Speech |a.f.i au|

0.1

Rene

I was sent backward as I was accidentally shoved into the lockers. The Australian clique were horsing around in the hallways while I was trying to return to class from the bathroom. They were being idiots, and I was shrugging them off until Calum had pushed Michael, who ran into me and made me fall into the blue metal lockers.

I groan and squeeze my eyes shut, holding the back of my head. My headache was bad enough, but the impact made my brain throb as if it was trying to jump out of my skull.

"Oh my God! Are you okay, Rene?" Michael asks. I open my eyes and glare at him. I know it was an accident, but I was already annoyed with the day. I see Luke and Calum appear from behind him and Ashton leaning against the lockers.

"Yeah, I'm f-fine." I stammer, groggily. I hadn't slept in what felt like days. My dad had left a few days ago, as he was being deployed over seas, in Kuwait. He had been deployed before, but we didn't see him for almost fifteen months, though we got occasional phone calls and Skype calls. Though it doesn't make it any easier, it's still hard, even with previous experience.

Michael extended his hand out to me and I sighed, putting my small hand in his. He tugs me up, which makes my feet rise slightly off the ground.

"Th-thank you."

"It's no problem, Rene." Michael has always been nice to me since I moved to Nebraska. He and I go to the same church, he plays for the worship band, but only during contemporary service, which starts after Sunday school. He plays guitar for the worship team and occasionally, if we're all lucky enough, he'll sing.

"See you Sunday?" Michael asks.

His friends remain silent and I quickly retrieve the hall pass that I had dropped when I was knocked over. I give him a quick nod and begin my journey back to Honors Algebra Three, where we were just watching a movie. I didn't really talk to anyone in that class but I do sit next to a girl named Mia who tends to talk my ear off, but I don't mind.

She was nice and would periodically slip me some answers to a test if I was struggling, and sometimes she'd let me copy off her homework if I had forgotten, but those time are infrequent.

Arriving back into class, I put the hall pass onto the desk where Mr. Jacobs was sitting, watching a film along with the rest of the class. I walk to the back, where I'm assigned and take my seat next to Mia. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black North Face jacket. Her long black hair was in a side fishtail braid, cascading down to her rib cage.

"Hey Rene." she smiles, putting on her glasses. "I have a question for you." I look towards her, doing my best to not look annoyed. Mia didn't annoy me, but this headache was killer. I bring my hands up and begin rubbing my temples, as she's bent over, reaching into her backpack.

"Here it is!" she exclaims, plopping a blue invitation on my desk. I look at her with my eyebrows knitted together while she held a smile as if she had won a trophy. My name was written in cursive with a silver-inked pen. I can feel Mia's eyes on me, practically screaming for me to open it and so I do open it.

I break the seal from the envelope and pull out a very glittery sheet of paper. The invitation read that I was invited to Mia's sweet seventeen birthday party, themed as Winter Wonderland. It had everything about attire, location, foods, contact information, times and dates.

"Sweet seventeen?" I question.

"I had mono last year, on my birthday. So this is a way we're making up for it. So will you come?" Mia had helped me out quite a bit and she seemed to be the only person, aside from Michael and my family, who had more patience with the way I spoke.