By Rowan, Grade 7
“Gabby Girl, are you home?” Gabby’s mother called up the stairs.
“Yes” yelled Gabby. She was planning her birthday party, but first she needed to decide who was going. She jotted down a few names.
“Did you take the trash in?” her mother called.
“Yes Mom. I also did the dishes, like you asked.”
“Thank you sweetie!” she called up again. Maybe Chelsie, or Lily, or Sophia….
The thumping noises from the stairs clearly indicated that her mom was coming upstairs. Gabby groaned.
“How was your day?” her mother said as she entered her room.
“Fine” she said, hoping her mother would go away. Instead her mother sat down on her bed. She inwardly groaned.
“Are you planning your birthday party?” She asked. Gabby nodded.
“Are you sure you want to invite Sophia? She seemed a bit…. much. I think you should invite that nice girl Katie. Or maybe Willow…..”
“Mom, I got this. I think I can plan my own birthday party. I’m almost 13.”
“I’m just giving you pointers. Back when I was your age…..”
“Mom, I’m fine.”
“Ok honey. I’ll be down stairs if you need me. Oh, and don’t forget to do your homework.”
“I finished my homework. I’m fine, really Mom.”
“Fine.”
She finally left. Gabby got back to her list. Maybe her mom was right about Katie, not that she would ever tell her that though. But she was definitely going to invite Sophia. She was only the most popular and cool girl in the whole school. And she was in her grade. She just hoped that she didn’t have to invite her “Girl Goons”, as the whole grade called them. They followed Sophia around and went wherever she went, all the while acting like parrots and repeating everything she said like they were saying famous quotes. Her best friend was definitely coming, who was at the top of her list to send the invitations to. They had been best friends since 4th grade. Her name was Grace, and wherever she went she brought fun. Everyone wanted to be her friend, and was always trying to buddy up with her, but she was mostly Gabby’s. While Gabby wasn’t very popular, she still had friends, and was trying to find the right ones to put on her birthday list. Her mother had said that there was only 5 girls that could come, and who should she pick? She already had 2, Grace and Sophia. She was just considering if she should put Katie on the list when the front door slammed, signaling that her dad was home. She smiled and raced down the stairs to meet her dad, because after all, they had something planned for today.
“There’s my gorgeous Gabby!” he said, smiling.
“Dad, I told you not to call me that!” said Gabby, who blushed and found it embarrassing. He just smiled and said, “You'll always be my little girl.” She groaned for the third time that day (counting inwardly), and said, “Lets just go. We can go right now”
“Wait a minute, I, no, we have to get ready. Are you really going in those?” He gestured to her shoes, which just happened to be her favorite slippers, the ones with the cozy fur and fluff inside, which were also the ones with the pompoms on the end and the hot pink color, and to top it off, hearts. She had better hide them during her birthday sleepover. Her parents had gotten the slippers for her for her last birthday as a joke, but with a receipt of course, so that she could return them and get something else. She had forgotten about the slippers for a while, but she still had found the slippers waiting for her when she cleaned out her closet. When she actually tried them on, they were cozy and nice, so she ended up keeping them.
“No” she said.
“Ok, then I’ll meet you back here in 10 minutes, and then we’ll go.” He replied. He kissed her mother on the cheek and headed out of the room to get ready. Gabby headed up the stairs to get into her socks and sneakers. She also got her windbreaker out of the closet. It was fall, and where she was going, she would need it.
10 minutes later, she got in shotgun and her dad rolled down the windows, cranked up the radio, and started singing along. She was pretty sure she would die of embarrassment, especially when they reached the parking lot of Happy Wheels.
“Dad!” she had to shout over the Beatles, who were singing the yellow submarine song. “Turn off the music!” He turned off the music and parked the car.
“Ready to go skating?” he asked. Gabby was very ready to go roller skating, now that she was finally here. They went inside. While Gabby’s dad paid for renting their roller skates, she looked over the arena. There weren't too many people around. There was just a young couple, a family with 2 children and a group of teenagers around her age. Her dad came up behind her with the skates. They walked over to a bench, and started tying their skates. Her dad started to tie her skates.
“Ummmmm Dad? I can tie my own skates you know.” He nodded. “So why are you doing it?” she asked. As he finished tying her skates he answered “I guess I just like to.” She sighed. Sometimes she wished her parents wouldn’t baby her a lot. She rolled onto the arena. “Are you coming?” she asked, holding out a hand.
Ugh. They were following her again. The wispy white shapes that only she could see. They started following her when she turned 12, which was when she started to see them. If she tried to talk to them when she wasn’t alone, people would think she was crazy, so at most times, she couldn’t tell them to go away. It didn’t work anyway. They followed her wherever she went, like Sophia’s “Girl Goons”. She just had to act like nothing had changed, and everything was normal. She went to catch up to her dad after a few minutes.
“Hey Gabby. It’s almost time to go. One more lap?”
“Sure. Race you!” She grinned as she took off. She had gotten a bit of a head start, and she had been roller skating with her Mom and Dad since she was 3. She could skate just as fast as they could. She grinned again, for she knew that victory was around the next corner. Her dad was about a foot behind her. She skates across the finish line and she makes it just in time! The crowd goes wild! Yay! Haha! She won! Even the wispy white shapes, which she had decided long ago to call Spirits, seemed to be cheering. She didn’t really know what to think of them. They seemed on her side, but they still wouldn’t go away or tell her why they were there. As they drove home, Gabby couldn’t stop thinking about the spirits. They couldn’t be evil, or bad spirits, like in her Indian culture legends, could they?
After school the next day, Gabby decided that if the spirits had come on her last birthday, that maybe something would happen on this birthday, so she decided to ask her mom about it. Her mom was the parent from the indian side, and she was the parent with mostly indian DNA, and she knew all the legends, rituals, holidays, traditions, and how they lived with what food they ate. So when her Mom came home, she decided to ask about birthdays. “Does anything happen on birthdays?” she asked. “Like in our indian heritage?”
“I think something does happen on birthdays. Oh, I think I remember now. There’s a legend about how on your twelfth birthday, the spirits of your deceased relatives come to try and get you prepared and to protect you from the evil spirits of the spirit world. They follow you around, get used to how the world has changed, and see what needs to happen for your training. I can’t believe I forgot about it. I think it might of been because of how your dad isn’t religious and how he doesn’t believe in spirits.”
“What happens now?” Gabby asked, now afraid of the answer.
“We need to get you ready to meet the spirits on your birthday. Maybe we can make your room into a shroud for the dead. I wonder who came to teach and protect you. Maybe your Grandma…”
“Mom, we are not turning my room into a shroud for my not quite alive Grandma, and on my birthday is my birthday sleepover. I have to make sure this goes well, especially if Sophia is coming over. There’s nothing that’s going to mess up my sleepover.” exclaimed Gabby. Her friends couldn’t come over with her room looking like she was planning to invite ghosts to her birthday sleepover!
“Honey, Sophia’s coming over? Do remember what I told you? I don’t think that Sophia’s a very nice girl. Can you invite someone else?”
“No Mom. I’m almost 13, and I’ll be a teenager by Friday 2 weeks from now. I think that I should be allowed to plan my own birthday party.”
“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you about that Sophia girl.” As her mom marched out of the room, Gabby smiled to herself. Another victory for the Grand Gabby!
Later that night, Gabby decided that the people who she would invite were Grace, Sophia, Katie, Hailey, and Maya. Katie was the new girl, but she looked nice, funny, and cheerful. Hailey was an athletic girl with an adventurous personality and a determined soul, and Maya was a nice and energetic girl, who liked to talk a lot and it was easy to make her smile and laugh. With this group, what could go wrong?, she thought.