You know that annoying moment when you wake up ahead of the time your alarm was set to make noise? Yeah, it happened to me. I set up my alarm last night at 5:30 a.m. to have thirty minutes of browsing through my Instagram feed then the other hour to prepare for school. Sadly, I woke up at 5:13 a.m.! I couldn't risk sleeping again because I have the tendency to oversleep and I'd just go nuts in preparing for school.

Well let's look at the bright side! More time for Instagram! So I grabbed the tablet and turned on the wifi. For the remaining time before 6:00, I just scrolled through my Instagram feed double tapping on every post I encounter.

When it was finally 6 a.m., I went downstairs to eat breakfast and after that I went up to take a shower and put on my uniform. The process took about 30 minutes which is kind of amazing. After my manly morning ritual, I fixed the contents of my bag and went downstairs to pack my lunch. Mom gave me my pocket money and waved goodbye as I left the house.

I plugged my earphones in and escaped reality until I got to school. I quickly ran to our classroom which I expect to be chaotic from the noise of my classmates. When I opened the door, I felt weird.

From the outside, as I removed my earphones and putting them in my pocket to await their tangled fate, I could hear the noise of my classmates but once I got in, they all fell silent and looked at me for a moment. Then they continued to talk to each other. 

I walked to my chair and as usual, Vince and Denver were beside it. Every morning, they go and occupy the empty seats beside my chair before class starts. I sat down and put my bag on the floor. I turned to face Vince who was talking to Denver. "Hey, bro! Did you manage to do the homework in Math? Could I look at yours? I kind of got lost at the part where you apply the quadratic formula." I asked. I tapped his shoulder but he wasn't facing me.

He's completely ignoring me. I stood up and asked my other classmates but just like Vince, they were ignoring me. As if I was some speck of dust that just flew past them. It's like I was invisible. That's weird.

I then went back to my seat and as I sat down, Vince and Denver left. They were laughing as they went back to their proper seats. I just sighed and grabbed my Math book and started trying to understand the topic. 

It wasn't long before Mrs. Cobblestone entered the room. I quickly put my Math materials in my bag which left just my pen sitting in my armchair. I turned to face the front where Mrs. Cobblestone was standing. She told us to go with our group to perform an activity. We followed and we reunited with our group mates.

All throughout the group activity, I was ignored. No one spoke to me or even looked at me. I kept asking them for a task or suggesting a good plan for our activity but they won't even notice. This time, it felt super weird. 

Why were they ignoring me? Did I do something wrong? I don't know why they're giving me the silent cold shoulder treatment combo.

The ignoring went on until Math time. No one said a word to me. No one dared to even approach me. I was getting nervous at this point. I'm re-thinking everything that I have done. What could possibly make them avoid me? I don't have a disease! 

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It's recess time. Usually, I go to the canteen with Vince and Denver but before I could even stand from my seat, they dashed off. I saw them walk to the canteen laughing so hard and talking about things without me. Jeez.

I just went to the canteen alone. I kept my head down as I walked to the canteen. As I was nearing the canteen, I looked up and was surprised to see that Vince was in front of me. Nearly bumping into him. He noticed, too as he gave me the same surprised look. I saw Denver beside him eyeing me with disgust then he yanked Vince to the back of the computer lab building.

Because of my curiosity, it wasn't long that I followed them. I stealthily approached them. When I could hear their voices clearly, I stopped and just listened to their conversation.

"...did not expect that." Vince said.

"Me, too. Good thing Ivory told us." Denver answered back.

Ivory? expect? Why is Ivory included in this?

"I never really liked him, anyway." Vince said.

"I didn't even want Gray as my best friend! He just seems so lonely that's why I befriended him." Denver added.

"Oh, same! Why would I waste my time on him?" I hear the two of them laugh after Vince's statement.

"Good thing we're real best friends, bro!" Denver yelled.

I moved a little closer to sneak a peak and they were patting each other in the back then left. 

Ouch.

That conversation just struck my heart with a painful arrow! Never really liked me? Never really wanted me as a friend? They just befriended me because of pity!? How dare they!? I should've known that from the start they were fake! I should've know that they weren't worth my friendship! They could've just told me straight up that they didn't want me as a friend!

I felt a tear flow to my cheek. Why was I crying? "Get a grip, Gray! Be a man! They're just friends." I tried to convince myself. It didn't have any effect. It just broke my heart the way they laughed when they said that they didn't want me as a friend! 

I didn't have the mood to go to the canteen and buy food. I just went back to the classroom. As I entered, I saw their irritating faces again. Now laughing while they occupied the chairs beside mine. I walked over and took a seat, moving my chair away from them in an attempt to make them realize that I was angry at them. 

Nothing. Just plain laughing. They stayed there for the next two classes. I could tell they were talking about me because one of them would glance at me from time to time. Worst fakers ever.

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Lunch came and I immediately packed my stuff in my bag and decided to go home. I wasn't in the mood to carry on with the day after what I just heard awhile ago. I wasn't interested in seeing them for today. I need to chill. 

I proceeded to cross the pedestrian lane to wait for a jeepney on the other side. Once I got there, I searched through my bag for my wallet. 

Oh no.

I left it at the classroom! Just wow. 

I ran back to my classroom and as I entered the school gates, I saw Julia, my classmate, look at me and run. Weird.

Because I was tired of running (from the other side of the road to the school gates), I just walked. As I approached the classroom, I couldn't help but notice that no one was outside. Usually at lunch, almost half of my classmates are outside. Then I approached the door and it was dead silent. 

Did I wake up into some alternate dimension where I'm enemies with my best friends and the classroom not being a zoo!?

I turned the doorknob and opened the room. The lights were out. I walked inside and suddenly, the lights went on revealing a big "Happy Birthday" sign hanging by the chalkboard, a long table full of food at the middle and a chair with balloons at the front. 

I was still in a state of shock when suddenly, the classroom restroom door opened and revealed my classmates and the others were revealed from the back door. They all held balloons and wore party hats and shouted "Surprise!"

I swear a cockroach could fly inside my mouth because it was open wide for like 10 seconds. How did they? When did they? What did they? I just can't process all of the things going on right now. Just when I expected the surprises to be over, Vince and Denver jumped at me from behind causing the three of us to hit the floor. They both laugh and so did I.

They gestured for me to take a seat on the chair in front of the chalkboard and made me wear my own party hat. I gave them a smirk with one eyebrow raised and asked, "Care to explain?"

Vince laughed and said "We planned your birthday surprise last week. We created a group chat on Facebook to talk about everything. Because your birthday is a national holiday, we decided to just go with it today!" then Denver, who was beside him, added "We got everyone to contribute for the celebration. Happy Birthday, bro!" they then went to the back door and opened it to reveal Ivory and Ariana holding a birthday cake.

All of them sang a happy birthdays the two approached me. I couldn't believe it. It was a strawberry cake! My favorite flavor! Yes, I love strawberry. It isn't weird that a guy would have strawberry as his favorite flavor of all time. 

I blew the candles and was applauded. Vince and Denver ran to me and hugged me along with Ivory and Ariana. 

The whole afternoon was full of fun. We played games, told stories and watched video presentations that some of my classmates made. It was great to find out that I had friends who would think of giving me a surprise birthday celebration. It was amazing!

This is a memory worthy to be cherished.

A happy, amazing birthday indeed, Gray.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEH. YAAAAAS. *confetti again*

Hope you enjoyed the bonus chapters! I had fun writing them and I wish you had more fun reading them! 

Thank you so so so so so much for the support you're giving to this book! Thank you for recognizing the talent the Lord has given me. Your votes, reads and comments are the greatest birthday gifts ever! Thank you guys!

Again, thanks to all of you guys! I thank God for letting you read The Teenage Christian! And yes, I'm still updating on Friday. Stick around for that! Thanks again! HAHAHA. All the love!

God Bless you! :)