"There's a place just above Malibu," Travis began, "and when the sun sets, it looks like it's dropping right into the ocean." "I know. I went there once." I felt almost giddy. Travis and I talked nonstop for the next half hour and I have never met anyone whose feelings were so close to my own. We could have been twins.

"You know, you should always wear blue," Travis said, gently touching my sleeve. "It brings out the color of your eyes. Just like the ocean. . . ." What an unbelievable morning! I couldn't get Travis off my mind for the rest of the day, and I practically drove Mary Anne crazy talking about him.

"Mary Anne, do you believe in love at first sight?" I asked her the minute we were back home.

"I think so," she said slowly. "Look at your father and my mother. I think they fell in love at first sight in high school. It's just that it took them all this time to get together." Remember that romantic story I promised to tell you about our parents? This is it. My mom dated Mary Anne's father in high school (we didn't know this when I first moved to Stoneybrook) and they went steady. They were madly in love with each other - but now comes the sad part. My grandparents (my mom's mother and father) disapproved of Mary Anne's father and didn't want my mom to keep dating him. Why? Because he didn't have a lot of money. My mom comes from a wealthy family, and I guess they always thought she would marry someone rich. I'm glad to say that the story has a happy ending. My mom and Richard did find each other again (with a little help from Mary Anne and me), and now they are happily married and we all live in my house.

I had to ask another question. "Mary Anne," I said, "what did you think of Travis? Don't you think he's the most gorgeous boy you've ever seen?" "Travis?" She looked at me suspiciously. "Dawn, you're not going to get some kind of hopeless crush on him, are you?" A hopeless crush! I was insulted.