New chapter, yeah! Seriously, you should be proud of me for updating so soon. I wrote this chapter like a week ago and decided to wait until I got back from the beach to post it, so here it is! I'm debating wether I should post the next chapter, which I've already written, tonight or tomorrow. Well, read and review please, thanks for all the review from the last chapter. I'll deff give a shout out to my 3ooth reviewer! Yay!
For the next two days I had a routine of sleeping, eating, going to training, and going on guard. Daniel and Jona thought the vampire's attack was coming soon, so training became more intense everyday. I hadn't seen Brysdon a lot in those three days, but every time I did see him he would smile at me. It seemed like he was always doing something for the royal family, and I rarely saw Amanda either.
"So," Damien asked me as we were sipping on our slushies he had bought us, "You excited about your birthday tomorrow? You turn seventeen." We were sitting at his kitchen table while his mom was cooking dinner.
"I know," I said, "I feel really old." His mom laughed but then continued cooking.
"Do you like it that your birthday will be combined with the Fourth of July party, or do you not?" he asked me.
"When I was little it really bothered me, you know, not getting all the attention. But I don't really mind anymore. Plus, I get fire works just for me!" I grinned at him while he laughed.
"True, true. And you still get presents from people."
"That's always good. Speaking of presents, you want to give me a hint as to what you got me?"
"The only hint I will give you is that Emily and I combined our money to pay for it. And your uncle and her parents helped a little, too."
"They did?" I asked, surprised.
"Just a little, it was mostly us though."
"Hmm," I said, and then immediately froze as my head began to hurt like crazy.
"Brain Freeze?" Damien asked.
"Mm hm." He laughed at me and patted my hand.
The next morning, I woke up to four smiling faces hovering over me. I got so scared that I jumped up and let out a little scream.
"Happy Birthday!" Sean, Janice, Shannon, and Ace all exclaimed. They handed me a big plate of chocolate chip pancakes with a candle on top. "Your favorite breakfast," Ace said.
I laughed and took a bite. "Thanks guys," I told them and blew out the candle.
"We'll leave you to get changed, then come down and join us, okay?" I nodded and they all left my room and closed the door. I looked at the clock and saw it was nine thirty in the morning. I put the plate down on my bedside table and lay back down on my bed.
"I'm seventeen," I whispered to myself, not really believing it. I knew my mom had me at six thirty in the morning, so that meant I was officially seventeen.
Which also meant that it has now been seven years since my family died. I quickly shook my head as to clear it and wiped that thought out of my head. Today was my birthday, I thought to myself, I can mourn later. I got out of bed and took a shower, allowing the hot water to sooth me and wake me up. I dried off, got dressed, and then went down stairs to finish breakfast with my family.
"So the Birthday/Independence day party will be in the park, the same place where we had the opening party. It will start at six o'clock, so nobody be late." He said the last part while looking at Shannon purposefully.
"What?" She said to him.
Ace ignored her and turned to me. "Damien and Emily want to give you your present early, so go over to Emily's around five forty five, okay?"
"I'll take you," Sean said to me, "So we can all go to the party together."
"Okay," I said to them and put my dish in the sink. I started to leave, but Ace called me back in and dismissed everyone else. I sat down at the kitchen table next to him and he cleared his throat.
"What is it Ace?" I asked him.
"Rose," he told me, "I'm really not suppose to give this to you until you turn eighteen next year, but I don't think your parents would have minded. You have grown up so much, and I'm so proud of you. I think you deserve this." He took a white envelope from his pocket and put it on the table in front of me. I began opening it as he explained to me. "It's part of your parents savings. I thought I would give it to you now so you could put it in your own saving account for safe keepings." I opened up the envelope and saw the number inside. My eyes bulged and I caught my breath. It was a lot of money. A lot. And he said it was only part of the money.
"That's only half," he continued, "And the other half will go to you when you're eighteen." My eyes watered up as I looked at him. "Your parents would want you to have some now, I think." I reached out and hugged him.
"Thank you," I told him, for lack of better words. He was proud of me, I thought to myself. "This means a lot."
"Well, now," he said, "Off you go. Training starts in five minutes, we're having it early today. I don't want you to be late." I laughed and got up from the table. Before leaving the room, I turned around again and thanked him before heading off. I put the check on my dresser upstairs, then rushed down to the back yard where Sean was waiting for me. We turned to our werewolf forms and ran to the field as fast as we could, and got there right on time. We returned to our human form and walked to the center of the field where everyone was gathered.
"Hey! It's the Birthday Girl!" Emily exclaimed as she ran up and gave me a hug. I laughed and hugged her back, then returned Frank's hug as well.
"Finally you're seventeen," Kevin said as he hugged me, "I though you'd be sixteen forever!"
I laughed. "So did I."
"Alright, alright, get in your groups everyone!" Jona called to us. They all split up and Jona told us we were in the ring.
"Anything you want to say to me, Jona?" I smiled at him.
"Hmm, let me think... Happy Independence Day?" He joked, while I scowled at him. He laughed and hugged me, "Happy Birthday Rosie." Then he turned me around and pushed me toward the ring, "Now get to work." Sean and I ran over to the ring and waited until Daniel pared us up and told us to get in. Sean got pared up with Rick, which was always a fun fight to watch because they were both equally big and strong. The match went on for a long time before Rick got tired and Sean finally got him out of the ring. Then he pared me up with Ryan, who I beat, and then Kellen, who I beat.
"Ouch," Kellen said, holding his leg where I had bitten him. I laughed and patted his head while I apologized. He seemed generally happy by the attention he was getting, and I quickly pulled away when I thought about his proposal to court me. The training continued until we were all completely tired, and Daniel called us over to the center of the field to have a meeting.
"We have new news on the whereabouts of the vampire coven, and we have decided that we will go to battle exactly a week from today." Murmurs burst out in the crowd and I looked to Emily with a worried glance. "Not all of you will be fighting, we can't risk the lives of some of our inexperienced werewolves, and some of the vampires, as you know, do not want to fight this specific coven. But I think we're ready, and we can't allow the coven to advance any further." He looked at the crowd, making sure he saw each and every one of us. "I will inform you who I need to fight. It is your choice, but I strongly encourage you to think about your tribe, and the humans you will be saving." He had a final note in his tone, so people started to filter out and go home, but I stayed and wandered over to where Sean, Emily, Frank, and Damien were standing.
"Well, Rose," Damien said sarcastically, breaking the silence, "that puts a happy note on your birthday."
"At least he told us," Sean said, "I was getting sick of not knowing anything around here." Emily took his hand into hers and squeezed it.
"I wander if he'll want me to fight," Frank thought aloud. Truthfully, I was wondering the same about myself. I knew I was fast, maybe the fastest in the tribe, and I was one of the strongest girls. Would Daniel let me fight? Did I want to fight?
Yes, I thought to myself, I did want to fight. I knew it wasn't the coven that had killed my family, but they were same kind of vampires. I would help stop them; I would make sure no kid had to go through what I went through.
Sean pulled me out of my thoughts when he asked me to come to the soccer field and play a game with them. I complied, knowing that was the one thing that could pull my mind out of the clouds. We ran to the field and found that most of the guys had already arrived. Sean and I ended up being captains, so we separated ourselves from the group and started picking. The game was great, my team ended up kicking the other team's ass, but they just claimed they let me win because it was my birthday. Yeah, OK Sean.
"Come on, come on, come on!" I yelled at Sean. It was already five forty five and we hadn't even left for Emily's yet.
"Hold your horses, Rose! It's not like your present is going anywhere!" He came loping down the stairs in his baby blue polo and his nice pair of jeans. His blonde hair had grown out a little and I could tell he put a little muse in it.
"Aw, Sean, you didn't get dressed up for me, did you?" I asked him as we walked out the door. We headed over to Ace's car and got in, knowing that I couldn't ride the motorcycle with the dress I was wearing. It was a halter, white summer dress that had a blue ribbon right under my chest and tied in the back. It was my favorite. I tied my hair at the nape of my neck and let some loose curls fall around my face and wore a pair on white flats that I would most likely take off later.
"Okay," Sean said, when we were about to turn the corner for Emily's street, "You have to close your eyes now."
"What?" I asked him.
"You heard me. Close them now, Rose." I reluctantly closed my eyes as we pulled onto her street and into her drive way. I was so tempted to peek, but I really didn't want to ruin the surprise. I felt the car stop and Sean turned it off, then I felt him get out of the car, close the door, and came around to open mine. He helped me out and led me into the house, where he told me I could open my eyes again.
When I did open them, I found I was in Emily's living room with Damien, Sean, and Emily sitting on the sofa. I looked around the room, but nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Okay," I told them, "What was the point of that?"
Damien laughed. "The point," he said, handing me a small pink box with a bow on it, "Was this." I took the box, still not understanding, and started to open it. Inside the box, I found some keys.
...
Car keys.
I sprinted to the front of the house, and wrenched open the front door. There, sitting in the driveway with a big red bow on the hood, was a car. My car.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed and ran back in the house. I jumped on Emily and Damien and gave them a big hug, than ran back out and ran to my car. It was black, sleek, and sexy. I loved it. I hopped in the drivers seat and started it up. The engine purred to life silently and I squealed. The inside was leather and it smelt like new car. Emily, Sean, and Damien came out of the door and hopped in my car as well.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed. Emily and Damien were laughing from the back seat and said your welcome, while Sean was riding shot gun.
"Emily and I picked this car out for you and paid for most of it," Damien told me. I started to protest, realizing how much this car must have cost, but he stopped me. "It's already paid for, so don't even. Ace and Emily's parents helped out a little, too. I'm sure you can afford some insurance and gas with the check Ace gave you from your parents." He winked at me as I squealed again and leaned back to hug them.
"You guys are the best friends in the world! I love you!" I put both of my hands on the steering wheel and smoothed my hands over it.
"Now let's get going!" Emily said, grinning, "We're already twenty minutes late to your party, Rose!" Sean got out and took off the bow, then got back in and I started to pull out of the driveway.
Once we pulled onto the path that would lead us to the lake where we were having the party, we drove for another five minutes and parked along some of the trees where the other guests had parked. I was a little reluctant to leave my new car, but I was dragged away by my best friends. Once we got there, my uncle and cousins greeted me.
"Happy Birthday, Rose! Do you like the new car?" Ace asked me as I put my stuff down at his table.
"I love it. Thank you so much, Ace." He smiled at me and continued talking to his friend. For five minutes straight I was surrounded by my family and friends greeting me 'Happy Birthday' and telling me how much I've grown up. I loved hearing that they thought I was more mature now, but I hated it when my Mom's old friends would pinch my cheeks and tell me how beautiful I was. What was I? Five? At one point Damien had asked me to dance, saving me from a group of old ladies that were telling me stories from the old days.
"Life saver," I told him as I put my hand in his.
"Oh, yes, Rose, I'm sure you would have died of boredom." We both laughed and began swaying to the music. "Having fun?"
"Definitely. I can't wait for the fire works. And the birthday cake."
He laughed again. "Me too." He looked past my head, and I noticed it was about the third time he had done so.
"What are you looking at?" I asked, not turning my head so I wouldn't look obvious.
"Your man has been staring at you for the past five minutes. Have you seen him yet?" He asked me.
"He's not my man. And no, I have not." But I had been looking for him, I added mentally. Damien spun us around so I was facing Brysdon, and I smiled. He was wearing a black dress shirt with a nice pair of jeans, and his hair looked almost purple from the light shinning off of the raven color. He was smiling at me and I smiled back at him, noticing that his face had some more color since the last time I had seen him. I sighed as I watched Brysdon turn to Greg and laugh at something he said. He made my heart thump so hard.
"Did you hear about Suze and Erik?" He asked me, obviously changing the subject.
"What about them?" I asked.
"They broke up."
"What?!" I pulled away, shocked with his statement.
"Yeah," he said, taking my hand and starting to dance again, "I would totally kick his ass if not for the fact that my sister assured me it was mutual. My sister might be a little bit of a bitch, but she's still my sister."
"Wow," I said, still surprised, "They seemed good together."
"I don't know," he told me, "Erik never seemed like he was really...there. You know? Like he wasn't fully into the relationship." I thought about his statement a little until Damien stopped and looked over my shoulder. "Speak of the devil...," he said, and I turned around to see Erik walk up to us.
"May I have this next dance?" He asked me, while Damien just stood there glaring.
"Okay," I told him, while I gave my best friend a pointed look until he handed me over. We started dancing a little, and I waited for him to say something first.
"I'm guessing Damien told you about his sister and I," he said.
"He did. I'm sorry," I told him.
"It's okay, it was time we broke up. It wasn't really working out..." he hesitated and the conversation was starting to give me a bad feeling. "You know it's been a long time since we hung out together."
"Yeah." Keep it simple.
"During this Gallient, I've had a lot of time to see and talk to people I haven't been with in a while." He stared at me again. "I really missed us hanging out."
"Uh, yeah." Oh god, oh jeez, oh no, I thought to myself.
"Just me and you." He squeezed my hand and I almost slapped it away. I stared at the stage, willing Emily, who was holding the microphone while talking to the band, to hear my plea. Amazingly, she looked my way and caught my desperate glance.
"Okay," she said clearly, so everyone could hear, "I think it's time that we sung Happy Birthday to the Birthday girl!"
Erik you little stinker!
