Here are some other things about me. I'm extremely shy and sensitive (that's where Kristy and I are opposites), I'm romantic, and I cry easily. My dad raised me since the time my mother died. That was when I was quite young. Dad was very strict. He made up lots of rules, such as I was not allowed to ride my bike downtown, even when all of my friends were able to. He even picked out my clothes and made me wear my hair in braids. I looked like a real baby at the beginning of seventh grade. Kristy didn't mind that. She isn't - and never has been - interested in clothes. (She just wears jeans and stuff.) But I was interested in dressing more stylishly (or at least not like a first-grader), and I wanted my hair out of braids. Well, sometime during seventh grade, I was able to prove to my dad that I wasn't a baby, and he started letting up on me. He loosened the rules, allowed me to wear my hair down, and even allowed me to pick out my own clothes. (I am not allowed to get my ears pierced, though. But that's okay. I'm not sure I want holes punched through my ears. Besides, Kristy doesn't have pierced ears, either.) So that's me.

    Now, just like it was hard to tell you about Kristy without telling you about me, it's hard to tell you about me without telling you about Dawn, since she's my stepsister. For starters, Dawn is gorgeous. She has long, pale blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes. Dawn is our California girl. She grew up outside of L.A., and lived there until her parents got divorced. After the divorce, Mrs. Schafer (Dawn's mother) moved Dawn and Dawn's younger brother, Jeff, all the way to Stoneybrook. That's because Mrs. Schafer grew up here and her parents still live here. Of course, the move was difficult for Dawn and Jeff. They switched from a warm climate to a cold one (cold in the winter, anyway), and they had to leave all their friends behind. Dawn adjusted to this pretty well, but Jeff never did, and after awhile, he moved back to California to live with Mr. Schafer. This is not an ideal situation, but it's the way things are. Dawn and Jeff frequently fly across country to visit the other half of their family.