Notes

6| Fleeting moment

13 MORE DAYS BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY and mom was already preparing for the small celebration. She woke up bright and early today and started making plans, I knew because I saw her today sleeping on the counter again.

“Mom? Wake up.” I gently shook her to wake her up. Mom’s brunette hair bounced as she quickly lifted her head up after feeling my touch.

“Huh? What?” she exclaimed with groggy eyes. “Mom, I’ll be going to the library again tonight. I might not eat my dinner here either.” I told her my plans for the day. She just nodded and patted my head before giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Alright, go on.”

But I didn’t budge, she was clearly forgetting something, but she didn’t even lift her head to know. I sighed and laughed at her sleepy face, “Mom, aren’t you going to make us breakfast?”

She quickly sat up and took the plate she’d been storing in the oven for a while and handed it to me. “So honey, who’s going to be part of your 18 roses?” she sleepily asked. I just laughed at ate my breakfast, “No one, mom. I told you, it’s just a get-together. No debut parties…”

“Really? And I thought Ethan was going to be part of everything…” she groaned and slept back on the counter.

That made me think about the notes I’ve been writing. I suspected Ethan was the one who has been writing those so I guess he already knew my birthday…

Maybe.

***

I waited for 15 minutes at the library after school ended while I started reading the catalogue for the new courses to take posted on the bulletin board. There were a lot of great subjects to take too. I thought of taking up literature classes or maybe architecture.

“What’s that?” Greyson suddenly appeared beside me with an illustration board on his one hand and his bag strap on his shoulders. He was wearing a thick outfit today, while his usual bed hair was swept to the side. We didn't see each other earlier that day because we had no english classes during Fridays. I beamed at him, though he gave me a casual smile--it was enough for me.

“They’re the new courses to be taken for second semester and senior year… which one would you get?” I asked trying to enumerate in my mind the possible things Greyson could get. He should get Architecture or engineering...or maybe literature class with me.

“I don’t know yet… probably something beneficial.” He replied with a shrug and motioned me to go inside the library.

We greeted Sir Victor in his usual desk and found a place to work just near the counters. Then we scattered our materials on the table and started working on things. Greyson did a few scribbles while I copy read his composition. It was beautifully written, as if I can clearly see the vivid images on my mind.

“So just like that?” Greyson piped up after finishing the design for the background. I stood closely beside him, our shoulders touching. I held the poem he wrote and tried to associate the art with his poem… it didn’t work somehow.

His design was more of a tribal style, and nothing from the poem fitted the background except for the stars, but that wasn’t enough.

“Yeah…no.” I said and took the pencil off his hand. “Why don’t we just colour it dark blue while leaving a space in the middle for the poem, then we add stars on it?”

“Ah, the simple yet elegant-style. Of course.” I received a smug look from Greyson as he started on the new designs. I found this as an opportunity to tease him, so I grabbed a nearby paint brush with magenta on it and dabbed it on his face.