pure (h.s.)

six

I looked at my phone. It's 4 p.m? I turned over to see Madison sleeping peacefully. I couldn't wake her up. She needed all the rest she could get from all of the events that happened earlier. I got out of bed and walked down the stairs as quietly as I could. I looked in her pantry. No fruit loops? Crap. I needed my fruit loops. I panicked for a second, but then I remembered how I told myself that Madison challenges me to go out of my comfort zone. I picked up the pancake mix and made my way over to the stove. I googled "How to cook a pancake" and tried my best to make it perfect. I made sure to make extra for Madison.

I found plates and put the messed up pancakes on it. I sat down and stared at them for a second. My first time going out of my routine. I'm kind of... excited?

I picked up the pancake and took a bite out of it. I took another bite before my mind could catch up to my hands. It was better than I imagined. It was so good it made me wonder why I ever stuck to eating fruit loops for breakfast in the first place.

"They taste better with syrup."

I look over to see Madison staring at me while I was eating my pancakes.

"You have syrup? Does it taste good?"

"Yeah, it's in the fridge," she said pointing to the right corner.

"I made you some by the way. I've never made pancakes, so they aren't the best. I apologize if they aren't good," I said.

"Calz, I bet they are amazing."

I get the syrup and pour it all over my pancakes. I take a bite and savor the flavor in my mouth for as long as I can. Food never ceases to surprise me.

"These are so good," I said pointing to the pancakes.

"They are, aren't they?" Madison giggled.

After I finished my pancakes, I decided I needed to go back to my apartment. I have to get ready for my classes tomorrow. I said my goodbyes to Madison and thanked her for letting me stay over. She said I was welcome anytime, which I appreciate.

I got in my car and drove to my apartment. I stopped at the grocery store to get some pancake mix for tomorrow morning. When I finally reached the apartment, I immediately sat on the couch. I turned on the tv and found myself falling asleep before I knew it.

I woke up dreading what the day held in store for me. College. Classes started today and I did not want to go. I wasn't dreading the work or studying, I just didn't want to be around people.

I took a shower before applying some light makeup. I cooked some pancakes on my stove for the second time, feeling so proud of myself. After I ate, I got my things ready for school and hopped in the car. When I arrived at school, I got a text from Madison.

Where are you? -Madz
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I'm pulling up now. I'm in front of the first building. -Calz
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Stay there. I'm coming. -Madz
-

A few minutes later, I saw Madison coming over to me. We exchanged our classes and figured out we only have one class together, Creative Writing. For lunch, Madison said we should meet up at the dining hall.

After a few minutes of talking with Madison about our classes, I had to go to my foreign language, Spanish. When I walked into my Spanish class, my anxiety came over me. There were people everywhere. As I sat down in my desk, I tried to keep calm. I was doing a pretty good job of not making eye contact with anyone when my professor walked in the classroom and class soon started.

My next two classes went by quickly. The professors talked about the courses and syllabus and said we will be starting the material next class. Lunch soon followed as I made my way to the dining hall. I saw Madison sitting at one of the tables already. I sat down at the table and greeted her.

"Calz, I looked at the diner calendar and I noticed that your birthday is Friday? Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

Truthfully, I forgot my birthday was so soon. Birthdays never mattered to me. I didn't celebrate that day because I had no one to celebrate with.

"It doesn't matter to me. I'm another year older. It's nothing big," I replied.

"Nothing big? Caly, birthday's are the biggest day of a person's life! That is the day you were born! On an even bigger note, your turning 21! How can you not make a big deal out of that?" She exclaimed. She seemed mad that I didn't make a big enough deal about it.

"Okay sorry. I didn't know birthday's meant so much to you," I said.

"Of course! I want to celebrate my best friend's birthday!" She said with a smile.

"Okay fine. We can celebrate."

"Perfect!" she said while clapping her hands together in excitement. "Come over to my place Friday! Dress in something nice."

"Okay..." I said nervously. I don't want to know what Madison has planned for my birthday. I sure as hell didn't want to celebrate in the first place.

We talked some more and somehow, Madison was still her bubbly self after she nearly died two days ago. I admired that. She was so strong.

Lunch soon came to an end as I made my way to my next class. Computer Science went by so slow. My professor is boring. My next class was Creative Writing with Madison. I walked into the class and sat next to her. As I was about to talk to her, the professor walked in.

"Hello class. I'm Ms. Johnson. Your assignment is to write about something you did for yourself this week. Do not write about something you did for someone else. I want this assignment to focus on your personal actions," she stated.

What am I going to write about? I really don't do anything for myself, unless you count watching Grey's Anatomy for hours. I sat there for a couple minutes complementing on what I should write about. Then I remembered going to the park the day after the party. I took the time to relax for myself and drew the picture of the boy for myself. I think that counts as "doing something for myself."

I wrote about the air conditioning going out and going to the park. I wrote about the little boy I drew. I found myself connecting to the little boy even more. The connection kept on growing stronger and stronger with every passing day. My curious-self needed to figure out who this boy was.

When class was over, I looked at my computer. I wrote six pages about going to the park. I also added that I made pancakes for myself for the first time. I sent the assignment into the teacher and said goodbye to Madison. I had one more class to go to and hopefully it would go by quick.

School was over, finally. I made my way to my car and drove home. By the time I got home, it was nearly 5 p.m. I watched Grey's Anatomy for a while and heated up some leftovers from the diner.

I stopped my show and put on some pajamas. I thought about my day. What did Madison have planned for my birthday? I really hope it wasn't anything big. I meant what I said about not celebrating birthdays. Some years I didn't even realize my birthday had past. That's just the way it was, and I couldn't change anything about it.

I got in bed and looked up at the ceiling. I was finally content with what my life turned out to be I think. I tried to kept my eyes open, but my attempt failed as I drifted off into sleep.

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**aw caly's birthday is coming!!!!! i'm so excited for the next two chapters. (:

How do you think Madison is gonna celebrate Caly's birthday?

also my christmas break just ended, so now i'm back at school. i wont have as much time to write as much as i did when i was on break. so plllleaaaseee be patient.

keep reading and voting and commenting and all that good stuff. xx

-c