Immaculate

Gabriel's Birthday

Part Sixty-Six

Sang's POV

I lit the last candle and looked around the room, happy with what Luke, Victor, Kota and I had managed to accomplish in less than three hours.

Monday and Tuesday had been really hard. North, Silas, Kota and Nathan were not at school either day and for the first time I was taking classes on my own. It was only Biology and Geometry, but it was still hard. The others kept as close to me as they could, especially at lunch times, but I felt the eyes of the other students on us, whispers in the corridors.

There must have been more damage than they thought because come Wednesday they were still not back at school.

I was staying with Nathan in the evenings with Gabriel and Victor and then going back to my house to sleep. North and Silas stayed with me Monday night and they had told me that they didn't understand how much damage one person could cause. The following night Kota and Luke stayed with me and they told me that she'd got hold of a hammer from somewhere and had banged holes in pretty much every wall. Gabriel's room had been completely destroyed and she'd smashed all her plates and glasses in the kitchen.

I felt sorry for Gabriel who had lost almost everything he had. They told me that Victor had replaced as much as he could, but some things were not replaceable. Gabriel seemed to have bounced back from it quite quickly though and to look or talk to him you would never know. But sometimes he got a far away look in his eye and I knew he wasn't as ok as he claimed to be.

Thursday everything was back to normal and they were back at school. I knew that we had missed Gabriel's birthday and I wanted to do something for him besides the paintball, so when I had violin lessons with Mr Blackbourne I had brought it up and asked what he thought about it.

He had told me that everyone would be free friday evening and that if I wanted to organise something then, he would help me out as much as he could. I had immediately group texted everyone but Gabriel and told them what I wanted to do. Between us we had come up with a plan. Mr Blackbourne and Dr Green had held Gabriel back after school Thursday and Victor and Kota had taken me shopping at the mall. I had taken some of my own money and between us we have bought everything we needed to make a small party for him.

Friday had been spent trying not to let it slip to him, but I think that towards the end of the day he was beginning to get really suspicious. Mr Blackbourne held him back again and we had hurried home to decorate Nathan's living room.

Balloons and streamers hung from his living room ceiling, there was a banner over the door saying "Happy 16th Birthday". We had shifted the coffee table out of the room into Nathan's bedroom and shoved all the sofas back to leave a wide open space where we could play games or dance. An hour before Mr Blackbourne was going to bring him back, North and Silas came in with Dr Green carrying bags of food that they had bought. We used the island in the kitchen to lay all the food out while Victor had taken his car keys and gone to get the birthday cake he had ordered.

I had wrapped his presents and set them on the floor by the TV; I noticed quite a few other presents making their way there and I realised that everyone else had bought him things too.

When Victor had come back I'd been in awe at the cake. It was made into a replica of a Gibson Guitar complete with strings. It had sixteen candles along the frets and his name across the guitar surround. I was very excited and when Dr Green came in telling us that Mr Blackbourne had just pulled up with Gabe, I had lit the candles and then Kota had switched off all the lights and we waited quietly in the dark room.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" Gabriel's voice rang out. "Are they over at her house, Mr B?"

Gabriel switched the light on and we all cried out surprise. His face was priceless, he stared around him in total surprise which gave way to utter delight and I was so glad we had gone ahead and done this for him.