I honestly really love this story line I've come up with so please take your time to read this. It would mean a lot to me thank you and I hope you enjoy!

Age 9

It's been a year now. I've been in the same house for a year. How is this happening? Honestly we should have moved about 2 times by now. But nope, we're still here. And she's still here as well.

"Nozo-chan! Isn't tomorrow your birthday?" She's laying on my bed upside down with me. Our feet are up on the wall, occasionally touching as we move them.

"Yes." It's been a year yet I still talk to her as though we've only just met. She knows it but never confronts me about it.

"Aren't you going to do something special?" She turned on her side, placed her head in her hands and looked at me.

"I don't know."

"Are you going to have a party?"

"What? With the friends that I don't have?" I don't know what about this made her laugh but then again I still didn't know much about this girl.

"I'm your friend silly." She continued to giggle as she turned back onto her back.

I gently reached my hand to touch hers on my bed. She really was my only friend, and I hers. We only needed each other, we could do anything we put our minds to. When she felt my hand she held it, in the protective way she always did. Like an older sister would, even though I'm technically older.

"I think I get to celebrate with my parents." I get a quick glance from her. "And you of course. Mom said she was going to bake cupcakes."

"I love you Nozo-chan. You're like the sister I never had, except better than what I imagine a sister would be." She smiled that warm smile at me.

"I love you too Elicchi." She gripped my hand tighter. Even though we have only been friends for a little under a year we've grown close. Well then again we didn't really have anyone else to grow close to. My parents were barely ever home with their work and all. And there was the fact that no one would even think about being my friend. I think it was because everyone thought I was weird for always playing with my tarot cards. But the cards were always right.

I still have this thought in the back of my head as to why she lives in the same house as me. And in that house the same room. She insists on sleeping in the same bed with me even though we have the guest room she could sleep in. And I could make her a makeshift bed somewhere else in my room. But no she always has to sleep with me. Not that I mind though. I'm always cold at night though.

"Sorry Nozomi we won't be able to celebrate with you tonight. We both have to work late, we hope you understand. There are cupcakes in the cake container on the counter. And please be careful if you decide to light a candle or two. Remember we love you, Mom and Dad." I finished reading the note out loud.

"Awww that's no fun." Clearly she doesn't get that this is actually better than most of my birthdays

"It's always like this though. This time I actually get a cake of sorts." I begin looking through the drawers to find the candles Mother wrote about. "Usually we're either moving on my birthday so we can't celebrate with a cake or Mother just forgets to bake something."

"Oh. That's not very fun." She sat on one of the stools in the kitchen swinging her legs back and forth since her feet didn't touch the ground.

"Yeah but I'm used to it." Honestly where are these candles? Ah! "Here! Found em'!"

"Yay!" Eli hopped down from her seat to come stand next to me. "How many are we going to light?"

"One in each cupcake, so two since we're both having one. I want you to help me blow them out." I looked at her with a soft smile now looking for the lighter.

"Oh, I don't want a cupcake. So I guess we can only light one candle."

"Oh, okay then." My face fell a little, thankfully I was facing away from her so she didn't notice.

"But I'll still help you blow it out if you want!"

"Thanks." A smile appeared on my face again as I found the lighter I was looking for. "Now we can light this candle!"

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Nozomi! Happy birthday to you!" Eli sang happily as she stood next to me as we both stood in front of the one flaming candle. Once she finished we both leaned in to blow out the candles. I think she was pretending to blow them out because only my breathe affected the flame. Hers did nothing, that I saw at least. But hey maybe she just didn't want to actually blow them out, and let me have the whole wish to myself.

"I'm gonna go get you your gift Nozo-chan!" Eli took off to our shared room.

"You didn't have to get me anything Eli!" I called after her as I took a bite into my cupcake. "Yumm. Mother knows how to bake a good cupcake." I said with a smile. I haven't had Mother's baking in a long time.

After a few minutes Eli returned with a small box. "This is for you." She held the box out towards me.

"Eli I said you didn't have to get me anything."

"Well, I wanted to!" With a smile she hopped back onto the kitchen stool. "Go ahead, open it!"

"Alright." With a smile I opened it. Inside the small box there was some colored tissue paper. Once I moved it aside I saw two pink hair ties. They were both ruffled, so they flared out at what I assumed was the bottom. "They're really cute!" I always had my hair in pigtails, and Eli always had hers in a ponytail.

"I hoped you would like them." She smiled a warm smile at me. "I made them myself, so I'm sorry if they don't hold up very well." She chuckled a little at herself.

"Elicchi would you put them in my hair?"

"Sure! You just have to come here. I'm not getting up again." She stuck her tongue out at me, but I obliged and came to stand in front of the stool. I handed the box back to Eli as I turned my back to her.

"Give me a second.." Eli softly spoke as she split my hair down the middle to tie the hair ties around their respective pieces. "One down. One to go."

Once she was down I turned around to face her a smile on my face. I pulled one of my long pigtails over my shoulder to look at the new hair ties. "They're beautiful Elicchi. Thank you." I never received many gifts for my birthday but this is probably my favorite.

"It's no problem Nozo-chan!"

I held out my arms for a hug, and was granted one from probably my favorite person in the world. When we embraced I felt a chill run down my back, but that was usual when I hugged her. I guess it's just something that happens when you don't get much physical contact. But I can classify today as the best birthday ever.

If you were confused, in the story they are celebrating Nozomi's 9th birthday so almost a year has passed. So if you were out of the loop here's the thing, I'm updating my current stories today (June 23rd) as part of a mass update for my birthday. It's a gift from me to you. Another cool thing that's going on is that the prologue to this story will be read aloud by this wonderful person who's YouTube channel name is ReadingsHappen '. It would be great if you were to go and check them out. (They have a really cool accent) Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear what you have to say in the reviews!