Gossamer (10 page)

Happy Birthday, honey! We didn’t forget, but we didn’t want to wake you up early on your birthday either. We are sorry, but we will be getting home late due to tonight’s charity event. Save us a piece!

xoxo, Mom and Dad

I lifted the lid and peered inside. Chocolate, my favorite. The smell wafted up out of the box and tempted me into cutting into it right then. I forced myself to close the box and head out the door.

“Well looks like someone is a happy birthday girl.” Lexie’s mouth pulled back in a wide grin. “Did you get my text?”

“Of course I did.” I smiled back. She had texted me the entire Happy Birthday song at exactly one minute after midnight. Reaching behind my seat, she produced a small bag. I grinned. “What’s this?”

“Open it and find out.” Without hesitation I reached into the bag and found a small box. I smiled.

“Open it already!”

I popped up the lid and found a gorgeous necklace. I lifted the chain and admired the medallion that lay in the palm of my hand. It was a small, solid, circular disc with an oak tree cast. I had admired it a few days ago, when Lexie and I were on our shopping trip. Something had drawn me to it. The tiny details of the oak tree had left me in awe. It had an abundance of branches each one carefully crafted and tiny roots anchored it in place. It was beautiful.

“Lexie I love it.” I hugged her tightly.

“I noticed you checking it out the other day and just knew you had to have it. Let me help you get it on.” I turned and lifted my hair. She fastened the necklace around my neck. “It suits you.” Her face lit up.

I ran my fingers against the cold metal. She was right–I did feel like this necklace was meant for me. “I think today might just turn out to be my best birthday on record.”

“I agree. Now let’s get school over with so we can have some fun.”

* * * *

When I opened my locker, the smell of fresh flowers greeted me. My stomach immediately fluttered. I bit my bottom lip and thought of Grant. I wondered which office helper he had bribed for my locker combination. I couldn’t stop the grin fluttering my lips at the thought of the trouble he’d gone through to get it. Attached to the twelve pink roses hung a card. Careful not to tear the envelope, I opened it.

Happy Birthday, Kylie. I’m sorry about the other night. I hope there are no hard feelings. See you at lunch?–Bryce

My heart sank, which also made me feel guilty. The roses from Bryce were beautiful and considerate, but they weren’t from Grant. I should have known though. The student helpers in the office all knew Bryce and would happily hand over my locker combination to him, especially knowing how close we were.

“Ooh, roses. Someone thinks you’re special.” Lexie grinned.

“Bryce.” My voice fell flat.

“Oh.” She seemed to share in my disappointment. “Well, it’s still early. You have lots of birthday left.”

I slipped the flowers back into my locker, praying I would not run into him. I walked the halls on high alert. I desperately wanted to see Grant but also wanted to avoid Bryce. It was hard getting around like that, but I managed to avoid Bryce. Unfortunately, I never saw Grant either.

At lunch time, I headed with Lexie to the cafeteria. Thankfully, she had in fact broken up with Dylan over the weekend so we were not sitting at same table as he and Bryce.

My lunch lodged in my throat as anticipation tied my stomach into knots. Grant remained unseen, and I knew it was only a matter of time until I ran into Bryce. Pretending I was mad seemed like a good way to avoid him, but I decided that was just too mean. While I picked at my lunch, Lexie kept me entertained with a story about some poor guy in her Chem class who walked in with toilet paper attached to his shoe. I gave her a curious look when she became unnaturally quiet. She made a slight gesture over my shoulder.

My heart raced as my lips pulled back into a wide smile. I spun around and stared into the eyes of Bryce. My smile faltered, but I did my best to hide my disappointment.

“Hey Bryce. Thank you so much for the flowers. I looked all over for you this morning to thank you, but never could find you.” I forced a sweet smile even while stabbed with a hint of guilt. “I can’t wait to get them home and into some water. I feel bad leaving them in my locker but I figure that’s the safest place for them right now.”

Bryce smiled broadly, clearly happy with my response to his gift. “I’m glad you liked them.” He paused for an awkward moment. If he was waiting for me to say something else, he didn’t get it, instead I just mentally prayed he would leave and end this conversation. “So, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday in person.”

“Thanks Bryce. That’s nice of you.”

He flinched at my use of the word nice. “Okay then. I will see you around.”

“Have a good lunch.” I smiled and shifted back to my food.

Lexie grinned at me as Bryce walked away. “When did you become such a good liar? I thought lying was my gig?”

This time, shame flooded through me. “That was awful wasn’t it? I’m a bad person aren’t I?”

“Of course not! Don’t feel bad about brushing off Bryce. I mean the flowers were a nice gesture, but the steady flow of drinks and leading you to his room bit, definitely crossed some lines.”

I flashed back to Friday night, remembering the hallway. I was very dizzy and wanted a place to sit down, when Grant appeared and began to argue with Bryce about taking me home. I tried hard to remember every detail of the conversation to no avail. Either way my heart still fluttered in my chest with the thought of Grant stepping in for me. Where was he? I lifted my head and scanned the cafeteria.

“Lexie, have you seen Grant or Conor today?”

“No, actually I haven’t. I’m guessing you haven’t either?” She looked a bit concerned.

“No.” I felt a frown forming on my face. “What if they are absent? Do you think this means dinner–”

“Of course not. They are probably here somewhere, and even if they aren’t they wouldn’t miss your birthday dinner.” Her voice sounded optimistic but her expression didn’t seem so sure.

“Yeah, I guess. It was his idea after all. He wouldn’t stand me up.”
Would he?
I nervously bit on my bottom lip.

“Hey Kyla.” Cerise stood over me, with an evil smile on her face. “Rumor has it, you threw yourself at Grant and now he skipped school just to stay far away from you.”

“Oh please Cerise,” Lexie chimed in, her tone full of annoyance, “You and I both know that’s a lie, and if there really is a rumor floating around school, we all know who started it.” She raised her voice ensuring other tables heard. “You would do something that pathetic.”

Cerise scowled at Lexie and opened her mouth to speak when my embarrassment metamorphosed into anger. I had enough of Cerise and refused to let her ruin my good day.

I shot her a fierce glare. “Actually Cerise, everyone knows you were the one throwing yourself at Grant.”

My words caught her off guard. She just stood there staring at me.

“If he is avoiding anyone it’s you.” My words were full of venom. “You are just upset he ditched you at the party and drove me home.” I made sure everyone in earshot could hear the last part. I heard a few suppressed giggles around me.

Her mouth fell open. She snapped it shut, then seemed about to speak but instead pursed her lips probably searching for a comeback. Red slowly crept into Cerise’s face as our little showdown attracted more attention.

I couldn’t help it, I seized the opportunity. “You know Cerise, your act is getting old. You prance around this school like you own the place. You think everyone must bow down to you and if someone stands in your way you attack. Well, let me just remind you, high school will be over soon, very soon. And then what will you be? You won’t be queen B, and by B yes I mean bitch, of this high school anymore. What will you be then? Just a girl, a girl without a single real friend.”

Rage flared in her expression and she opened her mouth, but I cut her off. “What, you have friends? Well, where are they Cerise? Where are they now?”

I gestured around her. “I don’t see anyone defending you right now, and you know why that is? It’s because everyone agrees with me but no one is brave enough to say it to your face. But I’m done. I don’t care what you think or how bad you tarnish my reputation. I’ve laid it out right here, right now, and everyone knows anything you say from here on out will be a complete lie since,” I looked from side-to-side, “they are apparently privy to our little conversation.”

Her usually pale complexion burned red.

“Now if you don’t mind Cerise, today’s my birthday, and I’m trying to enjoy lunch with my best friend. Maybe one day you will understand what a
friend
is,” I mocked sympathy and eyed her over. “But then again, maybe not.” I shrugged.

A flustered expression contorted Cerise’s face, tainting her normally perfect appearance. Lexie broke the silence with loud whoops of laughter, which spread like wildfire. Our side of the cafeteria buzzed with laughs, whispers and even some applause. Cerise gawked at the staring faces, unable to speak, and stormed off.

The tiniest bit of guilt settled over me, but then I glanced around and found Abby Martin smiling at me, and remembered the time Cerise publicly humiliated the girl when she accidentally bumped into her. I also saw the fascinated expression on Bailey Hobbs and recalled the time Cerise got the entire girls tennis team to make fun of Bailey and call her fat when she came back from summer vacation. When in fact she was not fat, just filled out, and in reality she looked better in her tennis skirt than Cerise. But in classic Cerise fashion, she beat Bailey down until she finally quit the team.

Surrounding me were Cerise victims, and each wore a satisfied expression, seeing her finally get what she deserved. I didn’t know how long my little victory would last, but decided I wouldn’t feel guilty and was just going to ride this high as long as I could.

Realizing people were still staring at me I smiled shyly and shrugged, then quickly looked back down at my lunch but I couldn’t stop my mouth from twitching.

“Best. Birthday. Ever,” Lexie whispered with a wicked grin on her face.

* * * *

The rest of the school day went surprisingly fast. I received a ton of birthday wishes and lots of silent nods in the hall from people I hardly knew. I had instantly gone from a girl at school to high school hero. It was an amazing feeling, unfortunately I couldn’t completely enjoy it because I never found Grant and finally came to terms with the fact he just wasn’t there.

We were sitting in eighth period Physics when Lexie leaned in my direction. “Cheer up, plans are still on. I just got a text from Conor. He said they weren’t at school today because they had some family stuff to take care of, but hoped plans were still on for tonight.”

I stared at her. “Wait. What? You two text?” Geez, I didn’t even know Grant’s phone number and Lexie and Conor were texting.

She shrugged casually as if it was no big deal, “We exchanged numbers Friday night.”

I shook my head slowly and a smile crept over my face. “Only you Lexie, only you.” Leave it to her to get a guy’s number that fast. “Well, what did you tell him?”

“Yes, of course,” she looked at me like I was crazy. “I told him plans were still on. They are meeting us at your house around five.”

My heart raced with excitement. I looked up at the clock and willed the minutes to tick away faster. I couldn’t wait to get out of class. As if reading my mind, Mrs. Carter spoke just then.

“Kyla?” I looked at my teacher. She motioned me to her desk. “Bring your stuff.” Lexie glanced at me, puzzled. I stood and clutched my bag. My stomach fell. I silently prayed this had nothing to do with my cafeteria outburst as I walked up to our teacher’s desk.

“Yes?”

“Since it’s your birthday, why don’t you take off a few minutes early?” She said in a quiet voice, but wore a sweet smile. “Consider it my gift to you. Although I hear you may have already received the best gift of all.” I thought back to my necklace and the flowers, wondering what she was talking about. She chuckled in a low voice, as she obviously saw my confused expression.

“Courage, Kyla. What you did today, you will never forget. It will shape you into the person you want to be. I know Lexie has always been there for you, but finding your own voice was a great gift, and it was a gift to countless others out there.”

Coming from any other adult, this conversation might seem cheesy, but coming from Mrs. Carter, it made my heart swell. I wasn’t sure why, but I almost felt like I could cry.

She patted my hand and her eyes were kind. “Well then, birthday girl, I assume Lexie is your ride home?” I nodded not sure if I could speak just yet. “Lexie, please bring your stuff and come to my desk.”

Lexie snatched up her already packed bag and joined us.

“Get this birthday girl out of here. Time to have some fun.” Mrs. Carter grinned.

“Yes, ma’am.” Lexie nodded, with a huge smile. She hooked her hand in mine and practically dragged me to the door. I turned back to Mrs. Carter and she nodded slightly. I smiled back as the door closed behind me.

* * * *