Pat Coppenhagen turned to find her cousin Diana already sprawled out on the queen-sized bed in the room she shared with her sister Yolanda. "You really need to find a more original opening," she said, yanking Diana's feet off the bedspread.

"Huh?" Diana yawned. The bed always had a hypnotic effect on her.

"You say that every time you come over here. The only thing you change is how you would kill yourself."

Diana smiled in the middle of her next yawn, looking to Pat like a newborn kitten. "Well, it's true," she said.

"Well, we can send the bed to your house then."

"Doesn't matter, I have my own room." Diana stuck her tongue out.

"Very mature to rub it in. Dianaaa...." Pat pulled off Diana's loafers and tossed them onto the floor.

"Sor-ry. Oh hey, I heard Brian and Richard made the varsity team."

"Who hasn't?" Pat said, rolling her eyes.

"Like the whole school doesn't love the Fab Four already. Now they're two Varsity basketball players, a cheerleader and a drill-team member."

"Teenage royalty," Pat agreed, stretching out on the bed next to her cousin.

Pat came up with the nickname, "Fab Four" for her oldest brother Brian and his three friends, Richard, Anne and Maria, last summer when she and Diana watched a special about the Beatles being on an old fifties variety show calledThe Ed Sullivan Show. But after a month of being Freshmen at Sebastian high school, Pat and Diana were convinced that John, Paul, George and Ringo had nothing on Brian and his friends.

"Have you ever tried to hold a conversation with Brian in the hall?" Diana asked.

"You get that close?"

"Well, we go the same way for third. But really, I'm lucky to get, 'Hey, how's it going?' before the fifty million 'Hi Brians!' start."

Pat turned to Diana and held out her hand. "Hi, my name is 'Oh you're Brian's sister' Coppenhagen."

Diana giggled, shaking Pat's hand, "Nice to meet you, my name is 'Brian's cousin? Do you know Richard?' Aaron."

"Oh God! You get that too? What is it with them? I think every girl in the whole school had to hug Brian on the first day. He barely got the chance to show me how the lockers worked."

Diana nodded. "Same thing with Richard."

"Oh and when they tell you how lucky you are to get to be around them all the time," Pat added.

"I'm for real! I mean please, I see them every damn day of my life and I could care less."

"Does Maria still ignore you in your Algebra class?" Pat asked.

Diana shrugged. "She doesn't really ignore me, I mean one time we were waiting outside and I just walked up to her and started talking."

"No way! What'd you say?"

"I just said hi and asked if she got all the homework," Diana said.

Pat took off her glasses and examined the lenses for spots. "What for?"

"I don't know, I mean it's so dumb, we're the only Black girls in class."

"So? Does that mean you have to kiss up to her?"

"I'm not kissing up to her; I just said hi and then talked to my friend Janet. It's not like I'm all over her when she walks in the door. I'm sure she gets that in every other class she's in," Diana said.

"Well, poor baby, she'll have to sweat it out in Algebra." Pat put her glasses back on with a smirk.

"Thank you." Diana held up her hand and Pat smacked it.

"Oh! and my life gets even better," Pat said. "Guess what, now I'm not only sharing a bed with my little sister, I'm sharing a school." Pat nodded as Diana's eyes widened. "The intermediate school's drama teacher is out sick for the semester, so they're having this joint musical with our drama department and both of the twins are trying out. If they make it, they'll be bussed over from E.B. White for all the rehearsals. Could you die? Just what I need, dealing with the Teenage God by day, and my melodramatic brother and sister after school."

"After school?"

"Oh yeah! We have to take the late bus home with them and give them a ride when Brian starts driving."

"Worse and worse! Next they'll skip your kid sister to the ninth grade and put her in all your classes!" Diana laughed.

"Oh don't even joke about that!" Pat cried, flopping over on the bed, "My life would be over then. Could you imagine? A total family reunion everyday."

As the cousins grappled with the horror of facing the Fab Four and twelve-year Troy and Yolanda in one fell swoop, Brian took the stairs by two, headed towards the bedroom he shared with Troy. Diana sat up.

"Hey Brian," she said. "I heard about you and Richard on varsity."

Brian walked over and leaned against the doorway with an easy smile. "Yeah, you know it. Are you guys coming out to our games?" he asked.

"Us?" Diana said, pointing to herself and Pat, "Oh yeah, we'll be there Right, Pat?"

"Of course we will, everyone goes to the varsity basketball games," said Pat.

"Well now we have even more reason, right?" Diana nudged Pat.

"Whatever," Pat said. She picked up a nailfile of Yolanda's and started using it.

"Well anyway," Diana said, turning back to Brian, "are you nervous about starting or what?" She patted a space in front of her on the bed. Brian came over and sat down.

"Well, I'm...yeah I guess I'm pretty nervous," Brian admitted with a little chuckle. Diana laughed.

Pat watched them as she dragged the file slowly across each nail. She felt like she was back at the lockers on the first day of school, watching girls fawn over her brother. What was Diana's problem anyway? She acted as though she wasn't sitting with Pat just a few minutes ago saying Brian and Richard were not a big deal. Now she was chattering about his varsity letter jacket as if Brian was some regular guy from school.

"Make sure when you get it that they stitch Sebastian basketball across the back. The iron-on just doesn't look right."

"You know how much more stitching costs?"

Diana turned to Pat. "Guys," she said, "they know nothing!"

"I agree Diana, who cares?"

"Obviously not you." Pat heard Brian mutter as Diana rambled on.

"Oh! What am I going to do with either of you? It makes a difference, he's representing all of us now, he has to look good."

"What does the stitching..." Pat began to ask when Brian and Diana suddenly turned at the sound of voices in the hall. Pat recognized Richard's laugh and Anne's distinct voice, honed by years of cheerleading.

"Hey, in here!" Brian called before Pat could protest.

"Hey varsity starter!" Maria said, landing right in front of Brian with a little jump. Richard nearly knocked her over as he came through door with Anne on his back. Anne drowned out the rest of Maria's greeting with one of her cheers. Diana chimed in. Pat abandoned the nailfile, watching her room being taken over by her brother's friends, who hadn't even so much as nodded to her and Diana. Richard was now turning in small circles in an attempt to make Anne dizzy.

"Excuse me!" Maria said over the din. She tapped Brian on the head. "I'm trying to tell you how great you are, the least you could do is listen."

Brian turned. "Really? I better listen, I may never get the chance to hear you say that again," he said.

"Richard, look out!" Diana cried, looking over at Pat. Richard continued to spin; Anne's legs flung out close to the bed. Her foot knocked a book off of Pat's desk.

"Oh sorry!!" she squeaked. "Richard, quit it!"

"You were saying something about how great I am?" Brian bent his ear towards Maria.

"Congratulations, Brian," she said sweetly.

"Thank you, Maria." Brian smiled.

Anne arched her back to bend towards Brian. She rubbed her hand across his head. "Good job, honey."

"Thanks, dear."

"Okay, she's not as light as she looks," Richard said, unceremoniously dumping Anne on the bed. She landed with a bounce next to Brian, nearly sitting on Pat's leg.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Anne said, rubbing Pat's calf. "Richard, next time give me a warning!"

Pat managed a little smile.

"Hey Patella," Richard sat down, tickling Pat's foot.

"Pat, thank you. Quit!" Pat moved her foot away from him.

Richard affected an exaggerated pout. "Oh, I don't get one smile?"

Pat relaxed a little. At least Richard had bothered to acknowledge her. "Congratulations," she said.

"Thank you, Pat," Richard said.

"You guys," Anne was saying, "I'll be all alone for basketball games. You guys will be playing and Maria will have to sit with the drill team."

A major tragedy, thought Pat.

"You're not going to go with the JV squad?" Brian asked.

Anne shrugged. "I guess, but it won't be the same."

Maria leaned over from behind Brian. "You can sit right by our section. We have to go in early, I can save seats," she waved her hand to include Pat and Diana.

"Great!" said Diana.

"What a relief," Pat said, picking up the nailfile again. She felt Diana give her little nudge on the arm and moved away on the pretense of vigorous filing.

"Well, I'll talk to you about it in math, Diana," Maria said quietly.

"Sure!" Diana answered.

"Besides," Brian said suddenly, "next year we won't be able to sit with you at any games."

"If I make varsity," Anne reminded him.

"Oh gimme a break, Anne..." scoffed Maria as Richard hit her with a pillow.

"Like you wouldn't make it," Richard said, as Pat reached up and moved the pillow out of his reach after he dropped it.

"Well maybe not..." Anne said, but she smiled.

Pat was nodding at Richard, Brian, and Anne, but she had tuned them out and was listening to Diana and Maria continue their conversation about Algebra class. She nearly blew her cover, almost turning to look at Diana when she heard her say to Maria:

"You should come over and sit by me and Janet. Mr. Ruth doesn't care; people move around everyday."

"Maybe I will," Maria said, "I just don't want to attract all this attention; I feel like people are already going, 'what's that Sophomore girl doing in here?'"

"Don't be silly, come over. I mean Janet's nice and all but all she ever talks about is her boyfriend..."

Brian cut in. "Maria, Anne is saying she's not going to make varsity again."

Maria rolled her eyes and shook her head at Diana, who smiled as if this were an old joke between them.

"Of course you're going to make it," Diana said with a leading glance at Pat.

"Uh, yeah. Everyone knows once you make freshman year it's automatic that most of the same girls make it for the next three years." Pat thought that was a pretty safe answer, encouraging without sounding like she was sucking up.

However, it seemed as though she said something wrong. Anne look down at the bed and shrugged. Brian frowned. Maria changed the subject. Pat shot a questioning look at Diana. What'd she say this time?

"So who else is starting with you, Brian?" Maria asked.

Brian laughed a little. "Starting with me? I don't think they'll see it that way. Danny Willis, Mike Boudroux, and Clint Vick for sure."

"Mikey Boudroux? He's in my Spanish class."

"Mikey?" Pat said.

Anne nodded. "That's what girls call him."

"That's uh, real cute," said Pat.

"Yeah well," Anne said, turning back to Brian, "who else?"

"Well either Ben Kranich, Brian Wulf or...Richard Cudaghy." Brian held out a hand towards his best friend. Richard smacked it.

"With Richard, the starting line-up will look a lot different if you know what I mean," Maria said significantly.

Diana jumped at this opportunity to speak. "That's what I was trying to tell Brian. That he should get the stitching because he has to look good for one and hundred and sixty people."

"And what I was trying to ask you earlier is what the back of his jacket has to do with the 159 other black people at school," Pat said.

Diana sighed patiently, with a look towards Maria. "The jacket is not really the point," Maria said, speaking as though Pat were a small child.

"What is the point?" Pat asked in a tight little voice.

"The point is, there haven't been any Black guys on the team in a long time, so everybody will be looking at him, you know?" Diana said. She and Maria nodded at each other in a way that annoyed Pat.

"And what about me?" asked Richard.

"You too, Richard. You'll be out there for...how many Hispanics are in school anyway?"

Richard shrugged. "I have no idea; I don't keep a major head count like you do."

Maria stiffened. "It's important."

Anne pulled up her knees and rested her chin on them. Diana, Brian and Pat were quiet.

"I know, I know..." Richard said, letting their familiar argument rest for the time being.

"Well, maybe I'll find out anyway," Maria said.

"Okay," Richard said.

Anne suddenly lifted her head. "Oh! I heard something funny!" she said. "Laura Vitcsh, who's on JV with me, she said that Ben Kranich said that maybe the basketball team would actually be good now that it's not all White guys." Her little giggle dissolved into weighty silence. Maria and Brian exchanged a look. Richard shook his head, looking down at the bed and Diana averted her eyes.

Pat decided she had had enough of the Fab Four for one afternoon. Whose room was it anyway? She knew the quickest way to clear them out. She tapped Brian on the arm.

"This is what I'm talking about," she said, pointing at Anne. "You becoming the poster child for all the black students as a basketball player is such a stereotype. They're going to think the only reason Black people are all happy about you is because we only know about basketball."

"She didn't mean it like that and you know it," Brian said.

"So what? Everyone else will," answered Pat, as Anne's face reddened.

"You guys, no offense, I don't know why I said that. I just didn't think about your way." Anne looked from one to the another.

"We know you didn't," Maria said. Richard bent over to look in Anne's worried face. He wiggled his index finger in her cheek until she smiled.

"And I don't think I'm the poster child for anything, Patella. You need to just shut the hell up when you don't know what you're talking about," Brian said, standing. He took Maria and Anne by the arm and they quietly got up off of Pat's bed. Richard stood.

The Fab Four all stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at Pat and Diana as Brian said, "All they were saying earlier is that I should remember that people will be watching me, because the fact is, they will be," he leaned over the edge of the bed to look directly at Pat, "whether you like it or not."

"Oh and what is that supposed to mean?" Pat said. But as soon as the statement was out of her mouth, she knew it was a weak argument, right up there with "Yeah, so?"

"Just what I said," Brian answered. He turned and left, letting Maria and Anne out of the door ahead of him. As Anne left, he reached up and gave the back of her neck a little squeeze. Richard followed with a funny little backwards wave.