Rules

Kristi slips into Catherine’s life on a Wednesday morning while she is creating a bundle of new word cards for Jason. Catherine is immediately taken by Kristi’s pretty, fashionable appearance. Kristi’s causes Catherine to become extremely self-conscious, though she yearns to know and spend time with her new next-door neighbor. Their first meeting is interrupted twice by David, who seeks Catherine’s help for minor emergencies rather than his mother’s. Catherine drags David into his mother’s office while she is on a business call and slams the door. Along the way, she asserts, “You’re not going to ruin this for me” (85).

When Catherine returns to her bedroom, she finds Kristi looking at her partial drawing of Jason. When Kristi asks who he is, Catherine is evasive. Kristi asks if she would like to watch TV at her house. Catherine feels a joyous elation as she walks next door with Kristi while David rides to the clinic with his mother.

Surpassing her feeling of relief and escape, once in Kristi’s room, Catherine is awed, saying, “Kristi’s room looks like a page from a catalog” (90). The girls lie on Kristi’s bed and talk about teen magazine idols.