Dawn thought having a sister was going to be fun. Was she ever wrong!

I don't know about Mary Anne, but suddenly I realized just how loud our fighting had become. And wouldn't you know, about three seconds later Mom and Richard ran into our room.

"All right," said Richard, "what's going on in here?"

He and Mom were standing just inside the doorway, looking from me to Mary Anne and back again. They were waiting for an answer.

Mary Ann pointed at me. "She is being too noisy," she told her father. "I can't concentrate on my homework."

I pointed to Mary Anne. "She wants total silence," I told my mother. "I can't concentrate on my homework that way."

"The easy solution to this," said Richard "is for you to do your homework in separate rooms."

"But who's going to leave?" asked Mom. She put her hands on Mary Anne's shoulders. Mary Anne just kept on crying.

"You know," I said to Mary Anne, "when my real brother was living here, we hardly ever fought like this. In fact, you and I didn't fight until you moved in."

"Until we became stepsisters," said Mary Anne angrily.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," said Richard. "Do you girls think you can work this problem out tonight?"

"Yes," I said. "I'll work in the stupid guest room."

"Don't bother," replied Mary Anne. "It would be silly for you to do that since I'm going to be sleeping there tonight." And with that, she started yanking the covers off of her bed.

Mom gave me a look that plainly said, "Now look what you've done!"

But I didn't care. Mary Anne was just as much a part of this problem as I was. I she wanted to go and sleep in the guest room - fine. That was her decision. She sure was making me look bad, though. I had not, I realized, gotten just a stepsister. I'd gotten a wicked stepsister.

Dawn's Wicked Stepsister
Published by Scholastic Inc. 1996
ISBN: 0590424971