The Secret Relationship, 6-8, p.1 Late one evening, somebody knocked on my door, and my brother Kyle answered it. It was Olivia, my best friend. We had known each other since kindergarten. We have never gone to a different school, and now we were in ninth grade at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Olivia said, “Hey, Devon, we need to talk.” I could tell Olivia had very bad news. so I said, "Kyle, I need to talk to Olivia for a few minutes." "But what about my homework?" he said. "I will be back," I snapped. So Olivia and I went upstairs to my room. My room has purple and pink stripes on the wall and has wood flooring with a purple carpet and pink polka dots. Olivia started to say, "I have a huge problem." "What? What is it? Are you moving?" I gasped. "No, even worse, my parents are getting into a divorce." Olivia said with a tear coming down her cheek. "Oh, Olivia I know how you feel. The same thing happened to me, and you told me to make the best of it." I said with a sigh. But she said it was worse. "My dad .Likes your mom." I was completely frozen. Part of my body was moving. My heart stopped beating. "Oh my god!" I panicked. I was so scared. Olivia's dad and my mom? I thought. "Did your dad tell you that?" I said. "No, but I heard him talking on the phone." "I will ask my mom what she thinks of him, and then I will call you when I get the answer," I told her. "Okay, I will try to get over it," she sighed. So I walked back downstairs, Kyle and I finished his homework, and I put him to The Secret Relationship, 6-8, p.2 bed. He wanted to know what happened. I told him, "I will tell you tomorrow if you go to sleep right now." He fell fast asleep. I was thinking, should I tell him? Or just make up a story. If I tell him, will he tell mom? She walked right through the door. I went to greet her. She said, "How was your day?" "I have to ask you a question." "What is it?" she asked. "What do you think of Mr. Jones?" "Well, I haven't gotten to know him that well." "Well, Olivia said that he wanted to .ask you on a date to get to know you better." She blushed, "I would love to." "Okay, I will call Olivia." I ran upstairs so fast; I was faster than a cheetah. I picked up my phone and dialed Olivia's number. "Hello?" Olivia said. "Hey, it's Devon. My mom said that she would like to go on a date with your dad." "Oh my gosh, my dad will be so happy!" "What day?" I asked. "Saturday!" she screamed. "I will tell my mom. Bye!" I rejoiced. "Bye, stepsister." We both giggled. "Bye," I said. "Bye," said Olivia. I hung up. I ran downstairs, and told my mom to meet up with him on Saturday. Today was Wednesday. So she had three days to get ready. Olivia and I would The Secret Relationship, 6-8, p.3 be sisters, if this went well. I told my mom that she has three days. It was 6:45 when my alarm clock went off. I looked at the weather forecast and it said that it was a snow day for all schools. Kyle ran downstairs and was so happy that he did not have school. Then he fell asleep on the couch until 10:30. Then when he woke up he did not ask about the conversation between Olivia and me. Kyle told me to invite Olivia and Chanler,Olivia's brother over, so I did. We had so much fun. Kyle and Chanler made a sledding track while Olivia and I built a snowman. We all went sledding together. First ride was Kyle and Olivia and then Chanler and me. The second ride was Kyle and me, and Olivia with Chanler. We came inside for hot cocoa and Christmas movies like the “Grinch Who stole Christmas” and “Frosty the Snowman”. We also had marshmallows and Chanler and Kyle made a mini snowman with their marshmallows. My principal called the house and said that we did not have school for the rest of the week. And then I told Olivia what he said and that she could have a sleepover tonight. Then Kyle's principal called and said the same thing. So I invited Chanler to spend the night too. Olivia and Chanler went over to get their stuff for the sleepover. Chanler brought a snowball maker and a snowman kit for tomorrow. Kyle was so excited that Chanler was sleeping over. He made room on his floor for Chanler to sleep, and I went to my room to set up for where Olivia was going to sleep. I made my bottom bunk bed comfortable for her to sleep in, so she did not freak out about her dad and my mom going out on their date on Saturday. When they came back, Olivia looked frightened. I asked, "What's wrong Olivia?" "My dad wanted to move the date to Friday," She shivered. "I will see what my mom says." I ran off to find my mom. "Mom?" I screamed up the stairs. "Yes, Devon?" she responded. "Mr. Jones told Olivia that he wanted to move the date to Friday." The Secret Relationship, 6-8, p.4 "Oh, that's okay because I have work Saturday." "Okay, I will tell Olivia." I ran back downstairs to Olivia and told her to call her dad and then come upstairs to get ready for bed. While Olivia called her dad, I went into Kyle's room and tucked him in and then Chanler. Olivia came upstairs, and I went to say goodnight to my mom. I went back to my room, turned out the light ,and said, "Are you okay, Olivia?" "I am okay. See you in the morning." When I woke up, I went downstairs and saw Kyle, Chanler and Olivia watching SpongeBob Squarepants. I went into the kitchen and made some brunch (waffles) and said, I asked, "What do you guys want to do today?" Olivia said," Why don't the boys decide?" Kyle said, "We should all clean the house before Mom gets back from the bakery." Everyone agreed. So we all ate our waffles, and Olivia and I started in my room and Chanler and Kyle started in Kyle's room. I put on my clean up playlist, and we cleaned a lot. When we all finished the rooms, Olivia and I did my mom's room (which was a mess) and the boys did the bathroom. We finished the upstairs area, and we went down to the main floor. The boys did the T.V. room and we did the kitchen and the dining room. Then when we were done, we split up into different areas. I did the living room, Olivia did the basement, and Chanler did the closets. (The one in the basement and the one on the main floor.) And Kyle did the laundry room. When we all were done, we came back to the T.V. room, and resumed watching SpongeBob. Then the door opened, and my mom stepped in the doorway. When she came in, she put the bags on the table and stared in amazement. She looked all around. She said, "Did you guys do this while I was gone?" The Secret Relationship, 6-8, p.5 "Yes, we did," we all said. She was so amazed, and she ran upstairs and looked around and was surprised and then came back down and went downstairs. She came back up and said, "You all get to have two donuts and Olivia and Chanler get to spend the night again." "Yeah!!!" we all screamed, and we went to the dining room with the bakery bag and ate our two donuts. I looked at the clock. It said 4:30. I remember that I woke up at 2:00. (I am a very deep sleeper). I yelled upstairs to my mom and said, "Time to get ready!" She responded, "I'm working on it." Thirty minutes later, she came down in a very beautiful purple dress with matching high heels. I was amazed. I heard a horn honk, and I looked outside and saw Mr. Jones's car. I said, "Go on, Mom. He's waiting for you." She said, "Okay, goodbye." "Bye," we all said. And I closed the door behind her. When we were in Kyle's room watching "Horton Hears a Who," I got a phone call from my mom. I stepped outside to answer it. "Hello?" I said. " Hey, it's Mom. I don't think you and Olivia are going to be step sisters." "Why not?" I asked. " One, he eats like a pig. Two, he spit on our food. And three, he does not have any manners at all." She replied. "Well, why don't you come home?" I said disgusted. "We are, but he has to pay the bill," She whispered. "Okay, see you when you get home." "Okay, bye." The Secret Relationship, 6-8, p.6 "Bye." I said. Then I hung up. I was kind of depressed that Olivia was not going to be my stepsister, but I was happy that my mom was not going to marry a nasty person like her dad. I stepped back into the room and paused the movie. I said, "Mom just called and said that she was coming home and the bad news is she did not end up liking your dad. So we will not be step siblings, but the good news is that we can all hang out whenever we want!" They all said, "Yeah”!, and we resumed the movie and we were all having a good rest of the day.