Beauty and the Beat

Beauty and the Beat (17)

When I woke up, it was still dark outside. I let out a long sigh and pushed myself up out of bed, stretching before making my way out of my room and into the bathroom.

With the December dance show rapidly approaching, Mrs. Carson had us come in early before school and stay after school to practice. Some people might have found that grueling, but I loved it. I also knew the only reason she was making us practice so much was because most of the people in the show still barely knew how to dance.

Everyone in the house was still asleep, so I stayed silent as I got myself ready for the day. The show was so close and I couldn’t wait until it was finally time for the show. Even though mostly everyone still needed all the practice they could get…

It was five thirty when I made my way down the stairs to get something to eat for breakfast. I had to be at school at six, and since it only took five to ten minutes to drive there, I knew that I was in good shape.

As I passed by the calendar in the kitchen, I stopped dead in my tracks. I had forgotten what day it was. I remembered it the day before, but I was just so groggy first thing in the morning that I completely forgot that it was my birthday.

My eighteenth birthday.

I didn’t feel any different. Was I supposed to? Yes, I was now a legal adult, but nothing felt any different. I was still in high school, so it really still felt like I was just a kid. I couldn’t help but wonder when that would change.

I pushed two pieces of toast into the toaster and waited for it to pop up. My stomach growled, and I made a face. This was taking too long and I was growing impatient. I really wasn’t a morning person.

“Morning,” someone suddenly said from behind me after the toast had popped up, causing me to jump and nearly drop the toast onto the ground.

I spun around to see Ethan smirking at me. Why the hell was he up so early? He didn’t have to be at school for at least another hour!

“You scared me,” I breathed, covering my chest with my hand. “Don’t do that!”

He laughed, walking around me and plucking the piece of toast off of my plate without even saying another word to me.

“Hey,” I snapped, reaching for it. He lifted it above his head. “That’s mine!”

He stuck his tongue out at me. “You snooze you lose.” He then took a large bite out of it before handing it back to me. But I wasn’t so hungry anymore.

I scowled at him as I threw the toast back on its plate, and he grinned as he took it and gobbled up the rest. He knew I wouldn’t eat a quarter of a piece of toast.

You would think that he would be a little nicer to me, considering it was my birthday and all. But no, of course not. He was going to be his usual obnoxious self, like he always was. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had forgotten my birthday.

Wait a minute.

I just stared at him as he finished chewing on my toast. What if he had really forgotten that today was my birthday?

I didn’t want to just directly ask him if he knew that it was my birthday or not, so I just stayed silent as he fixed himself another piece of toast, as if I expected him to just wish me a happy birthday at any moment.

But he didn’t. He said nothing else to me, and it really ticked me off.

“I’m leaving,” I announced now, picking my backpack up and turning toward the door. “I won’t be back until a while after school ends because I have rehearsal.”