Luke Jackson: My Story

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Tomorrow was February 14th, some people call this day Valentines Day. But in my household, along with Ruth, Troy and Marcus, today was better known as Lauren's birthday. Lauren was turning seventeen tomorrow and I was determined to make her birthday the best ever. Ruth and I spent the most time planning this whole day.

Early tomorrow morning we were going to decorate her locker with wrapping paper and ribbons. We had gathered the speech and debate together to sing happy birthday to her at lunch. Then after school; Marcus, Troy, Lauren and I would go out to a trampoline park then to her favorite restaurant where she'll open our gifts. Then when we go to my house after dinner, our families will have set up a surprise party. Tomorrow was going to be perfect, nothing could possibly go wrong.

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My alarm clock went off at its usual time of 6:45 a.m. At the sound of my horrid ringtone, I immediately hit the snooze button and lay in bed for five minutes before my alarm went off again, forcing me out of bed.

I pulled on jeans, a vintage white Adidas t-shirt and my black bomber jacket that Lauren had given me for my birthday last year. After getting dressed, I hustled downstairs to make my lunch and breakfast, then grabbed Lauren's gifts.

The first gift was a framed picture of us in the sword arena, we were wearing armor and we had our arms around each other. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and her eyes were twinkling with joy and we were both on the verge of laughter. I loved this picture, I hope she'd like it too. Her second gift, was one I'd picked out when Marcus, Lauren and I had stopped in Virginia after we'd killed Medusa we had gone into a local store.

Lauren for some reason was drawn to the necklace display towards the back of the store. The one she was drawn to in particular had a small shiny silver chain with a pendant of a silver crescent moon and a little gold star next to it. She even tried it on and she had this enchanted look on her face, like she'd finally found a piece of herself that she was missing.

The necklace was small but it was easily the prettiest one in that store, if someone passed it without looking at it, they missed out on how beautiful the necklace was. I think the reason Lauren was so drawn to that particular necklace was because she loved the moon and stars but also that the necklace was a lot like her. Small to the eye but when you really looked at it there was so much more to it, just like her.

She didn't have any money with her that day or else she would've bought it, but when she and Marcus left to get our bus tickets, I told them I'd be out later. I grabbed the necklace before anyone else could see it and bought it for her. It's taken a lot of willpower not to give it to her but now, I only had to wait a few more hours.

My mom had just come downstairs as I was gathering my things for the day. "Luke, where are you off to so early?" She yawned.

"Ruth and I are decorating Lauren's locker before anyone else can see it."

"Oh that's right, what time will you five be home at? I'm getting the other moms together to help organize for the party." My mom yawned while scratching her head of curly blonde hair that was wild this morning.

"Uh, I think around seven or eight, I'll let you know when we order dinner."

"Ok thanks kiddo. This so sweet of you to do this for Lauren. She's going to love it," my mom ruffled my hair.

"Thanks mom, I hope she does. We just have to get through the school day then we're in the clearing." I sighed, praying to every god that Lauren wouldn't get harassed at school today.

My mom put her hand on my shoulder, "she'll be fine today, don't worry about her. Remember, this day is about her, so make it fun for her." My mom gave me a soft smile with firm eyes, how could she do that?