The Happy Birthday Song

Cecilia Huynh

Ripped pieces of thin clothing pressed against the cold skin of a girl not much older than ten;

a wealthy new boy from New Zealand, who was only looking for someone to be his friend.

through thousands of words and even more time spent waiting for the words to be spoken.

this is the story of two best friends where the boy was everything to a girl who was broken.

-

today marks the day of Julie's tenth birthday,

she walks into the park and sees a boy.

the bullies beating him near the footway,

she kicked the bullies, escaping decoy.

she and the beaten boy ran far away,

when they outran the bullies, they laid down.

“my name’s Dylan,” the handsome boy did say,

she told her name since he was new in town.

the boy from New Zealand gave her a rock,

“your birthday,” like the bullies had mentioned.

he ran to his home as she stood in shock,

being best friends were not their intention.

Julie then ran back home to her drunk mom;

she had saved Dylan's life, all with her palm.

today is Julie’s eleventh birthday,

and first thing she did was buy cigarettes.

then Dylan came along to help her pay,

as well as buying some of his assets.

she came home to amber and a strange man,

who sat on the coach, complimenting her.

the two were forced to leave, since they were banned,

they both ran far away with each other.

the pair ran in the australian heat,

and Julie put her feet in the water.

a picnic was set up and all was neat;

he gave a present, held by a cotter.

the gift he gave her came as a surprise,

but they were best friends, at least, in his eyes.

twelve years ago today, Julie was born,

brought into coldness, hunger, and worry.

she was stiff from the clothes she had worn;

four days since her mom left in a hurry.

with no heat and light, she sat in the cold,

until 'thump! thump! thump!' was heard from above.

but when she made her way to the door and pulled,

there was the face she would soon fall in love.

Dylan simply told her that he was staying,

and so that night, they made a birthday cake.

“you have to make a wish,” he was saying;

Julie wished that their bond would never break.

this cake was her very first birthday treat;

looking at Dylan, her life was complete.

thirteen years, still with a careless mother,

who was in the bathroom with alcohol.

she was family, there was no other.

and yet, Dylan was there for Julie's fall.

Julie went over to Dylan's big home,

and his older sister opened the door.

they played a new game, wrapped in styrofoam,

and the hours ticked by from one to four.

as they escaped the house to go outside,

Julie and Dylan laid on the wet grass.

they discussed their big dreams magnified,

and Julie thought of goals she could surpass.

Juliet Bennett and Dylan Percer,

she was in deep love and couldn’t deter.

nineteenth of may in twenty o’seven

was the day of Julie's fourteenth birthday.

and yet, today felt nothing like heaven,

but she did have a brother on the way.

her mother, Amber, was seven months in

and soon, time would grant julie a sibling.

she found the pregnancy test in a bin;

the thought of a brother left her dribbling.

she walked to dylan’s house, as usual,

but heather torres had beaten her to it.

hate between the two girls was mutual,

but heather was better in every bit.

dylan’s hug to julie was appeasing;

her crush had no intention of leaving.

Ivan Scott Bennette was soon one year old;

his first name came from his deceased uncle.

between ivan and school, a life to mold,

and having amber as an obstacle.

Julie and Dylan went to a skate park,

having a bet to see who’d get there first.

together a bonfire they embark,

where he fits in, and where she is reversed.

after flirting with Heather, he pulls her

aside to give her her birthday present.

in the short amount of time, they confer

about their relationship, what it meant.

she wants to say “i like you,” short and swift,

but hesitates and says she likes the gift.

since Amber is never with her two children,

julie cares for both her brother and school.

“Hey, come over to hang out,” says dylan,

she’ll only come with ivan; that’s her rule.

together, Julie and Ivan both go,

and she’s wearing her only and best dress.

candles are set around for her to blow,

with laughter and cake, the evening process.

“happy birthday” the song starts with a note,

“no words can describe what you mean to me.”

“as i stand here and sing a song i wrote,”

“Happy birthday my best friend, my Julie”

“i like you” the words come out of her lips,

shredding their friendship into little strips.

at seventeen, Julie went out to smoke

and went to Dylan’s after cleaning up.

as she walked in his room, he sat awoke,

thinking about his recent breakup.

with Ivan, who was sick with a disease,

and Amber always seeming to be gone,

though faith is with Ivan, she felt unease.

Julie was barely awake, so she yawns.

while Julie sat at the foot of the bed;

two of them started to banter around.

“that’s why you love me” Dylan quickly said.

“i do” she replied, making a small sound.

so he then confessed, “i love you too”

she held her breath since her dream had come true.

Julie was an eighteen year old girl,

working for who and what she loved the most.

there stood dylan, her prize possession pearl,

waiting to give the birthday girl a toast.

when she insisted to stay home and rest,

they went to her house to see a big scene.

on the face of Ivan, Amber’s hand pressed,

Julie was enraged at the sight she’d seen.

screaming and yelling at her bad mother,

“i take care of you all but now i’m done.

no guilt in you as you slapped my brother;

now you’re dead to me, same goes for your son.”

she says “i’ll move in with faith tomorrow”

he says “you’ll always have me though”

they say that if you’re sick on your birthday,

the rest of the year is filled with bad luck.

nothing was worse than last year anyway;

the death of Amber while she was drunk.

a lot happened in the previous years;

Dylan was on the screen of her tv.

sitting on her bed, with eyes filled with tears;

this wasn’t a future she could foresee.

but look at Julie, crying her eyes out,

remembering memories that were dead.

but she missed her mother, that was no doubt,

the pain in her heart would soon start to spread.

everyone always seemed to be leaving,

while she’d be left by herself, grieving.

on the bed of a plain and empty room,

laid Julie, with tear stains on her cheeks.

no one was around to keep her from gloom;

what she wanted most was to hear him speak.

but Dylan was on his headlining tour;

no memory of her he had to keep.

but then a loud knock emerged from her door,

Julie opened it, making a small peep.

“happy birthday” a lump placed in her throat,

“no words can describe what you mean to me.”

“as i stand here and sing a song i wrote,”

“Happy birthday my best friend, my Julie”

while in Dylan's arms, she mumbled, “you’re here.”

he spoke, “forever and always, my dear.”

white and black are considered opposites,

yet the two of them are identical.

she now beared a last name, so onymous,

due to a love that sparked a chemical.

white is a color of pure innocence,

more so, an absence of all colors.

Julie's actions mirrored equivalence;

for the two could create stunning wonders.

black, the color of desire and greed,

capturing Dylan, making him confined.

it held onto colors it didn’t need,

until it laced tight with white, intertwined.

wearing black and white, and saying ‘i do’

until both their last words were ‘i love you.’