The Receiving End... by Parisa Zolfaghari

My arm flew out, almost knocking my phone off the table before I grabbed a hold of it. "Mm-lo?"

"Which element should Gabe's scroll represent?"

"Huh?" I pulled the phone away from my ear and squinted at the bright screen. "Kate? What time is it?"

"Uh... Two? That's beside the point. Should she be earth? What do you think the manifestation of earth would be?"

I rolled over in bed and screwed my eyes shut. "Why are you asking me questions at two in the morning?"

My sister, the author, sighed. "Because the powers that Gabe controls will determine the whole series. This is important."

I sat up against my headboard, still not willing to open my eyes—yes, I was in denial. "Growing. I'm going back to bed now."

"That's so good but—"

Click.

The Wrath of Kate... by Tucker, The Mistreated PDA

Kate threatened me today.

You wouldn't think her capable, would you? But underneath that chipper, Pollyanna exterior lies the heart of a tyrant. A tyrant who has quite a vocabulary of swear words. In multiple languages.

I didn't even do anything to deserve her wrath. Not really, anyway. I mean, yeah—I may have acted a touch difficult. I think I was justified though.

For the past two months, Kate's ignored me. And not because she's been on vacation. Oh no, mon frère—she's been hanging out with Rodrigo, that overweight laptop.

Simple jealousy? Hell no. I'll leave that for that big-ass silver monstrosity Rodrigo. I'm happy sharing her time. I'm saying you can't ignore me for two months and then suddenly come back to me and expect the world. Geez, dude, let me get juiced up and back in the groove. Get to know me again first. Give me a little love.

So, yeah, I probably came off as a bit obstinate, as Kate put it (her actual words can't be repeated—hard to believe she kisses her mom with that mouth). Can you blame me?

And now she's given up on me. I heard her tell someone she was thinking of going back to my nemesis, the Pocket PC from HP. I thought we had something going, but at the first sign of trouble she just up and deserts me. I wouldn't have thought her capable of it—she seems like she'd be a loyal person.

Bummer, huh?

I'm too Sexy... by Rodrigo, Laptop Extraordinaire

I'm not kidding. I'm the cat's meow of laptops. It's no accident Kate describes me as "so hot, so sexy."

Well, that's how she used to describe. Lately, she barely looks at me. I thought it was because I was getting a little out of shape, so while she was out of town I spent a week at the fat farm (otherwise known as Dell's Servicing Facility) getting spiffied up for her return.

It worked. I came back all sleek and refreshed, and she fawned over me—for about a week. Then she turned to Tucker, that frickin' upstart PDA. So what if he has a foldable keyboard? I'm packing, baby, and you can't tell me size doesn't matter.

When Tucker first came onto the scene nine months ago, I wasn't worried. Kate's like that—she needs variety. So she has her little flirtations, but she knows who loves her. And at first, yeah, that's how it was. She'd "work" with Tucker—a late night here, an early morning rendezvous there—but she always came back to me.

And she even set him aside for awhile. He wasn't easy to work with, she said. Small computer complex, I think. Whatever. All I care about it that for months she stayed away from him. I was happy.

Only then she went away and I just found out she took him with her. There I was, flogging myself to get in shape for her, and she was spending every day with a computer named Tucker. How sissy boy can you get?

And now she ignored me all weekend. Yeah, kind of concerned here. It's enough to make me doubt my virility. But, damn it, I am sexy.

Am I losing her? I miss the soft caress of her fingertips. Should I start flirting with other people? Maybe that'd get her attention. Except the only other person I can think of is Nate, and he's really not my type.

White Space . . . by Parisa Zolfaghari

"Maybe I should have you guest blog for me." My sister Kate looked at me over the top of Rodrigo's monitor.

I raised my eyebrows. "You don't know what to write, do you?"

She pouted. "Sure I do. I always know what to write. I was just thinking I could spice it up a little. People like change."

"You don't know what to write."

"Everyone else is doing it, too. It's the next generation of blogging." She got up from her perch and sat down next to me with her laptop. Turning her screen toward me, Kate said, "Just look at all these guest blogs."

I glanced at the monitor. "I only see one."

Waving her hand in front of the screen, Kate turned her puppy eyes to me. "It's a really good one, though."

I heaved a sigh. "Okay. I'll write one."

So in honor of the blank page...