Sprint was a anti-celebration kind of girl. Especially on her birthday. Back at home, her mother would make a cake, there would be a small exchanging of gifts and that was it. Done. Move on. Wait another year, then repeat. It wasn't that hard.
Once in a while, her best friends from school would come to her house and they'd spend the day playing outside, or inside. But Sprint was never one for big parties. Pierre wanted big parties, and he got them. But it was usually just Sprint, Marisa, Daniel, Andrew and Nicolette in the back yard playing tag while Pierre had his big party.
Now that she's a newsie, time has changed. But not Sprint. Seventeen years old on this very day, and still the same anti-celebrational girl she had remained all her life. Of course, she politely accepted birthday greetings but she didn't want things to get too big.
Seven, she counted, all in one morning. Seven birthday greetings from her cousins, Jack, Racetrack, Mush, and Kid Blink. Seven was a reasonable number. Seven because you're seventeen, Sprint thought. Sprint wanted to keep it that way. Seven was all Sprint had ever wanted.
But by time she counted eleven, four more from Swifty, Skittery, Specs and Bumlets, something was suspicious. How did they even know it was her birthday? It was five in the evening, and Jack said to meet him and a few others at Tibby's for supper tonight. Keyword few.
Skeptical about the whole concept, Sprint couldn't help but question, "What's the catch?". There's always a catch, big or small.
"No catch, just a regular meal at Tibby's like we have every September the first." That seemed far from Jack's normal catches. Now Sprint knew something was up. She had quite the idea where this was going. But she agreed to go, she wouldn't want to dissapoint her friends on their special September the first meal.
A party. Just as Sprint had predicted it would be. Everyone was there. Like, everyone down to Pierre. Pierre, he probably organized the whole thing! Suddenly, Sprint was the most anti-celebrational than anyone had ever seen before.
"You shouldn't have!" said jade green eyed girl through gritted teeth, playfully hitting Pierre in a way most people would see as playful, but really it was painful. "Awe, anything for my twin!" replied Pierre, playfully (though painfully) striking Sprint's back. His mahogany brownish hair, that matched hers, perfectly combed back just for her. He pulled out a small, beautifully wrapped box.
"I got you something!" Pierre excitedly shoved the box into Sprint's hands. "Pierre, really. I didn't get you any-" he cut her off, "I know, Lou. I wasn't expecting anything." Pierre knew of Sprint's little money. "Open it!". Sprint carefully started peeling the wrapping paper as carefully as she could. Fed up with his sister's shy, anti-socialness, Pierre took the present back into his hands and ripped the paper off. Then he gave the now brown cardboard box back to his sister. Inside the box, was two bottles of ink and a quill. Plus a little rolled up drawing from Pierre's sketch book and a small painting from Veronique.
"I got you something too," Blink pushed his way foreward and handed a flat box to Sprint, "I had a little help from your brother, so it's partially his gift too, but it was mostly me.". Sprint smiled, opening the box much quicker than Pierre's box. She hadn't anticipated a gift from Jean-Luc, but was happy he remembered. Figure, Pierre probably wrote to him. Sprint lifted the top of the box, and inside was a silver necklace with gleaming ruby stone.
Sprint looked wide-eyed at the necklace. Then she quickly pulled Blink into a kiss. Everyone hollered and wolf whistled, while Pierre looked a bit aggitated in an over-protective way.
"Happy Birthday, Heloise." Blink said as they broke apart. Maybe parties weren't so bad after all...