About 19 years later...

"Have a nice day!" Harper told Mrs Gavin and her daughter as the woman grabbed her coffee and donuts off the counter.

"You too, Harper!" The woman told her as they walked out the cafe door.

Exhausted, Harper slumped down on the counter. She wasn't the only one working, but she might as well be. There were only two other people working, and they made the treats the cafe sold, which left Harper to run the counter and make coffee for everyone. Even though it was almost 8 o'clock at night, there were quite a few people who came in. Luckily, 8 was when the small shop closed, and she could head home.

Harper and her siblings Bailey, Thomas, and Hayden had been living in a small town just above Lake Superior. Their mother still lived in Oshkosh, and their dad had died, but, even without her parents, she loved it there. In fact, she preferred it over both her strict mother and her lying father. So much so, actually, that they'd been living there happily for 5 years.

Harper served the last two customers in a daze, and was relieved when one of her "superior" co-workers told her that they were done for the night. Hanging up her apron and checking out, she put a 10 dollar bill in the cash register and grabbed a few pastries from the display. She put them in a brown paper bag and said goodnight to her co-workers before walking out the door and heading towards her house.

When they'd first gotten there, Bailey and Harper had decided to both work at the cafe together in order to make money. Then, when Bailey for a scholarship from a good, out-of-town college, she quit her job to go there instead. This left Harper to work longer so she could get enough money for all 4 of them, which she didn't mind, but it often ment returning home late at night extremely tired and sleeping in way to long the next morning. Her 13 year old twin brothers liked when she brought them treats, though.

Opening the door to an old antique shop, she waved at Mr Farinson - who was closing up the shop for the night - and went through the door labeled "Employees Only". Turning through a few hallways, she made her way up a warmly lit staircase and flipped the light switch at the top.

"Surprise!" Her brothers voices rang out through their small house. Harper laughed and ran up to Hayden and Thomas, wrapping them in a hug.

"Thanks, guys!" Harper smiled as she looked around the room. They weren't poor, but they weren't rich by any means, so she was surprised to see three balloons and a few colorful streamers hanging up around the shabby walls. "Where'd you get all this?"

Thomas grinned at her, "A kid at school heard us say that it was your 18th birthday and they gave us some stuff to put up while you were at work! "

"She said you were her favorite worker at that coffee shop, and wanted to make it up to you." Hayden added.

"Grace? The girl that comes to the coffee shop every morning and can fluently speak Japanese?"

The twins nodded. "And a few others." Hayden said.

Harper smiled, "Well, tell them I say thank you. Here," she handed them the paper bag, "I know your birthdays are next week, but we had a lot of leftovers today."

Eagerly the brothers opened the bag and pulled out a treat. Harper laughed as they shoved them in their mouths as if they were wild animals. "Are any of these for you and Bailey?" Thomas asked after shoving a scone in his mouth.

"First of all, don't talk with your mouth full," Harper giggled, "And I would save one for Bailey, since she's coming tomorrow, but I don't need one."

"Of course you need one, Harper!" Hayden exclaimed as he grabbed another treat from the bag, " It's your 18th birthday, after all! "

Harper shrugged, "Still, this is more than enough to make my day great!"

"We have another surprise for you!" Thomas said, wiping off his hands on his shirt before grabbing Harper's wrist, "Come on!"

Harper laughed again and let them pull her to the bathroom. Even though they were 13, Thomas and Hayden still acted like young children. They were full of energy and were constantly looking for things to do, not at all acting like the 8th graders they were. Some adults got annoyed with that, but Harper hoped they never changed.

Hayden pulled open the closet and pushed Harper towards the ladder, "Go!Go!Go!Go!Go!" He insisted as her pushed her in.

"Alright! I'm going! I'm going!" Harper laughed and made her way to the ladder. Climbing up, she pushed open the trap door at the top and looked around the roof. The sun had almost entirely set, revealing lots of tiny stars in the dark blue sky. Standing in the roof was a very familiar figure.

"Bailey!" Harper exclaimed, pulling herself onto the roof and wrapping her older sister in a hug.

"Hey Harper!" Bailey grinned, "Man, it's been a while!"

"You're the one who decided to come tomorrow during your break!"

Bailey shrugged, but Harper couldn't take her seriously when she laughed, "Wanted to surprise you."

"Well, this definitely counts as a surprise."

"....So you didn't need my help?" A familiar voice said behind Harper. She quickly turned around and immediately knew who it was. His red hair was shorter, and he was taller, but his smile hadn't changed over 5 years.

"Logan?!?" Harper exclaimed, looking between her two surprise visitors for a bit before looking back to Logan, "What are you doing here?!?"

Logan laughed as she wrapped him in a hug, "I told you I'd be coming back, didn't I?"

"You also said you'd be coming with Gloria." Harper pointed out as she backed away, "Unless she's here to surprise me too."

Logan shrugged, "Gloria never let me visit you with her. Bailey called a few days ago and asked where I lived so I could help surprise you today. "

Harper grinned at Bailey, "And you got the boys in on it?"

Bailey couldn't contain her smile, "A few pieces of candy go a long way, even if they are technically teens."

Harper laughed and grabbed Bailey and Logan's hands, "Let's go inside! It's cold out here!"

I'm sorry it took so long for me to get this story going! If I'm being completely honest, I've been working on this first chapter for a while, but I haven't wanted to publish it since my schedule is really full, and I was already working on a different story. On the other hand, this has given me quite a bit of time to think and come up with ideas for this story, so I hope the wait was worth it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!