17 year old Trixie Belden sighed in exasperation as she pulled the last item of clothing out of her wardrobe. Her two best friends, Honey Wheeler and Di Lynch were sat on Trixie's bed, legs folded, watching their friends' inner turmoil as she tried desperately to find something good enough to wear.
"You two aren't being very helpful, considering you are the fashionistas in this friendship." Trixie told them, plopping down hopelessly on the floor amongst the piles of skirts and blouses she had just created. "This is hopeless."
Honey looked around trying to find a solution, but fell short. "You haven't been shopping in forever, that's the problem. Everything you have is from last year and you've...grown since you wore this stuff last."
Di nodded in agreement. "Let's go into the city and find you something simply perfect this afternoon. Dad is going for a meeting at one, if I call him now we can probably get a ride with him. I could do with a new dress too, so this is a good opportunity."
Trixie hated shopping, but she knew if she was ever going to look acceptably grown up for Jim's return from college this week, it needed to be done. "Okay." She said. "I'll pull some money out of my savings."
Di left the room to call her father on the downstairs phone, and Honey got up, put her arms around Trixie's shoulders and said, "Don't you dare do such a thing. I'll cover it. I know you're saving that money for a car."
Trixie looked up at her friend, "Oh, Hon, I couldn't do that. The car can wait-"
Honey cut her off though and teased, "No, it can not. I'm just as sick of riding the bus as you are. You can just pay me back by driving me everywhere."
"It's all set! Dad will take us with him when he goes and we'll have about four hours in the city to find something wonderful for Trixie to wear!" Di exclaimed as she skipped back into the room. Trixie smiled warmly and thought Good. Because it'll take that long.
"Ooh, how about these, Trix?"
"Diana Lynch, put those down!" Trixie whispered harshly, although smiling, and yanked away the pair of lacy black underwear that Di was swinging in front of her face. They were in a lingerie store, much to Trixie's dismay. "I don't need any new underwear. Mine are fine."
"I thought you wanted grown up? These are definitely that." She giggled in response.
"I said grown up, not aspiring prostitute."
The girls had hit about a hundred stores - in Trixie's opinion anyway - and had been successful in finding some great clothes for Trixie - and themselves - to wear to the barbeque the Belden's were holding for Brian and Jim's return from college for the summer. They hadn't been able to make it home at all during the school year, so this was the first time their families would see the young men in months.
Trixie was determined to show Jim how much she had grown in the months he had been away. Maybe make him fall madly in love with her all over again, maybe? She knew in the back of her mind that she was being silly, but she still had hope. During high school the two had had something going but it never blossomed into anything more than a special friendship. That is, until the last months of Jim's senior year. But their romance was cut short when Jim began to feel that the relationship they had wouldn't go anywhere while he was away at college, and he broke it off. She understood, at the time. They would both be too busy with school and jobs to fit in a long-distance relationship anyway. That had been over a year ago. Trixie was now going to be a senior at high school, with only a year to go until she would be in the same city, the same school as Jim again. She wanted nothing more than to find with him what they once had.
The girls left the store, carrying their many shopping bags and found Mr Lynch's car.
"Have a good shopping trip, girls?" He asked them. He was driving himself, because as he told his wife, if he could drive a car before he made money, he could drive one after too. Honey and Di talked enthusiastically and carried on the conversation while Trixie sat silently staring out the window, eagerly anticipating the coming days.
"Hey, Trix. Want to come over for a swim?" Honey had called at around 10am the morning before the boys were due to return.
"Sure, I'll just grab my swimsuit and I'll meet you at the lake in twenty." Trixie hung up the phone and ran upstairs to find her bikini. To save time, she got changed then and would just throw her jeans and shirt on over top. Before she did so, though, she stopped in front of the mirror and looked at herself. She was already tanned a beautiful golden colour from taking advantage of the early summer sun every weekend the past few weeks with Honey, Di, Mart and Dan, who were leaving for their first year of college after the summer. Her hair, in the past year, had grown rapidly and although still curly, sat just at her shoulders, a nice sun-bleached blonde colour. Her hips had widened into womanly curves and her breasts were a nice C cup. The hot pink bikini complemented them beautifully. Trixie smiled, beginning to love what her body had become.
As she bounded downstairs into the kitchen, she almost ran right into her mother. "Oh! Moms, sorry" She giggled.
"Slow down there, sweetie. Going swimming?" Moms asked as she noted the pink bikini that was quite visible through her daughters white t-shirt.
"Honey and I want to spend our last day alone with each other doing best friend stuff." Trixie smiled.
"Well that's sweet," Moms smiled back. "I'm taking Bobby into town for a checkup and to do the shopping for this barbeque tomorrow so you don't have to worry about him. Mart and Dan are helping Mr Maypenny out with something in the game preserve too, so if you come home at any point today the house will be locked. You know where the spare key is. Have fun." She kissed her only daughter on the forehead and Trixie made her way to the lake to meet Honey.
She found her in the dock-house getting changed. "Hey, Hon. Nice and warm today, huh? Thought we might get some riding in later, maybe a picnic in the preserve?"
"Sounds good. Jim called this morning, he said he and Brian should be here late afternoon tomorrow because they have to return some assignments in the morning. Are you as excited as I am?" Honey giggled. "Never mind, I know you are."
"I am excited to see Jim. And Brian, of course."
"But mostly Jim, right?" The two girls giggled and Trixie nodded.
"You know how I feel about him, Honey. Even though he's your brother, and I know it's probably kind of weird to talk about him like that with you, but..."
"It's not weird at all. Just remember, I was your friend before Jim was my brother. I know how much you love him. I really hope he realises you should be together."