“Fine, I’ll go get Alyssa and Crystal after school, but I have a soccer game shortly after the end of their classes, so if they’re slow, I won�...t hesitate to leave them behind.”“They’ll keep up,” mom replied before hastily stepping out the door on her way to work.Mom was a lawyer, therefore her work hours were quite long, and I didn’t expect her to be back before at least 5-o-clock: plenty of time for the sisters to get home on their own. As for my father, he was on a business trip for another. " Yvette stepped back andlooked at Nancy who nodded, the little boy who had been the bully of theschool and who spent hours in her office was standing before her in adress and styled hair, complete with ribbons and earrings. She hadtrouble reconciling that this was the same person that she had expelledthe week before, but she knew it to be true.Yvette smiled at the scared Mia, telling her warmly, "It's nice tofinally meet the real you. I wish it had been under better circumstancesbut I. .. winked at her! It was a month until Christmas, and believe me, I counted the days. Then the hours, and then, starting on the 23rd, the seconds. I ran downstairs a little after six on Christmas morning, and eagerly began pawing through the mountain of packages under our tree. I had only gotten through about half of them when Mom came out, wrapped in her favorite chenille robe, with my very sleepy father in tow behind her. After she got a couple of cups of coffee in him, She roused Kate and. And then I stepped back, and told her I didn't mean to do it. She laughed, got confused, looked upset, and then asked me what if she wanted me to do it? And I didn't know how to answer. So she walked away.As I was sitting there, I felt someone walk into the doorway. Looking up, I realized it was her."Hey," I said to her with a smile."Hey yourself," Brandy responded."What's up?" I asked."Wanna head out and get Shannon? She's gonna spend the night here," Brandy said."Sure. Let's go. I'm just.