Mike drove me to the airport with Davy. Time to pick up my sister Emily and good friend Allison, who were staying with me for a whole month! I was excited though Mike kept telling me it was a bad idea to have them over so soon after the attack.

“Katie, really, I can’t understand why you want them here now. The shrink said it was a bad idea.” Mike had come to my last appointment with me.

“Well, I haven’t seen them in forever.” I said stubbornly. “Besides, even if I didn’t want them it’s kind of too late to say ‘okay kids, I really don’t want you here anymore.’”

“Well, you should’ve listened to me earlier before you want ahead and made all the arrangements!”

“That’s not the point!” I exclaimed with exasperation.

“Okay guys, let’s just find the flight they’re on.” Davy grabbed my hand and dragged me away from a fuming Mike.

I jumped up with excitement as the flight person announced that the plane had arrived. And there they were-my little sister, two inches taller than me, and Allison with a short blonde hair cut.

“Katie!” Em squealed as she ran over to give me a hug.

“Emily, I can’t believe you’re taller than me. That is not how it works.” I said with pretend grouchiness.

“Oh Katie. Still having that height inferiority complex, huh?” Allison sauntered over. I just grinned and gave her a huge hug.

“On the plane, there was this guy who looked just like Paul, I swear.” Emily bounced up and down.

“Paul who?” I wracked my brain to see if I could remember knowing any Pauls in my life-

“McCartney, of course!” She sounded insulted when I hadn’t automatically assumed she was talking about her current crush.

“Oh yes.” I slapped my forehead. I turned to Allison and winked. “Was she talking about him the whole trip?”

“Of course.” I was just about to let out some gossip when I heard an “Ahem!” from behind me.

“Oh! This is Davy,” I motioned to the back. He was busy staring at Allison, with stars in his eyes. “Oh no.” I giggled and looked up at Mike. He smiled and nodded.

“Uh oh is right. Davy man, snap out of it!” He waved his hand in front of his face, and finally Davy came back from la-la land.

“Davy, this is Allison.” She gave me a “this-is-Davy?” look and smiled back at him. She’s likes him too, I can tell.

“How are you?” He asked her, shaking hands. (By the way, Marissa had floated on about a week after the attack. Felt “left out,” I’m sure.)

“I’m pretty good, thanks.” Emily made an impatient noise.

“This is my sister Emily. Emily, this is my best friend Davy.”

“Hi!” She shook his hand eagerly.

“Hello, love. You look just like your sister.”

“Allison, Emily, this is Mike. Mike, Allison and Em.” He shook hands with the two, rolling his eyes at me as both girls drew their attention away from him and back on to Davy after about two seconds.

“Isn’t that the way it always is?” He whispered as they headed out in front of us to the baggage claim area. Laughing I leaped up and patted his head (which was no small feat, him being almost a foot taller than me). “Thanks for cheering me up, Jacobson.” He said sarcastically. I shrugged and ran ahead to join the others.

“Groovy apartment!” Emily ooed and awed over Kibbles & Bits.

“This is one great place, Kate. Could use a little cleaning.” Allison picked up some dirty clothes and raised her eyebrows at me.

“What can I say? My maid’s on vacation.” I looked over at the clock. “Oh my god! I’m late for work!” I rushed into the bathroom and began changing into my waitress uniform. “Listen, Davy and Mike will take you guys to their place for a couple hours, then drive take you to their gig tonight. I’ll be working but I’ll come visit you, okay?” I ran out the door waving good-bye to everyone and rushed out to catch the bus.

Later on I met with Helen and Allison on my break. The boys were playing “Let’s Dance On” and Emily had insisted that she go hang out at the front of the stage after Davy winked at her.

“Davy is pretty cute.” Allison admitted after Emily left.

“Yeah, and he likes you.” I smiled at her.

“How do you know?” Helen and I burst out laughing.

“Believe me, we know.” Helen reassured my other friend.

“I’ll set you up, you’ll see.” I began thinking about how great it would be if my two good friends got together.

“Katie! Break’s over!” Barked the manager Rick.

“Okay guys, I’ll see you later.” I hurried off to start wiping more tables. There was a group of guys by the stage who were looking lewdly at me-I was painfully aware of their sneering comments. I had gotten better since the attack, but I was terribly paranoid of things like that. I ignored them for a while, but they kept calling me over so I finally did. “What?” I snapped.

“Ah, don’t be like that. Come sit over here.” A dark-haired guy smirked, gesturing to his lap.

“No thank you.” I said coldly, and turned around to leave. I felt one of the guys tug at my arm-the one that I recently had my cast taken off of.

“C’mon now. Don’t be a prude.” Another guy pulled me down on his lap, and wouldn’t let go. The others were laughing and soon my head was spinning and I was hyperventilating. Suddenly the music stopped and Mike headed over along with Davy, looking very pissed off.

“Leave her alone, man.” Davy snarled. The guy looked so surprised that he did. Mike helped me up and shoved the guy backwards.

“Why don’t you and your friends leave?” He suggested quietly. The dark-haired guy opened his mouth to argue but my little sister rushed over before he could say one word.

“Katie, what’s going on? Why don’t you leave her alone, assholes?” She spat angrily. Not wanting to drag the Emily into a fight, they left with a few words muttered under their breath.

“You okay?” Mike asked.

“Yeah.” I answered almost curtly and zipped over to the woman’s restroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, noticing for the first time that I had been crying. God I look a mess. I splashed cold water on my face and sat down on the lounge chair, burying my head in my arms.

“Katie?” Helen walked in and crouched down beside me.

“This is too much.” I said without looking up. “I can’t live my life having panic attacks all the time.”

“What is she talking about?” I looked up and saw that Allison and Emily had followed Helen into the bathroom. I looked at Helen and nodded. She sighed and said to them “I’ll tell you on the way home.” She walked out, and Allison and Emily followed her, throwing concerned looks at me until I was out of sight.

“You didn’t tell me you were raped, Katie!” Emily almost shouted when I got home later that night.

“No, I couldn’t bring myself too.” I answered tiredly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Allison asked softly. “You’ve known Davy for only half a year and already you have shared with him the most traumatic thing that’s ever happened to you. I’ve known you since sixth grade and you couldn’t tell me.”

“It’s not like that, though. The reason they knew first is because they were here, you know? With me.”

Allison sighed. “So who did it?”

“This apparently known sex offender who called himself Keith. He ran out of town after he attacked me-the police still haven’t caught him. But listen, I don’t want to talk with you guys about this. You came to visit to have fun, and I’m gonna show you a good time!” Emily and Allison grinned and engulfed me in a huge hug. “That’s better.”

We sent Emily to bed a little while later, and then Allison and I broke out the cokes and settled down comfortably on the couch for some good gossip.

“Do you remember Joe?” She asked, eyes flashing.

“Oh my god yes! He was so good-looking-he could be a model, I swear.”

“Not anymore.” She giggled. “He’s all pierced and tattooed now.”

“No!”

“Yes!” We burst into laughter.

“Davy has a agreed to date you this Friday.” I said smugly when we had calmed down a bit.

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“Groovy!” She smiled modestly, but I knew that she was very proud of herself for snagging a date with a complete doll. “So, what’s the deal with Mike?”

“Mike?” I said innocently.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You like him.”

“How’d you know that?” I asked, astonished she had figured it out.

“Duh! I can tell. He has a girlfriend, though.”

“I know, and she’s really awesome, too.” I sighed.

“Oh god! Unrequited love! I think I’m gonna cry.” And she did. She was always a crier.

From that day forward I resolved to put the past behind me. I even began to scope out for a guy to date with-okay, double date with Davy and Allison.

They had hit it off right from the start. Two weeks into the month and they had gone on four-no five-dates. I started to become a little agitated. My two best friends dating wasn’t as great as I had imagined it would be. I spent more and more time with Emily and the other boys as I realized I was the third wheel when I hung out with Davy and Allison together. And they always were together.

Helen had to leave to attend her brother’s wedding in Michigan. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t happy that she’d be gone for two weeks, because it gave me more time to be with Mike.

I’m so evil, aren’t I?

*Once again, lyric from Simon & Garfunkel song "America."

Part Five-Life was such a simple game a child could play home