"That dinner was amazing, Jadee!" I said, walking up the stairs to her room. It was just after 7:00, and I was still at the Kane's house. My mother would be picking me up in 3 hours. Just enough time to watch a movie. She led me to her room. I had been there before, but not nearly as much as Jadee had been in my room. Her parents where in our ward, but where a lot more laid back than my parents. "Wanna watch a movie?" she asked, excitedly. I nodded vigorously. She walked into her parent's room and came out with a computer in her arms. "Here! we can watch whatever on this!" I stood in awe. Her parents let her watch 'whatever'. I'm 16, and love watching movies (not as much as reading, though!), but aside from at my small birthday party that only consisted of Jadee, Andre, and Valentina, I have never seen a PG-13 movie. She set up the computer and pulled a few disks from her drawer. "I don't have very many, but I have these!" she fanned out the disks. I had never even heard of the titles. "I don't know- whatever you want to watch." I shrugged. She tipped her head "I really don't care. which is your favorite?" I looked at her and back at the disks. Then, I sat down on her bed and put my head into my hands. "I've never seen any of them!" I laid back. My parents wouldn't let me watch movies like that when they weren't around, and with 12 other kids to take care of, it wasn't often that that happened. And, I could never ask. It took all of my courage to ask for this sleepover. Jadee came and sat next to me. She put her hand on my shoulder and lifted me up, chuckling. "Thats todally OK, Cherry! I couldn't watch these until I was 14, and with my parents." She smiled "I bet it's tough being a shy girl in a family of 15." I chortled. "Yeah. You have no idea." Typing a password into the computer, she put in a movie called "the first Avenger". "Here," she said, "This is the first Marvel movie. It's not scary. I think we'll start with this, and then maybe we can binge more together!" Relieved, I turned off the light and sat down to my first ever movie night with a friend. It was the best night of my life.
When my Mom picked me up at 9:30, Jadee and I where chatting excitedly about the movie we had just watched. In all honesty, I loved the movie. It was exiting, dramatic, and very well-written. I was already looking forward to our next night together. My Mom opened the door to Jadee telling me about an equally amazing saga called "Star Wars". "Hey, Cris- Cherry!" My mom smiled at us. "How was it, Hon?" "Amazing! I can't wait to come back in the morning!" I exclaimed, bouncing off her bed and grabbing my bag. My mother seemed to be surprised by my enthusiasm. "Well... Alrighty then! Get in the car, Sweetie." I obediently nodded and gave Jadee a friendly hug goodbye. "See you in the morning!" Jadee said after me, waving.
In the back seat of the car, I played with Joshua. Luke was in the front seat, and even though I was older, I didn't want to cause conflict by asking if I could sit there. Mom reminded Luke to buckle up, and then looked at me in the rearview mirror. "What did you guys do?" she asked sweetly. I hesitated. If I risked telling her that I had watched a movie without her consent, I might get in trouble, or even grounded. "We just ate dinner and exchanged books to read." I smiled shyly. "Oh. Fun." My Mom replied. When we got home, I ran to my room that I shared with the twins and Anna. I needed to go bed soon to be up by 7:00 the next morning, but I needed to do something first. In my family, it was a rare moment that I could be alone and out of the chaos. But, whenever I needed a retreat, I had one place. In the back corner of my room, near the floor, there was a large vent covered by a chair. I found, that even while the furnace was running in the winter, the small vent was completely useless. Well, almost useless. I unlatched the door and took the cover off as quietly as I could. As I crawled inside, I made a mental note to dust the vent again. It was about a six-by-two space, with just enough hight to crouch; and that space was mine. Only mine. Nobody knew about it. Not my parents, not my siblings, nobody. It didn't have much, but I have spent many hours in there. It had some hand-me-down fairy lights to light it, a few of my favorite books I didn't want destroyed by little ones, and a comforter folded in half on the floor to lay on. I crawled back and loosely put the cover back on. Then, I turned on the twinkle lights and began to write in my diary. I wrote about the movie, Jadee, and how all-around amazing my night was. I spent probably a half an hour in that vent before I finally crawled out and fell asleep.
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