DR. WALLACE: I'm 14 and my brother is 16 and we live with our mother. Our father passed away six years ago. Our mother is a wonderful person and she works hard to keep us together. My brother has a girlfriend who has been in a lot of trouble at school. She has been suspended for smoking in the bathroom, truancy and fighting.

Our mother doesn't want my brother to be seeing this girl. She had a long discussion with him and at the end, my brother told her that he would not see her again. Every weekday mom calls at 4.00 p.m. and asks if Tim is in the house and I always say yes. That's because Tim is not home and I have promised him that I would lie for him because he was out with his girlfriend.

Mom gets home from work at 5:30 and Tim gets home 15 minutes earlier. I love my brother. He is a neat guy and he does a lot of favors for me, but now I'm starting to feel guilty about lying for him. What should I do? — C.J., Seattle, Wash.

C. J.: Tell your brother that you love him, but that you are no longer going to lie for him because you have a guilty conscience. Make sure he understands that the next time your mother calls, you'll tell her he's with his girlfriend, not at home. Your mother is counting on you to tell the truth. See that she gets it.

NO LECTURES, PLEASE

DR. WALLACE: I'm 19 and my boyfriend is 22. We have been together for four years and are deeply in love. He is a senior at Indiana University and I'm in my second year at Ball State. Our campuses are about two hours apart, so this makes it easy for us to spend time together. Believe it or not, I am a virgin, but that won't last long because we plan to get married after I graduate. I plan on being an elementary school teacher and Phil will coach and teach at the high school level.

Since it will be about two and a half years before I graduate, we want to start a sexual relationship. We will get married to each other so we feel that a sexual relationship will only make us love each other more than ever (no lectures, please).

My only worry is the possibility of becoming pregnant. We want children (three) after we marry, but having a baby nine months from now would put a serious crimp into our future plans. If I get on the pill and Phil uses protection, what are the chances that I would conceive? Of course, getting a sexually transmitted disease for either of us is out of the question. — Nameless, Muncie, Ind.

NAMELESS: If you're on the pill and he uses protection, you have a 99 percent chance of avoiding pregnancy. The odds for conception are very slim, but it's still possible.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.