Youngblood | Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 2 - Hear colors makes you extra different

 Birthday parties were always a lot of fun, especially when they were Mark's or her own. Monet loved the colors, the cheerful attitudes, the games, and watching people open the gifts that she had bought for them. Maybe that was why she enjoyed her birthday so much. Not because she enjoyed the attention or the gifts or the focus all on her. That was her least favorite part. No, it was because she had a twin that made it feel like it was someone else's birthday as well. That's probably why she was so excited about today. After all, it was Mark's birthday and that meant that she got to spend the whole day with him and Jasmine, doing whatever they wanted.

Okay, sure, there were going to be other kids there today, but that was beside the point. Monet didn't care too much about that. They were just going to be kids from school that she had known for most of her life. They were in her third-grade class last year and she was sure she was going to see some of them in her fourth-grade class this year. It couldn't be that bad.

Jasmine was with her at the moment, standing in front of Monet's closet and looking through it. She had insisted that she would help Monet pick out an outfit for the birthday party since she seemed to think that Monet couldn't do it herself. Monet didn't care too much about how she looked, so long as it met her standards, but Jasmine did seem to care about that kind of thing so Monet just let her do whatever she wanted.

"I really can't believe you were going to wear that," Jasmine said with a small huff, turning back to look at Monet. "I mean, a tee shirt and those shorts aren't very dressed up for a birthday party." Monet sighed and shrugged her shoulders a bit. For being nine years old, Jasmine seemed to know a lot about fashion, probably more than someone her age should but that was probably just because of her new job as an actress.

"I was planning on it?" Monet replied quietly, leaning back against the headboard on her bed. She sighed when she saw Jasmine make a face at her words, making her disgust clear. "If you care so much Missy, why don't you pick me something out?" Jasmine jumped on the chance and instantly started digging through her closet and dresser, trying to find something decent for Monet to wear. Monet watched her for a moment before speaking. "You do know that it's just Mark, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But it doesn't mean that we don't have to look nice," Jasmine replied with a shrug, not looking away from her work. Monet didn't respond. Instead, she reached over to the wall next to her bed and grabbed her guitar. She hadn't been playing for that long, only a year and a half, but it was a little longer than she'd been taking martial arts, which was a year, and when she started playing, her mother said that she had a real talent for it so she stuck with it. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it right now so she just strummed a few strings for fun and tried not to think about later. She had to bring it to the party because for her gift, she had written Mark a song. She couldn't come up with a good gift and she didn't really have any money for one anyway so she settled on a song for her gift but now she was starting to regret it.

"What did you end up getting Mark for his birthday, Jassy?" Monet asked, setting her guitar down next to her on the bed. She leaned forward to rest her arms on her crossed knees and watched Jasmine. Jasmine shrugged her shoulders slightly as she pulled out a pair of jeans from Monet's dresser.

"Aunt Melissa and I got him this really cool camera that when you take pictures with it, it spits them right back out at you!" Jasmine explained, clearly excited for the idea of the present that she'd gotten. She picked up the outfit that she'd picked out and held it out for Monet to take. Monet took it and inspected it, trying to make sure it was something she was actually comfortable in. Jasmine actually did a good job, remembering how much she liked jeans and jackets. Jasmine really did know how to throw an outfit together. "You remember how he said he likes to take pictures, right? So we got him a camera. I dunno. I couldn't think of anything better. Your gift if probably better. What'd you get him anyway?"