Your Guardian Angel (BxB)

Chapter 11: Birthdays & Bad Memories

It's been about two weeks since the disaster that was that Halloween house party. Aside from one mention of it the day after it happened, none of us have brought it up since, so it's clear that we've all just silently agreed to forget it even happened. As I anticipated, word spread around about the fight pretty quickly. Thankfully, whoever was harassing Tommy and Mika doesn't seem to go to our school. I don't know who that guy was, but I definitely don't want to find out for myself.

I'm sitting in Art class, doodling random patterns on a piece of scrap paper. I glance up at the clock. Only three minutes left of class, then the free period starts, which means I can go hang out with Tommy.

I especially want to talk to him today. He's been acting kind of...weird lately. He's seemed really down the past few days. But whenever I try to ask him what's going on, he just brushes it off. "Oh, it's nothing, I'm fine," or "It's just been a rough week, I don't really wanna talk about it." That's what he tells me. If there's something bothering him, I'm always the first person he goes to when he needs to rant about it, why is it different this time? I mean, if he doesn't want to talk, then obviously I'm not going to force him to, but at the same time, I can't help but wonder...

The bell rings, bringing me out of my thoughts. Time for the free period, finally. I stand up and gather up my books, then quickly head out into the hallway and to the courtyard.

~

Just as I expected, Mika and Tommy are already at the courtyard, sitting in the grass talking when I arrive. I can't make out what they're saying, but judging from the nervous tone in Tommy's voice, I can't imagine it's anything good. He stands up when I get closer to them.

"Listen, I gotta go. I missed a few assignments for Biology and gotta work on them, you know how it is. I, um...I'll see you later."

He walks away rather quickly, not noticing me, and exits the courtyard. He seems uncomfortable. What's going on with him?

"He's still in a bad mood, huh? What were you guys talking about?" I ask, setting my stuff on the grass and sitting down. Mika huffs, running one hand through her hair.

"This is probably a dumb question 'cause I don't see why you wouldn't know, but...has Tommy said anything about his birthday?"

Shit, now that I think about it, he hasn't mentioned anything about it all, I have absolutely no idea when it is.

"Uh...no. Not that I can remember. Why? Is it coming up soon?" I ask. If she's bringing it up, I can only assume it's got to be pretty soon.

"Yeah, apparently it's tomorrow." Tomorrow. November fourteenth. "He mentioned it during Lunch earlier, and we were talking about it a little bit before you got here. I was thinking it'd be fun if we could get a few of our friends together and throw him a little party, some 'sweet sixteen' thing or whatever, but when I brought that up, he...wasn't exactly on board." She concludes eventually.

"Weird, that's not like him at all." I mumble. Is that why he's been down all week? Because his birthday's coming up? My mind goes back to when Tommy told me about his mom. As dark as the thought is, maybe he doesn't like celebrating his birthday...because of something she did?

"Yeah, it's weird. I still wanna at least get something for him, so I was gonna go to the mall after school and I was wondering if--" She begins, nervously fidgeting with her hands

"I could go with you because you think I'd have a better idea of what to get him since we're dating?" I finish her sentence.

"Yep. I mean, if you're not busy. If you can't come, that's okay, I just figured I'd offer."

"Nah, I'm not doing anything today. Plus, I know I'm gonna end up feeling bad if I don't get him something." I say, earning a grin from Mika.

"Perfect! Just give me a time and I'll see what I can work out."