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I blinked slowly. "What?"
"Let me tell you, it was difficult sneaking it out of the house."
"You brought a PlayStation here?"
She nodded slowly. "Well yeah, it's your birthday. And since I get the impression Julian wouldn't want us playing inside the house, I came here and brought the fun. Besides, I never use this thing."
"You have a PlayStation?"
"Yeah, in my room. I don't even know how to play, so you have to teach me. But first, we eat cake."
Nissa was still so little, though she still wore her afro piled high above her head, making her look taller. She had slight shoulders, and slight body. I had this instant feeling of warmth and protectiveness over her. She was going to need to toughen up. Maybe I would show her how to fight.
You don't know how to fight yourself.
I didn't, but I was pretty sure I knew more than she did. And she was little. People picked on little girls and took advantage. I wouldn't want anyone trying to hurt her.
"Earth to Westin." She snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you ready, or not?"
"I guess so." I said mutinously. I wanted to pout. I hated my birthday. But here she was insisting on cheering me up. And much to my annoyance it was working,
Nissa was hard to ignore in that annoying-little-sister kind of way.
She took my hand, the warmth of her small one seeping through my body, making me feel lighter and putting me at ease. Wasn't that my job?
"Westin?"
"Yeah, Nissa?"
"Why were you hiding in the wardrobe?"
Lying to her was never easy, so I opted for the truth. "I don't want to celebrate today."
"Okay, why not?"
"My parents died on my birthday."
She stopped tugging me along and stood in front of me, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm so sorry."
I shrugged and averted my gaze, rapidly blinking the tears that threatened to pool there. "Yeah, I mean, whatever."
"That's terrible. But if your mum and dad were here, I'm sure they would want you to celebrate because they loved you very much."
"How do you know? You didn't even know them."
She didn’t hesitate in her conviction. "I know because you're nice."
I frowned, and she took my hand again, tugging me along. "Because I'm nice?"
"Yes. You're nice, and you take care of me, even when I'm annoying. Which you think is often, but it's really rarely. And people are only nice when they've had people being nice to them. We usually get that from our parents, so I know they were nice. And if they loved you, that means that they wouldn't want you to be sad, especially not on your birthday."
I could only laugh at the eleven-year-old who marched me into Mrs. Pembry's ancient living room and right to the PlayStation that she'd managed to hookup to the TV herself.
"Now, since you're nice, I'm going to let you go first. Oh, wait, but first, we have to have cake." Nissa reached into her backpack and pulled out a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting, my favorite, and placed it on the table along with some candles she planted directly into the icing. "I had to be careful transporting that." She’d used a glass jar for the cupcake, and then she pulled out some matches and lit the candles. She then treated me to a rendition of a happy birthday song, which sounded much like a screeching badger who’d lost its tongue.
"Oh my God, Nissa please, save me from your voice."
"Hey, all that matters is the love behind it, not how good it sounds."
