It's My Birthday (I'll Cry If I Want To)

     She knew that her friends thought she was being dramatic. How could anyone hate their birthday? How could anyone roll their eyes at the helium balloons and scoff at the multi-layered cake? How could anyone shy away on a day that was all about them?

     Canca tried to tell them that her disdain for her birthday wasn't because it was her birthday, per se. It was because she shared her birthday with all of Neopia. That was right. She shared her birthday with Neopets. Her friends, however, thought this made her stance all the more ridiculous. After all, that meant that there were celebrations world-wide! There would be prizes galore and special games. Everyone would be in a celebratory mood.

     They didn't seem to realise that all it really meant was that her birthday was entirely over-shadowed by, apparently, a more important event. No one ever wanted to come to her party because they were so busy with other celebrations. No one ever cared about her cake because everyone was eating whatever cake had been released for the other celebration. All of her presents were themed around Neopet's birthday, not her own.

     She didn't deny that she sometimes sounded petulant. She knew her mother would say she should be grateful for any presents at all. But deep down in her heart, she didn't care if she was being selfish or childish. She wanted Wenzhi to buy her 1/2 Turkey and Cranberry Pizza because he knew she could never eat a full one. She wanted Woisan to give her green wings because he knew she dressed up as Illusen every Halloween. She wanted the day to be about her, just like all her friends' birthdays were just about them.

     And most of all, she didn't want to go to the Mystery Training School.

     "I don't want to go," she whined. "It's so boring."

     Woisan disagreed. "It's fun!"

     "And free," Wenzhi said.

     Woisan prodded Wenzhi in the side for that. It was a sight that on any other day would have have made Canca laugh.

     Her mother had dropped them off without a word, promising Canca that after a session or two at the school, she would pick them up and then they could do cake and presents to celebrate her birthday.

     This, however, did not impress Canca at all. All she could think about was the fact that Woisan's mother had taken them all on a Tiki Tour of Mystery Island—something he'd been begging to do for months. And Wenzhi had managed to convince his mother to give them a bag of Neocola Tokens. They'd spent the whole day at the vending machine, trying (and ultimately failing) to win a single Transmogrification Potion. And both of them had gotten cake and presents after.

     And so, why couldn't Canca get to do something she wanted to do? Why did she get forced to go to Training School just because it was free as part of celebrations for Neopets' brithday?

     "You don't get it," she said, after Wenzhi told her off for being so negative. "You actually like training. You love the Battledome. But I don't even fight. I don't care if I'm quick or not."

     "Well, maybe you should try it out," Wenzhi responded. "Maybe you would like it if you gave it a go."

     "Absolutely not."

     Woisan was slightly more sympathetic. "It's only a couple of hours. We'll do something fun after. Maybe we can make it to Tombola before your mum picks us up."

     Canca was not comforted in the slightest. After all, it wasn't just a couple of hours. It was a couple of hours of training for her, because the instructors thought she was too weak to do much more. But then it was another couple of hours of waiting around, because Wenzhi could apparently train for hours.

     Needless to say, the afternoon was long and slow.

     By the time Canca's mother arrived to pick them up, Canca was miserable. She was bored. Her body was sore. All she wanted was to eat her cake, open her presents, and crawl into bed. Her mood only soured as they drove through Neopia. Every town and village was covered in bunting and the air was electric with joyful celebration, all for Neopets' 26th birthday.

     And her house, much to her disappointment, was much the same. The whole living room was filled with Neopets' birthday themed decorations and treats. It was an impressive display...and the very last thing in the world she had wanted to see. Her bottom lip began to wobble. Her eyes began to well.

     "Oh, Canca!" Her mother sounded alarmed. "What's wrong?"

     "I just..." Her voice trembled as she tried to hold back the tears. "I just...I just wanted it to be about me!"

     She knew she sounded petulant, but she couldn't hold it in anymore. She began to wail in earnest. Big round tears dropped down her cheeks. Her voice pitched higher and higher. She only started to quiet when her mother knelt down and wrapped her arms around her, enveloping her in a tight hug.

     "Oh, I'm so sorry."

     "We didn't know you'd be so upset," Woisan said from the corner of the room, sounding equally alarmed. "We just wanted to surprise you."

     Canca blinked in confusion. She looked up. Woisan was standing at the door to her bedroom. He pushed it open, and what she saw made her gasp in surprise.

     Her whole room was covered in her favourite things. There was personalised bunting, all decorated with her little face. The cake was in her favourite colours. Neopets didn't feature at all. It was everything she had ever dreamed of. It made it her start crying all over again.

     "I'm sorry, sweetheart," her mother said, sounding pained. "It was just supposed to be a little prank. I didn't know you'd be so upset."

     Wenzhi nodded. "We thought it would be a bit of fun."

     "Yeah," Woisan said. "You were so disappointed last year... We just wanted to do something special. We didn't want to make you cry."

     But Canca wasn't upset at all. She thought maybe she should be—she'd spent the whole day thinking no one cared about her at all! But this more than made up for it. A whole room—a whole evening—dedicated to all of the things she loved most of all. She grabbed Wenzhi and Woisan's hands and dragged them into the room, happily looking at all the presents around the room.

     She opened them one-by-one, her glee growing with each one. They were all her favourites—her favourite foods, the newest novel in her favourite series, her favourite celebrities in plushie form...it was about her. And best of all, when all the presents were open and all the food was eaten, there was still more! She didn't get just one cake. She also got the Neopets' birthday cake in the prank room! After all, she couldn't very well it go to waste!

     She realised with sudden clarity that there were perhaps a few advantages to sharing her birthday. And she knew that for all her future birthdays, she wouldn't mind sharing—not if she got two cakes out of it!

     That being said, there was no way she was going back to the Training School next year. Not a chance.

     The End.