‘Do you love it?’ my friend Peyton asked from where she sat on the floor.
‘I ahh ... I sure do’ I said, a little embarrassed by the contents of the small box she had given me. It was my 17th birthday and my small group of friends had come over to give me my presents.
‘You look like you have seen a ghost or something’ laughed Lilah from the armchair she had slung herself over.
‘Oh my God Peyton! That is the slinkiest and possibly weirdest gift I think I have ever seen anyone give to their best friend’ said Lucy, wrinkling her nose.
‘I think it’s thoughtful’ Peyton said, crossing her arms in a huff ‘Cause God knows Avery would never go buy anything like that herself! So I did it for her!’ she continued.
Peyton was right. I would have never gone and bought myself anything like this. Looking down at the ‘thoughtful’ gift, I couldn’t help the crimson blush that I could feel spread across my cheeks.
‘And just so you know Lucy, that was the most expensive lingerie in the store, it’s very classy and extremely high end’ said Peyton.
‘For who? A stripper?’ asked Lucy sarcastically.
‘Oh my God guys you have made Avery blush’ laughed Lilah. Turning to me, they all started laughing and soon so was I.
‘This really is weird and slinky’ I said to Peyton in between gawks.
I loved my friends. They were all so different, yet they each fit me perfectly. Looking around at them I couldn’t help but notice how different they were. Peyton was the girly one, always beautiful and forever manicured. Lilah was the crazy yet care-free one, spontaneous in a way that made me feel alive whenever I was around her. That left Lucy. Lucy and I had been best friends since we were born. She had lived next door for as long as I remembered and had a practicality to her that spoke of a women twice her age. These girls were my everything, in a town that had nothing. Nothing for me anyway.
‘Are you girls all done in here?’ my mother asked poking her head through the living room door ‘because cake is on the table’ she said walking back towards the kitchen.
‘Cake!’ Lilah yelled and ran out of the living room and surely into the dining room. Following suit we all raced into the dining room, acting like five year olds, trying to out-run each other.
‘Alright Lilah you can sit here’ my mum said motioning to a chair ‘and Lucy, over here, and then Peyton you can sit right here’ continued mum, ever the organiser ‘And of course the birthday girl can sit at the head of the head of the table’
‘Thanks mum’ I said smiling at her and giving her a peck on the cheek as I sat down ‘Where’s Dad?’ I asked looking around.
‘Coming! I’m coming’ he said bustling in from the kitchen, cake in hand. ‘Alrighty then, ready to make a wish?’ he said settling the cake in front of me and lighting the candles.
Was I ready to make a wish? What kind of question was that! Of course I was ready! I would wish for what I wished for every year.
‘Okay 1, 2, 3’ everyone said laughing and smiling. Blowing out the candles I let my overused and over said wish wash over me.
I wish that things could change.
As soon as I thought this very statement the room started to shake, but it didn’t seem like anyone else noticed. Everyone just stood there smiling down at me expectantly. The quake finished as quickly as it had started, leaving me gripping the table, white knuckled.
YOU ARE READING
Changing Avery
Teen FictionWhat would you do, if one moment, you were living a life no one would ever want to hear about, in a town no one had ever heard of, and then the next; you were living the high life, travelling around the globe with the world’s hottest band? It’s the...
