Cecile's New School

April 18th, Just a Normal- (Happy Birthday!)

Chapter Twenty

Distraction, distraction, distraction, distraction, distraction.  Foster looked around desperately.  He needed a distraction for Cecile and he needed to think of it quickly. 

It was April 18th, her birthday, and everyone would be setting up her surprise party at his house after school.  He left the planning, inviting people, and setting up to Barry, Jane, and his mother.  They had said the only thing he had to do was distract her until they texted him that everything was ready. 

He didn't know how long that would take.  15 minutes?  2 hours?  He didn't know.  Maybe-

"Foster!  Everyone left.  Why are you still here?  I was waiting for you outside, but you were just staring off into space.  Time to go home."  Cecile waved her hand in front of his face. 

He blinked out of his trance.  "Huh?"  He asked before realizing he was sitting alone in his 7th hour class.  She poked her head out of the door.  "I probably missed the bus.  Can you bring me to the mall?  Mom wanted me to come visit."  She asked him. 

Foster's eyes lit up.  This distraction plan was just falling into his lap. "Yeah!  Yes!  Let's go."  He nodded and stood up enthusiastically. 

Cecile stopped.  "This sounds fishy."  She stuck out her lip and leaned closer to him.  He raised an eyebrow.  She shrugged.  "I'm not going to question this great opportunity where Foster doesn't complain." 

She walked with him to the car and hopped in.  Cecile filled the car with mindless chatter as they approached the mall, but she did not once speak about how her birthday.  Usually, Cecile would brag and string together funny stories of her family on her birthday. 

Foster looked at her.  She had a faraway gaze out the window as she indifferently jumped from conversation topic to conversation topic. 

On any other day, her words would be backed with substance and her eyes would glint with passion for the thing she was talking about, but today her mouth continued to talk about nothing while her mind brooded silently about everything.  That made Foster think about her behavior when it came to her birthday. 

His eyes swirled with quiet answers.  It could've been that she didn't have any good birthday memories at all.  It was almost like she was avoiding her birthday, totally erasing it from existence. 

Foster now didn't dare bring it up.  It was if he had forgotten it also, at least from the outside. 

When they arrived at the mall, Cecile tugged Foster out of the car and into the building by his wrist, which was covered by his long jacket sleeve. 

"Where are we go-?"  He started, but she grabbed a sample from a nearby tray and popped it in his mouth.  "Barbecue."  He grumbled as he chewed.  She grabbed another one and happily ate it. 

She ended up dragging him all the way to The ALPS.  Foster saw Cecile's mother in the front of her store. 

Mrs. Braydon's whole stiff and business-like posture loosened when she spotted her daughter.  Her body then tensed up again, but in excitement.  "Happy Birthday, CeCe!"  Her beautiful mother sprung out of the store. 

She collapsed onto her daughter and smothered her in a hug.  She was still so graceful and lithe in those tall heels of hers. 

Cecile let go of her firm grasp on Foster's covered wrist when her mother grabbed her close.  He shook out his hand.  It was sore from her tight grasp.

"Best friend!"  Mrs. Braydon squealed when she spotted Foster.  The toothpick from the sample stopped its dance on his tongue.  She wrapped him in a swift hug.