PIPER • [6:01 a.m.]
"Pipes? Pipes? Hello..." I furrowed my eyebrows and wrinkled my nose at the faint voice that I was hearing. I turned my body to other side of the bed, covering my head with my pillow to drown the voice that was so persistent in waking me up. It was so early in the morning, and school didn't even start until 8 AM.
"Piper, get up."
"Go away Paz," I said in a muffled and sleepy voice. Can he not see that I was still in the middle of—"Oof!" he cut me off mid-sentence as I felt both of his hands grabbed my ankles and dragged me out of my bed.
I landed on the carpet floor with a soft thud, and began positioning myself in a fetus-like manner and made my best fake snore ever, hoping that it'll hint him to let me sleep for at least thirty more minutes. He still kept on bugging me as I weakly shoo him away.
"C'mon Piper, it's your birthday today! I made your favorite set of breakfast," he urged.
Slowly opening my right eye, I glanced up at my wall clock, reading as it was only 6:03 a.m. I still have twenty-seven minutes left to sleep, as I only prepare for school for an hour.
I heard my big brother dragged a sigh when I didn't react. "Do you want me to give you a piggy back ride going downstairs?" A smile crept up my lips as I heard him chuckle. I nodded and propped myself up from the floor, with Pascal bending his knees, waiting for me to hop on.
"Come on."
I quickly hopped on to Pascal's back and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "God, Piper. You're so heavy!" he complained, although we both know it was a joke, so I stuck out a tongue.
If Pascal used to playfully give Mei piggyback rides back in high school with ease, then I shouldn't be a hassle for him.
"You can't do anything. It's my birthday, anyway!" I said, as we both descended downstairs.
I was welcomed with our smiling father in the dining room pouring orange juice to our glasses. "Happy birthday, my one and only daughter!" he exclaimed, kissing the top of my head while I was still being carried by Pascal.
"Thank you, Dad!" I replied with a smile plastered on my face.
Both Pascal and I made a round at the table, giving me a quick tour of the set of breakfast dishes that he laid out. "French toast roll-ups, breakfast quesadilla, homemade pancakes—"
"—with bacon in them?" I interrupted. Pancakes with bacon were the best. Mom used to make them for me almost every single day.
"Yes, with bacon in them," he reiterated with a proud smug on his face, like he got it right this time. Pascal would usually cook me strawberry-filled pancakes, and I disliked strawberries.
"Thank you, Pascal!" I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek before hopping down from him and settling on the dining chair. I began stabbing on the stack of pancakes right in front of me, and placed it on my plate. I added the maple syrup and started to devour my plate like a lion that hasn't eaten for a week.
My dad gave a surprised reaction, putting down the newspaper that he was reading. "Easy, sweetheart! Did turning eighteen magically increased your appetite or something?"
I swallowed what I was chewing before I could answer my dad. "I guess," I then turned to Pascal to ask a question, who was busy texting someone on his phone. "By the way, where are the ingredients that we're going to bake when I get home later?"
Pascal turned to me, albeit quite distracted. "Hm? Oh, the ingredients. Yeah. Um, someone baked it for you."
My eyes widened in curiosity. "What? Why? But I want to make the lemon square cake," I quietly protested.
"But you'll like who made it!" Pascal answered back, as he drank his orange juice.
"I don't get it. Who? Mei?"
Pascal replied with a smirk. "Nope. You'll see."
— — —
[7:20 a.m.]
I kissed my dad goodbye and jogged towards the door to get to my bike when Pascal blocked my way. He was twirling his car keys in his finger and pointed to the door towards the garage.
"I'll bring you to school."
"Does that mean I'm taking the bus home?" I asked, a little bit confused, as I was opening the door that leads to the garage.
"No, someone will bring you home."
"May I be aware who this someone is?" I asked again, as I climbed inside the passenger seat of Pascal's jeep, securing my seat belt in place. He turned his keys to the ignition as his jeep roared to life. As the garage door opened, he stepped on the gas and drove away.
What was Pascal trying to do? I mean, the breakfast was enough.
"You'll know who this someone is when we get to school." He then turned the dial of his radio and Escape Plan Cody's song All Shook Up blasted inside the car.
"Ooh, I love this song!" I exclaimed, trying to ignore what he said and began bobbing my head up and down, singing along with the lyrics.
Escape Plan Cody was one of my favorite rock bands, setting the bias aside, as they actually originated here in Alcovix, Massachusetts. In fact, they were Hartsmith High's proud alumni seven years back. The lead musician's little sister, Avery, happened to be friends with Pascal, so I've met the band once, and they were really nice.
I've never been to any of their concerts though, and they were having a hometown concert tomorrow! Unfortunately I couldn't go since the contents of my piggy bank didn't suffice. I'll probably try to see them next year and hopefully they'll hold a concert in New York by then.
"How timely," Pascal mentioned, drumming his fingers at the steering wheel to the rhythm of the music as he also started to sing along with me.
— — —
[7:46 a.m.]
We reached school fifteen minutes later, as Pascal pulled a stop near the student parking lot. The students that were scattered in the lot were staring at my brother's jeep, as if they've just seen a vehicle for the first time. I began to feel a little uneasy. Almost everything that Pascal did or didn't do attracted so much attention. Good thing the tint of his jeep was dark enough.
I unlocked my seat belt and was about to go down, when Pascal tapped my shoulder.
"Huh?"
He took something out from the middle compartment of the jeep and tossed a white envelope that landed on my lap. "Happy birthday, little sis."
I darted my eyes down, and turned to Pascal, sending him a questioning look. "Lunch money?"
He rolled his eyes at me in return. He must think I was kidding. "Just open it!"
I did as I was told, slowly tearing the envelope and inserted my hand in it. What I felt was not money, that was for sure, but it was similarly rectangular in shape and was rather smooth. I took it out from the envelope and I was revealed with two concert tickets.
My eyes widened as I read the tickets. "Rock Steady Nation Presents: Escape Plan Cody—Oh my gravy—Take It or Leave It Tour—Ah!" I screamed, hoping that my piercing voice didn't penetrate outside the jeep.
"But wait, there's more!" he said, imitating the voice over you would hear at home shopping networks. There was more? He reached for something at the backseat and popped out two sets of IDs. I squinted my eyes to read it. "What's this for— Ah!" I screamed again, as Pascal scrunched his nose.
"You keep on shouting!" he ironically yelled back.
"First, VIP seats, and now...backstage passes? Are you kidding me?! You're the best, Pascal!" I hugged my big brother tightly, thanking him again and again in the process. "How did you get all of these?" I asked, quite baffled at the surprises my big brother just gave me. I mean, Escape Plan Cody tickets were usually sold out in less than an hour, I kid you not.
This must cost him a lot.
But then again, he bought me a new bike.
His eyebrows rose as a smug formed across his lips. "Because I'm Pascal Griffin, that's why."
Okay, I get it. When your brother happened to know a lot of connections, he can get almost anything in a snap of his finger.
I waved goodbye to him as I went down his jeep, tucking Pascal's gifts inside my messenger bag as I slung it in my shoulders. I was already walking away when Pascal opened the passenger's seat's window and called me. "Hey Piper, you forgot your tumbler!"
I whipped my head and jogged back to the jeep, retrieving my tumbler from him. "Stop making a scene Pascal," I shushed him, as he just laughed at me. He knows I hated it when he does that.
"It's what I'm good at!"
Alright, now he was just shouting at me on purpose. Why did he have to tease me at this moment? People were noticing.
"Stop it," I warned him through gritted teeth.
"Okay! Goodbye, birthday girl!" he yelled again, making my left eye twitch. I glanced over my shoulder and tried my best to give him a stern look.
The moment he left, I looked up at the lot and was met by almost a dozen pair of brooding eyes following my presence. I sighed as I have to awkwardly walk pass Beau, Lucas, Callista and her other friend—her name was Gigi, I think, who were hanging out near the steps towards the school doors.
Beau gave me an unsure smile, making Lucas nudge him in the arm. Gigi said something to Callista, as Callista negatively shook her head, narrowing her eyes at me. I didn't get to hear her, because I was assuming it was about me.
Were they talking about me? What have I done? Why do they make me tremble? Do they know it was my birthday?
I laughed internally as I walked past by them. I highly doubt it.
— — —
BEAU • [7:52 a.m.]
A familiar black jeep parked beside the school parking lot, and not one student in Hartsmith High actually owned one except for the school's alumnus, Pascal Griffin. I saw Piper went down, assuming he dropped her off just so I can give her a ride home, much to my dismay.
As soon as Pascal called Piper telling her that she forgot her tumbler or something, the students started gossiping from left to right, this time a little bit louder:
"That's Pascal Griffin."
"No way, Piper's older brother? He's so hot. Look at those cheekbones."
"I heard he models and does commercials in Los Angeles."
"Wasn't he that star quarterback two years ago?"
"Wait, who's Piper? Is that her? She's so lucky she has a brother like him!"
Droning out from the buzzing chit-chats, I started rereading my conversations on my phone as Pascal texted me awhile ago:
And just like that, a thousand bucks was just a "Yeah, alright, whatever," for Pascal. I groaned, recalling my disastrous attempt in making the lemon square cake for Piper.
I knew it was going to happen. The aftermath of my effort to bake a cake was horrifying. Mei hesitantly gave me the step-by-step instructions to her lemon square cake, and when I started reading and comprehending it at home, I felt like I was learning a new language. Baking was such a foreign concept to me. I wasn't really blessed with "Solar Hands" or whatever my sister called it. She got the weird term from some anime show.
She watched too many of those—it was her secret favorite thing to watch, next to Pascal sleeping soundly in his bedroom.
I was kidding.
I mean, I could call myself a pretty decent cook, but just because I only ever eat salad or anything that required pressing buttons on a microwave or tossing random leafy greens into a bowl and adding ranch dressing on it, due to my meat allergy. I didn't even know if that was considered as cooking.
I didn't know what has gotten into me, suddenly thinking of giving Piper a birthday cake like that, and I actually made it with my own two hands, without going to the mall and spending a single penny. I never did this. I've never even done this to Callista; I just bought her gifts for her birthday. But whatever, I made the cake, and I had no plans of even tasting it.
As Piper was approaching near us, I caught a glimpse of her looking at me and gave her a weak smile, debating whether or not I should greet her a happy birthday today.
Lucas elbowed me, giving me a weird look. "What was that about?" he whispered.
I shrugged, looking back at my phone again and logged into Facebook to distract my thoughts.
The distraction wasn't doing its job well as the first thing that popped into my timeline was a status from Piper. "Eighteen." It said. It got fourteen likes. I was scrolling down to see who commented on her one-word status, and majority of them were friends of Pascal. One of them was my sister Mei. Oh look, there was that Athena Harrison chick. A girl named Avery—"Woah," I gasped.
Escape Plan Cody greeted her? I was mentally flipping out since they were one of my favorite rock bands. I read their comment, saying that they'll see her tomorrow. Was she planning on going to the concert?
"It's her birthday today? Do you think she'll be holding a party or something?" I heard Gigi within earshot, talking to Callista.
"Nah, I don't think so. She doesn't have that many friends," Callista replied, narrowing her eyes at Piper as she passed by the school doors. I swallowed hard when I heard Callista said that. I released a cough to get their attention. "Hey, the bell is gonna ring anytime soon. Let's get to class."
— — —
PIPER • [3:50 p.m.]
"Pascal! Could you just please tell me who'll pick me up?"
We were just dismissed twenty minutes ago and I was standing outside the almost empty parking lot, as people were already leaving with their cars. It was a Friday anyway, and who wouldn't want to spend it by hanging out in Flinnway?
Not me. I just wanted to go home.
"Relax, he'll be there any minute," Pascal replied, hearing him chuckle at the other end of the line.
Woah there...a he?
"He? Who the heckie is he—" I was about to ask who "he" was when someone tapped me on my shoulder. I spun my head around and heat suddenly rose up from my cheeks, making me jump a little. "Good gravy! B-Beau?"
Pascal clicked his phone shut when he heard me say Beau's name. Half of my jaw fell, and my eyes widened. What did Beau want from me?
"Piper?" Beau asked, mocking me in a way. He furrowed his eyebrows at me. "Yes, it's me. Why do you always act like I have a knife behind my back?"
"D-d-do you need something?" I stuttered, accidentally ignoring his question.
"I'm driving you home? Let's go." He said it oh-so casually as if this was an everyday routine for us.
Okay, I'd be honest if I said I was bluffing at Beau when we met at Mei's shop two days ago. I acted like I wasn't distracted at his presence when all along my heart was beating so fast it could just burst on his face.
That sounded gross but still. I didn't want him to see me looking all devastatingly affected when I saw him together with Callista. I knew for a fact that he ditched me at the carnival, and my brother was so closed at embarrassing them at the mall, but I let them go because I just didn't want to rub what he did to me all over his face. I was not that kind of girl. Plus, Beau has a thing for Callista, so I have no right to question their togetherness.
But I was starting to question our togetherness right now.
He began walking to his car as I followed him with uncertainty. "Wait, um, so you're that he Pascal was talking about?"
"Maybe. Hop in." he gestured his hand to the passenger seat, and I took that as a sign to climb in. This was the second time I've ridden his car but I've never realized how good it smelled. It smelled like lemons.
"Wait, what about Callista?"
He passed a quick look at me then to the back window, extending his arm and draping it at my backseat as he steered his car in reverse, making me nervous again. Calm down, Piper, I thought. He's not even touching you.
"You ask a lot of questions," he said. Maybe I shouldn't distract him as he backed up his car.
As we exited the school, I began to fidget with my fingers, thinking of the right time to pester him with questions.
"So um..." I started, breaking the silence.
"Hm?" he asked, his eyes fixated on the road.
"What's happening?"
"I'm going to celebrate your birthday with you. Pascal invited me."
"Pascal? Why?"
"Why not? Do you want me not to?"
Okay, I'll just let my answer linger, but none of his answers were believable, yet deep down inside, I hope he was being sincere. If Pascal told him that I had a huge crush on Beau, I won't hesitate to buy a one-way ticket to Embarrassville, if there was such a thing.
I'll just have to wait and see what was in store for me when we get home, and hopefully it was a good one.