Ju Teller: The Redhead Drama Queen

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Today was a special day today, not just for Ju, but for everyone. A reason for today to be good for Ju was that the play performance was in exactly three weeks from today. Another reason was that Ju was spending the night at Olivia's house tonight and tomorrow night because her parents had decided to spend the night together. And the number one reason why today was an especially good day was because today was Brad Lee's thirteenth birthday.

Ju and Olivia had been yearning for this day because they were going to give Brad a present. The reason why they have not in the past was because they were too shy to and also because of safety reasons. They knew that every fan girl would be giving Brad something, and the girls wanted to choose something unique.

All day yesterday, the girls talked about what they were going to give Brad for his birthday. Olivia told Ju that her present was going to be a surprise and that she would show Ju tomorrow. Now Ju hated it when people told her things were a "surprise" though it usually means something good in general, so Ju told Olivia that if she kept her present a secret, then Ju would keep hers a secret too.

Secretly, Ju had not gotten a present for Brad yet and she had given up trying to buy him something because her parents didn't let her; they said that it'd be more special if Ju made it herself, so that's what Ju did.

So now today, after thinking long and hard all night about what Ju's present was going to be to Brad from her, she had finally decided on her gift.

"What did you get him!?" Olivia asked excitedly on the bus that morning. "What'd YOU get him?" asked Ju. After a long argument about who should tell who, Olivia decided to tell Ju her present. She took an envelope out of her backpack and opened it, and took out a card.

"Well, I found this old Best Buy gift card that I never used, so I thought 'I'm never going to use this thing so I might as well give it to someone who would'." Olivia grinned at Ju which gave Ju the signal to show Olivia. Ju reached into her backpack and took out the paper bag that held Brad's gift. She removed the envelope that was in the bag and opened it for Olivia. Olivia took out the tri-folded piece of paper and unfolded it. She read the paper.

"Aw, this is so cute!" Olivia remarked. "If I were him, I'd definitely like this!" Ju laughed. She put her paper back in the envelope and put the envelope back in the bag that she then deposited in her backpack again.

Just as Ju zipped her backpack up, the bus screeched to a halt in front of the school. As soon as the door opened, all the kids picked up their stuff, and headed out of the bus. There was some snow on the ground outside, but not too much. They had heard that they were supposed to get a few inches of snow during the weekend.

When the girls entered the school, it was completely mobbed, like Ju had expected. The room was mostly of girls, but there were a few boys here and there with their girlfriends. All the girls talked about what they were giving Brad what and other things.

After the bell rang, everyone scattered everywhere to get to their advisory. After a few muntes, everyone was in their class, talking, throwing some things around and other activity. Ju just sat behind her desk drawing.

Then suddenly the intercom cracked and then came a girl's voice came on that said, "Hey everyone, this is Isabelle Ivering and guess what day it is today? TODAY IS BRAD LEE'S BIRTHDAY WOOOOOOOO!!!" Then another girl's voice came on. "Yeah, this is Penny Rhys saying: DON'T forget to wish Brad a happy birthday, or there'll be consequences!" Then both the girls said, "We love you Brad, Happy birthday!"

Then there seemed to be a fight going on in the background. "NO! GET AWAY FROM ME MS. TAYLOR!!" screamed Isabelle. "NOOO! MUST. GET. INTERCOM!!!!" yelled Penny. There were a couple of screams, and a struggle, then Penny's voice crackled, "So have a nice day!" before the school principal took over.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that." the voice crackled. "we had to get those two girls under control, so anyways..." That's when Ju stopped paying attention to the announcements.

The day seemed to pass by in a whirl, because the next thing Ju new, the dismissal bell had rung. Ju went to her locker and stopped when she heard a big CRASH! The hallway fell silent and Ju looked to see a giant pile of presents that was coming out of Brad's locker. Then Brad came out of the big pile as many girls carried some of the presents to the auditorium.

Ju had heard that Brad would be opening all of his presents at today's play rehearsal because his parents wouldn't let him have another birthday party because of an accident that happened last year, but Ju didn't know what happened and decided she didn't want to know.

Every seat was taken in the auditorium by a girl when Ju got there; there wasn't anywhere for the actors and technical crew to sit, so they all sat on the stage. A lot of girls were even on places that were really dangerous to be on like a wall radio or a stage light.

Ju could tell where Brad was sitting because of the big pile of presents that almost reached the ceiling. Ju hoped that Brad wouldn't miss her present considering hers was so small and everyone else's was so big.

"What are all you doing here?" Mrs. Danish asked all the girls. The room went silent when one girl answered, "We're here to watch Bread open his presents from all of us.”I'm sorry, only people involved with the production are allowed in here." Then there was an uproar and people started throwing things at Mrs. Danish. Mrs. Danish then began to apologize over the loud uproar, and then everyone went back to watching Brad in awe.

When it was time for rehearsal to start, Mrs. Danish was trying to tell everyone (including the fangirls) to be quiet so that she could tell the actors what they were going to do for today. She was doing a terrible job and nobody was listening to her.

Then Ju blocked her ears and hollered as loud as she could, "EVERYBODY QUIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTT!!!!!" Then evreyone was quiet and it was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. "Thank you." Ju said. Then Mrs. Danish began rehearsal. Occasionally, there'd be screams of joy, but they quickly shut up when Mrs. Hamilton gave them the death stare.

While Ju was on stage with some of the orphans and Mrs. Danish was giving them notes about their personalities, Ju saw that Brad was opening her present. He took out the paper, unfolded it and began reading it out loud.

“When the sun is shining and the sky is blue,

Everyone says to you, “Brad I love you!”

But this is not about love you see,

This is obsession free.

I know this is short, but deal with it!

But at least I have the wit

And all I have to do is say

Happy birthday Brad!”

Ju felt the light shining on her, so warm. "Hey, there's no name on this!" Brad suddenly said. Then all of Ju's happiness went down the drain. "WHAT!?" Ju's mind screamed. "DANG IT, I FORGOT TO PUT MY NAME ON IT! HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID!?"

Her thoughts were interrupted when Brad said. "Well I like mysteries so whoever wrote this, this was amazing; I really loved it!" Then all of Ju's happiness piled back into her. She couldn't help but give a big smile.

"Julia? Did you hear me just now?" Mrs. Danish's voice broke in. Ju suddenly snapped to attention. "N-no, what?" she asked nervously. One or two people on stage giggled. "We're going over the scene once more. Okay, and GO!"

For the rest of the day, Ju could not stop thinking about Brad and how much he enjoyed her gift. She liked how her poem was all "mystery gift" sort of thing, and decided to keep it that way. She would one day tell Brad and he would be very surprised; she would swear to it.