Status: In progress...
Sleepwalker
1
“Kara, can you give me the answer, please?”
I looked up from my desk, which held the paper on which I was working on a complicated math problem I had copied from the white board. I had nearly completed it, too. I quickly picked up where I was.
“Kara. Now, please,” my strict math teacher, Mr. Burns, commanded.
I looked up from the newly completed math problem. “There could be two answers. Negative five and twenty-seven. But when we consider the fact that there can be no negatives when it comes to the length of one of the sides of a triangle, the answer is therefore twenty-seven.” I hoped that sounded as mature as I thought it had. Mr. Burns loved it when you used large words when explaining, well, anything.
“And which method did you use, Ms. Voigt? Did you simply guess, or did you actually do the math?” Mr. Burns asked skeptically.
“I used the quadratic formula, sir.”
“Prove it to me.”
I forced myself not to roll my eyes at him, because I knew that would only get me into some serious trouble.
I picked up my messy paper and walked up to the front of the classroom. I handed my paper to Mr. Burns.
Today we were starting a new chapter in our math text books. I was in honors geometry, and we were reviewing quadratic equations today. I had no idea what they had to do with triangles, though. I had only remembered that, at the beginning of class, Mr. Burns had mentioned that you could not have a negative side of a triangle, so, therefore, you could have no negative answers.
Mr. Burns grunted and handed me my paper back. “Go back to your seat, Ms. Voigt.”
“Thank you, Mr. Burns," I muttered. He just grunted again in reply.
I glanced at my best friend, Noelle, who sat in the desk behind me. She smiled a little bit, and I just rolled my eyes and grinned slyly. We both found it hilarious every time Mr. Burns was proven wrong, no matter what it was about. He thought he was just so great, and when he was proven wrong, he wouldn’t even look at you for the rest of the week. At least I could be sure that he wouldn’t call on me until next Monday.
Mr. Burns cleared his throat after I took my seat. “Your homework for tonight is to do all the problems on page 376.”
I quickly scrawled the page number down in the corner of my paper and rushed to put it in my bag. The bell was due to ring any second. In fact, the second I zipped my bag shut, it rang.
Noelle grabbed my hand and (literally) dragged me out of the classroom and into the insanely crowded hallway. Her perfect auburn curls bounced, and her blue-gray eyes seemed to sparkle.
“You’re coming to my house. No arguments. No hassles.” She grinned maniacally, like she had something planned.
Oh no. Oh. No.
My hazel eyes widened with what I knew was horror. “Noelle…you didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t!” I gripped her arm and began squeezing. Hard.
She seemed to not notice the pain I was trying to inflict upon her. She smirked at me. “And if I did?”
“I told you not to, Noelle!”
She laughed at me and began dragging me towards her navy blue pickup truck.
I had forgotten what the date was. December second.
My sixteenth birthday.
Normally, I would be perfectly fine with going over to Noelle’s house, but when it comes to my birthday, she goes all out. I was seriously expecting half of the student body there when we got there.
I climbed into her truck reluctantly.
“Oh my gosh, you’re going to love it, Kara! I got up early for the decorations, and you should see it! The party starts at three thirty, so we have to find something to do for the next hour and fifteen minutes. We could go bowling, or to the rock wall, or we could go to the mall…oh! Yeah! Let’s go to the mall! I couldn’t think of what to get you, so I haven’t really gotten you a present. Yet. And it’ll be perfect because YOU’RE going to pick it out! How’s that sound, Kara?”
I nodded, looking down at my bag. Then I decided to get my many Sharpies out and color the blank white and black checkered bag I used. I dug out a yellow marker and started drawing in one of the white squares.
Noelle started the truck up and began driving towards the mall. We arrived there about ten minutes later. Just in those short ten minutes, I had managed to color one square in with a moon and stars set on a dark blue background, and then a miniscule castle on another.
“Ready?” Noelle asked me, causing me to jump. I had just started an intricate purple and red swirl design in a third square.
I shuffled around in my bag to attempt to shove the markers back in. Once I managed to wedge it in between some books and my bag, I turned to Noelle. “Yeah,” I sighed.
My idea of the best party ever would be in a castle, maybe from the sixteenth century. And it would only be me. No big crowds, no one else. Just me. I’d explore, and then go to a garden or courtyard with a book, and sit and read under a clear night sky. A party consisting of me and a bunch of characters that didn’t exist. But I knew it was impossible…
“Oh! I know what I’m getting you for your birthday, Kara! I hope you like dark blue.” She winked at me.
I looked back at her, a look of puzzlement spread across my face.
She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “You’re getting your hair dyed, Kara!”
My jaw dropped. She knew I wanted to get my hair dyed, but not BLUE!
“Blue, Noelle!! You’re dying my hair BLUE?!” I practically screamed at her.
“But you’re going to like it, Kara…” she mumbled.
I closed my eyes and groaned, leaning my head back. “One condition.”
“Starbucks afterwards?” she piped up.
I nodded, keeping my eyes closed.
“Yes! Thank you, Kara!”
I opened my eyes and looked at her funny. “Why are you thanking me? You’re the one who’s getting me stuff!”
“Because you’re agreeing with me!” She gripped my arm and started dragging me into the mall.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An hour and a half later, half of my hair was midnight blue. The bottom half, to be exact.
Noelle had known that I would never agree to getting all of my hair dyed BLUE, so we made a compromise. Instead of getting every bit of my light brown hair dyed BLUE, we agreed on getting the part of my hair that wouldn’t be as obvious dyed. The entire top part of my hair was still its original light brown, and underneath it all was the deep blue. When I put it up into a ponytail, the bottom half was completely blue. When I saw that, I was so freaked out that I jumped when I looked in the mirror.
Noelle yanked at my hair tie, pulling it out of my hair. “It looks better down, with part of the blue over your shoulder…like this!” She flipped my hair over my shoulder, the soft waves cascading down.
I rolled my eyes and sipped at my frozen moccachino we had picked up from Starbucks. We were walking out of the mall now, already being fifteen minutes late for my party.
Suddenly I hear Pain (by 3 Days Grace). Noelle pulled out her bright orange cell phone and started talking into it.
“I know. Yes. What? Oh, seriously? WAS THAT GLASS SHATTERING?! You better be sure that was someone’s ringtone. Yeah. Okay, be there in a few. Bye.” She pushed the ‘End Call’ button and stuck her phone in her pocket.
“John wondering where we are?” I asked knowingly. I knew it was him.
She sighed. “It’s getting chaotic already. I don’t think that was a ringtone. Let’s go before they burn down the house.”
I nodded. I’ve seen her mother mad on only a few occasions, and I don’t think she would react very well to her house being burned down to a crisp.
We climbed into her truck and started heading towards her house. She put on her music (which consisted of mainly piano music), and five minutes later, we arrived at her house. The second we got out of the car, John came outside and greeted us.
“Hey! It’s about time you got here!” he welcomed us, holding out his arms to Noelle to give her a hug.
John was Noelle’s older brother, and they were incredibly close. They never fought, and they were never embarrassed of each other. He was (approximately) six feet tall with dark blonde hair. He had green eyes with tiny specks of brown, and straight white teeth. He wasn’t pale, but he wasn’t tan either, and he had a few freckles on his nose. He always wore jeans, even in the summer, and t-shirts (always colorful), complete with a pair of white Converse hightop sneakers that he had drawn all over with multi-colored Sharpies. He was very into art. You could ask him to draw anything, and he would. From comics to portraits of just about anyone. You name it, he can draw it.
He let go of Noelle and then proceeded to give me a hug. “Happy birthday, Kara!”
I laughed gleefully. “Thanks.”
Considering the fact that Noelle and I had been best friends for the past eight years, John had basically become my brother as well. Every day after school I was at Noelle’s house, so all three of us had become really close.
John released me and draped his arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go in. You’re going to love the cake,” he added to me.
I smiled slightly. Personally, I didn’t want to be at the party. But I figured that I may as well pretend to enjoy it, for the sake of Noelle.
We walked in through the front door, and I was shocked at what I saw. The living room was decorated with only a balloon and a stack of presents. But what REALLY surprised me was that no one was here but us.
I cocked my head to the side, my face twisted into a look of confusion.
“What? Did you expect there to be tons of people here? Noelle asked me, a smile lingering on her lips.
Yes. “No…”
“Seriously? Come on. Even I know you well enough to know that you entirely believed that there was going to be at least half of the grade here,” John mentioned.
I blushed. “Oh, shut up, John.”
He just stood there and laughed at me.
“You think that I would do that to you Kara? That I would actually throw you a party that you would absolutely hate? And then have my guts smeared all over the walls?” Noelle asked, feigning hurt.
I glared at her, smirking. Then I elbowed her in the ribs.
“And here we go!” John announced loudly, walking out of the kitchen with a large castle in his hands.
“What is that?” I asked.
He set the castle down in the middle of the coffee table and looked at me like I was stupid. “Uh…it’s your cake.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh. Where did you get it?!” I practically shrieked. I rushed over to the cake so that I could get a better look at it.
John looked over at me, slightly hurt. “I find that insulting, Kara Voigt.” He sighed and hung his head.
I stared at him, realization finally dawning on me. “You made it, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Did I mention that John is really good at art?
He smiled at me, apparently happy that I now realized that he was the mastermind behind my amazing cake.
The detailing on the cake was absolutely marvelous. It was at least a foot tall, and in some places more, and at least three feet wide. The walls were made of a gray-ish brown icing, and detailed with bricks. There was a blue moat around the castle made out of cupcakes, and then, where the platter ended, was chocolate cake underneath for dirt and dark green icing for grass on top. (John had made it seem like he ripped the castle out of the ground.) In the center of the castle was a courtyard, complete with tiny trees and even tinier yellow, blue, and red flowers. Underneath the tallest of the trees was a small bench, complete with a such a miniscule book that I couldn’t even make out the words that John had written on it for the title. There was also a little drawbridge, leading from the outside of the castle to the inside.
I threw my arms around John. “This is so perfect! Thank you so much!”
He laughed quietly. “I’ll send you a bill in the mail, ‘kay?”
I laughed back at him and let him go. I turned towards Noelle. “Alright. Explanation time. Why’d you two make me think that this was going to be a huge party?” I turned to John. “Did you actually break something, or was it all a planned conversation? Because right now I am SERIOUSLY confused.” I plopped myself down on their couch.
Noelle looked at me, her eyes gleaming. She smiled. “I know that I’ve thrown huge
extravagant parties for you in the past, so I wanted you to think that this one was going to be so much bigger than the rest of them. There was never a set time for your ‘party,’ but I did plan on John calling me as soon as we got done at the salon. That was entirely planned as well. I texted John right before you were done, telling him to call at three forty-five, because then we’d be ‘fifteen minutes late.’ And to the glass shattering, we hadn’t planned on that. John had called me on the house phone, and then the glass shattering was his message tone for when he got a text. He must’ve just gotten it today, because I had actually thought that was glass shattering. By the way, where’d you get that tone?” she asked John.
“The Internet.” He shrugged.
Noelle nodded. “Ah. Okay. But yes, Kara. We had everything planned. I knew that you would want a quiet birthday, with just us, so that’s what we’re giving you.” She smiled. “And we both got you presents, and you are going to like every one of them!” she squealed. She bounced over the stack of presents, and grabbed one off of the top. She then proceeded to throw it at me, and (luckily) I caught it.
I looked down at it for a minute, looking at the wrapping paper. It was Harry Potter wrapping paper. I don’t think I’ve ever seen wrapping paper on a gift that I never wanted to take off.
“Geez, Kara! Open it! Don’t feel bad about ripping Harry’s face to shreds!” Noelle pushed.
“Should’ve gotten Malfoy paper. All the presents would’ve been unwrapped by now,” I mentioned.
“Crap,” she hissed under her breath. “I knew I should’ve gotten that paper…”
I laughed at her, knowing that she probably HAD nearly gotten Malfoy paper.
I opened up the gift that was in my lap. Inside it was two sets of black wizards’ robes, both with blue trim.
I glanced at Noelle curiously. “Why…?”
“I wanted everything to center around one central point. Just keep opening them! By the way,” she added in a whisper. “I expect to borrow those.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. She tossed the next present at me and I started unwrapping.
It took me about thirty minutes for fully finish unwrapping all of the presents. It’s not like there was an enormous amount of them, just that Noelle kept commenting on everything that her and John had gotten me. I had received the wizards’ robes, a Time Turner replica, a blue and gray scarf, and the Sorcerer’s Stone (it was a replica…not the real thing). She had centered the robes and the scarf on Ravenclaw’s colors. That was both her’s and mine’s favorite Hogwarts House.
“Oooh!! One more!” Noelle bounded off into another room.
I felt the couch cushion sink slightly on my right side. “Do you like everything?” John asked me.
I looked up at him. “Yeah. It’s great!”
“I had to convince her not to throw a huge party. I knew you wouldn’t want that. Birthday’s aren’t something you shouldn’t look forward to.” He grinned at me.
“Haha, I know. She likes going all out, doesn’t she,” I sighed.
He chuckled. “Yeah. She does.”
“So where’s my present from you?” I asked, winking at him.
“What the cake wasn’t enough? I skipped school today to make that thing!” he said, exasperated.
“I’m kidding! I promise I’m kidding!” I hurriedly said.
He laughed at me. “I know.”
“But did you seriously miss school to make the cake?” I asked, disbelieving.
He nodded. “It’s not like I could exactly make that in an hour and a half, you know.”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly Noelle was back in the room. “And here we go! I got one, too, you know.” She winked.
I took the long, thin box from her. She hadn’t even bothered to wrap it.
I opened the rectangular box. Inside was a Harry Potter style wand. “Oh. My. Gosh. You actually got me a wand?? I was kidding when I said that I wanted one!”
“I know you were! That’s why I got it. I got myself one, too!” She held up a black wand. Mine was the complete opposite of hers, mine made of ash and her’s of ebony.
“So you centered my birthday around Harry Potter?” I asked.
She thought about it for a minute. “Uhmm…yeah. I did. What was your first hint?”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “You’re such a patsy.”
“And…?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Oh, nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.” I opened my eyes and saw her smirking at me.
“Hey, what time is it?” I asked. If I wasn’t home by six, my dad might have a heart attack. He normally wouldn’t care about what time I came home, but birthdays were an exception to that rule. Be home by six, and that’s when the ‘party’ started.
John looked down at his phone, which was lying in his lap. “Uhmm, it’s five forty. Why? Did your dad give you a curfew finally?” he scoffed at me.
I elbowed him, and then ducked when he aimed a pillow at my head in retaliation. “No. It’s just that I have to be home by six. My dad says that every year on my birthday. You know that, retard. When did it get so late?”
“You spent a lot of time looking at your cake, Kara. Plus, I want you to stop staying here until nine every night.”
“Ugh! Well, too bad.” I grabbed the other couch pillow and hit him squarely on the face. I promptly got up and ducked again as he threw the pillow he was holding at me.
“I’ll drive you home, Kara. Just let me go get my keys. And John? Can you put Kara’s presents in the trunk for us?” Noelle added, walking into her kitchen.
John rolled his eyes at her. “Sure.”
“Here, I’ll help,” I offered. “It’ll take less time, then you can get rid of me quicker.” That was convincing, wasn’t it?
“Yeah! That’d be freakin’ amazing! The sooner I get rid of you, the better.”
I ignored him, and started grabbing some of the gifts. I walked over to the front door, and opened it using my foot (my hands were occupied by most of the Harry Potter stuff Noelle and John got me). “Unlock the car, Noelle!” I shouted behind me. Even from the front porch, I could hear the locks in the car click unlocked.
I descended down the steps, and nearly fell over. I felt hands catch me at the waist. “Thanks,” I said.
“Yep,” John answered me. “Lemme go ahead and get the car door for ya. Can you try not to trip while I go a few feet to get the door?” He smirked at me.
I rolled my eyes at him.
He stepped around me lithely, and opened the car door. I threw all of the stuff on the ground, then straightened it up a little bit, so that I would actually have some leg room. John added the few things that he was holding to the already tall stack on the floor, and turned towards me. “Uhm, there’s something I need to tell you. And Noelle can’t know.” He glanced at the front door nervously.
I looked at him suspiciously. What did he want to tell me that was so bad that I couldn’t tell Noelle?
He continued without letting me reply. “Well,” he started, biting on his bottom lip anxiously. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, actually…”
“Ready, Kara?” Noelle shouted, bounding out of the house.
John looked at his sister distastefully, the first I had ever known him to. Then he turned his attention back to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kara. Happy birthday.” He smiled brightly, obviously attempting to smolder anything emotion that might give away whatever he had been about to say. He pulled me in for a parting hug.
When he released me, he looked puzzled about something. He didn’t look at me afterwards. I climbed into Noelle’s truck, and clicked the seatbelt on. Noelle revved up the engine and began backing out of the driveway. I looked up to see John standing in the door frame. I gave him a little wave, and he returned the wave.
What had he been about to tell me? I thought tersely. I could tell he really HAD been thinking about what he was going to tell me for quite a bit, just by the look on his face. And he was extremely nervous. He had never been nervous in front of me before. What was going on?
We pulled up to my house just about five minutes later. My dad was waiting for me by the front door. When he saw Noelle’s pickup pull into the driveway, his face twisted itself into a smile that I only saw on rare occasions. Then again, I only rarely ever saw my dad.
“Happy happy birthday, it all goes to you! I wish it was my birthday, so I could party too! Yeah!” he sang to me when I got out of the truck.
“You’re insane, Dad,” I laughed at him. I ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.
Dad was exactly six feet and three inches tall, with the darkest brown hair and light brown eyes rimmed with green (I had inherited those eyes, and I was rather happy about that). He had a kind face, and he was usually gentle with me. He didn’t have any other daughters, or even any sons, so he valued me greatly. It was just me and him, my mom having left us when I was very young. He would never speak of her, I had learned from multiple experiences. All he would ever say was that I was a lot like her, in both my looks and my personality. He would say that I was a carbon copy of my mother. I didn’t know what to think of that; I had mixed feelings about her. I didn’t feel that I should love her if she decided to leave me and her husband, but I felt like I at least owed her for bringing me into this world. I had no idea what to feel, just like always.
“And Noelle! I haven’t seen you in a while!” He wrapped his arms around her as she climbed out of her car. He squeezed us both together so hard, I felt as if my head would be popping off any second.
“Can’t—breathe—Dad!” I gasped.
He gave a final squeeze, and released us.
Noelle regained her breath after a few gulps of air. “It’s only been a few days, Mr. Voigt.”
“What’d I say about calling me that, Noelle?”
She looked confused for a half of a second, and then realized what he was talking about. “Oh! Right. Sorry…Ron.” She hesitated before calling my dad by his real name.
He smiled at her. “That’s better.”
Noelle nodded. “I should get home. Happy birthday, mi querida! I’ll put your stuff in your room,” she added as she ran up to me and gave me a quick hug. I nodded and whispered, “Thanks.”
“So, kiddo. Ready for a fun filled birthday?” my dad asked me excitedly. I internally sighed. If he was excited about it, then I probably wouldn’t be.
“Sure. What’re we doing?” Getting me a car, getting me a car… I silently prayed.
“We’re going to the mall, and you’re getting absolutely whatever you want. But you can’t go over fifteen hundred dollars, okay?” He looked nervous that I actually might go over that. Truth was I probably wouldn’t reach within 500 dollars of the 1,500. Or probably even within a 1,000 dollars of that limit.
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” I asked, completely bewildered.
He nodded. “And I promise not to hover over you, trying to convince you to get something that would be cool. ‘Kay?” he promised.
I smiled hugely. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He laughed at me, but I was entirely sure that I knew that he knew that I would seriously remind him of that if he did try to influence my decisions.
I heard something say ‘Accio!’ and jumped. I took out my dark blue cell phone, and saw that I had a new message from John.
Hey r u busy yet
I sighed. Typical of him to text me NOW of all times.
Im headin 2 the mall txt u l8r
Again
Yeah gtg bye
Bye… ):
Drama queen
U no it, girlie (;
But I still gtg
I no bye (again)
Haha bye
That conversation lasted all of three minutes.
I shut my phone and looked at my dad. He was looking at me like he was already going to suggest something. “Why don’t you get a new phone?” he suggested. Ha! I knew he would be throwing things out there that he thought that I might like.
I thought about it for a minute. “I probably should. Is the contract up?”
He nodded.
“Alright. I’ll get a new phone if there are any in blue.”
He smiled, and then began climbing into his slate gray Ford Expedition. I walked up to the driver’s side window. “Can I drive?”
My dad looked at me for a minute, considering. “I guess so.” He pursed his lips, like he was going to throw in a catch. “But only if I drive on the way home. I don’t want you driving in the dark.” Ha. I knew there’d be a catch. It didn’t bother me, however. I hated driving in the dark.
I smiled, overjoyed. “Thank you so much, Dad!” I stepped back to let him out of the car, and hugged him the second that he climbed out.
“Enough of that. Don’t make me call you by your real name, Kara,” he threatened, wiggling out of my arms.
I looked at him in mock terror, and then glaring at him. “You wouldn’t,” I hissed through my teeth. I could by the look on his face that he knew that I was messing around with him.
“I would, MiraBella Karaline Voigt.” He smirked at me.
I snapped my fingers and moved my hips in mock 'nuh-uh' fashion. “Oh, no you just did not.”
“Yeah, I just di-id!” He copied my movements exactly, causing me to begin laughing so hard that I couldn’t breathe.
“Okay, okay. Enough now, seriously. Get in the car so we can get home before you have to go to school tomorrow.”
I stopped laughing gradually, and climbed into the car. I was still slightly giggling to myself when we pulled into the mall’s parking lot.
“Déjà vu,” I mumbled.
“Why is this déjà vu?” my dad asked me, curious.
“Have you not seen what Noelle has done to me?” I asked. I thought he’d have noticed by now that half of my hair was blue, and just hadn’t said anything about it. I flipped out a piece of my hair, and showed him the difference between the light brown hair and the dark blue.
He stared at me. “SHE did this to you?!” he practically shouted.
I immediately went on defensive mode. “She knows how much I like dark blue, and I’ve been actually thinking about getting my hair dyed for a while now—”
He cut me off. “I’m not mad. It looks good.” He smiled at me. “I completely freaked you out there.” He let out a hearty chuckle.
I punched him in the shoulder lightly, and climbed out of the car.
I calculated the exact time that we were in the mall. We went in at 6:13 pm, and came out at 8:27 pm, therefore spending two hours and fourteen minutes in the mall. And what did I get? Bright yellow, electric blue, blood red, and lime green nail polish (cost was $15.72), an Owl City, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco t-shirt ($47.27), fifteen new books ($85.96), and I got a new phone ($0.00). The total money I spent was $148.95, and I could tell my dad was impressed that I didn’t even break 200 dollars.
We got home around 8:45 pm, and my dad sat on the couch, and within a minute, was asleep. I quietly made my way to my room with my bags full of my new stuff, and put them in a corner. I also moved the things that Noelle and John had gotten me off of my bed and into the corner that already held the shopping bags from the mall. I pulled out a bright pink tank top and my comfy SpongeBob pajama bottoms. I climbed into bed and immediately fell asleep.
Little did I know, I wouldn’t be getting very much real sleep.
I looked up from my desk, which held the paper on which I was working on a complicated math problem I had copied from the white board. I had nearly completed it, too. I quickly picked up where I was.
“Kara. Now, please,” my strict math teacher, Mr. Burns, commanded.
I looked up from the newly completed math problem. “There could be two answers. Negative five and twenty-seven. But when we consider the fact that there can be no negatives when it comes to the length of one of the sides of a triangle, the answer is therefore twenty-seven.” I hoped that sounded as mature as I thought it had. Mr. Burns loved it when you used large words when explaining, well, anything.
“And which method did you use, Ms. Voigt? Did you simply guess, or did you actually do the math?” Mr. Burns asked skeptically.
“I used the quadratic formula, sir.”
“Prove it to me.”
I forced myself not to roll my eyes at him, because I knew that would only get me into some serious trouble.
I picked up my messy paper and walked up to the front of the classroom. I handed my paper to Mr. Burns.
Today we were starting a new chapter in our math text books. I was in honors geometry, and we were reviewing quadratic equations today. I had no idea what they had to do with triangles, though. I had only remembered that, at the beginning of class, Mr. Burns had mentioned that you could not have a negative side of a triangle, so, therefore, you could have no negative answers.
Mr. Burns grunted and handed me my paper back. “Go back to your seat, Ms. Voigt.”
“Thank you, Mr. Burns," I muttered. He just grunted again in reply.
I glanced at my best friend, Noelle, who sat in the desk behind me. She smiled a little bit, and I just rolled my eyes and grinned slyly. We both found it hilarious every time Mr. Burns was proven wrong, no matter what it was about. He thought he was just so great, and when he was proven wrong, he wouldn’t even look at you for the rest of the week. At least I could be sure that he wouldn’t call on me until next Monday.
Mr. Burns cleared his throat after I took my seat. “Your homework for tonight is to do all the problems on page 376.”
I quickly scrawled the page number down in the corner of my paper and rushed to put it in my bag. The bell was due to ring any second. In fact, the second I zipped my bag shut, it rang.
Noelle grabbed my hand and (literally) dragged me out of the classroom and into the insanely crowded hallway. Her perfect auburn curls bounced, and her blue-gray eyes seemed to sparkle.
“You’re coming to my house. No arguments. No hassles.” She grinned maniacally, like she had something planned.
Oh no. Oh. No.
My hazel eyes widened with what I knew was horror. “Noelle…you didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t!” I gripped her arm and began squeezing. Hard.
She seemed to not notice the pain I was trying to inflict upon her. She smirked at me. “And if I did?”
“I told you not to, Noelle!”
She laughed at me and began dragging me towards her navy blue pickup truck.
I had forgotten what the date was. December second.
My sixteenth birthday.
Normally, I would be perfectly fine with going over to Noelle’s house, but when it comes to my birthday, she goes all out. I was seriously expecting half of the student body there when we got there.
I climbed into her truck reluctantly.
“Oh my gosh, you’re going to love it, Kara! I got up early for the decorations, and you should see it! The party starts at three thirty, so we have to find something to do for the next hour and fifteen minutes. We could go bowling, or to the rock wall, or we could go to the mall…oh! Yeah! Let’s go to the mall! I couldn’t think of what to get you, so I haven’t really gotten you a present. Yet. And it’ll be perfect because YOU’RE going to pick it out! How’s that sound, Kara?”
I nodded, looking down at my bag. Then I decided to get my many Sharpies out and color the blank white and black checkered bag I used. I dug out a yellow marker and started drawing in one of the white squares.
Noelle started the truck up and began driving towards the mall. We arrived there about ten minutes later. Just in those short ten minutes, I had managed to color one square in with a moon and stars set on a dark blue background, and then a miniscule castle on another.
“Ready?” Noelle asked me, causing me to jump. I had just started an intricate purple and red swirl design in a third square.
I shuffled around in my bag to attempt to shove the markers back in. Once I managed to wedge it in between some books and my bag, I turned to Noelle. “Yeah,” I sighed.
My idea of the best party ever would be in a castle, maybe from the sixteenth century. And it would only be me. No big crowds, no one else. Just me. I’d explore, and then go to a garden or courtyard with a book, and sit and read under a clear night sky. A party consisting of me and a bunch of characters that didn’t exist. But I knew it was impossible…
“Oh! I know what I’m getting you for your birthday, Kara! I hope you like dark blue.” She winked at me.
I looked back at her, a look of puzzlement spread across my face.
She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “You’re getting your hair dyed, Kara!”
My jaw dropped. She knew I wanted to get my hair dyed, but not BLUE!
“Blue, Noelle!! You’re dying my hair BLUE?!” I practically screamed at her.
“But you’re going to like it, Kara…” she mumbled.
I closed my eyes and groaned, leaning my head back. “One condition.”
“Starbucks afterwards?” she piped up.
I nodded, keeping my eyes closed.
“Yes! Thank you, Kara!”
I opened my eyes and looked at her funny. “Why are you thanking me? You’re the one who’s getting me stuff!”
“Because you’re agreeing with me!” She gripped my arm and started dragging me into the mall.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An hour and a half later, half of my hair was midnight blue. The bottom half, to be exact.
Noelle had known that I would never agree to getting all of my hair dyed BLUE, so we made a compromise. Instead of getting every bit of my light brown hair dyed BLUE, we agreed on getting the part of my hair that wouldn’t be as obvious dyed. The entire top part of my hair was still its original light brown, and underneath it all was the deep blue. When I put it up into a ponytail, the bottom half was completely blue. When I saw that, I was so freaked out that I jumped when I looked in the mirror.
Noelle yanked at my hair tie, pulling it out of my hair. “It looks better down, with part of the blue over your shoulder…like this!” She flipped my hair over my shoulder, the soft waves cascading down.
I rolled my eyes and sipped at my frozen moccachino we had picked up from Starbucks. We were walking out of the mall now, already being fifteen minutes late for my party.
Suddenly I hear Pain (by 3 Days Grace). Noelle pulled out her bright orange cell phone and started talking into it.
“I know. Yes. What? Oh, seriously? WAS THAT GLASS SHATTERING?! You better be sure that was someone’s ringtone. Yeah. Okay, be there in a few. Bye.” She pushed the ‘End Call’ button and stuck her phone in her pocket.
“John wondering where we are?” I asked knowingly. I knew it was him.
She sighed. “It’s getting chaotic already. I don’t think that was a ringtone. Let’s go before they burn down the house.”
I nodded. I’ve seen her mother mad on only a few occasions, and I don’t think she would react very well to her house being burned down to a crisp.
We climbed into her truck and started heading towards her house. She put on her music (which consisted of mainly piano music), and five minutes later, we arrived at her house. The second we got out of the car, John came outside and greeted us.
“Hey! It’s about time you got here!” he welcomed us, holding out his arms to Noelle to give her a hug.
John was Noelle’s older brother, and they were incredibly close. They never fought, and they were never embarrassed of each other. He was (approximately) six feet tall with dark blonde hair. He had green eyes with tiny specks of brown, and straight white teeth. He wasn’t pale, but he wasn’t tan either, and he had a few freckles on his nose. He always wore jeans, even in the summer, and t-shirts (always colorful), complete with a pair of white Converse hightop sneakers that he had drawn all over with multi-colored Sharpies. He was very into art. You could ask him to draw anything, and he would. From comics to portraits of just about anyone. You name it, he can draw it.
He let go of Noelle and then proceeded to give me a hug. “Happy birthday, Kara!”
I laughed gleefully. “Thanks.”
Considering the fact that Noelle and I had been best friends for the past eight years, John had basically become my brother as well. Every day after school I was at Noelle’s house, so all three of us had become really close.
John released me and draped his arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go in. You’re going to love the cake,” he added to me.
I smiled slightly. Personally, I didn’t want to be at the party. But I figured that I may as well pretend to enjoy it, for the sake of Noelle.
We walked in through the front door, and I was shocked at what I saw. The living room was decorated with only a balloon and a stack of presents. But what REALLY surprised me was that no one was here but us.
I cocked my head to the side, my face twisted into a look of confusion.
“What? Did you expect there to be tons of people here? Noelle asked me, a smile lingering on her lips.
Yes. “No…”
“Seriously? Come on. Even I know you well enough to know that you entirely believed that there was going to be at least half of the grade here,” John mentioned.
I blushed. “Oh, shut up, John.”
He just stood there and laughed at me.
“You think that I would do that to you Kara? That I would actually throw you a party that you would absolutely hate? And then have my guts smeared all over the walls?” Noelle asked, feigning hurt.
I glared at her, smirking. Then I elbowed her in the ribs.
“And here we go!” John announced loudly, walking out of the kitchen with a large castle in his hands.
“What is that?” I asked.
He set the castle down in the middle of the coffee table and looked at me like I was stupid. “Uh…it’s your cake.”
My jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh. Where did you get it?!” I practically shrieked. I rushed over to the cake so that I could get a better look at it.
John looked over at me, slightly hurt. “I find that insulting, Kara Voigt.” He sighed and hung his head.
I stared at him, realization finally dawning on me. “You made it, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Did I mention that John is really good at art?
He smiled at me, apparently happy that I now realized that he was the mastermind behind my amazing cake.
The detailing on the cake was absolutely marvelous. It was at least a foot tall, and in some places more, and at least three feet wide. The walls were made of a gray-ish brown icing, and detailed with bricks. There was a blue moat around the castle made out of cupcakes, and then, where the platter ended, was chocolate cake underneath for dirt and dark green icing for grass on top. (John had made it seem like he ripped the castle out of the ground.) In the center of the castle was a courtyard, complete with tiny trees and even tinier yellow, blue, and red flowers. Underneath the tallest of the trees was a small bench, complete with a such a miniscule book that I couldn’t even make out the words that John had written on it for the title. There was also a little drawbridge, leading from the outside of the castle to the inside.
I threw my arms around John. “This is so perfect! Thank you so much!”
He laughed quietly. “I’ll send you a bill in the mail, ‘kay?”
I laughed back at him and let him go. I turned towards Noelle. “Alright. Explanation time. Why’d you two make me think that this was going to be a huge party?” I turned to John. “Did you actually break something, or was it all a planned conversation? Because right now I am SERIOUSLY confused.” I plopped myself down on their couch.
Noelle looked at me, her eyes gleaming. She smiled. “I know that I’ve thrown huge
extravagant parties for you in the past, so I wanted you to think that this one was going to be so much bigger than the rest of them. There was never a set time for your ‘party,’ but I did plan on John calling me as soon as we got done at the salon. That was entirely planned as well. I texted John right before you were done, telling him to call at three forty-five, because then we’d be ‘fifteen minutes late.’ And to the glass shattering, we hadn’t planned on that. John had called me on the house phone, and then the glass shattering was his message tone for when he got a text. He must’ve just gotten it today, because I had actually thought that was glass shattering. By the way, where’d you get that tone?” she asked John.
“The Internet.” He shrugged.
Noelle nodded. “Ah. Okay. But yes, Kara. We had everything planned. I knew that you would want a quiet birthday, with just us, so that’s what we’re giving you.” She smiled. “And we both got you presents, and you are going to like every one of them!” she squealed. She bounced over the stack of presents, and grabbed one off of the top. She then proceeded to throw it at me, and (luckily) I caught it.
I looked down at it for a minute, looking at the wrapping paper. It was Harry Potter wrapping paper. I don’t think I’ve ever seen wrapping paper on a gift that I never wanted to take off.
“Geez, Kara! Open it! Don’t feel bad about ripping Harry’s face to shreds!” Noelle pushed.
“Should’ve gotten Malfoy paper. All the presents would’ve been unwrapped by now,” I mentioned.
“Crap,” she hissed under her breath. “I knew I should’ve gotten that paper…”
I laughed at her, knowing that she probably HAD nearly gotten Malfoy paper.
I opened up the gift that was in my lap. Inside it was two sets of black wizards’ robes, both with blue trim.
I glanced at Noelle curiously. “Why…?”
“I wanted everything to center around one central point. Just keep opening them! By the way,” she added in a whisper. “I expect to borrow those.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. She tossed the next present at me and I started unwrapping.
It took me about thirty minutes for fully finish unwrapping all of the presents. It’s not like there was an enormous amount of them, just that Noelle kept commenting on everything that her and John had gotten me. I had received the wizards’ robes, a Time Turner replica, a blue and gray scarf, and the Sorcerer’s Stone (it was a replica…not the real thing). She had centered the robes and the scarf on Ravenclaw’s colors. That was both her’s and mine’s favorite Hogwarts House.
“Oooh!! One more!” Noelle bounded off into another room.
I felt the couch cushion sink slightly on my right side. “Do you like everything?” John asked me.
I looked up at him. “Yeah. It’s great!”
“I had to convince her not to throw a huge party. I knew you wouldn’t want that. Birthday’s aren’t something you shouldn’t look forward to.” He grinned at me.
“Haha, I know. She likes going all out, doesn’t she,” I sighed.
He chuckled. “Yeah. She does.”
“So where’s my present from you?” I asked, winking at him.
“What the cake wasn’t enough? I skipped school today to make that thing!” he said, exasperated.
“I’m kidding! I promise I’m kidding!” I hurriedly said.
He laughed at me. “I know.”
“But did you seriously miss school to make the cake?” I asked, disbelieving.
He nodded. “It’s not like I could exactly make that in an hour and a half, you know.”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly Noelle was back in the room. “And here we go! I got one, too, you know.” She winked.
I took the long, thin box from her. She hadn’t even bothered to wrap it.
I opened the rectangular box. Inside was a Harry Potter style wand. “Oh. My. Gosh. You actually got me a wand?? I was kidding when I said that I wanted one!”
“I know you were! That’s why I got it. I got myself one, too!” She held up a black wand. Mine was the complete opposite of hers, mine made of ash and her’s of ebony.
“So you centered my birthday around Harry Potter?” I asked.
She thought about it for a minute. “Uhmm…yeah. I did. What was your first hint?”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “You’re such a patsy.”
“And…?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Oh, nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.” I opened my eyes and saw her smirking at me.
“Hey, what time is it?” I asked. If I wasn’t home by six, my dad might have a heart attack. He normally wouldn’t care about what time I came home, but birthdays were an exception to that rule. Be home by six, and that’s when the ‘party’ started.
John looked down at his phone, which was lying in his lap. “Uhmm, it’s five forty. Why? Did your dad give you a curfew finally?” he scoffed at me.
I elbowed him, and then ducked when he aimed a pillow at my head in retaliation. “No. It’s just that I have to be home by six. My dad says that every year on my birthday. You know that, retard. When did it get so late?”
“You spent a lot of time looking at your cake, Kara. Plus, I want you to stop staying here until nine every night.”
“Ugh! Well, too bad.” I grabbed the other couch pillow and hit him squarely on the face. I promptly got up and ducked again as he threw the pillow he was holding at me.
“I’ll drive you home, Kara. Just let me go get my keys. And John? Can you put Kara’s presents in the trunk for us?” Noelle added, walking into her kitchen.
John rolled his eyes at her. “Sure.”
“Here, I’ll help,” I offered. “It’ll take less time, then you can get rid of me quicker.” That was convincing, wasn’t it?
“Yeah! That’d be freakin’ amazing! The sooner I get rid of you, the better.”
I ignored him, and started grabbing some of the gifts. I walked over to the front door, and opened it using my foot (my hands were occupied by most of the Harry Potter stuff Noelle and John got me). “Unlock the car, Noelle!” I shouted behind me. Even from the front porch, I could hear the locks in the car click unlocked.
I descended down the steps, and nearly fell over. I felt hands catch me at the waist. “Thanks,” I said.
“Yep,” John answered me. “Lemme go ahead and get the car door for ya. Can you try not to trip while I go a few feet to get the door?” He smirked at me.
I rolled my eyes at him.
He stepped around me lithely, and opened the car door. I threw all of the stuff on the ground, then straightened it up a little bit, so that I would actually have some leg room. John added the few things that he was holding to the already tall stack on the floor, and turned towards me. “Uhm, there’s something I need to tell you. And Noelle can’t know.” He glanced at the front door nervously.
I looked at him suspiciously. What did he want to tell me that was so bad that I couldn’t tell Noelle?
He continued without letting me reply. “Well,” he started, biting on his bottom lip anxiously. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, actually…”
“Ready, Kara?” Noelle shouted, bounding out of the house.
John looked at his sister distastefully, the first I had ever known him to. Then he turned his attention back to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kara. Happy birthday.” He smiled brightly, obviously attempting to smolder anything emotion that might give away whatever he had been about to say. He pulled me in for a parting hug.
When he released me, he looked puzzled about something. He didn’t look at me afterwards. I climbed into Noelle’s truck, and clicked the seatbelt on. Noelle revved up the engine and began backing out of the driveway. I looked up to see John standing in the door frame. I gave him a little wave, and he returned the wave.
What had he been about to tell me? I thought tersely. I could tell he really HAD been thinking about what he was going to tell me for quite a bit, just by the look on his face. And he was extremely nervous. He had never been nervous in front of me before. What was going on?
We pulled up to my house just about five minutes later. My dad was waiting for me by the front door. When he saw Noelle’s pickup pull into the driveway, his face twisted itself into a smile that I only saw on rare occasions. Then again, I only rarely ever saw my dad.
“Happy happy birthday, it all goes to you! I wish it was my birthday, so I could party too! Yeah!” he sang to me when I got out of the truck.
“You’re insane, Dad,” I laughed at him. I ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.
Dad was exactly six feet and three inches tall, with the darkest brown hair and light brown eyes rimmed with green (I had inherited those eyes, and I was rather happy about that). He had a kind face, and he was usually gentle with me. He didn’t have any other daughters, or even any sons, so he valued me greatly. It was just me and him, my mom having left us when I was very young. He would never speak of her, I had learned from multiple experiences. All he would ever say was that I was a lot like her, in both my looks and my personality. He would say that I was a carbon copy of my mother. I didn’t know what to think of that; I had mixed feelings about her. I didn’t feel that I should love her if she decided to leave me and her husband, but I felt like I at least owed her for bringing me into this world. I had no idea what to feel, just like always.
“And Noelle! I haven’t seen you in a while!” He wrapped his arms around her as she climbed out of her car. He squeezed us both together so hard, I felt as if my head would be popping off any second.
“Can’t—breathe—Dad!” I gasped.
He gave a final squeeze, and released us.
Noelle regained her breath after a few gulps of air. “It’s only been a few days, Mr. Voigt.”
“What’d I say about calling me that, Noelle?”
She looked confused for a half of a second, and then realized what he was talking about. “Oh! Right. Sorry…Ron.” She hesitated before calling my dad by his real name.
He smiled at her. “That’s better.”
Noelle nodded. “I should get home. Happy birthday, mi querida! I’ll put your stuff in your room,” she added as she ran up to me and gave me a quick hug. I nodded and whispered, “Thanks.”
“So, kiddo. Ready for a fun filled birthday?” my dad asked me excitedly. I internally sighed. If he was excited about it, then I probably wouldn’t be.
“Sure. What’re we doing?” Getting me a car, getting me a car… I silently prayed.
“We’re going to the mall, and you’re getting absolutely whatever you want. But you can’t go over fifteen hundred dollars, okay?” He looked nervous that I actually might go over that. Truth was I probably wouldn’t reach within 500 dollars of the 1,500. Or probably even within a 1,000 dollars of that limit.
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” I asked, completely bewildered.
He nodded. “And I promise not to hover over you, trying to convince you to get something that would be cool. ‘Kay?” he promised.
I smiled hugely. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He laughed at me, but I was entirely sure that I knew that he knew that I would seriously remind him of that if he did try to influence my decisions.
I heard something say ‘Accio!’ and jumped. I took out my dark blue cell phone, and saw that I had a new message from John.
Hey r u busy yet
I sighed. Typical of him to text me NOW of all times.
Im headin 2 the mall txt u l8r
Again
Yeah gtg bye
Bye… ):
Drama queen
U no it, girlie (;
But I still gtg
I no bye (again)
Haha bye
That conversation lasted all of three minutes.
I shut my phone and looked at my dad. He was looking at me like he was already going to suggest something. “Why don’t you get a new phone?” he suggested. Ha! I knew he would be throwing things out there that he thought that I might like.
I thought about it for a minute. “I probably should. Is the contract up?”
He nodded.
“Alright. I’ll get a new phone if there are any in blue.”
He smiled, and then began climbing into his slate gray Ford Expedition. I walked up to the driver’s side window. “Can I drive?”
My dad looked at me for a minute, considering. “I guess so.” He pursed his lips, like he was going to throw in a catch. “But only if I drive on the way home. I don’t want you driving in the dark.” Ha. I knew there’d be a catch. It didn’t bother me, however. I hated driving in the dark.
I smiled, overjoyed. “Thank you so much, Dad!” I stepped back to let him out of the car, and hugged him the second that he climbed out.
“Enough of that. Don’t make me call you by your real name, Kara,” he threatened, wiggling out of my arms.
I looked at him in mock terror, and then glaring at him. “You wouldn’t,” I hissed through my teeth. I could by the look on his face that he knew that I was messing around with him.
“I would, MiraBella Karaline Voigt.” He smirked at me.
I snapped my fingers and moved my hips in mock 'nuh-uh' fashion. “Oh, no you just did not.”
“Yeah, I just di-id!” He copied my movements exactly, causing me to begin laughing so hard that I couldn’t breathe.
“Okay, okay. Enough now, seriously. Get in the car so we can get home before you have to go to school tomorrow.”
I stopped laughing gradually, and climbed into the car. I was still slightly giggling to myself when we pulled into the mall’s parking lot.
“Déjà vu,” I mumbled.
“Why is this déjà vu?” my dad asked me, curious.
“Have you not seen what Noelle has done to me?” I asked. I thought he’d have noticed by now that half of my hair was blue, and just hadn’t said anything about it. I flipped out a piece of my hair, and showed him the difference between the light brown hair and the dark blue.
He stared at me. “SHE did this to you?!” he practically shouted.
I immediately went on defensive mode. “She knows how much I like dark blue, and I’ve been actually thinking about getting my hair dyed for a while now—”
He cut me off. “I’m not mad. It looks good.” He smiled at me. “I completely freaked you out there.” He let out a hearty chuckle.
I punched him in the shoulder lightly, and climbed out of the car.
I calculated the exact time that we were in the mall. We went in at 6:13 pm, and came out at 8:27 pm, therefore spending two hours and fourteen minutes in the mall. And what did I get? Bright yellow, electric blue, blood red, and lime green nail polish (cost was $15.72), an Owl City, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco t-shirt ($47.27), fifteen new books ($85.96), and I got a new phone ($0.00). The total money I spent was $148.95, and I could tell my dad was impressed that I didn’t even break 200 dollars.
We got home around 8:45 pm, and my dad sat on the couch, and within a minute, was asleep. I quietly made my way to my room with my bags full of my new stuff, and put them in a corner. I also moved the things that Noelle and John had gotten me off of my bed and into the corner that already held the shopping bags from the mall. I pulled out a bright pink tank top and my comfy SpongeBob pajama bottoms. I climbed into bed and immediately fell asleep.
Little did I know, I wouldn’t be getting very much real sleep.