Birthday Wishes
Max squealed in delight as she ran around the living room of the Caulfields' house; her newest obsession being Batman, her parents had bought her a Batman cowl and cape and she had spent the better part of her birthday morning hiding in corners and on the stairs, yelling "Where's Rachel?!" and demanding cookies. So preoccupied with her pre-party birthday gift, Max was oblivious to the fact that in an hour her party was going to start. I'm…Bat-Max! Max thought as she ran through the second floor hallway and nearly slammed head-first into her father. Ryan Caulfield's smiling face brought a toothy grin to his daughter, and Max crawled between his legs when he slowly made to grab his daughter.
"Curses!" Ryan cried out in mock frustration, shaking his fist as Max hid behind her bedroom door, the mask's pointy ears and her eyes peering at him. "I'll get you next time, Bat-Max!"
"Nuh-uh!" Max yelled back, swinging her door open to give her dad the best superhero pose she could. Fists on her hips, Max jutted out her chin and huffed, puffing out her chest to the delightful clap of her mother as Vanessa came up the stairs. Uh-oh, Max thought as she saw the look on her mom's face.
"Punkin', some of your classmates are here," Vanessa said, attempting to coax Max out as the little brunette had ducked back into her bedroom, "Sweet pea, they brought presents."
"Don't care!" Max said, sticking her tongue out as she poked her head out from behind the bedroom door.
Max's social anxiety was one of the reasons why the Caulfields had moved from Seattle to Arcadia Bay. Ryan and Vanessa had shared their concern with one another about how Max never seemed to have any friends in her preschool or 1st grade class. While shyness at her age was expected, Max's parents knew it was more than that because their daughter made a point to avoid people. Don't need people, Max thought to herself as Vanessa continued to try and get her to come out from behind the bedroom door.
"Kiddo," Ryan said, his voice soft as he kneeled down at the door to Max's bedroom, "Maxaroni, I know it is hard for you. But we'll be here the entire time and I think I saw this girl, this blue-haired girl-"
"Lizzie!" Max screeched as she swung the door open and into her dad's face. "Sorry, daddy…"
"S'okay," Ryan said, rubbing his nose and checking to make sure it wasn't bleeding, "But kiddo, your friend's sister came alone so you should see where Chloe is. She's your best friend, right?"
"Right!" Max nodded, Ryan biting his lip to keep himself from laughing at how adorable his daughter was. Hugging her father, Max sprinted down the hall and the stairs only to stop when Lizzie came around the corner with a pirate hat on.
"Ahhh!" Max cried out, lip trembling at the fright Chloe's older sister had given her. "You meanie!"
"Nuh-uh! I'm hella cool!" Lizzie retorted, snorting at Max's accusatory tone before pulling a wrapped object out of a backpack she had slung over her shoulder, "Chlo can't make it, pipsqueak. She's down with the sickness or whatever. Anyway, here."
Max hesitantly took the package and examined it. The size of a shoebox, Chloe's gift to her was awkwardly wrapped until Max tore through it. Leaving the wrapping and box discarded, Max tilted her head at the single walkie-talkie and looked up at Lizzie Price with her brow furrowed.
"Um…"
"Turn it on, dork," Lizzie said, smiling as she squatted down and clicked the walkie-talkie on, "Breaker, breaker!"
"You're always a faker!" a weak voice said through the speaker.
"Chloeeeeee!" Max cried out, holding the walkie-talkie with both hands as she stared at it wide-eyed, "I-I miss you."
"Dude, you saw me yesterday," Chloe said over the walkie-talkie, "But yeah, I totally miss you. Party started yet?"
"Y-Yeah…," Max said, pouting at how her best friend wasn't at her birthday party, "Ooh! I'm Bat-Max now! Momma and Daddy got me a mask and a cape and a batawang!"
"Uh, 'batarang', Max," Lizzie corrected her little partner-in-crime, "You should see your BFF, Chlo. She's pretty hardcore right now."
"I'm badass!" Max shouted only to wince when she heard her mother chide her from upstairs. Momma thinks I hear the bad things from Chloe and Lizzie but she says them, too. So does Daddy…
Max played with the walkie-talkie at the foot of the stairs with Lizzie sitting next to her, a grin on the blue-haired girl's face as her sister's best friend chattered away into the small electronic device. It wasn't until Vanessa Caulfield came down the stairs that Lizzie got up and instinctively smoothed out her jacket and tank-top. Max looked up and frowned; Lizzie had been on Vanessa's bad side ever since she'd taken them from school when Max had skipped out on the field trip to be with Chloe. Please please don't kick Lizzie out, Momma! She's so cool! Max thought as she saw the look on her mother's face.
"Elizabeth," Vanessa said, all civility but no friendliness.
"Uh, hey," Lizzie said, scratching at her beanie while avoiding the glare leveled at her from Max's mother.
"Momma, no!" Max said, leaping to her feet as she stuck her lower lip out. "Lizzie's my friend, too! Don't kick her out, please! It's… It's my birthday…"
"S'cool," Lizzie said, looking down to flash Max an appreciative grin, "I gotta go anyway, pipsqueak. Work an' everything. Just… Just enjoy the walkie-talkie, and keep it on so Chlo can at least get into the party somewhat, ok?"
"…Okay…," Max said, sniffling as she hugged Lizzie before whispering "I'm sorry Momma's a butt…"
Feeling Lizzie shake from laughter, Max smiled at her friend as she left their house. Living only a block or two away from the Price family had made it relatively easy for them to all know one another; Lizzie was the only deterrent in the two families getting any closer, Vanessa refusing to absolve her daughter's accomplice in escaping the school trip even though she was well-intentioned. Watching the door close behind Lizzie, Max spun around and huffed at her mom before heading out to the backyard. Not seeing the frown on Vanessa's face, Max silently wished her mom would not be such an asshole.
Max sat in one corner of the fenced-in backyard, a cup of punch and half-eaten piece of cake on either side of her cross-legged body as she and Kate Marsh played with Kate's gift to her, a little bunny they'd named "Alice". Watching the young kit hop between them as she inquisitively sniffed, Max and Kate giggled.
"She's soooo cute!" Max exclaimed, the walkie-talkie in her lap as she and Kate narrated what Alice was up to so Chloe could get an idea of what was going on. "Chloe, she's eatin' grass!"
"Uh, duh. Bunnies eat grass, Max," Chloe replied with a snort, the sound echoey through the walkie-talkie's speaker and Max jumped at the sudden burst of loud static, "Shit!"
"Chloe!" Kate said in a chiding voice.
"Sorry, but it's just that my battery is dying and I took the last double-As," Chloe said, Max frowning at how sad her friend sounded, "I think I'm gonna have to bail, Max. I'm sorry."
"…S'okay…"
"It isn't really, is it?" Chloe's voice came off as apprehensive.
"…No. Chloe, I miss youuuu," Max whined, watery eyes looking down at the walkie-talkie as Chloe talked fast until her walkie-talkie died.
Sniffling, Max started to sob. She missed Chloe, missed how comfortable her friend made her feel. Kate's nice, but she's Kate and Chloe is Chloe, Max thought as she kept looking down at the walkie-talkie. Hearing rustling noises, Max looked up to see Kate scoop up Alice into her hands as she slid over in the grass to hug Max.
"I'm s-sorry," Kate said, leaning Max's head into her shoulder.
"Why you sorry?" Max asked, giving her friend a weak smile, "You didn't do nothin'..."
"Are you two ever going to not be crybabies?" a voice asked, her snide tone not matching her diminutive size and age. Max looked up to see Victoria Chase eyeing her with arms crossed.
"Why are you even here?" Max asked, her tone harsh enough that Victoria flinched, "You're so mean, to me and Chloe and Kate. Why'd my momma have to invite you, the girl who is nothing but a bully?"
"I-I'm not a bully," Victoria said, arms at her sides with small hands clenched into fists, her face expressing outrage at being called such a thing as a bully, "I'm not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are t-too!" Max said, getting to her feet with her own hands balled into fists. "You're so m-mean to me, Vicky! Why? I didn' do nothin'!"
Neither Max or Victoria noticed Kate backpedaling away as Nathan Prescott approached to stand behind Victoria with a smirk on his face, frosting on one cheek.
"Good cake, nerd," Nathan said, the backhanded compliment getting a puzzled look from Max, "Um, my mom got you somethin'."
Taking the box from Nathan, her eyes not leaving Victoria's, Max opened it up and gasped at the sight of a pair of black and pink wheelies. Grinning, Max walked past Victoria and hugged Nathan.
"Thank you, thank you!" Max said, so excited she kicked off her sneakers and immediately slipped the wheelies on, "See, Victoria? Even Nathan can be nice."
"Hey, I can be super nice. It's just… It's just that everyone thinks I'm a troublemaker…," Nathan said, frowning as he looked down at his feet and fidgeted.
"You just need to smile more, like you were just a moment ago," Kate blurted out, hiding her face behind the twitching form of Alice as she peeked from behind the baby bunny's ears, "If you don't look so scary people might talk to you more…"
Nathan seemed to take Kate's remark into consideration and he smiled while kicking his own wheelies together. Getting his unsaid suggestion, Max ran with Nathan, Kate, and a petulant Victoria through the backyard only to stop when she spotted Alyssa get hit with a piece of the piñata Max had broken.
"You okay?" Max asked, putting a hand on her classmate's shoulder.
"Who keeps doin' that?" Alyssa asked, looking around in confusion with her comic book rolled up like she was itching for a fight.
"I dunno," Max said with a shrug and resumed her quick pace to the driveway with Kate, Nathan, and Victoria close behind.
Once Nathan showed her the basics of how the shoes worked, something far less complex than how he made it to be, Kate held on to one of Max's shoulders as the birthday girl began to slowly roll around the driveway. Eyes wide as she bit her lip, Max was worried about falling in front of Victoria, more so than Nathan. Nathan's bein' nice so I don't think he would be a butt if I fell. I just… I just dunno 'bout Victoria! Max thought as she got the hang of the wheelies. Riding around in careful circles and a couple of slow spins that Nathan did as examples, Max smiled gleefully as she began to spin in-place. Hearing Nathan and Kate giggle as she twirled around in her Bat-Max mask and cape while riding her wheelies, Max stopped and struck a superhero pose; mask partially hidden by her cape, Max eyed Kate and Nathan from just above her cape and growled "I am the night!"
"Max!" Vanessa shouted from the backyard. "Sweet pea, it's time for presents! That is, I mean, if you want-"
"YES!" Max shouted and nearly fell over as she'd forgotten what kind of shoes were presently on her feet at the time. "We're coming!"
The presents were a variety of toys and games: action figures, costume pieces, books, comics, video games. Max had been left to her plunder, examining a book of photography, when someone gently set a present just to the side of her opened gifts. Looking up, Max eyes narrowed for a second when she saw Victoria looking down at her; Max relaxed a bit when she caught how anxious the other girl was.
"…It's n-not a trick present, is it?" Max asked, gently poking the box with a small index finger.
"I'm not a bully, Max," Victoria insisted, caught off-guard when Max looked up at her and sniffled.
"…I don't understand it," Max said, pouting a little, "Why won't you be my friend? I like you. When you're not being mean, you are smart and tell jokes and you have really pretty hair. I wanna be friends with you."
"Max…," Victoria's face reddened and she looked away, "Maybe we're too much the same. I… I think you're pretty cool, too. Like, one of the coolest. It's… It's just that my mother and father aren't friendly to other people and they don't like me hanging around most of the other kids."
Max sighed, met in response with a sigh from Victoria and the girls sat next to one another and looked at Victoria's unopened gift. Max's screwed her face up and looked at the present as though she were trying to see through the wrapping and packaging to no avail. What's in the box?
"What is it?" Max asked, looking at Victoria with a sidelong glance.
"Open it!" Victoria cried out, raising her arms in triumph as Max tore the decorative paper off to reveal a Polaroid camera.
"A camera?!" Max asked, her mouth agape as she looked at the camera and then at Victoria in absolute wonder. "Vicky, this is what I wanted most for my birthday this year. How'd you know?"
"I-I didn't," Victoria stammered, flustered under the weight of Max's gaze, "I swear, Max! I swear I-"
The little peck on Victoria's cheek was warm and friendly, a token of appreciation for something so kind from a person Max had least expected. Victoria put a shaky hand to her face and looked at the grinning birthday girl as she took Victoria's hand.
"If we can't be friends, maybe we can be secret friends?" Max asked, squeezing Victoria's hand. "You don't have to be mean to me in class, either."
"O-Okay…," Victoria replied, feeling very shy at the moment, "But, maybe, could you sit with me sometimes?"
"That's not very secretive."
"We don't always have to be secretive."
"Max?" a weak voice asked from the walkie-talkie Max had sitting on the table by her opened presents.
"Chloe!" Max exclaimed, reaching over to grab the electronic device. When Max saw Victoria move to leave, Max grabbed her hand and shook her head. Why do have to leave? Is it cuz of Chloe? "Chloe? Chloe, why don't you and Victoria get along?"
"Max!" Both Victoria and Chloe cried out, Victoria loud enough to catch some unwanted attention. Max screwed her lips up to one side and eyeballed Victoria.
"Max, that's not fair!" Victoria objected, taking her hand out of Max's. "It's… It's not that we can't get along. We just don't. She's so weird…"
"Hey!" Chloe yelled into the walkie-talkie, a burst of static following that made both Max and Victoria wince.
"But I want you both to be my friends…," Max pleaded, her puppy eyes making Victoria bite her lip as Chloe scoffed from the walkie-talkie, "Don't be a butt, Chloe."
"Don't call me th-thatphooo!" Chloe retorted before sneezing into the walkie-talkie, "Max, I'm your friend. I'm not her friend."
"Same," Victoria nodded, "I can be secret friends with you, Max, but no way will I be friends with her."
"Ohmydog, you're both butts!" Max said, rolling her eyes as she shook her head, "You're both my friends, so there!"
"Secret friend," Victoria reminded her, "But yeah, friends. Just-"
"-Not with her," Chloe finished Victoria's sentence.
Max huffed and held onto her arm out of awkwardness. I like 'em both, but they don't wanna be friends with each other. S'not fair! Am I gonna have to choose?
"…B-But," Max started to speak, Victoria turning her head to look at the sniffling brunette, "S'my birthday and I just want to have some friends, s'all. Why can't you both be my friend? Are you gonna make me choose, because I don't wanna!"
At "wanna", Vanessa Caulfield came over and saw the tear-stained face of her daughter as Max had started to cry, Victoria holding onto her in a tight hug as she repeated "I'm sorry" over and over; breaking the girls' holds on one another, Vanessa knelt down and looked her sobbing daughter in the eye.
"Oh, Punkin'," Vanessa said, frowning at how miserable her birthday girl looked, "Was the party a bad thing?"
"N-No… S'just that people are butts," Max blurted out, eyes widening in horror as the dread of her mother's response reared itself, "Sorry, Momma. I said a bad thing…"
"…I'll allow it this once, Punkin'," Vanessa said, a faint smirk on her face as she managed to keep herself from laughing, "But I think it's time for a nap, don't you? Look at little Katie over there; she fell asleep into her piece of cake."
As though her ears were sensitive like those of the bunny she had given Max, Kate's head spun to look over in Max's direction, faint smears of whipped topping and carrot cake on one side of her face with Ryan Caulfield chuckling as he continued the task of cleaning up the little girl. Bursting into a fit of giggles, both Max and Victoria walked over and sat with Kate while she whimpered from people laughing at her expense. Calming her sweet friend down, Max told everybody she was supposed to take a nap and headed upstairs as though her words had been a proclamation.
"Everybody's so mean!" Max sobbed into the leg of her father's jeans, sniffling and whimpering between shark gasps of air. "I-I try to m-make friends b-but they just call me stupid! I'm not stupid! I'm not!"
"Oh, Punkin'," Vanessa said, kneeling down to hug her daughter, little six year-old Max Caulfield. Max spun around to wrap her arms around her mother, "Of course you're not stupid. Ryan what kind of a school does this? Makes a child feel so miserable?"
"Um, probably all schools in some fashion," Ryan answered, wincing when Vanessa slapped him on the shoulder as she got to her feet with Max in one arm, "Ow! Honey, I don't know what you want me to say! People can be downright butts, sometimes."
"That's right!" Max sat up in Vanessa's arms, pulling her thumb out of her mouth. "Butts!"
"Great," Vanessa said with a sigh, rubbing at a temple with her free hand, "Thanks, Ryan. Now she's learned a new word."
"Sorry…," Ryan smiled apologetically as he took Max from his wife's arms, "Kiddo, that word is a bad thing. Okay? No using that word."
Max nodded and laid her head onto Ryan's shoulder, thumb back in her mouth as she hiccupped from all the crying. She didn't like the school, didn't like the kids. They're mean and jerkfaces, Max thought as Ryan and Vanessa Caulfield talked.
"What are we supposed to do, Honey?" Ryan asked his wife. "I mean, we could try and homeschool her or something. Maybe just a little while…"
"No," Vanessa replied before letting out a sigh of frustration, "No, that won't work. She needs better social skills, needs to get involved with kids; what our little girl really needs is a friend, a genuine one."
Max woke up with a start, the burst of energy dissipating as quickly as it had propelled her into an upright position. Eyes half-lidded with a little bit of dried spittle out of one corner of her mouth, Max was still in her party clothes as she groggily climbed down from her bed. Feeling the carpet on her feet, her mind absent from the day's earlier proceedings, Max pleasantly dug her toes into the soft fabric before remembering the events of her birthday party when she saw the Batman mask sitting on the little table she used for drawing with her crayons and markers. Seeing the Polaroid camera placed in the middle of her art table, Max hurriedly undressed and pulled on her usual hoodie and jeans. Slipping on a pair of sneakers patterned with little skulls and black cats, Max grabbed the camera and stuffed it into her little messenger bag. Running as fast as her legs would allow, Max nearly fell down the stairs and was the recipient of amused looks by both Vanessa and Ryan Caulfield as they sat on the living room couch with a movie playing.
"Punkin'…?" Vanessa asked, seeing the wild-eyed look on her daughter's face. "Max, what's wrong? Did you have a-"
"Do we have any cake left?" Max asked, cutting off her mother to everyone's surprise.
"Um, yes. I think there's a few slices left," Vanessa answered Max's question with a wary tone in her voice, her daughter oblivious to the hesitation, "Max, why do you want to know if we have any cake-"
"Imma take a piece over to Chloe!" Max ran into the kitchen with Vanessa shortly behind, Ryan chuckling as he caught up to his family.
"Max Caulfield, you most certainly are not! Chloe is sick. Do you want to get sick?" Vanessa asked, closing the refrigerator door as Max started to open it. When Max kicked at the door with a huff, Vanessa fought to maintain her composure only to melt when little Max Caulfield looked up at her with a pouty, puppy-eyed face.
"But Momma…," Max pleaded as she continued to tug on the refrigerator door, oblivious to her mother's hand keeping it in place, "Momma, please. I don't care if I get sick. I have to see Chloe. S'my birthday, so lemme go!"
Ryan Caulfield but a comforting hand on the shoulder of his exhausted wife, Vanessa reluctantly opening the refrigerator door. Taking out a piece of carrot cake, Max picking the largest slice, Vanessa Caulfield packed the dessert into a small Tupperware container and handed it to her daughter. Max held the container to her chest and smiled at her parents victoriously before spinning on her heels as she ran out of the kitchen, the screen door leading outside slamming shut.
Max didn't care that the sun was starting to set, didn't care that she knew her parents didn't like it when she went over to the Prices' at this time of day without them. Today's special, though. It's special because I'm gonna make it special, Max thought as she determinedly walked through people's backyards before coming to a stop across the street from the Price house. Ready or not!
Half-painted, the Price house was a little bigger in size to Max's house despite both being two-storied. Her steps becoming increasingly hesitant as she advanced toward the house, Max began to second-guess her decision to just show up. What if they don't want me to come in? What if I don't get to see Chloe or Lizzie or Bongo? What if-
"Yo, Pipsqueak!" a voice called out from the street behind Max and the little brunette cautiously looked over her shoulder to see Lizzie Price heading up the walkway to where Max was standing. "Dude, you gonna stay there or… Ooh, you brought my lil sissy some cake? Seriously, you two are fucking adorable."
"…Bad things," Max muttered, looking down at the Tupperware container while fidgeting, "You said bad things. It's okay, though, because I said 'butt'."
"You did?" Lizzie asked, eyes wide as she put a hand to her chest in shock. Max didn't get the sarcasm so her confusion increased when she nodded and Lizzie followed up with a bout of laughter, "Well… Well, aren't you a little troublemaker! I'll open the door and distract my parents while you quietly head upstairs and chill with Chlo."
"One…Two…Th-Three!" Lizzie whispered, Max smiling when she recognized the line said by the Tootsie Pop Owl. The door silently swung open and Max headed straight for the stairway while hearing Lizzie talk in a loud voice. Something… Something about pancakes for dinner…? I don't like pancakes. Waffles are better cuz you can catch all the syrup in the little pockets…
"Hello?" Max asked softly as she knocked on a door with a wood plaque nailed onto it that had "Chloe's Room" in stencil.
"Mommy, I don' want any more of that… Wait, Max?" a voice responded from inside the room and Max heard the sound of someone sliding off a bed and feet approaching. Taking a step back, Max smiled when Chloe opened the door a crack and peeked through. "Dude, what are you doin' here?"
"Why do you sound funny?" Max asked, tilting her head. "You sound like your momma-"
"I sound nuthin' like my mommy… Ugh, what do you want?" Chloe asked, rolling her eyes as she grumbled in frustration. Seeing the hurt look on Max's face, Chloe immediately calmed down. "I'm not mad at you, Bat-Max. I… I just wish I wasn't sick. I wanted to go to your party, see the look on your face when you saw the walkie-talkies. …Max, I wanted to see it at the party, not here at the door to my room," Chloe said with a snort as Max opened her mouth and eyes as wide as they would go.
"I brought you the biggest piece of my birthday cake that was… I brought you some of the cake," Max corrected herself, not wanting to say aloud that it was a leftover because she was afraid it would hurt Chloe's feelings.
"Well, are we gonna stand here or are we gonna sit in my bed and pig out on your friggin' huge piece of cake?" Chloe asked, the impish smirk on her face met with a toothy grin from Max's as Chloe shut the door behind them.
Max got sick the next day. Her mother told her she should not have gone to see Chloe, but it was worth it.
Author's Note –
Trying to balance writing these stories and grad school (when I no longer really need to go) is a pain in the ass. Glad this semester is my last, so I can pursue this full-time. Being on disability, my mobility and social functioning limited by my physical injuries and PTSD, I can actually write and give zero fucks about anything else. Some people have given me shit about it, to which I tell them that I'd rather have a healthy body than a monthly check. Such is life, I guess.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. I'm going to try and put another chapter of this story up later in the week but with moving into a new apartment and grad school taking up so much time all the installments are pretty much cases of "whenever I can"
Read, review, and I'll see you for Chapter 4!
Rachel is coming…
Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!
PS - Polarized is going to destroy our feels. Prepare yourselves!