My head wound took quite a bit of time to heal. Thankfully Daisy took care of it and made sure it didn’t get infected. Grammy and Grampy stayed for the rest of the week, but we really didn’t do much. We had planned to do a bunch of stuff, but because of my injury, we didn’t. I had explained that I would be ok with just sitting out, but Daisy refused to leave me out. So instead we just relaxed for the week and did small activities. Daisy spent a lot of time practicing her violin throughout the vacation. She was getting better each day. It was fun to watch her progress. Mum and Dad made sure she knew they were proud of her for doing so well with it. They were a lot more supportive than usual with it too. I’m guessing they felt bad for how Jim treated her.
Mum swore she would never let that man near us again. She argued with Gran about it for quite a while. I guess Gran and Gramps thought I deserved it. Jim told them a bogus story, and they refused to believe any other story. They definitely weren’t going to believe my story. From what they heard, I talked a bunch of smack to him and told him I could take him on, which resulted in a fight I miserably lost. Mum tried to explain that wasn’t the case, but Gran refused to listen. Mum tried to explain that even if that’s what happened, Jim was a grown man who shouldn’t be beating on 18 year olds. But Gran refused to see the wrong in Jim’s ways. She even tried to invite Jim over for New Years so he could finish the fight, but Mum was very quick to state that if she tried that, she would be locked out and no longer invited to any sort of holiday dinner. That shut Gran up, and finally they stopped arguing. Honestly, I was surprised things went down like that. I would’ve thought Mum would’ve wanted to join in on the fight.
--
JANUARY 2004
Second semester rolled around and I was not prepared in the slightest. Mum made it very clear to me that as long as I was passing, she was happy. There was no need for sleep depriving myself and living off coffee for a couple good grades. I was so relieved she was being more gentle about school grades. I noticed that lately she seemed to be a lot more gentle and kind. We could hold an actual conversation that didn’t include me getting yelled at. She still had her outbursts, but they were nowhere near what they used to be. And even if she still wasn’t super happy around me, it was nice to not be yelled at as often and feel like I had at least a small relationship with Mum now.
Due to not being pressured as much to do so well, the second semester went by way easier. I was able to keep steady grades that were above passing, and I wasn’t keeping myself awake to do it. I didn’t have much free time, but I was happy to keep busy.
MARCH 2004
March was the month of birthdays. Mum, Daisy and I all had our birthdays in March. Dad was the lone wolf with his birthday in July. Mum and Daisy’s birthday were only a couple days apart at the start of the month, whereas mine was at the end of the month. Normally Mum and Daisy would celebrate theirs together on Daisy’s birthday. There was always a small party where Daisy had her friends over and they all went and did something together. Then later in the day there would be a big cake and they would open gifts from family and friends. As one could imagine, my birthday was nowhere near the same as Daisy’s. Mum forgot about it most years, despite Daisy reminding her constantly. Dad would remember most years and wish me a happy birthday. Daisy would always give me a small gift, and Grammy would always send down some chocolates with a birthday card. It wasn’t much, but it was more than enough for me.
On Daisy’s birthday, she had her friends over like usual. Her group of friends were pretty nice. They all had the same interests, and often hung out together after school. They didn’t have anything major planned that day, so they just hung out together in Daisy’s room. I could hear them giggling a bunch while I was getting some homework done in my room. But then they went silent. That always meant trouble. But at least it didn’t involve me-
“Hey Kevinnn.” Daisy poked her head into my room with a mischievous smile. “Mind joining us for a minute?”
I gave her a funny look. “What do you have planned?”
“Nothing.” Daisy innocently whistled. “Just come over to my room for a sec.”
“Uh, alright.” I said. Knowing I was getting myself into some sort of trouble, I cautiously followed her to her room. Her friends were waiting for us. Each of them had an innocent smile on their face. They had something planned, there was no doubt about that.
“What’s going on-” I started to say.
“Get him!” One of her friends cheered. Immediately I bolted. I tried to make it to the safety of my room, but they got ahold of me and dragged me back to Daisy’s room. I could see Mum watched from the kitchen at the end of the hallway. She looked very confused, but also amused as this group of girls dragged me into Daisy’s room by my feet.
I found out what they wanted to do not too long after. They were bored so they thought beautifying my hair would be a fabulous time killer. Each of them took turns trying different hairstyles on me while going on about how nice my hair was. Out of everyone there, I had the longest and easiest hair to work with by far. Daisy and another friend had shoulder length hair, but it was very curly. The others had bob haircuts. My hair was a bit past my shoulders and easy to work with.
“Enjoying yourself?” Daisy smiled at me.
“I do have homework to do, you know.” I gave her an unimpressed look.
“So you won’t mind us putting you in a dress too?” Daisy smirked.
“You wouldn’t-”
Daisy whipped out the frilliest and most ridiculous looking dress from her closet. “Oh but I would.”
“I’m not wearing that.”
“Oh come on, you’ll look great in it!” One of her friends smiled.
“It probably won’t even fit-”
“You won’t know ‘til you try it on.” Daisy grinned.
Against my will, I was shoved into the dress. It looked ridiculous. Especially since they put it on over my shirt, and I still had my jeans on. It didn’t even come close to fitting. To top it all off, they put my hair into a fancy bun with bows and fancy accessories. They even made me wear makeup.
“Aw, he looks great!” Her friends laughed. I obviously didn’t. I looked like a clown.
“Don’t look so sour, Kevin.” Daisy laughed. “It’s just for fun.”
I shot her a glare. She couldn’t take me seriously with the outfit and makeup and almost fell off her bed laughing. They had their laugh, and were about to clean up the makeup when Mum opened the door to see what all the laughing was about. She saw me and almost fell over laughing.
“Oh that’s perfect you guys.” She laughed. “But you know what would make it better?”
Everyone but me was interested in what she had to say.
“I think it would just be perfect if you guys did the same to the birthday girl.” She grinned. “Would make for a perfect picture.”
“Har har, very funny Mum-” Daisy barely even had time to speak before she was already being forced into a dress.
“It’s only fair!” Her friends laughed. “You did it to Kevin, so now it’s your turn!”
“Oi! At least I look good in a dress!” She argued. That was true. She wore a lot of dresses in the summer and she looked pretty good in them. Better than I did at least. While Daisy was going through the same torture I did, Mum and I watched in amusement. It was especially funny watching them try to do something with her hair. Daisy looked ready to fight when they took out her sacred headband. She almost always had it on, and didn’t like taking it off.
Within a half hour, Daisy and I both looked ridiculous. Daisy kept shooting me glares, but I would just laugh. Her friends did her makeup all funny which made her look like an old lady who was trying too hard to look good.
Mum had to get a picture of this, and after she got her photo, both Daisy and I cleaned up. I was happy to get out of the dress, put my hair back into a normal ponytail and wipe off the makeup. After that mess, I went right back to doing homework while listening to Daisy’s friends giggle about what just happened.
Three weeks later, and it was my birthday. I didn’t expect much. It would just be another normal day, only this time I was 19 years old. I figured I could treat myself to something out of my growing chocolate stash later in the day. Since it was a Sunday, I got to sleep in a bit which was nice. I woke up to see a small box of chocolates from Grammy on my nightstand. I figured they must’ve arrived earlier and someone put them on my nightstand. I put the birthday card attached to them on the windowsill, and put the chocolates with the rest of my stash in the closet. I then headed to the kitchen to get breakfast.
Mum and Dad were in the kitchen talking. Dad was sipping some coffee as usual, and Mum was baking something.
“Happy birthday.” Dad smiled at me when I entered the kitchen.
“Thanks.” I smiled. I didn’t expect Mum to say anything at all. She never did. I grabbed some cereal and was about to sit down with it when I heard Daisy come out of her room. She saw me from down the hallway and ran over to me.
“Happy birthday!!” She said happily as she tackle hugged me. I was unprepared for the attack and got knocked over by Daisy. My bowl of cereal spilled everywhere. Mum turned around and looked at us in disbelief, while Dad simply chuckled.
“Oop.” Daisy said as she let go of me. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to knock you over. I’ll clean that up.”
“Thanks.” I laughed. Daisy got up and cleaned up the mess while I got myself another bowl of cereal.
“Oh! Whatcha making?” Daisy asked Mum once she saw she was baking something.
“Cupcakes.” Mum replied.
“Ooo! What’s the occasion?”
“You just tackled your brother over it.” Mum laughed.
Daisy and I both looked at her in surprise.
“Stop looking at me like that.” Mum gave us a funny look. “It’s unsettling.”
“Sorry, just surprised.” Daisy said. “You never make anything for his birthday.”
“I was in the mood to bake and figured why not.” Mum shrugged. She thought it wasn’t a big deal, but to Daisy and I it was huge. Especially me. For once she remembered my birthday. After 19 years. It was a glorious day.
Not only did Mum make cupcakes, but we also all went out bowling that afternoon. She gave me the option of having friends over, or going bowling. Since I didn’t have any close friends, we all went bowling instead. Of course, the two games we got to play were very competitive. Daisy and I were determined to beat each other, and Mum and Dad were also determined to beat each other.
“Oh come on!!” Mum cried after seeing Dad get another strike. “This game is rigged!”
“Or you just suck at bowling.” Dad grinned. Mum barely even hit the pins half the time. The bowling ball always went into the gutter and then would completely miss all the pins. If she was lucky, she would hit one, possibly two. Dad was getting a bunch of strikes, and Daisy and I were hitting at least half the pins.
“I’m gonna get the strike this time!” Mum scoffed as she went to go take her turn. She threw the ball down the lane and like usual, it went in the gutter.
“I don’t know Mum.” Daisy joked. “Last I checked, that’s the opposite of a strike.”
“Shush.” She said as she grabbed the second ball. “I just need to concentrate-”
“On hitting none of the pins.”
“I said shush!!” Mum threw the ball down the lane with pure frustration. It went right into the gutter and missed all the pins.
“Come one dear!” Dad cheered. “I know you can hit at least one!!”
“Two if you’re lucky!” Daisy added.
I wanted to say something, but I was too busy trying to catch my breath from how hard I was laughing. I was lucky I didn’t break a rib.
“Use that arm strength!” Dad cheered. “I know you have it in you!!”
“Will you just shut it for two seconds?!” Mum growled as she threw the ball down the lane. To all our amazements, it went straight down the middle of the lane and knocked all ten pins down.
“HA!” Mum turned around and proudly showed off her achievement. “Take that!!”
“Great!” Dad smiled. “Only four more to go!”
Daisy and I broke out laughing so hard we were barely able to breath. Dad knew he was winning this game. He already had 5 strikes down. Mum shot him a glare and sat down. Daisy had to catch her breath before she could take her turn.
“You’re just jealous.” Mum said to Dad while Daisy was taking her turn.
“Of what?” Dad chuckled. “Your skill of not hitting any pins?”
“I will make you make dinner.”
“You know I can’t cook. So it wouldn’t be wise to do that unless you want to eat very crispy grilled cheeses.”
“...You have a point.”
As one could expect, Dad won the game. Daisy came in second, I was third, and Mum lost by a shitload of points. Dad made sure Mum felt the loss the whole way home while Daisy and I laughed our asses off in the back.
We got home, had dinner, and that was the excitement of the day. Daisy gave me some new journals as a gift, which I gladly accepted. I spent a lot of my freetime writing, so my other journals were getting full. Daisy and I spent the rest of the evening giving each other prompts to write short stories about. We would then compare them and laugh at how bad Daisy’s were, and how ridiculous mine were. It was by far the best birthday I had ever had.
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