"Can I tell you something?" Conrad asked.
I only nodded.
"You're the strongest person I know."
To this day, I still think he lied to me. I should be the least strongest person he knows. How did he consider me strong when I could list dozens of peop...
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I USED TO ENVY summer birthdays. I used to daydream about what it would be like to have a pool birthday party or even a simple day at the beach while everyone tried their best to play nice. Maybe opening gifts on the porch and spending the evening drinking Belly's slushy specialty. Or just see the people I love on my special day.
But then I quickly realized that summer birthdays meant that I wasn't actually going spend my birthday with all the people I love, not completely I mean. It meant that I wasn't going to see my dad, that I would have to suffice with a simple phone call. My mom never put their differences aside, not even for my birthday.
It's bizarre to think that my dad has never stepped foot inside the place that has brought me my most important moments. When I first learned to swim, found my first camera, finding the perfect genre of books that changed my perception of reading, learning the meaning of friendship, and most importantly, love. Whether it'd be platonic or romantic.
I think my dad rather not hear about the last part of that.
He'd faint as soon as he heard that his little girl had her first kiss way before he had even allowed her to think about kissing. Twelve to be exact. It wasn't anything special, which I think would be the part my dad would faint. He'd say that I deserved a first kiss that only happened in books, which isn't what happened, like at all.
Mine came in the result of a certain someone trying to humiliate me, only to be proven wrong.
Kenny had invited me to his cousins birthday party. I remember him telling me that it was her first time ever being in Cousins. That they offered to take her for the summer because her moms had died a couple mouths prior. I was sickened by the thought of ever losing any of my parents, mom or dad. So much that I made Jeremiah, Steven, and even Conrad write invitations to anybody they knew in Cousins. Knowing that Kenny only ever talks to me when he's here.
It was known to me that Kenny would be leaving early that summer because Cecilia needed to settle in with their grandma. He told me that the court had given custody to their grandmother. She had only let Cecilia stay with them for a portion of that summer because she knew Cecilia needed some time away. But she also knew that Cecilia needed time to adjust to what would become her normal life.
I met Cecilia the day of her party, she never tagged along to the places I went with Kenny. I assumed it was because she didn't feel like going out, I mean who would? Just then I realized, this is probably the last thing she wanted, to be stuck with people she's never even met, people that weren't her moms.
When I asked Kenny where she was, he answered by pointing her out. She looked to be having fun playing soda-pong with a couple girls. I let out a breath of relief, thankful that I didn't ruin her birthday.
Many kids our age filled Kenny's backyard that night. Kenny's parents, Mila and Xavier (I liked to call him Javier), were stunned to see so many kids in their backyard. When they asked Kenny to invite kids their age, they didn't expect around thirty to arrive at their doorstep. To be fair, they expected me, and the rest that resided inside our beautiful beach house, including our moms.
