Chapter Nine

Ruby

That’s all my homework rushed. I don’t even care if it’s completed correctly. I mean, what kind of teacher gives you homework, knowing it’s your birthday?

It’s like they don’t think we all have a social life after school. What good is history anyway? It all happened in the past. Time to forget about it and move on.

“Bye, Mom! I’m going now.” I yelled through the house as I was leaving.

I wanted to fly out of the door before she checked inside my school bag.

“Come on, Storm. You want to come with me?” I slapped my palm against my thigh to beckon my dog to follow me.

He was pretty good at understanding me. Half the time, I think he’s more like an actual person. I mean, I ask him to fetch me things, and he just does it. How cool is that? I swear if there was a prize for the world’s most intelligent animal, then Storm would win it, hands down.

We walked the quick way to Sarah’s house, across the fields. Her parents must be avid gardeners because there were flowers everywhere, and their lawn looked as if it had just been cut.

Mom doesn’t have time to do much gardening, and we prefer the pretty wildflowers that grow among the long grass. Sarah’s mom must like roses because at least five different types were growing around the side of the house. The colors were beautiful pinks, whites, reds, yellows, and peachy colored ones.

That was my favorite, the peach one. I stopped to sniff one of the flower heads, feeling the silky petals against my nose. It had a strange, fruity smell, mixed with clove.

“That one is called a Juliette. You give someone a peach rose as a gesture that you’re missing them,” Sarah spoke from behind me, causing me to jump with shock.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Happy birthday!” she said as she leaned in to hug me.

Sarah and I became good friends. I used to think she was pretty mean when I first moved here, but she’s very nice. She had matured a lot since then. I’m also friends with Mia and Tegan. They make up our foursome.

“Come on, let’s go inside and I can give you your present,” Sarah squealed with excitement.

“What about my dog? Is he alright to stay here?” I asked, pointing at Storm, who was busy watching a frog hop across the lawn.

Sarah’s eyes landed on Storm as if she had only just noticed him. The way her mouth hung open and her voice got stuck in her throat, made her sound as if she had just swallowed some chewing gum.

She put a hand on her chest. “Um, don’t be silly.” She let out a nervous, fake laugh. “He can come inside the house.”

“Really? Your mom won’t mind?” I asked, scrunching my brows. Her house was pristine. I doubt an animal had ever been inside it before.

She swatted the air with that fake nervous laugh again. Her eyes darted between me and Storm as his attention had turned from the frog and was watching Sarah with keen interest.

“Pfft! Sure, it’s fine! We, um, love dogs.” She cleared her throat and ushered me inside, leaving the door open for Storm.

It wasn’t long before Mia and Tegan arrived. Sarah had put on my birthday gift; it was a compilation tape of songs that were mostly Bieber’s.

Storm stayed out in the hall, grumbling, and groaning while we sang along to the hits.

Mia gave me a friendship bracelet, and Tegan had made me a homemade trinket box that had our pictures glued to the top of it. Tegan also said how she was glad that I hadn’t invited the boys from school, and that it was just ‘us girls.’

I think she has a secret crush on Josh, and she’s trying to make it look less obvious.

“I’m going to marry Zac Efron when I’m older,” I muttered as Sarah pulled my hair into a tight braid. It pinched my scalp, causing my eyes to water.

“I thought you loved Channing Tatum? You can’t have both, Ruby. That’s just not fair to the rest of the women in the world,” Sarah complained.

Mia blurted out something that earned her death glares from both Tegan and Sarah.

“That wouldn’t be fair to your soul mate, Ruby. I expect he’d be pretty upset if you married either of those guys.” She looked at the others and shrugged. “Well, he would.”

The atmosphere in the room took a drastic change and an awkward silence hung over us. None of us knew what to say, so I broke the ice.

“Do you think there’s someone for everyone? Like, soulmates are real?” I asked dreamily, romancing over the idea.

That was just too cute. I hoped it was true, and that I had a soul mate out there somewhere.

Tegan nodded with enthusiasm, whilst Mia and Sarah both stumbled to talk simultaneously.

Mia smiled and allowed Sarah to speak. “Sure, soulmates exist. So if I were you, I’d hold out for ‘the one’. You never know when you’re going to meet him.” She grinned at Mia, who had covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled. I wondered what was so funny about that.

Mia lowered her voice. “Yeah, he might be right under your nose.”

The four of us, followed closely by Storm, walked the non-muddy way back to my house since we were all in our party attire. I was wearing a little makeup, and I hoped my mom wouldn’t make me go take off as soon as I stepped through the door.

“Hey, it’s nice of Mr. Grant to pay for the gymnastics team to stay at the Jefferson, during regional’s. That must have cost a fortune,” I mentioned, desperate to bring up the competition.

I continued to chatter as we walked.

“Mom said that Mr. Grant junior is a lot friendlier than Mr. Grant Senior. According to Mom, the old guy was a real grouch.”

The girls started coughing, then made up lame excuses that the old Mr. grant was just misunderstood. By the time we got home, it looked as if Mom dropped a confetti bomb in my sitting room.

Mom had gone all out for me this year. There were helium balloons in the shape of a number one and a number three. She laid the table with party food and prepared a punch from fruit juice. Alcohol-free, of course. A lady who owns the bakery store made my cake. They decorated it in The Wizard of Oz style. It was a two-tier cake with a blue gingham ribbon around the bottom cake and a red bow in the middle. On the top, it had a ruby slipper ornament that Mom suggested we could keep.

I had so much fun at my party. Mom hooked up the karaoke machine to the TV. We all took turns singing to our favorite songs.

About an hour before the party was due to end, Mom mentioned it was time to light the candles on the cake.

“Ruby, honey. Do me a favor and go get me the stove lighter from the kitchen,” Mom asked, whilst she made room for the cake in the middle of the table.

I skipped into the kitchen to search for the lighter.

It wasn’t in its usual place next to the stove. So, I had a glimpse around the worktops to see if Mom had moved it onto another counter.

“Mom, where did you say it was again?” I yelled through to the sitting room.

“Try the drawer, next to the sink!” Mom replied.

I blew out a forced breath in irritation, whilst fumbling around, looking from drawer to drawer. It wasn’t anywhere obvious, so I checked on the top of the fridge.

I pulled the step ladders out from behind the door and opened them up. I then clambered up to the top, still needing to stand on my tip-toes to see. There it was.

Duh! In the drawer. I rolled my eyes.

As I grabbed the lighter, a piece of paper slipped from the top of the fridge and floated to the floor.

I climbed down the step ladders, to retrieve it. As soon as I read the letter-head, my throat felt as if it had closed up. I couldn’t breathe. I placed my quivering hand over my mouth as my eyes scanned down the report.

It was from Dr. Thomas, who was an oncologist. I couldn’t understand most of the big words that were used, but there was one word that I understood, perfectly well. Mom had breast cancer, and she needed to go for surgery.

“Ruby?” Mom’s trembling voice came from behind me in the doorway. I turned to face her direction, panicked and confused. Her eyes flicked from mine to the letter in my hand and back again.

I tried to breathe, but it broke out in a series of heavy sobs. Mom raced towards me and engulfed me in a tight hug. Tears flowed like rivers down my cheeks as I hugged her back with all I had.

“I’m scared, Mom!” I sobbed.

“Shh! Everything’s going to be okay. Do you hear me? I’m not going anywhere,” Mom replied, in a strangled voice.

I inhaled her perfume as I cried, filling my lungs with the sweet floral scent. I couldn’t lose my mom, too.

Storm gave a low whine next to us, and I glanced down to see him sitting on the kitchen floor with his head on his paws. Sadness filled his big brown eyes.