Saturday, 22nd of July

I woke up in my bedroom with Ida and Quinn lying beside me. I looked at my phone and had to smile when I read the text that Dad sent me. He was still overprotective when it came to me, reminding me of rules and whatnot. The message read:

happy birthday, honey! we're so sorry that we can't be there with you... we'll be coming home as soon as possible, but for now, enjoy your birthday to the fullest! and you know the rules - you don't sleep anywhere else than at home, and no boys in our house!

love, mom and dad

ps: don't spend too much on your birthday present(s) :)

I put my phone down, but after looking at the other side of my bed, I had to pick it up again. As my bed was big enough for three people to sleep on without problems, Quinn and Ida slept by my side. But what I saw beside me was too cute not to take a picture; my friends were cuddling, with them facing each other. I was pretty sure that they didn't know they were doing that, but it was sweet. Although they were the same age, Quinn was taller than Ida by quite a bit and gave off a way more mature vibe. Thus, Ida looked like a little girl cuddling with her older sister, and considering their sister-like friendship, that was pretty much what they were anyway.

The way they were positioned was also adorable, as Quinn was a bit higher up and mostly stretched out, while Ida was curled up close to her. Ida's face was buried in the blonde girl's chest, with her hands right beneath it. Quinn had her arms around Ida's upper body, their legs intertwined. If I didn't know better, I would think they were lovers.

It was at that moment that I realized I didn't even know better. Quinn supposedly had a boyfriend overseas who I had never seen, while Ida said she slept around with guys and girls. It's not like I didn't believe them, but it wasn't impossible for them to be going out.

I decided to wake Quinn up and watch her reaction, maybe that would enlighten me. I took another photo with my phone to once more capture this cute picture, and then put the device down on my bedside table.

"Hey Quinn," I shook her lightly, "if you hold Ida any tighter against you, she will suffocate on your breasts."

I chuckled at the thought, while Quinn slowly opened her eyes and looked at Ida lying comfortably in her chest. After a few seconds, she realized what was going on and said, "What the fuck, Sis?" while pushing Ida off the bed.

Ida, who was now sitting on the carpet beside the bed, still half asleep, asked in distraught, "What was that for?"

"That was for nibbling on my boobs in your sleep like you were my newborn child," replied Quinn. I looked at her and saw Ida's drool in the chest area of her black tank top.

"Seems like you were tasty," Ida responded jokingly while getting up from the floor.

Quinn got out of bed and complained frowning, "This is gross," before taking off her top, exposing her bare chest to us.

I quickly turned away and said, "Remember what I told you about suddenly stripping in front of me?"

Quinn merely answered, still standing there half-naked, "Oh, come on, loosen up a bit. You can't be this uptight forever. We are all girls, right? I don't expect you to take off your clothes for me to see but stop complaining about me."

Ida sighed, "Seriously, you're clearly way too pure. We need to finally find you a girl..."

It took me some time to realize what she just said, then I half yelled, "What!?"

I shook my head, getting ready to talk my way out of her assumption, when Ida suddenly said, "Whatever..."

She just shook her head and went into my closet to get some clothes. Quinn already put on clothes she brought from school and went downstairs, while I kept sitting on my bed, trying not to overthink what Ida said. After a moment, I shook my head, as if somehow trying to make those thoughts fall out of it, and went into the bathroom to get myself ready for the day.

A few minutes later, when we were changed and ready for the day, we sat down at the dining table. Quinn had made pancakes while we were getting ourselves ready so we could start eating right away.

"Our plan for today remains the same?" I asked while munching on my pancakes.

"Yeah, we'll go shopping now, and after that, we'll celebrate in Zarah's restaurant. When we get back here, we have a surprise for you," replied Ida.

"Let's go then," I responded and stuffed my mouth with big pieces of food to be done faster.

"We have more than enough time, so enjoy your meal, little girl," said Quinn shaking her head. I slowed down and, after we all finished, we got into my car and drove to the nearest mall.

As I enjoyed looking around stores with the two of them a lot, but rarely did that, we spent quite some time. But we did have plans to meet the other girls from the cheer squad, so while carrying many shopping bags in her hands, Quinn said, "It's almost time to get to the restaurant, let's go back to the car."

"Come on, just one more store please," I begged, and Quinn sighed but nodded. And that one store was really worth it because I found an adorable white hoodie, which had cat ears on the hood, and small pink paw prints on the end of the sleeves. Although it was quite expensive, I had to get it no matter what. Although we looked through many stores, I didn't buy that much. I didn't need that many new clothes, I just liked looking through the stores.

"So? Are you finally done?" asked Quinn while I nodded with a bright smile on my face. It took us a few minutes to get back to our car and load our loot into it, but eventually, we took off in the direction of the restaurant.

When we arrived at the place the girls wanted to take me, I wondered why there were only three cars parked in front of it, one of them being Amanda's pink Jeep. You'd expect a restaurant to be stuffed on a Saturday afternoon.

After I parked the car, Quinn and I both got out while opening our umbrellas. Ida, on the other hand, was struggling with crawling out of the car without taking any of the shopping bags with her.

The trunk of my car was too small, so the backseat beside Ida was also filled with bags. But those bags weren't even mine, so I didn't care too much about them. Those belonged to Quinn and Ida, who bought way more than I did, although it was my birthday. They even paid it all by themselves, while I only spent money from my parents' credit card.

"Why did you choose this place? I thought we were going to the place owned by Zarah's family," I asked curiously.

"Because we closed some weeks ago," came an answer from behind. I turned around and saw Zarah, Kelly, and Amanda getting out of the Jeep.

"You closed? Why?! The restaurant of your parents was my favorite," I said shocked.

Zarah giggled while pointing at the building behind me, "Because tomorrow, we'll be opening this place."

"This restaurant is huge compared to your old one," I stated.

"Yeah, it was getting pretty crowded, so we needed a bigger place. And luckily, this one was for sale," replied Zarah.

"But you said you are opening tomorrow, why are we here then?" I wondered.

Zarah went to the entrance and opened it, speaking, "Because today, we are open just for the six of us."

We followed in and were greeted by Zarah's parents. They led us to a table that was neatly decorated and took our orders. The restaurant's interior was old-fashioned, but with modern decoration. They even had a big bar now. Almost everything was made out of wood, which gave off a comfy feeling.

The food we got was excellent like always when coming to Zarah's place, but what was really delicious was the dessert. It was a two-tier birthday cake with chocolate frosting and fresh strawberries on top. I knew that Ida and Quinn had organized this cake for me because only they knew me well enough to choose my favorite type of cake and add my most liked fruit on top.

We spent our afternoon sitting at our table, talking and laughing about random stuff until it the sun started setting outside. As the girls still had some plans, we decided it was time to go.

Because Ida's and Quinn's homes were more or less on the way, we brought home all the loot they had from our shopping raid. After that, I parked my car in my garage and got out, with Quinn and Ida following behind.

We went up into the house and waited for the rest of the girls to arrive. This was actually the first time that those three would be coming over. Usually, we would just meet in our clubhouse or at the beach behind my home. I was getting slightly nervous, the others had never seen my nerdy side after all.

Shortly after, the front door opened and the three girls entered, carrying a big wrapped box.

"We're sure you will like this, Quinn and Ida said this is the perfect gift for you," said Kelly. If those two chose it, it really could be anything. From useful, to funny, to perverted... everything was possible. I actually had been expecting something of the latter category, so this big box surprised me.

"Come on, open it up already," said Kelly excited. I opened the box and saw something I would have never guessed. A thing that I didn't know I needed until I had it.

"How the hell did you come up with this awesome gift?" I asked cheerfully.

"We just know how much you like sweets and snacks, so when we saw this, we knew we had to get it for you," replied Ida, totally not trying to hide the fact that she's proud of herself. I looked at the butter popcorn maker that was still in its box.

"I'm glad, I thought you would give me something perverted like a-" then Ida interrupted me, "A sex toy? Yeah, here ya go."

She handed me a small box; it wasn't even wrapped in wrapping paper. I looked at it shocked and questioned, "Are you for real?"

She replied, "Yeah, of course, pure girls also have their needs, right?"

She gave me a wink, and the other girls laughed.

"You are unbelievable..." I sighed, shaking my head slightly.

"Oh, come on, let's just test out your gift," said Kelly in her cheerful voice.

"Yeah fine, let's make some popcorn," I answered while putting down the small box Ida gave me, freeing my hands so I could grab the popcorn maker.

"I was actually talking about the other one," added Kelly with a smirk on her face.

"Haha, very funny, now help me carry this thing up into my living room."

Although the actual living room was on the first floor, I had my own up here. The whole second floor was basically my kingdom. There were one guest room, my bedroom, and one spare room. As the latter one was right next to my bedroom and unused, I made it into my personal sanctuary. The house was clearly too big for just me and my parents, and I was guessing that I actually was meant to have siblings. The reason why that didn't happen was probably that my parents had to care a lot about me because of my congenital heart disease. Luckily, it got better as I aged, and it wasn't limiting me in any way now. And by now, my parents were too old to get another child.

After playing the popcorn maker where I wanted it, the girls looked around my room. There was a red sofa in front of a flatscreen TV and a desk with my PC. What probably was a lot more interesting for the girls were the shelves with many blu-rays, manga, and comics, as well as the walls which were decorated with posters or other merchandise like figurines.

"Holy shit..." Zarah, Amanda, and Kelly had never seen this room before and were clearly surprised.

"Who would have thought that the honors student Brea Faye is, in fact, a nerd?" commented Zarah while looking around the room.

The girls studied my room a bit more, but after that, we just hung out until evening.

"And you really don't want to go to the party with us? It's your eighteen birthday, what better time is there to get drunk?" asked a sad Ida.

"No, you know that I dislike parties," I answered. The girls wanted to go to a party that was hosted by one of the guys from the football team.

"Then Quinn and I are gonna stay here with you. Can't have you be alone on this day, right?" responded Ida.

"Like this, you are only going to make me feel bad. I don't mind being alone, and I know how much the two of you want to go to the party. So please, respect my wish as the birthday girl and go party with the rest," I tried convincing them.

Quinn knew how stubborn I could be at times, so she stopped Ida from continuing that debate, "Sis, you know that the outcome won't change. You want to party, I want to party, and Brea wants us to party. So there is no problem, is there?"

The chestnut-haired girl sighed pouting before saying her goodbyes, "Okay then, see you soon girl... though, don't have too much fun with your presents, first-timers should take it slowly."

Her usual smirk came back to her face as she said that, and I was quite sure that she wasn't even kidding about what was said. The six of us hugged, and then they drove off through the rain. Luckily Amanda had her pink Jeep, so all five of them fit in.