Dark Night

The start of school

I went to school early the next day, a little anxious about the whole thing. I didn't know if I'd fit in, if I'd find friends. Your family kind of has to say that you have a good personality, it doesn't mean that a bunch of strange teenagers will agree. It was the first time I'd started out completely fresh at a school since going to first grade. I'd always had my friends when we went to middle school and high school, and I recognized everybody else, anyway. Here everything was different. I parked in the area reserved for juniors and fiddled around at my locker before going to homeroom.

There was a line of tables with all the different clubs you could join in the cafeteria at lunch, so I bolted my meal and spent the rest of the time seeing what was available and talking to the kids at the booths. There were a lot of options that didn't cost anything, a relief. I signed up for the French and science clubs so I could have some academic extracurriculars, then explored the comics and anime clubs, taking a brochure for Key Club so I could have a service extracurricular. I passed on clubs that seemed to demand a lot of time and commitment or that required purchases to participate. I didn't know how tough my classes would actually be or how the library job would affect my free time. I also passed up clubs that seemed too aggressive, like the paintball crew. They seemed really hard core and had their own body armor.  The teachers who advised clubs that didn't require tryouts also plugged their clubs, and I thought that the Life Skills club sounded interesting.

It was a relief at the end of the day to realize that I wasn't behind in knowledge for my new classes, and in French, I was well ahead of the rest of the class. And gym was my last period, so at least I wouldn't have to go to the rest of my classes either sweaty or unstyled. I went home after school and did homework, familiarizing myself with the syllabi and reading ahead since I started work at the library tomorrow; my shift started at five.

When I got home, I had hope that Mom would be home early, but when I checked, she had texted that she'd be late, around seven, and that I shouldn't wait dinner for her. I was a little out of sorts, so I made myself some cake. It was finally my sixteenth birthday, the first real 'milestone' birthday. It wasn't like nobody had remembered, Dad had left me a card with gift cards--fifty dollars to Starbucks and fifty for Amazon. My grandparents in Florida had sent a card, also with fifty dollars. I'd be more excited about it if they hadn't sent Stan a hundred. I ate a sandwich and salad while the cake pans cooled. Grandpa called while I was frosting my cake.

"Wish you were here to have some with me," I said as I planted sixteen multicolor candles into the buttercream.

"Me too, punkin," my grandpa said. I lit the candles, made a wish, and blew them out. We chatted about my first day of school and the retirement community as I ate a slice of cake. It has to be said that I'm a really good baker. He'd sent a card, and I hadn't expected a present because of the car, but he said he wanted me to look around and see if I'd like tickets to something or a pass for the rec center or anything.

After I hung up, the condo seemed even emptier, so I went down the park a few blocks away. It didn't have any attractions beyond a play area for little kids but there were people around enjoying the warm summer evening. When I got home, I found my brother eating a huge slab of my cake. He chewed hastily and swallowed.

"Happy birthday, Delia," he said, and produced an envelope, slightly sticky from frosting somehow, that had a pretty pop-up card. He asked how classes were, then told me that Sunday there was a thing up at the skating center for the families of the skaters. That sounded nice; it would be fun to see where he spent so much time. He said his coach could be a bit of a dick sometimes but wasn't worried about it and was already improving. After the cake and a big glass of milk, he went off to do some reading for his classes.