Janine and I are as different as night and day.

But back to science class.

Click, click, click. Just when everyone was finishing reading the instructions for the "experiment," the second hand on the clock hit 1:20.

I jumped up.

"I have to go now," I reminded my teacher.

"Okay. See you tomorrow, Claudia," he replied. (It was only Monday, the beginning of a new week of amoebas and paramecia and other biological things.) I gathered up my stuff, dashed out of the classroom and to my locker, where I put away my science text, took out two other books, and grabbed my jacket. Then I raced to the front of SMS.

My father was waiting for me.

"Hi," I said, as I climbed into his car.

"Hi, honey," he replied.

Dad drove through Stoneybrook to the high school. We were going to meet my mother there. I couldn't believe that both of my parents had left their jobs for this awards ceremony. (Well, Mom was going back to hers afterward, since it's so close by, but Dad wasn't. Stamford is too far away.) When we reached the high school, Dad parked our car and we walked to the main entrance of the building. There we found Mom, Peaches, and Russ waiting for us.

Peaches and Russ are my aunt and uncle. (Peaches is Mom's sister.) I love them. They are totally cool and funny. Real characters. Russ is American. I mean, he's not Japanese. And he's the one who came up with the name Peaches. See, Mimi gave Mom and Peaches Japanese names, but Russ started calling my aunt Peaches, and it sort of stuck. Now everybody calls her Peaches. And everybody just calls Russ, Russ. Not even Russell, which is his full first name. Janine and I don't even call them Aunt Peaches and Uncle Russ. They're Peaches and Russ to the whole world. They don't have any children (I think maybe they can't have any), but I wish they did. They would be neat parents.