Hidden | Completed

8| The Gift of Friendship

Wednesday | October 12th, 2016 | Eliana

My alarm went off at its usual time, 6:30 AM. I groaned and peeled my eyes open, rubbing the sleep out of them. I shut the alarm on my phone off and let out a yawn.

I dragged myself out of bed to do my normal morning routine. It was only when I was mindlessly brushing my teeth that I remembered what today was.

My birthday.

You would think I'd be excited about turning seventeen, but I wasn't. I stopped caring about my birthday because, well, my parents stopped caring. My mom used to bake me a cake every year and my dad would always take me out somewhere fun. They'd shower me with gifts, and I always felt like a princess. After my 12th birthday, that all stopped. All I get now is a dry happy birthday from each of them.

After brushing my teeth, I got dressed. I put on a light gray shirt that said 'Need More Sleep' on it and some black leggings. I slid on my black Converse and put my school stuff neatly in my backpack before I slung it onto one shoulder. I left my room and headed downstairs for breakfast.

When I walked into the kitchen, it was completely empty.

"Mom? Dad?" I called out.

No response.

I assumed they went into work early today. My stomach growled loudly, and I sighed. I didn't have time to make any actual food for breakfast. It was already 7:15 and I needed to leave within the next fifteen minutes.

I made some toast with jam and washed it down with a glass of orange juice. By the time I was done, it was nearing 7:30. I double checked to make sure I had everything before I left the house.

The weather was nice today. Not too cold and not too hot. A perfect mixture. I was already walking past Katerina's house when I heard her call out my name. I stopped walking to wait for her to catch up with me.

"Morning, birthday girl," she greeted. "Happy birthday."

My mood improved immensely with just those five simple words.

I smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

We started our usual walk to school, and I took the opportunity to comment on how she dressed today. She was wearing a plain white T-shirt, black jeans with rips on the thighs, a leather jacket, black combat boots, and a black beanie with a skull on it. I also took notice of the piercings she had in her ears, which I had never seen before. She had two helix piercings on each ear and both lobes. She had black studs on her lobes and two small black hoops for her helix piercings.

"You look very colorful today," I joked. "I didn't know you had ear piercings."

She chuckled. "Both of us look very colorful today. I haven't worn earrings in a while, so I decided to today."

"I wish I had my ears pierced. My parents never let me get them done."

Her arm went around my shoulders. "I can take you to get them some day. There's actually a place downtown that does piercings. I'm thinking about getting my industrial done."

The rest of our walk was filled with conversations about piercings, tattoos, and art since she asked me about the drawings I had hanging up in my room. She even showed me some tattoo ideas she had saved on Pinterest. Some of the ones she showed me definitely would look good on her. Our friendly conversation made me forget about the absence of my parents this morning.

Katerina still had her arm over my shoulders when we walked into school.  Several people were staring at us and it was starting to bother me. I was so focused on observing the people staring at us that I completely missed everything Katerina had said.