"it's warmmmm"
"Yuuuup"

I yawn as I'm prodded awake by tiny fingers.
"Kelly, Becca," I groan.
"Happy birthday Lana!" The twins giggle.
"Happy birthday sweetheart," my mother coos.
"Uh huh," I yawn and sit up.
"I'm helping dad with breakfast and then we're gonna set up your party," Becca says, bouncing up and down on my bed.
"But first you have to open these," Kelly pushes two bags towards me, "and this," she hands me a small box.
I smile, "thank you!" And start opening the box first.
Inside the little box is a red, orange, yellow, and black bead braclet.
"I made that for you!" Kelly beams.
"Its awesome!" I slip it onto my wrist and admire it for a moment before reaching my arms out for a hug.
She hugs me and then I start opening the other two presents.
I take the red tissue paper put of the first bag- a blue glittery bag- and it reveals something underneath. I pick it up and I can see there's still stuff under it in the bag but I check it out first. The first item is a red dress with a high neck line and a slightly longer back end.
"Oooo," I look it over for another moment before diving back into the bag.
When I pull out the next item my eyes go wide.
"I figured you could use a new one," my mother smiles.
I unfold it to reveal the entire black bikini and nod rapidly, "especially since it's a pool party!"
My mother nods, "There's still one more bag."
I nod, setting down the swimsuit to open the next bag.
I take out the bright orange tissue paper peice by peice and eventually I reach the gift inside.
"You got me shoes!" I exclaim.
I excitedly pull the shoes put of the bag, revealing the full design; They're black high top converse with red, orange, and yellow paint splatters.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I lean over to my mother for a hug, "ok, I'm gonna get dressed."
My mother chuckles for a moment, "alright, we'll get out then."
As they're walking out I pick up my phone for a moment to check my messages.

Ash: HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Ash: YOURE SEVENTEEN!!
Ash: ONLY 365 DAYS UNTIL YOU CAN MOVE BACK HOME

I smile when I read the messages from Ash. I'm glad someone thought to wish me a happy birthday, hers were the only messages I'd gotten so far.
I send a quick thank you then set my phone down and get dressed.

Once I'm dressed I take a few selfies in the mirror and send them to Ash.

Ash: PRETTYYYYYYYY
Me: Thank you!!! These were my presents from my family!
Ash: Cool!

Thankfully that this dress has pockets, I slide my phone into the left pocket and head to the kitchen.

"Only two hours until the party, we have to finish setting up tables," my mother says.
I let out a long breath and walk over to help her get out all the tables.

"Now go see if any of your friends are on the way yet," My mother instructs once we've finished setting up the tables.

I open my phone to a couple messages from Jake in our group chat.

Jake: Happy birthday Lana!!
Jake: 🥳🎂
Me: Thank you!!
Zack: Happy bday!
Me: thanks!

He didn't message until after someone else did... did he forget-? I shake away the thought and try to get back to enjoying my birthday.

Me: any of yall on the way yet? 😂 my mom wanted me to ask
Clyde: I mean, I was about to knock on your door 🤷
Me: oop, coming

I start running to the door to let Clyde in, still looking at my phone.

Rider: not on the way yet, but happy birthday Lana!
Tristan: Happy birthday!
Ashley: Parker and I will likely be a few minutes early, but not as early as Clyde of course
Me: Cool, Cool, and thank you guys!!

I open the door and Clyde waves for a second before I stretch my arms out to offer a hug.
"Oh, sweet," Clyde hugs me back and we head into the kitchen.

Eventually the party is underway and everyone is in the pool.
"Is it cake time yet?" My mother calls from where she's standing at the sliding glass door.
"Sure!" I nod, midway through splashing Clyde.
I head over towards the ladder, double check that my swimsuit is still on securely and covering everything, and I climb out of the pool.

I start with my gift from Clyde. I pick up the sparkly red bag and tear through the orange tissue paper. Once all the paper is put of the way I can see the items in the bag. I grab the first thing; a fluffy sheep stuffed animal.
"Its adorable!" I exclaim, "thank you!"
I glance to Clyde then back into the bag where I can see a pile of candy. I reach into the candy and grab the card.
I open the card up and read it in my head, starting with the common card phrase and then going into his handwritten part.
Roses are red, Violets are blue, I hope you think this birthday card is as great as you!
Happy birthday Lana!! You're pretty old
-Clyde
I laugh at the card, "Thanks Clyde," I smile.
I carefully put the card back into its envelope, careful not to loose the fifteen dollar coffee gift card that was hidden inside.
"Here's mine," Rider reaches over and hands me an envelope.
I open the envelope up and take out the card. It has cute zoo animals on it. I open the card and find no regular card joke, just what Rider wrote by himself.
Happy birthday Newbie, thanks for moving here. Hope you buy yourself something nice!
-Rider Lawrence
I glance to the other side of the card where he used a tiny unicorn sticker to attach a fifty dollar bill to the card.
"Fifty dollars-!?" I gasp.
"I only had fifties on me," Rider shrugs, "I was going to give you seventy for making it to seventeen."
"Fifty is plenty- thank you!" I close the card carefully and put it back into the envelope.
Tristan passes an envelope to Max who then passes it to me, "That ones from me."
"Thanks Tristan!" I open the envelope carefully and read the card, glancing at the twenty that fell into my lap, "thank you!"
"No problem," Tristan nods.
Ashley stands up and walks two bags over to me, "this one's from me," she lifts up the purple bag, "and this one's from Parker," she lifts up the yellow bag.
"Thanks you two!" I exclaim, accepting the bags as she places them on my lap.
I open the one from Parker first, it's a twenty dollar gift card for the local bookstore taped to the inside cover of a fancy sketch book.
"Whoa," I breath, "cool! Thank you Parker!"
Parker nods, "Happy birthday!"
I glance over to Ashley who is staring at me intently as I start to open her gift. I take out the tissue paper and ad eventually reveal a Demi God book of some sort, with the receipt taped to the cover, snuggled up next to a small gel pen set and some candy.
"Thank you Ashley!" I smile, examining the book between glances at her.
"Your welcome!" Ashley smiles.
I glance around my circle of friends and begin to open my mouth to thank everyone again when my father steps in.
"Lana, your mother and I have one more gift for you," he says.
I loot at him over the heads of my friends, expecting him to pass over a bag or a box. While I'm looking at him he waves for me to follow him. I glance to my friends and shrug and we all stand up.
We follow my father through the house and to the front door, Amelia and Clyde close on either side of me.
"What are we doing?" I ask.
"Lead the way," my father gestures to the door.
"Where to?" I shuffle in front of him and open the door.
It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the bright light, but then I see what's sitting by the curb, "oh my god-"
"Dont," My mother warns.
"You got me my own Jeep?" I gasp.
My father bands me a set of keys with a small Keychain with my name dangling from it.
"Its all yours," my father says.
I run over to the car, a huge smile on my face, and run my fingers along the black hood, "you got me a car-!"