The cafeteria door opened to admit a bundle of excited energy and smiles. Andromeda couldn't be more thrilled. Her very own BB gun! She couldn't wait to tell Amata!

Right on cue, Amata appeared beside her.

"Where did you go?" she demanded.

"Oh, nowhere," Andromeda said, unable to keep the happy grin off her face as they headed together towards the cake. Ruined as it was, she would still gladly eat it. "I'll tell you about it later," she whispered her promise, mindful of all the adults and undesirable people around who would tattle on her if they only knew.

Amata nodded and made a zipped lips motion. She too knew that there were something's you didn't want overheard in the vault.

Before either one of them could reach the cake though, the Overseer stopped them.

"Andromeda. I hope you appreciate the effort Amata put into this party," he said, sounding as stern and pompous as ever. "She really seems to like you, for some reason."

"Dad!" Amata complained. Both of them were used to the Overseer's attitude towards Andromeda and her father, but it still stung, and the warmth of joy in her heart was slightly extinguished by his words. Amata was the only person who wanted to be her friend, yet her own father couldn't even understand why.

"I'm just saying I don't see why you hang out with her, Amata," he continued, as though Andromeda wasn't standing right in front of him. "Still," he continued, pausing to actually address her directly. "Perhaps she'll set a good example for you. There's still plenty of time for you to make something of yourself."

The coldness of the Vault had snuck back into her heart as she was reminded once again that she was worthless in the eyes of others. She never understood what they saw in her that made them say that, what she could possibly have done in her 10 years to make them hate her. Nothing came to mind. She wouldn't know until she was older what sorts of problems she had caused for the Vault, and how many of those were actually her fault.

"Argh! Dad! What is wrong with you?" Amata groaned in frustration, grabbing Andromeda's arm and dragging her away from him. "God, my dad can be so... so... so annoying sometimes!"

Once they were on the opposite side of the room from him, she turned back to Andromeda.

"I'm sorry about what he said. He just doesn't understand. I mean, we're best friends. Right?"

"Best friends," Andromeda assured with a soft nod.

Amata beamed at her. "Alright. You wait here. I'll see if I can salvage any cake from Andy," she said, rolling her eyes good-humoredly and raced back past her dad towards the service robot.

Andromeda smiled as she watched her friend leave. She didn't know what she would do without Amata. Her best and only friend was one of the only reason she hadn't been bored to death already.

Or dead at the hands of someone else...

"Hey, butt-head!"

Andromeda froze. She turned, unsurprised, to find Butch and his cronies standing behind her. She gulped.

Even on her birthday, he couldn't leave her alone.

"Old Lady Palmer gave you one of her sweetrolls, didn't she?' he demanded. "I'm hungry and that stupid robot destroyed the cake. I want it. Give it to me."

Andromeda took a step back in fear, her hand moving unconsciously to the sweetroll in her pocket. No, she didn't want to share. Not today. Not this. Not with him.

"Mrs.-Mrs. Palmer said I didn't have to share..."

"'Mrs. Palmer said I didn't have to share'," he mocked. "Who said anything about sharing, moron? I want the whole thing." He took a step towards her, his threat clear.

That's when she did something stupid. Maybe because deep down she actually was reckless, always toeing the line between danger and safety. Maybe because a small piece of her longed for danger. Or maybe she was simply stupid.

Maybe even it was because it wasn't something people expected from the shy, meek girl, and maybe that made her feel special, knowing she wasn't what they expected.

More likely though, it was from a sense of boredom.

Whatever it was, she spoke before she could stop herself.

"No."

"What did you say?"

"I said no. Go... go soak your head, Butch!"

She didn't even see Butch's fist come flying at her face, to proud of herself in that moment for standing up for herself.

Her butt hit the ground as the force of the hit knocked her over and pain erupted from her cheek and bum.

She looked up in fear as Butch approached her, a menacing look on his face. Oh she was going to get it now.

At that moment though, someone appeared behind Butch and grabbed him by his arm, heaving him away from her.

"Butch! What do you think you're doing? Hitting a girl, and on her birthday for heaven's sake!" Officer Gomez growled, shaking Butch.

"It's not my fault!" he whined, trying to get out of trouble. "You didn't hear what she said to me!"

"Can it. I've had it with you, Butch," Officer Gomez said. "I'm not going to tolerate any more of your bullying. Your mother is going to hear about this little incident."

Butch glared at her as he tugged his arm out of Officer Gomez's grip and she knew she would pay for this later. For a moment, she wished Officer Gomez hadn't stepped in. She could have just taken this one beating and then not have to worry about it. Now she was going to get it even worse.

"I can't believe my mom made me come to this stupid party," he grumbled, turning away from her and Officer Gomez. "Come on you guys."

As he and his followers left, Officer Gomez let out a breath.

"I hope Butch didn't hurt you," he said, turning to her. "Do you want to tell me what that was all about?"

"It was nothing. Don't worry about it, sir," she assured, staring at her feet.

"... Good," he clapped her on the back, nearly knocking her off balance. "Don't let Butch start to bully you or he'll never stop."

To late...

"I've seen his type before. He's going to be a handful in a few years if his mother doesn't take him in hand." He gave her a worried look. "I'm going to give you some advice though. Stay away from Butch. He's nothing but trouble."

"I will," she promised softly. If only she could. But where could she hide from him in the Vault? There was no way to avoid him.

Except, maybe... in the Reactor... No one ever ventured far into it, so as long as she stayed in the back, no one would even know she was there. And! And! If he was ever chasing her, all she had to do was beat him to the Reactor and close the door! He wouldn't dare come after her.

With new resolve, she smiled up at Officer Gomez. "Thank you, sir. I will do my best."

Officer Gomez smiled back. "Good. Have a great rest of your birthday, Andromeda."

With that, he left, never knowing the amount of rule breaking she was planning in her own mind.

"Are you alright?" Amata questioned in a low voice, having rushed back to her friend when the commotion broke out, ready to defend her, but had hung back when Officer Gomez took over.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Andromeda assured, despite her throbbing cheek. She had a plan.

"God! That Butch is such a jerk! What's his problem anyway? I can't believe he tried to start a fight at your birthday party," she seethed, despite the fact that she had tried to start a fight not that long ago. "What a jerk."

"He tried to steal my sweet roll," Andromeda agreed, quite upset at the big jerk at the moment, uncurling her fingers from around the crushed sweet roll in her pocket. Even though it was destroyed, she still felt a small slice of satisfaction that had Butch gotten none.

"God, he really is a butthead. Oh well. You can always count on Butch to make an ass of himself. Get it?" she laughed at her own joke. Andromeda broke a smile, slightly amused by the joke, but more amused by her friends own enjoyment in her own joke. Amata was always the first to laugh at her own jokes. "Come on. Lets go see how everyone else is liking the party. And see if they have anymore presents for you!"

"Why don't you go around, Amata. You did plan the party. I'm just going to hang back for a bit... while things cool down," she glanced over at the table Butch and the others sat at. It would be best to avoid that side of the room for the rest of her party. "Maybe go get some ice from the Infirmary."

Really what she wanted to do was plan. This was so exciting! Maybe she could even set traps, to scare away anyone who shouldn't be there!

"You want me to go with you?"

"No, that's okay," she assured. "I shouldn't be long."

"Okay," Amata nodded. "See you when you get back."

Andromeda nodded and headed for the door. Out in the halls she let out a deep breath and let a wide grin spread across her face. With this, maybe, just maybe, life in this Vault could be different for her.

She turned a corner and promptly fled back behind it. It was the Overseer and Officer Kendall!

"Sounds like everybody's having a good time in there." She could hear Officer Kendall say.

The Overseer wasted no time. "Give them a few more minutes and then I want that place cleaned up and everyone back to work."

Andromeda felt a moment of panic. Already? But- But- Her party!

"Yes, sir," Officer Kendall replied. "Did you have a good time, sir?"

"Bah, I only showed up because Amata's friends with the brat and to fulfill my duties as Overseer," he grumbled. "I could care less about the brat or her father. As long as their useful to me, that's all I need."

The conversation abruptly stopped as she heard someone walk away.

She jumped nearly a foot in the air when Officer Kendall walked around it. Oh crap! She was going to get such a scolding for eavesdropping!

He smiled. "Hey there, ten years old today, right? Happy birthday." And walked past.

Andromeda stared after him, her eyes wide with shock. That was it? No scolding? No 'eavesdropping is wrong' speech? ... Had he even realized she had been eavesdropping?

Officer Kendall wasn't the most observant person, they all knew that, but... she would have thought standing around a corner where people had just been talking about you might have been a bit of a tip off. Was he really that oblivious?

Whatever it was, she thanked her luck and, after a quick check down the hallway to make sure the Overseer was gone (he wouldn't be so oblivious), she quickly raced down the hall to the Infirmary, eager to grab some ice and head back to her party before it was shut down. After that maybe she could head back down to the Reactor and plan her booby-traps!

This, by far, even with Butch and the Overseer there, had to have been her best birthday party ever!