We find out on Monday that Karen’s father has been reassigned to an office in Idaho, so they will be moving after school lets out. Honestly, I’m rather happy that her family is moving since she has done everything she can to undermine Emma, Kelly, and me. We simply ignored her attempts as most everyone at school sees her for what she is, so nothing she did had much travel, which infuriated her since she believes, for some odd reason, that she’s the ‘Queen Bee’ of the school. Insert an eye roll here folks. The only thing I will miss about her is that she is a damn good cheerleader and extremely good at gymnastics.

  The remainder of the school year flies by, bringing the school year to a close.

  The end of the school year also brings about my birthday since this year it just so happens that it falls on the day after the close of school on Saturday. I’ll be 13 years old! Finally! I’m a teenager! My birthday is hosted by Emma and is a pool party. I had thought it was going to be business as usual when it came to my party. At my house, with family, and a couple of friends. Thankfully, Emma and Kelly talked my parents into allowing them to hold a surprise party for me.

  There’s a rather rge amount of people that are invited and attend. As said before, I’m fairly popur at school, and so I have a lot of friends and close acquaintances, although only two best friends. For me, the most important amongst those who attend would be Jeremy with my friends being a hairsbreadth behind.

  I received a rather rge amount of presents. I absolutely adored the set of seven velvet chokers in various colors which has a detachable gold butterfly with Jade wings pendant that Jeremy got me. Needless to say, that got him some rather ardent kisses. He might be your typical boy in a lot of respects, but he has good taste when it comes to jewelry. Mom got me a little bck dress with an emerald green ribbon belt, and some emerald green 3?” t-strap heels to go with it. Dad got me a new smartphone, and as a combined present, Mom and Dad got me several pieces of jewelry, earrings, pendants, bangles, and some rather pretty hair sticks. My hair is more than long enough to need them now. Emma and Kelly got me a joint present of several rather cute skirts and blouses. I won’t bother telling you about all of my presents, but you get the gist.

  Mom also tells me privately that we would be going shopping since my bras no longer fit properly. My boobs may be fairly small compared to a couple of other girls in our grade, but an ill-fitting bra is quite uncomfortable. I’d say it would be like boys wearing briefs that are too small. Not a fun idea, is it?

  Anyway, that aside, I’m happy to report that after the cake cutting and presents, the party was parent-free. It was rge, loud, and a raging success. Some of the time, Jeremy and I spent off in one of the little cul-de-sacs making out. The party sted until midnight when we finally had to break it up. Then, we bade the boys goodnight since the girls are also having a slumber party here. Needless to say, but we didn’t get much in the way of sleep that night.

  The next day, we all head over to my house, and Mom, as promised, takes me, along with the rest of the girls, shopping. Of course, you know we girls would use the trip as an excuse to go shopping. I need new bras, sure, but there are also other things we need. As in, new bikinis are a must along with appropriate attire for camping in west Texas since it’s rather warm there in the summer.

  Before we head out, Mom checks me, and we find I gained a bit of height. It looks like I won’t be taking after Mom and Diane in that respect. Mom is 5’8”, Diane is 5’4” and I’m barely 5’0” and a whole 94 pounds. Of course, I’m rather happy that I’m nowhere near as big as them in the boob department. Mom says that I’m taking after my maternal grandma, Brenda.

  We head out to the mall, and the first thing we do is get me measured. I’m a 32B now, up from a 30A at the beginning of the school year. No wonder I was so uncomfortable. I definitely like the way I look, though. Of course, so do a lot of others considering the stares I get. Regardless, I’m hoping they won’t get much bigger since these already look rather big on my petite frame. I’m still the smallest girl on the squad, and Jeremy literally dwarfs me. Not only did he shoot up a few inches during the year, but he also put on a lot more muscle.

  So, not only did I get new bras, but three new bikinis, a few sundresses, rather skimpy shorts, halter and crop tops, as well as a couple more dresses for going out with some heels and ankle boots to match them. In my opinion, the party, sleepover, and shopping are wonderful ways to kick off our summer vacation.

  This is also the year that Dad will be teaching me gun safety and how to shoot. As he said a couple of weeks ago, I’m a very pretty young dy, and my burgeoning assets make me a likely target for some of the less savory people in society. His talking about my body made me blush furiously, although I am excited to learn to shoot. With that and the fact that several trips are pnned by ‘the parents,’ it seems likely to be a busy summer.

  Of course, we’re going camping for a week and our friends, along with boyfriends and girlfriends, are invited to come as well. Also, Emma’s parents are taking all of us to Padre Isnd to their beach house for ten days. Kelly’s parents can’t take a vacation right now since there’s too much going on for them at work, but they pn to take us on several day trips to an amusement park, water park, and the like. Later this summer, we have a week of cheer camp, which they decided to begin holding at the same time as David and the rest of the team will have football camp, although they are held at different pces. After that, we have tryouts and cheerleading practice for those of us who make the squad, though I don’t really see Emma, Kelly, or me having any problem in that regard. Busy summer, as I said.

  First up is camping, so after confirming who was going, Dad ended up renting a huge Army tent for us kids to sleep in. Mom and he, along with Anika’s parents, will be sleeping in the RV that Dad is renting for the trip. In his words, he didn’t even want to attempt to sleep in the same tent with a gaggle of giggling girls all night.

  The pce we’re going camping is a huge private campground. Of course, they have cabins you can rent if you don’t like staying in a tent. They have a huge amount of activities they offer as well, so it sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun. Most of our friends have never been camping before, so it’s going to be a new experience for them, one which I’m sure they’ll enjoy.

  We’re going to a pce called Canyon Lake. With the number of people going, Dad had to reserve two campsites there since they have a limit on the number of people per site. It’s a privately owned pce really close to the shore of the ke. Speaking of the ke, it has a third of a mile of private keshore for us to py on.

  One thing I’m definitely looking forward to is trail riding since it’s been a couple of years since I could do that. Of course, there’s almost no end to the number of things to do while we’re there. There are also boats, jet skis, a couple of pontoon boats, canoes, skiing, hiking, fishing, innertube floats, and the like you can either rent or use for free that the owner offers. They also show movies on an outdoor screen every night and then have a bonfire party afterward. I pn to make as much of the trip as I can. Do you see why I like camping now? Even if it’s a site that doesn’t offer the same amenities as this one, I still love it. I might be a girly girl, even if I’m also an athletic, outdoorsy one.

  We leave at 3:00 in the morning since it’s a rather long drive and we need to be there before 1:00 that afternoon. It’s the RV and a couple of vans in our little motorcade, with my family, and our boyfriends and girlfriend in the RV with us for the drive down. We spent the time pying games, talking about this or that, especially the activities we want to do while there, and we also took a nap.

  We stop in a small town close to the ke, shop for food, and then continue on our way. We finally make it, ahead of time, I might add, and Dad goes inside to check us in. After he does, we head over to our sites and begin setting up. The men and boys set up the rge tent as we girls basically set up the smaller stuff like the awnings and grills. Then we make a quick lunch for everyone since we haven’t eaten. It doesn’t take long with all of us working together.

  Then we head into the RV, making sure to hang the “No boys allowed! Changing clothes!” sign that Mom made on the outside of the door, and change into our bikinis.

  One of the bikinis I chose was a basic bck one with narrow yellow stripes. It emphasizes my fair skin and auburn hair. Plus, the stripes also draw attention to other things. Looking in the mirror at myself, I shake my head over my thoughts and smile at myself self-indulgently. I find it interesting how quickly I’ve adapted since I was first introduced to the world as Rei.

  Of course, I’m sure that having Mom, Emma, Kelly, and Jeremy enforce my femininity as much as possible at first helped me adapt. I’m really lucky to have Emma and Kelly. Still, I find it interesting how quickly I not only embraced it but came to love being a girl, and I have to admit, there’s much to love about it. There are none of the rigorous standards that boys set amongst themselves for what is or isn’t manly. With girls, as a general rule, you can dress however you wish, although if you venture too far outside of the norms, you can get ostracized. Being a tween or teenager can be rough.

  Emma comes up behind me while I’m deep in thought, slips her arms around my waist, and rests her head on my shoulder. “Is something wrong?”

  I shake my head slightly. “Nuh-uh. Nothing at all. I was just thinking that the st year has been amazing. Honestly, I didn’t want to move when Mom and Dad told us about it, but now, I’m really gd we did. If we hadn’t, I’d have never gotten to meet you and Kelly. You’re the best friends I could ever ask for.”

  She gives me a little squeeze. “You realize that you’re our best friend as well, right?” I nod. “Good. And you know next year is going to be even more awesome. No more whining, chaos, or backstabbing attempts from Karen… Now, come on. The boys are probably chomping at the bit to see us and get to the ke.”