I think one of the reasons Dawn adjusted to the move so well is because she's an individualist. She's independent and usually doesn't care what people think about her. She eats what she wants (health food) and dresses the way she likes. (My friends and I think of Dawn's style as California casual.) Dawn loves mysteries and reading ghost stories, so you can imagine that she was delighted to find that the old farmhouse her mother bought came complete with a secret passage. The passage leads from Dawn's bedroom (the entrance is concealed in the paneling) to the barn on our property, and it was part of the Underground Railroad long, long ago. Guess what. The passage may even be haunted! Here's how Dawn and I got to be stepsisters. First we became friends (right after Dawn moved to Connecticut), then we realized that my father and Dawn's mother had gone to Stoneybrook High together, and then, by looking through their old yearbooks, we discovered that they had been in love. We found out that they wanted to get married, but Dawn's grandparents didn't think my dad was good enough for their daughter, so they sent Sharon off to college in California. That's where Sharon met Mr. Schafer, and where they married and had Dawn and Jeff. Anyway, when Dawn and I realized that our parents had been in love, we were quick to get them back together. They had an on-again, off-again romance for awhile, but finally they got married. The rest is Schafer/Spier history.

    Claudia Kishi, another BSC member, is the one I spoke to on the phone when I felt as if I was wimping out with Logan. Although Claudia grew up with Kristy and me, she's always been more mature than we have. She wears the trendiest clothes you can imagine, and she is so cool.