Caught Inside

Chapter Twenty-Four

"For You bless the righteous, O Lord; You cover him with favor as with a shield." – Psalm 5:12

When the final school bell rang on Friday afternoon, Alana jumped out of her seat and swiftly grabbed her belongings. She smiled and said goodbye to a few of her classmates before rushing out the door. At first, she made her way towards the gym, but then she realized that Coach Kerr had canceled their after-school surf session today. Since they didn't have a competition Saturday morning, he'd figured it would be okay if the team took the day off and had some fun on their Friday evening.

Alana was glad that there was no surf competition tomorrow morning. It was her birthday, after all, and she would much rather spend it freesurfing with the gang and Tammy.

Her pulse immediately kicked up a notch when she thought of her birthday. An Oreo cookie ice cream cake, lots of presents, and a day filled with surfing caused a smile to blossom on her face. She couldn't wait.

"Hey," a voice said, followed by someone's elbow nudging her in the side. She turned and realized it was Blaine.

"What's got you smiling so much?" he added.

"I'm just thinking about my birthday," she said. "I'm so excited!"

"Oh, sure...I figured you were daydreaming about Cole," he said.

Though Cole did make her smile, Alana shook her head, knowing he hadn't been on her mind at all for the last hour. But now that Blaine had brought him to her attention, she warmed slightly. "Don't go jumping to conclusions," she warned.

Blaine held his hands up. "I wasn't, trust me. I just like to follow my intuition."

"Well, then your intuition is jumping to conclusions."

His eyes twinkled. "Is it?"

Alana tossed her hair over her shoulder and pretended to ignore him, when in reality she was both in awe and wary of the fact that Blaine could read people so well. He often knew more about a situation than he let on.

"So," he said, changing the subject, "about your birthday...Cole has been working real hard on your present."

"Has he?" Her voice sounded way too optimistic.

Catching her tone, Blaine smirked, looking even more like his twin. "You're gonna love his present."

"Which is?"

"Yeah right. Like I'm going to tell you."

"Fine." Alana rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "It was worth a shot. Tammy used to fall for it."

They entered the breezeway, where they paused their conversation for a brief moment in order to part ways and go to their lockers. After retrieving their necessary books, they rejoined paths and headed towards the parking lot together.

"Okay," Alana chuckled, "I'm kind of confused here. Are you really admitting that Cole's present for me is way better than yours?"

Blaine feigned surprise. "Who said I was getting you a present?"

"Hey!"

"Alright, I am getting you a present, and you're right—Cole's is way better than mine."

Alana poked him in the chest. "You need to put in more effort next time, mister."

"Wow, so pushy."