Teenager #AtoZChallenge

"Miranda, honey, happy birthday!" Miranda opened her eyes and looked up into her mother's smiling face. "Time to get up. Waffles today for the birthday girl!"

After her mom left, closing the door behind her, Miranda stayed in bed and felt her chest under the covers. She turned 13 today, and still had no boobs. She was the flattest girl in her class. All she wanted for her birthday was a little boost in that department, but it was silly to think it would happen overnight. Still, every morning she felt herself to see if she had grown in her sleep.

Letting out a groan, Miranda got up and started getting ready for school, putting tissues in her training bra to create the illusion of something growing there. She pulled on a pair of jeans, and as she reached for a t-shirt, suddenly excitement filled her face - her jersey!

For her birthday, she had asked for just one thing: A pink, Tennessee Titans football jersey. That was Gavin's favorite team, and a sure way to get his attention. She didn't care about football, but since they sold the jerseys in girls' sizes and cute colors, she could at least pretend to support his team. Maybe they could have a conversation about it. That would make it a perfect birthday.

Pulling on a plain grey tee, Miranda raced downstairs, to get to her presents so she could wear the new shirt she knew her parents must have gotten her. They had to. She only asked for one thing, how could they not?

"That was quick! The next waffle is yours." Her mom leaned in to give Miranda a kiss. As she scrunched Miranda in a one-arm hug, Miranda's face fell. There were no presents at her spot on the table, just her little sister mushing around a bowl of cereal.

"Um, aren't we doing presents with breakfast?" They always did birthday presents with breakfast, and cake with supper.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie, Dad had to go in to the office early today. You can open presents with cake tonight." Plopping a hot waffle onto a plate, she handed it to Miranda and said, "Happy birthday!"

Miranda just looked at the waffle on the plate. No jersey. No adorable conversation with Gavin about the Titans. Probably Kayley would make her life miserable today, parading around the halls in her bra and a tight shirt showing off her breasts to all the boys.

***
Wearing an older, teal shirt with butterflies on it, Miranda walked into school, hoping to see her best friend Beth and complain about her parents' utter ignorance of everything she needed to have a good birthday. Beth wasn't in homeroom. She was sick today. Great. Her birthday got better and better.

Mr. Harmon dropped a pop-quiz on them in History class, too. Better and better! By lunchtime, sarcasm was dripping off every sentence coming from Miranda's mouth. Her friends sat with her at their usual table. They tried saying "Happy birthday" and got a tirade from Miranda, so the rest of lunch was quiet. 

When Miranda left school at the end of the day, she decided the best thing about the day was that Kayley and her perfect chest had not spoken to her at all. She hadn't seen her talking to Gavin either, so that was something. "Happy birthday to me," she muttered as she walked in the door of her house.

***
Miranda forced a smile when her parents and sister sang "Happy birthday" after supper and she blew out candles. Her mom noticed a look of disappointment on her face when she opened a box and lifted out the exact jersey she'd requested. "Miranda, isn't that the right one?"

"Yes, Mom." Miranda spat the words in exasperation.

"So what's wrong?"

"It's too late!" Her perfect birthday needed the perfect jersey as an ice-breaker for the perfect conversation with the perfect boy.

"Too late for what?"

 "Ugh! You don't understand anything!" Miranda dropped the jersey into the open box it came from and stormed out of the kitchen and up to her bedroom. Her mom took a deep breath and shared a look with her husband, who smiled and said, "Yep. She's a teenager now."
 
Thank you for visiting my #AtoZChallenge! My theme is "Audience Participation" (read about it, here) and now it is your turn. Each day will be a new story based on suggestions from your comments. Suggest anything: a word, scenario, character, location... I will be keeping a list of suggestions, so if yours isn't used tomorrow, it may show up later. 

Today's post was inspired by the prompt "13", suggested by Jamie (of Uniquely Maladjusted But Fun), given in comments on my O post (here).