Shane paid no attention to the family that sat next to the table that his family sat at. I was grateful, and honestly paid no attention to him or his family. Our food came and we ate. When we were done, Mom looked at us.

“Who wants ice cream?” Mom asked, stacking the plates that our chicken tenders had been on. Rachel, Lizzy and my self must have looked at her like she was nuts, because she started laughing. “Ok, we’ll get it as soon as our server comes back.” Almost as if she knew that she were being talked about, Akira appeared behind mom.

“Are we ready for dessert?” She asked. Mom jumped slightly, not realizing that Akira was behind her. “Sorry.” Akira said.

“Yes, we are ready for dessert.” Rebecca said as Mom recovered from having the snot scared out of her.

“For all five of you, or just the kids?” Rebecca looked at Mom.

“All five of us. Also, it’s the young lady in pinks birthday today.” Mom said. I hadn’t expected her to tell the staff that it was my birthday. Usually when the staff in a restaurant was told that it was someone’s birthday, they all came out singing… I had a feeling that I would be blushing in short order… Akira smiled.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Akira asked me.

“Emma.” I answered quietly…

“Happy birthday, Emma.” Akira said, “How old are you?”

“Twelve.” I said. I’m really one. I thought. Mom winked at me.

“Are we doing the sundae bar for our dessert?” Akira asked.

“Yes.” Mom said.

“Ok, you guys go help your selfs.” Akira said. I stood and felt the hem of my dress fall back to just above my knees. The white lace trim tickling the backs of my legs. I brushed a few locks of my blonde hair back behind my ear and made my way to the sundae bar and created a bowl of vanilla ice cream and sprinkles. I carried it back to the table and sat down, right as half the staff of the restaurant walked up and sang me happy birthday. Akira gently sat a small cake in front of me with a single candle on it. “Happy first birthday.” She whispered into my ear. I slowly turned and looked at her. She was smiling. I made a wish and blew the candle out and then looked at Akira. She still had the smile on her face and it was obvious that she knew more than everyone else on the staff. After the rest of the staff had gone back to working their tables, Akira remained by our table. I noticed that all of the female staff had on skirts and tights that were anything but plain.

“How did you know?” I asked her. She gave me a shy smile, and pointed at Mom.

“She told me. Welcome to the fairer sex, and enjoy every moment of it.” Akira whispered. I felt my cheeks heat up. Akira giggled, and I started eating my ice cream before it melted. Mom was smiling watching me. Akira patted my shoulder and then went to check on another of her tables. Mom was smiling at me.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” Mom said, pulling a small, gift wrapped box from her purse and sliding it across to me. I looked at Mom, and then at the box. “Go on, open it.” I did so. Inside was a necklace with a small pearl as a pendant. Rachel was peering over my left shoulder.

“That’s pretty.” She stated, matter-of-factly. My eyes went from the necklace to Mom.

“Thank you!” I said getting up and going around the table to give mom a hug. After our embrace ended, Mom pulled the necklace out of the box and placed it around my neck. Not used to wearing necklaces, it took me a few minutes to get used to the feeling of the gold chain around my neck. I reached up and felt the pendant.

“You’re welcome, and there is a matching set of earrings. We would need to pierce your ears for that though…” Mom said, sounding unsure of whether or not I would want them pierced.

“Do I have to decide now?” I asked.

“No. There are a lot of girls your age that don’t have pierced ears.” Mom responded. I looked at her smiled.

“I don’t know of too many one year olds that have pierced ears…” I replied with a chuckle.

“You’re not one, you look like your ten…” I heard a familiar voice say behind me.