AHHH! SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS wrong with me? Had I reached some weird teen hormone stage where I reacted this way to every good-looking guy? I shook my head and I looked over my English class. There must be another hunky guy here for me to get flustered about. I spotted Hugh Lawson off to my right. He wore his blond hair overly long, curling around his neck and ears. And he cutest freckles dusted his tanned face. His sky blue eyes and thick eyelashes were the talk of many girls, and I'd seen quite a few comments about him written on the stalls of the girls' bathrooms, which automatically had me glancing down at his butt. I wrenched my eyes back up to his face and gasped. He was looking back at me! He saw me looking at his butt! My face flushed with embarrassment. He did that head nod thing guys do that seemed to say, "Hey, babe. Yeah, come and get me." Oh my gosh! I quickly turned away. Okay. There was definitely no attraction for me there. I turned back toward the front of the classroom

AFTER SCHOOL I WAITED for Ruthie to do her flirty goodbye thing with Val before we took off. Isaac walked up to us flashing his commercial smile."Hey, Ruthie," said Isaac, "can you give Phoebe and me a lift to our mom's shop?" His mom ran a jewelry counter inside a clothing store that was kind of on the way home for Ruthie."Sure, but it'll be tight because I've got Tru, too.""No prob," replied Isaac. "And here's Phoebe, right on time."Phoebe glared at Isaac, who just stared back. It was like they were having a silent conversation. Ruthie leaned over to me and whispered, "It's a twin thing, I think. They do that all the time. Used to freak me out."Whatever the problem was, it seemed to be over in seconds. When we looked at them expectantly, thinking they might clue us in to whatever had been going on, Isaac just smiled and herded us down the hall, saying, "Come on, ladies, let's go!"As we got close to the car, Phoebe yelled, "Shotgun," unenthusiastically."Oh, come on," I

BEFORE I KNEW IT, I was opening my eyes to Friday morning. For a moment, I felt something was amiss. Then I realized what it was - no nightmares! They had been plaguing me on and off this week. Fortunately, they hadn't been bad enough to wake Dad.I sent a heartfelt thank you out into the great unknown to whomever or whatever had helped me, because I was really grateful for the uninterrupted night of sleep. Sure enough, the mirror reflected that sleep really could do miracles. By the time I headed downstairs, Dad had been long gone. He had left early so he wouldn't be stuck in the traffic that wound through the mountains toward Silicon Valley, where his office was located. It was a horrible commute. A Post-it note stuck to the front door:"Have a great day, Tru! Lunch in the fridge! Love, Dad"I smiled and grabbed breakfast. Ruthie chatted all the way to school about lame little brothers and how late she had stayed up to finish homework. She was still stuck in her bubble.

I WOKE UP SATURDAY morning exhausted. Another night of dreaming. But I didn't remember much. Just bits and pieces. Back to the cavemen people. Something about families attacking one another, a woman with seven wolves howling around her, and glowing red eyes. It was just creepy. No wonder I slept poorly.I decided to make Dad breakfast for a change, so I hustled into the kitchen in my PJs and took out some bacon and hash browns. I got those started before mixing up the eggs. The tediousness of my actions was soothing and soon erased the eerie feeling from my dreams. It didn't take long for Dad to smell the food. Waking up to bacon was the best.Dad and I spent the day cleaning and sprucing up the place. It was long overdue and we rewarded ourselves with pizza and a movie that night. It felt nice, normal. No school drama, no boy problems, and no strange wolf appearances. For the first time since Mom died, it seemed that our life would, indeed, get better. This was us moving on. It was

AFTER SCHOOL, ISAAC AND Phoebe begged another ride from Ruthie, and once again, I found myself smashed up next to Isaac in the backseat.Ruthie decided to drop me off first. As we pulled into my driveway, I noticed that Dad's truck was missing, and I remembered that he would be working late a lot this week.Phoebe stepped out and helped to extract me from the backseat. With surprising strength, she whisked me out and onto the driveway."Geez," said Ruthie, "you guys are turning my cute car into a sideshow!"I chuckled. "It's like a clown car." We were still cracking clown jokes as I pulled out my backpack and prepared to leave them. Suddenly, Phoebe and Isaac froze and gave each other one of their twin looks."Oh, for pork's sake, what's wrong now?" exclaimed Ruthie impatiently. She glanced at her car clock, obviously worried about getting home on time. I knew she didn't want to risk the sweet deal she had with her parents, who were threatening to take her car away if she didn't