The next morning, we're woken up early and told to dress comfortably. For us, that means a skirt, a halter top, ankle socks, and sports shoes. After dressing, we pack everything again and carry it out to the van, then head back inside to the cafe to eat. A half-hour ter, we're on the road and heading home.

  Though we talked quite a bit, we slept far more of the ride home, which I think Emma's mom really appreciated since we weren't asking for restroom breaks or bothering her as often. Emma's mom wakes the three of us as we pull onto the street for our houses. Blearily, we rub the sleep out of our eyes, and I look at the clock on the dash to see it's almost 5 P.M.

  My parents come over to meet us when we arrive at the Albert's. After I hug them, my dad walks around to the back to get my bags while Mom talks to Emma's mom.

  "Do you want to come over tonight and watch the video of their performance?" Emma's mom asks her.

  "I wouldn't want to impose on you guys with how tired you must be."

  "I'm fine and the girls slept for most of the ride. Anyway, I know you'll love their performance video."

  "Sure, that sounds great. What time?"

  "How about 7:00? That'll give everyone time to unpack and unwind a bit."

  "Alright, see you then."

  After that, we go our separate ways and once we're inside our house, Dad sets down my bags, and I immediately dive into them to find my certificate and trophy. Finding them, I stand back up and turn around with a brilliant smile as I hold them out to show them off.

  "We got first pce as a squad and I was named as most improved cheerleader!"

  "Congratutions," Dad says.

  While Mom smiles at me proudly. "The second that you made the squad, I just knew that you would be good at cheerleading. You're my daughter, after all."

  Almost ready to burst, I smirk, and say, "Oh, you think so, do you?"

  Dad chuckles as Mom pulls me to her and buries my head in her boobs as she hugs me. "Of course. I've always been proud of my amazing daughter, but never more proud than I am at this moment."

  I murmur a quiet, "Mmm," as a reply. I know for a fact both of my parents love me. Dad, however, when I was supposedly a boy, simply pushed me hard to do better in sports. He never complimented me when I would improve, although even I have to admit my improvements were extremely small comparatively. I suppose his, 'keep at it' was his version of encouragement and/or acknowledgment that I'd improved a bit. Now, he seems to be more than happy to compliment me. On the other hand, Mom has always been quick to tell us how well we're doing in anything and everything, although she's a bit more demanding in encouraging more out of us.

  When she finally releases me, we gather my bags and head upstairs where we hang that uniform on a hanger up in my closet – I honestly didn't think I'd ever have a reason to wear it again… It's too bad though, I look really cute in it.

  We continued to unpack my stuff out of the bags. She oohed and awed at the other shirts and outfits I'd received over the week. The shirt that Emma's mom had bought us yesterday was especially one that she liked. Between the two of us, we got a load of undry started and then I remembered the pictures of me with the college guys and girls.

  I got the envelope and showed the pictures to Mom and Dad as we sat down to eat some fast food that he'd picked up for us.

  "Umm… Was this safe?" Dad asked with a concerned voice.

  "There were mats on the ground, and the guys that tossed me have been doing this for a long time, so I trusted them. Plus, I'd already done it with the girls many times, so I wasn't too concerned," I tell him. "Just look at their muscles! I watched them toss a couple of the college girls earlier in the week up a long way. They were able to toss me even better since I weigh less," I say with a huge grin.

  "So, you were one of the girls lifted and tossed this week?" Dad asked.

  I nodded, "Emma and I both were. I had a lot of fun doing it, although I was kind of scared at first…" I rambled on to them about the trip and everyone on it 'til it was time to go over to Emma's.

  We arrive at her house and she grabs me, dragging me upstairs as she says, "You have to see this, Rei!" We head up to her room where I see her dad had repainted it while we were gone.

  "Whoa, this looks like what my parents did with my room at home," I tell her.

  "I know, right?"

  "Yeah, it's almost the same, too; the colors are different, but not by much."

  If you can't guess, I like it, so enough said.

  "If you like that, then come here. You have to see what else Daddy did while we were gone." She leads me to the guest bedroom to find it's also been redecorated. She grins and winks at me. Well, it seems like I'm being given a room at their house. I stay over a lot, so I guess it makes sense.

  "Is this supposed to be mine?" I ask her.

  "Anytime you want to stay over," Emma's dad says from behind me.

  I give him a big hug as I say, "You didn't have to do this, Mr. Albert."

  He shrugs. "True, but you stay over often enough that you might as well have your own room," he tells me while returning the hug. I seriously have tears in my eyes at this point. About a year ago, we moved here and I didn't have a single friend. Now, I have the two best friends a girl could ask for and Emma's parents act like I'm their daughter, too. I'd have never thought this could ever happen. If you folks think my line of thinking is odd, think about all the unusual events that have happened to me over the st year or so. By comparison, this is as ordinary as life can get.

  "You'll have to break it in sometime this week," Emma tells me.

  "Yeah, though it kind of takes the fun out of us staying up all night talking."

  She leans in to whisper, "I think that's why they did it. Maybe they think we won't stay up all night talking this way."

  I giggle; she's probably right. We go back downstairs to the living room and her dad pys the video from our final performance. I have to say, Mrs. Albert did an awesome job recording our performance.

  My parents seem to understand why I earned my individual award after watching the video. "All of you were great, but Rei, you were simply amazing," Mom tells us.

  Emma and Kelly chime in with, "Wasn't she?"

  Then Kelly says, "Who knows? Considering how much Rei has improved, whoever's the new Captain might wanna watch out."

  Taken at face value, what she said might seem to be catty, but she says it with a bright smile, so I don't think she means it negatively. Regardless, I'm perfectly happy being a regur ol' cheerleader. Emma and Kelly can be captain and co-captain for all I care. Plus, I think they are awesome at it.

  I quirk an eyebrow, tilt my head, and state, "Nope, you won't. I'm not interested in being captain or co-captain."

  There's a bit of back and forth between us about that, but they finally get that I'm seriously not interested in either position. Plus, why would I want to make my besties unhappy? Look, I'm sure I could do it and I'd likely do a great job in either position, but my friends are far more important to me, capiche? In other words, I ain't gonna be one of those kinds of girls that will smile to your face and stab you in the back. It's as simple as that.

  Anyway, back to the video, our squad did a fantastic job. We were totally in sync and on point during our routines. Out of all we learned, the dance routine was the hardest, and yet, it was also the most fun.

  "We'll have to get all the pictures developed this week and have another scrapbooking session soon," Emma's mom says.

  "Definitely" we reply.

  They already copied the performance video onto several Blu-ray discs so we would have copies for ourselves, which means, I can show Jer and my grandparents.

  We talk, eat, and generally have a great time until te, when Dad finally announces, "It's been great, but I have to get up early tomorrow for work, so we're going to head out."

  When I crawl in bed, it takes very little time for me to fall asleep.

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  The next day, I wake up, slip off my camisole, put on a bra, then slip my cami back on. I have no pns for today, so dressing isn't a priority, and my stomach is throwing a fit. Plus, I need to keep a modicum of modesty since my brother and Dad are here and likely to be up.

  I'm barely able to finish breakfast before Jer comes over. He asks my mom if he can have me for the day, to which she replies, "Just have her back by 5:30 for dinner."

  I look down at myself thinking, 'Yeah, I'm not going anywhere at the moment except upstairs to change.'

  "Where are we going?"

  He grins and says, “Just grab your bathing suit."

  So, either the water park or, I'm hoping, his house to their pool. Truthfully, I just want to see my boyfriend. I’d rather not have to deal with a rge amount of other people.

  "'Kay. Give me a bit to get ready." I gesture to myself from top to bottom. "As you can see, I just got up a bit ago, so I still have to shower and dress."

  Regardless of my mom being in the room, he nods, then boldly leans in and takes my lips. I think, 'screw it' because I seriously doubt she cares if I kiss him in front of her. I force my tongue past his lips and press up against him as I slip my arms around his neck. Trust me, it doesn't take long before I feel like a puddle of goo and have flutters in my chest.

  When we finally separate, he murmurs, "Missed you."

  I grin for a moment, then quip, "I'd have missed you too if I wasn't running my lil' butt off at camp. Believe me when I tell you they had us running on empty all the time, so we were either training or sleeping."

  He merely nods in reply, and Mom tells me, "While I realize you two are an item, what you're wearing isn't appropriate. Go change."

  I smirk at her as I reply, "Seriously? What I'm wearing is more modest than a bikini."

  She frowns for a moment. "Yes, seriously. Young dies shouldn't parade around in sleepwear in front of unreted men."

  There she goes again. At times, she's old school, and at others progressive. I wish she'd pick one and go with it since it's somewhat annoying trying to figure out what stance she's going to take at any instance. For instance, today, the old school version of my mom should've had a fit over me kissing Jer in front of her, yet even though she didn't care about that, she gets all prudish about me being in my sleepwear. It’s kinda funny considering it provides more than enough modesty, especially when I’m also wearing a bra, so go figure. Now, I’d get it if I was wearing one of my thinner nightgowns. They are a bit translucent, so…

  Anyway, rather than take the chance of her getting mad and confining me to the house or some such thing, or as they say, discretion being the better part of valor, I merely nod and reply, "Yes, Ma'am," then turn around and march my lil' butt upstairs to get ready for the day. Some battles simply aren't worth the cost of fighting.