Page 261 of Finding Us
“Can you give us a minute?” Frank asks Garret.
“Sure.” Garret goes back to the party. I hear him talking, encouraging everyone to join him so this isn’t so awkward for me.
Frank puts his arm around me and we go out on the patio.
“I know this is a lot for you, Jade.”
There’s so much meaning behind Frank’s words. He’s the only one who truly knows what a big deal this is to me. Garret knows about my past, but Frank witnessed it and because of that he knows why my birthday is so hard for me. He knew my mom and he saw how she treated me. He knows I never celebrated anything because of her. Frank was the first person who tried to celebrate my birthday and my mom got mad at him for it. And Frank was there the day she killed herself—two days before my sixteenth birthday. After that, I gave up even trying to celebrate my birthday.
I wipe my face and take some deep breaths.
Frank keeps his arm around me. “It’s not just the day, is it? It’s all the people.”
“Yeah.” I don’t need to explain it to him. Frank knows exactly what I’m thinking.
It’s overwhelming for this many people to show up just for me. Part of me doesn’t even understand that people would care enough about me to show up like this. I shouldn’t think that way now, but part of me still does. Just a year ago, I couldn’t understand why Garret even wanted to be friends with me. Or why Harper wanted to be my friend. And now I have all these people in my life and it almost doesn’t seem real.
“Jade, everyone who’s here tonight loves you. I hope you know that. And I hope you believe it.”
I nod. “I do. I’m just not used to all this attention. I didn’t know Garret was planning all this.”
“He wanted you to have real birthday. He told me last year you didn’t tell anyone about your birthday and that he never would’ve known about it if he hadn’t stopped by your room that night.”
“I just didn’t feel like celebrating it.”
“You need to, Jade. You need to forget about those other birthdays and let this be the start of something new. That room is full of people who love you and we came here tonight because we want to celebrate with you.”
“I know. And it’s great. It really is. I wish I hadn’t reacted that way. I’m so embarrassed.”
He leans over like he’s telling me a secret. “Don’t worry about it. Nobody even noticed.”
I smile. “Yes, they did.”
He squeezes my shoulder. “Let’s go have a party, okay?”
He walks me back inside to Garret, who takes my hand as he continues to talk to Sean and Harper. Ryan and Grace are talking, too. Nobody acts like I’m crazy for breaking down. They just continue to talk.
Harper goes around Sean and wraps her arm in mine, pulling me away from Garret.
“I guess I’ll see you later.” He keeps hold of my hand and kisses my forehead, then looks at me to make sure I’m okay. I smile and he lets go of my hand.
“You guys are still so in love,” Harper says as she takes me aside. “So were you surprised? I made Garret promise not to tell you.”
“I was completely shocked. You missed a whole day of class.”
“There weren’t any classes today, but even if there were I would’ve come here anyway. I miss my best friend. I hate being so far away.”
“You should just move here.” I say it jokingly.
“I’ve thought about it. But don’t tell anyone that. I haven’t even told Sean.”
“You’d really leave Moorhurst?”
She shrugs. “Probably not. I just miss my family and California and you and Garret. Moorhurst isn’t the same without you around. I think that’s why I get homesick sometimes.”
Garret comes up behind me, putting his arms around me.
“Hey, we’re still having girl talk here,” Harper says, kiddingly.
