Love Me, Mikayla

INTERLUDE II

MIKAYLA

. . .

"May God bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; may He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace." My Dad cups my face, kissing my forehead as he blesses me with the Lord's Word. How lovely.

"Amen," I smile, nodding my head as I pull back.

Holding the plate, then I feed him the cake. It is my fourteenth birthday, after all! One of my favorite days of the year which I celebrate at least for a month.

He holds my wrist, enjoying the entire piece. I giggle, wanting to give him my whole cake. He then takes another piece and feeds me. I only have half of it, putting down the rest after he cuts it.

After that, I feed my Mama and my other family members. When I cut more pieces to serve my friends, including Blondie because I had no other way than to invite him, I happily serve them. But not when I come face to face with Blondie.

Why are the pieces still left?

"Congrats for finally being fourteen years old on this earth."

I scoff, rolling my eyes. I am the prettiest. He is just jealous of my beauty.

"Have it." I put the plate in front of him. So what? Does he think I am going to feed him? By no means!

He hums, taking the plate. I turn to walk away when he holds my arm and turns me again to face him. What does he want now? I stare at him confusedly but the next, I gasp as he stains my face with that piece.

"Wishing you the happiest birthday, Mickey!"

My jaws clench and so do my fists which I so desperately want to use on his face. But I control this urge, hearing the dumb kids around me laugh loudly at my insult because unlike those sweet and lovely ways of staining faces with birthday cakes, he pasted the plate right in my face. Mannerless jerk!

He also joins the laughing dumb kids, fueling my anger.

This Blondie of Indian parents!

"Oh, Barak! Why did you do it? Mickey doesn't compromise when it's about her face!" My Aunt utters, chuckling at I don't know what! What the hell is funny about my pretty face getting ruined because of this idiot?

He smiles at her. "We're friends, Aunt." Wait—since when? We are enemies! "And it's her birthday; she won't say anything. Right, Mickey?" Urgh! Stop it!

He gives me one sugary smile, looking down at me. He takes the plate in his hand, showing me the leftover sticking to the surface.

And yeah, down at me because years have passed and he has grown taller and quite big compared to our childhood. How sad. I cannot even call him Shortie anymore. Why did this happen? He sometimes tries to scare me with this huge posture but he should not forget that I am Mikayla Uriel, and I will, by no means, get scared of him!

Keeping the bitter words on my tongue, I only smile back at him with the same attitude.

He smirks and I quickly walk away to wash my face. Ew! It feels sticky.

I run into the bathroom and clean my face, drying it with the towel as I tap it delicately.

And now about Blondie. Just wait and watch what I will do to him!

I go to the hall and see the lights are dim as everybody is celebrating. Among them is Blondie, talking with a friend, standing by a couch.

Walking downstairs, I scan him down. He is wearing a gray hoodie and blue jeans. His hair is ruffled and I find a few girls gawking at him.