This story was released as a print copy on August 15th, 2018. If you'd rather read it as a book and support me as a writer, you can buy the book here:
http://www.chrapavy.com/shop

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In no way or another does the author of this book support violence against food such as, but not limited to, waffles, pancakes, or bacon. Violently piercing food with forks or other utensils is an act of brutality, which should be refrained from.

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Long, blue hair swaying in the wind.

A face which I couldn't remember speaking in a soft voice, "Keep this. Until we meet again."

A blue braided bracelet being handed to me.

Friday, 21st of July

The sound of my alarm pulled me out of the dream which haunted me for years. I looked at the bracelet which had been on my arm for over a decade. Its blue color was faded and some strings were glued back together after being torn apart.

I sighed and got up slowly to turn off the irritating sound that was blaring out of my phone. I looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that I had more than enough time left, as I was planning on cleaning my room before heading to school today. Looking at all the trash in my room made me give up on that idea, so I stayed in bed a little longer.

My parents always called my room "messy" but, although I understood where that assumption was coming from, that was not the case. Everything had its right place.

All the clothes on the wooden floor that might or might not be dirty, the books on my table that I might or might not read, even the opened packs of sweets that might or might not be empty; everything was where it belonged.

Probably.

But, I wanted to prove to my parents that I could keep my room tidy for once, so I had decided to clean it for my upcoming birthday. As I was lying in bed instead of cleaning, it was apparent that that worked out exactly as planned.

Anyway, after I spent quite a while in bed, it was time to get out and start my day. Generally, I'd be grumpy and moody in the morning, but not today. No, not on the last day before summer break, and the last day of being underage.

Only one day was standing between me and my eighteenth birthday. I just needed to keep my mood up till I would get out of school at noon. After that, I'd lay in the sun all day.

Or so I thought.

One glance out of my window was enough to bring all my grumpiness back. Normally, I'd be able to see small boats and surfers enjoy the waves near Minty Shore, the public beach of the island I lived on. Although Greenback Island, located in the Old Tampa Bay in Florida, wasn't huge, the beach was usually very crowded. That wasn't the case today.

It was raining hard. No word in my vocabulary could do this downpour justice. Judging from the dark clouds covering the sky, the rain wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

I took my phone off the bedside table to look at the weather forecast, hoping to get some good news this morning. I was praying to whichever god that felt the need to make it rain at the start of my summer break. Praying, that they would have mercy on me and give me a sunny birthday.

But no, that didn't happen. Rain, rain, and even more rain. According to the forecast, it would be pouring for the next few days.

I was the type that liked rain a lot; the sound raindrops made when hitting the window was calming, and the smell of rain was pleasing. When thinking about my summer holidays though, I had sunny weather and the beach in mind.

"Oh great," I muttered under my breath and threw my phone on the bed. It landed screen first, which made me notice the phone case I bought yesterday. It was light blue and had the face and ears of a cat on it, making my phone have cat ears sticking out at the top. I found it adorable and felt like I needed to buy it, no matter what.

I realized that I was wasting time again, so I ignored all the distractions in my room and stepped into my walk-in wardrobe to get some clothes. I grabbed some jeans and a top and went into my bathroom for my morning routine.

A look into my mirror revealed my oh so beautiful morning face. I was fond of my looks; most guys at school hit on me multiple times, so I was quite sure that I had a decent face and body.

Not like any of those guys had a chance with me though. People always expected me to be the kind of girl that had the most handsome and popular guys as boyfriends, the captain of the football team, for example.

That wasn't true at all.

I never once had a boyfriend, and I wasn't planning on ever having one. Boys stink, think they are better in everything and just don't attract me.

But that's a whole different story for girls. Well, I also never had a girlfriend, but it's not like I wasn't thinking about it. I did want to, but up to now, I had never felt ready to come out and try to get a girlfriend. No one knew, not my parents, not even my best friends Ida and Quinn.

When I realized that I once again got lost in my thoughts, I tried to focus on getting myself ready. People in movies always wake up with the loveliest faces possible and fully prepared for the day, but that's not how life works. No matter what, I woke up looking like a walking mess; my platinum blonde hair was tangled, my blue eyes looked sleepy, and I had a dried line of drool coming from my mouth.

And like every morning, it took a while to fix all that. Washing, drying, and putting on makeup until my rather wide face with its round cheeks and small nose looked smooth and the faint freckles that I had were covered. I put on pinkish lipstick on my small mouth which was contrasting my white teeth and pale skin, and added eyeliner to emphasize my big eyes.

When I was finally done with my makeup and hair, I made my way downstairs. Already while making my first steps downwards, I could tell that Mom made my favorite breakfast. The smell of pancakes with maple syrup and hot chocolate entered my nostrils; a scent that could make every morning good, no matter the circumstances.

The last step out of the staircase revealed the living room that was decorated with stuff you would see at a children's birthday party. Of course, I was way too old for things like that, and I was sure my parents knew that very well. But they did this every year until now, so it was pretty much a family tradition at this point. And it was fun so I couldn't mind it less.

My parents would decorate the whole living room, hide behind the big brown sofa and wait for me to pass by to "surprise" me.

As always, I decided to play along with it and made my way through the living room to the kitchen. After passing the sofa, my parents jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!"

After laughing a bit with my parents, my dad said in a soft voice, "You know that we need to leave today for our business trip, right Brea?"

"Yes, of course, I remember," I answered. Although it might seem a bit cruel of my parents to leave me alone on my eighteenth birthday, I didn't mind it. I knew that their company needed them to go to Europe for a few days, and I also knew that my parents wouldn't leave if they could have got around it somehow. Things like that can't be avoided when you have a high position in an international company. Their names, Olivia and Alexander Faye, were well-known in their area of expertise, so it was understandable if they had to travel now and then.

"I'm so sorry that we can't be here with you on your big day..." said my mom with a sorry and sad expression on her round face which I obviously inherited from her. It wasn't as bad as she made it seem to be; there are way bigger days in anyone's life than their eighteenth birthday after all.

"Like I told you a few days ago, it's okay. You must represent a big company in Europe, I understand," I said to Mom, meaning every single word, "Besides, you were there for me in all these eighteen years, even when I was very sick as a child. It's not like I can complain about anything."

"Honey, I think our little girl is becoming an adult..." she replied as her blue eyes seemed to light up, "Now go and eat your pancakes, they will get cold."

I did as instructed and enjoyed the delicious meal. Minutes later, while I was still eating, Dad came in and said, "We'll leave the credit card here, so you can go shopping and buy whatever you want as your birthday present. But you know..."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Spend it, not waste it," I interrupted my father with a smile on my lips.

A smile also formed on his face behind the neatly-trimmed blonde but slowly grayish turning beard. The gentle brown eyes on his long face looked at me as he responded, "That's my girl."

As I was getting ready to leave, my parents were also packing their stuff to go to the airport. After saying goodbye to them, who were picked up by someone from their workplace, I took off to school in my car. I drove down the road, listening to my favorite songs from "Krewella" and singing along.

Because of the heavy rain, it took me about fifteen minutes till I could see the sign of my school. Usually, I'd be a lot faster.

"Storm Coast High" it said in big letters on the sign in front of the parking lot. A name that was fitting, considering how often there were big storms in this area, which not only got strong but also lasted for quite a long time. I was guessing that this one wouldn't be any different. The rain was just the vanguard of whatever was coming my way, I knew that.

As always, I parked my car in the parking spot right next to the entrance. I was lucky to be part of the cheerleading squad, as that spot was reserved for the captain of the cheerleaders. She lived literally across the street though, so there was no need for her to come by car. Thankfully, I was such a scary and violent person, so the other girls decided that it would be better to leave that spot to me.

As if.

I was merely on good terms with everyone, and no one objected when I asked if I could park there, so that's that. Although I was friendly with everyone, I didn't have many close friends. I liked having my space, so I didn't need the other students to be more than exactly that, fellow students.

I had my two best friends whom I always hung out with at school; I knew both since my early childhood. Then there were also the other girls from the cheer squad, although I wasn't too close to them. Dealing with those five girls was enough for my taste.

Right at that moment, those two best friends in question entered my line of sight; they waited for me at the entrance as usual. We always met in the morning and, most of the time, as we all had the same classes, we were together until the end of the school day.

The chestnut-haired Ida and dirty-blonde-haired Quinn made their way towards me, looking as good as ever. As always, Ida had a cheeky grin that showed her white teeth between the rather full lips of hers, two small dimples forming below her defined cheekbones. I could see her small and pointy jaw move as she seemingly chewed on a piece of gum.

Although I was checking them out, I knew that I would never try to get together with any of them. I knew them since I was four years old, they were even with me when I was sick as a child and couldn't enter school. It was a wonder how the two of them could be a year younger than me, as they were like older sisters to me.

The voice of a smirking Ida pulled me out of my thoughts, "Checking us out as usual, Brea?"

"In your dreams, Ida," I answered smiling, "but as this is the last day of school, I didn't really put much effort into my appearance, I was just making sure that you two don't look better than me."

"Yeah right. You know as well as me that this..." Ida pointed at me, "can never compare to this, nor that."

I watched as her piercing green eyes first looked at her own, then at Quinn's body. And as much as I wanted to disagree, she was right. Body wise I only had one advantage to Ida and Quinn, and that was my chest. But they worked out more than me, so although I did have an excellent body, I was a cheerleader after all, I definitely couldn't compare my legs, abs, and ass to them.

"Ida, don't think so high and mighty of yourself; Brea still is the most popular among us and has an angelic face that you could only dream of," Quinn finally added to the conversation, while poking my face with her index finger. The natural stern look of her light grey eyes combined with the calm tone of Quinn's voice gave off a mature vibe, her rather wide jaw with the round chin and the type of makeup she used on her thin lips and flat cheeks further enhanced that.

"Whatever..." said Ida while starting towards our first class. Quinn cleared up the discussion with only one sentence, which happened quite often. She was the only person who Ida for some reason didn't dare to talk back to. Following that victory, we made our way to class. We took our usual seats and waited for the bell to ring.

As this was our last day before summer break, the teachers went easy on us and only talked about light topics, letting time pass as quickly as possible.

All of our exams were finished a week ago, so the whole last week was pure relaxation most of the time. And to make things even better, school ended after fourth lesson on Friday.

Right when the last teacher started packing his things, most people form class started storming out into the hallway which was full of students. We three also packed our bags and got ready to leave class.

We only made a few steps out of the room when three guys suddenly blocked our way. Then one of them started talking, "Hey babes, we are invited to that exclusive party at the mansion today. You know how hard it is to get in there, right? If you three behave and give us a nice compensation afterward, you may come with us as our dates."

All of us were stunned by what he said, but after a moment started laughing. The way he "invited" us, and the indecent gestures he did while speaking the word "compensation" were both ridiculous, and I was wondering if there were actually girls out there that would say yes to this.

We started walking again and while passing them, Ida stopped and said, "Just... ew." before continuing to walk alongside us.

As the summer holidays came closer, the number of guys that hit on us increased drastically. I always wondered if they just wanted to show off their muscular bodies to us, or if they wanted to show up with good looking girls by their side, but either way, I wasn't interested.

Strangely, Quinn and Ida also didn't seem to be interested. I hadn't thought about that before, but once I started thinking about it, my head didn't want to let go of it. They never mentioned any relationships, only Ida told us a few stories about her sex life now and then.

As we were walking, I was wondering how the plans for summer would look like. We were about to discuss that in the last cheer meeting, which would be held in about fifteen minutes. I was guessing we would have practice two or three times a week, that's how it had been every year.

While walking down the hall, some students greeted us or wished us a nice summer break, while some of the younger ones just stood there, almost staring at us like they had never seen a girl before.

The thought of Ida and Quinn not being interested in any of the guys still didn't want to leave my head, and my curiosity showed on my face.

"What are you thinking about?" Quinn broke the silence that was accompanying us the whole way.

"Why aren't you interested in any of the guys?" I asked them after thinking for a while, "Do you have boyfriends or something?"

"Well..." Quinn hesitated for a moment, then continued a bit unsure, "Yeah, I have a boyfriend."

"You have what!?" Ida yelled while both of us stopped in surprise. Now even the students that weren't staring at us turned to look in our direction.

"Sorry..." Ida mumbled while looking around the hallway. We quickly continued to the meeting, then Quinn explained a bit further.

"Yes, I have a boyfriend, but it was pretty on and off between us, and now he's in university overseas in Japan till winter. I don't really know how things are between us," she confessed, "Officially, we are still together, and we talk on the phone pretty often, but it feels so... distant..."

"Well duh, of course it feels distant, he is in Japan, Silly," responded Ida in a mocking voice, then continued sounding a bit sad, "but why didn't you tell us?"

"Enough about me, what about you, Ida? Why don't you go out with any of these guys?" Quinn answered, sounding like she really didn't want to talk about her boyfriend.

"That... is... a secret," Ida said quietly while shifting her face away from us.

"Oh, come on, we are best friends you know, you can tell us," said a slightly annoyed Quinn.

Ida looked around if anyone else could hear, and when the hallway around us got empty, she started explaining, "Ok... the thing is, I don't do relationships. I like having fun with people... if you know what I mean."

Then she continued with an embarrassed smirk on her face, "But that's it, I don't want to be bound to anyone. There is only one person that I'd want to be together with, but that's not possible, so I deal with things this way. And of course, I don't want the other students to know that I sleep around with people I barely know, so I don't go out with anyone from school."

"Why are you two hiding these things from me? I feel left out!" I replied. Ida's revelation was unexpected, but it made sense somehow. At least I had a feeling that it did. I didn't really know; I wouldn't sleep with someone I didn't love. But I wasn't one to talk, I had never even kissed anyone.

I kinda wanted to know who Ida's "one person" was, but I was in no position to ask stuff like that.

I glanced over at Quinn and was surprised to see that she didn't look shocked at all. Then she stated, "Well it's not like I knew about this. I did expect something like this though. I mean, you told us different stories about your sex life, but never mentioned any relationships."

Although I thought of that thing shortly before, I didn't make that conclusion myself. Quinn continued, "But I wonder... 'people?' Why not say guys? Could it be that-"

Ida interrupted her, "Yes, I have slept with girls, okay? Like I said, I can't be together with that one single person I do have feelings for, and now you know why."

I didn't know if I had ever been that shocked in my whole life. I couldn't hide my astonishment anymore, speaking, "Never in my life would I have expected for you to be gay."

"I'm not gay, I'm actually bi," corrected Ida with a small voice, seemingly embarrassed and a bit scared. She was probably afraid of being rejected by us. We never talked about our opinion on this kind of things, so it was understandable that she was nervous. But for me, it was an excellent opportunity to see what it would be like coming out to these two. Not that I was planning on doing that anytime soon.

"I assume it's not a simple thing to admit something like that to people you are close to, but be sure, I love you just as much as before, Sis," Quinn reassured her. The two of them called each other "Sis" or "Sister" now and then, they started doing that somewhere in elementary school.

"Yes, this won't change a thing between us," I spoke.

"But why would that keep you from being together with your crush? Maybe she's into girls," continued Quinn.

"I don't think so... I recently found out that she has a boyfriend now, so things aren't looking good..." responded Ida, her voice sounding soft and strained. For a moment, uncomfortable silence accompanied us, no one knowing how to get away from this topic. Then suddenly the grin returned to the ever-smirking girl's face and she continued, "Anyway, there is something else we need to discuss. We told you why we don't show any interest in these guys, but what about you Brea? You are the most popular one of us, after all."

That question made me nervous, and I felt my heart beat faster. I wasn't prepared for that. I wasn't ready to come out to anyone, not even to those two. Luckily, I had an excuse which I used in cases like that. So, I replied, while showing them my bracelet, "As I told you before, I can't get my childhood love out of my head... It's not possible for me to go out with someone else."

"Still clinging to that cute little story about your crush, huh? After all that we admitted to you just now?" Quinn emphasized and made me feel bad by saying that, "But I don't care, you'll admit the truth whenever you feel ready... eventually."

With that, Quinn turned around and went in the direction of the cheer meeting.