1

"It's time to wake up, you two." Kate said when she peeked into the boys' bedroom to get them up for the school day.

"Don't we get a free skip school for today?" Jake asked sleepily from the top bunk of his and Reece's bunk bed.

"Yeah don't we get that considering what today is, Mom? Or did you forget what today is?" Reece chimed in from the bottom bunk.

"I know full well what today is. I was there fifteen years ago."

It was then that Rick came up behind his wife.

"Lily is up. How's it going here?"

"They're both still in bed and asking to skip school today."

"Well it is their birthday today." Rick said.

"I know that." Kate said with a look on her face that told Rick to stop before going any further.

"I'm heading down to grab something for breakfast on my way to school." Lily called from the top of the staircase.

"Okay."

Lily and the boys were both students at their sister's alma mater, Marlowe Prep. The boys were sophomores while Lily was a senior.

"Happy Birthday Jake. Happy Birthday Reece." Lily called back.

"Thanks Lily." the boys replied in unison.

With that, Kate nudged Rick back into the hallway so they could talk about the boys wanting to stay home from school. As they started to talk, they heard the front door close behind Lily. Both Rick and Kate knew that their daughter was likely going to stop at a sidewalk coffee stand or a Starbucks to get a coffee on her way to school.

A bit after she had left the loft for school, Lily was walking up to the counter in the Starbucks that was only a few blocks away.

"Can I help you?" the barista asked.

"Ah yeah, can I get a grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla."

"Sure."

As Lily paid for her latte with her phone, her parents had decided on the boys staying home from school. Once Lily had her latte in hand, she sent a quick text to her parents to see if her younger brothers would be joining her at school or not.

Your dad and I decided to let the boys stay home today since it's their birthday. Dad and I got a case so the boys will be home alone until you get home later.

Okay.

Lily let her parents know when she got to school after she had opened her locker. When the boys had the loft to themselves that morning, they went to the living room to play video games while they ate breakfast.

"Happy Birthday, bro." Jake said.

"Happy Birthday, bro." Reece replied.

That evening the whole family would be together celebrating Jake and Reece's fifteenth birthday.