Characters - Skittles and Jem

Skittles sat on the front steps off her big brownstone building. She, her two sisters, her mother, and Jem lived on the bottom floor. Skittles like to watch the people go by. Skittles would make up stories about them. Where they were going, who they were. She likes to write these stories in her journal. She shares her stories with Jem. No one else. Jem is her best friend.
Skittles is short. Her hair is the sand, her eyes are the sea. Skittles hates the beach. Skittles cries too easily. Good books and movies make her weep. Especially happy ones. Skittles' favorite book is Breakfast at Tiffany's, but she hates the movie.
Jem is tall. Her hair is the moon, her eyes are the night sky. Jem is afraid of the dark.Skittles thinks Jem is beautiful, but no one else does. No one else can see her. Jem is the only person that calls Skittles Skittles. Her real name is Sandra. That's what the teachers call her. Her friends call her Sandy. Only Jem calls her Skittles. But Skittles thinks of herself as Skittles anyway.
Skittles' makes cream cheese and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day on banana bread. She puts her sandwich, a peach yogurt, and a Hershey's dark chocolate bar in a paper sack and takes it to school. Jem never eats the same thing two days in a row. She says variety is the spice of life. Skittles says that's really corny.
Skittles and Jem walk together to school and back. They talk. Sometimes people look at them funny, but Skittles doesn't know why. They go into Skittles' tenth grade homeroom together. When they take attendance, "Sandra Willette", Skittles tells the teacher that Jem is here, too. At first they looked at her very strangely, but now they ignore her.
Skittles is going to be a writer. Jem is going to be an artist. They think they'll write a book together, but they don't know yet. Skittles knows that she'll always have her best friend, though. Skittles will always have Jem.