The Butterfly Effect

Be careful what you wish for

It might come true

Your imagination

Can be the death of you.

-Blood on the Dance Floor "What Dreams Are Made Of"

Prologue

Regular Saturday mornings are supposed to be regular Saturday mornings. Like my regular Saturday mornings. I wake up in my apartment in the senior highrise, Grams makes me oatmeal, and I usually hang out with my best friend Marissa or my friends Holly or Dot or Billy or my boyfriend Casey. Then I usually come home and eat dinner and do some homework and go to sleep. That is what a regular Saturday morning is supposed to be like.

But my birthdays are never regular. In fact, my last birthday was very irregular. Last year I was supposedly turning fourteen but my mother barreled into town and told me I was actually twelve going on thirteen. And then I figured out Heather, my archenemy, had the same birthday as me.

But this year, my regular Saturday morning AKA my REAL fourteenth birthday, turned out very, very irregular.

This is a cheesy and weird phrase that no one really takes seriously, but... Be careful what you wish for. It might come true.

Chapter One - Careful What You Wish For

"This is not acceptable!" I heard Grams' voice in the kitchen speaking harshly. I was lying on the couch (my "bed") listening. Who was she talking to? Who was in here so early? Marissa...? Hudson...?

"Yes, it is! It is her birthday and I am her mother! I have the right to be here!" my mother's unmistakable stage-voice projected all the way out here.

I sat upright. My god, was Mom here to ruin the day again? Every time she comes it's to mess something up. Okay, I'll admit, she was the one who saved me and Casey from falling apart all the way back on September, but after that her Good Deeds were done. And now she is back to being number one on People Magazine's Top Ten Worst Mothers. Okay, just kidding but you know what I mean.

I tried to duck back under my covers and cover up my ears. This was supposed to be a GOOD birthday. Grams and I were supposed to have breakfast at Hudson's. Then Marissa, Billy, Holly, Dot, and I were going to hang out and go to lunch (and according to Marissa, give me my birthday presents but I insisted she shouldn't get anything but she did anyway I'm guessing). Since Casey had promised his family he'd go out to lunch for Heather's birthday, he made special plans for me and him at night. Just the two of us. And he hadn't told me what they were, so I was getting all nervous and hyped up about it at the same time. But if Lana had to suddenly appear on my birthday, it totally ruined everything. Because it's rare for her to come for a weekend and she'd probably need to get back to L.A by tomorrow or Monday anyway, so she would insist that I spend the whole day with her.

And that is not how I planned to spend my fourteenth birthday.

"Samantha, I know you're awake." my mother sang.

How did she know? Ugh.

I sat up again. "Please leave." I called.

She marched out into the living room. "How rude!" she snapped. "I was just about to wish you a happy birthday."

"Gee, thanks." I rolled my eyes. "Okay, now you can leave."

Lana is seriously looking angry and Grams joins us.

"Go take a shower and get dressed, Samantha." Grams urged. "We have something important we need to say." she looked warily over at Lana.

Lana gave her this indescribable eye-twitch.

Hmm.

So I get myself showered and dressed. What a great way to start my birthday.

I sat down very formally on the couch. Politely placed my hands into my lap. Sat straight up. Smiled at Lana and Grams.

"Yes?" I asked, my voice dripping fake-sweetness.

I just wanted this over with. I was supposed to have a good day today. I kept repeating this to myself.

Lana locked eyes with me. "You're fourteen." she said slowly. "And I think you deserve to know who your father is now."

Oh.

My.

God.

WHAT?

REALLY?

Was I happy about this? Or sad? Or angry? Or upset? Or ecstatic? Or...nervous. I was nervous.

My voice was shaking so much I could barely muster up a reply. "R-really?"

"No," Lana rolled her eyes and sad sarcastically, "I'm just pretending. Now goodbye and let's pretend I didn't waste a weekend coming here to tell you about the scumbag man that I conceived you with."

She was obviously being sarcastic but Grams was all shocked. "Lana!" she scolded.

"Okay, I'm telling her, Mother." Lana said and gave me a false smile. "Samantha, this may be hard to comprehend for you, but your father is..."

My father was...?

"He's..."

He's...?

"The man who is your biological paternal figure is..."

My biological "paternal" figure is...?

"I don't think you know him, he has a son your age..."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Mason Urbanski. He has a son around your age, Daniel?"

WHAT.

WHAT?

WHAATTT?

"What?" I screeched.

"What?" my mother snapped back but she didn't say 'What' in a surprised tone like I did. She said it in an accused tone. Like the What-Did-I-Do? look.

I tried gasping for air. Okay, so Danny was technically my brother. But only because we had the same dad. Okay, this wasn't so hard to handle actually...hopefully Danny would never find out and I could live life the way I always did and...

"And not to dump this information on both of you, but I actually recently spoke to Mason..." Lana looked fidgety and a little nervous.

"Lana, what is it?" Grams snapped. She seemed suddenly very afraid too. Lana was just one big ball of surprises, huh?

Lana continued, "And he wants you to go live with him and his wife and his son. He said he knows it's sudden but that's what he wants. And since I feel like this living situation is risky for both of you, I signed the parent custody agreement and agreed to let him be your legal guardian now. You're going to live with him, Samantha."

Oh. My. God.

No.

Way.

I was suddenly freaking out.

This is not how Sammy Keyes usually reacts in reality. But to me this was not reality. It was some sort of practical joke! I was going insane.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M JUST MOVING IN? I DON'T EVEN KNOW HIM! HE'S NOT MY DAD TO ME! HIS SON IS A TOTAL [BLEEP] AND [BLEEP] AND YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND I CAN'T MOVE IN WITH HIM BECAUSE I...I JUST...I CAN'T!"

Silence.

Shocked. Silence.

I hated my mom. I hated her for doing this. For moving away when I was a kid. For ruining my life. Why hadn't she just stayed with me? Why hadn't she gotten a better job and made a better life for both of us? Why was she a selfish little -? Why did I just wish I were never born? Why did I wish she had never gone to L.A all those years ago? Why?

"I just..." I was sobbing now, going crazy. "I wish you had never gone to L.A, EVER! I wish you had just stayed with me! Was it that difficult for you? Did you hate me that much? I wish I had a life where I'm normal and live in a normal house with a normal mom and do normal things! I hate you!"

Before I could see a reaction to anyone, everything blacked out.

A/N: So I have posted the whole complete story here. I wrote it all beforehand and now I'm posting it here altogether. SO COMMENT. Because I was that nice. But yeah, 15 chapters already up completing the story? Admit it, I rock. Kbye. Disclaimer: I don't own Sammy Keyes, Wendelin Van Draanen does. This was the disclaimer for all the chapters.