WRITER IN THE DARK , neil perry

17

neil's friends had been preparing for his birthday surprise all morning. they were supposed to be having a "dead poets meeting" at 5pm, so the group had been at the old cave since 1 trying to make everything perfect.  amélie held her armful of presents she had wrapped in dark shiny blue paper the night before on the picnic blanket beside the others, that were wrapped in the same paper. she counted them quickly. she also placed down a lighter and a pack of birthday candles beside the cake, which was sealed in a glass container. they had gotten him 13 presents in total, 8 of them being from amélie. she had to admit, she did over-do it a bit.

"amélie, why did you get him so many things?" charlie asked, annoyed. he bended down over charlie's picnic blanket to look through the gifts amé just placed down.

"yeah, you must've gone broke!" knox snorted, struggling to tie balloons to the tree branches above them.

"my dad paid for it." amélie said quietly, watching as charlie sat down beside her and marianne, marianne cuddling up to him.

"your dad knows about you and neil?" meeks asked, his eyes widened in disbelief. everyone else looked as shocked too.

marianne broke the silence by a muffled laugh. "sorry amélie, but i highly doubt it. that'd be his last straw with aurela." amélie froze, looking quickly for another excuse.

"he wants to take her out of aurela." marianne whispered to the boys, a hand cupped over her mouth.

"why? it's a great school." todd asked quietly, leaning onto knox so he can reach the tree branch above them.

"it's a long story." marianne shook her head.

"i, i took the money from my dad." amélie said, marianne turning her head quickly to stare at her friend in shock.

"you what?" she whispered to her, trying not gain the attention of the poets, who were still trying the decorate the trees that line the path to the cave.

"i stole the money from my dad. he keeps cash in the sleeves of his records for 'emergencies' but never remembers them because he's always drunk when he hides them." amélie raised her voice, making sure everyone heard her. the guiltiness she felt when she was actually taking the money rushed back as she admitted what she had done with a quivering voice.

marianne once again broke the silence with one of her classic snarky remarks. "remind me to look at your records next time i come over. i could use a new purse."

"let's just continue setting up for neil." todd nodded, turning the boys attention away from a sulking amélie.

the rest of the set up was silent. amélie could feel everyone glancing at her with nervous stares. she sat comfortably on charlie's picnic blanket, hugging her knees as she kept watch for neil. marianne was lying down on the opposite side of the blanket, her head in charlie's lap. amélie watched charlie stroke her hair, running his fingers through it as marianne looked up at him lovingly.

"are you guys going to help us?" pitts asked, attempting to throw streamers among the tree branches. he kept missing, leaving the streamers lying on the wet ground.

"this was such a dumb idea." meeks sighed, picking up the soaking wet failed attempts and rolling them into a ball.

"it would've been way easier to host it at someone's house so we could actually put up the decorations properly." knox agreed, grabbing the roll of streamers from pitts and pulling off another piece.

"nobody said you had to put up the decorations anyways." marianne rolled her eyes, her hands finding her way to charlie's face. "we don't have to help you guys. you guys are manly, aren't you?"

"charlie could lend us a hand." meeks groaned, narrowing his eyes over to charlie. charlie quickly brushed marianne's hands off his face.

"he doesn't have to." marianne whined, hugging his neck so he couldn't leave.

"i should, marianne." charlie groaned, getting up out of marianne's grasp.

"come on." she pleaded, biting her lip.

charlie's mouth grew into a grin. he practically melted back into marianne's touch. "okay, just one more minute darling."

"this is disgusting." amélie said as she glared at the couple. she moved away from them, sitting on the little blanket she had left. they were getting a bit too close.

"you know what's disgusting? how many presents you bought neil." marianne said, narrowing her eyes. amélie could never tell when she was joking at times like this.

she decided to take it as a joke, and pull herself into forming a fake laugh and smile. "i care, that's all."

"we have an assembly soon, i peeked at the schedule while i was in the office getting some paper. mrs. germaine is going to announce the winter sadies dance, i just know it." marianne gushed, quickly changing the topic. events committee always hosted a sadie hawkins dance before winter break to raise money. again, amélie had never gone. she had been too scared to be left out.

"what's 'sadie's' mean again?" she asked casually. she finally had someone to go with. god, she couldn't wait to see neil.

"sadie hawkins. girls ask boys." marianne began twirling her hair, her eyes focused on her fingers. "you are coming this year, right?" she questioned, her gaze shifting towards amélie.

"yeah, of course. my father's away until school starts again, after spring break." amé nodded. chatting with marianne began to bring up her mood a little. she still felt guilty about taking her dad's money.

"lucky!" charlie exclaimed, a tone of jealousy in his voice. marianne nodded in agreement.

amélie shook her head and frowned. "it's really lonely." she was scared of being alone at night. she hated being alone in general, but always found herself to be more introverted.

"charlie, come on!" meeks groaned. he was trying to climb onto pitts's shoulders but was failing miserably.

charlie rolled his eyes. "sorry sugar. i'll be back in a sec." he got up and ran towards the boys.

marianne leaned in closer to amélie, flipping to lie on her stomach. "i'm going shopping with charlie sunday afternoon, would you like to come? i'm getting a new dress."

amé copied her, getting down onto her stomach as well. "i'd love to. i have no dresses at all." she still had money from her dad's stash. it made her feel less guilty to know that it'd be towards something she actually needed.

marianne leaned in to whisper. "he doesn't know it's dress shopping. i don't plan on telling him until we're actually there."

"why didn't you tell him?" amélie asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"because he'd never want to go."

"should i invite neil to come too?"

marianne looked shocked, like she couldn't believe amélie just asked her that. "no! definitely not."

this made amélie more confused. she wanted neil to see her dress. "why? he's the one i'm probably going to end up asking."

"you're not even dating yet! i know that charlie will buy me the dress i want, but you don't want to ask that of neil." marianne replied. amé thought about it, and although she didn't agree with any of it, she replied with what she knew marianne wanted to hear. "you're right." she murmured.

"i think i see neil coming!" cameron whisper yelled, pointing at a tall figure approaching the cave among the trees.

"hide!" amélie said, getting up to hide behind one of the tree trunks.