Summer is already starting to end, and I haven't done much. Each week my friends would of course drag me off somewhere and I would have one date day with Vincent. The other five days I work, and I only have fun when I sneak off to see Vincent working at the sports store during slow hours. However, slow hours are rare, since it is summer and people love ice cream during summer.

Because of this, I stupidly agreed to going to Veronica's sleepover with her whole ballet class. I didn't know there was TWENTY girls in that class!

So now, I'm sitting in the floor as they put dollar store toy makeup, which I'm sure is not safe, and tie my hair into a million ponytails in all directions, nearly pulling hair out of my scalp.

"Ow...ow...ow, ow, ow...OW!" I yell, as I could hear a few strands of hair snap.

"You have to sit still."

"I'm going to put more blush."

"You moved! Now I drew lipstick on you teeth!"

"Maybe we should put her in a tutu!"

"I have to pee. Be right back." I lie.

I wrangle myself free of the girls and head for the bathroom to wash my face, because I'm sure I'm having an allergic reaction. I'll just lie I slipped and my whole face dipped into the water. It's ridiculous, but hopefully they buy it.

I flick on the bathroom light before entering, but a pair of arms wraps around me from behind. My hands instinctively fly up and cover my face.

"You look so cute in pajamas," Vincent says, resting his chin on my shoulder.

I'm not sure where "cute" came from, because I had on my dad's old shorts, Wren's shirt with holes forming, and long socks that were on discount.

"Thanks, but I have to pee, so..." I say through my hands, so it comes out muffled.

"What's wrong?" Vincent spins me around, much to my resistance, and struggles to pry my hands from my face. He lets out a sigh and laugh. "I thought you were crying," he says, relieved.

"A little when they yanked my hair out."

"I'm sorry," Vincent frowns, but quickly takes a picture of me in his phone, cheekily grinning and happily sets it as his phone's wallpaper.

"I have to get this stuff off before I go blind from this eye-shadow."

"Let me help you."

"Sure, thanks."

Luckily, because the makeup is so cheap, it had little resistance to the water and came right off. Vincent tries to take off the lipstick off, but its greasy and proves difficult. After a few more swipes and being a bit more vigorous, the lipstick is off, but my lips are stained.

Then, we move onto my hair that currently looks like a glittery bird's nest. Vincent tries to carefully take off the hair ties, but its so tangled, a few hairs are lost. My eyes water a bit from the pricks in the my scalp and Vincent becomes alarmed.

"Are you alright? Does it hurt a lot?" He sweeps the tear off my cheek. "I didn't mean to pull hard."

"No, its fine. Its not your fault. Its really tangled," I reassure him. "I'll take it out," I suggest. Since I'm pulling it out myself, I'm able to prepare for the pain, and it hurts less.

After I'm finished, Vincent brushes my hair gently as I sit on his bed.

"You should've told them to stop if it was going to get that tangled," Vincent sighs.

"I didn't want to get them upset," I admit.

"Must be hard being my girlfriend."

"Yep. That's why I'm not going to be your girlfriend anymore."

"Seriously?" Vincent asks, unable to detect my sarcasm. Then again, I don't blame him. I'm really bad with sarcasm.

"No, silly. I'm joking," I laugh.

Vincent slams me down on the bed and wraps himself around me, hugging me tightly.

"This is your punishment. I'm hugging you to death," he smiles.

I wrestle myself out of Vincent's grip and hug him back, so tightly I hear him exhale a groan. '

"I'm retaliating."

"How do you not realize how strong you actually are?"

"I am? I don't know. When I wrestled with Wren as kids, I always lost."

"That explains it."

Veronica and her ballet class start to file into the room once they relocated me. I release Vincent from my hold to avoid the parade of feet jumping on his bed, nearly stepping on us.

"Veronica, go play in your room," Vincent instructs.

"No fair. Wendy gets to play in here," Veronica whines.

"That's because you almost made her go bald."

"No, we gave her a makeover. Why did you take it off?"

"Kids, pizza is here!" Mrs. Miller calls from downstairs.

As fast as they had infiltrated the room, they left. I get up to follow, but Vincent pulls me down.

"Let's stay here," he says, hooking me down with his leg.

"But there's food," I protest.

"Are you choosing food over me?"

"I will always choose food over you."

Vincent lets me go and turns his back to me.

"Aw, I'm sorry." I tug on his shirt. "I was joking... Let's go eat... I love you just as much as I love food."

"Just as much?"

"I can't live without both..."

More than satisfied with my answer, Vincent follows me downstairs. By the time we're down there, all the girls had sprawled out on the couch and floor. The coffee table is piled with at least ten boxes of pizza, which is overkill, considering most of the kids won't finish even one slice. Good thing I'm here to help...

Vincent already knows this and grabs a plate for me with five slices on it.

Around the corner, I can see Mr. Miller sitting at the dining table, stern as always. He's reading some documents again, his pizza barely touched. His eyes glance at me and a scowl immediately forms on his face.

After dinner, the girls go back to playing in Veronica's room. Vincent and I brush our teeth and we lay back on his bed. I can feel my eyes get heavy, but I try to keep them open. Vincent sees this and covers me with his blanket, getting under it as well.

"Tired?" he asks, so softly it was almost a whisper.

"A little."

"You should sleep then."

"Can't. They're still playing in the room."

"Sleep in here then."

"Can't."

"Why not."

"Your parents wouldn't like that."

"My mom loves you."

"Fine, I'll take a nap here. Wake me up later."

I let myself fall asleep, but not before feeling Vincent wrap himself around me.

A while later, the door flings open and Veronica comes bounding on the bed, wriggling in between us.

"What are you doing, Veronica?" Vincent asks, groggily.

"There's not enough space in my room," she explains.

I didn't think about that. There was barely room for twenty girls to sit in there. I couldn't imagine trying to fit them while they're laying down.

"Lay somewhere else," Vincent protests, trying to roll Veronica away.

"No, I wanna sleep next to Wendy!"

"Lay on her left then."

"No, Mom said I have to sleep in between you two."

Of course. No matter how much Mrs. Miller liked me, she was still mom. Veronica was sent in as a buffer.

"Ugh, fine," Vincent gave in.

I reach over and hold Vincent's hand and quickly fall back asleep.

When we woke up the next morning, all of the girls had migrated over. Some of them slept on the floor in their sleeping bags. Others had joined us in the bed. Some ended up just piling on top of us when there was no space left. Which explains my nightmare about being buried alive last night.

Afterwards, Vincent drove me home and quickly left afterwards. With no one else home, I turned on the t.v and ate strawberries with Wilbur.

"Hey," Vincent suddenly pops into my room.

"How did you get in?"

"You forgot to lock the front door, you klutz. That's dangerous you know," Vincent sighs plopping onto my bed.

"What's that? Donuts?" I ask excitedly, seeing the white box in Vincent's hands.

"Nope, better."

"Chinese food? That's a weird box to put noodles in though."

"Nope." Vincent pops the box open and reaches his hand inside. His hand moves fast and he places something on my bed.

"A turtle?"

"Yep."

"OH MY GOSH!" I scream, alarming it so that it hides its head.

"I named her already if you don't mind."

"OF COURSE I DON'T! YOU GOT ME A TURTLE!"

Wilbur seems freaked out as well, so he hides his head too.

"Why did you get me another turtle."

"I figured since you'll be spending more time with me from now on, Wilbur needs a friend to keep him company."

"What's her name?"

"Charlotte."

"How cute! I'm impressed you knew what book I was referencing when I named Wilbur."

"Of course I did."

"I think they're scared of each other."

"No, they're just hesitant. Like we were when we first met."

"Yeah..."

"Give then time. They'll get along after a while."

I nod, and place a strawberry outside the opening of their shell to encourage them to come out.

We lay on our stomachs, waiting for the two of them to finally peek their heads out.

"Wendy."

"Hmm?" I answer, keeping my eyes fixed on the turtles.

"When school starts, and people ask what you are to me, don't say you're my tutor."

I laugh, "I won't"

"Or my friend."

"I won't"

"Or my girlfriend."

"Huh?"

"Tell them... you're the best thing that's ever happened to me..."