Monday, May 19th 2003

Brisbane, Australia

2:03 P.M.

Today was Junie Bennett's tenth birthday.

She had a sour expression on her face as she trotted home from school with her hands tightly clutching the straps of her backpack. Junie cursed the day she was born. Two days ago during a tedious English lesson, Mrs David made the mistake of asking her what she thought about the pending event.

Truthfully, she'd told her birthdays were pointless. She was polite when she told the teacher that the purpose of a birthday was to celebrate the significance of a person. Although in her opinion, she continued, compared to the vast and endless universe in which they lived, people were insignificant. Therefore birthdays were futile. Birthdays only got a person closer to their death and death was certainly nothing to celebrate and neither was another ordinary day closer to it, cake or not.

Mrs David had commented on how dark Junie's outlook on life was for a nine-year-old and Junie had subsequently pointed out how naive Mrs David was for a forty-year-old woman. Junie was not surprised that this landed her an afterschool detention for two awfully boring hours.

School had dragged, the minutes had slowed, the hours had stretched for so long, she fear the day would never end. Mrs David knew very well how Junie felt about her birthdays. Even so, her teacher had still insisted on announcing to the class that it was Junie's birthday.

If that had not been aggravating enough, Mrs David had purposefully chosen the largest badge she could find and pinned it onto her shirt. IT'S MY BIRDTHDAY, was printed in large, highly noticeable letters. She glared down at it. As much and as often as she'd tried – countless times throughout the day – Junie was not able to remove the badge.

It was in that moment that Junie came to the conclusion that she rather and intensely disliked Mrs David. She heaved a sigh and with a loud grunt, she kicked a nearby tin can. It rattled and clanked its way to the main road. She paused to watch as passing cars rode over it, repeatedly crushing and deforming the can until it was part of the road. Junie sullenly continued walking. She wondered to herself, what had she been doing this time last year? Nothing important. That was her life, it seemed, she never did anything of any importance.

Junie heard the sobbing before she saw it. Up ahead, there was a small boy jumping and scurrying about as two other boys played with a bag, gleefully throwing it to each other.

It was Jake Ramsay and his weedy best friend Benja Pasternak. Every time she saw those two, they were either harassing some child or terrorising the neighbourhood. The smart thing to do, the coward's way, was to turn around and walk away. It wasn't any of her business. If she interfered, Jake and Benja would make sure her life was hell.  

Yes, the smart thing to do, would be to turn around and walk away. Forget the boy. He was an idiot.

Junie did exactly that, she turned around and walked away, she had gone several steps before she stopped and grimaced.

But she was never one to do the smart thing.

Junie grasped at whatever scraps of courage she had left and channelled the anger she felt for Mrs David. She stomped back towards Benja and Jake. Junie had had enough of the two hooligans, they needed to be stopped and if nobody was going to do that, then she would have to.

"Hey!" she yelled, "Stop!"

Benja Pasternak turned at the sound of her irate voice. Unaware of the bag Jake had thrown back to him, it smacked him right in the face. He yelped and stumbling back, he fell onto the concrete floor. Benja swore as he pushed himself back up. He rubbed the side of his head where the bag had hit him. Jake glared at Junie.

"What is it pipsqueak?" Benja said, irritating painting his features.

"I'm not a pipsqueak!" Junie protested.

She really wasn't. She was tallest girl in her class. Benja and Jake may have been a year or two older than her, but she was the same height as them. Junie's eyes skipped to the small dark-haired boy, who was bent down with his hand on his knees, his breathing ragged and irregular as he coughed.

"Leave him alone," she said, not sounding as confident as she hoped.

Jake laughed and pointed to the large badge pinned onto her shirt, "is it your birthday?"

"No," she lied.

"Aw," Benja cooed, "you're ten years old today!"

The small boy was wheezing awfully loud now.

"I doubt your drug addict mum is even aware of what day it is let alone that's your birthday," Jake said. Benja laughed and they turned to high-five each other.

"Shut up!" Junie hissed, "she's not a drug addict!"

"No," Benja nodded seriously at her, "she's not just a drug addict but also a prostitute! The amount of men coming out of your house every hour is ridiculous."

Junie grit her teeth. Her eyes flickered to the small boy again, he was still coughing and his face had turned ashen.

Jake laughed, "Even my uncle had a go on your mum! We can't judge her of course, I mean, how else is she going to support her drug habit?"

Junie clenched her hands into tight fists to hide the fact they were now shaking. She could feel the tears prickling her eyes. She was not going to cry. She was not going to cry. Especially in front of these two.

"Happy birthday!" the two boys chorused and burst out laughing.

It was like a flash, a click, a snap. Something triggered right in her chest, and a rush of boiling wrath burst forth. Not pausing to think, or care, Junie lifted her foot and slammed it into Jake's crotch. He yelped and toppled to the floor. Quick as a flash, she did the same thing to Benja.  He let out a girly screech. He dropped the rucksack as his hands flew to cup his groin and Junie took the opportunity to pick it up from the floor.

"Run!" she cried and grabbing the boy's hand, they dashed down the street.

Jake and Benja's shouts of indignation were not far behind as they chased after them. They crossed the road, the vehicles hooted noisily and several cars had narrowly missed running them over. Darting through the busy streets, Junie held onto the boy's hand as she took numerous twists and turns in hopes of confusing their pursuers.

If they were unlucky enough to be captured by the boys, Junie knew she could take a beating. She had done many times thanks to many of the neighbourhood kids but she doubted the wheezing boy could, he had probably never even been grounded, let alone experienced a punch. She couldn't protect him if he fell behind. Her heart was beating painfully hard in her chest. She pumped her legs faster, begging the dark-haired boy to keep running because if those two boys caught them, Junie couldn't guarantee that either of them would be able to walk again. 

2:12 P.M.

Junie Bennett was lying on a grassy field, staring up at the clear afternoon sky, her chest rapidly heaving up and down as she tried to regain her breath. The dark-haired boy was kneeling beside her, panting just as hard. When she'd realised Jake and Benja had stopped chasing them, she'd stopped and collapsed onto the grassy floor of the extensive sports field. Junie sat up when she heard a string of aggressive coughs coming from the dark haired boy. His hand was clutching his chest tightly, the other covering his mouth.

"Oh my God," she stared at him, "What's wrong? Do you have asthma?"

He nodded. Junie leapt for his bag and frantically began searching through it. "Is your inhaler in here?"

He nodded again.

Junie panicked as she quickly scoured the contents of the rucksack. She grinned when she felt the plastic case of the inhaler. She passed it to the dark-haired boy and watched as he put it in his mouth. Several deep breaths later and the boy had stabilised. Junie stood up, she reached her hand out to him and the boy took it. He pulled himself up on wobbly legs and stretched his limbs. His short dark hair was now a sweaty mess, it clung to his forehead and stuck up at odd angles.

"Are you OK now?" Junie asked him.

"Yes," he croaked, "thank you."

It was the boy's eyes that caught her by surprise. The irises were coloured the most startling shade of blue. Blue like the Mediterranean oceans and the underwater landscapes of the pacific with striking flecks of sliver that reminded her of full moons. She must have been staring for too long because the boy gave her quizzical look. She quickly glanced away.

"No problem," she shrugged. Only it was a problem. It was a big problem. She couldn't walk down that street anymore. She would have to avoid Jake and Benja for several months at least, maybe for the rest of her life. "Don't worry about them, they're idiots."

Idiots that were likely planning how best to rip Junie apart. The blue-eyed boy looked about her age, although it was difficult to tell since he was so skinny and short. One corner of his mouth curved upward into a crooked smile.

"Dylan," the boy said, his voice still a little hoarse.

"What?"

"My name," the boy as he extended his hand, "I'm Dylan."

She stared at the hand for several seconds before grasping it and giving it a firm shake.

"Junie," she smiled, he had an odd accent, "you're not from around here are you?"

"I'm from New Zealand," he said, "I moved here about a week ago."

He opened his bag, and pulled out a clump of burgundy coloured rock. He showed it to Junie and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she wondered what he was doing.

"It's for you," he said, that crooked smile appearing again.

Junie hesitantly took it. She observed the rock with a cautious curiosity.

"It's a volcanic rock," he said, "it's from Mount Tongariro."

Junie looked at the boy, eying him suspiciously, "Why?"

"To say thanks for helping me," he answered with a nonchalant shrug, "you won't believe how many people just walked by."

She hummed thoughtfully, glancing back at the rock and rolling it around in her hand. This boy was rather odd. She looked at him and he looked right back at her, staring even, a kind smile on his lips and gratitude in his bright eyes. Very odd, she concluded. Junie smiled back, but normal had never been something she favoured.

The boy glanced down at his wristwatch – it was the Spiderman edition she'd been wanting for months now – and his eyes suddenly widened. He heaved the hefty rucksack back onto his shoulders.

"I need to go or my mum's gonna kill me," he said, and as he started jogging away, he glanced back at her, "Oh, and Junie?"

"Yeah?"

He grinned, "Happy birthday!"

He hopped over the low fence and zipped down the street, disappearing when he turned a corner. She stared at him, her eyebrows furrowing once more. How did he know it was her birthday?

"Oh," she mumbled, "the badge."

 Junie glanced back at the rock. She smiled and shoved it into her pockets of her jeans.

2:32 P.M.

When Junie opened the door to her small dilapidated house, she–as usual–heard the sound of laughter mixed with an eighties song steadily playing in the living room. She took off her shoes and dropping her bag by the coat hanger, she crept forward. She paused near the living room door, where she could see her mother chatting with a man she didn't recognize. Junie frowned, her mother had brought along another one of her friends. Junie knew by now that it was best not to disturb her at times like this. She hopped up the creaky staircase and into her bedroom. As she eased onto her bed, she heaved a loud sigh.

Junie felt something dig into her thigh. She reached into her jean pocket and out the volcanic rock the boy – Dylan – had given her. Junie held it up into the golden bars of sunlight that streamed in through her bedroom window. As she observed it, quietly admiring its burgundy shade and the flecks that sparkled, Junie thought about the blue eyed boy from New Zealand. It was a sad thought really, that this small piece of volcanic rock was the first gift she had ever received.

"Birthdays suck," she muttered.

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Author's note: This story was on my previous account (bijouxx) and I was eager to repost it. It was inspired by the movie "One Day" that starred Anne Hathaway. Basically, the story will revist the same day each year and can you guess what so special about that day? Thanks to pinkHIPPOgreenHippo for helping edit this chapter for me. 

                 - Rose xoxo