teenage dream

December 2043 - Anne and James Smith are 43; Christopher and Margaret Long are 16; John Smith, Tom Smith, and Libby Stanton are 15; Jamie Smith is 12; Alex Smith is 10.

When Anne's father died last fall, he left Anne the family house, and they moved in just after Thanksgiving. It was hard leaving their old house, but Anne loves being back in her childhood home.

The house is beautiful and much larger than their old one, with a larger floorplan and an additional floor. Jamie's room is on the third floor and has its own bathroom.

The rest of the third floor is a big open space, and they set it up as a rec room with couches, a TV, and the kids' toys.

James set up Anne's brother Cabot's old train set, and Alex plays with it almost every day.

Alex used to play with Jamie a lot, but lately he's been spending most of his time with his big brother John.

Now that Jamie is a teenager, she spends most of her time on the phone with her friends, Jodie and Sadie Stanton.

She also likes to hang out with Tom and his friends when they come over.

Christopher and Margaret Long just got their driver's licenses, and they come over pretty frequently. While Margaret and Tom are flirting...

...Jamie can hang out with Christopher.

Libby comes over almost every day too. Her father is working, and she gets tired being stuck at home with her sisters. They've been friends for so long, his parents don't think anything of it when she comes over or when they go upstairs to his room to hang out.

But something has changed. It's hard to know when or how, but she isn't just his geeky friend anymore. They still play video games and talk about movies and TV shows. But now they sit closer and touch more, their fingers grazing each other's wrists. And finally one afternoon they share their first kiss.

"Is Libby your girlfriend now?" Alex asks.

"Uh yeah," John says.