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For my birthday, I stay the night at Shelley’s. We hardly get any sleep—we’re too busy flipping through Seventeen magazine and giggling over the guys from One Direction on an all-night MTV special promoting their upcoming tour. My mother gave me a box of cosmetics, which Shelley says is proof she’ll let me date before the next year is out. I still have my sights set on Nate, and if I want to wear his ring before I turn sixteen, I have my work cut out for me.
Shelley’s mother drops me off at my house on her way to work at the mall. It’s an early Saturday afternoon—my parents went antiquing, which they like to do on the weekends, so the only person I expect to be home is Bryan, with Nate, of course. I feel pretty in the glittery eyeshadow and glistening lipgloss Shelley helped me a
