and then

Kelsey was on the phone with Amanda. They'd really picked up a quick friendship which actually shocked her, but really she found herself wanting to talk more with Amanda than any of her friends at school lately.

Amanda had spent a good portion of the phone call venting about her brother and his kid, Charity.

"Really, she's sweet. She is. I feel really bad for her, actually. And well, if she wants to sleep with me, I guess I'll get used to it." Amanda told her.

"Well, just take care of you, you know." Kelsey advised.

"I know, but she keeps calling me Mommie, and I tell her I'm just Auntie. I don't know if it'll stick, but it must be devastating to have her Mom up and leave like that. I guess. But then the more I talk to her, I think she's left Charity a lot. And this is really nothing new to her," Amanda said.

"That's so sad." Kelsey didn't know what else to say.

"So are you ready for Prom?" Amanda moved on.

"Of course, aren't you?"

"We aren't going." Amanda pointed out she didn't go to Kelsey's school, and Kyle was only a Freshman.

"But you could be somebody's guest and Kyle could be Nick's guest, you know. We'll find someone. We will."

"Seriously, I don't need to go," Amanda told her. "What about Ellie? She's going, isn't she? She showed me this dress she got for thirty bucks on clearence at that place she used to work. It was all sparkly and stuff."

"She told Roger it was off. I don't guess she can go with Elliot." Kelsey was trying to look through her sister's closet who was in college at the moment, to see if she could find anything for Prom.

"What? That jerk." Amanda blurted. "I don't know what she sees in him."

"I'm beginning to think he's not good for her." Kelsey agreed.

"You should find her a date." Amanda suggested.

"Like she'd go." Kelsey pulled out hangers of black dresses. All her sister's dresses were black. Kelsey scowled a bit at her find. Not a treasure in sight.

"Well, she doesn't have to know. I'll talk to her. We could just have a group thing, you know. And somebody could just be in the group. Can you think of anyone?"

"Not really. Not anyone at my school." Kelsey put her sister's dresses back in their place. Then she remembered someone "Wait a minute!" It would be perfect. "Ryan's gonna be in town then."

"Who's Ryan?" Amanda said.

"This guy who used to live next to Roger a long time ago. I haven't seen him in when ever. He moved away, and now he wants to go to college around here and well, he has some time to look at colleges."

"OK, looks like we've got someone."

Kelsey smiled. "So you are going then?"

"I guess so."