It had been a great party at first. There were streamers all around the pool, and there were signs that said, “Happy Birthday Avery!” I was having so much fun that day. I’d been swimming in the pool with my floaties on my arms, splashing around with my friends. The only reason Murray was invited was because his younger sister Marie was my best friend and my mom told me I had to invite him. I’d always hated Murray. He teased me and pulled my hair. Whenever Marie and I had play dates, I would insist that we go to my house instead of hers just so I wouldn’t have to see her brother.
Marie was sitting on my left when we ate pizza at my party. Murray hadn’t arrived yet because he was playing in a soccer game that day. But when he did get there, it was just about time for cake.
Everyone began to sing the birthday song and the YMCA employee entered the party room holding the cake. The lights were out. With only the birthday candles glowing in the dark, I could just make out Murray’s figure in the doorway. I looked away. ‘He won’t ruin this day for me,’ I remember thinking.
My smile reached my ears as I saw the woman place the cake in front of me. Marie was holding onto my shoulder, smiling just as big as me. The birthday song wrapped up and I blew out the candles in one breath. At that point, Murray had sat down on my right side. Once the candles were out, the woman, the one who’d been carrying the cake, flicked on the lights. I could see her starting to walk over to me to take the cake back to have it cut into slices. The room was big though, it would be another minute or two before she got to me.
I kept on smiling as Marie yelled happy birthday in my ear. But that wasn’t what I was focused on in that moment. Murray was tugging on my hair from the other side. There was the flash of a camera.
“Nice bathing suit! You’re turning four years old, right?” Murray said in a mocking tone.
“Noooo!” I yelled, “I’m seven, I’m turning seven. I’m not a baby!”
“You’re wearing a Cinderella bathing suit. You are a baby,” he replied.
After all he’d done to me, that was the last straw. I couldn’t take his taunting words or his nasty smirk any longer. I didn’t think about what I was doing; it was automatic, like an instinct to use self-defense when someone attacks you. My tiny arm muscles lifted the decorative cake off the table and thrust it at Murray’s face.
“Since you only came for cake, enjoy!” I yelled sarcastically, still rubbing the cake on his face.
It was then that I noticed my audience. There was another camera flash. My mom let out a groan and marched over to me. The YMCA employee was already by my side. Marie had one hand over her mouth in shock.
When my mom reached me, I felt a hand close around my wrist. I immediately dropped the cake plate and heard a small yelp from my right, but I ignored it. I was in big trouble.
“You are in big trouble, missy,” my mom scolded. I was right in thinking I wouldn’t be off the hook just because we were celebrating my birthday. “Say you’re sorry to Murray, right now, young lady,” she continued.
Then I got angry. Why should I say sorry to him when he was the one being mean to me? He deserved a cake in the face. I didn’t tell that to my mom though. She would’ve gone nuts.
“No, I don’t want to,” I simply stated.
“Avery Grace Fitzgerald, apologize to your friend right now!”
“No! He’s not my friend! He always makes fun of me. And…and he pulls my hair! And sometimes he and his friends laugh at me for no reason! I hate him!” I blurted out.
“Hate isn’t a word you should be using whilst speaking about anyone, Avery! I won’t give you any of your birthday presents until you apologize,” she said. It was a bribe, a threat even. My mom always did that when I was little. But this time, I started to cry.
With tears running down my face, I shouted at her, “You don’t even care that he’s not nice to me. You never care. I hate you!”
I ran toward the doorway only to be stopped by Murray himself.
“Please stop crying Avery, I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t mean it,” he said as he put his hands on my shoulders and leant in to kiss my cheek. But once he did, I got even angrier.
“Don’t touch me! You’re not sorry! You’re never sorry!” I screamed. I pushed his hands off my shoulders so forcefully that he fell to the ground.
I ran out of the room and out of that building as fast as I could. No one ran after me. I ran down the block and down another, without a clue as to where I was going.
YOU ARE READING
Second Impressions
Teen FictionAll her life, Avery Fitzgerald has been taunted and teased by a boy named Murray Judd. She tried to be strong and ignore him, but one day, her seventh birthday to be exact, the teasing became too much. The only thing that Avery could think to do w...
