It was just a Friday, like any other Fridays that had come before this one.
Okay, well maybe this Friday was a little different than most. It was my birthday. My 17th birthday. If I lived in the land of Harry Potter, I’d be a legal adult. But I didn’t. At that very moment, I lived in the land of Valerie Rhodes. And that meant one thing:
“Juliet!” she squealed, even though we were only sitting two feet away from each other in the small enclosed space of my car. “You’re older than Justin Bieber now!”
I rolled my eyes teasingly at her. “For your information, ‘Future Mrs. Bieber’, we are both technically older than the kid, considering he is eleven months younger than me and nine months younger than you.”
Sadly, I knew just about every piece of Bieber fun facts there is to know, all thanks to Valerie.
She scrunched up her Jewish nose (which she was quite proud of) at me. She hated it when I called the kid – excuse me, Mr. Bieber – ‘kid’. She said it made her feel super pedophile-like for being such a big fan of his.
“Well,” she said with an intent glance my way. “At least I can still tell him I’m sixteen if and when I meet him. However, you will have to tell him you’re seventeen.”
“Oh, how will I ever live?” I said dramatically, my voice drenched with heavy sarcasm.
“Hey!” Valerie poked me with the edge of her cell phone, which she was constantly on. “Suit yourself. But when I do get that golden ticket – the golden ticket, mind you – you’re coming with me to the Bahamas. And meeting Biebs. And you will fall madly in love with him, like I am.” She grinned brightly, as if she knew this for a fact.
I snorted. “Doubt that. But, you know what, if we do end up going to the Bahamas by some weird twist of fate, you can have him.” I paused to elbow Valerie. “I’ll take all the free food.”
She laughed loudly, throwing her head back the way she always did. It was just one of those Valerie things that made everyone fall in love with her. From the fierce green eyes to the dark hair to the enthusiastic smile she always wore on her face, it was hard to like her. I just got lucky that we had become best friends when we were in Kindergarten because the status of Valerie-Rhodes’-best-friend is a sought after position, and many were eager to fill it. Still, she never let her ridiculous popularity get to her head. Usually.
“Deal,” Valerie agreed, shaking my greasy hand with her own. She groaned and wiped some pieces of fried chicken from her hands. “You know, I still don’t understand why we do this every year. Now that we both can drive, it’s kind of silly to do this.”
By this, she meant sitting somewhere and eating fried chicken and potato wedges. It was a tradition we had for both of our birthdays since probably the third grade. It was an unhealthy and totally not classy tradition (considering we were now sitting in my car that was parked in the lot of the local strip mall). But still.
“I don’t really know,” I answered through a mouthful of food. “Don’t pretend like you don’t like letting loose and being weird and gross once in a while.”
Valerie simply grinned again.
The only thing that Valerie did always preserve was her reputation. She was the kind of girly-girl that would not get caught dead doing something like – gasp! – eating fried chicken messily in the middle of a parking lot. That was why we always picked somewhere that was a little further away than where we lived. I didn’t mind the trouble, but I personally would not go out of my own way to do something like that. I say let them all come and see – and be jealous of deliciously unhealthy food.
YOU ARE READING
Accidentally on Purpose (Justin Bieber Fic)
FanfictionNot even being a Justin Bieber fan, just-turned 17-year-old Juliet never thought she would be given his CD for her birthday, much less receive the one that contained the golden ticket. With much convincing from her mother, little brother, and best f...