I lay in bed, the sun blinding me through my closed eyelids. I rolled over and shaded my eyes, attempting to go back into my dream world, but it was shattered when the door opened and Charlie came in.
"Happy birthday!" He said cheerily.
I grumbled but smiled and drew the covers off myself.
"So how do you feel now you're finally eighteen?" He sat on the end of my bed, a bag at his feet.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes, pushing my hair back out of my face. "Tired."
He laughed, "Nothing's changed then."
He bent down and put the bag on the end of my bed. "Your birthday presents." He pointed at the bag, "I didn't know what you wanted so I've had a talk with your mom and we sorted something out."
I smiled. "Thanks dad."
I reached out to the bag and grabbed the first thing I could find. It was some sort of box with a label on saying, `from dad`. I pulled it out and unwrapped it. "A new camera! Thanks!" I gave him a hug and then pulled the bag towards me a little further.
"Well I remember you saying you wanted a newer one when we were looking through the prom photos. I mentioned this to your mom and she asked why I called. Guess women are better at hints."
I nodded and pulled the next, and last present out. It was a lot smaller but quite heavy. I unwrapped it and saw another wrapped object inside. Behind it was a photo frame. I smiled. There was a note in the frame which I pulled out and read:
`Because you're only young once`
"It's from your mom." Charlie said. I had guessed this much but thanked him regardless.
I looked at the next present to unwrap, and slowly pulled the wrapping off. Another box, but it looked like it had jewellery in it. I opened the lid and saw a pair of silver earrings with diamonds in. I pulled them out carefully and examined them in detail. They were beautiful! I immediately turned around and put them in my ears and showed Charlie. Being a man he nodded and said lovely, but I'm sure my friends at school would appreciate them more.
"Thank you so much dad!" I said again and gave him another hug.
"No problem Bella. Like your mom said, you're only young once." He smiled and walked towards the door. "I'll let you get dressed."
He closed the door behind him and I looked at the clock. I had only half an hour until school so I got myself dressed and washed pretty quickly, then ran downstairs for some toast.
"Don't you want a proper breakfast on your birthday?" Charlie asked.
"We can go to that diner you like for lunch or tea one day."
He agreed that was a good idea. I ate my toast then got in my truck for school.
I put the radio on and listened to the most up-to-date music that was around. It wasn't too bad but wasn't really to my taste. I listened to it anyhow. I was in the best mood today that I'd been in in a while. Fifteen minutes later I pulled into the school parking lot near where Jessica, Angela and Mike were standing. They were next to Tyler's truck, but he wasn't there so he must already be in school. I got out of my truck and walked over to them. They greeted me with a good morning and told me about what they'd been doing over the past few months that we'd been off school.
Mike had gone on vacation to Florida and Jessica and Angela had stayed in Forks all holiday. Mike was telling us all about Florida and how different it was to Forks. He said that he was going to move there as soon as school was over as it was hot all year round. As opposed to this dump he had added. I hadn't told my friends about my birthday. I'm not someone who is overly fussed about birthdays; I don't personally see the excitement in them. I heard a roar of an engine and turned around, as everyone else in the parking lot did. It was Alice.
She pulled round the corner and into a parking space in what looked like a brand new Porsche. It was the same canary yellow colour but looked like a newer model. The engine died and a car door slammed. Out walked Alice. She strode across the parking lot looking like a model out of a magazine. I couldn't help but smile. As soon as she reached me she grabbed me and hugged me so tightly I was unsure whether I could breathe or not.
"Happy birthday!" She squealed.
"Birthday? You didn't tell us it was your birthday today Bella!" Said Jessica excitedly.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Angela added. "We could have bought you something!"
"Oh it's fine I'm not really a fan of birthdays." I said, trying to convince them not to get me anything.
"We'll go shopping over the weekend Bella!"
"Yeah that'd be great! We could go to that big mall in the city!"
Angela and Jessica continued to talk between themselves about a shopping trip, probably using my birthday as an excuse. I looked back at Alice and gave her the best evil look I could muster. She smirked at me and hugged me from behind.
"Shouldn't we be getting to class?" Mike said, sounding bored.
Angela and Jessica stopped talking and looked at Mike with blank faces.
"God you're such a looser Mike. We didn't want to invite you to our shopping trip anyway; you go if you're bored." Jessica snapped.
He shrugged his shoulders and left. Angela looked at me with a wry smile. "He'll be fine."
I nodded and Alice pulled me away. "Well I'll catch you guys later."
"Sure!" Jessica said.
They both half waved as I walked into the school with Alice.
