I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I swear one day i'm gonna gonna throw this thing out the window. I pull my covers off and then shut the alarm off. I crawl out of bed and make my way to the kitchen to grab something for breakfast. Right as I am approaching the center island, my Stepmom, Dad, and Sister all jump out from behind the counter with party hats on.

"SURPRISE!" They all yell together. And that's when I remember. It's October 3rd. My birthday.

"Happy birthday baby." My dad says hugging me.

"Thanks dad." I smiled.

"We made you birthday pancakes." Vicky says holding out a plate with the number 15 written with whipped cream.

"Thanks sis." I took the plate from her and sat down at the table to eat.

"Got any special plans for today?" My dad asked.

"My friends invited me to go have a little celebratory meal at Club Zero a little later. I don't work there tonight so wanna take me there just to have fun and let loose a little."

"Well you have fun tonight then. But be home by 10:30." He says pointing a finger at me.

"Don't worry dad, i'll be home by then."

I scarf down the rest of my pancakes and go to my room to pick out an outfit for today. I decided to dress up a little more than normal today. I threw on a white shirt sleeve, faded blue zip up, and a black plaid skirt. I slipped on my black converse shoes and put the top half of my hair into a ponytail and let the other half be down.

As soon as I was about to head out of the door when I heard the phone ring.

"I got it." I walked over and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"okay go." I heard someone whisper. I was confused but then I started to hear singing. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CRISTINA!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!"

I start to giggle. "You all are tone deaf but thank you the thought was appreciated."

I heard Cory's voice through the phone. "Yeah well come over and correct the pitch in person. I told them they sounded bad but no one ever listens to me." I heard a slap followed by Cory going 'OW!'

"Okay, okay, i'll be over in a minute Cory don't get into a fight before I get there to see it."

"HEY!"

"Relax i'm kidding. Be there in 10."

"See ya soon." I hung up and made my way to his house.

I walked in and rest assured all my friends were there plus Cory's parents and Derek. Everybody walked up to me and gave me a hug to wish me happy birthday.

"Thanks for this guys but I thought we were gonna meet at the club later?"

Shawn spoke up. "Yeah but we figured this would be a better place for cake and gifts."

"You guys didn't have to get me anything seriously."

"Oh please, you're our best friend. How could you possibly think that we wouldn't get you anything?"

"I love you guys." I gathered them for a group hug and let go. "Well don't just stand there. Shower me with presents."

In Cristina fashion, I got her two really meaningful gifts that I was going to make her wait til the very end to open. She had already opened Cory's gift of a microphone keychain and Topanga's gift of a framed picture of all of us. Now it was Darrien's turn, or whatever his name is.

"Okay here you go." He smiled as he handed her a bag with tissue paper in it.

She smile faltered as soon as she took out the present. Derek probably got her the worst gift anybody could've given her. It was a very girly and revealing dress. Not to mention it was hot pink which was her least favorite color. Anybody who actually knew her would've known this dress was a horrible gift idea for her. Cory, Topanga, and I all looked at her holding the dress waiting for her to say something to him.

"Wow this dress is...very interesting Derek."

"You think? I know it's not your usual style but I thought it would look very pretty on you."

"Thank you Derek. Maybe i'll try it on some other time." She gave Derek a hug and sat back down on the couch.

"Okay Hunter you're up."

"Finally. I've been waiting to give you these since I first got them."

"Hold on, these?"

"Yes as in two gifts. I thought since you got me two last year for my birthday I would return the favor."

"Hunter you shouldn't have."

"Shut up and open the first one." I handed her a box with blue wrapping paper around it. She tore it open and opened the box. She smiled and looked up at me.

"You remembered." She pulled out the stuffed animal chinchilla from the box.

"Of course I remembered. I wasn't able to get you a real one but I figured this was the next be thing."

"Thank you Shawn." She got up and gave me a hug.

"Wait. Before you finish thanking me you might wanna check the box again."

She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion and looked at the bottom of the box. She pulled out the black guitar strap with white music notes on it that I put at the bottom. "You didn't."

"I did." I pulled the guitar case from the back of the couch where she couldn't see and her jaw dropped.

She put the case on the table and opened it up. "This is the exact one I wanted how did you know?"

"You only talked about saving up for it for weeks now. So I went to Topanga's dad and got a pretty good deal on this one."

She put the guitar back in its case and hugged me tight. I put my arms around her and returned her hug. "This is the best gift anyone has ever gotten me."

"No problem Carrillo. You deserve it."

"God Hunter, this is why I love you." She let go of me and I felt my heart break a little knowing that we didn't mean the words the way I wanted her to. The way I meant them when I said them.

"Ooh. It's tuned too. Very impressive Hunter."

I tried to put on a brave face before she suspected anything. "Does this mean I topped your gift that you gave me last year?"

"What did she give you last year?" Derek asked.

She looked at me and then looked at Derek. "I gave him his infamous leather jacket that he wears all the time."

"What can I say Carrillo, it's comfy as hell."

I smiled at her as I continued to watch her play a few chords on the guitar. I was kinda glad that she didn't tell Derek about the song. I like that there is stuff that we can keep just between us. Stuff that nobody else knows.

It makes me feel important.