Saturdays were days of the lengthiest freedom. Johnny had the whole day to study without break. Sometimes, he would skip his breakfast because his eyes hadn't had enough bookie meal for the day.

However, this very Saturday morning, it wasn't yet nine but Johnny could hear the grumbling of his empty belly. Despite gawking at the pages of his chemistry textbook since he woke from sleep, Johnny couldn't recall all he thought he had been reading. His brain still felt terribly empty.

All the messages those darned neurones passed around his nerdy form were related to the images of an angry Dylan challenging him to a duel. What does the most dangerous student in Springview High seek to terminate in the deadened existence of a colossally vulnerable nerd like Johnny? To be true and fair, Johnny didn't stand a chance. Not even if he was given superpowers because it would take him a few years to learn to use them. It was not in his nature to hurt others, but sadly hurt is all what others wanted for him. They wany him hurt and hurt very bad.

Johnny made an imaginary count of the number of teeth he would loose if a punch to the jaw was Dylan's first attack. Twenty, maybe.

Well, he would actually be very thankful if he lost teeth rather than giving up the ghost. However, one wasn't entirely sure what those firm knuckles of Dylan could do to a person.

Another thing anyone wasn't entirely sure about was Dylan's real age. No one but the Principal could tell his accurate years of brutish existence. The Principal and of course, his parents. However, Johnny surmised that Dylan was no teenager. The short stubble on his chin was proof that he was a full grown man. Now, what chance was there that a feeble nerd would vanquish that beast in a battle of fists?

There was no chance. Not even when Johnny had turned sixteen. And that was right. Today was meant to be his birthday; his very sixteenth. He was meant to be out there with family and friends. It was meant to be his day, but down in the study he was, doing his best to push the mortifying thoughts of what he would suffer in Dylan's hands on Tuesday.

Some things, regardless of the fact that they were meant to be, never actually happen. Johnny could desire to have a family member or a friend send him a birthday wish, but it was too sad to know that even a minute given to such desires which would remain unattended for eternity was a waste of costly time. It wouldn't change anything. Family never remembered his birthday and friends never knew.

The birthday of Jonathan Anders can never be celebrated! Not when Dad came home drunk. Even worse: in his inebriation, would go on to hit his beloved wife instead of growing more seeds. After being treated to slash-and-burn bashing, Mom would turn sore. She wouldn't care about any other thing save her pillows which bore her head while she cried. Elder brother wasn't done with the debauchery of his youth. He hardly gave Johnny a second look. Simply and literally put, Fitch didn't care about anything but his pleasures—unclad women and beer.

Not informing Maddie and Jerome was a deliberate act. There was never a year he got wishes, so why tell friends that would probably still forget? Life's difficult! he muttered to himself as he closed his textbook and proceeded to his bed.

~~••~~••~~

Johnny awoke to the buzzing of his phone. Sleepily, he took a look at the screen and once his blurry gaze reached a lucid focus, he felt he should bash the phone to the wall ahead of him. Why on earth was his elder brother calling now? Now that he was lost in dreams. Dreams of an auburn-haired lady with eyes of the deepest blue.

Fitch never called, but whenever he did, it was a presage of doom. Johnny decided to answer anyway.

"Hello?" Johnny said briskly over the phone.

"You've been up the whole day. Get yourself down here, now!" Fitch yelled. Johnny had wanted to reply with some very offensive retorts, but the fiend of a brother was quick to hang up.

Why the hell...

Johnny's eyes widened when he caught view of the window. The disturbing view of the sun waning behind the horizon.

What the...

It had only been nine when he decided to take a nap. How had even tide quickly catch up? This was one of the many reasons Johnny loathed naps. It would be intended in the heart to give the laborious eyes a short break, but the body always had malevolent schemes up its sleeves. What malevolence would be considered greater than that which involved preventing a determined nerd from reading by inducing a long repose from an intended nap?

Sighing, Johnny got to his feet and slid them into some slippers. Even though questions like: "why the abyss does Fitch think he can order him around?" kept bugging his mind, Johnny still advanced to the door and strode downstairs.

~~••~~••~~

The sitting room was oddly quiet. Well, not too odd for Johnny. The serenity happened sometimes. Especially when Fitch wasn't home to unsettle the peace with his loud music and Dad wasn't there to plunge Mum into annoying ululation. When those three weren't around, the Anders' home seemed pretty much like haven.

But where's Fitch?

He had called Johnny to be down here as quick as possible but wasn't here. Well, it didn't matter much. Not to Johnny. He knew Fitch was usually up to such insanity. Glancing up at the huge family portrait that hung on the wall, Johnny sighed.

He walked over to one of the sofas in the living room and made a bending to sit when he heard a chorused "Surprise!"

Johnny neither sat nor stood upright. He remained in the bending position, staring at the group of people who had stormed out of their hiding places; most of which was behind the sofas in the living room. Everyone was there; next door Ms. Molly, Hank the handyman, the Harleys, the Hobbs, the Smiths, the Johnstons, Uncle Ricky, Aunt Flora, Mum, Dad, Fitch, Jerome, and best of all... Maddie.

She was sporting an elegant blue velvet gown. Simple, but beautiful. She looked like the perfect date Johnny had been dreaming of, but sadly, there shouldn't be any deeper chemistry between them save that which involved studying together.

"What..." Johnny muttered, staring wide-eyed at the smiling folks that now surrounded him in a disorderly circle.

"Happy birthday, son!" Mrs. Anders yelled, pulling Johnny into a hug. She wasn't the sort to smile all the time, but the smile plastered on her face was the sort which even a confused geek wouldn't say no to. Johnny smiled back with an even deeper smile when his mom let go of him. He was beyond surprised, yet summoned the facade of a happy teen.

"My son turns sixteen today!" Mr. Anders yelled in his strong baritone voice while stretching out his arms to Johnny who fell in even though it seemed very odd. All of these were odd. He had never had neighbours come over for his birthday. He had never had family smiling on this particular day. In fact, he had never fall into the arms of his father. What weirder things could this day bring?

"I am so proud of you!" Johnny could hear his dad whimper. Oh gravity, was he crying?

Once he was let go, Johnny took time to study his dad who was dabbing at the tiny trickles of tears with the back of his palm. Oh dear, he was indeed crying. Had this been reality, it would certainly be the weirdest thing that ever happened. This dream had better ended.

Johnny gave himself a soft slap in order to jolt himself out of his supposed nightmare, but everything still seemed real. The sting of the slap was the realest of all things.

How can this be happening? Johnny asked himself as he kept staring at everyone with hardly a jot of understanding.

"Happy happy birthday," someone proclaimed in a singsong.

The people made way for Jerome to come into sight with a tray of carefully baked cake which had about five lit candles on top of it. The blonde stopped in front of Johnny with a smile as wide as the ocean. Johnny was going to return the smile when Maddie stepped closer to him and took the tray from Jerome. She smiled a smile that could take a secret admirer's breath away.

Everyone began singing: "Happy happy birthday. Happy happy birthday. Everyone wants to wish you a happy happy birthday. Hurrah! Happy birthday Johnny!"

"Make a wish," Maddie suggested placing the tray in front of Johnny who lifted his head to take a look at everyone. Everything still seemed unreal to him. He had seen a lot of cakes in his short lifetime, however not on June the fourteenth. Especially, not in his home. He wanted to know if the cake was really his and the group of excited guests gave him the reassuring nod he needed.

He managed a soft sigh and blew the candles.

~~••~~••~••~~

All the visitors had left. The partying had ended. The cake was long gone from its tray. The night had once again signalled the end of the day, but Maddie and Johnny were yet to be separated.

Maddie had claimed that she and her twin brother would wait for the Becker's driver to arrive. Excited that she wanted to stay, Johnny didn't bother laying down facts about the dangers of staying out late at night. While Jerome stayed inside, enjoying Fitch's company, Johnny and Maddie remained on the porch of the Anders' home, staring up at the sheet of black littered with twinkling, small, white lights.

"How do you feel?" Maddie asked without taking her eyes off the dark sky.

Wishing she would stare back, Johnny looked at her. "I feel happy."

Maddie turned, fixing the brown-haired nerd with an expressionless stare. She is supposed to be smiling, Johnny thought. Before he could part his lips to ask why she suddenly looked somewhat blue, she threw him a right-a right that was more like a lovely touch; only that it had more force.

"Ouch!" Johnny forced himself to yell. "What was that for?"

"For not telling me your birthday is today!" Maddie huffed, pouting.

This was, for a normal couple, a call for some cuddling, but Johnny and Maddie weren't a normal couple. They weren't a couple at all!

"No, that's not it," Johnny lied, "I didn't even know it was my birthday. I absolutely forgot."

Relief poured into him when he saw a smile spreading out across Maddie's face. She had bought the lie. Maybe, she wasn't smart after all. Johnny would certainly not forget a thing. Definitely not his birthday; even if it was always a normal day.

"What did you wish for?" Maddie asked, staring into Johnny's gray eyes unflinchingly. This wasn't right. An eye contact between two people who weren't in love wasn't right. Even if one them was in love, it still wasn't right. Johnny took his eyes away and directed them to every other thing except Maddie's depths of blue.

"You don't want to know," he informed Maddie without looking.

"I do. Tell me."

"I wish I could disappear. I wish I could leave."

"Here?"

"Yes, here."

Clutching his hand, she said, "Me too."

~~••~~••~~

Howdy folks!

Someone give me a pillow to weep into. Sometimes, life hits us so hard that all we want to do is disappear. However, don't ever make a wish that would seem so hard to accept in the foreseeable future.

But since today is Johnny's birthday, I am giving us the opportunity to make a wish. Go on and wish away!

Thanks for reading!

GShaquille.