At 12 the next afternoon the doorbell rang. Annette jumped up from her bed, her new book fell to the floor. "I'll get it Eliza!" Annette shouted as she ran down the stairs into the foyer and opened the door. Annette came face to face with 2 girls with happy expressions on their faces and towels thrown over their shoulders. The girl with red hair had a big long-eared owl on her shoulder. Annette's owl hadn't come home last night and she had started to worry. Shikoba nibbled Lexi's hair and fluttered over to Annette head were he sat in a puff of feathers." Hey! You guys ready to go swimming?" Annette gestured to the inside of her large house, welcoming them in.

"I know I am," Lexi said, tilting her head away from the owl as he took off. She had meant to send Shikoba back when he got back to her house, but he looked tired, and she didn't want to exhaust him. What wasn't immediatly obvious to the two girls was the letter, neatly stowed away in Lexi's backpack. She had tried not to read it, but she couldn't help herself. It was killing her now to not tell them what it read, all she could think while she had read it was "oh no."

Lexi walked in to Annette's house and gave a low whistle, wow, it was huge! She set her bag down on the floor with her towel and looked around as Annette and Alice started chatting. She couldn't hold it in any longer... spinning around she said "heknowswhoweare! or who I am and its not a secret anymore and he thinks that I was actually being serious!" The string of words came out awfully fast and her friends shot matching confused looks at her.

"The love letters, the ones we sent! This was his reply from after you two left." Lexi said opening up her bag and pulling out the paper. She unfolded it and started reading, "You were very smart before in keeping your identity hidden love, but I saw where your owl flew from. I was looking outside when an fiery, red headed girl released a beautiful owl from her window. You can't be anonymous anymore. Lots of love, me." Lexi read the whole thing quickly and looked up at her friends to see two equally surprised girls gaping at the note.

"Can somebody say oops?"

Alice, standing in the beautiful foyer began to laugh. You-You- have a date! A boy who knows who you are!" She began to spin as well before she stopped. "Wait a second. Why do you always get the guys? I mean, I'm not jealous or anything," She got red in the face. "It's just you ALWAYS get them!"

"Still, we have to get you to meet him! Really!"

Lexi's face went pale, "No, I am not going on a date with him. There is no possible way that he could like me, I don't like him!" Lexi was hyperventilating, this couldn't be happening. How could she possibly have a crush already? This was not good, but obviously, Alice and Annette were loving it.

Oh come ON Lexi! Don't be so negative! This is a good thing! He's a boy! A really cute boy! I can only guess however. But you could borrow a dress of mine, and do your hair! It would be SO fun!" Alice squealed in joy.

Annette giggled and pointed at Lexi," I think you two would like each other, he's really sporty and tall, you like to run and you're tall-ish" she walked over to Lexi and measure the difference between the top of there heads. Annette was a lot taller than most kinds her age. The only child who even came close was Emile. Annette smiled," I have an idea, come up to my room and I'll tell you" Annette started for the stairs,"Come on!" This was going to be a great prank.

"I highly doubt that! He's probably looking for a girl who likes the color pink and loves butterflies of something. Not some rough and tumble, tomboy. come on guys! Why won't you listen to me?" Lexi said stamping her feet on the stairs, following Annette to her room.

"Again, Lexi! Don't be negative! He's probs pretty cool!" She two followed upstairs.

"You two are killing me!" Lexi groaned, "As if I need to deal with a boy right now, I don't have time for this! That's the kind of thing I add to my list of things I don't need. There's alot of things on that list! Next time you're over, I'll show you it."

Annette lead the girls into her large second floor room"Relax, you don't have to get involved with a boy right now, I'll be a red headed girl, watch". Annette rumaged in a drawer in the vanity and pulled out a aerosol can of bright red hair spray. "Step one" Annette put the can on the table, and went to her walk in closet and pulled out a pair of old jeans and a Shirt that printed,'i hear mimes' and put them on the table as well as a pair of sneakers. "Step two, Say hello to Lola Clements" Annette said in a high and nasally voice,"Step three, I adores Emile Lawson and is am genius in brain chemicals and have been following him since she came to stay with my cousin Annette and I pick my nose." Annette snorted and pulled on a pair of glasses that made her eyes look huge. She bowed,"So?..."

Alice adjusted her glasses in order to see better. "You look good to me! I really think you could pull this off!" She turned towards Lexi. "Though I'd really like to see him meet you!!"

Emile laid on his full sized bed and sighed. He was in love, with whom he did not know, just a redheaded angel with a long-eared owl and a poetic essence. He stretched out on the bed, flexing his biceps. He heard a ruffle of feathers and bird squeaks. Emile jumped up and ran to the window, his secret admirer's owl sat on the sill, sticking out it's leg. Emile untied the small scroll and read out loud in a whisper," Meet me at Nicholas Everitt Park tomorrow at noon and wear something nice.
                                                                                                                                                                       <3  L. C"
Emile scrambled around to find a pen and paper, he sat down at his mahogany desk and wrote in green ink," I shall count the seconds oh, fair, fire headed maiden" He rolled up the note and tied it to the awaiting owl and sent him on his way.

Back in Annette's room Lexi sighed. "Fine, if you want me to go meet him, I will. I won't make any promises though! So just keep your mouth shut." Lexi said crossing her arms. The two girls in front of her were jumping with glee. What had she done?

"Lexi, you don't have to meet him if you don't want to but if you want to video record my acting performance you are welcome". Annette laughed and clapped her hands once,"Okay who's ready to go noo-del boarding?" She grabbed her  towel and ran out the door ,"Last one to the lake is a cold butterbeer!"

Lexi rolled her eyes, stop acting so stubborn and just admit you like him, came that stupid voice called her conscience. She almost replied to herself, and how wierd would that be, when she ran out the door following Annette. "You're gonna lose! Slowpoke, I run every day! When Annette opened the door to the house, Shikoba flew inside. There was another note tied to his leg. Before Annette or Alice could get it, Lexi took off the note and read it out loud.

"I shall count the seconds oh fair, fire headed maiden..." Lexi put one hand on her hip and looked at her two friends. "Does this kid have an obsession with poetry or what?" Come on, augh the voice again, you know you like it! "No I don't!" Lexi said stamping her foot on the ground, the girls looked at her with confused expressions. "Oh you know, just umm, talking to my conscience... My mini me." She said, the awkwardness of the situation saturating the room. "Time to go swimming, yes?"