Today I turned 19. Second-year of being a legal adult, but this year is different. I am not just going on a road trip or to a fancy restaurant. I get to travel to the Caribbean with some of my friends. I have looked at so many, probably too many places that we can go to. But I limited it down to Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Fiji, Ibiza, and the Florida Keys. Ok, yeah that's probably too many, but there are so many choices! But one of my favorite places in Turks and Caicos. But that's only the start of it. I still don't know where to stay and I have to choose fast because lots of places are being booked, and then there will be nothing. There are a few places that I love like the Beach Enclave North Shore and Blue Hill House look amazing. I want to stay in a villa and the Beach Enclave North Shore is probably one of the most beautiful villas that I've ever seen. To be honest, though this is the easy part I still have to decide on who to bring because I love my whole sorority. Oh, sorry I forgot to mention I am Amy. I am a student at Stanford University and I am in a sorority with 50 other girls. It has its perks and downfalls though. My sorority is 50 people so, in theory, it's easy to choose who to bring but we are like a big family. I want everyone to come but I can only invite 5 people. And 2 people I am sure I am going to bring and they aren't in my sorority or at this college at all so that's down to 3 people in the sorority. I hope no one hates me because my one goal of being in this sorority is not to be hated like Marsha and Cathlien. Marsha and Cathlien were the two most hated people in the sorority they even had to move out. Well, they moved out because they graduated but still, no one cared enough to throw a party or really say goodbye.

But it's already 2:30 am and I am just sitting here paranoid so I should probably go to bed and think about it in the morning. But right when I am going to sleep I hear someone come into my room and I see Lilly walking over, we share a room in our sorority. She sits down on my bed and we probably talk for 30 minutes. She is saying how she is going crazy being in this house with the same scenery and needs to go somewhere away from the sorority, anywhere but the college campus and this sorority. So we talked some more and I didn't even dare to say anything about the trip and my birthday because she'd kill me if she didn't come, literally. So I tell her we should go somewhere on the weekend for a day trip, and like that,... we start to go to sleep.

Then, when I try to fall asleep, Lilly and I hear the loudest scream! Lilly and I race downstairs and join the rest of our sorority who is surrounding Michelle. She is on the floor crying. Some people ask her if she is ok and she says to back up, then Joannah asks her to tell her everything but Michelle raises her voice and says go away. To be fair Jonnah is obnoxiously close to her face and questioning her even before she asked Michelle to tell her everything. Everyone starts to leave but Michelle makes Lilly and I stay. Michelle's red puffy face manages to say that someone was murdered in her and Gemma's bathroom. Stupidly we run upstairs to look in the bathroom, and sure enough, there is red stuff everywhere whether its blood or not we just stare. There is a big duffel bag that looks full and Lilly goes and opens it. No human body tumbles out, just a ton of hair dye, specifically red hair dye. So no murder but someone died their hair. But no one in our sorority has red hair except for Gemma, how can one girl go through so many containers of red hair dye. Michelle whispers Gemma has red hair but she was asleep a while ago. Since Michelle and Gemma are in the same room they know when each other go to sleep. Lilly, Michelle, and I go to their room and to see Gemma sleeping with a hair cap on. So she doesn't want to stain her sheets so she sleeps with a hair cap on. We all stare at each other for a good 5 minutes and then just decide to go to sleep. Lilly and I barely made it to our room before falling asleep.

Soon enough it's morning Lilly and I dread morning because we go on runs, but once you start it's not too hard. Lilly and I get dressed and go for a long run. When we come back however things are still quiet everyone except for Gemma is awake, which is kind of odd. Gemma waves hello and heads to the basement which is weird because it is unfinished, nothing down there that I have seen except for a few cockroaches, so I never go down there. But I figure everything is fine and head to my room and take a shower. 

Since today is the weekend and I finished my homework… Well kinda finished it,...I want to plan my birthday so I decided on where I will go for my birthday which is Beach Enclave North Shore in Turks and Caicos. Now I have to decide on who to bring. Since I know that Lilly needs a real vacation I decide that I will invite her, unless she doesn't wanna come but that's unlikely. I already know that I will invite Carly and Alice, my childhood friends. So, that's three people but there are still 2 more that I have to invite and I mean I love all my friends but in the end, I choose Tanya and Jordan. I spend a good part of the day deciding on who to invite. It's probably lunchtime, by that I mean I'm hungry. 

So I head down the stairs and Gemma who is normally on the couch eating isn't. I look around and no one is down here that I can see so I head for the basement. It's dark and smells like mold but I continue with my phone light. It's all really quiet but then I hear a faint sound like footsteps so I follow the sound. I try to be as quiet as I can but all of a sudden I see Gemma, she is cooking something and it smells like death, ok... that's dramatic but it doesn't smell good. She turns to grab some sort of spice and then I look up and see a mask that's all black with little splatters of something. This isn't like Gemma; she is normally scared of the dark and of creepy masks. She also never goes anywhere near the basement. I want to ask her so many questions but if there is a time now is definitely not it. 

I quickly head upstairs when she isn't looking and luckily no one is near so I just make avocado toast and act like nothing is happening. Then Jordan and Lilly come running to me and ask where Gemma is. I don't know if I should say anything or if I should say everything. I decided to just say she is in the basement. Jordan looks at me with confusion and says Gemma hates the basement. 

Lilly runs to the basement and then runs straight back up shaking. Lilly says that she doesn't ever wanna go to the basement down again because she hates the smell of it. It's weird that Gemma is acting like this because she is normally the girliest girl in the sorority. I decided to tell Jordan and Lily that they are coming to change the subject. They both scream and jump around, so now it's a matter of time till everyone knows. 

We all decided to go to the mall and get new bikinis and shorts for the trip. On the way there they are non-stop talking about how excited they are and how they want to go now, there are only 2 weeks till we leave. We are in the mall for around two hours and when we get back Gemma is eating this soup-looking thing that smells amazing, which is weird because the one in the basement smells bad but that could have been the mold in the basement. But I still wonder if it is the soup she made in the basement because if it is, this is the best smelling soup I've smelt in a while, considering no one makes homemade soups and Gemma doesn't like to cook them. We normally don't eat soups. 

But just like the day started it is now the end so everyone goes back to their rooms. Lilly is so exhausted but I want to look in the basement some more so I ask Jordan and she says she is wide awake. We meet at the basement door and head down. No one seems to be there so we look around and I go straight to where Gemma was cooking. 

It smells like a mix of mold and the soup Gemma was eating, maybe she just cooks down here I say to Jordan. Jordan already is taking photos and videos though. Then we hear a noise, it sounds like footsteps and to our surprise it's Gemma. She jumps but then says welcome to my kitchen. Jordan and I both look at each other and smile. Gemma explains that sometimes she needs peace and quiet. But she doesn't want anyone to know she comes down here, and when she is cooking she puts a mask on in case anyone is to see her they don't know it's her. She says it's just to calm her down and she turns on a light, there is a whole kitchen down here with a tv and sofa. It's the place where she relaxes and no one knows about it. But I get it because our sorority is always super chatty and sometimes just tiring and annoying but I love it. She pours us a bowl of soup and we all just talk. But then a timer goes off and Gemma pulls us out of the basement and says we should go back upstairs and to our rooms but specifically says to tell no one anything and that it never happened. We all run to our rooms as quietly as we can. It looks like I have another 2 people to invite on this trip.

In the morning Lily is hyper as ever her brown hair is in a ponytail with a cute pink bow. She puts on a dress and runs downstairs, I just wonder why she is dressed so nicely because it's just the weekend. 

Soon enough it's two weeks later and I am packing to leave for Turks and Caicos with Lilly, Jordan, Gemma, and Michelle. Carly and Alice are going to meet us at the airport because they aren't in the sorority. We all wish the rest of the girls a good two weeks and get in the car and drive away. We get to the airport and it takes us a while to find Carly and Alice in the overly busy airport, but we finally find them and wait to board our plane. Since everyone here knows Carly and Alice we all just talk about school and how excited we are. Then soon enough we were off to the Caribbean. 

When we landed I smelt the salty air and the flowers nearby. We went to our villa and went swimming in the crystal clear ocean. Then by the end of the day, we went to dinner and celebrated all night long.