Levi Harris: A Guide to Middle School

Episode 9: Angelina's Birthday

EPISODE 9: Angelina’s birthday

    February 19th 2009, preparations for Angie.

    Angelina’s birthday was just around the corner and I wanted to find a way to truly express to her how much I care. The nightmare put me into shock, I never wanted to lose Angelina but for some stupid reason I did, the nightmare felt like reality and was eating away at my heart. I knew the way I felt about Angie was mutual, I was her beau and she was my belle. I needed her to feel the spotlight for a change. I wanted her to understand that I cared about her more than she knew, I had to prepare the best thirteenth birthday party for her, March fifteenth had to be a night to remember.

I started making arrangements with her closest friend Pia. Pia insisted on throwing a surprise birthday party, I thought otherwise knowing that Angie would be suspicious, and suspicious she was. She kept one eyeing me whenever I went to talk to Pia, she also had a hunch that Pia and I liked each other, kinda like how I feel about her and Mustafa.

“Lee, maybe we should blind fold her!” Pia exclaimed.

“I don’t think so… she doesn’t seem the type who would go for it, plus if we do it would kinda give the surprise away,” I replied.

“Yeah, you’re right!”

“Aren’t I always?” I cocked.

She chuckled and so did I, but two meters behind me Angie was fuming, I didn’t realize though, I just carried on cracking lame jokes with Pia.

“Hey Lee,” I heard a soft voice call over. It was awkward, Angelina, Pia and I.

“Hi Anj. I stood up and walked over to her, trying to edge in a kiss but she wouldn’t let me.

“What’s going on hear?” her voice was almost inaudible.

“Nothing!” Pia and I said precisely at the same time. Awkwardness was spreading in the atmosphere, Pia and I looked way too suspicious.

“Doesn’t seem like nothing, c’mon Lee, don’t lie to me! What’s going on here?”

“Me and Lee aren’t…” Pia was quickly interrupted.

“Stay out of this Pia! And leave Lee alone!” her voice came out as a huge sob. She buried her face into her hands and started weeping. I walked over her trying to comfort her but she broke lose and ran away, throwing her hands about so much that I got wacked in the face.

“What happened between you and Anj?” I asked Pia, a confused look on my face was spreading.

“Nothing. I thought you two had a fight, I mean she did whack you in the face!”

“By accident!” I quickly replied before running after Angelina who seemed as if she was going nowhere. She stopped at the school benches, her face was full of worry, and her eyes were puffy.

“Anj, you scared the shit out of me! What’s going on?” I asked, pleading for a reply.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on between you and Pia!” she retorted, leaving me in a awkward state.

“Err… I can’t tell you!”

“Why can’t you tell me? Huh! How do you think it makes me feel when you and Pia are always hanging out?” I was starting to get pissed. Not at Angelina, she had reason to believe that I was cheating but this made me remember her and Mussy, how they always hang around when I’m not around.

“How do you think it makes me feel when you and Mussy hang around all the flipping time?”

“What?” her face was confused but also seemed to be in a state of panic.

“You know what I mean! When I go somewhere for five minutes and there he is with you all the time!”

“Lee, that’s nothing…” I interrupted; I was really annoyed at this point.

“Nothing to what? Huh! If I can trust you with Mussy, even though it kills my insides, even though I hate it, why can’t you trust me with Pia?”

We stared at each other for a while, we were cooling off, calming down, making sure a huge fight didn’t start.

“Lee, I’m sorry!” she finally said.

“It’s ok,” I replied. We gave each other a warm comforting hug, something we haven’t done for a while.

“So should I not hang out with Mussy?” her voice was soft and calm as usual.

“Nah, you can hang out with him, I trust you,” I smiled at her, she smiled back and the fight was over. We headed back to class. Holding hands.

“Are you guys… okay?” Pia asked.

“Yeah… we are,” Anj and I replied at the same time. We turned our faces to face each other and smiled. It was sorta batty but I stroked her cheek re-assuring her that I loved her.

    The two figures were right in front of her, staring at each other passionately. They were laughing about, like a good couple. She felt jealous looking at them. They seemed so intimate and passionate, she couldn’t watch them any longer, It was tearing up her heart, she was crying all over. She walked towards them slowly, breathing heavily. She didn’t understand why he was cheating on her, ‘am I not good enough?’ she asked her self repeatedly. The two figures kissed and her heart felt hollow.

“Lee, I knew you were cheating!” she called. She was confused; It was as if Lee couldn’t see her. The second figure turned her with a grin. It was Pia. “Hi Anj,” she cocked with a smile spreading. Pia broke into a high-pitched laugh and Angelina was left staring at them.

    Angelina woke up with tears all over her face. She kept on having these nightmares, nightmares she couldn’t explain. Deep inside she was afraid that Lee would start liking Pia. Angelina was bored with the nightmares, nightmares that she just wanted to leave her.

   March 15th 2009, Angelina’s birthday

    I woke up with a confused look on my face; I had this weird dream that I was kissing Pia! I woke up late at around twelve o’clock in the afternoon. After doing the regular routine in the morning, I waited for the all-important text that would confirm that Angelina was out of the vineyard (her church) and it came at one o’clock. I quickly rushed over to her house with Pia in the back seat of my mom’s car. When we dropped off, Ahmar and her group had already set up the decorations in Angelina’s house. We all waited in silence for the car to come in through the gate. It took shorter than we expected and I noticed Angelina step out of the car first heading towards the door.

    “SURPRISE!” everyone yelled when she yanked open the door. Her face twisted into a smile and her head began searching for my face. I quickly sprinted to her giving her one out of many birthday kisses.

“Thanks a lot Lee!” she said.

“Glad you appreciate my hard work but you should really thank Pia, she arranged all of this to happen!” I replied.

“Really? So is that why you guys were hanging out a lot?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t cheating,” I replied cheekily.

I’m guessing that that day was exuberant for her and it was special for me too, but with all good must come bad…

    I perched myself onto a chair next to Pia.

“Nice party you arranged here, Angie is filled with euphoria!” I told her.

“Sometimes Lee, you use the strangest of words,” she said back. I gave her a hug and when we pulled back we were staring into each others eyes, I felt a strange pull towards her, as if my lips were dying to feel her lips. We both moved our faces forwards but my head was buzzing madly, telling me to stop.