Welcome to the Jungle

Part 17: Abbie's Birthday Special

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBIE!!!!" Her mother screamed in her face at approximately 4:12 am in the morning.
"Uggghhh mooooom why so early..." Abbie yawned.
"It gives us time to celebrate as a family before we have to go to school. You do have rehearsal now, so it makes it harder to have as much family time!" Amber said.
"Cmon Abbie lets go open presents!!!" Ty said jumping on her bed.
"Happy birthday my little girl." Abbie's father said sweetly.
The family walked downstairs together, the smells of the gigantic breakfast waking Abbie up.
"Wow! Thank you so much guys! This is amazing!" Abbie said with surprise.
"Happy birthday dancing queen!!" Her mother said, hip-checking Abbie into the wall.
"OW!" Abbie squealed.
"Sorry... just got a little excited. You're 17, all grown up. You're not my little baby raccoon anymore. You're almost an adult." Amber said, tears in her eyes.
"Moooom stop it, you're gonna make me cry." Abbie hugged her mother.
The family sat down to the endless plates of breakfast foods. There were scrambled eggs from the chickens in the back, bacon, sausage, waffles, fruits, orange juice, hot chocolate, croissants, and so much more. They all began to eat the delicious food until it was time to open her gifts.
"Alright honey, here's the first gift I want you to open."
Her mom reached towards her pile of presents to a specific, medium-sized box wrapped in teal paper. Abbie grabbed it from her and opened it up to a beautiful, stainless steal, kitchen aid mixer.
"I know you've been wanting to take up cooking and baking as a new hobby!" Her mom shouted.
"Mom..... I love it so much!!!!! THANK YOU!!!" Abbie gasped.
Abbie opened up the rest of her presents, until there was one left.
"Handle this one with care!" Amber winked.
Abbie opened up the gift to see a live rat along with all of the supplies needed to care for it.
"MOM ARE YOU SERIOUS!!??? I THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET BETTER THAN THE KITCHEN AID?!?!"
Abbie carefully picked up the rat and gave it a hug with a smile on her face.
"I'm gonna name you Remy." Abbie said, looking into the rat's ocean blue eyes.
All of a sudden, Abbie started breaking into song.
"Remy, the Ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams!" Abbie sang.
Her mother, father, and brother joined in.
"I praise you, oh ratatouille, May the world remember your name." They all sang.
Abbie started to cry with tears of joy.
"Guys... this is the best birthday ever. Thank you SO much!" She said with gratitude.
"Well, I better get ready for school! You guys have already made this the best birthday yet!" Abbie said, walking up the stairs.
Abbie decided to curl her hair, and wear something cute and comfortable. She put on a cute t-shirt she got for her birthday, a denim jacket, black leggings, and her white doc martens.
Abbie wished she could stay with her family and new pet for longer, but she had to go now if she wanted to catch the bus.
"We love you Abbie. We hope you have a great day!" Amber replied.
"Bye guys! Love you! See you at school mom! Bye Remy!!"
Abbie left onto the bus, bringing a bouquet of blue, purple, and pink balloons to make sure everyone knew that today was her birthday. As she stepped on, she reminded the bus driver of the big day.
"Hey, it's my birthday today. Do you have anything you want to say to me?" Abbie demanded.
"Uhhhh happy birthday?" The bus driver replied.
"AWWWW THANKS!!!! That's so nice of you to say!!!" Abbie gushed.
They arrived at the school and Abbie stepped out, flinging her balloons around for people to notice. Abbie wanted to get the most birthday wishes possible on her 17th birthday. She was going to make this the best day ever!
Abbie was excited to go to her first class of the day, biology, because she knew Ms. Spencer loved celebrating birthdays.
Abbie walked in with a smile on her face, especially as she saw Robert smiling back at her.
"Thanks for bringing balloons for the lab experiment today Abbie. Those balloons will majorly help us identify the properties of static electricity." Ms. Spencer said as she walked in.
"NO, these are for my birthday! It's today you know!" Abbie screamed as Spencer tried to rip the balloons away from her.
After much tugging and pulling between the two, Ms. Spencer grabbed hold of the balloons and pulled them away from Abbie.
"Ugh fine whatever..." Abbie muttered, not wanting to fight with her teacher over birthday balloons.
"Ok class today we will be learning about static!" Spencer went on.
Abbie sat down at her table, rolling her eyes.
Though they weren't having a party in biology like she expected, Robert was there with a small box wrapped in pastel paper to cheer her up.
"Happay Birthday Abbie!!! Ah gawt you this!" Robert handed her the box.
"Robert, this is so sweet! Thank you so much!" Abbie opened up the gift to see a gold necklace with the letter R dangling from the chain.
"Robert....." Abbie said in awe.
"Here let may put it on you."
Robert got up and grazed Abbie's neck as he move her curled, silky hair out of the way. Abbie could smell Robert's jungle cologne as he brought the necklace over her head. He clasped the chain in the back, and left it to hang around Abbie's neck.
"So you'll always rememba may." Robert said with a sweet smile.
"Hey you two! Sit down! Class has started!" Spencer yelled.
"Thank you, I love it." Abbie whispered.
"I'm so glad." Robert replied.
They both softly laughed at the angry Ms. Spencer who wouldn't allow them to talk.
"Today we will be doing a lab. Get with a partner and grab one of the balloons Abbie has generously brought for the class."
Abbie and Robert teamed together and grabbed a balloon, waiting for further instruction.
"Begin by rubbing the balloon on the top of your head, and notice the static electricity causing your hair to stand on its end."
Abbie and Robert's hair began to fly upward, and they couldn't help but laugh at how the other looked with their hair sticking up.
"I'm sorray but you look like a cockatoo." Robert laughed, tears steaming down his cheeks.
"So do you!!" Abbie laughed.
They both could not stop laughing as they continued with the lab.
"Here let may help." Robert said.
He began to gently brush Abbie's hair with his fingers, releasing the static pull that held her hair up. He tucked one last strand behind her ear, brushing her cheek in the process. Abbie laughed softly, her face flushed pink, and began to do the same for Robert, running her hands through his soft, blonde hair.
"There you go!" Abbie said, smiling and staring into Robert's deep eyes.
"You guys done?" Ms. Spencer asked with annoyance.
"Haha...yeah" Robert said awkwardly, the whole class watching.
They sat down and listened the rest of class, but Abbie couldn't help but think about Robert, and how kind he was being to her on her birthday. Not to mention flirtatious! She couldn't take her hands off of the new necklace Robert gave her, which provided a new sense of comfort from him.
Abbie went throughout the day, thinking about the next time she would see Robert. Him being so nice to her gave her peace, especially because she was going to have to watch him act in love with ___. She was confident that just because Robert had to play this part with ___, didn't mean that he would forget about her. Of course she was still worried about Tony, but she didn't want to think about him and that horrible night on her birthday. Today was a day of fun!