Inside The Outsider

    I stood outside the school on the sidewalk waitin for Lisa, Cheryl and Clarice but they never came. So i walked back home alone, as i was headin there i would gaze at the portrait, amazed at how much it looked like me. As i got to the steps of my house, i put the picture under my arm and i got my house key from my bag. I went up to the door and unlocked it, as i opened the door i couldnt believe my eyes," HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Everyone screamed in unison. I almost shed a tear as everyone came to hug me. Momma and daddy hugged me first then Olivia and Henry; next TJ and Clarice ; last but not least Cheryl and Lisa.

There was a banner hanging up across the room that said Happy Birthday, there were also balloons and streamers everywhere. Daddy brought out the big record player we had and played some Ray Charles. Daddy grabbed momma and started dancin; TJ and Clarice did the same. I grabbed Henry's hand and began swing dancin. Olivia, Lisa and Cheryl joined in also.  

     After dancin, we all ate my favorite meal that momma cooked, lasagna. I ate my meal pretty quick;while everyone was still eatin, i grabbed my portrait and went to my room to hang it up. I came back to the living room and sat in between Lisa and Cheryl," I hope yall saved room for desert, its time for cake and ice cream." Momma announced. She grabbed my hand and guided me to the kitchen table and sat me down in a chair.

    Everyone else crowded around the table, Momma came behind me and set down a round cake with white icing in front of me. Daddy lit the seventeen candles that were circled around the perimeter of the cake; in the center of the cake it read 'Happy Birthday Diana' Suddenly everyone started to sing," Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to Diana. Happy Birthday toy you." I closed my eyes shut and inhaled. I wish everything could change for the better. I opened my eyes and blew out all the candles, everyone applauded and cheered," What you wish for?" Clarice asked. I glanced at her and shook my head," If I tell ya it won't come true."

    Momma cut everyone a piece of cake, and we served ourselves with ice cream. I got the piece of cake with my name on it and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Clarice, Lisa, and Cheryl sat next to me," I bet you wished for a boyfriend." Lisa guessed. I rolled my eyes," No i didn't. I don't need one." Clarice swatted her hand," I keep tryin to tell her."  We all laughed catching Olivia's attention," Are you talkin about that guy we saw at the store?" My eyes widened and they stared at me shocked," What guy?" They asked in unison, my cheeks turned red and i covered my face," Who is he Diana?" Clarice shook me," No one." I glanced at Olivia and mouthed 'Stop' and she mouthed back a sorry.  "We'll drop it this time." Lisa explained.

"Can she open her presents now?" Henry begged Momma. She nodded her head," Presents?" Henry ran up to me and dragged me into the living room," Yeah come on." I sat down on the floor and everyone gathered around me. Momma handed me a big rectangular white box. I removed the lid of the box and grabbed the beautiful garment. It was a short sleeved, long flared blue green and pink floral dress," How'd you know i wanted this?" Momma grinned knowingly," I saw you peepin at it when we went to the store." " Thank you momma i love it."

     Next daddy handed me a flat square object wrapped in green wrapping paper, i unwrapped it and squealed like a little girl. it was the new Elvis album that came out on the first of march, i've been wantin it ever since they came out in stores. I hugged the album to my chest," Thank you daddy." "You're welcome sweetheart." I set the album carefully on top of my dress; Tj and Clarice handed me my gifts from them. I opened TJ's first, it was a tiny square blue box, i lifted the lid and inside were these beautiful ear rings," TJ they're beautiful. Thank you." he reached down and gave me a hug. Then I opened Clarice's gift, it was wrapped in wrapping paper with trees on them, I opened the box to see a green friendship bracelet. Clarice lifted her shirt sleeve just above her wrist and shook her matching friendship bracelet. She came over to me and put the bracelet around my wrist," best friends forever D." I smiled at her and she hugged me.
        Next Cheryl and Lisa brought together a basket full of candy," We got you some candy!" "Yaay cavities!" I celebrated sarcastically. I chuckled and everyone else did too," Thank y'all." Last but not least, Olivia handed me a homemade Birthday Card, I opened it and it read,"To Diana the best sister in the world. You always help us whenever we need help. Whenever we feel sad, you're always there to cheer us up. We go to church every sunday and didn't believe in God much but, now we really believe there's a god because he sent a wonderful angel like you to us. Love Olivia and Henry." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes," Come here." They both approached me and I enveloped them into a hug. I kissed Olivia on the cheek and did the same to Henry," I love y'all so much. Never forget that." "We love you too." I let them go but Henry stayed attached to me, he was like my little side kick," Thank y'all so much for everything."

    It started to get late so Clarice, Lisa and Cheryl went back home; TJ stayed here with us to clean up. Olivia and Henry threw away all the trash, after they did that Momma told them to go to bed. TJ helped take down the decorations with Daddy, so i went to the kitchen to help momma clean the dishes and put away the left over food," Diana you don't have to help." I gave her a small smile," i know but i want to." I continued to help her put everything away, TJ and daddy finished takin everything down and TJ told us goodbye. Daddy hugged me and kissed momma on the cheek before going into their bedroom.

      Momma and I finally finished the dishes and she went off to bed. Before i went into my room, i grabbed me another piece of cake; i gathered my gifts and set the plate with the cake on top of everything. I opened my door and stayed focus on the stuff in my hand so i wouldn't drop anything, i set the stuff on the floor and the plate on my dresser and closed the door behind.

When i finally looked up, i gripped my hand to my chest startled by the figure sittin on my bed," Dally you scared me to death." He stayed silent gettin off the bed and stalked towards me, he had one hand behind his back," I uh got you somethin'." He brought the hand from behind his back and handed me a small black box. I glanced at him and back at the box, i hesitantly opened the box not knowing what the hell he would give me but to my surprise it was silver ring band. On the inside of the ring it had Dally's name engraved into it, i took it out of the box and examined it. Dally gently grabbed my hand and slipped the ring onto my finger," It's perfect." I whispered under my breath.
     I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me from the ground and i kissed him on the lips. He squeezed me tight against his body and sat back down on the bed, he nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck and kissed me softly," want some cake?" he mischievously smiled," Which cake?" I glared at him and grabbed the plate with the piece of cake on it," This cake." I dug the fork into it and took a bite. i dug into there again and hovered the fork close to Dally's mouth,  he slowly opened it and took a bite of the cake.

As he was chewin he took the plate from me and ate the rest of it,"I was gonna eat that." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and continued eaten it. While he was eatin, i went back to my gifts on the floor and set them on the bed. I grabbed a hanger from my closet and hung my dress from it, before i could hang it up Dally gripped my hip and pulled me back to him," Did you make this cake?" I shook my head," No, I believe my momma did." He licked his fingers and smiled," Better than Darry's cake man." I raised my eyebrow," Who's Darry?" "Just a friend." He pointed to the stuff on the bed," What you get?" I cheered hoping he would ask that," I got this dress from momma and look what i got from daddy." I snatched the album from my bed and showed it to him," Hey i was gonna steal this when it came out." I hit him on his shoulder and put the album in my record case.

I walked back to the stuff on my bed and held up my earrings and held up my wrist with my bracelet," TJ gave me the earrings and my friend Clarice gave me the bracelet." I gave him the card Olivia and Henry made for me. As he read it I put my earrings on my dresser," I'm not the only one who thinks you're an angel." I quickly turned my attention to him," You think i'm an angel." he nodded his head and handed me the card back,"Yeah, Doll." He grabbed a candy bar from my candy basket and laid down on the bed," That's my candy." He ripped the package of the candy bar and took a bite from the bar.

   I crawled onto the bed, my legs straddled each side of Dally's hips," Can i have a bite?" He reached out to me and I took a bite from the bar, before he retrieved the bar from me I noticed a new ring on his finger, that looked like the one he gave me," You got a ring too?" He was caught off guard by my question and glanced at his hand," Yeah, it has your name engraved into it." I grabbed his hand and took off the ring and examined it. He wasn't lyin about my name being on it, and at that moment i had a feelin that maybe this relationship we have could work. It could really work.