Chapter 18

Twelve Years Ago-Age Thirteen

Daddy was letting me redecorate my room. He had said I was a teenager now, that I was old enough to have a new room and design it myself. It was such a cool idea and very sweet, but I wasn't like the other girls at school. I didn't hang out at the mall on weekends and polish my nails pink and giggle over boys. As a matter of fact, my only two friends were boys.

He'd bought me a subscription to Teen magazine, too, for my birthday, but that really wasn't helping either. All it did was make me feel more alienated from my peers. I'd asked Rick and Ian what they thought, but they'd shrugged and said, "I dunno," in unison. Boys.

I should've probably just left it alone. What was wrong with my pink frilly bedspread and matching curtains? Nothing. Who saw it but me and the boys and Daddy anyhow? No one.

Except it seemed like I was letting Daddy down by not doing something, and he must have thought a long time about the gift idea. Maybe I should call Ian's mom.