Impress

Chapter 3: Birthday Present

 "You're coming to my birthday party later today, right?"

"Kris! Of course I am!" exclaimed Asher.

"Ok, good" I sighed. Asher was my best friend, the guest of honor. He picked up the remote and unpaused the TV. We were watching anime and drawing on our sketchbooks. It was pretty much our routine for whenever I came over.

I was working on an original character, Reed. He was a miner. To most of society, he had little worth, but he had a kind and brave soul. When a sailor (Asher's character) stopped at the docks near the mine, Reed went to check it out. The sailor was looking for new additions to his crew. Reed desperately wanted to go, so he approached the sailor. The sailor said that in order to become part of the crew, Reed must prove himself in battle. So the sailor and Reed dueled. Reed fought with spirit, but lost. Even so, the sailor sees something in him and lets him aboard.

Asher and I loved to create these worlds that we could escape to whenever real life got to hard. My mom always said that I was very creative. It was weird, I could stare at a wall for hour and be entertained. Making a story out of every scratch or dent.

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket. It was my mom.

Mom: Get home soon, please. Help me set up for tonight.

Me: Alright, I'm headed home now.

I picked up the remote and paused the TV. I looked at Asher.

"I gotta go, but you'll be there tonight, right?"

"Yup, see you later."

With that, I rushed up the stairs and out the door. I hopped on my bike and pedaled out of the driveway. 

It was my birthday and I was turning 14. Jeez, I had been on this planet for 14 years. What had I done with those 14 years? What will I do with the years to come? I'm going to be in high school next year. It felt like 5th grade was just yesterday. All of these thoughts were racing through my head as I pedalled hard up the hill.

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All of the guests were here. It was all of my main friend group and a few others. I had friends outside my friend group, I think everyone does. Books and movies never portray how complicated friendship really is. There is no way that you are just going to have one group of friends if you spend all day in different classes with different people. You're bound to make friends with someone. Anyways, in addition to my main friend group, my friends Kayla and Heather were there.

We all talked and screwed around with my brother's nerf guns for a while. Eventually, we decided to put on a movie. I turned on the TV and looked On Demand for free movies. I hadn't seen Zootopia yet and it was available. All of my friends agreed to watch it. You see, we may have been upcoming high schoolers, but we were really just children who still liked animated kids movies.

Once the movie was on, we all criticized every plot hole and pointed out the dark symbolism behind the movie.

"How does the currency in this town work? If that is one meal for an elephant, but 100 meals for a mouse, shouldn't they have to pay different prices?" commented Kade.

"Oh my god, you're right" agreed Aiden. Then silence as we watched the next scene play out. I was about to comment on how the different villages for different animals worked when my mom called me from upstairs.

"Olivia, can you come up here for a second?" called my mom.

"Sure thing, hold on!" I called back. "Hey, will you guys pause the movie for a sec?"

Heather, who had the remote, paused it. I headed up the stairs. When I reached the top of the stairs, my mom and dad were in the kitchen.

"What's up? Is the pizza here?" I asked. My dad shook his head. "What is it then?"

"Look, we know this isn't the best time to tell you, but we figured we should get it over with." My mom started. My smile faded.

"We've got some good new and some bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" My dad asked.

"The bad first so that you can cheer me up with the good, I guess." I shrugged.

"Well, the bad news is that we are moving to Virginia, away from your friends, but the good news is that the house is really nice and we have a pool." My dad smiled. 

My mouth was partially open. My face was emotionless. I turned and walked back down the stairs without a word. What did he expect me to say? Oh wow! A pool! How awesome! As if a pool could equate to all of the friends I have made since I was two years old. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I made a decision in my head. I wasn't going to tell my friends. Might as well enjoy the rest of the night, right?

So, when I entered the room, I said, "You can unpause it" my voice wavered. I was seconds away from tears. I was really glad we had decided to turn the lights off before we watched the movie, because there I was, bawling silently in the dark, at my own birthday party. Thanks Mom and Dad! Best birthday present ever.