The Worst Prom Date Ever

13.2 • The Worst Birthday Surprise Ever

BEAU • [4:12 p.m.]

We were drawing nearer to Piper's house when we saw Pascal from a distance leaning at the entry door, probably waiting for us. As soon as I parked beside their driveway, Piper suddenly unbuckled her seat belt and unlocked the passenger door, jogging towards their house and brushing pass her brother.

"What's her deal?" I asked myself, getting out from my car and opening the rear door, carefully sliding the box of lemon square cake in my hands. I was surprised Piper didn't notice it awhile ago—the aroma escaping inside the box out to my car was a dead giveaway.

She was probably too distracted of me, I thought.

"Oh you know Pipes...always the shy type," said Pascal, walking towards me, crossing his arms. "Is that the cake you made?" he asked, pointing to it.

"Uh, yeah." I muttered, locking my car door. "Do you have candles that I can stick here or something?"

"Sure," he answered, following him to their residence.

I was pretty much nervous of the fact that Piper might not like my cake because I know how shitty I am at baking. I mean, I didn't want her to taste the cake in front of me! I just didn't want to get humiliated in front of her family, period. I can already picture Pascal ridiculing me and my amateurish baking skills.

Good thing for him, Callista had tennis practice and my coach rescheduled our swimming training today, otherwise I would've had an excuse to say no to his request for me to attend Piper's celebration.

Speaking of celebration, eleven years ago was her seventh birthday—we were still neighbors and close friends back then, and I was assuming her family would throw her a birthday party because seventh birthday parties were a huge deal in our neighborhood. 

But not Piper—she actually told her family to only invite me, my sister Mei, and her other neighbor Abigail, who I sometimes see around the neighborhood or in Flinnway. She was pretty nice towards Piper. In fact, she could've been a potential member of Piper's social circle of one, if only she didn't transfer schools.

Looking back, I remembered it was past 6 PM and Mei and Abby already went home, leaving Piper and I playing endless board games and devouring whatever was left of the food that her mom prepared. We were a mess, but we didn't mind at all. It was a lot of fun, even if it was just the two of us, really.

Lucas suggested that I should "accidentally" put pepper in the cake again, you know, to leave her a bad impression of me since that was the original plan, but I dismissed the idea. The fact that I baked, and the fact that I know it'll taste bad should be enough.

"Beau, it's nice to see you here!" I was welcomed with the deep, jolly voice of Hal. He gestured his hand for me to come inside, handing him the box of cake as I enter the familiar abode.

"Well, aren't you sweet? I'll prepare this along with the other dishes. We'll see later how good of a baker you are just like your sister," he grinned, going straight to the kitchen.

Well that made me ten times more anxious as fuck, I thought. My sister and I were very incomparable when it came to baking, alright?!

I didn't know where to go so I just followed Hal to the kitchen. I swung the door open, only to be seen by Pascal as well, who was helping his father. "Um, where's Piper?" I asked.

"Oh, she's in the living room, talking to your parents," answered Pascal, as he placed a tray inside an oven. 

He turned to me with a devilish smile on his face. "Surprise."