It’s my birthday!
The big one-two
I’m ALMOST a teenager how do you feel about that Mum?
Do you feel OLD now?
Next year I’ll be a moody teenager
Just like you were
Just like my aunt was
Just like my sister will be
One more year of being your little girl
But I’ve started secondary school now
So maybe I’m not that little.
I blow out each candle separately on my blue birthday cake
Drawing it out
As
Long
As
Possible
In the middle of that cheap restaurant
That everyone goes to in the cinema park.
Me and my friends, we make a cocktail
Cola and sweetcorn and leftover crusts of pizza and a
Sprinkling of birthday cake crumbs
Someone knocks it over
And the glass bursts all over the floor -
Shatters with a high pitched scream
It stains the bottom of my white dress
Which I’m secretly upset about
But I want to look cool in front of my new friends.
I quickly forget about it
Because as I drift off to sleep
I’m thinking about my new sparkly top I’ll wear tomorrow
You want me to help you with delivery driving
So the next day I hop in the van
And when we get out
Ready to drop off a big crate of vegetables for a lovely old dear
Some builders catch my eye
And begin to shout at me.
Some of the words they use sound funny
I know they’re speaking English but
I’ve never heard those words before
Words more like blades, like the shards of the glass
That someone had to sweep up yesterday
I’ve never felt these kinds of stares before
At first I think they’re just looking at the sequins on my top
But I realise they’ve got lasers in their eyes.
Because as their brows furrow at me
I feel a burning sensation deep in my body
Just above my stomach but just below my chest
I can’t tear my eyes away from the ground
But the laser beams are invisible and Mum doesn’t see
It feels like when we went to laser tag last year
And I got shot but it didn’t register on my vest
So it was a secret between me and my friend
My word against his.
These men have tagged me
But I can’t make my mouth work
I can’t ask them
What do you mean?
What does show us your tits mean?
Is this what it means to be
Twelve?
