Ferris Wheel

The missing piece...

After I had said thank you to all of my Southside friends and managed to stuff the cards and unopened presents into my bag, I retreated back to our tree. Yuvia and Mason climbed it and I tossed them their phones, Mason almost fell trying to catch it. He acts like a cool and wild jock, but in reality he is a clumsy nerd like the rest of us. Liam took a seat at the roots of the tree, whereas I was once again kidnapped by one of my friends.

"Come with me! We only have 20 minutes!" My friend Ame exclaims as she grabs my hand and rushes into the cafeteria, as the lights are turned on I'm met with yet another surprise, yet this is coming from all of my north side friends. And as always it's a very huge celebration, with a banner and confetti and a big cake too. It's not really my kind of party but I don't mind it at all, in fact I'm very grateful for it.
I got a bunch of presents and cards, and we partied for a bit before I started to try cleaning up, I can't stand messes anywhere,except for in my own room of course. Sami and Rosalie, Rosalie being my other best friend, stop me. "It's your birthday! Don't you dare try cleaning up this time, we got it." Rosalie states in a kind yet firm tone, she is one of the most stubborn people I know, so I give in without question. I exit the cafeteria and say bye to every one.

Once I sit back down at the tree after the fast paced morning, I go from beaming a smile to a worried frown. A wave of realization and questions had hit me. Where was Jackson? Where was my best friend? He was usually at the school first thing in the morning, and he had never forgotten my birthday in the 7 years I knew him. And he would never skip school, he was a role model student, he loved school.

My thoughts trailed back to the weekend prior to today I saw him at the café on Saturday to trade books since we were reading the same two series. As I walked into the cozy yet large café, the walls a warm cream color, with multicolored boarders depending on the room, the sitting area that you see as you walk in had matte black boarders and a matching black ceiling, with sparkles on it, making it look like the night sky. The chairs were all rounded and looked soft despite their solid cherry wood under the pastel colored cushions.

I found Jackson staring holes into the ground, his elbows on his knees, head in his hands that gripped his neat brown hair. He was wearing a black shirt with the animated cat eyes and ears peeking out, this under a black and red flannel, he wore black jeans with rips at the knees he had earned from being clumsy yet daring, there wasn't anything he wouldn't do if you said the word, Bet or Dare, this side of him was not known by most. What shocked me about seeing him there like that was the fact that his hands were in fists in his usually styled hair, he spent so much time on it every morning, him being very insecure about his looks and all. But today he didn't even notice, his mind seemed to be thinking, stressing, about something else. The usually focused amber eyes of his stared at the floor in a lost state. All of this is so, until he glances up to see me with a small smile on my face, yet my eyes were soft with worry. His amber orbs came into focus as he swiped his hair back into place while he began to show his charming smile.

In a second he went back to the Jackson I knew.

"Hiya J.J.!" I greeted "Sup, Luna!" He replied. I sat down in a lilac colored chair next to his baby blue one. We traded books and chatted ,or being completely honest, we nerded out about what had happened in each of our books, keeping from spoiling anything for eachother. Once we finished chatting we both left the café and went our separate ways, I had forgotten about the state I had first seen Jackson in. Later that night I DMed him "Hi, you still up?" Usually we chat with eachother when ever we're not busy and wanted someone to talk to. I was feeling lonely that night so I messaged him but when he didn't read it I unsent it. I brushed it off yet again and read a book to keep my mind off everything until I fell asleep.

Nothing happened on Sunday, nothing, I didn't talk to him at all, nor did I see him when I was out at the café and mall. I talked to everyone else whenever I could and we were all pretty close, but each of us had our closest friend or friends out of the group, mine was Jackson, we had known each other since I came to the town. He was the only kid in the neighborhood that was the same age as me at the time and we became best friends. So naturally I missed him that day, even if it was just for a day. And now he forgets about my birthday. I know it's selfish of me to expect him to always remember, but literally the entire school had remembered, where was he? And why didn't anyone else notice he was gone? Even more so, why did everyone remember my birthday? Why was everyone so specifically divided? As I said before, my day started as usual, but was probably going to end with even more questions than what I already had.