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.

I closed the door and went up into my living room, where I went to the window to look outside at the beach. The rain was still pouring, and now lightning and loud thunder were growling in the sky. I could see water splashing over the cliffs, it showed how much force the waves had.

I was thinking about going to bed, watching series until I would fall asleep, so I changed into my sleeping clothes. When I laid down, I realized I hadn't locked the door and instantly hated myself for it because now I had to go back down again.

When I reached the door and locked it, I looked through the small window the door had and noticed someone walking on the street through the rain. Although walking probably wasn't the right word for it. The person was limping slowly, stumbling to the side every few steps.

Although I first thought that whoever it was, was drunk and couldn't even walk straight, I soon realized that the person looked injured and tired, rather than wasted.

I went into the next room because whoever it was moved out of my sight, and the window over there was wider.

The stranger seemed to be holding something close to themselves, trying to shield it from the rain. When they passed the path which led to my garage, they suddenly stopped.

The person looked like they were thinking about something, and then went closer to my home. The path to the garage was covered with a roof, so they probably wanted to hide underneath it.

Suddenly I heard a splash and a quiet high pitched scream. It seemed that the person was a girl and slipped down the path.

I rushed down to the garage to check on her, but as soon as I opened the door, she got up and tried to run away along the beach.

Lightning illuminated the sky which made the girl flinch, almost to the point of falling to the ground. A few seconds later came the expected loud thunder, and this time the girl really fell. She tried getting up but fell again; now she was lying there, not moving at all.

Before I even realized what was happening, I was already running out to the beach in nothing but a tank top and my underwear. I had no umbrella or coat near me, so I just sprinted out in the clothes I meant to sleep in. I couldn't help myself but go out and see if the girl was okay; if she passed out here, she could very much die. When I got closer to her, I yelled, "Hey! Are you alright?"

She slowly looked up, and after she saw me approaching her, she got up quickly and tried running away.

"The hell!?" I screamed in surprise and annoyance, I was already thoroughly soaked and cold from the rain just to help her after all.

The strength she mustered up after seeing me left her soon, and she fell back to the ground. I went after her, and when I reached her, I saw what she was holding so close to her body. It greeted me with a faint "meow," which was hard to hear because of the storm. The girl had been protecting a small kitten from the rain and wind all this time.

"Please..." said a small and shaky voice, while panting hard, "d-don't hurt... her..."

With that, she passed out, and let go of her kitten, which then started licking the hand of the unconscious girl.

I decided that I couldn't let her lie on the ground in the rain with her little cat worrying about her, so I picked the girl up in a princess carry with her kitten still sitting on her stomach. She was surprisingly light which made it easy for me to take her to my house.

Before I reached the garage, she woke up and was shocked because I was holding her. While suddenly pushing herself away from me, she yelled, "Nooo let me go!"

Although she didn't have much strength, I almost dropped her on the floor, because she drove her nails, which felt like claws, deep into my shoulder.

"Dammit girl, calm down! I'm just trying to help!" I yelled at her. Although it was too dark for me to see her facial expression, I think I scared her, because she got silent and I felt her tremble in my hands.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to yell at you..." I apologized, trying to calm her down. By now I reached my house and went through the back door into the garage, where I put the girl down.

Now, I was the shocked one. The light inside of the garage illuminated the girl, so now I could clearly see her. At the sight of her angelic face, her beautiful light blue eyes and her also light blue hair that was hanging down in short cute twin-tails, my heart skipped a beat.

What surprised me was that she had the rare cat-like tail and cat ears that were parts of her body, both covered with fur that had the same blue color as her hair. Although I knew that people with those existed, it was my first time seeing one.

But what shocked me even more than that was, that she had many injuries. She had bruises and slightly healed cuts all over her body.

When looking at all the wounds she had, I thought for sure that she was attacked by someone and needed to go to the hospital.

"Oh my god, are you alright? Were you attacked? Should I call your parents? Wait, I'll call the police," I panicked and dialed 911. Immediately the girl took my phone and stopped the call.

"N-No please, whatever you do, don't... don't let them take me back to... to them," the girl said while tearing up, her ears hanging down.

"After years... I finally can be free. Just let me go, I'm fine. Everything is... fine..." now she was crying and tried to stand up to go back outside.

I wasn't sure what she was trying to say, but it seemed like she fled from somewhere. I didn't know where she came from, or why she was injured like that, but I thought that it might be better if I don't call the police.

Although, it was way too dangerous for her to go out there, with injuries and weather like that she might even die out there. She looked terrified and probably wanted to get away from a stranger like me as fast as possible. But I would feel awful for letting this girl out into the storm, so I said, "Look, either you stay here for the night, so you are safe and sound, or you go out, but if you do that, I'll call the police and have them look for you. I don't want to be responsible for a girl dying near my house. Besides, who would care for your kitten then?"

I tried sounding determined so that she would stay here to avoid the police thing. Her little ears were pointing up again and turned back to me; I probably caught her attention.

The girl turned around to me, and looked at my right shoulder, seeing the blood on my skin. She realized that she did that with her nails while I was trying to help.

"I'm sorry..." she sounded so shy and was tearing up again, possibly thinking that she would get some kind of punishment, her ears also dropped back down again.

"It's fine, okay? It was me who approached you although you were scared, just stay here for the night, so I didn't get injured for nothing," I answered, trying to make her stay after the trouble I went through because of her already. I wasn't exactly keen to have a stranger stay the night, but neither sending her back out nor calling the police seemed to be a good idea.

She looked at something on the floor, and I noticed that my bracelet was lying there torn apart. I said, "Seems like it broke when I carried you in... I hope I can fix it..."

"I... I'm sorry..." apologized the girl again while curiously looking at the blue bracelet.

"It's fine. Now follow me inside, I'm cold," I responded and got up. She was still looking at the bracelet in my hand, but then nodded and followed me to the stairs.

"Want to tell me your name? I'm Brea Faye," I introduced myself. She remained silent for a moment, so I turned around and saw that she was curiously looking at me, averting her face when I caught her staring. When we reached the first floor, she said shyly, "It's Alma."

"What?" I asked, not knowing what she meant.

"M-My name. It's Alma White," she said, still with this shy voice. It was a lovely name and kinda sounded familiar, but I didn't know where from.

As I got hungry and was guessing she was too, I questioned, "So Alma, are you hungry? You and your cat can have something to eat."

Her ears made cute little movements, which fascinated me because just from that, I could tell that she was nervous. She looked at the solid-white Scottish Fold kitty in her arms and spoke, "Just give her something to eat please, I have no hunger..."

Suddenly Alma's stomach growled really loudly, and her lie about not being hungry was exposed. She was standing there, looking at the ground with her face blushing with embarrassment, the nervous twitching of her ears being faster than before. I kinda loved watching her ears move with her emotions because it was unusual for me. I had seen photos of catgirls before but didn't know that the ears were moving this strongly. I noticed that I was staring at her ears and blushed, trying to focus on talking again.

"I am going to order pizza for myself, do you want some too?" I asked her, expecting that no one would decline pizza.

"I never had that..." answered Alma quietly. "You never had pizza!?" I yelled a bit louder than I should have.

"I'm sorry!" she screamed and took a step back, defending her face with her arm. She seemed like she was expecting me to hit her for never having eaten pizza before, which made me wonder what kind of life she had lived up to this point. Normally, people expect punishment for doing things wrong, but she seemed to be used to getting beaten whenever she didn't fulfill someone's expectations. It made me feel like I had to protect this poor soul.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell like that. But no way am I going to hurt you because of something like that," I apologized. She calmed down and nodded. After that, I ordered pizza for us before giving the kitten water and pieces of sliced turkey which luckily were left. When the small cat happily munched on the food, the blue-haired girl smiled for a moment, which made my heart beat faster.

While we waited for our pizza, I gave Alma PJ's and showed her where she could take a shower. When she went into the bath, I sat down near her kitten, with my mind staying occupied with Alma and the genuine smile I got to see on her face for a moment. I was deep in thought, so when the doorbell rang, it made me jump. I paid for the pizza and brought it to the table, waiting for Alma to be done showering.

When the door of the bathroom finally opened, I got up quickly, and in my attempt to move closer to Alma, knocked over the glass of water I had been drinking from. I could hear a small chuckle from Alma, who immediately apologized for it and wiped the water with a towel.

While she was cleaning, I offered to clean out the wounds on her body, which she expectedly refused.

Then I led her to the table, where we started eating our pizza in silence. She didn't speak a word until after we had finished the pizza, "T-Thank you, it was really yummy. B-But I want to sleep, please..." before letting out an adorable yawn.

"Yes, of course, I'll show you where you can sleep. How old are you, by the way, I don't want your parents to worry about you," I asked.

Her behavior made her seem rather young, but her facial features and her body, although she was short, looked quite mature.

"I t-turned eighteen today... so I don't have to go back to them," said Alma, shy as always, while tearing up. Meaning that she ran away as soon as her eighteenth birthday came around.

Then I realized something and asked, "Wait, you ran away from home, so where did you want to go today?"

She merely shook her head as an answer. Which told me that she was just wandering around without any goal. I was wondering what made her situation that desperate that she would just run away through the rain like that.

We eventually arrived in the guest room on the second floor, and I explained, "You can use this room for tonight, I can bring a pillow for your kitten to sleep on."

She nodded, so I went to my living room and grabbed a big fluffy cushion from the couch. When I came back to the guest room, my heart once again skipped a beat at the sight before me.

Alma was playing with her kitten on the bed and looked so happy that it brought a smile to my face. She seemed so weak and fragile, I was wondering how anybody could hurt this innocent girl.

I stepped inside and gave her the pillow, which she put down beside the bed and placed her cat on. The kitten got the hint and laid down to sleep. Then I said, "Good night," and turned off the light.

Alma said quietly, "Y-You too," then I closed the door and went in the direction of my own bedroom. I wasn't too sure how to feel about a stranger staying here, though, at the same time, I felt like it was my responsibility to protect her. It seemed like she had been through a lot which apparently made her stay innocent like a child.

It was very well possible that I was just being naive, but for now, I decided to take my chances.