Skaters 101 (but without the skating)

Unedited cringe birthday celebrations

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's celebrate Vincent's birthday!" Patrick hooted.

"Wait..."Vincent sank back into his chair weakly. "That wasn't what I meant..."

But no one was listening anymore. Shoma and Yuzuru had disappeared to get presents. Satoko whipped out a plain, undecorated cake out of nowhere, along with a cake decorating stand, a spatula and a tub of chocolate icing. She stuck the cake layer onto the stand and rotated the stand, while using her spatula to cover the cake with icing.

Boyang flew around the classroom, decking the walls with coloured streamers, while Gabrielle, Maia, Patrick and Yuna blew up balloons at top speeds (them having big lungs to gossip) while Yang lifted Cheng to fix the finished balloons up on the ceiling, but not before Alex printed a smiley face onto each of them. Mao picked up the long and thin balloons and started twisting them into shapes. Yulia and Evgenia cut out the letters "Happy Birthday Vincent" at top speeds and Nam and Javier worked together to tape the letters to cotton strings, which they handed to Boyang later to fix to the whiteboard.

"Who...brought all these stuff?" Vincent could only ask in amazement as Mao plopped a balloon twisted into the shape of a crown onto his head.

"Oh, I was talking to your mum the other day and she mentioned that it was your birthday some time this week." Nathan answered vaguely, tuning his guitar. "So I popped down to the dollar store and grabbed some party supplies, but I totally forgot about them until you brought the subject up. Sorry!"

"How did you even get my mum's number?" Vincent muttered, creeped out.

Nathan had heard him. "Oh, a friend of a friend of a friend. Connections." He shrugged, and started to strum. "Alright! We can sing the birthday song!"

"But...Shoma and Yuzuru are not back yet!" Evgenia pointed out.

~

Yuzuru stared at the shelves in front of him. He had volunteered to help get a present for Vincent, and ran off at top speed to grab something for Vincent, but once he got to the convenience store, he was in a dilemma. In his excitement, he had totally forgotten to ask Vincent what he would like, or anyone, what Vincent would like. Now, staring at the shelves of products before him, Yuzuru hesitated. He feared to get food for Vincent, for he worried that Vincent had may be allergic to something he did not know, or may dislike a certain type of food. He was sure he shouldn't buy any over the counter drugs or alcohol, or sanitary products.

With the knowledge that he did not have much time to choose, Yuzuru decided to go with what he was accustomed to: A box of Honey-tissues, selling at 5 dollars per box. It was slightly more expensive than that at a supermarket, but Yuzuru didn't have much of a choice. Afterall, tissue was useful, multi purposeful, and the box was colourful as well. He didn't see why anyone would object to such a present.

~

Shoma burst through the glass doors into the fast-food takeout chain. The first thought that occurred to him when he was told that it was Vincent's birthday was to get him a present. Secretly, Shoma was slightly guilty for the way he acted around Vincent during the earlier parts of the year. He had noticed the boy, but never reached out to talk to him, even trying to prevent Yuzuru from befriending him. Shoma lined up behind a middle aged lady, whose two children were blabbering away about some free toy they wanted to get.

Shoma counted this present not only as a birthday gift, but as a symbol of their friendship as well. Besides, it was the thing that brought him and Vincent to understand and sympathise with each other.

"A box of fried chicken, please.'

~

Yuzuru raced back to the classroom, tears pouring out profusely from his eyes.