Paper Airplane [s.m]

Nine

"Happy birthday Roni!" Daisy says shaking my shoulder.

"Stop it you pest." I joke, grabbing a napkin to clean the spilled milk. You probably shouldn't shake someone with a spoon full of milk
and cereal.

"You're 18, what are you gonna do?" She asks and takes a seat next to me.

"Stuff I did yesterday. Nothing has changed." I shrug.

"Boring." She rolls her eyes and leaves the apartment with her bag over her shoulder.

"Happy birthday honey. Your mom told me to give you this." Aunt June kisses my cheek and hands me a box and an envelope.

I open the box first and find a necklace with a small diamond attached to it. It's simple but so beautiful. I wonder if it's real. I open the envelope, expecting a card but it's a note.

Dear Veronica,

     I'm guessing your reading this because you're 18. I guess you're also reading this because I'm fighting a war somewhere and can't be there with you. I'm sorry I had to leave but it is my duty to serve my country.

I love you so much and I hope your doing a lot with your life. Enjoy adult hood Roni.

Love,
     Dad

By the time I've finished reading the letter, I have tears streaming down my face. I had no idea he wrote me a letter. I'm guessing the necklace was from him too. I put the necklace on and grab my bag. I can't be late for school, so I wipe my eyes the best I can and hope they aren't red.

"Are you okay?" Thalia asks me.

"Yes I'm fine are my eyes still red?" I ask.

"What? Why would they be red? I just meant because your staring out the window all sad. Have you been crying? What's wrong?" She asks. Those are too many questions.

"I'm good, really." I smile. The truth is I am good. I'm happy that I got this letter from my dad. He's been stationed in some country in the Middle East for 8 years now. It's a very long time to be away from your father. I get 2 texts at the same time and I look at my phone to check them.

Shawn- happy birthday :)

Dylan- hpy bday just landed, I'll see you in a bit x

Shawn's message came through before Dylan's so I answer it first.

Roni- thank you :)

All I say to Dylan is okay because what else do you say to that? I'm not gonna act all excited because I didn't even invite him. He came just because he wanted to. I don't think I even wanted him to come. I feel awful thinking these things but it's true. He's been a jerk so I'm treating him like one.

"Here." Thalia says and slides a cupcake towards me. I smile at her.

"Awe." I say and hug her side before taking a bite of the cupcake.

"Oh my god happy birthday Roni." Alex says.

"Happy birthday." Reggie joins in. Jade says the same and I tell them all thank you.

I take small bites of the cupcake as they talk about random stuff. I listen into a conversation between Reggie and Thalia.

"Can I have a chip?" Reggie asks.

"No." She tells him.

"Please." He says smiling at her. She takes one look at him and hands him the whole bag of chips. I almost burst out laughing. Why won't he just ask her out or something?

"Oh Thalia? How was your date last Friday?" I ask her. Reggie tenses up and stares at me with an expression I don't know. Thalia's jaw drops and she looks flustered.

"Oh um I don't know." She stutters. She looks like she's about to cry.

"We need to go to the bathroom."
I say and grab Thalia's arm. She nods and we walk out of the lunch room.

"What's wrong? What happened on the date?" I ask her. She reacted really weirdly when I asked her about it.

"Nothing, it was fine." She mumbled looking down.

"Thalia." I say sternly. If something happened, she needs to tell someone.

"I don't want to talk about it."
She says and looks up at me. She has tears streaming down her cheeks by now. I frown and hug her tightly.

"You don't have to tell me, but I care about you and I want to know if your safe or not." I say.

"He tried to take me to his bedroom." She sobs into my shoulder. I'm shocked. I know what she's telling me but she doesn't want to explain it in detail. Why didn't she call me? I'd help her if I knew.

"What?" I hear come from behind me. I turn around and see Reggie standing there, his cheeks red with anger.

"Reggie it's okay. I'm fine." She sniffles.

"No it's not okay. Who is he?" He asks flailing his arms angrily.

"Calm down Reggie, she's really upset and your not helping." I warn him. If he freaks out, Thalia is gonna freak out too. He frowns when he looks at Thalia's tear soaked face.

She releases me and walks over to Reggie. He envelopes her into his arms and she cries into his shoulder. I had no idea this happened to her. I wish she would have told one of us so that we could've helped her.

"Let's just finish the day and have a good time on the roof after school." I tell her. She nods and we walk back into the cafeteria. My birthday party thing is tonight and she's going to be there so I'll try to cheer her up.