A hot feminist.

Marisa often seemed to be the opposite of her twin sister: serious where Jessica was playful, fair-skinned and freckled where Jessie was dark, with a head of fiery red hair that contrasted sharply with Jessie's brunette locks. While Jessica had inherited her mother's looks, Marisa clearly had her father's.

I’d have a hard time deciding which of my stepsisters was hotter--Jessie has an almost exotic look about her, which combined with her playfulness makes her incredibly alluring. But Mari’s intensity has an appeal of its own, and her flawless, smooth alabaster skin and bright green eyes got her plenty of attention from the guys at school.

I'm not saying that Marisa was quiet or boring or awkward--like her sister, she was a total extrovert who loved talking with people about absolutely anything, and people always seemed to love talking with her. But her absolute favorite thing to talk about with people was feminism.

I don't know if it was because she went through her teenage years after just losing her mother, but somewhere along the way Marisa decided that the issue of women’s rights was by far the most important thing in the world and she was going to dedicate her life to it. She read books about gender incessantly, and would talk to anyone at school who would listen about things like institutionalized discrimination and hidden biases. Naturally, most of the female teachers loved her. And just as naturally, some of the tougher guys at school felt threatened by her.

In fact, it was because of a conversation she had with a couple of those jerks at school that she and I finally became real friends….