitchen fixing a snack, so I threw the question at him.

"Danny, Mrs. Johns asked us today, 'What do you most hope for?' and I couldn't think of a single answer to that. What would you say to that?"

"What do I most hope for?"

"Yeah."

"Um, you might not understand."

"You mean it's so deep or something?"

"No, you might not like it."

"Why would I care? What is it?"

"You might get mad, is all."

"Mad? What do you mean, 'mad?'"

"You might not like my answer. You might get angry if I tell you."

"That's crazy. How could I get mad. I promise I won't."

"Well, it's just something you might take the wrong way."

"Okay, I promise that I won't get mad or upset. This is weird. It's just a simple question."

"Heather, you said yourself, that it was a hard question, it's not simple. And it's very complex."

"Why do you think I'd be mad; does it have to do with me?"

"Well, it might."

"And you won't tell me?"

"Look, if you promise me not to be angry or upset and that you'll try to be understanding and see my side of it, I will. You asked the question, not me."

What a weird conversation. Danny is a very smart, logical guy and he's acting really cagey about this.

"I promise not to get mad or hurt or anything and I'll try to be understanding. Okay?"

"Well, the thing I most hope for is, uh, for me, um, to..."

"Yeah?"

" ... to, uh, make love to you."

Oh my god! Why did I push him. What do I do now.

"But, I'm your sister."

"Yeah, you happen to be my sister. But you're the prettiest girl I know, you're nice and fun to be with, you're not stuck-up, and I think you're very sexy."

"Sexy? Oh, come on."

"Sorry, but, yes, sexy. You're intelligent and self-assured and there's a sexiness to that."

"But our school is full of cute girls."

"Heather, you were cute a few years ago, really cute. Now, you're beautiful. Not just cute. You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"Well, I ... This is so ... I can't ... It just doesn't make sense."

"Sorry, to me it does. I'm sorry I told you. I probably shouldn't have."