She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places，an all-night book-store，a movie theater and a park. As we walked from the school bus stop throughher neighborhood， I tried to guess which house might be hers. Was it the white onewith the perfect lawn or the brown-shingled three-story house with a silky golden re-triever on the front porch？<br> Was I surprised when she led me into an apartment building，which smelledlike frying food，chemical cleaning sprays and incense！She lived on the fourth floorin a two-room place with her mother， her stepfather， her two brothers and her sister.<br> When we go to the room she shared with her sister，she took out a big case ofBarbies——which was my next surprise. I would have thought shed outgrown them. Ihad never played with them. But we sat on the floor of a walk-in closet，laughing aswe made up crazy stories about the Barbies. Thats when we found out that weboth wanted to be writers when we were older and we both had wild imaginations.<br> When we got bored making up stories，she took out a small case of make-upand taught me how to put on lipstick and blush. I still thought that I looked like aclown;my face just wasnt made for make-up. Unlike me，Paris looked about eigh-teen years old in make-up.<br> We spent that afternoon screaming with laughter. Our jaws ached from smilingso much. She showed me her wardrobe，which had mostly come from a designerclothing store down the block. The woman who owned it used her as a modelsometimes for her newspaper ads and gave her clothes in exchange.<br> Paris had the whole neighborhood charmed. The bookstore owners lent herfashion magazines，the movie theater gave her free passes and the pizza place lether have free slices. Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at eachothers houses，spent every free moment together. Sometimes Paris and I stayedup the entire night talking. We never ran out of things to discuss ，whether we weremaking detailed lists of boys we liked or talking about the meaning of life.<br> She was too poor to have a telephone，so when I was forced to be apart fromher， I would dial the number of the pay phone in the pizza place. If I was lucky， Pariswould be nearby and answer it.
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