I remember the first time Kayla went out with Nate. She came home late and ran right into my room to tell me all about the whole thing. They were hanging out with a group that night and he pulled her aside and told her she was gorgeous and that he needed her to be with him. They held hands all night. I have to admit, it sounded pretty romantic. I'm three years older than her and I don't even think guys MY age would be that bold. See Gallery Nate came over all the time to hang out with Kayla or just to do homework. The whole family liked him. There was nothing not to like, Nate was charming and so into Kayla. We were all glad that she'd found someone so special. The week our grandmother died, our parents pulled Kayla and I out of school to be with the family and go to the funeral. Kayla was really upset about having to cancel plans with Nate. She got into a huge fight with our parents. I listened from upstairs and cornered Kayla when she came upstairs. "Why are you being so selfish?" I yelled at her. She didn't say a word. It was not like her at all. Later that night I overheard Kayla on the phone talking to Nate. She was crying her eyes out, apologizing over and over again for not being able to hang out with him. It was like she had totally lost perspective on what was important. I tried to talk to her about it, but she was still angry with me. When we got back to school, I ran into Nate in the hallway. I said hi and expected him to ask how we were doing with the whole funeral thing going on. Instead, he said, "I'm glad that's over." It was so weird. I mentioned this to Kayla and she brushed it off, and said Nate was "going through some stuff." I asked some of Kayla's friends and found out Nate was in danger of failing English. The week we missed school was the week a paper was due. Apparently, Kayla had been helping Nate with this class and since she wasn't around, he hadn't done so well on the assignment. Kayla came in my room few days later, crying again. She and Nate had a huge fight. He threatened to break up with her. Nate claimed Kayla had ruined his life, made him fail English, and didn't really love him. She felt awful about the whole thing and asked me what I thought she could do make up for how horrible she had been. I was shocked! Kayla hadn't done anything and here was Nate blaming her for his own problems. I told Kayla what I thought. She hadn't thought of it that way. She is still dating Nate, although now she's trying to make a little more space for herself. He still drops by every day, but doesn't stay as long. He's also getting help after school with some of his classes. Last week I heard her tell Nate that she couldn't hang out with him on Friday night. He seemed okay with it. So did she.