Everything I Didn't Say

t w e n t y - f o u r

TWENTY-FOUR

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISLA!" a group of girls from my drama class cooed as soon as they got to me. Each were holding identically-shaped packages wrapped in the same paper. These girls weren't necessarily part of the core acting group, they specialised in costume and makeup so I'd been close enough to them to know their names.

"Thanks Cindy, Mindy, Lindsay" I greeted, nodding at each of them individually. They tittered together in synchronisation, making me feel as though I'd just entered some kind of shooting for a creepy, psycho film.

"I'll take those from you" Jenna said, reaching over and collecting their presents from them. She added them to the quite large pile on one of the nearest tables. "Thanks" she told them and the three girls moved along, giggling again.

"Skates are on the far side!" Jenna called after them helpfully. They waved their approval with matching fake pink nails. When they had disappeared, my best friend turned to me with a beam on her face. "So, are you enjoying your birthday or what?" she asked.

I nodded brightly. "This is seriously so amazing" I told her truthfully. "You know, I was worried you were gonna go really, really over the top for this but I'm quite happy."

"Well ..." she turned a little red, "it is a bit over the top but it's like, a healthy dose of it. It's not too much, huh?"

"How did you even think of this?" I wondered out of curiosity.

"I can't take full credit" she flipped her hair though, proud of herself. "Your Mom chipped in and Link helped me plan it all - would you believe he's really good at working out a colour scheme?"

This morning, on the 27th of January, I'd been woken up to Xavier leaping on my bed and scream-singing 'happy birthday' to me. My Mom soon joined him, carrying in my breakfast-in-bed tray and a small pile of presents.

My Mom and my brother had both pooled together to get me a new phone since my other had been puked on by Summer during the week (and let me tell you, no amount of cleaning it had got that awful baby sick smell off of it). Mom had also gotten me a really nice gold locket that was empty. When I opened it, she told me conspiratorially: "it's for you to keep a memory in that you'll want to treasure forever."

My day had been quite lazy - which is exactly how I liked it. Xavier sat through as many of my films he could handle, without complaining once and Mom bestowed my homemade birthday cake on me. It was chocolate with white icing and roses decorating it. We had a slice while we all sat and watched Little Women (which Xavier secretly loves but will forever deny it).

Later, my two Aunts surprised me by showing up. They each gave me their presents which were both so sentimental and sweet and I thought that was going to be a lovely end to my birthday. But no. Of course, I'd conveniently forgotten the 'surprise' Jenna had in store for me.

She showed up on my doorstep in a cute sea-foam dress, accompanied by Link who was wearing a devilish grin. In her arms was her present to me: a gorgeous burgundy dress with spaghetti straps and a silky skirt. I'd been astounded - especially when she gave me strict instructions to wear it, tie my hair back and be certain to put on a pair of cotton shirts underneath.

This threw me off my game, a lot. Because, why get me a dress if I was going to be in a position where I might fall flat on my ass? But I complied to their requests fairly quickly and when I returned back downstairs, Mom, Xavier, Mercy and Charlotte were all dressed up too, ready and raring to go.

The drive over to wherever we were going was cramped and confusing. Mom drove - which probably wasn't a good idea to begin with because as I've mentioned before she's a terrible driver. Mercy and Charlotte were squished in the back, with Link who was so uncomfortable it was practically hilarious. Jenna sat in the passenger seat with me perched precariously on her knee, the seatbelt stretched over both of us.