Chatoyant College Book 4: The Flicker

Chapter 23: More Surprises

Edie spent most of the rest of the day studying. Dawn, when she came in to do the readings for magic class with Corrie, seemed surprised that they hadn't asked her to come to breakfast with them, but Corrie explained that Naomi had said she was on the phone, so they didn't want to interrupt her. Other than that, she seemed to act perfectly normal, like it was any other day. Edie wondered if she didn't want them to know it was her birthday. Well, even if that was the case, it was too late. They had their plan in place. Rico had even promised to find the restaurant and make reservations.

Unfortunately, knowing they had a surprise planned made it hard for Edie to concentrate. She managed to get through what was basically busywork for her FYE class pretty easily, but she kept getting distracted from her French, making her forget how to conjugate verbs and how to spell simple words. After a while she decided to take a knitting break. Corrie and Dawn were muttering about some magic thing across the room, anyway, and when there was noise it was easier to think about knitting than about other languages. Even if this was a tricky bit. She was knitting a pair of mittens, expecting it to get pretty cold at Chatoyant College as the semester progressed, and was currently working on the thumb of the first mitten. It wasn't easy. Hanging onto the double-pointed needles was annoying, and she had to keep double-checking how many stitches she was supposed to have. The pattern was written for Magic Loop, another method of circular knitting, rather than DPNs. Maybe she should learn Magic Loop someday...

However, the knitting managed to distract her, and once she'd calmed her mind with that, she was able to concentrate better on her French homework. She'd almost finished it when a knock came at the door. Corrie called "Come in," and Rico opened the door.

"Oh, hi, Rico," said Dawn, sitting up and putting her book down. "What's up?"

"Time for dinner," he said, a small grin on his face. He looked like he was trying but failing to hide his expression.

Dawn looked a little surprised. "Okay, that sounds good to me. What about you guys?"

"Sure," said Corrie.

"Definitely," said Edie. She hooked her pen over the page in her French textbook to mark it, then closed the book and stood up. Dawn had to go next door to get her shoes, which was convenient, because it meant Naomi found out that it was time to go too.

They walked down the stairs together, but subtly let Rico take the lead once they were away from Gilkey. Dawn was walking with him, of course, but he knew where the restaurant was, and none of the rest of them knew its location exactly. Edie saw Dawn try to turn toward the path that would lead to the dining hall and Rico take her hand and gently pull her the other way. She wrinkled her eyebrows at him, but didn't interrupt what she was saying about the reading for magic class.

When they reached the gates of the college, though, she stopped, and even Rico pulling her by the hand couldn't get her to move. "What is going on, Rico?" she asked. She looked behind her. "Didn't you guys... no, you're conspiring, aren't you? What are you doing?"

They all looked at each other. No one spoke for a moment. Finally Corrie said, "Well, I guess we've kept it a secret for long enough. Time to reveal the surprise."

"Okay," said Rico. "Dawn, we're taking you out to eat for your birthday."

Dawn stared at them for a moment, her mouth working soundlessly, then she burst out laughing. When she had calmed down a little, she said, "How did any of you know it was my birthday? I didn't tell anyone!"

Naomi grinned. "I overheard your mom."

Dawn laughed again. "She always talks too loudly on the phone. I can't believe you heard her from across the room."

"You're not mad, right?" Edie asked. She tried not to sound too anxious, but it was strange that Dawn had deliberately not told anyone it was her birthday. "We're your friends, we couldn't not do anything."

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at all. Just surprised. I really didn't think you would do anything even if I told you, and since my birthday is so early in the year, I felt awkward telling anybody." Dawn shook her head, but was still grinning as she gestured out of the gates. "Lead on, Rico."

"So you're nineteen?" Corrie asked as they started to walk again, more in a group this time, though still letting Rico lead.

"Yeah," said Dawn. "I've always been older than most of the people in my grade. I guess that's part of the reason I felt awkward."

"Wow, you're nineteen?" That sounded so strange to Edie. There had been a few people in her senior class who had turned nineteen before the year was over, but she hadn't known them very well. "No offense, but that seems so old to me!"

"Don't worry, you'll be nineteen soon enough," Corrie said with a grin.

"No, I won't," said Edie. "I mean, I'll be nineteen eventually, but my birthday isn't until March. My eighteenth birthday."