1 Part 1: PROLOGUE

It was during the summer of her eighth birthday when Evonne met her two best friends, Rosa and Rina. The three little darlings were destined to share the same fate— spinsters who would ultimately meet their Casanovas in their very own weird ways.

On this particular day, they were out on the playground of their elementary school, swinging on the monkey bars. Evonne, who had never really had any real friends before, asked this very odd question that had been boggling her mind for a little while.

"Friends. What are they for?" Pretty Rina, with her sunny silver hair and bright sky-blue eyes, chimed in eagerly, "Friends are your teddy bear. He comforts you when you cry. He's like your cozy pillow or your favorite blankie. He's warm, like Mummy and Daddy."

"They're your Kleenex tissue," Rosa said, nodding her dark head. "For wiping your runny nose and teary eyes. You get that when you cry. He's like Mummy and Daddy, all warm and cozy."

"Is that all?" Evonne asked in wonder, her dark-brown eyes large. "There's more! There's more!" Rosa said, hopping in her spot, eager for her friends to listen to her very wise words, her braided hair bouncing about.

Then she proceeded to dance and clap her hands like a monkey. "Friends are always there with you, always around you, like right now. I'm happy. I'm clapping my hands because I have my friends with me.

Clap with me, Evonne." She grinned widely at the half-Kiwi, half- Malaysian girl. "Clap with me, Rina." She urged them to clap and dance with her. The clueless two happily followed her lead and began clapping their hands and dancing silly dances, like clowns in a circus. "See, friends make each other look like fools, but they still have fun," Rosa said wisely.

"So will you promise to be my teddy bear, my comfort pillow, my favorite blankie, and Kleenex tissue, then?" Evonne asked her two friends. "Sure," Rina said. "You bet on it," Rosa replied.

"Promise?" Evonne wanted to make sure they weren't going to run out on her. After all, she knew no one else wanted to be her friend since she was so different.

"Promise?" Rina and Rosa said in unison. "Let's a pinky swear, then," Evonne suggested. "Yes, pinky swear," Rosa said, grinning. Rina nodded in agreement. Evonne entwined her left pinky with Rosa's.

On the right side, she entwined with Rina's left, while Rina had her right pinky with Rosa's left. In turn, the three friends formed a circle, an endless unity of friendship. "We promise to be great friends.

We promise to pick each other up when the other falls. We promise to be your teddy bear, your favorite blankie and your Kleenex tissue. We promise to laugh with you when you laugh. We are sisters as well as friends. From now on, we are one."

Then they leaned forward until all three foreheads touched. "Friends," they all said in unison. Then they pulled back and smiled their cheesy, toothy smiles at each other.