Chapter 1: The birthday girl.

“Jason, it’s 9 remember?”

“Of course babe, I’ll remember. I’ll be there before you know it. Chill out.”

I glared at Jason, my boyfriend of six months, my longest relationship ever. Actually, my first relationship ever since I turned seventeen last year. His brown eyes were glued to his phone and he was texting rapidly. Is he even listening to me?

“Jason,” I said again, craning my neck to see what had him so engrossed in his phone. He finally looked up, placed his phone on his chest, and smiled. Even after six months I still get butterflies in my belly when he smiles like that. Jason is top ten in our class and I can’t believe how lucky I am to be his girlfriend. “I hope that’s my birthday present you’re picking.”

“You’ll see. I’ll be there babe,” he drawled and leaned across the gear to press a kiss to my lips. I grinned foolishly and returned the kiss before getting my bag from the back seat and leaving the car. My friends Lurane and Sophie waited at the entrance of the school in front of Lurane’s car. She’s the only one among us with a car. She and Sophie had ridden to school without me today because Jason offered to pick me up.

“Hey bitch,” Sophie called out. Sophie Wilson is the wildest in the group. She got a fake ID first, got high on weed on her fifteenth birthday, had sex the same day, got suspended twice, and brought alcohol to school once. I still haven’t gotten the chance to drink alcohol because Grandma would have my tongue if I did. Sophie once convinced us to get our hair dyed blue, it took weeks to get the color off my thick curls. Lurane’s mother had been so aghast by the sight of her precious daughter’s blue hair that she almost had a heart attack.

Lurane Grant on the other hand is the wise owl in our friend group. She has a wild side that she keeps under wraps because of her parents’ reputation. They are stinky rich! I’m the odd one in the group.

Let’s just leave it at that.

Anyways, Sophie, Lurane, and I have been friends since forever, and believe me it’s hard being friends with such attractive girls especially when you always have to play the third wheel.

Sophie looked past me to Jason who waved at us. “Hey hottie,” she screamed drawing the attention of half the school population towards us. She blew a kiss at him and winked while flipping her dyed red hair. She glanced at me mischievously and wagged her brows. “Did you guys do it?” she whispered.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. “In the car on the way to school?! No, we did not have sex, Sophie. I thought we talked about not talking about this topic.”

She sniffed and rolled her eyes. “I bet Jason must be starving to get between your legs Mary Poppins. You know boys, they need sex or they die, right Lurane?”

Lurane who had been typing on her phone looked up. “Sometimes,” she said in her gentle tone. You gotta understand that Lurane was born and bred as a princess so she’s way more refined than Sophie and I can ever be. “Jason doesn’t look like he’s in a rush to get under your skirts though, Coco.”

Chantelle is my name. It’s a nice name I guess but I go by Coco because that was the first thing I could say as a baby none of that generic mama and dada for me.

“Oh my gosh you guys are so boring,” Sophie yawned. “Okay, whatever Coco. But take my word for it Jason is getting some elsewhere if he’s not pestering you for sex and believe me I wish I was that person.” She smacked her lips.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. Lurane laughed too. Trust me we have been around Sophie long enough to be used to her bullshit.

The bell rang suddenly and we left the entrance and headed to class. Our schedules are the same so we attend every class together.

As we slid into the three empty seats we found, Lurane leaned over. “Your birthday dinner is still happening, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied. I turn eighteen today. Baby bird is becoming a grownup.

“I’m so excited to eat your mom’s delicious cooking. My mom got back yesterday and she has done nothing but yell all day. I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Sophie said with her lips curled in disgust. “School is a million times better than a day with that screeching banshee.”

I laughed. Ms. Wilson is not exactly a model mother.

“It’s only a few months now and you’ll be out of that house for good," I comforted Sophie.

“God I can’t wait.”

“Good morning class.”

That ended our conversation for the next hour. All three of us are smart. That’s one of the reasons Grandma approves of our friendship. She’s not Sophie’s biggest fan but she admires Sophie’s brains. She’s the best in our science classes, Lurane is better at languages and art subjects while I like my dad excel at calculus, mathematics, and geometry…anything that has formulas and calculations is my turf, anything except physics.

And so our classes continued until two in the afternoon when we had lunch and talked about boys and the bitchy girls in our class. We have one common enemy. Ciara Turner. She’s a total hoe and she has been the topic of our discussions too many times to count. Today we talked about the rumor going around about Ciara and a backup dancer at some club. Apparently, Ciara’s mother heard the news and was threatening to send her off to a convent or something. Believe me, Ciara needs the prayers of the faithful to cleanse her soul.

After lunch, we had more classes until school let out at 5 in the evening. All three of us piled into Lurane’s car and headed home with Zara Larsson’s Falling For a Friend (FFF) blasting from the speakers. Sophie was the first to drop off.

“Don’t forget,” I reminded her as she sashayed up the steps to her door which flew open to reveal Ms. Wilson with her hands on her waist and the ugliest scowl on her face. “9 okay? Good evening Ms. Wilson.”

“Good evening, ma’am,” Lurane echoed.

She ignored us and turned to berate Sophie who slipped past her and waved at us.

“Okay bitches, I’ll be there dressed as a stripper,” Sophie shouted over the music.

We drove off leaving Ms. Wilson screaming so loudly her voice echoed over the music. Lurane dropped me off with the promise to be right on time for my birthday dinner. I waved until she drove away and ran up the stairs to my house. Mom was hanging up the last of the balloons even though I clearly told her I was too old for them.

“My baby can never be too old for some balloons,” was her response.

“Is that Coco?” Grandma’s voice came from the kitchen. She was holding a box in one hand while the other gripped the kitchen door. She was diagnosed with arthritis in her left leg last year but I swear the way this woman moves like lightning when she catches you doing something bad you would think she was the Flash. She smiled warmly at me and turned her cheek for a kiss. “How is my favorite girl?”

The sound of thumping feet came from above. A minute later my elder sister Yolanda was at the bottom of the stairs slow dancing towards me. She picked me up in a bear hug even before I finished kissing Grandma. “Here’s the birthday girl. The new adult!” she declared. She got dad’s brute strength.

“Let me go you monster,” I laughed.

She did and grabbed the box Grandma was holding. Grandma was too occupied with me to scold her.

“Look what grandma and I made you!!”

Yolanda threw the box cover open and I gasped. Inside was a peach sequin gown which Yolanda spread for me to see. It was an A-shape gown with a deep v-neckline that would definitely show off my small breasts. It was so lovely tears filled my eyes.

“Oh my God you guys,” I cried. I hugged them both.

Mom chuckled and came over too for her own hug. I held on to her. All three of us Jones women hugging each other tightly.

Suddenly I was filled with emotions. “I wish Dad was here for this,” I choked out. It still hurts every birthday when he’s not here to lift me in his strong arms and bellow the happy birthday song in his deep voice.

Mom lifted my chin and wiped the tears from my eyes. “No, no, Coco. We will not think about that today. I’m sure your dad wouldn’t want you to cry on your special day. And he is looking down at you with so much love right now, okay?”

I nodded and sniffed back the tears. She was right. Dad would have hated it. He and Yolanda would have kicked me for crying anyway. I giggled at the thought suddenly feeling a lot better.

The cake was set, the decorations were up, and the dress was ready. All that was left was the food.

Mom shooed me upstairs. Since it was my birthday I wasn’t allowed to do anything so I called Sophie and told her about my dress we tried adding Lurane to the call but she wasn’t picking her call.

By 8 Sophie was the first to arrive.

“Surprise!” Sophie cheered as soon as I opened the door. In her hands was a huge box wrapped in red paper. “This is for you, birthday girl.” She cast a gaze up and down my school clothes. “It’s 8 and you’re not dressed yet. You said Yolanda and Grandma made a dress for you over the phone.”

“Come on in,” I practically dragged her in. Sophie is a regular in our house so throwing her purse on the sofa as she walked past the living room was nothing strange. Grandma was in the tiny dining area resting after helping Mom with the beef stew.

“Hey, Grandma,” Sophie said sweetly. She went behind grandma and landed a huge kiss on her cheek. Grandma grumbled something about her loud voice and wet kiss but did not attempt to clean it off her cheek.

“Lurane isn’t here yet?”

“Nope, she isn’t. She’s probably going to call later.”

“Right. Probably dealing with whatever rich people deal with. Where’s mom?” Without waiting for a response Sophie waltzed into the kitchen. “Good evening Mrs. Jones.” She sniffed the air appreciatively. “Lord that smells heavenly.”

Mom laughed and swatted her hand when she tried to pick a piece of chicken off the plate of fried chicken set to cool on the counter. “Go help your friend get ready, Sophie Wilson.”

“Ow, Mrs. Jones you hurt my feelings. Okay, Coco let’s go get ready!”

We ran upstairs to my room where I showed her the gown.

“Holy shit,” she gasped. She grabbed it from my hands, held it to her chest, and went to stand in front of my mirror. “Aw, I feel like a princess. This is so nice, Coco. Yolanda made this?”

I nodded. “She and grandma.”

“You should totally wear this to the club later tonight.”

“We are still doing that?”

She had suggested last week that we go to a club after the ceremonial birthday dinner. Even though I refused she and Lurane insisted. I actually forgot about that plan.

She gave me a side glance. “Of course we are silly. Look” she raised the skirt of her blue gown to reveal a pair of leather shorts and a halter top underneath. “I came prepared. You are eighteen, darling. You should celebrate in style. When Lurane gets here we’ll eat and leave. You can bring Jason with you if you have to,” she added. “You can wear it with that shoe mom ordered for you.”