could have access to whatever she needed. Get it wrong and she would have to answer to her dad. It was worth the risk. She tried the first letter of each of her family’s names and arranged them into their birth order. Her mom was first, then her dad followed by their three kids herself, Philip, and James. That was only five characters. She looked around the room and saw the book shelves. She guessed there had to be around one thousand books and manuals. Could that have something to do with the password? She put “1000” at the end of the letters but it didn’t make sense. Then it hit her; she would put it at the beginning. One thousand shortened would be “1K”. She closed her eyes and hit the enter button.
The computer hummed as it computed the password which Jessica inserted. She half expected it to shut down. She crossed her fingers and hoped to God that she got it right. A minute went by and the computer kept humming, faster now. She peered out of one eye and exclaimed when she saw the start screen. Then she realized what horrible password her dad had.
She opened up the pictures folder and searched for a few good pictures she could manipulate. She needed to get her mother to argue with her dad over something to add to her argument to leave the house. Her eighteenth birthday had already passed a few weeks ago and her tour would soon be starting. She wanted out of the house badly, but somehow her parents were able to coax her into staying with them. Jessica had found a nice two story mansion that was within her price range. She liked the Malibu area, but distanced herself from her parents’ home as much as she could.
She heard a noise outside the door and quickly e-mailed herself the pictures that she could use. As she closed the door to her father’s room he said, “Hey Jessica, what are you doing in there?”
Jessica swore under her breath and hoped her dad didn’t hear it. She had to come up with something quickly. “Um, I was looking to see if you had a manual for my computer; I think there is something wrong with it.”
“Well, you know that your hardware on your MacBook Pro can’t really be accessed that well. And I don’t have any manuals on Macs; you know that, don’t you? And I am an electrician not a computer guru.”
“Yeah, well it’s kind of the same thing, right?”
“Not exactly, I do the things like installing wires for new lights and stuff with circuit boards…” Jessica stopped listening knowing that he could go on and on about his job and the differences between one thing and the other.
“Thanks for the help, dad,” Jessica said and patted him on the shoulder.
“But I wasn’t finished yet.” Jessica heard her dad say distantly as she closed the door.
She plopped onto her bed. The doctoring of the pictures could wait until the next day. The darkness closed in around her and she drifted off into a deep sleep.
____________
Jimmy King shot up out of bed startled by a phone call. “It’s Jimmy.”
“Hello, Mr. King?” A woman’s voice said. Jimmy did not recognize the voice and checked the number. That didn’t ring a bell either. He wondered who would be calling.
“Yes, speaking. Who is this?”
“Hi Mr. King, I am calling concerning your dinner reservation for two at The Piping Turtle this evening at six thirty. Y—”
“Yes, it is the one at six thirty. One question before you continue: why are you calling so early?”
“Sir, it is one o’clock in the afternoon.”
Jimmy looked at his clock and sure enough the woman was right, it was one o’clock. He had overslept by a lot. Luckily he didn’t have any appointments and school was a minor thing; he could catch up later.
“Yes, of course, your name again?”
“Sandra.”
“OK Sandra, what about my reservation?”
“Yes, unfortunately when my colleague took your call we were overbooked at that time. However we have an opening at eight or—”
“Well, no thanks, I’ll find somewhere else,” Jimmy said then hung up. There went his dinner with Jessica. He didn’t want to go to another place because he knew that it was her favorite restaurant and he also liked it as well. Also, he didn’t know of any other high quality restaurants with good food. He didn’t need to worry much seeing as he had not actually asked Jessica out for dinner.
___________
“How do you think this one would look on me?” Jessica Hall asked Brittany as they looked at bathing suits. It was a red two-piece with white polka dots.
“Um, I don’t think you should get anything with polka dots on it.” Brittany responded then picked up a blue and red striped two-piece. “How about this one?”
“I don’t know, how does it look?” Jessica asked then held it up to her body. From behind she felt someone grab her around the waist and say, “It looks great!”
Jessica jumped and turned around. To her surprise, and relief, it was Mark. She looked into his eyes. His deep blue eyes smiled at her. He leaned toward her and pulled her toward him. Jessica lifted her heels slightly. She whispered in his ear, “Not now Mark, she needn’t know now.” Then she hugged him and said louder so Brittany could hear, “Hi, Mark how are you?”
“Hi Jess, I’m good. And how are you, Brittany?”
“Britt, and yes, I’m fine, thanks. What’s with the getup? You look like a referee.” Brittany replied.
“Oh, you don’t know? I work at Foot Locker over there,” Mark said and pointed to the shoe store. “I saw you guys and no one was in the store so I popped over.”
“Do you really like the bathing suit though?”
“Yeah, I think it will look really great on you. In fact how about we go to the beach later today? I get off at five and maybe we can bring one of those one-time grills and make some food.” Mark suggested.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea!” Jessica exclaimed.
“Do you want to come too, Britt?” Mark asked rolling the r in her name.
“No thanks, Mark, I’m going out on a date tonight.” She replied.
“Ohhh, a date, I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend.” Mark responded sarcastically; he had seen the guy and Brittany together before at parties and sometimes in the mall. He looked at his watch and said, “Oh, better go before the boss gets mad, see you later, Jess.
“Bye, Mark.” Jessica replied.
“I should go too, Jess, I don’t mean to leave you here alone, but you know,” Brittany said.
“Yeah, I understand. Bye.”
Jessica slowly walked up to the counter to pay for the swimsuit. The long lonely walk to the car is all that Jessica could think about. She paid and grabbed the bag and headed for the exit.
____________
On his way from a clothing store Jimmy King saw someone whom he thought he recognized. He walked closer and then he knew exactly who she was, she was holding a small bag in one hand and a purse tight against her body in the other. It was the unmistakable figure of the one and only Jessica Hall. He wondered how so many people didn’t recognize who it was.
Jimmy slid right beside her and clasped a hand on one shoulder. “Hey, what you doing here?”
Jessica jumped and recognized who the person was. She smiled, but it seemed forced. “Are you two boys stalking me or what?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Never mind. What are you doing here?”
Jimmy peeked into her bag and saw a swimsuit. “I got a swimsuit, its blue and red. You?”
She stopped and said, “Really?! I also got one, look.” She dug her swimsuit out of her bag and showed it to him.
“Nah, I’m joking, but I did get a few t-shirts from Fitch.”
She hit him on the arm and said, “You mean like Abercrombie and Fitch?”
“Um, yeah. What did you think it was?”
“I’ve just never heard that expression before, is all; like nobody ever uses that.”
“You’d be surprised. Anyway, why are you down?”
“Down? I’m not down.”
“Hey, you don’t have to lie to me, girl.”
“How do you see right through me? Do you have some supernatural abilities or what?”
“Yeah, I get them from God.”
“Uh huh, sure you do.”
“OK, maybe not, but really, it isn’t hard to tell when you are sad or depressed or whatever. And now you are going to get all defensive and say how you aren’t depressed and then give a reason for something happening at home.”
Jessica glared at him. “Maybe you know me too well.”
“Fine, so what is wrong? Want some ice cream?”
“Sure, so…”
Jessica told Jimmy about her plan and how it might work to get her out of the house.
Finally Jimmy said, “Don’t you think that it will ruin your parents’ relationship though?”
“Who the hell cares about their relationship?”
“Well, I thought that you might, seeing as they are your parents.”
Jessica scowled at Jimmy.
“What?” Jimmy said surprised, “You hate them? Oh, you recalled our first conversation about them.”
Jessica nodded her head.
“I see, well, you doing anything tonight?” Jimmy asked. He still had not booked another place but he could easily get a spot somewhere; he had his contacts.
“Um, yeah, Mark, a few friends and I are going to the beach. So, do you want to come? We’re going to have a barbeque like thing there.”
“So, uh, are you and Mark together?”
“What?! No.”
“Sure… I’ll come; anything I need to bring?”
“Well, probably your bathing suit, although I would—”
“Now Jessica, come on, you know I won’t forget that. Ever.”
Jimmy walked Jessica to her car and headed back to the mall to look for a new racing bike. He met Ryan