I woke up with a painful headache, and my parents once again yelling at me. I buried my face in my pillow as they yelled, nearly falling asleep once again. I couldn’t fall asleep, though. Not anymore.

The verdict in my house was that I was going to be grounded for a month. No more, no less. It was surprising, normally it would be much longer.

But I found when I stumbled downstairs, that there was another issue floating around my house. One that held a much more important status.

“Her birthday is on Monday.”

I stopped half way down the stairs, pushing myself against the wall so I could...