BIRTHDAY PARTY

Summer holidays started getting better for Marie as she began feeling all grown up and being able to meet Jean without her parents coming to know about it. Her intent to meet Jean was different and was more on the romantic side, unlike the way that she felt to meet other friends of hers, hence she did not want to let her parents know about her friendship with Jean. She did not find difficulty in lying and manipulating her parents about the long walks which she started to have with Shadow.

And now there was yet another adventure for her to convince her parents to go to a male friend’s birthday party. Marie’s parents were orthodox, and they could not understand if a boy and girl could be just friends. To them, friendship between the opposite sexes was a beginning of something undesirable, and both of them disliked the theories which the new generation was introducing to the world.

Her parents were very happy in the country that they were residing in because their upbringing in that particular nation taught them the right and the wrong. Basically, it was nothing other than the acceptable norms and the things which were unacceptable. Right and wrong is subjective because something which may be right to one person could be absolutely wrong to the other one, but the patterns which were set by the place that they were living at were bound to be acceptable by everyone staying over there.

That was the main reason for Marie's parents not being broad-minded and not being accepting of the modern ways of life. They wanted to stick with their traditional norms, and thus, things were not very easy for Marie at home. At least at school it turned out pretty well, which not only made her happy but also made her hopeful for the future and more dedicated to studying because that would make her get out of her home, and she would be able to stay outside for much longer.

Convincing her parents to be able to go to Derek’s birthday party was the next big challenge for young Marie. There was no possible reason which she could come up with other than the fact that Derek was her batch mate. The one week of everyone attending the senior high orientation had at least a little amount of interaction between the teens. And Derek’s family had been living in the west which was hyped-up, and people living in those areas had already adopted the modern lifestyle, so they were pretty chill with the whole boy-girl thing.

Marie walked to the dining room to talk to her parents while they were still having breakfast because after eating, her dad would leave home for office.

“Dad, I have to take your permission for something,” she said to which Mr. Jones nodded his head and responded, “Yes, my princess, tell me what it is."

Hearing him call Marie his princess, Delilah obviously rolled her eyes to digest it as it was all extra drama for her only because Marie was involved in it. Otherwise, it would have been father-daughter love had it been with Rebecca. Hypocrisy was her adopted way of life even though it never really made her happy, and she always found something to crib and complain about.

“Dad, I have a birthday party to attend this evening,” Marie stated.

Delilah instantly pitched in and asked, “Birthday party? Whose party?”

“Delilah, Marie is talking to me,” Mr. Jones mentioned and looked at Marie with a smile for her to continue with what she was saying.

“Today a batch mate of mine is hosting a birthday party, and he invited everyone from the class. Most of my friends are going, and I also want to be a part of the first birthday party of my senior high first year. Please, may I go?” Marie asked Mr. Jones very politely.

After giving a very subtle smile to her, Mr. Jones asked, “Which friend is this?”

“Derek. Now everyone is studying together.”

“Very well, so where is his party at?”

“It is at the town hall complex, but I will go with another friend of mine. She will pick me up in her car, and her driver will take us over there.”

“I see my daughter is grown up now,” Mr. Jones commented, and after that, he also said, “I will be dropping you to the party. What time is it?”

“Dad, please, I want to go with my friend, Jean. She is a good friend to me.”

“Okay, go with her if that’s what you want, but be safe. Keep your phone with you, and call me at any time you need me.”

Marie hugged her dad for placing his trust in her and allowing her to go to the party in her friend’s car. It all seemed just right for Marie because everything was falling in place without much effort, and it was going as she wanted. Life is funny like that, it will give you all that you want before taking away all of what you had because people stop valuing things once they get it. Instead, mostly everyone starts taking things for granted.

Soon it was 3:00 pm, and that was when Jean was supposed to pick up Marie for the party. Because they were still youngsters and not adults, the party was planned to happen early in the evening. That way it would keep parents at ease and not have them worried as they would have been had the party been organized late at night.

Marie got dressed up in the new A-line dress which she bought a year ago, but she did not get a chance to wear it just yet. It was a button-through, pretty looking dress with a floral print on it. She felt very comfortable in it, and it was boosting her self-esteem for the reason that such dresses were not appreciated well at her house, and now she was wearing it to someone’s party. She was feeling as if she could now make decisions by herself in her life.

Dressed up, she walked outside with her step-mom still rolling her eyes every time Marie walked by because after the talk which she had with Mr. Jones, Delilah did not mention a single word in front of Marie. Delilah’s ego was hurt because Mr. Jones had asked her not to talk in between when Marie was taking permission from him to go to the birthday party.

As Marie was waiting for Jean to arrive in her car, she could not believe that she was actually going to this party. It wasn't until a big black car appeared and she hopped in the minute it stopped in front of the main gate of her house. Jean and Marie were sitting just a little apart from each other on the same seat at the back, looking forward to spending a beautiful evening together at the birthday party that they were going to be at.