When we walked into the restaurant that Mr. Hancock had made reservations at I was suddenly concerned that we would be kicked out because of dress code. I mentioned that to Amy and she replied, "They're used to people coming in like this from the park. As long as you make reservations they don't have a problem with it."

I knew Mr. Hancock had in fact called earlier to expand the number since we had more people than he had expected originally. We were actually seated rather quickly, and they didn't even give us a second glance for our clothing as far as I could tell. Our waitress came to the table soon after that.

"Bonjour! Je m'appele Elodie, your waitress for this evening. May I start you out with an appetizer?" She asked.

Mr. Hancock ordered several things for us all to share and then she came by for our drink orders. "And for you mademoiselle?" She asked me.

"Iced tea please?" I asked.

"Bien sur. By the way I love all of your hair," She said to all of us with a thick, authentic, Parisian accent. I know I blushed � I think Amy and Brittany did too. With that she was off to take care of our appetizers. The menu gave all of the stuff in both French and English. I was personally intrigued by the French stuff � maybe I'd have to study it some time.

We all took a stab at ordering something and she actually came back and interacted with us a lot. 'The girls,' as the adults had taken to calling us, all headed off for the bathroom before we got our food. It kind of amused me that I used to be someone that gave girls a hard time about 'flocking' to the bathroom.

For me it was more of a safety factor than most girls� I was so thankful that I was actually able to go in relative safety to the girls room instead of being locked into the boys room. That's the way I had been doing things all day pretty much � and it made me far more comfortable.

I definitely enjoyed the food that was waiting when we went back. It was so rich and tasty. We split some desserts and began going through the rest of the embassy section. Amy and I began racing each other to see who could get their 'passport' book finished quicker.

We were of course slowed down by our parents� couldn't they see we were racing? We actually ended up finishing about 45 minutes before the fireworks show was supposed to begin.

My mom pulled us off inside a store real quick at that point. "Hey why don't we all go ahead and get one of these?" She asked holding up a yellow rain jacket they were selling.

"Do we have to mom?" I asked her. Amy also looked like she wasn't real fond of it.

"Do you want to get soaked again?" Mom asked me in return.

I grumbled but took the jacket that she bought for me and put it in a bag I had of souvenirs. Hopefully we wouldn't have to wear them.

Before we split up we had a predetermined time and location we were all supposed to meet at before the fireworks show. Amber, Nikki, and Ashley showed up and we became a group of girls in a circle pretty quickly. Nikki was the first to notice my new earrings.

"Tiffany, those are pretty!" She said as she examined them.

I had forgotten all about them. 'I wonder what the guys are going to say?' I asked myself.

"Thanks," I replied to her. "Do you think it's going too far at this point?" I asked her quietly.

"No," I think you'll be fine. She pulled me aside and whispered to me, "I think Kyle has figured out something. He asked me if I knew of anything going on with you. I didn't say anything though," She added quickly.

"Maybe it would be better if I told him?" I asked her.

"I don't know. I think you should just wait and see what happens for now. I just wanted to let you know."

"Thanks Nikki, you're a really great friend." I gave her a brief friendly hug and we rejoined the group of girls that had now grown to all of the kids.

I stayed in between a couple of the girls to keep the guys from getting a good look at my ears. I really didn't want to have to deal with that quite yet. As the fireworks show began to start all of the lights dimmed around the water where they were shooting them off.

The show was really cool � I'm definitely a pyro, so that meant I would have done about anything to have been involved with it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching things explode! As the last volley of fireworks went off as a finale I felt raindrops begin to fall onto my head. All of us began ripping open the packaging on our raincoats and putting them on.

I think, from later accounts, that the adults realized quickly they had a problem. Suddenly every one of us looked exactly the same! They all ordered us to hold each others hands and I ended up with Kyle holding my right hand.

That was strange. He looked at me kind of funny � and I realized he must have seen my earrings at that point. He kept hold of my hand still and I hung onto Amy's hand. It was at that moment that it really occurred to me that eventually I might have/want to date a boy� that would be really strange.

Between all of the sheets of rain and our constant trek back to the busses holding hands I didn't have a lot of time to ponder that much more � but I knew I would have to think about it eventually. As we got on the bus and I sat down in my own seat Kyle looked at me and asked, "Can I sit next to you?"

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