I was still shell shocked about the events of yesterday but I tried to cover it up because today was Luke's birthday and I wasn't going to spoil it with a bad mood. Apart from the whole bullying stuff that happened during the week, Laura , Cole , Jace and I have been planning a surprise party for Luke although he said he didn't want one.

    "Remember the plan, Jace has already taken Luke out of the house giving us about twenty minutes to prepare. Cole handle the decorations, Elena the snacks and I'll finish up with the cake. Are we clear?" Laura said authoritatively and Cole and I saluted her.
******
   "They are here! I repeat, they are here!" Laura yelled from Luke's living room and we all rushed to our positions. Laura was carrying the cake, I was holding some balloons and Cole was... being Cole. The front door opened and Luke came in with Jace following him.

    "Happy birthday to you.." Jace started and we all joined in. Luke looked spell bound and started blinking rapidly, it was obvious he was trying not to cry.

     "Blow your candles!" Laura said excited, she was even more excited than the birthday boy. Luke blew his candles and Jace walked towards me and popped the balloons almost giving me a heart attack.

     "Thank you guys... When did you plan all this?" Luke asked now wearing a birthday hat.

     "Lunch and text messages." I replied proudly.

      "What about my sister?" Luke asked looking around.

      "At my place, my mum offered to look after her along with my brothers" Jace answered.

      "Enough with the questions, this is a birthday party not an exam or something." Cole said exasperatedly and everyone agreed.
*******
      "Time for presents!" Cole yelled rushing to the present he bought. I stood there shocked, no one told me that you had to buy gifts in a birthday party. I walked towards the kitchen absentmindedly only to see Jace there.

     "Are you ok?, You look lost." Jace said taking a sip of his drink.

     "Um.. I didn't get any present. I had no idea that I had to get one and now Luke will think I'm a bad friend" I said and my eyes filled with tears, I felt so bad that I would be the only one in the party that didn't bring any present for Luke.

    "Look it's okay." Jace said walking towards me, he brought out a wrapped gift from his pocket and added my name beside his.

    "It's your present not mine." I said sniffling.

    "Remember what you said yesterday during lunch?" Jace asked smiling at me

     "Is it the one where I told you to stop eating my fries?" I asked confused.

     "No, not that. You told me that Luke's wrist watch looks old so I decided to get him a watch for his birthday. This is a joint birthday gift, your idea and my money, simple." Jace explained and I looked at him wondering how this kind hearted boy got a bad destiny.

    "Jace, Elena come over here,  we are opening the presents!" Cole yelled and Jace and I broke our stare.

    "You got me the new gaming headphones! I thought they were sold out" Luke exclaimed and Cole smiled proudly.

    " They were having the last sale at the next town so I just spent the night in front of the store and voila" Cole said and I was so touched even though I wasn't the one he was talking to , that explains why he was sleeping throughout art class on Wednesday.

    "Open mine." Laura said and Luke opened hers and it was a couple of t-shirts.

    "Don't tell me this is Demi Lovato's signature!" Luke exclaimed happily.

     "I heard she's your favourite singer and she was having a concert nearby so I decided to go for it." Laura said and I realized that this was the reason she wasn't in school on Thursday for the first time.

     "Thank you so much guys." Luke said.

      "You haven't seen ours yet." Jace said and brought out the wrapped watch.

      "Is this Gucci?!" Luke exclaimed looking at the both of us. I don't know what Gucci is so I just smiled at him.

      "Put it on, let's see if it fits." Jace said and Luke wore it, it looked good on his wrist. The front door opened and a woman came in, she didn't look anything like Luke so I guessed she might be his aunt or a relation because she had the keys to the house.

    "Sorry for disturbing you kids but I forgot my purse, I'll just go get it." the woman said and entered inside. Five minutes later she came out with a black purse in her hand.

     "Um.. Luke, since you are busy I'll take your sister to her ballet practice." the lady said and Luke stood up immediately.

    "Don't worry, I'll take her myself." Luke said coldly.

    "It's okay, I'll take her." the lady said but Luke shook his head.

     "I said don't worry." he said harshly and I flinched at his tone.

     "Suit yourself, I'm tired of trying my best to get along with you when all you do is push me away. I'm not trying to replace your mother, Luke when will you understand that." the lady said with tears in her eyes and left the house. I felt bad for her but I still didn't know Luke's side of the story.

    "Dude, she may be your step mum but you should at least consider her feelings when you talk." Jace said to Luke.

      "I'll be upstairs in case you need me." Luke said going upstairs.
******
      We were done packing up the party stuff and Luke hasn't come down yet.

     "What?!" We heard Luke yell, "I'm coming over right now!"

     "What's going on?" Laura asked Luke immediately he came downstairs.

     "Susan is in the hospital, she got into an accident"  Luke said hurriedly rushing out of the front door.
******
     We all arrived at the hospital and man who looked exactly like Luke walked towards us.

     "Dad, how is she?" Luke said frantically.

     "Luke, she's fine. It was just a minor accident." Luke's father reassured.

     "Can I see her?" Luke quietly said.

      "Luke, you're all here. I'm fine guys what did Simon tell you people?" Susan said coming out to the lobby with something on her neck. She explained what happened and it was nothing I expected.

     Turns out Susan had a little panic attack and stopped her car in the middle of the road, the car behind hers was caught off guard and hit her bumper so she ended up with a sprained neck.

     "Mom!" Luke rushed and enveloped Susan in a big hug, "I'm sorry for what I said. I can't loose a mother twice."

     "Luke, it's ok. I'm fine" Susan managed to say, "I'm just happy. I know I should not be at this point but you called me mom!" Susan said happily and Luke's face reddened.

     " I should have done this a long time ago." Luke said. I started to feel like the rest of us were intruding so I nudged Jace.

     "Let's go." I whispered to him and he nodded before signalling Cole and Laura and we left.

     "That was touching." Laura simply said.

      "Yes it was" I agreed and Jace just smiled, Cole.. Cole was quiet this whole time.

      "Let's go have ice cream." Cole said and we all agreed.

      "Elena, I have a race tomorrow and I... I was thinking you could come and watch and wish me good luck" Jace said nervously, "if you don't want to come, you can decline. I mean.. if you're busy -"

     "I'm free tomorrow" I said smiling at his now red face.

    "I can't believe you are not inviting me" Laura huffed playfully.

    "There is a difference between a date and a friendly outing." Cole said and Laura just pouted.

     "You can come if you want." Jace said absentmindedly, "so Elena you are coming right?" He asked softly.

     "Of course" I answered smiling before I felt a churn in my stomach, he was my task, I had to send him back to heaven but... but nobody said I should start now right?