meant to be • adam banks

chapter twenty

ella

Where I live, Saint Patrick's Day is one of the biggest holidays of the year.

Every year there's a parade in Minneapolis, and every year I look forward to it. Not counting my birthday and Christmas, it's my favorite holiday. I love wearing green, and the entire vibe of the holiday is something I've always loved.

Although my family isn't Irish at all, my mom goes all out. She dyes our food green for the day, decks out the house in green, gold, and rainbow decorations, and somehow manages to secure us insane spots at the parade. If you haven't been able to tell already, I'm pretty sure I got my love of the holiday from her.

This year is special, because it's the first year that my friends and I are getting to go to the parade by ourselves. I know it sounds sort of lame to think about, but our parents weren't really with us last year. They let us go off on our own, but we had to drink a reasonable amount and stay within a limit since they were driving and didn't want us to embarrass ourselves.

But this time, they're not going to be with us. Since a lot of us are already eighteen, they finally cracked and are all letting us take a party bus into the city for the parade. It's the only way we convinced them to let us go by ourselves, since they're all friends at this point because of us and a lot of them know the owner of the company we're using.

The plan is to pregame at my house around noon, where it'll be just us eight. Me, Sadie, Morgan, Faith, Addison, Lily, Connie, and Julie. Then, everyone else is showing up around one, where the party bus is leaving at one-thirty to take us into the city. I kept it small, because the party bus isn't the biggest thing ever, but I couldn't leave the Ducks or Alex and his friends out.

Once I finally decide to drag myself out of bed, I walk downstairs into the kitchen and make myself a coffee. I scroll through Instagram while I drink it, and I can't help but feel excited for all of the Eden Hall Insiders posts that I know will be coming when today is over. I just hope none of them involve me or my friends.

I place my phone down when my stomach starts growling, and I quickly curse at myself for lying in bed for so long instead of coming down here sooner. It's a known rule to never drink on an empty stomach, and my friends are coming in less than an hour. That will only end with me with my head in a toilet, which is something I don't really feel like dealing with today.

I quickly throw some toast in the toaster and impatiently wash out my empty coffee glass while I wait for my breakfast. Once the timer goes off, I spread some Nutella onto it and cut a banana into coins, putting that on top of my creation. After I eat it in record time, I sprint back up to my room so I can start getting ready. I need my last Saint Patrick's Day of high school to be perfect.

I start by getting dressed, and I for one am proud of my outfit. Sure, am I being basic by wearing a cropped white turtleneck and black Lululemon leggings? Yes. But, the shirt I'm wearing over the turtleneck makes the outfit in my opinion. It's a green cropped t-shirt with a rainbow and the Lucky Charms elf logo on it. You'd be shocked how excited I am over an outfit that seems so simple.

I then go into my bathroom to do my makeup, where it takes me four tries and a bunch of curses for my eyelashes to stay up. Curling eyelashes should be a sport at this point, because I'm basically sweating by the time I get mine to stay the way I want them to.

I'm rushing to finish straightening my hair when I hear the doorbell ring, and in my rush to get up I drop my flat-iron right onto my hand. How wonderful.

"Oh you bitch!" I yelp out in pain, to really no one in particular, as I run downstairs to open the door. I flip my hand around and put the burned side of it to my mouth, soothing it with my tongue as I throw the door open to see Alex and Adam standing there awkwardly.