Smile for Me

I walked down the hall to my locker, smiling at the people that I knew but not stopping to chat. When I got closer to my locker my eyes widened and I stopped for a moment before continuing on, my face split wide with a grin.
The entire outside of my locker had multicolored balloons taped across it, and a banner that read Happy Birthday, Katiekins! hung down from the top. I lightly touched the balloons and banner before I was tackled from the side, falling into the lockers with a loud bang.
“OW!” I groaned with a laugh as my friends screamed around me.
“Happy birthday, bitch!” Emma screamed, hugging the breath right out of me.
“Thanks.”
I then received tight hugs from Jen, Mandy, and Haylie.
“So did you get anything from your dad?” Jen asked.
I nodded. “Money.”
“Sweet. Now you can buy me something.”
I laughed at her and turned to open my locker. “Not a chance.”
“Aw.” She pouted.
“So are we still going out with the boys tonight?” Emma asked with a smirk.
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard from Syn in a few days.” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. “They probably forgot.”
“I don’t think so.” Jen said with a shake of her head.
“Oh, Katie?” Haylie sang behind me.
“Oh, Haylie?” I sang back and turned to see her holding a black sash that had BIRTHDAY GIRL scrolled across in bright pink and sparkles.
“Oh, no. I am not wearing that.” I said with a shake of my head.
“Yes, you are.” She said in a non-arguing tone and stepped forward to slide it around my body.
I looked down at myself and pouted. “I feel like I’m in a beauty pageant.”
“You should be. You’d win.” Emma predicted with a wink.
I rolled my eyes before grabbing the last of my books and closing my locker. Em linked her arm through mine just as the bell for first period rang.

At the end of the day, I walked out the school doors and pulled my phone out to check my messages. I had two, so I brought the cell to my ear to listen.
The first made me laugh out loud. It was from Syn and the guys, and they were all screaming, “Happy fucking birthday, Katie!”
The second was from Syn and I smiled when I heard his voice.
“Hey Katie, guess you just got the other message. Happy birthday, I hope you have a good day and call me when you get out of school. Bye.”
I dialed his number right away and waited for him to pick up.
“Hello?”
“Thank you for the message.”
“Hey, happy birthday. How does it feel to be eighteen?”
“Meh, it doesn’t feel any different.”
“No? Did you have a good day at least?”
“Yeah, it was actually pretty good. I’m just on my way home.”
“Well, your day is about to get even better.” He said smugly. “Look up and to your left.”
I looked up, frowning, and saw him standing by his car in the parking lot.
I laughed. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d pick you up from school, we could chill until I take you out. So get your ass over here.”
I laughed and hung up, hitching my bag higher on my shoulder so I could jog over to him.
“What the hell are you wearing?” He laughed at the sash that I hadn’t taken off yet.
I shrugged. “My friends made me wear it all day.”
“You definitely need to wear that to the bar.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right. I’ll be so cool.” I noticed he was holding his arms behind his back and frowned. “What are you doing?”
He smirked. “I have something for you.”
My brow raised in shock. “You do?”
He nodded.
I felt a little blush creep up my cheeks. “Syn, you didn’t have to – “
“I know, but I wanted to. Now close your eyes and hold out your hands.”
I giggled and did as he said, closing my eyes tightly and holding my hands out to him.
“No peeking.”
“No peeking.” I agreed, smiling.
“Okay. Ready?”
I laughed. “Ready.”
There was a moment of silence before I felt something soft and heavy in my hands.
“Open your eyes now.”
I opened my eyes and saw that I was holding a large teddy bear that was chocolate brown in color and so soft and cuddly, I just wanted to hug it.
I laughed happily and brought it to my chest before looking up at Brian.
He was smiling down at me. “Do you like it?”
“I love it, it’s so cute.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “You seemed like the teddy bear kind of girl.”
I laughed. “I totally am a teddy bear kind of girl. Thank you.” I hugged him then, wrapping my arms around his neck and standing on my tiptoes so I could rest my chin on his shoulder.
He hugged me back, locking his arms around my waist as he murmured in my ear, “Happy birthday.”
I pulled away to smile at him and was about to say something, but the words seemed to catch in my throat as our eyes met. For breathless moments we stared at each other before he pulled back and opened the passenger door for me.
I thanked him and got in, setting the bear down in my lap and watching as he jogged around to get in the drivers’ side.
“So where to? Do you need to change?”
“Um…I don’t know. Do you think I should change?”
He glanced at me once before looking away really quickly. “You look fine. But I need to change so do you want to drop your stuff off at your place before heading over to mine?”
“Sure, that works. I’ll just have to call Emma to tell her about the change of plans.”
He nodded and grinned at me. “This is going to be so fun.”
I laughed at him, but had to agree. Tonight was going to be a blast.