Dick was normally a sound sleeper, and it confused him to find himself wide awake in the middle of the night. What had awakened him? He listened attentively for night noises, trying to detect anything out of the usual. His eyes strained in the weak moonlight that filtered through his curtains. Everything seemed normal, quiet. "Gad!" the boy muttered in disgust. "Now I'll never get back to sleep!"

Dick began to get anxious about the idea of lying awake until dawn and then feeling groggy in school all day. He decided to go downstairs and make himself some hot chocolate. He was looking forward to the idea of a mid-night treat and some time to think.

What he wanted to think about was Sue. Dick had never met a woman who had made such an impression on him as had Sue. Even his good-looking French teacher seemed homely in comparison to the pretty, quiet blonde.

He thought she might even be better than Cheryl Ladd, who at this point in Dick's virginal life was his ideal of female desirability.

It irked the boy that everything his brother had ever had or done seemed so far superior to the highlights of his own boring existence. Dick loved his big brother. In fact, he idolized Dan. But he could not help occasionally resenting the fact that Dan had always had everything-and still had everything. Now he had this fantastic woman. She was just the kind of girl Dick would have liked to have, but Dick had never even had a girl.

Girls liked him; they thought he was 'cute'. But that was not the problem. The problem was that Dick felt like a nerd around girls. He couldn't talk. He couldn't even stand around and look cool. He just went to pieces, the way he had tonight when Sue had talked to him.

The boy's harsh self-analysis was cut short by the realization that someone had gotten to the kitchen ahead of him. A faint light glowed beneath the kitchen door and Dick could hear voices- voices not saying anything exactly, just kind of making noises.