The Gift

The Crush

Now I'm not going to say what happened next because I'd be droning on and on about school. But I will explain what happened after school.

I was walking towards the school gate to wait for Liam or Olivia. I hadn't seen Liam all day, so I assumed he was feeling unwell. I waited for five minutes before I heard voices, familiar voices. I went to the apple tree to see what Mickey was up to. I walked around the side of the old trunk and saw Mickey trying to pull Olivia's bag from her. "Hey" I shouted out, knowing that it was gonna end badly. For one of us at least. Mickey let go of Olivia and stood up straight. "Sup freak" he grins, as he knows this name bothers me. I feel my anger bubbling inside my chest, like a volcano, ready to erupt. "Leave her alone, mickey" I say, sounding more confident than I was. "Or what??" He asks, snickering. My mind goes round in circles for a solution to get out of this situation. "Ha. Didn't think so, freak" he says.

All my anger comes out at once and I clench my fist. I run at Mickey and sock him hard in the cheek. He falls to the ground and grabs the place i hit him. He turns to look up at me, tears forming in his eyes. "Or that will happen" I say, answering his question. "Oh and Cowbell, leave me alone from now on" I smile at Olivia, who looked shocked at what I had done. I pick up her bag and begin walking away from them. Olivia catches up to me and looks at my face. "What??" I ask. "I still can't figure you out. Are you kind or violent?" She asks, her voice sounded concerned. "I'm kind. That's the first time I've hit Mickey. That's the first time anyone ever hit mickey". She nods and takes her bag. "Why did you call him Cowbell??" She asks. She had loads of them, and I didn't have an answer for all of them. "His second name is Cowmell. I just thought to call him that." I smile and begin walking home. I turn onto my street and walk towards my house. My mum's black ford sits outside on the driveway, as usual, the key under the frog stone, as usual, the large box on the table, not usual. "MUM??" I shout upstairs. No answer. I walk into the back garden and the first thing I notice is the amount of people in it. Adults, children, friends. I smile at them all and they all shout "SURPRISE". I run into the garden and my friends bombard me with hugs and noogies. The last is Olivia, and don't ask me how she got to my house faster than me. I smile at her and she blushes. "I didn't really get you a gift but" she kisses my cheek "I think that will do". The first thing that happens is my face goes bright red and I stare at her in shock. I try and murmur out a few words but all that comes out is a stutter. She giggles and walks away. "Hey look...you got a girlfriend" says Liam, and I give him a dig in the arm.

I smile at Olivia and see how her hair stands out in the evening sun. The sun is still quite high in the air but a pink lining over the clouds is forming in the sky. "Now Michael...don't mess anything up" I think. I walk over to Olivia and open my mouth. Before I say anything she has already answered. "Yes" she says. "Excuse me??" I asked, slightly relieved I didn't have to ask her the question. "Yes" she repeats, blushing a soft pink. I smile and kiss her cherk softly, which causes her blush to deepen. My mum looks over and shakes her head. "Teenagers..." I hear her mumble and she walks off towards a pack of adults.