Prologue – Summer 1998

Middleton, Colorado was quite peaceful that night, with the moon shining like a beacon in the summer sky and the crickets chirping in unison. Not a sound was heard.

Well, unless you counted the outraged scream from an eight-year-old girl as she received a blow to the head from her best friend's pillow.

She fell backwards onto the bed, her auburn hair flying in her face. Almost immediately, she jumped up, shoved her hair out of her eyes, and stared daggers at her blonde-haired, freckled-faced opponent.

"You'll pay for that, Stoppable!" she shouted, grabbing her own pillow and whacking the gangly little boy across the face, sending him sprawling as well. This display of playful combat went on for several minutes until, with such grace and ease for a girl her age, she successfully pinned her friend to the floor and began to tickle him.

"Okay, okay, I surrender! Cut it out, KP!" he shouted. The girl relented and sat back on her heels to survey him.

"You know," said the boy, straightening himself up, "these sleepovers start to get pretty predictable if you always win the pillow fight." The girl crossed her arms and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Fine," she groaned. "Next sleepover, I'll let you win."

"Booyah!" the boy shouted, punching the air and then bending down to open his sleeping bag. The girl watched him, grinning from ear to ear.

It was so great to have someone to share sleepovers with, even if her best friend just happened to be a boy. A lot of the girls in the third grade teased her because she hung around with a boy all the time, a snobby brown-haired girl in particular.

Just then, two identical mops of brown hair poked their heads in the doorway of the bedroom, giggled and sang at the tops of their voices, "Kimmie and Ronnie sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First c--!"

"Let me at 'em!" Kimmie shouted as Ronnie grabbed her before she lunged herself at her three-year-old brothers. She silently cursed the day she taught them that song.

"Boys," came a warning voice from the hallway, and Kimmie's mother appeared in the doorway. "It's time for bed, now leave your sister alone." She shooed the toddlers out of the doorway, then turned to her daughter and her best friend.

"Quiet down now, you two. I want these boys to get some sleep tonight." She closed the door behind her as the two friends settled down for the evening. Kimmie propped her head on her arm and looked down next her bed, where Ronnie was snuggled in his sleeping bag.

"So where's Rufus sleeping?" she asked, referring to Ronnie's imaginary friend, whom he frequently spoke of.

"He decided it got a little too crazy during the pillow fight, so he left," Ronnie said simply. "He's in my bed at home tonight." Kimmie shook her head; her friend had some imagination alright. But it was one of the things that made him so much fun to be around. You never knew what he'd come up with next.

"Hey, you went to the Natural History Museum today, right?" Kimmie said, deciding a change of subject was in order. "How was it?"

Ronnie groaned. "Bor-ing," he sang. "My parents made me go through every stupid exhibit, from the dinosaurs to the Aztecs. They said it would 'enhance my cultural understanding of the world around me, and teach me to enjoy history.'"

"And…I take it it didn't work out so well," Kimmie said with a smirk.

"Does it show?" Ronnie said, wearing a painstakingly bored expression, and Kimmie couldn't help laughing. Ronnie hated school to begin with, so spending a perfectly beautiful summer afternoon stuck inside a museum learning history was definitely not his idea of a good time.

"Well, there was one perk," Ronnie said.

"Gift shop," they said together, and Kimmie sat up and pointed at Ronnie. "Jinx, you owe me a soda!"

"Aw man!" Ronnie said; he never remembered to call it before she did. But his thoughts went back to the gift shop…gift…oh yeah!

"I almost forgot!" he said suddenly, unzipping his sleeping bag so he could get out. "I got you something."

"What? You didn't have to buy me anything," Kimmie said, but Ronnie had already run out into the hallway to get his backpack. He came back carrying a small square box.

"Open it," he said, handing it to her. Kimmie opened the box and gasped.

It was the most beautiful bracelet she had ever seen, adorned with diamonds, and a heart-shaped sapphire in the center. It sparkled brightly, even in the rather dimly-lit room.

"Oooh, it's so pretty!" she squealed, then threw her arms around her best friend's neck. "Thank you so much, Ron!"

"I thought you'd like it," Ronnie said, returning the hug. Kimmie released him and looked back at the bracelet, suddenly frowning. "But—it must have been really expensive."

"Oh, it wasn't…really…" Ronnie said, his voice trailing off. He sounded casual enough, but as Kimmie turned to place the box on her dresser, she missed the small blush creeping into the boy's pale cheeks.

"I love it," Kimmie said, admiring the jeweled accessory on her wrist. "It's so much better that the necklace Mom gave me."

"And the friendship bracelet Bonnie gave you?" Ronnie asked quietly. As their snooty brown-haired classmate returned to Kimmie's thoughts, she whirled around to face Ronnie, her hands on her hips.

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "I got rid of that one after the science project sitch."

"Serves her right for messing yours up, just so she could get a better grade," Ronnie mumbled. Bonnie always tried to stay one step ahead of Kimmie at everything, and it always made Ronnie mad whenever she hurt his friend to get there.

Kimmie's expression softened as she smiled over at Ronnie. "Thanks for standing up for me, by the way."

"Hey, she deserved it after making you cry like that," Ronnie shrugged, recalling Kimmie's rare emotional display upon seeing the destroyed remains of her solar system project. His father had always taught him to never hit a girl, but if Bonnie ever caused Kimmie to cry again…she was gonna pay.

"I'll always stick up for you, KP," he continued. "You know that."

"So…is this, like…a friendship bracelet then?" Kimmie asked slowly, taking a step closer to Ronnie.

"Yeah…I guess we could call it that," Ronnie said, looking up into her eyes. She had really pretty eyes…

His fingertips brushed ever so slightly against Kimmie's wrist, and the bracelet glowed warm against her skin.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, jerking her hand back.

"Sorry," Ronnie muttered, his face now bright red.

"No, not you! The bracelet! It—it got warm all of a sudden." She felt it again, and it had gone back to room temperature. "Well, it's alright now," she said warily. "Maybe…I just imagined it."

"Yeah, maybe," Ronnie repeated, his brow furrowing. "Well, I—I'm tired. I think I'll turn in."

"Yeah…me too," said Kimmie, still a little weirded out. But she was tired, so she yawned and slipped under her covers.

Ronnie crawled into his sleeping bag, thinking, "That wasn't…it couldn't have been…naw, she said she imagined it." Putting his mind at ease, he laid back and closed his eyes.

Kimmie did the same in her own bed, breathing deeply as she drifted off to sleep, unaware of the diamond bracelet glittering in the moonlight.