"Now, Pete, don't get angry!" Andy said, coming to a stop beside Leroy, Blaire right next to him.

"You are such an idiot!" Blaire sneered, punching him in the arm.

Blaire was shaking her head, and Andy was looking sheepish next to her, rubbing his arm where she had punched him.

"What did you do?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the both of them

"This dick-tit just told Donny you didn't want him at your party," Blaire explained, and I felt my stomach drop.

Donny was not a terrible person. To everyone else. To me, however, he was the worst. He despised me. For one very straightforward and stupid reason. I dumped his sister. For obvious reasons.

A rumour had been going around that she liked me, and after a build-up, she'd asked me out. I had, stupidly, said yes. We'd dated for a little over a day before I grew a conscience and decided to lead her on was horrible, so I broke up with her.

She may have cried. Donny may have threatened me. Donny still threatens me. Andy may have just made it worse.

"Dude, this was meant to help mend that bridge," I moaned and felt Leroy's hand rest on my back, which made my heart drop even more, though for a completely different reason.

"I'm sorry! He was talking about the party and being a dick, and it just slipped."

"You're lucky my fist doesn't slip again," Blaire warned, and Andy flinched.

"Please, don't hit me again."

"Look." I sighed. "It's fine. Just... try to fix it tomorrow."

"Of course," Andy said with a small smile before yelling, "shotgun!"

Andy rushed over to Leroy and me and slipped behind us, getting into the front seat of my car.

"I'm so glad I don't have to play that game." I laughed and got in the car, catching a glimpse of a slightly disgruntled Leroy as I did so.

"Speaking of the party," Blaire started after we had all piled in my car, "Brad told me he doesn't want you at the house while he sets up."

"Why?" I asked, bringing my car to life.

"I don't know. But you can come to mine after school. Family won't be home, so we can get ready in peace. Then we can meet these two dumbasses on the way back to your place."

"Yeah, all right. Sound's good." I nodded at Blaire in the rear-view mirror and ignored the looks I got from Andy and Leroy.

"Also, there will be another, 'please don't get mad' moment coming, but it's from all of us," Andy said with a grimace, and I raised my eyebrows at him, glancing at my friends.

"Please take us home now, and we will definitely talk to you tomorrow no matter what happens," Leroy said with a broad smile, but there was something behind his eyes that told me something was going on.

"I'm going to ignore that and pretend this conversation didn't end on a weird note."

Shaking my head, and settling with a smile on my face, I started the journey home, stopping at everyone's house on the way. Leroy wasn't wrong when he said that we lived close to each other. The furthest one of us lived away from another, was me and Andy, who lived about a twenty-minute walk apart. Other than that, it was a hop, skip, and jump.

*

"There's the birthday boy!" My mum exclaimed as soon as I walked through the front door of my house.

"Mum," I started as she enclosed me in a hug. "It's not until tomorrow."

"Honey, it's the twenty-fourth," Mum said, pulling away from me and squinting at me, "of October. The date you were born."

"It's the twenty-fourth today?" I asked quietly, silently questioning my entire existence.

I was suddenly pulled out of my existential crisis when a bright flash went off in my face, and Bradly's laughter rippled down the hallway.

"What the hell is that?" I yelled, blinking a few times to get rid of the spots in my eyes.

"It's a camera," Brad said, holding it up in front of him as he walked down the hall toward me. "It's helped me capture the greatest prank I've ever done."

"Brad, what did you do?" My mum asked, giving him a stern look as I managed to push past the both of them.

"Pretty much all year, I've been telling him his birthday lands on a Friday, and this week, I've been doing my absolute best to convince him the date is one day back."

I spun around as I reached the foot of the staircase and stared at Brad in disbelief.

"Are you serious? I've been marking my work at school the wrong date!"

"This is the best thing I've ever done." Brad laughed as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the date.

"My phone says it's..." I trailed off for a moment as I stared at my phone's lock screen. "Wednesday the twenty-third."

"The hardest part was hoping you were a dumbass and wouldn't look at the Wednesday part. Well, hoping isn't the right word. I know you're a dumbass."

"Brad!" Mum chimed in, and I shook my head at him as a sinking feeling began to weigh down on me.

If I had missed my birthday, had all my friends forgotten? They had never done so before, which could only mean one other thing.

"Those assholes."

"I've been messaging them all day, Pete," Brad said, seemingly reading my mind. "Leroy was the hardest one to keep quiet."

"You're such a slut," I muttered, turning on my heel and heading up the stairs.

"Peter!" Mum called after me, but I didn't respond.

Soon I was in my bedroom, I dropped my bag next to my bed and let my eyes linger on my computer. Part of me wanted to go and delete the video before the party tomorrow night, but another part felt as though I needed the video. Knowing that it was there helped me.

Sighing to myself, I spun back around and headed out of my room. If today was my birthday, I was going to go and get my Goddamn presents. Maybe kick Brad's ass while I was at it.