CHAPTER 1  

Olivia Harold's earliest memory was at the age of 8. 

  She sitting in the cold winter weather freezing 

to death, and it was all her brother's fault.  

In the memory, Olivia was seated on the white arena 

seats outside with her mom bundled with layers of

 blankets, watching her older brother, Allen Harold, practice on his horse. It was always easy to spot where 

 Allen was in the arena.  He had their mom's beautiful             ginger hair and was the best out of the                                            beginners. He sat with his back straight.                                     and moved gracefully with

                                    his horse

                                                   As Olivia was sitting there                                with her mom, waiting for her big                              brother to be done, she was in deep thought                   about life with Allen Harold. Watching.                            Waiting. Squeezing your life into whatever space was left for you. 

           Now twelve-year-old Olivia was learning

 that life as Allen's sister could mean

      something worse. It could mean

 packing up your possessions, moving across the 

state of Massachusetts, and ending up in a little

 town named Lost Lake, that was miles and miles

  away from anyone you know

With a deep breath, Olivia took another 

box out of the stuffy moving truck. The house 

the Harolds had bought was called an 

antique house- not just because it looked 

like an old vintage  doll  house, but because 

it was built in an era that is considered to be at least one century old. 

    It had floorboards that groaned, medium                 sized windows, and  doors that didn't quite fit      in  their frames.  " That's just what happens                  with old wood and changing temperatures,"                 her parents said about the doors that                         creaked  open on their own, or refused

            to stay shut in the first place. Olivia's                      parents always knew the  

              explanation for strange things.

           Olivia liked the explanations of strange                         things though. She also

              liked strange old things, the older and

        stranger, the better. 

                Someday Olivia 

would become either a historian or an archaeologist, whichever turned out

 to be more interesting to her. 

                         It wasn't the age of the 

             house that bothered her, it was 

       how different it felt from the house 

back in Pittsfield, the house that felt like

 home. Plus, there was something weirdly dense 

and heavy about the air in this place, not just in 

the house but throughout the whole town. 

Like maybe Lost Lake was so full of its own memories that there was no room for Olivia's family.  Olivia lifted the box  up the creaking stairs to her new bedroom.  The door had closed itself, Olivia kicked it open. Stepping inside, she put her box down on a stack of other boxes and spun back towards the door. Which was closing itself, again.

Olivia was going down the stairs when 

a blur of black and dark green flew past her. 

  "Mom?" Allen called, dodging around Olivia. "In the                 kitchen!" their mom called back.  Allen walked 

        toward the voice and Olivia tagged along after. 

         Like a slower, shorter shadow. Allen and Olivia                    looked  very much alike. They both had their dad's                brown eyes, mom's long eyelashes, and ginger hair.                 Although, the only difference was that  Allen                               was a boy and  Olivia was a girl.  Allen                          inherited their mom's pointed chin, while                                 Olivia had gotten their dad's square jaw.

        "Mom," said Allen, darting into the kitchen door-way.            "What are you doing?" Their mom looked up from a              pile of boxes with a light smudge on her                                  forehead. 

        Her right hand held two coffee mugs and her left                clutched a clump of newspaper. "You're kidding,                 right?" Allen shook his head. "It's three thirty!" 

"What?" Their mom looked at the oven clock, which 

wasn't programmed yet. 

            She set down the mugs 

and pushed her ginger hair back from her

 forehead, leaving another smudge. "Already?" 

"Mom, I can't be late!" said Allen. "okay." Their mom 

sighed. "Get your bag. I'll meet you in the car."  

                    Olivia watched her brother walk up the                            stairs.  "Allen has to go to practice, even on                         unpacking day?" she asked "Not great timing, I                    know." their mom said. "I'm going to start the car,                 wait for  your brother so  you guys can come                     outside together."  Olivia only nodded as she                            watched her mom leave through the front door. 

                      A couple of minutes later, Allen 

              came down with a bag and his stuff. 

"Where's mom?" he asked

"In the car, let's go." Olivia replied in an

a now annoyed tone.

Chapter 2

                 In the car, Allen sat in the passenger 

seat.  Being fourteen made him officially old 

enough to ride the front, while Olivia was still stuck getting the back seat.  Olivia was starting to get annoyed that she had to tag along in this car with her brother to his silly horse practice.  " Why did I have to tag along? I thought I was staying home." she asked in an even more annoyed tone "Well..." Her mom sighed.                     "you were going to stay home, but your dad is                      at work."  Olivia rolled her eyes and didn't                   say anything. 

                                      She  pulled out the map of Lost Lake from                  her backpack. She unfolded the map and studied its tiny                     prints. Some names were ordinary, like Main Street and                   Maple Street, but some were weird, Like Chill Butter, Old                        Joyous, and Old Fitzwilliam-Fox Road. Now that she thought             about it, a lot of the names 

    started with "old". It was like Lost Lake wanted you to know that it was old. " Weird," Olivia said out loud. "Old Hog Bristle Road." "What about hog bristles?" asked their 

mom distractedly. "There's a road here called Old Hog 

Bristle Road." " Huh," said their mom. Allen, who

 was looking at his phone, didn't say anything at 

the moment. 

                  Allen had been allowed to get a smart                             phone for his fourteenth birthday. Olivia had a                      cell phone for emergencies, but it was basically                just a calculator that could send text. After some                time, Allen finally said something. " Why are you                even studying a map about the town?"  " Because                       it's interesting, first of all. And because we                        live  here now." Olivia stopped herself before                  the words "because of you" could fly out. "If you 

                got lost somewhere in your own town, wouldn't

               you want to be able to find your way home?"

        "I'd probably just use my phone," said Allen.

Olivia didn't say anything and just stuffed

 the map back into her backpack. 

 "How long is this practice going to

 take anyway?" " Maybe 3 or 4 hours, it depends 

on how long it'll take the others."  

"  Three or four hours?" Olivia exaggerated. 

 " You knew it would be a long afternoon Olivia."  their mom said. "Not that long....." "You can read if you're bored," said Allen "Or play games on mom's phone. Or you could actually watch me practice. For once." Olivia glared at the         back of Allen's seat. "Let me out of here." Their mom 

          caught Olivia's eyes in the rear view mirror. "Are                   you  feeling carsick?"  " No. I just don't want to be                       stuck  in an arena for hours."                                               "Olivia"  their  mom sighed.

                         "Please mom, I'll just....... be here." "I could                         walk around."  " You can't just wander around                 an unfamiliar place Olivia ." "Why not?" Allen's voice was  chilly now. " Shes got her map." Their mom sighed again. As they continued driving, their mom suddenly stopped beside a big building.  "All right," she said. 

" Here's the deal. You can stay at the library and only  the library while Allen and I are at the arena. We'll be back by twelve thirty. You have your phone with you right?" "Mom." Allen said in an annoyed tone. "We're already 

going to be late." Their mom fully turned her face to 

Olivia. "You can call me anytime, okay?""Remember

 your dad's office is sixteen minutes away."

                         "You can reach him 

                          if there's any 

                  emergencies. But I don't 

         think there will be any emergencies 

           because you're going to stay in the library, 

       right?" "Right" said Olivia. "We have to get going,                   unless you change your mind, Olivia." "No." she pushed         the door open "I'm not changing my mind." 

"Okay then, see you at  twelve thirty, love bug." Their mom said. Allen didn't say good bye but Olivia didn't care.  She got her backpack out of the car onto the sidewalk and listened as the car pulled away. 

                        Before her stood a 

                      grand brick mansion. 

                  Its tall narrow black 

       windows glared down at the streets

   from each of its four stories. The color of the

   building was a dirty white beige color with some 

of the windows fenced up with rusty iron spikes. it had 

giant trees clustered close to its walls and there was a giant sign in the center of the lawn that said, memorial Library. 

 This didn't look like an ordinary library though. It looked like a house that belonged to rich, strange, secretive people. 

As Olivia walked to the walkway of the porch, she hesitated, wondering if she should knock on the door and wait for a butler dressed in a nice black suit to welcome her in. But that was silly. This was a library, and besides, nobody had butlers anymore. Right? Olivia pushed one thick brass handle. the opening door pulled her into a            wide, wood-floored place, where the air smelled of           books. Taking a deep breath, Olivia stepped through 

   an archway  into a room that was nearly as 

        large as her own house. The room had 

              dark wood floors, Victorian wallpaper, 

               and tall, narrow windows brightly

                         filled with sunlight.  

              It also had clusters of tables and

        armchairs filled with grey-haired 

  people. The grey-haired people all turned 

        to stair at her. So did the librarian behind

       the wooden desk. For a single, powerful heartbeat, 

        Olivia wished that Allen was beside her. Allen could

          belong anywhere. He seemed right no matter where he was. It              had to do with the way he moved, as if he knew where he was          going and how he was going to get there. Olivia could tag along,            unnoticed and unquestioned, because anyone who glanced at           them would only see Allen. Olivia took a deep breath, straightening her shoulders. She didn't need her brother to belong in a library. She could do this on her own. 

                Chapter 3

          Gradually, the gray-haired people returned to their                               newspapers and computer screens. The librarian, who                         was youngish, with tan skin and brown hair pinned up                      in a mound of swirls, gave Olivia a smile before going back               to her work. Olivia walked along the edge of the room,                trying to ignore the glances that followed her. All around the center reading room were door ways leading to other 

areas. There was a dining room that was labeled 

reference and a sign that said children's section

outside a sunny glass room that had obviously 

been a conservatory.

Then there was a hallway that led her past a row of

 rooms labeled POETRY and ROMANCE and PLAYS.  On the very

 last door it said MYSTERY.  Olivia darted inside. She found

 herself in a wood-paneled room that was more than twice

 the size of her own bedroom. The floor was covered with antique Turkish rugs and the ceiling was worn out. It was the perfect spot to dive into a mystery novel, especially since Olivia had the room all to herself. She looked through the bookshelves, letting her fingertips bump along the books' spines. Most of them were                                             covered with crinkly clear plastic. But                                                      suddenly, Olivia's fingers hit something soft                                              and cold.  The book she'd touched was in                                                      dark green leather. 

                                             There were no words on its spine either.                           The book looked old, like something you'd find buried                in your attic. On its cover it said,  The Lost One.  Olivia plunked down on the floor between the shelves and opened it. 

Once there were two sisters who did everything together, it began. But only one of them disappeared.  A delightful little shiver ran down Olivia's arms. She held the book closer and read on.  It was early summer in their small New England town. Lilacs scented the June breeze and butterflies flew around the rivers edge where the sisters often went to play. The water wasn't their only territory. Together, Dahlia and Bailey went everywhere. There wasn't a grassy or leafy spot miles around that the sisters hadn't explored. There  was no fence they wouldn't jump, no fruit they wouldn't steal, no wild animals 

they wouldn't touch, no cave they wouldn't crawl inside. 

Together the girls were fearless.  

                 Their family was the wealthiest family in town, as 

            everyone knew. Their money could get them out of 

      anything. Businesses always took their parents away on 

                long  journeys, often for weeks at a time. In the 

               summer, with no school to contain them, the sisters had as much

                    freedom as they wanted.  A gust of wind shook the tree outside                    the mystery room windows, sending tiny fluttering                            shadows across the open page. Olivia wriggled sideways into a      beam of  sun. She tried to picture herself doing forbidden things with Allen, climbing over people's fences, and sneaking into hidden caves. Even in her imagination, Allen wouldn't go anywhere with her. Olivia returned to the book. One day, deep in the woods on the far side of the river, Dahlia climbed a tall oak tree,

She and Bailey had discovered this grassy, emerald-

green grove and named it the Enchanted Forest. They had 

spent the spring decking its trees with ribbons and gold bells that 

Dahlia had stolen from their mothers dressing room. Bailey, who liked to 

write and illustrate little stories, had also filled a notebook with tales of the                    Enchanted Forest. Cookie, their shaggy old English sheepdog, hopped joyously        around  Dahlia's leg as she leaped to the ground. He disliked it when Dahlia went      anywhere he couldn't go, and up tall tress was at the top of this list. "There,                            there, Cookie." Dahlia rubbed his ear. "Good boy." She had begun picking                    bits  of oak bark off her shirt when all of a sudden, from above, there                                 came a terrified shriek.  Dahlia gasped and shouted "Bailey!"

                    "Bailey!!" she shouted again. "Up here!"  Bailey's voice was high and                                shaky. "I'm stuck! and I'm slipping!" 

                                                                         Dahlia followed the voice to the base                                                                               of a nearby oak tree, Cookie followed along                                                      behind her. Through the branches, she caught a flash of a lace-trimmed skirt and a glimpse of Bailey's small, worried face. Dahlia placed her hands on her hips. "How can you be both stuck and slipping?" " Just HELP me!" A branch overhead moved furiously. With a sigh, Dahlia pulled herself onto the lowest bough.  At thirteenth, Dahlia sometimes felt like a grown-up, as though she should be responsible for both herself and eleven-year old Bailey. But more often, she felt sure she would never grow up at all. She climbed to the next bough, and the next. Cookie winded resentfully below.  "Hurry!" Baileys voice  urged. Dahlia climbed the rough skin of the oak tree until she was at 

least, above the ground. Her sister came fully into view.  Bailey hung

from the tree, her hands locked around the branch above her head

and her black flats balanced on a branch above.

A thick bunch of her golden blond hair was glued to the upper

 branch, sticking up from her head like the wick of a candle. The sight 

made Dahlia laugh out loud a little. "Dahlia," Bailey gasped, as her

 older sister climbed onto the branch below. "I can't hold on!" Dahlia took a 

calculating look. If Bailey let go of the branch above to get to the one

 below, the bunch of her hair would be ripped straight out of her scalp.

 But if she lost her grip entirely, she would plummet through the branches, all the way to the ground.  "Why did you let your hair get wrapped around the tree like that?" Dahlia asked. As she drew herself onto Bailey's branch, it swayed, making Bailey grip tighter. "I didn't let  it." Bailey was too scared to sound truly angry, but Dahlia            saw her nostrils flare. "It just   happened!" "Well, you shouldn't  have let it                                happen."said Dahlia in her reasonable older sister tone,   the tone that                                                 always  made bailey furious. "Don't move." 

"What are you doing?" Bailey whispered, as Dahlia 

took her pocket knife out of her pocket."Just keep 

still."Dahlia commanded.  Dahlia walked towards Bailey 

with the pocket knife in her hands. "Dahlia seriously, what are 

you-"before Bailey could finish what she was saying, Dahlia cut off the

bunch of hair that was stuck on the tree."Dahlia! My hair!"Bailey screamed. 

"Oh you'll be fine. It's just hair that'll grow back."  "But still!  It will grow back in   months! " Bailey yelled  " You should thank me actually. If I didn't cut your hair, you            would've lost your grip and fell and your hair would've been pulled off  your             own scalp." "Everyone will know." Bailey's eyes widened. "They'll know I was                  climbing trees again. I'll be punished, and I can't pretend nothing                                    happened, because the proof is right on my head!" "I was climbing too."                      Dahlia said. "But you can say that you had to, in order to save me."

                 You'll be the heroine, and I'll be the bad one.

              Like always." "Not like always."Dahlia argued although

                     she knew Bailey's words were a part of the truth.  

                     "You know Mother and Father won't do anything."Dahlia 

                       went on. "Aunt Pearl will."  Bailey's voice was strained. "I was

                   already in trouble for stealing those berries from the garden. She said                                          that if I didn't behave for the rest of the summer, she would give Cookie                                          away." Hearing his name, the dog bumped his nose against Bailey's hand.                              Bailey rubbed him softly. Dahlia grabbed Bailey's other arm. "She can't get rid of                              Cookie, silly,He's ours. Father gave him to us. If aunt Pearl gets rid of Cookie.                      Father will get rid of her." But the family knew they couldn't survive without aunt                  Pearl. Without aunt Pearl, they all would have died years ago of hunger, cold, or sheer                                                                            dirtiness. 

  Chapter 4 

Bailey kept her eyes on the ground. Her face was such 

a mask of misery that Dahlia couldn't stand it. At last, with a

 sigh, Dahlia pulled the knife from her pocket. She lifted a hank of her 

         own hair and chopped straight through it. "There." Bailey stared at Dahlia. Her                  mouth opened as though she was about to say something. The corners of                          her lips turned upwards in the very beginning of a smile.  "Now  when                        they ask us what happened," Dahlia began, "we'll say that we were                            walking together in the woods, and we didn't look where we were going,                         and a branch caught our hair, so we had o cut ourselves free." She                               dropped the handful of hair  to the ground. "Either we'll both get in a                                     little trouble, or neither of us will get in trouble at all." 

                                       Bailey's smile widened, and Dahlia knew 

                                   that she had agreed. They would share a

                      lie, half and half. They would keep yet another

 secret safely between them, one of them the lock, and one of

 them the key. "Lets go," Dahlia commanded. "We're going to be 

late for dinner." "All right," Bailey agreed. 

"But I'm not going to take the short cut." The short cut was a mossy fallen log

 that lay across a narrow point of the river. Dahlia's annoyance with her sister returned in a flash. "But it's so much faster!" " The waters too high." Bailey argued. "Besides Cookie is scared of it. The dog wined softly. "Fine." Dahlia sighed. "We'll take Parson's Bridge, but you better keep up." The girls dashed through the woods, to Parson's Bridge, back to the edge of town, their shaggy dog running ahead of them.

That was the end of the chapter. Olivia ran her fingertips down he page. She imagined Bailey and Dahlia running across an old wooden bridge. Somewhere in the room, a floorboard creaked. Olivia glanced up. She couldn't see anyone, but a person could easily have been hidden by the bookshelves. Olivia listened. After a moment , she caught the creak of another step, and then a tired-sounding sigh, barley more than an exhalation. Holding her backpack close, Olivia

       scooted around the end of the shelf, into the corner. She 

          didn't feel like facing anymore strangers. She huddled 

             against the shelf, waiting But there was only 

                  silence. Olivia turned to the nest chapter.

                   If there was another breath, another 

                        creak, another pair of eyes-

                  -watching her

               from somewhere in the room,

                  she was soon too absorbed to notice.

             .  Everything changed when the carnival came to 

           town, the book went on, A train delivered the animals and acrobats,                    the striped tents that popped up at the edge of town like monstrous      mushrooms, the carousel and wheezy calliope that sent tendrils of music through the summer air. During its stay, Bailey and Dahlia practically lived at the carnival. Bailey loved the tightrope walkers and trapeze performers. Dahlia loved the trained bears and horses. She even befriended two young animal caretakers, a twin brother and sister named May and Matt, whose father was the carnival's animal doctor. The twins were fourteen, far closer to Dahlia's age than Bailey's. 

They were bold and wild, quick to start trouble, and even quicker to run from it afterwards. Bailey who was smaller and  slower, could not keep up. She could only watch as Dahlia dashed off. Dahlia and the twins sole fruit from the Millers' orchards without inviting Bailey along. They sole boats to fish the lake, rowing away from the dock before Bailey could climb inside. They would  everywhere without telling Bailey. Olivia stopped. She knew just how Bailey must have felt: small, unwanted, excluded. A little like Olivia always felt. Frowning slightly, she fell back into the story. Late on the festival's  Last  night,       after the last call of the barkers and the final bow of the acrobats, after the

            grand lighted carousel had finished its very last spin, Dahlia 

                      and Bailey watched he carnival close down. "Dahlia." 

                                      Bailey nudged her sister's arm.

"We have to go home." Dahlia's eye 

didn't leave the vanishing circus. "Just wait. I want to 

stay until they're done. I have to say goodbye to May and Matt. 

 Bailey felt a prickle of annoyance at waiting for May and Matt. 

She began tapping her foot impatiently. She turned to her sister. "I'm going home." Dahlia didn't give her a glance. " I told you to wait." "I've been waiting. It's getting cold, and it's late, and we're going to be in even more trouble as we already are." "Well, I'm not leaving." Dahlia said. "Fine," Bailey replied. "I'll just go home alone."            Dahlia's hand flashed out and grabbed Bailey's arm. "You can't go home                                              alone. You'll tell aunt Pearl everything." " No, I won't."  " Just                                                       wait until I'm ready to go with you, then I'll get us both                                                               out of trouble." Bailey  pulled back. 

                "      " I'm tired of waiting for you. I'm tired of you always being                                     the one who decides." Dahlia only grasped her tighter. "Let go of me."

                  Bailey demanded, her voice rising. "I won't." Dahlia's voice stayed low.          "Because you're acting like a silly little tattletale who wouldn't know                         what to do by herself anyways." Bailey snatched her arm free so suddenly        that Dahlia got scratched. "I'm not going to do as you say anymore."   Dahlia's eyes narrowed. "If you leave now, You'll be sorry." "..You'll be the one who's sorry." Bailey turned around and broke into a run. But Dahlia didn't follow. Bailey didn't want to go home. She didn't want to get yelled at by aunt Pearl for leaving Dahlia alone. So she ran as fast as she could  to the Enchanted Forest. She wanted to prove Dahlia that she wasn't a silly 

little tattletale who wouldn't know what to do by herself.  So she took 

the short cut way into the forest.  ""

As Bailey walked across the mossy log, she

 accidentally slipped and fell head first into the icy cold 

water. Bailey tried swimming up to scream for help, she tried 

everything she could to get out. But the water was so

 cold that it started numbing her body. She screamed for Dahlia, but 

before she could, the water took her in.... After a couple of weeks

 her family tried finding her, but they couldn't. When Dahlia found out 

Bailey was gone, the guilt ate her alive. She would forever live with the guilt of her not going home with her sister that night and for treating her little sister wrong.. That was the end. Olivia was filled with anger. she thought         (why didn't Dahlia just go home with Bailey) and (why didn't Bailey              just go home).  As she was thinking about the book,  a                               muffled buzz came from her backpack.  

    CHAPTER 5

Olivia pulled out her phone. It's twelve thirty 

already? About to leave the arena,her mother had

 texted a few minutes ago. See you in the front of 

the library at 12:30. With that Olivia put the book back and                    grabbed her backpack. She walked all the way to the front, with                eyes glued onto her. "Have a nice day young lady, thanks for              coming to Memorial Library."  the librarian said with a smile                   to Olivia as she was about to walk out.  Olivia said bye                          and left. The car ride back home was quiet. Nobody                                    wanted to  talk  and Olivia  was glad. She wasn't really                      in the mood to talk to any member of her family right                                               now. 

              When they got home, Olivia rushed to get her shoes off and r                 ran upstairs to her bedroom. She got changed and                         flopped down on the mattress that was on the floor. She             pulled out her hand-me-down laptop from her backpack. She opened it and found an email from her friend Ella.  the email said,  Hey! How's Lost Lake? One more week until my birthday party! My mom already got our tickets, so we can see the Egyptian exhibit before we visit the rest of the science center. You should wear your crochet jacket. Nick and Gina and I are going to wear ours 

too. Have get to soccer. Check the attachment! - Ella.the attachment was a photo of her friends holding their custom designed  T-shirts  they had made in 6th grade. There was

 an extra one Olivia noticed that said We Miss You. Olivia's

 heart rose and ached at the same time. 

It had taken her ages to make real friends. She had spent 

   half of elementary school feeling like a visitor from another world, until she found Ella, Gina, and Nick, who seemed to have come from the other world too. And now she'd lost them again. She switched her laptop off. The room felt instantly emptier, as though someone who'd been sitting besides her had disappeared.  She decided to sleep the feeling off. When she woke up, it was 9:15, her shower time.  Olivia was so tired that after she 

    showered, she just went straight back 

                     to bed, missing dinner. 

Early the next morning Olivia had 

woken up from sunlight peeping through

 the window curtains. She went downstairs 

only to see her dad eating breakfast by himself,

 watching football on his phone. "Good morning

 dad" Olivia said with a big yawn.  "Morning Livy." 

He said looking up with a smile. Livy was a nickname she had been called since she was a baby. "I guess Allen and mom had to go to practice again right? " "Yep, were going        to go around town to explore. You should wash your                 face and eat breakfast so we can get going." With                          that Olivia walked up stairs to wash her face                        and get  dressed.

                      Olivia ran

                   downstairs to eat 

             the breakfast her dad had made. 

         He made sunny sunny side up eggs with bacon on 

   the side. There was also a small bowl of washed 

     berries for her. After she ate, 

 Olivia and her father explored the town for a couple of 

hours. They even got ice cream, which shocked Olivia because

 their family were such health freaks.  "Hey, Dad?" she called.

 "Do you think we might ever move back to Pittsfield?" Her dad glanced over his shoulder almost dropping his ice cream. "Move back?" "Like in a few years, when Allen can drive himself to horse practice, do you think we'll ever move again?" "I guess it's possible. But it's not very likely." 

Olivia could almost see her life erase itself around her, the path that led backward disappearing, and any path that might lead forward devoured by the shade 

of Lost Lake's giant trees. She felt numb like she couldn't move she kinda just stood there. "Livy honey, are you okay?" 

Her dad asked in a worried tone. " Yea, I'm okay." Olivia lied. "Okay, well we have to go home, it's getting late. I'm pretty sure your mom and brother are home by now too." Olivia was just silent. By the time they drove back,         Olivia felt empty. When they got home, 

     she dragged herself upstairs to the 

                   shower. 

It wasn't until she stepped into the

 water that she remembered that her 

shampoo and conditioner were still buried 

in boxes somewhere. and it wasn't until she

 climbed out again that she realized the bath 

   towels were still packed up too. When she finally 

 walked, dressed and dried, back down to the kitchen,

 her dad was holding two boxes of fresh delivery pizza. Ice cream and pizza? her dad was pulling out all of the cheer-up-Olivia stops. "Wilbert's House of Pizza." she read the box out loud. "Why didn't you get Pizza Hut?"