"May I be excused, Aunt Ginger?" McKenzie asked when she finished her frothy glass of 7-Up. Rarely did the McCartney family break bread at the same time at the same table and when they did, it was a time to relish in because they came few and far between, but Aunt Ginger just smiled as she smeared butter on a slice of bread with swiftful movements of her hand.

"Sure, McKenzie," Mrs. M replied sweetly, flicking a rebellious flake of bread from the corner of her lip. McKenzie raised from the table slowly, stepped away from the path the wood chair would soon be pushed through, and tucked the chair comfortably under the table. "Just bring your plate into the kitchen," Mrs. M asked politely, taking her cup and sending the 7-Up down her parched throat. McKenzie nodded, her sapphire eyes dulled to well-weathered gems and her face took on a strange shade of the lightest purple, like a chamelon. McKenzie gathered her plate and glass in her hands in a hurry and skidded off to the kitchen.

Jesse could tell something was wrong when McKenzie didn't finish his mother's pea soup, almost at the top of her pyrimad of all-time fave foods, next to chocolate. After he obediently helped his mother and Aunt Diane clear off the table, Jesse climbed valiently up the stairs and took a slight right to Lea's room. McKenzie was running around from Leah's white dresser to the right, across the room to Lea's closet, like a child consuming one too many candy bars, her fading red plush teddy bear clutched powerfully under her arms.

"I think you should rest, Kenny," Jesse suggested, distracted from speech by McKenzie's frazzled appearence coupled with unaccountable energy.

She gasped, holding her bear dearly to her chest as she peered at Jesse like he was a ghost. She frowned, darting her eyes and feet to her side of Lea's computer desk a few feet away from her closet, scooping her fingers through her jewerly box. "I'm going out," she stated into the box like it contained a magic genie.

"Are you sure you should?" Jesse pondered, cautiously stepping into a pressured situation. "You don't look so well...Maybe you should..."

"You know what I should do, Jesse?" McKenzie firmly asked, gazing through the wall in front of her, giving up to her conscience's baggering. "Tell you why I think I'm sick." She whipped around to face Jesse, her teddy bear hanging loosely at her side from her hand as if to be released any moment from its tight rope into shark-infested waters.

Jesse looked at her befuddled, but walked further into the room as McKenzie grasped the blue phone from the floor, dialing impatiently, her fingers not able to punch buttons at her requested speed. "Hi, is Tricia there?" McKenzie asked, placing her free hand on her hip and staring at Jesse. "Hey Tric, it's McKenzie...Nothing, I just don't think I'm going to go out tonight. I have to talk to Jesse...Yes, talk to him...It's the right thing to do...Thanks, See ya Monday." Jesse was utterly confused as McKenzie hung up, tossing the phone gingerly to fall onto the cushion of the teal carpet.

"What's going on, McKenzie?" Jesse demanded a little more forcefully than he intended, noticing McKenzie holding her bear and her hand unexplainably at her quivering lips as she walked over, sitting next to Jesse on her bed.

She sucked in a batch of soothing, relaxing air and looked directly into Jesse's eyes. "Well..." McKenzie started sheepishly, folding her legs into a pretzel-like position, the white snowflakes on her blue pajama pants specks of salt decorating it proudly. "I'm a little under the weather because of all this stress and stuff...the stress of being in a co-ed school, the stress of being in my mom's eye 24/7, the pressure of making friends..."

"You seem to have a really nice one," Jesse commented referring directly to Tricia, leaning back on his hands.

"That's just it, Jesse," McKenzie pointed out, her sapphire eyes becoming glassy with tears. She raked at them angrily with her teddy bear, sharp reflexes forcing her to sniff back what she wanted to say. She fought through the resistence, clamping her hands on the knees of her pajama pants with determination. "Tricia is not a friend..."

Jesse peered at her curiously, watching his strong cousin break down like a weak barrier fighting against the waves of a thunderous storm. The tranquilty of the air surrounding them was going to spark a startling confession. "Why...are you crying?" he asked softly, patting her lowered head gently as tears finally broke free from her eyes.

"Because I don't want you to hate me because I'm gay!" she shouted involuntarily, suddenly afraid her shriek she needed to scream would be heard by her unsuspecting mother.

Jesse's heart faltered a few beats, that sentance seeping deep into his brain, surprisingly causing no counteraction. He couldn't fathom that McKenzie would tell him this, let alone that she believed he would hate her. His eyes expanded to the size of silver dollars, his brain and mouth surging into a temprary shut down. McKenzie looked up at him at if she was drowning in the raging sea of pain and pressure and he left a life preserver on the dock. "Please say something," McKenzie desperately whispered, shaking persistently at his hands. He snapped back into the fuzzy atmosphere, staring slowly down at McKenzie.

"I have to pee," Jesse blurted, jokingly rising from the bed, thinking that a laugh might lift the smothering weight that crushed their spirits.

"Jesse, Please!" she cried, for once not wishing to laugh something off.

"I'm sorry," he apologiesed sincerely, "I just don't know how to respond to that."

"Maybe you could ask me why?" McKenzie suggested annoyed, rolling her eyes.

"I'd rather know why you waited so long to tell me," Jesse responded raptly, linking his hands and leaving them to rest on his lap. "I mean," he started, darting his eyes to the floor, unsure of how to put what he wanted to say. His eyes climbed back to hers, the soft, understanding eyes he had in his youth surfacing at this fruitful moment. "I mean, you're like my little sister..."

"By a whole 3 weeks!" McKenzie stated dramatically, her body slowly clensing of the oppresive disease-like secret and guilt she placed harshly on herself.

"We're closer than any cousins could be. We'd probably share the same clothes if we had to. When you came home, I was expecting the same plump, fearless Kenny I grew up admiring and babying at the same time. I thought I knew...every thing about you. But obviously, I don't."

McKenzie's breath was stolen away by the sincerety in his voice. A releaved smile crawled anxiously on her face. "I'm glad you don't hate me."

"Why would you think such a Timmy-like thing?" Jesse asked, his voice a mix of seriousness and playfullness.

"'Cuz whenever any one hears the word 'gay,' they avoid me, make me feel worthless or wrong," McKenzie admitted softly, tucking her short hair sadly behind her ears. A fat whale of a tear swam from her eye down the damp cavern of her cheek. It was harpooned out of existence by the hard surface of her leg.

Jesse couldn't imagine how people could be so cruel and judgemental. McKenzie is a good person. "They aren't worth your time," Jesse whispered, comfort diffusing into McKenzie from Jesse's hand lying on hers.

McKenzie gazed up at him with swelling red eyes, smiling and whiping at her damp cheeks. "I love you, Jess," she shouted with a happy sigh, wrapping her ribbons of arms around his neck.

When she let go, Jesse hopped from the bed, leeching his hand onto McKenzie with a compassionate hold. "Let's go watch 'Charlie's Angels'," Jesse suggested with a goofy grin. McKenzie nodded, scooting off the side of the bed to the floor. Arms linked, they busted out of the room. "Charlie always gets the babes."

"Imagine how many you'll get when you get old and pruney," McKenzie laughed, punching his shoulder with juvenile spirit.

Jesse smiled and shook his head. "When are you going to tell your mom?" Jesse enquired, him and McKenzie trudging down the wooden stairs like they were stuck and frightened on a snowy ice cap.

"I wish I didn't have to tell her," McKenzie admitted, her facial expression a basset hound, eyes still red and smile stretched to a depressing frown. "I don't know how she'll react. She'll probably kill me for all I know..."

"I'll stand by you no matter what," Jesse assured her, taking McKenzie's hand in his and squeezing it, making himself and McKezie believe that every thing would turn out OK. But it wouldn't...