Mom pulled the van into Lizzy’s driveway and shut off the engine. I was sitting in one of the two captain chairs, when the door on the passenger side of the van opened and Lizzy, Rebecca, and Rachel walked out of the house. Rachel took her usual seat behind the normally empty passenger seat and Lizzy sat in the middle of the third row. Rebecca climbed in next to Mom, she spun in the seat to look at me.

“You look like you are dressed up for a birthday party.” Rebecca said to me.

“That’s because it is Emma’s birthday.” Mom said. Rebecca and Rachel looked at mom as she backed the van out of the driveway.

“It is?” I asked quietly. I was bewildered by this. My birthday was in September. September 23rd to be exact. “My birthday is in September…”

“Justin’s birthday is in September.” Rachel said.

“I know, be we are talking about Emma, and her birthday is today, June 25th.” Rachel and I looked at each other.

“Is that why you bought me this pretty dress?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes.” Mom said, slowing at a red light. Rachel looked at me.

“You can keep the dresses, I’ll keep my pants…” She said. “In fact, you can take the dresses and skirts from my closet and dresser and put them in your room.” Mom chuckled.

“I told you that you were the girlier of my two daughters.” Mom said as the light changed. “I think it would be cute to get the two of you in matching dresses and get some pictures taken.”

“At least you have a girly daughter, I have to fight mine to wear a skirt or dress and she does that about twice a year…” Rebecca said. I glanced back at Lizzy. She was rolling her eyes.

“Mom, I hate wearing skirts. I only dress up at Christmas and on school picture day… There are some girls in my class that don’t even do that.” Lizzy said.

“Yes, but I would like you to look nice in your pictures…” Rebecca let the thought trail off.

“I fight Rachel every year for pictures… I’ve settle for blue blouses that show off her eyes.” Mom said.

“And I hate wearing them every year.” Rachel said. Mom parked the van in front of a local restaurant that was known for their sundae bar. Rachel, Lizzy and I looked at each other and grinned. A sundae bar for a girls birthday party sounded really good to me., but then again, I was the birthday girl.

“Alright, lets go in.” Mom said, shutting the engine off and opening the doors on the van. We all piled out and then walked into the restaurant.

“Good evening, just five of you tonight, three kids and two adults?” The hostess whose name tag read ‘Heather’ asked.

“Yes,” Mom said. Heather then turned around and pulled three kids menus and two adults menus from the racks behind her. She led the way to a large round table mere feet from the sundae bar. “Dinner first, and then you can have the sundae bar.” Was Mom’s response to our drooling at the sundae bar. Our server walked over and looked at the five of us seated around the table.

“Good Evening, ladies, I’m Akira, and I’ll be your server this evening. What can I start you off with to drink?" She asked. I glanced at her, and then at mom. She was wearing a white blouse, a short pleated black skirt, black tights with snow flakes and snow men on them, and a thin black tie. I idly wondered if she was warm in the tights, as she looked like she was wearing a rather thick pair.

“We’ll have diet cokes,” Mom said, pointing to her and Rebecca. “And chocolate milk for the girls.” The three of us grinned at each other. One thing that we shared was a love for chocolate milk.

“Ok, I’ll be back in a few minutes, why don’t you have a look at the menu while you wait.” Akira said, spinning on her heel and heading toward a computer to enter our drinks into the system. I watched as she walked away and saw that she was wearing some shoes that looked like the Mary Janes that I had slipped on my feet but had a fairly high heel (to me anyway, I don’t think I would walk in the shoes she had on…) Mom and Rebecca also had watched her walk away.

“I think that my feet would be killing me by the end of a shift in those shoes.” Mom said. “I don’t know how kids these days do it. I would also be burning up in what she had on…”

“Me too.” Rebecca said, turning her attention from the server and back to the menu. “Chicken fingers.” She glanced at the three of us and then at mom. The three of us were nodding.

“Looks like the girls are happy with it, a grilled chicken salad sounds good to me.” Mom sat the menu down. Akira was coming back with our drinks. We ordered our food and then Heather sat a family of four at the table next to us. One of the kids that sat down was Shane Barker, someone that picked on me at school…