Southern California, we have a problem. Big-time. Mary-Kate Olsen stood in the center of her bedroom, hands on her hips, her bright blue eyes doing a quick survey as she turned her head from side to side. At least she thought she was in the center of her room. It was kind of hard to tell, since the room itself was pretty much buried under all her... There was really only one word for it. Stuff, she thought. Not that that should be mistaken for a dis. It was all really great stuff. The trouble was, its overall greatness was part of the problem. Mary-Kate and her sister, Ashley, were leaving for college on the east coast first thing in the morning. Superorganized Ashley was already packed-had been for days. But Mary-Kate was still struggling after a solid week of attempting] to pack. What we have here is a heart-brain failure to communicate, she decided as she climbed over two open suitcases, half a dozen piles of sweaters, and a stack of CDs on her way to the bed. She sat down with a whoosh and hugged the pillow her mom had given her for her last birthday to her chest. Her brain kept downloading useful information about what not to pack, which her heart kept right on ignoring. Take this pillow, for instance, she thought. Her mom had discovered it at a local antique shop. It was quirky and fun and Mary-Kate absolutely loved it. It was also...large. That was the part Mary-Kate had to acknowledge. She tossed it into the nearest open suitcase. Yep. Pretty much what I thought. Her fabulous, wacky pillow took up a third of a suitcase all on its own. The practical thing to do would be to leave it behind. But how could she bear to do such a thing? She loved that pillow. It made her smile every time she saw it. Maybe I could have one suitcase that's just personal mementos, she thought. That way she could also take along her collection of wildlife posters. A girl had to put something on her dorm room walls, after all. And if she took the posters, she might as well take along the... Stop! she told herself as she shot to her feet. Stop! Stop! STOP! This was precisely what she'd been doing for the entire past week and it was all too obvious it hadn't gotten her very far. "Don't go there, Mary-Kate," she murmured. "Oh, great! Now I'm talking to myself." Plainly the time had come to call for reinforcements. Suddenly inspired, she hopped over a pile of socks to reach her desk. She started typing on her laptop.

Mary-Kate invites Ashley to Instant Message.
Mary-Kate: This is special agent MKO calling special agent AO. Surrounded by enemy forces. Immediate assistance desperately needed. Help. Help. HELP! :0
It only took moments for Ashley's response to appear.
AshleyO: RU joking? Thought your mission was almost accomplished.
Mary-Kate: No way. It's impossible!
AshleyO: Ha-ha. Very funny. :-P
Mary-Kate: Hurry! They're attacking! I can't hold out much longer! Arrghhhhh!

"Ever consider not trying to pack every single thing you own?" Ashley's inquired dryly a few moments later from the open bedroom doorway. From the look on her sister's face, Mary-Kate could see that Ashley was having a hard time not laughing.

"For heaven's sake, Mary-Kate!" Ashley exclaimed now. "What have you been doing in here all this time? We leave tomorrow morning, in case you've forgotten." "Not likely," Mary-Kate replied. "And I've been trying-honestly I have. But every time I decide to leave something out, it somehow ends up right back in the take-me-with-you-to-college pile." "I think you mean piles," Ashley said, giving the closest one a poke with her Skecher. "What I think," Mary-Kate answered dramatically, "is that my possessions have developed minds of their own. I could really use some help here, Ash. I don't know how to eliminate anything."
Ashley sighed. "Just pick a pile and follow through," she said. She took two steps into the room, which was about as far as she could get without running into something. "Take these sweaters, for example," she continued, pointing at her feet. "Do you actually need six piles of them? The weather will still be pretty nice when we get to Lawton College. It's only September, after all. And we'll be back here for Thanksgiving break." "But what if there's a sudden cold snap?" Mary-Kate protested. "Ashley, we're talking New England! They have power outages. It snows. Those sweaters might be the only things standing between us and a future as the popsicle sisters." "Mary-Kate..." Ashley began, but by now Mary-Kate was on a roll. "You could take a few of them for me, couldn't you?" she pleaded as she hopped over the CDs, scooped up the nearest two piles of sweaters and thrust them into Ashley's somewhat unwilling arms. "Mary-Kate..." Ashley began again. This time she was interrupted by the sudden trilling of Mary-Kate's alarm clock. "Omigosh!" Mary-Kate yelped. She spun around, jumping over a lineup of shoes to reach her bedside table and silence the alarm. "Is that the right time? How did it get so late? I'm never going to make it. I have to go!" "Wait a minute," Ashley protested as Mary-Kate leapt back over the shoes and bounded past her, out the bedroom door and down the hall. "Go where? Late for what?" "To the beach. Date with Trevor." Mary-Kate's voice floated back up the stairs. "See ya when I get home. Thanks for helping me out, Ash. I really appreciate it." There was the sound of the front door swooshing open, then closing with a bang. Ashley was left standing in the doorway of her sister's room, cradling an armload of Mary-Kate's sweaters and shaking her head.
Mary-Kate strikes again. How did her sister do it? Ashley wondered. She'd come to Mary-Kate's room determined to convince her to be practical about packing, and ended up agreeing to take two enormous piles of sweaters for her! Not that she seriously objected to helping out. That's what sisters were for. Within reason, of course. And that's the problem, Ashley thought. When it came to reason, she and her sister didn't exactly see eye to eye. Mary-Kate was almost totally spontaneous, while Ashley preferred a more organized approach to life. Oh, well, she thought now as she wandered back down the hall to her own room, the sweaters still in her arms. She probably did have space for a few more things. And she'd never in a million years suggest that Mary-Kate miss her last big date with her boyfriend, Trevor Reynolds, to wrestle with packing issues. A girl had to have priorities, after all. Saying good-bye to the guy you liked ranked right at the top of anyone's to-do list, even Ashley's. She knelt by her suitcases, opened the one she knew was the least full, and made some rearrangements to fit Mary-Kate's sweaters in. There, she thought as she neatly zipped the suitcase closed. That's done. She considered returning to Mary-Kate's room to finish things up while MK was out with Trevor, then rejected the idea. They'd never learn to be independent at college if Ashley did all Mary-Kate's packing for her before they even left home! Independence was an important issue for both Olsen girls. In fact, they'd been so serious about it that they'd convinced their parents to let them make the trip to Lawton College on their own. The school had a shuttle van that would meet arriving students at the airport. The Olsen parents would visit for a special family weekend in late November, after which they'd all go home together to California for Thanksgiving break. The girls had also decided against rooming together, though they had asked to be assigned to the same dorm. Naturally, both sisters wanted great relationships with their new roomies. Wasn't being best friends with your roommate part of what college was all about? At the thought of her new roommate, Zoe Hanover, Ashley felt her stomach give a little clutch. When the girls had filled out their housing applications, there'd been a place on the form to provide your current address if you wanted to be in touch with your future roommate ahead of time. After Zoe and Ashley had exchanged a few phone calls and e-mails-and survived a horrible miscommunication about their room's color scheme-Ashley had decided to send Zoe one of those "All about Me" quizzes that always made the rounds in e-mail. The list of questions covered everything from favorite color, band, movie and last book read to more abstract things, like what did you want to be when you grew up, who's had the most influence on who you are today, and what's the one thing about yourself that you'd want a new friend to know. To her delight, Zoe had responded in kind. Ashley had been amazed to see how similar their backgrounds were. Like Ashley, Zoe had been her senior class's valedictorian. But after that promising beginning, contact with Zoe had slowed to a trickle, then stopped. Ashley had tried to tell herself that it was okay. The best way to get to know a person was face-to-face, after all. But as the days went by, the thing she'd been forced to face was the truth: She was worried about her relationship with her new roommate. Worried about her relationship with a person she hadn't even met yet! If that wasn't obsessing, she didn't know what was. Okay, Ashley, she told herself now. If you're going to obsess, at least do it over something useful, like your class schedule. That was something over which she might have some control, after all. Reaching for the folder in which she kept her careful notes about the classes she hoped to take, Ashley curled up on her bed to review them for what even she would have to admit was about the millionth time. At the rate she was going, she'd be able to draw a map of the campus and include the route she'd take from one class to the next. Actually, that's not a bad idea, she thought. Even on a small college campus, Ashley was willing to bet new students got lost. But that isn't going to happen to Ms. Ashley Olsen. No sirree. Because, she wasn't just O for Obsessed. She was also O for Organized!

* * *

Ashley0 invites Felicity_girl and Claude18 to Instant Message!
Ashley0: All set for Operation Big Surprise?
Claude18: Be there with bells on!
Felicity_Girl: No! No! She'll hear u. That'll ruin everything!
Claude18: Ha-ha. MK got her packing done yet?
Ashley0: Don't ask.
Felicity_Girl: Uh oh.
Ashley0: U can say that again. Gotta dash. See u u-no when.