Six months later

My sixteenth birthday. Definitely a special occasion, for more than the usual reasons. I used to think I'd be lucky to make it to my fourteenth birthday, let alone my sixteenth. And ever since I was eleven, I never even dreamed Mom would be there to celebrate with me.

Today, I was going to surprise my friends. After the brief disaster that was driving lessons, Mom decided to take matters into her own hands. After six months of patience, kindness and gentleness (which eventually gave way to copious sarcasm), I was no longer a danger to society whenever I got behind the wheel.

After the cake and present-giving, I was ready to show off my skills. "How about we go to the beach?" I suggested. Everyone looked up, interested. We're all fans of the beach, for different reasons.

"Have fun!" Mom smiled as she sat down.

"Aren't you coming with us? You know, to drive?" Rachel asked.

"No, why would I?" Mom tried to look nonchalant, but couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face. "Marco can drive you."

As expected, everyone protested. But they all stopped when I opened my wallet and showed them what was inside: a shiny new, 100% real driver's licence. It took a while to convince everyone it was real, but eventually we were all piled in the car, on our way to the beach.

"We're all going to die," Jake announced as I started the car.

"I've always believed in you too."

Believe it or not, we made it to the beach unscathed. And after a day of fun and success (I got a girl's number! And it's not the pizza delivery number or the police, I already checked), I safely drove everyone home. Mom was waiting for us when we got back.

"I'm proud of you, Marco. You've done great. You know, the first time I drove on the roads, I got arrested."

"Wait... really?"

"Yes. But that's another story. You know, you did so well learning a new skill that I..."

"You what?"

"...I signed you up for cooking lessons."

Here we go again...

The End