Storm Warning

Coming of Age

            After breakfast, I spent much of the day in my room just being a vegetable, doing nothing of importance. Most birthdays include this ritual in that everyone else if off trying to be sneaky and planning surprises. Sarah had left the house shortly after we finished breakfast and washed the dishes, leaving me to my own devices. Earphones in as I lay back in my bed. Music blaring. Some episode of Supernatural unfolding on the mounted television across the room.

            At 4:00 in the afternoon, Sarah still has not come back, and I hear the beep-beep-beep of my cell phone, letting me know I just received a text. Grabbing it from the night table, I hold it up as I lay in bed and read the messages. It is Maddie, my best friend since we moved here when I was just seven years old. We grew up together and spent many hours sharing secrets when we should have been sleeping. She was more like a sister to me.

U busy?

Nah. Just layin’ around. Keeping busy.

Doin' What?

Scrolling through my phone. Listening to music. Watching Supernatural.

DUDE! Those Winchesters are hawt!

Which one?!

All of them.

True! But I find myself loving Adam the best!

Look at you! Rootin' for the underdog. Anyway, get dressed. Pick u up in 5.

Why? What’s goin’ on?

Nuthin’. Now, get dressed.

K. Dress code?

Yeah. Cute.!!!

            Shaking my head at my friend’s attempt to be secretive, I jump out of bed and head for the closet. Many of my clothes are cute, but none are new. Shoving hangars aside with frustration, I groan when I find that I have nothing new to wear. My phone sounds again. BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

Maybe dress in an early birthday present that you may have been given yesterday.

            I never knew how to react when Maddie did that. Sometimes, she would just know my struggle and text some profound advice that turned out super helpful. She was rarely ever wrong. I turn to look at the back of my bedroom door to find the garment bag I deposited there last night before falling into bed with exhaustion, but that wasn't what Maddie was talking about.

            Walking to my desk at the foot of my bed, I pull the powder blue box closer to me. I never got a chance to open it yesterday with the back-to-school shopping Sarah and I had to do. I only got the present because Maddie left it on our doorstep with the note: “You’ll need this tomorrow… not that anything special is happening.” As Sarah and I walked out the door to head to the stores, we had found it propped up against the wall directly next to the door. I had to quickly run it up to my room to get it out of the way before sprinting back to the car, where Sarah was waiting.

            With a laugh at the badly veiled surprise implicated in the note, I pull the lid of the box up and toss it gently onto the bed. With a shock, I stare in surprise at the gorgeous black fabric. My fingers gently running over the softness. It was the dress I wanted for one of our school dances, but Sarah and I couldn’t afford it due to bad plumbing. With gentle fingers, I grab the sides and hold it up to the light. The dress is made from the material of leggings, a cotton-polyester-lycra blend known for its softness and billowy essence. The dress is an off-the-shoulder with long, flowing sleeves like the one that Anne Hathaway wore in Ella Enchanted for her wedding. The dress has a soft black belt that accents the slimness of my hips, and it continues to flow down to my knees. The lower half of the dress is covered in a lacy fabric that holds promises of elegance.

            With the honk of a horn, I quickly run to the bathroom across the hall to dress. With a little more patience, I stare into the mirror as I add a touch of concealer and lip gloss to the look. With a smack of the lips and a wink, I bounce my way down the stairs and grab my small black strapless purse on the way out of the door.

            Settling into the passenger seat of my best friend’s convertible, I smile and ask while raking a hand down my dress, “Cute enough?”

            Maddie turns to me and gives me a once over starting with my pair of black wedge shoes and slowly moving up to rest on my cleavage and finally to my hair. With a smile, she winks, “I’d do ya.”

            With a laugh and a shake of my head, I face the front while she pulls away from the curb. Maddie’s family is incredibly rich. Maddie’s father is the mayor, and his wife is a traveling lawyer. Not many lawyers travel as far as I know, but Maddie’s mother has won some high-profile cases in the past and is the prized lawyer in the United States. As a result, she is not around much. Though, when she is, she is all about her family. This family is not like the ones you see on television… the ones that make a lot of money and send their child to a private boarding school or the ones that hire other people to raise their children. Maddie’s 18th birthday was 3 months before mine, and her parents bought the shiny black convertible with the leather seats, one of which is currently making my butt very toasty with the seat warmers. They are also very understanding of different lifestyles and worldviews. Maddie is confident in her own bi-s****l nature, and her parents are perfectly fine with it. If only the rest of the world would catch up. Maddie is a giant flirt and has managed to be liked by the entire student population at Meridian High School on the outskirts of a small town in Maine. Still, her family may sound good on the surface, and unsurprisingly, this is how they would be described in the party. The reality is the last time they were this close was before her father took office. Things have been strained on Maddie's end since, but telling her to tell them how she feels falls on deaf ears. She is under the strict impression that they know but don't care.

            Not that I do not love Sarah or that I do not love my life, but sometimes, I wish we had more money, lived in a bigger house, and had vacations to look forward to. However, when I compare my family and the struggle to earn income to Maddie's wholesome income but lack of family support... I wouldn't change a damn thing in my life.

            Sarah works a lot and rarely takes a day off. She tends to work the major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but she always takes off on my birthday. Without fail, she will take this day off and say, "God brought you to me, and I need to celebrate the gift I was given." I was thankful that she adopted me, but unfortunately, I couldn't remember anything before I started second grade. Those first seven years... curiously, missing. But they couldn't have been that important. “Maddie, where are we going?”

            Laughing with approval, she looks at me. “You’ll never guess! My dad helped me rent out a night club for the entire night, and the whole school is going to be there. Imagine the multitude of gifts you will have, and one hell of a send off to our last year of high school.”

            “Oh! That’s awesome! I didn’t even know that you could rent out a night club or that you could do it for those underage.”

            She laughs before begrudgingly responding. “You can’t, but my dad has connections. And a lot of money. Throw enough money at a problem, it all goes away.” With that, we continue to drive in silence for another 40 minutes before we park in front of a night club with Beyonce blasting from the speakers and a line of Meridian High School students lining up outside the building. “I told him not to let them in until after we enter.” She laughs as the puzzled expression on my face. “The party may double as a back-to-school event, but it is still your birthday, and we will sing to you. Besides, this is my party, and I am going to be the first one in... after the birthday girl. Of course.” I laugh at the idea that the whole school was going to sing me the “Happy Birthday” song, and I knew they would. Maddie would make sure of it. She was a force to be reckoned with on a normal day, but a night like tonight, she was unstoppable.

            As we exited the car, I couldn’t help but think that nobody ignored Maddie. She could get people to do the craziest things. That is how we met. Well, the second time we met. The first time, she ran me over as she tornadoed into the school. Anyway, her parents told her to give everyone in her 2nd grade class an invitation to a sleep over… except the boys, of course. I had just joined her class a week earlier. She invited me, and Sarah thought it would be good if I went. So, I did, and Maddie dared us all to sneak out to her pool at midnight while her parents slept. We got in so much trouble, which is expected when you have a bunch of 4-feet children playing in a 6-feet pool without parental supervision.

           Shaking my head to clear away the past, we walk up to the front door and is immediately nodded at by the bouncer. That’s right. I said bouncer. There is a bouncer at my party. With a soft chuckle, I move into the building and stop short. It was something you would expect to find at prom with pink, blue, and purple streamers looping around the ceiling. Maddie even made a net to hold up a ton of balloons. There are decorations on every wall with one wall lined with tables. I slowly walk toward the table and find each table labeled. One for presents. One for food. One for cake. I look at Maddie and shake my head in amusement. “You labeled the tables?!”

            She puffs up with false defensiveness. “Of course, I did. A party is no reason to be disorganized.” Giving up the act, she continues, “Besides, they might put presents on the cake. Can’t have that.” She turns to the bouncer as she raises her arms as if she was going to wave flags to start a race. “LET THEM IN!” Almost immediately, a herd of students and friends crowd into the large dance floor with presents and gifts.

          Over the noise, I can just barely hear different voices shouting:

                                “Happy Birthday, Arielle!”

                                “You getting old!”

                                “Happy Birthday!”

                                “You look hot!”

                                “You look great!”

                                “I wish I had your figure!”

            As they shout, my classmates swarm around me with jovial cheer. I laugh and smile while waving. With surprise, I hear Maddie yelling into a megaphone and turn to see that she had left some time during the crowd entering the club and was just parting the crowd with her hands and voice. “EVERYONE PUT YOUR GIFTS ON THE TABLE LABELED ‘PRESENTS’. DO NOT MESS UP THE FOOD OR CAKE TABLES. IF YOU DO, I WILL FIND YOU AND UNLEASH A WORLD OF HURT! AND BY THAT, I DO MEAN I WILL LITERALLY HURT YOU!” The crowd chuckles with the knowledge that Maddie speaks the truth. “ANYWAY. ON THREE, WE SING! ONE, TWO, THREE!” Maddie lowers the megaphone and leads the song.

                                  “Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You!

                                    Happy Birthday, Dear Arielle!

                                    Happy Birthday to You”

            I laugh and clap as the song ends and as Maddie yells, “Let’s party!” The crowd erupts into applause as party goers begin to break off into smaller groups. Almost immediately, I feel arms circling my waist, and I turn to look up into Derek’s green eyes. I smile and wonder why I could not love this gorgeous boy with his confident smile, his kind nature, and his messy brown hair that falls into his face.

            He mouths ‘happy birthday’, and I respond with a mouthed ‘thank you’. With a smile, he leads me to the dance floor.