Chapter 1

John:

I guess this story starts almost five years ago on the very unpleasant afternoon that my father came home early and caught our mother in bed with another man. It really did split our family and the ensuing divorce was bitter.

I have two brothers, each older, and, at the time, Russell was fourteen, Dale, twelve and I, John, was just ten. It was so clear which parent was at fault that it took no effort for any of us to decide who we wanted to live with; it was our dad. Mom got visiting rights but we lived with our father after our mom moved out of the house.

Life went along nonetheless and a year or so later, Dad went to his twenty-fifth high school reunion and came home all bubbly and alive, he had re-met a girl he had a crush on back in the day and, both being divorced, they became the reunion's 'item.'

Dad continued to see the woman, Sandra, and it was obvious to all us boys that they were headed for the altar and, yes, that happened about a year after they met.

So, we three boys were getting a stepmother. And, we were getting a stepsister, it turned out, Lisa, who was my age within just a few weeks.

We all liked Sandra a lot, she was quite pretty and easy to talk to and be around. Her daughter was also very nice and she and I seemed to hit it off very well. After the wedding, Sandra and Lisa moved in and this required some shuffling of room assignments.

By now, Russell was away at college, so that made things a little easier on our three-bedroom house. Dale, my seventeen-year old brother and I bunked-in together and Lisa, of course, got her own room. Dad fixed the rec room so Russell had a place to stay when he came home, so it all worked out.

Lisa had become the ideal stepsister. We were the same age, both in the same grade, tenth, and even took many of the same classes, we both were good students and on the Principal's List gradewise. Lisa was also pretty, like her mother. And, since she had progressed in her teens, had become very pretty, indeed. She had a boyfriend, Tim, rather a jerk in my estimation, and I had a more-or-less girlfriend, too, Wendy.

It was really a happy place to live, my father and Sandra were happy together, I shared a room with Dale and we were close and I had a stepsister, Lisa, who was bright, pretty and popular. Our happy home was about to get happier, at least from my perspective.

Lisa:

My parents got divorced when I was five, so I really don't know my father very well and he's mostly just a source of child-support payments.

My mother dated once in a while but just never seemed to meet 'Mister Right.'

Then, she went to her twenty-fifth high school reunion and when she came back to get me from my grandmother's, she was bubbly like a girl on prom night.

All I heard about was 'Robert-this' and 'Robert-that, ' Robert, Robert, Robert.

Well, I finally got to meet Robert and I must say, he was really nice. Handsome, funny, at ease around me, he really seemed perfect for Mom.

And, she thought so too. They got married and then the big change came; we moved in with Robert and his three sons. Well, two sons. One was away at college, the other two lived at home. They shared the same room, Dale and John. Dale was three years older than me but John was the same age. Within a few weeks.

John and I had a lot in common, grades, band, reading, liked basically the same music. We just hit it off. It didn't hurt that he was also very cute. Actually, I had rather a crush on John. I knew it was just that, a crush, I mean, I was twelve, almost thirteen, at the time.

As the months went on, I felt more and more at home and was really happy with my new, blended family.

I started seeing a guy from school, Tim, and John dated a girl a year younger, Wendy. Neither of us was really serious about our dating friends, I knew Tim was just someone I could go to movies and dances with. He wanted to get more physical but I stopped him every time. I just didn't see him as real boyfriend material.

John:

It all happened about a month and a half ago when Dad and Sandra had to go see her father who was in the hospital about five hours away. Dale was left in charge, having his own car, and I had a date and I thought Lisa did too. We were both just about fifteen, so it's not like we were little kids.

So, Saturday morning, before they left, Dad got the three of us together and gave us the 'drill' for the weekend. Lisa and I were to stay at home though we could each have one friend over and Dale could go out on a date with his girlfriend, Sharon,

as long as he had his cell phone with him in case we needed him and he had to be home by one. Any friends of ours had to leave the house by midnight.