In the dull haze of sleep, Lola had dreamed of being on a sinking ship and that no matter what she tried to do she couldn't escape the rising tide. Her family and friends were there but no one wanted to help her. The ships alarm was blaring in her ears until she opened her eyes and discovered the alarm was still going off.

It took five seconds to realize she had been dreaming, and another ten seconds to realize she had never heard that sound before, because the alarm was coming from a strange new clock she had never seen before.

"Luan." Lola thought to herself. Her sisters were already getting back at her for yesterday. She didn't want to get out of bed. She didn't want to face them. And she especially didn't want to go to school where everyone would be talking about her temper tantrum and making fun of her.

She reached out to turn off the alarm but was blinded by a flash of white. After her eyes adjusted she discovered the whiteness was coming from her walls.

Her walls were marble white and the night stand that her clock was sitting on was made of glass. Lola didn't own a nightstand. And her blanket was a lot thicker than normal.

Lola jolted up in bed like a maniac and looked around the bedroom in alarm.

The whole room was white and pristine. From the walls to the blanket and even the pillows. There was a big screen TV on the wall and a Blu-ray player to go with it. Gone were all of her toys, stuffed animals and pageant awards and instead the walls had some weird paintings of plants and animals on them. This wasn't her room.

Lola's first thought was that she had either been kidnapped or Luan had pulled the mother of all practical jokes and redecorated Lola's bedroom while she slept. In blind panic she began calling for help, but when she opened her mouth and said, "Mommy?! Daddy!?" what came out was not the high pitched voice of a small child but a deep richness that sounded more like a grown woman.

Lola tested this with a few more words and phrases to make sure that the voice was coming from her mouth. Then she noticed her two front teeth had returned. Then she noticed some much more...noticeable changes to her body.

Lola screamed at the top of her lungs. "What's happening to me?! Mom? Dad? Lori? Is anyone there?"

But no one came.

Finally Lola found the courage to get out of bed. After stumbling around the strange bedroom Lola found a nearby bathroom and turned on a light.

The bathroom was gorgeously decorated, with a limestone sink, bright towels, and an assortment of shampoo and soap on a nearby rack. The shower had a computer mounted underneath the faucet and the mirror was much bigger than the one Lola's family had at home.

And when Lola looked in the mirror, a beautiful young woman stared back at her. She had long golden hair, lovely pale skin, and slender fingers with finely shaped nails. She was tall and slender and wore a deep blue nightgown and a look of complete bewilderment on her face.

Lola moved her head and arms around to make sure this was really happening. Then she washed her face with water and slapped herself in the face a few times. The pretty lady in the mirror was still there.

Lola had become a grown up overnight.

.....

Lola explored her new surroundings and found she was currently in a huge house with lots of doors and rooms.

There was a library full of books. A study with a laptop next to a tank of fish.

A room full of exercise equipment.

Then Lola found the stairway and discovered there were two more floors down below.

The second floor seemed to be for storing stuff. The first door she went into was full of awards and trophies, twice as many as the ones in Lola's closet. There were three more bedrooms with no one currently living in them.

There was a room full of comfy furniture and tables.

And then there was the bottom floor, which had the kitchen, dining room, and lobby.

But the biggest surprise was when Lola journeyed out the back door and found the biggest outdoor swimming pool she had ever seen. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the beautiful water and it dropped even further when she turned around and saw her house from the outside. House? It was a mansion! Did she really live here? Was this where she was going to live someday? All this was hers!?

"Holey Shamoley, I'm a millionaire."

Then Lola's mouth broke into a wide smile. She began to jump up and down with excitement and squeal with glee. "I'm filthy rich!!!" she screamed with joy, and began doing the mother of all victory dances.

"Go Lola! Best future! Uh-huh, Uh-huh!"

....

Lola's new closet was full of designer clothes. She spent an hour trying them all on and finally settled on a red top with a blue mini skirt, black pumps, and a brown hat. She also put on a black lacy bra instead of the white one she had been sleeping in. Lola had never put on a bra before but she soon got the hang of it. The fact that her bras were a size bigger then Leni's was an added bonus.

She looked at herself in the mirror and took stock, "Prettier than Leni? Check. Bigger and stronger than Lynn? That hard stomach, strong biceps and firm butt say Check. More talented than Luna and Luan? Let's check those trophies again, yes I think that's a check. Smarter than Lisa? Well, i'm rich and have no wedding ring so I must be doing something right. Check. More responsible than Lori? uhhhhhhh...yeah sure, we'll check that. Nicer than Lincoln? hm..."

Lola cast her eyes at some of the picture near the bathroom and saw one that had her shaking hands with a business man outside a building that said, "Red Cross."

"Giving money to charity! Niceness is a check."

Then she went downstairs and made herself some breakfast and here she had her first unpleasant surprise. The fridge was full of fruits, vegetables and weird health foods. The cupboards didn't have any cookies or candy. Not even a bag of chips. It was all low calorie biscuits and crackers. Lola frowned at all of this but then remembered she had planned on becoming a model one day. Of course she's watching her weight, a body this good doesn't maintain itself. So Lola pulled out some lean ham, butter, pickles, non-fat cheese and made herself a sandwich for breakfast.

Throughout all of this, Lola had been thinking to herself as to how all of this is possible and she came up with the following conclusions.

1) She had been a very bad girl yesterday.

2) She wished she could be the best sister ever so that she could fix her mistake

3) It was her birthday

4) Now she was in the future.

Therefore, because it had been her birthday, the magic birthday spirits had decided to grant Lola's wish and give her a second chance. Now that she was a grown up and living in the future, she can find out how to fix her birthday. No Wait! This is the future, her birthday happened a long time ago. She probably didn't need to fix anything! All she had to do was find Lana and ask her what happened after the birthday party. Then she would know that everything would be okay. Simple. Nothing more than a quick visit. She could see how the rest of her family turned out as well. Then she could spend the rest of the day having fun.

Then Lola had a terrible thought. What if she hadn't fixed things with Lana? What if this was like a Christmas carol and the future was horrible and sad because Lola had ruined her birthday?

But then why was she living in a huge mansion with a swimming pool? If this was a bad future wouldn't she be living in a dumpster or something?

No. Lola had seen enough movies to know a happy story when she saw it. She was going to find her family all happy and living their dreams and Lola was going to learn how she fixed her rotten birthday party.

....

Inside the garage was the most awesome car Lola had ever seen. It was black and smooth and the doors would swing upwards when you opened them. It took Lola a few minutes to find the keys and then figure out how to drive the thing. Future cars were complicated and had lots of buttons on them.

When she inserted the key, Lola pressed a button above the dash and the car turned on. Then from out of the radio came a voice. "Greetings Madam. Would you prefer manual or automatic drive today?"

The voice was very feminine and had an accent. It sounded almost like a French maid, or maybe German?

"Please select your mode of drive." The voice repeated.

"Umm, right. Mode of drive. Automatic means the car drives itself right?"

"Automatic drive selected."

The car moved forward a few inches and almost hit the garage door. "Warning. Object in way of street. Please select different route to avoid hazard."

"Hold on, I'm sure there's a garage door opener in here somewhere." Lola fished around her white purse but couldn't seem to find a set of keys.

"Please select different route."

"Okay! Give me a second! How do you open garage doors in the future?"

A noise was heard and the garage door opened on its own. Lola looked around and saw a computer mounted on the back wall with a blue light on.

"Ohhh. It opens when I tell it to. Car, take me to the royal woods mall."

"Location selected."

"I have to admit. The future is pretty sweet." Lola sat back and closed her eyes as the car drove itself down the driveway and into the street.

But a few minutes later, Lola opened her eyes and discovered she wasn't in Royal woods anymore.

....

Apparently, Lola forgot that being a big time super model and a millionaire meant leaving Michigan, because her car was now driving through a huge city.

There were all kinds of shops and Diners on both sides of the road. Skyscrapers as tall as the eye could see. Kids dressed in all kinds of weird clothes. And after the car turned into a particularly high hill Lola caught a glimpse of a massive bridge that stretched for miles.

"Where the heck am I?"

"Mission Street. San Francisco. California. U.S.A." The on board computer replied.

"San Francisco. Is that far from Michigan? Computer?"

The car then slowed to a stop and parked in front of a thirty story building. The computer made a happy little sound effect and then said. "Arrived. Embarcadero shopping center."

Lola's eye scanned the enormous building. It didn't look like a mall, it look more like an office building. Lola wondered if she should go in. She reason she wanted to go to the mall was to see if Leni still worked there, but if this wasn't even the same state, there was no point. Although. Maybe there was someone here who could help her track down her grown up siblings.

Lola looked in her purse to see if she had enough cash. There was a wad of cash bulging out of her wallet. All hundreds. It had to be a thousand dollars easy. There were also credit cards and a check book.

"I'll just take a look around for a moment. My siblings aren't going anywhere. Just a quick peek." Lola reasoned to herself.

But when Lola went inside her heart leapt into her throat. It wasn't just a mall, it was the biggest mall she had ever seen in her life!

There were stores around every corner. People milling about with all kinds of bags. Glass elevators to take you up and down the numerous floors. Lola looked at the map of the interior and found there was a movie theatre, a built in carnival, and even an ice rink!!!

And she was a grown up with a thousand dollars in cash and quadruple that in credit.

What could Lola do? She was only human.

She hit every shop in the place. She took trips to her car to deposit the numerous bags of dresses and other accessories. The carnival was a blast (although she was too big to go on some of the rides)

She bought a brand new skating outfit and hit the ice rink for over an hour.

The jewelry store was especially fun because the staff knew her by sight. They bowed their heads when she entered and directed her to the back of the store where the owner personally welcomed her with a smile.

"It is such an honor to have you back with us. How may I be of service?" The owner was the very epitome of respect and dignity.

Lola flipped her hair like she owned the place and said, "I was in the mood for something in rubies. I was wondering where I might be able to find such a thing and I immediately thought of you."

The owner gave warm laugh and brought out some items. Necklaces, earrings, engagement rings, all with rubies in them. Lola was in full princess mode by this point and looked at the items like she wasn't impressed (when in fact, she wanted to wear every single thing on that counter) Then her eyes looked over at a pair of earrings over on the back shelf.

They were shaped like pink tulips but the flowers were diamonds. Lola pressed her face against the glass and practically drooled as she asked to see them.

"How...much?" She whispered like a mother looking at a newborn baby.

The owner looked at her like she had just offered to cure his son of cancer, "Those earrings are works of art. They were designed by Winslow Garrison and were part of his September collection in 2014. There is no other earring like it in the world. If someone like you is seen wearing these, the publicity my store would get would be more than I could ever hope to get from selling them. For you, I'll let them go at market price."

Lola wrote a check and left with her new purchase.

By the time lunch rolled by, Lola had long forgotten about her family and decided this was compensation for her friends ruining her birthday. She had pizza and ice cream and took her car to the beach to try on her new swimsuits.

....

The day progressed more or less the same way. Lola had the time of her life in San Fran and at seven thirty, she came home exhausted and delirious with happiness over the awesome day she just had.

But there was one last surprise waiting for her.

When she went upstairs to her room, she went one floor too far. There was a whole other floor above the floor she started in that morning.

This floor was smaller than the others with only a single door, but inside that room was a blast of color.

It was a makeshift greenhouse. Filled to the brim with flowers and plants of all colors and varieties. Lola spent an hour wandering in between the rows of tulips and orchids and roses and felt like a princess in a magical garden. She smelled and touched them. She accidently broke a couple of plants on the floor but she felt that was nothing to worry about.

She plucked a few roses, some tulips, a few orchids, and a lady slipper, made herself a lovely bouquet and put them in her kitchen. Then she was finally too tired to do anything more and collapsed on the couch and went to sleep.

This had truly been the best birthday of her entire life. She couldn't wait to grow up so that she could move out to California and do it all for real.

....

Lola awoke the next morning to the familiar ring of her own alarm clock. She raised herself up to find that she was back in her bright pink bed, surrounded by stuffies, and had her usual seven year old body.

She yawned and stretched and thought about the wonderful dream she had just enjoyed. She could still see the marble white walls in her mind's eye. Then she looked over and noticed an empty bed on the other side of the room and remembered why she made that wish in the first place.

"No!" she gasped and dove back under the covers.

"Take me back. I don't want to face Lana. I don't want my family to hate me. I don't want to go to school and have all the other kids be mean to me. I want to go back to the mansion. Take me back to San Francisco. Pleeeeeeeeease..."

She shut her eyes and tried to wish herself away from the loud house but her wish went unheard this time.

"Lola?! Honey, you need to get up. You're going to be late!" came her mother's voice.

Lola groaned and began to dress herself.

....

Lola quietly crept down the stairs and prepared herself for the worst. She hung her head with shame and put her hands behind her back, the posture of the penitent sinner.

She entered the kitchen and her entire family turned and looked at her. Their eyes were curious. Waiting for something.

"Mom....Dad...Lana...Everybody....I'm so sorry about wrecking my birthday party. Lynn, Luan, I'm' sorry I hurt you guys. And Lana, I don't think it's fair that you have to sleep downstairs. You can have our bedroom and I'll move down to the basement tonight. What I did was terrible and I deserve whatever punishment you give me."

No one said a word. Everyone looked at each other with mixed expressions. Lola went to the table and got her cereal, taking it to the living room where no one could be offended by her presence. She might as well get used to the life of an exile.

....

Lori Loud smiled and put her plate away. "Now that's more like it. I knew she had just been acting tough the whole time."

Rita shook her head. "It is an improvement but she's still grounded for the next twenty nine more days. Lana, you can have your room-"

But Lana had already put her plate away and left. She still wasn't able to forgive Lola for this one.

"Poor Lana." said Leni

Lincoln was lost in thought. Something weird was going on.

....

After breakfast, Lola got her backpack and waited in the car to go for school. It was way too early so it gave her plenty of time to think about her current future.

Her mind wandered onto all the fantastic penalties she would have to pay. She could see herself scrubbing the floors dressed in rags. Sitting in a dog carrier in the basement, being fed table scraps from the family table. Actually, now that she thought about it, these are the kinds of things Lana would ENJOY. All the more fitting punishments for Lola, the discarded and forgotten loud sibling. The source of unending shame for her family...

"...A guy at school took a dump that was almost seven pounds! Can you believe it?" Cried Lynn jumping into the car.

The other girls groaned in disgust as they got in. Most of them anyway.

"Fascinating. Can you describe the shape and color of it?" Inquired Lisa.

"You can see mine after I break his record!!" said Lynn

"Lynn, we will literally ban you from the family bathroom if you even think of trying that at home." Replied Lori

"Can I-?" Lana started to say, but after seeing Lola she turned her back and clamped her lips.

The rest of the ride was pretty quiet.

Except for the one moment where Luna turned around and said, "By the way, you were right."

Lola looked into Luna's eyes and blinked. "You're talking to me?"

"Yeah dude. I just wanted to say you were right. Blind Love. Nice one."

Luna turned around while Lola stared at her older sister like she was crazy.

....

At school Lola walked into class like a prisoner awaiting execution but to her surprise, no one said anything. They just stared at her. Waiting for something. Just like her family at the dinner table.

"Okay. This is kind of weird." Lola thought to herself. "Are they waiting for an apology too?"