28 February 2013
It was a clear starry night. The moon was full and tiny bright stars were scattered across the night sky. I sat in my room listening to The A Team by Ed Sheeran with tears streaming down my face. Just thinking and lying there with the song on an endless loop. One hand under my yellow and orange polka dot pillow, the other holding my iPod. "...the worst things in life come free to us..." I guess it's kind of true. My family wasn't gaining as much money as we were paying. Taxes are stupid. Actually a lot of things seem stupid. I hugged my blue flower-patterned comforter closer to me. New tears started falling down my face, reached my nose, gathered up into one big tear, and then fell down onto my pillow.
Bored of my iPod, I placed it back on my drawer next to my Kindle Fire, and on top of a really ugly picture I drew of a polar bear in the Arctic. I laid back down on my bed. Slowly my crying stopped leaving me lying there looking at my ceiling with a tear-streaked face. At least it's the weekend. I tried thinking of other good, happy things. I remembered how the lady from the movie, The Sound of Music, said to think of happy things when you're sad. Okay, what else is great about life....well at least I'm doing really well in school. I had gotten straight A+'s on all my report cards at my middle school. I remembered last year, feeling proud of myself as I looked at my report card with my name on top, Hope Crandall, and all the A's. On and on the list went of all my most pleasing memories and favorite things. At least my birthday was tomorrow, and I’d finally be thirteen. Maybe things would change then…
_____________________________________________
My parents always talked about my appearance as the world’s greatest event. They showed me a million photos of that day when I arrived on their doorstep in a cardboard box, crying my eyes out, my little newborn fists grabbing the blanket I was wrapped in. Those photos were kept in giant photo albums, and some of the better-looking ones were blown-up, framed, and hung on the living-room wall of my family’s modest suburban house in Middle Brook, Massachusetts.
My mother was born with a disease that made her unable to have kids, and the foster system took way too long, even though my parents had their name on the list for over a year. “You were a miracle, our Hope,” they’d say. And I’d loved that I made my parents so happy, that I had a great life despite the fact I was abandoned on the porch years ago. I never questioned anything about my past until my thirteenth birthday on November 18th. Back then, I was lucky enough to not know the world would end a bit over a month later.
_________________________________________________
The day after, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” everyone shouted as I blew out all thirteen candles on my ice cream cake. Everyone being just me, my parents, and Emmie, the only friend I had. I was not the popular type, mainly because I was considered a weirdo by the other seventh graders at Middle Brook Junior High. And I totally admitted that. After all, I was the girl delivered on my doorstep like Harry Potter. But I only wished I had magical powers. Also, I can solve equations at top speed and that came along with a photographic memory, and I’d done that ever since I was four, and had no idea why. Which I thought made me sort of like a human computer. But who wants to be friends with a computer?
Emmie was a different story, though. She was a math geek, really quiet, and what people would consider to be a social reject. But she was the only one nice to me, so I didn’t judge her by her nerdiness, and in return, she didn’t judge me by my crazy computer-like skills. That’s why she agreed to come over my house on this November weekend to celebrate me being a teen.
Emmie handed me a present. “Happy birthday, Hope!” she exclaimed. It was a long, thin box covered with silver wrapping paper, which I ripped open, despite what Mom said about reusing paper. Emmie’s present was a necklace, with a silver pendant that said, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches on the soul.” Normally, I wasn’t the type to wear jewelry, since I was NOT a girly-girl, but this was from my only friend. It was gorgeous, after all, and Emmie probably spent a lot on it.
“Thanks!” I whispered to Emmie, and put it on. Afterwards, I ate my delicious ice cream cake, smearing almost all the frosting roses on my face. I opened my gifts from my parents, which included a gorgeous green sweater from Mom and an iPod case from Dad. True, I had expected more, but after the conversation I’d overheard about the taxes, I kept my mouth shut.
“Emmie, thank you so much for coming!” I said after three more hours, opening the door for Emmie to leave. Her mother was waiting outside in the car, and Emmie ran down the driveway to meet her.
“Bye Hope!” Emmie called as the car pulled away. I waved back until the car was out of sight, and then walked back into my house, where my parents were waiting at the dining room table.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get you more, sweetie,” Mom said. “But with the tight budget, the iPhone was just out of the question.” I nodded, feeling slightly disappointed. But, I reminded myself, if Mom and Dad never adopted me, they’d have a lot more money. That got rid of the disappointment.
“The party was awesome though, and the cake was so yummy,” I replied, smiling. My parents smiled in relief too.
“Thank you, Hope. We love you,” my dad said. “Now, I’m cooking spaghetti for dinner. “Your favorite!” I sat down, the happiness at the party still not dying away at all.
PROJECT 12/21: CHAPTER ONE PART ONE • Opuss № I