The Birthday That Killed My Mother

Synopsis

Ever since Amiyah Sutton transferred in, I'd been stuck in second place. I was always the runner-up in grades. And second in the hearts of both my childhood friends, Jaylen Padilla and Lorenzo Brooks. They'd only come to cheer me up after picking her first every time. "Fiona, we're best friends. We've got all the time in the world," Jaylen would say. "Stop competing with Amiyah, okay?" Lorenzo would reply. Then, the night my mom had a sudden heart attack happened to be the same night as Amiyah's birthday party. It was three in the morning, and I couldn't get a cab or buy a ticket. I had no choice but to beg Jaylen and Lorenzo, tears streaming down my face, to drive me home. But all I got was looks of pure disgust from both of them. "To compete with Amiyah, you'd curse your own mom?" Jaylen spat. "Come on, Fiona McClain, we know you're jealous. But today's Amiyah's eighteenth birthday party. Don't make a scene. Tomorrow, we'll be there for you, I promise," Lorenzo said. The rain was pouring that night, and I gave up asking for help. As I turned away, I thought to myself, 'There's no tomorrow for us anymore.'