Suddenly, You

four

Addison

It took days of brainstorming as to what to gift to Tessa for her birthday. It had to be appropriate for her age and appropriate considering the relationship between her and I. Unsure of the ethical standing of my decision, I went ahead and bought her something. I purchased a vegan leather writing journal, since her current one is nearing the end, a new set of micron pens, which are her favorite pen to finalize a piece in, and a necklace that held a small, dainty butterfly charm, because she has referred to her late sister as a butterfly in some of her writing pieces. It's clear this girl hasn't been able to properly grieve the loss of her sister, so I want to hopefully help her start the process in a healthy way. I wrote her a personal message and placed it on top of the gifts in the box.

The overwhelming excitement for her to open the gift ate at me for the rest of the night. I stared at the wrapped package, urging time to pass quickly, until it did. I went to sleep that night easily and woke up energized and ready to get to work. I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a single cupcake for her as well.

I waited patiently to see her. Luckily, my lesson for the day was a good distraction.

The bell rang to dismiss the students to lunch and I watched the door. Most of the students that spend this hour in my room, usually spend Monday's in other classrooms. There are still a few that straggle into my room, I just hoped Tessa would be one today.

My face lit up as I watched her enter my classroom.

"Hey." She smiled shyly at me.

"Hello." I matched her smile.

"How are you?" She breathed deeply.

"I'm okay and yourself?" I questioned her back. She wasn't herself today.

"Eh, happiest day of the year, right?" She tried to joke.

"You want to talk about it?" I turned my chair toward her as she sat on the couch near my desk.

"Not really." She looked at her hands in her lap.

I nodded and reached behind me to grab the boxes of birthday goodies I was prepared to give her, one was the cupcake, the other was the gifts.

I carefully sat next to her, pausing with the boxes in my lap, then extended them to her. "Happy birthday, Tessa."

She looked up at me shocked.

I smiled and tilted the gifts toward her.

Her hands carefully took the boxes from my hold and into her lap. She was slow to react or move at all.

"You didn't have to." She shook her head.

"Of course, I did." I smiled at her.

I have this impossible to control giving nature about me. When someone is distressed, I feel the need to help them. When someone is sad, I feel the need to comfort them. When Tessa is being looked over, I feel the need to make her feel special, as I would any of my students.

She set the cupcake on the small table in front of us, then began unwrapping the gift box. My heart pounded in my chest.

She pulled the micron pens first and smiled widely at me. I couldn't fight the smile that overcame me. Next was the journal.

"Oh wow, this is so nice." She commented as her fingers ran across the faux leather cover.

She admired the journal a moment longer, then finally moved on to the final gift, the necklace, which was in a smaller box within the gift.