New Dawn

Surprises

MY SOPHOMORE YEAR FLEW PAST IN THE BLINK OF

an eye. And before I knew it, summer was coming to an end and my birthday was coming up. There were no memories or pictures of my birthday from years before and it had never been a big deal to me but this year, Eli had planned something special for me. The most shocking part was that she had worked with Nahuel to plan it. I insisted that I didn't want to do anything but when I found out they were working together, I couldn't say no or insist that they stop.

The weekend before my birthday came much too fast and before I knew it, Eli had me sitting on her bed as she covered me with makeup. "You're lucky. You don't need a whole lot of makeup." She frowned, "Actually, you don't need any at all."

"Ha ha ha. You are so funny Eli." I rolled my eyes in sarcasm. "When are you going to be done?"

"When I'm done." She glided a brush across my cheeks as she smiled.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" I closed my eyes and let her put something on my eyelids.

"It was supposed to be a surprise so I'm not going to tell you. You shouldn't even know as much as you do."

I laughed, "You're the one who couldn't keep the secret. I saw right through you."

She rolled her eyes, "Shut up. A normal human would have bought it." Her tone was playful but there was something in her voice that made me think I wasn't completely human to her. She handed me some lipstick, "Here. Put this on and you'll be all done."

Sheepishly smiling, I accepted the tube and turned toward the mirror. Eli had me wear a short, tight black dress. It was a simple strapless dress that I wore a long, soft pink, knitted cardigan with. "Okay Eli. I'm ready."

She smiled and finished putting her own makeup on, "Brady should be here any minute."

I hadn't seen any of the boys from La Push since my strange reaction when we went for a hike to the meadow. It had been months and months. "Brady?"

She smiled, "Of course. Why wouldn't he be coming?"

I turned from her questioning gaze, "I just thought him and Seth didn't like me or thought I was weird after our little hiking trip like a year ago?"

She moved away from me; gathering up her belongings. "No. They love you, they've just been waiting for you to contact them." She looked up at me, "You seemed really upset...They didn't know what happened or if they offended you."

Nonchalantly, I nodded my head and filled my purse with any items I might need for the night, "Oh."

Eli moved closer to me, "Can I ask you what really happened?"

I froze in the middle of placing my wallet in my bag and looked up at her in amazement – I never thought she was observant enough to pick up on my little white lie that day. "What do you mean?"

She looked at me with squinted eyes, "You know what I mean."

"I'm not sure." A headache built in my brain and I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Maybe I passed out and had a dream... Yeah. That's what happened."

"A dream about what?"

My smile vanished, "Nothing. It's stupid."

She nodded, "You don't have to tell me but I doubt it's stupid."