Chapter Three: New House.

Marissa parked her car in front of my mansion-like, two story house and got out. "You live here?" she asked, her voice sounding amazed. "Yeah," I said and we walked to the front door. Marissa was looking at everything. The rose bushes my mom planted on beside the sidewalk, the plants hanging on the porch, the white, wicker furniture on the porch. "God, I'd kill to be you!" and we walked inside. I laid my bookbag inside the hall closet. I'll do my homework later, I thought and we headed upstairs to my bedroom. I had never thought of Mom's house being, well, awesome. I bet Marissa would flip if she saw Dad's house.

Marissa walked into my room and flopped down on my queen sized bed, looking like she just walked into heaven. "I. Love. Your. Room!!" she said and we laughed as I fell back on my bed, landing beside her. My room was a light lavender with posters of celebrities all over it. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Jake Gyllenhaal, Billie Joe Armstrong, just tons of people that I love watching and listening to everyday. I had just put them up the day before. Marissa got up and looked around my room. It was cleaner then my room at dad's, probably because mom and I had cleaned it and moved my stuff into it last weekend. "Where did you get all these posters? she asked as she look at them one by one. "I brought magazines from my dad's house and tore the pictures out. Cool, huh?" "Yeah!" We both laughed.

Suddenly, the front door to the house opened with a squeak sound, like we were in a horror movie, and I heard my mom yell upstairs for me to hear, "Kat, I'm home! Whose car?." Marissa and I headed downstairs into the kitchen where mom had laid her coat and pursue on the table. "Mom, this is Marissa. She drove me home because, um...I missed the bus." I smiled and pushed Marissa close to her so that they could meet and mom wouldn't notice that I was lying. "Thank you, Marissa." "Oh, no problem Ms. Stokes." Mom went to the fridge and grabbed three waters. "Water, girls?" We shook out heads yes and mom handed us the water. "I'm going to take a bath, honey," mom said to me. "Marissa, would you like to stay for dinner?" Marissa shook her head no, "I think I better get home. My mom is going to think I was trying out for the cheerleading squad." I laughed and we headed to the door. "OK. Nice meeting you, hun." "Nice meeting you too!" and we stepped outside, shutting the door behind us. "Thanks for not telling her about why you drove me home," I smiled and stopped by her car. "Ah, your welcome. I know how that is." She winked and laughed. "Well I'll see you in first along with Ben Wilson," she said in a teasing voice. I blushed and laughed. "Yeah, ok. See ya!" I headed back towards the house as she backed out of the driveway and drove home.

When I walked inside, I heard running water coming from the bathroom and knew mom had already went to get her a bath. I grabbed my bookbag out of the hall closet and headed upstairs to my room. I opened the door and threw my bookbag onto the bed as I jumped onto it myself. I opened my bookbag and took out my Spanish notebook. Spanish was the only homework I had, so I got to work. It took half an hour to finish, longer than I had expected. I put my notebook back into my bookbag, zipped it up and headed downstairs towards the kitchen. Mom was standing at the stove, apparently making dinner. I sat at the table and watched her cook. "Marissa seems to be a nice girl," she said as she handed me a plate that had a hamburger on it. "Yeah, she showed me my classes at school and warned about some of my teachers." I laughed and dug into my hamburger. Mom sat down across from me with her hamburger in front of her. "Well, that was nice of her, I guess." She smiled and ate her hamburger. We ate in silence the whole time. When I finished, I put my plate in the sink and went into my room to watch TV. The only thing on was a marathon of the Brady Bunch. So I turned it to TVland and started to watch that. I fell asleep when I was only on the second show.

I woke around 8:00pm to my mom knocking at the door. I sat up, "Come in," I said as I wiped my eyes. "Honey. Phone," she said and handed me the phone. "Who is it?" I mouthed. She shrugged her shoulder and left. "Hello?" I said. "Hey, Katherine. It's Ben." I smiled and answered, "Oh, Hi Ben!" Then I asked, in confusion, "How'd you get my number?" "Oh, just a friend of yours." He laughed and I knew who it was. Marissa. "Oh," I smiled and laid back on my bed. We talked for three hours, talking about everything. Why I moved here, siblings, hobbies, AND what I was doing this weekend. "Oh, nothing, I guess." "Well, uh, I was wondering, would you, um, like to go out to dinner and a movie Saturday?" I blushed and immediately said yes. "Great! Hey, I got to get off here, my mom is yelling at me to get off the phone." I laughed, "OK. See ya tomorrow." "Bye!" I hung up the phone and saw that it was 11:00pm! I climbed into bed, exhausted. That nap of mine didn't help one bit. I pulled the covers up around me and turned out the lamp beside my bed. I laid there, thinking about my day. About my classes, my new friend, and about my date this Saturday. I fell into a deep sleep thinking, I love my life.