Winter trip

Chapter 1

'Yeah, and then-'

'Cynthia, can you come down for a second?!' I hear my mother call from downstairs. I heave a loud sigh. What does she want now?

'I got to go, Robin. Mom needs me.' I tell Robin, who I was on the phone with while sitting up on my bed very slowly.

'Okay, call me when you're done. That way, you have someone else to rant against than your pillow.' Robin says. Even though what she says is playful, I hear the worry and sympathy in her voice. She knows I hate it here.

'Will do. Be prepared!' I tell her and hang up. I walk towards my bedroom door, again, very slowly. I want to enjoy the peace for just a few moments longer.

Sadly, I reach the living room way to fast, for my liking. My parents, think differently though.

'What took you so long? It's not like you have to walk several miles.' My mother complains. That all she does, complaining. At least when it comes to me.

'Sorry, sorry. So, what did you need?' I ask, not even trying to sound remorseful. Why should I? Especially when it comes to the question they are about to ask.

'Well, honey' she only calls me that when she wants something from me 'we need you to come with us to this interview we were asked to do. They want to hear from our daughter. You will come and behave, right?' My mother asks in a tone she thinks sounds sweet, but just sounds incredibly strained to me. Her tone tells me she's asking, but her eyes tell me she is demanding.

My father looks the same way. The won't accept a ''no''.

I heave another heavy sigh, then plaster on a fake smile and say 'Of course, mother, I will be happy to!' Then turn around, and walk back upstairs. That way, I don't have to see their pleased smiles. I hate those the most, because it means that I must, yet again, do something, I really don't want to do. When I reach my bedroom, I close my door, being careful not to slam it which I much rather would want to do, and let myself fall back on my bed. I grab my pillow and scream in it for a while. I reach for my phone, while still holding the pillow to my face, and speed dial Robin's number. She picks up after the second ring.

'Hey, so what did they want now?' she asks.

I don't say anything for a while, since the pillow is still on my face and I don't want to start crying. I hate crying.

'Are you holding your pillow to your face, again?' I hear Robin ask. She knows me to well.

The next hour I spent screaming provocations and trying, and failing, to hold back my tears. Most days I'm not this vulnerable. The thing that's really getting to me, is that today is my birthday.

^^^^

The next day, I walk into the school building and spot Luke standing next to my locker. I walk up to him and he looks my way.

'Hey Luke, how was Hawaii?' I ask. He had been gone for the last two weeks, on a vacation with his mother and Carl, his stepdad. He doesn't like Carl, so I can only image how it must have been.

'Awful. My mom only wanted to do things as a ''family'' and we went to the beach every day on Carl's request. They both know I hate the beach, but do they care? Apparently not.' He says, grumbling.

I give him a sympathetic smile. I know it gets to him more than he's showing. He loves his mother to death and they used to do everything for each other. Though, as soon as she got remarried, she directed all her attention to Carl. Luke has it tough.

'That sucks.' Is all I say though. We all hate pity.

Suddenly, Luke starts smiling and reaches into his backpack.

'Well, the trip might have sucked, but I got some nice stuff. The things in the stores there were so cheap.' He pulls something out of his backpack and extends it to me.

'It may be a day late, but happy birthday Cyn!' He says, a bright smile painted on his face. For a few seconds, I just stand there, shocked he remembered. Than my own face spilt into a smile. There are not enough words to describe how I feel right now.

I reach my hand out and take the present. It's nothing big, just a small little box with shinning purple wrapping paper around it. Purple, together with blue, my favorite color. I smile gets even bigger, if that is even possible. I turn the gift in my hands and start unwrapping it carefully so that I don't damage the wrapping paper. When its unwrapped, I quickly fold the paper and put it in my bag. I hear Luke laughing at that while he still watches me open my gift. I open the little box and gasp when I see what's inside. Inside the box, lays a necklace. As I pull it out I'm completely focused on the image on the pendant. It shows the outline of a wolf standing on a cliff, its head up howling at the moon. The blue colors and the huge moon on the background makes for an absolutely stunning image.

'Oh Luke, it's beautiful.' I say, completely taken by the pendant.

He smiles and takes the pendant from my hand, while using his other hand to turn me around. He grabs both ends of the necklace and hold it in front of my neck. I grab my hair and hold it high in a ponytail, so he can fasten the clips. When he got it, he turns me to face him again and smiles.

'Jup, I made a good choice. It looks beautiful on you.' He says.

I blush slightly, but still smile up at him. I don't think anything could make me frown today. I have never been this happy.

Suddenly, Robin appears by Luke's side, grins creepy than snatches my wrist and starts running. Being forced to follow, since Robin is way stronger than me, I start running too while having no idea of where we're going. I turn around and see that Luke follows us with just as much confusion written on his face. I turn my head back to look at Robin.

'Robin, where are we going?!' I ask. She doesn't answer, though, and just keeps running. I don't even try again, knowing how stubborn she can be when she doesn't want to answer something.

So, as we run through the halls of our school, I try to keep up with Robin and just wait patiently until we get to our destination. When she finally starts to slow down, I start paying attention to our surroundings. We are, still running even though we slowed down, through the upper floor of the school building, the third floor. We're approaching the old art room. It isn't being used anymore, so me and my friends' kind of made it into our hang out. We mostly gather there at lunch or during free periods. As we reach the door, Robin pushes it open. The room is completely shrouded in darkness. Is guess they closed the curtains. Robin pulls at my hand and then pushes me into the room. As soon as Luke stands in the room with me and Robin closes the door, loud bangs are heard and I jump slightly. Suddenly, the curtains are being drawn open and light floods the room. I close my eye against the sudden burst of light. When my eyes are adjusted and I open them, I see Chelsie, Sam, Jack and Robin standing in the middle of the room with party poppers. I guess those were the loud bangs. When they see I have my eyes open, their faces split into huge grins as they all yell simultaneously: 'Surprise, happy birthday!'

For a few seconds, I'm trying to comprehend what just happened. When I finally do, tears spring to my eyes almost immediately. Robin sees this quickly and makes her way over to me, still smiling.

'I hope those are tears of joy?' she asks, though she already knows the answer. I'm not able to respond to her, so I just nod my head.

She laughs and hugs me, wishing me a happy birthday for the second time. Tears are still rolling down my cheeks as the others join us too, creating a group hug. Finally, I'm able to laugh and hug everyone back. They, once again, all yell 'happy birthday!' and I laugh even harder.

I have the best friends in the world.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
I haven't edited this yet ('cause I'm lazy), so if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, please let me know :)