Tuesday 11th March 2014 // Jack's 17th Birthday!

You know me, I love a good moan, but today I'm happy! Despite waking up with muscle pain near my dodgy gland (which suffers from reoccurring infections) and considering the fact that I probably can't put off surgery any longer, that is. After cuddling up to an ice-pack and drugging myself up with Ibuprofen last night, I woke up able to walk - which is always a blessing - and a good thing too because it's Jack's birthday. Being the poor student that I am I was only able to contribute a can of Coke to his cause but he didn't seem to mind.

Tuesdays are usually a bit of a bummer for me because most of the people I'd consider my 'best friends' are off but today was a total anomaly. It started off slow like normal, with Jack and I being forced to sit through Adele's Psychology lesson against our will, but soon picked up once everyone got into the spirit. Jack was completely spoilt by Keisha's family and, bless him, he had to lug about a massive cake for all of us to share. I'm not really a cake person but even I indulged. Later on, my English classmates and I were informed that our usual teacher wouldn't be in, and so we decided to skip our lesson with a substitute to go and celebrate Jack's birthday in style, which is where the fun really began.

Jack, Keisha, Shari, Manleen and I made our way into town and bought a decent amount of booze with the little money we had left, then sat by the river to drink to our heart's content. We sat on the grass listening to old music; my empty stomach meaning that I got pretty tipsy pretty quickly, but we were all still sober enough to tell Jack all the things we loved about him. For Keisha it was the little things in their relationship, for me it was the support he'd shown me in hard times. Shari was thankful for their long-lasting friendship and Manleen gave her reasons too. We went and pulled up a couple of daffodils for him, who unzipped his rucksack just enough to keep them showing. Cairo turned up and I even tried Shari's e-light (though to say I was crap at smoking it would be an understatement) although I'm pretty sure I wouldn't smoke a real cigarette no matter how drunk I was.

I knew I was making a fool of myself, but I didn't care all too much because everyone was happy and smiley. I don't think I've ever heard Keisha laugh so much. Obviously, it sucked that Paige wasn't there 'cuz she's basically my drinking buddy, but that said I know there'll be plenty more awesome days ahead for our little group to share. Today felt really special, like I was experiencing college life as it's supposed to be.

Hasta la vista! Meaghan xx