She zipped in and out of crowds, extremely excited about her news. She knew the gang should be sitting down for lunch any moment now. Quickly she made her way to the quad, barely containing her enthusiasm. As she rounded a corner she slammed into someone, falling back on her butt. "Sorry," she offered hastily as she grabbed her books and ran off again.
"Oi, where's the fire," Allan smiled when he saw Mira hurrying over to the group.
Will had a puzzled look on his face, "is there a reason you're wearing a tiara?"
"Of course there is. It's one of my birthday presents," she smiled giving Allan a quick kiss. "This really great guy gave it to me and told me I was princess for the day."
Will, Robin, and Much immediately burst into a fit of laughter, "princess for a day? Really? It's her birthday and that was the best you could come up with?"
"Hey, you might think twice before teasing Allan, or he might be the only one who gets any attention any time soon," Marian pointed at the three guys. Turning to her blushing friend, "I think it is really sweet."
Much only laughed harder, "I don't have to worry much about that. No one is exactly lining up to kiss me anyways."
Mira rolled her eyes as she noticed Veronica blushing, "Ms. Phillips just posted the audition results!"
Everyone gave her a blank look for a moment before Vee shouted, "oh my God! Marian, Mira let's go!"
The first thing they heard when they stumbled into the drama room was Megan's shrill voice, "what do you mean I'm not Glenda?"
Ms. Phillips rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. She knew that this decision was not going to be an easy one, "Veronica did a great job at the auditions and I really want to see what she can do with the part. You still have a role, and you will be Ms. Guisborne's understudy."
"Ms. Guisborne's understudy? Why should she have the lead role? She's not even a blonde," Megan yelled angrily.
"Good thing there is this great invention called a wig then," Marian said with a smirk. She couldn't stand Megan and she was getting really sick of the girl always tearing into Vee.
Veronica was still trying to process everything, "wait, are you saying that I got the part?"
Ms. Phillips nodded happily, "yes, you will be playing Glenda, Marian will be our Elphaba, and Megan will play Nessa Rose."
"The crippled one," Megan said with disdain.
Vee was still recovering from her shock, "I got the part!?"
The day had been a dream. Mira had received a present before each class. The first was her tiara, then a box of Godiva (and there is a reason that brand starts with God; the chocolate is absolutely heaven sent), before third hour she found a teddy bear in her locker, then a necklace, a matching pair of earrings, a dozen lilies, and a picnic basket. As soon as she walked out of seventh period she was greeted by Allan, his hands buried themselves in her hair as he kissed her fiercely.
Pushing him gently away she blushed, "Allan, one of the teachers will see us."
"You're right, and I'd hate to make the lonely ladies jealous. Who knows how long it's been since they had a devilishly good looking man ravish them," he gave her a cheeky grin.
Rolling her eyes, "devilishly good looking? Someone is a bit sure of himself."
"It's okay to admit that I take your breath away," giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"What's the picnic basket for," she tried to change the subject.
He took the basket and a few of her other presents, "beautiful but not very bright." He ducked quickly, avoiding her punch, "Oi, I was just being funny. I have one last surprise for you."
"Let me guess, a picnic?"
"Oh, no!" Mira tried to run away but was stopped quickly by Allan, "I cannot go near that thing!"
There was no denying the girl in his arms was terrified. He just couldn't understand why, "Mira, love, they are just horses."
She stared at the two large creatures, her eyes huge with fear. "Is it true that a horse can't open its mouth until it shuts it all the way," she asked him.
He chuckled softly, "what?"
She was looking at the animals huge mouth, "yeah, I was told that if a horse bites you it has to close it's mouth all the way before it can open again. It could bite off your fingers."
Allan ruffled her bouncy curls slightly and kissed her on the forehead, "where do you hear all of these crazy things? No wonder you are scared to death of horses." He walked over to the dark creature, putting one foot in the stirrup, as he expertly lifted himself and swung the other leg over. Mira couldn't help but admire him. If he was going to stick his butt in her face like that he was begging to be checked out anyways. He smiled cheekily, "why don't we just take the one horse? You can hold onto me."
She looked at him and let her eyes travel the distance to the ground, "no way. I'll never survive the fall, that beast is enormous!"
He lowered his hand to hers, "trust me, Mira. I'll never let you fall."
She looked at his hand. "What if I already have," she whispered softly.
"Huh," Allan couldn't hear what she had said.
She smiled softly before letting him pull her onto the back of the horse, "nothing."
Their picnic was amazing. Allan had taken them to a beautiful clearing in the woods. Her jaw dropped as she noticed a blanket spread out on soft green grass with a large candle and a chilled silver bucket with some kind of bottle in it. She slowly stepped forward while Allan tied the horse up quickly, "when did you have time to do all of this?"
"I may have snuck out of a few classes," he shrugged as he uncorked the bottle, pouring them both a glass.
Mira lay down on the blanket, propping herself up on her elbows, "what's that?"
"Ah this, mademoiselle, is a 1985 Chateau d'Yquem," he laughed. "No, it is just a cheap strawberry wine that I picked up from the gas station down the street."
She took the glass tentatively from him, "Allan, we can't drink this. We're under aged, it's illegal."
"Laws are a bit of a technicality; lots of gray areas if you look for them. It's not illegal to drink, only to sell alcohol to a minor. Just like you can't drink and drive, but you see no one said anything about drinking and riding." He smiled to himself, "I've already thought of everything."
Mira looked at her drink and back up to Allan, "I suppose a little wouldn't hurt. It is my birthday."
They spent the rest of the evening enjoying the meal that Allan had packed for them, finishing off the bottle of wine, and rolling around on the blanket making out. Funny thing about the wine, Mira didn't really like it at first, but for some strange reason the second and third glass tasted so much better.