Ribbons Academy for Boys

“So what are we going to do today?”

“We have to go to school Braxton.” I said and sat up. He frowned.

“We don’t have to.” he said, his shirt in one hand and his arms were crossed over his chest.

“Yes we do. Well, you don’t, but I’m going.” I said and climbed out of bed.

“Fine. Want me to make you breakfast?” he asked and wrapped his arms around me.

“No thanks, I don’t like spaghetti in the mornings.”

“I was going to cook you eggs and bacon and other stuff.”

“I’ll stick to my cereal.”

“Fine.” he sighed. I giggled and kissed his nose and slipped out of his room. I walked to my room and pulled out my uniform. I walked to the showers.



When I was done, I got dressed and walked into the kitchen. Braxton was still in his boxers, but he was wearing his shirt. He had two bowls of cereal in his hands.

“Here ya go.” he said, handing me a bowl.

“Thanks.” I smiled and took the bowl from him. I walked to the table and took a seat. Chase, Gerald, and Tucker came in.

“Happy birthday!” they yelled.

“Thanks!” Braxton said. I continued eating my cereal.

“Too bad Hero cant make her own birthday cake!” Tucker joked.

“I know, it ruins all the fun.” I said.



At lunch, I skipped and went to the pond. I hadn’t been there for awhile, and I missed it. The ground was a bit damp from the showers we had been having. I stared at the shallow water. There were only 4 of the 5 fish swimming. I didn’t want to get my skirt dirty so I walked around the water a few times.

I could only think of Will. He was the one that showed me this place, and it felt like it should be his. I found a pen in my bag and went to one of the many trees and carved his name into the trunk, the best I could. It was extremely hard. I figured lunch was over when I finished, so I said goodbye and went to school.



After school, I went to the dorm and laid on the couch. I closed my eyes and I let out a giant sigh.

“Hero’s dead!” I heard Tanner yell.

“Shut up Tanner!” I shot.

“Never mind!” Tanner yelled louder. I sat up and he sat where my feet were. “Happy birthday.”

“You already told me.”

“I know.” he grinned. “Go get Braxton and come out to the kitchen.”

“Fine.” I said, got off the couch and walked to Braxton’s door and knocked.

“Who is it?” he called.

“Here-row!” I laughed. The door opened and I walked in.

“What’s up birthday girl?

“Tanner wants us in the kitchen, birthday boy.” I said.

“Alright.” he said and grabbed my hand and dragged me out.

“Happy birthday!” I heard a loud chorus of boys yell. I walked around Braxton and saw all the guys standing around the table with a giant cake, and a shit load of candles.

“I didn’t know we were that old.” I said.

“There’s 36 of them. 18 each.” Gerald grinned. Tanner started singing us Happy Birthday, and then we blew out the candles. They all cheered and Derell started to cut the cake and handed it out to us. It was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and it said, ‘Happy Birthday Hero + Braxton’ in fancy letters.

“Thanks guys.” I said. They all replied at once. I just laughed and ate my cake.

Tanner bounced up to me, carrying a small package. He grinned widely and handed it to me.

“Now I feel bad because I didn’t get you anything.” I said as I tore the wrapping off.

“I don’t care.” he shrugged. I opened the box and pulled out an Escape The Fate shirt and a My Chemical Romance bracelet. I stood up and hugged him.

“Thank you so much.” I said.

“No problem sweetie.” I looked over at Braxton. Chase had given him a few Playboy magazines and I saw a DVD laying on the table. Hank appeared next to me.

“Follow me.” he said. I sighed but got up. I followed him across the room to the other side of the main room. I noticed he had something small in his hand. He stopped by the wall and turned to me. “Happy birthday.” he said, presenting a small box. My mouth fell open. It was a jewelry box. I took it and opened it and saw a silver bracelet with green charms.

“Hank… Its really beautiful.” I didn’t know what to say. I shouldn’t be accepting this though. Hank took it out of the box and put it on my right wrist. “Thank you.” I said.

“You’re welcome.” he smiled and kissed my cheek. When he pulled away, I pulled him into a giant hug. We parted and walked pack to the kitchen. I saw Braxton give Hank a hard stare, but shrugged it off. After a while, everyone started to disperse.

I was sitting at the table, looking at my bracelet. It was so wrong to accept such an expensive present, but it was so pretty I couldn’t help it. It was so sparkly. I saw a chair move next to my and a body occupy it.

“Happy birthday in, 5..4..3..2..1! 5:41pm.” Braxton said. I giggled.

“I cant believe you remembered that.”

“I try.” he grabbed my hand and pulled me up. He dragged me down the hall to my door.

“Braxton, what are we doing?” he didn’t reply but opened my door.

“Remember when you said if you weren’t in a gang, you’d learn to play the guitar?” he was facing me, holding both of my hands.

“Vaguely.” I shrugged.

“Well…” he said, and moved out my. Next to by bed was a dark wash wood, Fender acoustic guitar. My mouth dropped farther to the floor then it did when Hank gave me the bracelet.

“Braxton…” I whispered. I had no idea what to say.