On those weekends, if Anna’s father was working in the city or out of town and her mother had decided to stay in the city for the night, Anna would sometimes spend the night there. Her father frowned on Anna spending the night at her boyfriend’s house, one of the many things he was strict about. Her mother tended to look the other way, which was mainly because she held Alexander in such high regard. When Alexander was invited to vacation with them, they had to sleep in separate bedrooms, which meant if Steven was along, the two boys bunked up. Because of this, there was no way Anna would let her boyfriend sleep over at her parents’ house for fear of getting caught. On the weekends Anna went to Boston, her father expected her to stay at his company’s corporate apartment in Copley Plaza, but she never did. And thankfully, her father never asked, nor did he seem to check up on her the way she knew he checked up on Steven.

“Finally, you’re home! I’ve been waiting forevs,” Eleanor called out as soon as Anna walked through the front door. Eleanor was sitting in the formal living room and stayed put because she wasn’t a fan of Gemma and Jon Snow. Whenever Eleanor came over, Anna had to bar them from whatever room Eleanor and she were in, which drove Anna crazy, because the dogs simply didn’t understand why. Eleanor claimed she was slightly allergic, but it wasn’t true. She found their drool gross and unsanitary, and since she was borderline OCD, it was just easier for Anna to keep them separated when Eleanor did a “pop-by,” which was Eleanor-speak for an unwanted intrusion. Anna loathed Eleanor’s pop-bys. Why couldn’t she just announce her intention beforehand by text like every other teenager in the world?

“Hey Eleanor,” Anna said, making sure her voice didn’t reflect her current feelings. “To what do I owe this pop-by?”

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever, and it was making me boo-hoo, so I said to myself, ‘Ellie, you turn that frown upside down and scoot your cute B-U-T-T on over and tell Annie you miss her!’” Eleanor’s voice was sweet and saccharine. “Is it time for the dogs to say bye-bye, yet? I’m feeling very neglected sitting here all by my loney-lonesome. Plus, my nose is starting to twitch like a bunny’s.”