Today was not your day. It was supposed to be your birthday but it seemed as if nobody remembered. You scowled a little the moment you woke up and heard your mom calling you downstairs. “Get down here and help me pack your father’s lunch! He has an all day meeting today and I need to do the laundry.”

            You rolled your eyes and got out of bed. Too late you realized that you had forgotten to wear your glasses. You placed them on and shuffled down the steps. It seemed as if the entire world was against you. Your head was hurting and you had to go to school to take another test later.

            You sighed and packed the sandwich, only to have a piece of the bread drop onto the floor. “Ugh,” you muttered and your mother heard.

            “Are you complaining again?” she snapped. “I can’t even get you to cooperate with me on one thing without your complaining.”

            You didn’t respond, not wanting to escalate the tension. You hummed to yourself and suddenly could not wish to go and take that math test.

            The moment you left the house, it started pouring. You ran back in for an umbrella, trailing a bit of mud on the floor and your mother screamed. “Be careful! I just polished that!” You grabbed your umbrella and went back out in the rain.

            The storm did not pass as you walked to school. By the time you got to the examination room, your clothes were soaked despite the umbrella. You sat in your seat and shifted uncomfortably. Your teacher looked at you.

            “Would you like to go outside?” She asked. “You’re wet.”

            Way to state the obvious. You shook your head. “I’ll dry as I take the test.”

            She nodded and handed the paper to you. You looked at the first problem. There was nothing on it that you understood. You looked up in horror to see all your other classmates writing and scribbling away. What in the world? You glanced at the upper corner of the test and saw that she had given you the wrong section.

            “Teacher, you gave me the senior grades’ test.”

            She looked at it and apologized. She went back to give you the right test. By now, you’ve lost five minutes. The test was long but you managed to finish right before the bell rang. By now you were pretty dry and prepared to go back home. The one thing about finals week was that you only had to stay in the school for a few hours before going back home.

            Maybe your parents would have remembered it was your birthday now. The moment you left the school, your phone rang. It was your mom. “Yeah mom?”

            “Hey, I need to go take care of your grandmother. When you get home, you’ll find that I already have lunch and dinner prepared for you. I hope you did well on your test. You can’t let us down!” She hung up.

            You stared at your phone and debated chucking it across the schoolyard. Of course there would be a dire emergency on your birthday. You felt your tears come and bit your lip to try to keep yourself from crying.

            You must not cry. It was just one birthday. No big deal. You’ll have many more to come. But the accumulation of the day had taken a toll on you and you sat down on the front bench and started to cry.

            “Hey, what happened?” You looked up and saw your friend sit next to you. Zelo stared at you in concern. “Why are you crying?”

            You shook your head and stared down at the ground. Add this to another list of horrible happenings. You look like a mess in front of your crush. You sniffled and wiped your eyes, trying to get rid of all traces of your tears. Despite what the dramas show, crying was a messy business.

            He awkwardly placed an arm around you and for a second, your heart leapt to your throat. You were going to scream. This was not supposed to be happening. You glanced over at him and he smiled a little shyly.

            “Hey, I’ll take you out to lunch. It’s your birthday isn’t it?”

            Just like that, he made your day. Your parents didn’t seem to remember but this boy did. You nodded a little. “How did you know?”

            The question made him blush and he rubbed his hair a little shyly. “Er, elementary school, we did that presentation about birthdays, remember?”

            You did but that was so long ago, how did he remember? “Yeah, but that was a long time ago.”

            “I have good memory,” he argued.

            You giggled a little. He was really adorable when he was flustered. You nodded. “Okay, thank you for remembering.”

            Zelo grinned. “Did I make your day better?”

            You nodded. “Yeah. My parents sort of forgot and it’s been just a bad day all around.”

            He pouted a little. “Oh, well. I see how it is. Don’t worry, I got you.” He stood up and held out a hand for you to take. “Take my hand and I will lead you places.”

            You took his hand shyly and wondered just what was making him do all this.

            The two of you walked out of the café hand in hand, each holding an ice cream cone. Zelo looked over at you and smiled. “So, did you have fun today?”

            You nodded. “Yeah, thank you so much.”

            He lifted both your hands to poke your cheek. “Much better. I like it when you’re smiling.”

            You blushed and decided to ask him again. “How did you remember my birthday?”

            Zelo looked up at the sky. “I guess it’s mandatory that you remember your crush’s birthday?” His voice cracked a little bit and you giggled.

            He held your hand a little tighter and smiled at you. “Hey, do you want to go to the park with me? It’ll be like a date on your birthday.” He laughed again and looked everywhere except at you.

            You nodded. “I’d love to.” You started walking and then you added, “I remember your birthday too.”

            He looked surprised. “Oh, how?”

            “Well, I guess it’s mandatory that you remember your crush’s birthday.”

Happy birthday unique-unity :D