I woke up early in the morning, more than an hour earlier before I had to drag myself to school for the day. My mom persistently returned to my bedside, nagging me awake each time. I finally gave in. Sluggishly walking to the kitchen, I sat myself down. There, on the table, was my Carvel ice cream cake.
My family has this birthday tradition where we set the cake on the kitchen table first thing in the morning, light the candles, dim the lights, and sing "Happy Birthday" to the person whose birthday it is. Today, it was my turn.
The cake had white frosting, multi-colored icing bordering the circumference of the cake. In edible red lettering were the words: "Happy Birthday" engraved in fancy, looping letters. I made my wish, then puffed up my cheeks, extinguishing the dancing flames. Miniature smoke clouds flew away from the waxy candles. The lights were turned back on, and I dug into my cake, my taste buds swimming in the sweetness that is birthday cake.
School was the same as usual. The only thing out of the ordinary that happened to me was the constant "Happy birthday!" from my peers. It felt nice, to be in the spotlight for once. On any other day, I would've avoided the spotlight at all costs. Middle school does that to you, it makes you self-conscious and desperate to stay under the radar. At least, that's what it did to me. "Happy birthday!" I practically had those two words streaming out of my ears. That had been all I'd been hearing today. But I didn't expect her to wish me a happy birthday. It was Kristina, my old friend who had ditched my group of friends for another, being spun around by her friend Chloe. She shouted a "happy birthday" at me before averting her attention back to her friends. Somehow I managed to reply: "Thanks." I was definitely taken off guard, I mean, I'd always thought she no longer had any interest in me as a friend. Which was true. Well, in her defense, at least she had the decency to do what she did. I secretly wanted to be her friend again. Partly because of her higher social status in school and partly because I just missed her. It was too late to patch up the tear though, a measly "happy birthday" was all I would be hearing from Kristina. It was the cold, hard truth.
"Jen!" A vaguely familiar voice called, halfway down the hallway. I whipped my head around. I suspected it was Jacob. Jacob was one of the most popular boys in my grade, and just about every girl in my grade liked him at one point. I always had an instinctive feeling he'd found out my crush on him, but I couldn't be sure. It's not like I could just go up and ask if he knew. So I was always on the edge near Jacob around school, tense from fighting my conflicted emotions. He was chatting away with his other popular friends, making no eye contact with me whatsoever. As if I were invisible. To him, I may as well have been. Or at least that's what I assumed until the end of the day.
Once again, we crossed paths in one of the school hallways. Kids were bustling around us, socializing or heading somewhere in or out the school. I didn't even notice Jacob...until he called to my attention again. "Hey, Jen. Have a good weekend." I couldn't afford to look into those green eyes of his. If I did, all my willpower I'd built up in the past would be washed away. I simply nodded my head. He walked off, and I was left to wonder what his intentions were. Or more specifically, if he even had any. There were a couple things I had to think about, that much I knew.
With age comes new feelings, aspects, and sensations. If only I could figure out how to sort them out.
