In front of me was a medium-sized whole birthday cake placed on a courtyard stone table. There were two lit numerical candles stuck side by side on it. The left candle was a ‘1’, and the right one was a ‘6’.
Ashley, Melissa, and Derek threw their hands up as they cried in unison, “Happy birthday, Chelsea!”
“Guys!” My hands flew up to cover my gaping mouth. “Thank you so much! I wasn’t expecting this! Didn’t you already give me my present today?”
My day had passed normally enough. I went for classes as usual, and my best friends all wished me a happy birthday. After class, they had handed me the birthday present they’d pooled money together to get. I had thought that would be it for today, since we normally celebrated each other’s birthdays on the upcoming weekend if they happened to land on school days.
After all, school wasn’t exactly the most exciting setting to celebrate your birthday in. Then again, I reflected as I looked at the tiramisu cake they’d gotten me, with enough innovation, anyone could make it interesting.
“We thought we’d do something special on the day itself instead of just celebrating on Saturday like we usually do,” Ashley said, handing me a helium-filled clear balloon with confetti in it.
“Besides, your parents will be coming down this weekend to celebrate with you, won’t they?” Derek said, lifting up the black camera hanging from his neck. “We thought we could have it just be the four of us if we did it in school. Then you could spend some quality time with your parents.”
“That’s so sweet of you guys!” I felt a hint of a tear begin to well up in my left eye.
“Your parents are nice, but it’s just a bit awkward to spend a whole afternoon with them,” Melissa said, lifting up her cap to sniff at it.
“Plus, I feel like they’d probably appreciate the time with you alone,” Ashley said. “We can see you anytime at school.”
“Hey, my deodorant isn’t that bad, is it?” Melissa said.
“It’s not,” I said reassuringly. “It was just a bit overwhelming.”
During the time that I spent in the lift inhaling the excessive scent coming from her cap, I found myself beginning to understand how Nolan felt about my overuse of insect repellent.
“Do you want us to sing you the birthday song?” Ashley said.
“No, thank you,” I said immediately.
Melissa snickered. “I knew it. I told them you wouldn’t want it. You were cringing the whole time we sang it to you last year.”
“I—” I started to protest but stopped myself because I couldn’t refute the fact.
“It’s no use denying it, Chelsea. I noticed that,” Melissa almost sang, placing the cap on her own head.
“You’re not wrong,” I admitted. “I don’t really like the song. For that, you get an extra-large slice of the cake!”
It was also just an embarrassing song, especially since there were other schoolmates hanging around in the courtyard already eying the balloon I was holding.
She batted her eyelashes at me. “Larger than your own slice?”
“Don’t push it!” I narrowed my eyes at her.
I was already longing to dig into the tiramisu cake.
“Okay,” I announced, moving closer to the table, where the cake was. “I’m going to blow out the candles now!”
“Alright!” Melissa clapped her hands.
“Look up here first,” Derek said, stepping backwards. “I have to get a good photo before you blow them out.”
After he snapped a picture of me beaming at the camera while holding the balloon, each of them took turns standing next to me for a different photo. Finally, when I had taken pictures with all of them, I bent my head down and blew out all the candles in one breath. They all clapped. Melissa presented me with the plastic cake knife.
“Oh, yeah, here’s the second part of your birthday gift!” From the bench on the other side of the stone table, Ashley picked up a giant colorful card with various scrapbook decorations put together on it. “It’s your birthday card!”
“Thank you! I wasn’t expecting this!” I took it from her and admired the group pictures of us they’d printed out and pasted on it.
Wow, these photos take me back.
“Yeah, that was the point,” she said, smiling back at me. “Did our little kidnapping scheme surprise you, too?”
“I would probably have started screaming if I hadn’t opened the door to see Melissa standing there,” I said, laughing. “Sorry, but you guys probably won’t win the Best Kidnapper of the Year Award.”
Melissa held a hand up. “It’s okay, I don’t need a lame award like that.”
I placed the card down on the bench beside me and asked Melissa to help me hold my balloon. I began cutting the cake. “You’re only saying that because you wouldn’t win it.”
“Chelsea has a point,” Ashley said, pulling open a sealed plastic packet of paper plates. “Anyway, you surprised us because Melissa was supposed to be fast enough to cover your eyes the moment you opened the door. I got caught off-guard and forgot to lower my voice.”
Laughing, I lifted a thick slice of the cake I’d cut out and placed it on one of the paper plates. “I figured, but it was a nice try. Did you guys really have to use the lift, though?”
“We didn’t want to risk you tumbling down the stairs if you missed a step,” Ashley said. “We did kind of blindfold you.”
“Would be hard to explain if anyone saw us, too,” Melissa said. “We decided to take the risk since it is kind of late at night.”
I handed the plate with the giant slice to Melissa.
“I really appreciate this. Thanks for planning this little surprise for me.” I cut out another slice and transferred it onto another plate.
“School can be boring,” Ashley said, taking the plate that I passed to her. “We wanted to spice it up a bit.”
“What better way to do that than plan a fake abduction?” Derek added, placing his camera down on the table.
Pleased by the warmth that was bubbling up in my chest, I laughed. “You guys are the best.”
Melissa swallowed the mouthful of cake she was chewing and said, “Of course we are.”
After getting my own cake slice, I sat down at the table with the rest of them. While I read the birthday messages that they wrote for me on the card in colorful ink, Ashley and Melissa recounted the details of the ‘kidnapping’ deed they’d just performed to Derek.
The tiramisu cake was absolutely scrumptious, and I had a feeling that the company I was in was part of the reason.
When I got back to my room right before attendance-taking, the first thing I looked for was my phone. Melissa and Ashley had taken me down to the courtyard right after I had answered the door, leaving me with no time to grab my phone.
I found it on my study desk and was surprised to see that I’d gotten a text message from Nolan.
‘I didn’t know it was your birthday. Happy birthday. I hope you’ll always stay happy and bubbly.’
Despite not initially wanting to even let me know his last name, Nolan cared enough to wish me a happy birthday. Somehow, this realization sent strange flutters through my chest. I couldn’t help the wide smile that spread across my face as I reread his text for the fourth time.
‘Thank you, Nolan! :) You saw us?’
‘Yeah, I was passing by in the courtyard earlier.’
‘Why didn’t you come over and say hi? You could’ve joined us for cake!’ The others wouldn’t have minded, especially since they now knew that I considered Nolan quite a close friend.
There were a lot of acquaintances I made in school that I knew well enough to greet when we passed each other in the hallways, but the only ones I really considered my friends were Melissa, Ashley, and Derek. Although there were still many things about Nolan I didn’t know, he had also been added to that list sometime ago.
‘I didn’t want to interrupt.’
‘You wouldn’t be interrupting!’
‘Thanks for saying that, but I still wouldn’t want to bother them.’
I sighed, unable to shake the idea that maybe he was just using that as an excuse not to interact with my friends. Suddenly, it occurred to me to ask when his birthday was. If it hadn’t passed yet, maybe I could get him something.
‘Hey, when’s your birthday?’
‘I’m not telling you.’
I gawked at my phone. The audacity of him to be so blunt! He didn’t even bother trying to evade the topic.
‘What?! But you know mine! Isn’t that unfair?’
‘I didn’t ask to know yours. I just happened to pass by.’
He had a point, but it didn’t mean that I was satisfied with his answer. Sometimes it felt like pulling teeth just asking him something even remotely personal.
‘It wouldn’t hurt you to tell me when your birthday is! Come on!’
‘Good night, Chelsea. Hope you sleep well.’
‘Nolan! Are you seriously going to ignore my question?!’
I stared at my phone incredulously, but no further replies from Nolan came. The conversation was over.
It made no sense to me how adverse he was to answering personal questions.
He even sent me a happy birthday message—clearly, he wasn’t against birthdays themselves. Why did he shy away the moment the topic shifted to him?
“Are you seriously going to spend the whole day asking me when my birthday is?”
I crossed my arms and scowled at Nolan, who merely stared back at me.
It was the day after he’d texted me a happy birthday. The first thing I’d done after coming into class was to demand that he tell me when his was. Unfortunately, I wasn’t making much headway in this little mission.
“It’s ridiculous that you can wish me a happy birthday, but I can’t even do the same for you,” I said. “What makes you so special?”
“I’m not,” he said. “That’s why you don’t need to know my birthday.”
Okay, that was not what I was expecting at all.
I blinked at him. “What? Nolan, that wasn’t what I meant—of course you’re special. Why else would I want to know when your birthday is?”
He snorted. “So, am I special or not? Make up your mind.”
Why did he sound so matter-of-fact when he said that he wasn’t? It bothered me, but I couldn’t say anything when a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.
“Why do you want to know when my birthday is so badly?”
The way his lips curled up slowly as he leaned back in his seat, still looking at me the whole time, sent the strangest sensation coiling down my spine. Hidden in the safety of my sneakers, my toes curled.
To my mortification, my cheeks were flooded with warmth. “I don’t! I was just—I was curious, that’s all!”
“Enough to spend the past few periods asking me when it is? At this point, I’m half-expecting you to follow me around during lunch until I give in.”
“I am not a stalker!”
“You’re persistent enough to be one,” he said.
“Fine, then I won’t ask you anymore!” I snapped, turning away.
My face was growing hotter and hotter by the second, and I didn’t want him to see. Why was I even blushing this much?
