Wishes on Birthday Cake Candles

It had been three weeks, and I was still absolutely adoring life. Every weekend, I got to hang out with Lindsey. Sometimes when Bob went out to go do something, I stayed over at Ray's house and battled him at Halo. He ended up winning almost every game, though.

One thing that didn't please me, though, was that Brendon still hadn't talked to me. In the hallways, I would say hello or wave, but he shied away and hurried off. Lexi advised me to drop it like a hot potato. But I wouldn't just leave it alone. I was determined to get him to be friends with me.

At lunch, I sat down at my usual table with my sandwich and lemonade. As I unscrewed the top of the lemonade bottle, Lexi slid in across from me. She smiled merrily at me before unwrapping her burrito.

"Any news?" she asked me.

I shook my head and sipped my drink. Lexi nodded, but wore a look as if saying, "As normal."

We sat in comfortable silence, looking around at the different groups and people of the cafeteria. It was fairly loud, so I could catch some of the conversations. But, when someone said my name and Brendon's in the same sentence, I turned right around and paid attention to it.

"Ian," I hissed, glaring at my sandwich.

"Don't be mad at your sandwich!" Lexi yelled, smiling.

"I'm not, I just heard Ian talking about me," I muttered.

"Ooh!" Lexi cooed, laughing.

I threw her packet of hot sauce at her quickly, listening intently to what the boy was saying.

"She won't give up!" Ian whispered intently to his friends. "I don't get it."

"Just give up, Man," one of his friends answered.

I rolled my eyes and laid my head down upon the white table. Lexi patted my shoulder and smiled at me, taking a sip of her water. The bell rang shortly after, calling us back to class. I tossed my trash into the nearest trash can and hurried off, holding my books closely to my chest.

To my luck, the rest of my classes seemed to pass by fairly quickly. But, when it came to my last class, something from the normal routine had changed. As I made my way to piano classes, someone grabbed my forearm roughly. I quickly spun around.

A pair of hazel eyes met my own, blazing with anger. I almost started stuttering stupidly, until I realized that he was angry.

"Brendon," I said. "Hi."

"Look, I know you saw me in the orchestra room," Brendon muttered.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Suddenly, Brendon's grip loosened and his eyes became less harsh. "Don't tell anyone."

"Why not? I think playing the violin is cool," I said, biting my lip.

"Well, you might, but there are guys here that would throw me in front of a bus for playing the violin," Brendon answered, regaining his anger once more.

I quickly nodded, not wanting to get him hurt. "I promise."

Brendon stared at me a second longer, his eyes gazing over all of my face. I backed up a bit and fidgeted with my fingers behind my back. Still, he stared at me.

"I-I should probably get to class," I stuttered, almost tripping over my own feet as I backed up.

Brendon nodded and stalked off to his own class. A small gasp escaped my lips before I ran off to get to class before the bell rang. Mrs. Dent smiled at me sweetly as I hurried over to my piano next to Sarah. Sarah grinned at me before getting fixed onto her own piano. I grabbed some of the sheet music from the top of my piano and looked around at it, though I really wasn't paying attention to it at all.

I just wanted to stop thinking about him.

That just wasn't going to happen anyway, though. Outside, the sun was shining and casting a golden glow on my piano, just like his eyes. My skin was turning as white as his. The boy in front of me had choppy brown hair just like his. And to make things even worse-

"Brandon, the office wants you," Mrs. Dent called out to a boy a few pianos away from me.

Groaning, I dropped my head down onto the keys of my piano, making a loud noise with it. The class stared at me, chuckling at it. Mrs. Dent hurried over, her heels clicking against the linoleum of the classroom floor.

"Mrs. Dent?" I asked.

"Yes, Josie? Are you okay?" she asked.

"Can I go to the nurse?"