Chapter Ten

"Alyssa, sweetie? Are you ready?" Mom poked her head in the doorway of my room. Her eyes lit up when she saw me. "Oh honey, you look beautiful. Remind me again where you got that dress?"

"It was this tiny little vintage shop in London." I picked up a lipstick from my vanity table and slicked it on, admiring the contrast of the dark coral color with my dress.

"Well, you're going to have to take me there some time," she said, stepping further into my room. "Let me take a look at you." She grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the mirror. Reaching a hand up to my forehead, she tucked a stray lock of hair back behind my ears. The rest was curled and pinned up into an elaborate bun, with tendrils falling out artistically and framing my face. "There. I can't believe you're only sixteen. You look so grown up tonight."

My cheeks flushed. "You look really pretty too, Mom." She wore a full-length champagne-colored satin dress with a low-cut V-neck, thin spaghetti straps, rhinestone and gold bead detail down the center of the ruched bodice, and a long slim skirt.

"Alright for an old lady, I suppose," she laughed, twirling a strand of her own bright red hair around her finger. Unlike mine, her hair was down and curly, falling in waves around her shoulders and back.

"Bloom, you're too self-deprecating for your own good sometimes," Dad laughed, coming into the room with two wineglasses in hand, each filled with a dark red liquid. He handed one of them to Mom, which she accepted gratefully and sipped cautiously, trying not to ruin her lipstick. "You look stunning, my love."

"Thank you," she replied demurely. "You don't look half bad yourself."

"Mmm-hmm." Setting his wineglass down on top of my nightstand, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and pulled her against him. In her gold heels, she was almost as tall as him. "You smell nice," he commented, nuzzling her neck, and she giggled.

I couldn't help but smile, watching the whole scene as I spritzed myself with perfume. Maybe it wasn't a perfect reconciliation – since I was almost certain that the wine, and the glint in Dad's eyes as he eyed Mom in her skintight dress, had something to do with it – but it was a start. And that was the best birthday present I could've ever asked for.

After a moment, Mom untangled herself and turned back to me, sighing softly. "Doesn't it seem like just yesterday she was learning how to walk? And now she's turning sixteen."

"Hey, you got to skip out on the worst of it," Dad teased gently. "The potty-training…"

"Dad!" I protested, although my heart wasn't truly in it. It was too busy jumping for joy at the fact that my parents had managed to last this long without yelling at each other.

"Baltor, not now," Mom admonished him, her eyes alive with laughter.

A chiming noise sounded from downstairs. Mom picked up her wineglass again and took a sip. "We'd better get downstairs, to greet our guests," she said. "You can take another minute to get ready, Alyssa, but no more – it is your party, after all."

"Be there in a minute." When they were gone, I turned back to the mirror for a final once-over.

Almost without thinking, my fingers reached up to play with the heart locket. Yes, despite my parents' many offers to let me borrow something from the Sparx Royal Treasure Vault, I'd decided to wear Ryan's necklace. It was understated and elegant enough not to look out of place, and it had more sentimental value than any emeralds or diamonds could ever dream of. My heart skipped a beat, thinking about seeing Ryan, and having him see me in my dress.

The sound of the doorbell echoing from downstairs startled me from my thoughts. Quickly, I picked up the skirt of my dress and headed downstairs.

"And there she is, the belle of the birthday ball," Ryan announced, as he saw me descending the stairs. He met me at the bottom and immediately pulled me into a long, passionate kiss. "Happy birthday, Alyssa," he whispered as we broke apart, as I just sucked in mouthfuls of air (very ungracefully, I imagined).

"Hey, stop hogging the birthday girl," Lola declared faux-indignantly, elbowing Ryan out of the way. She was resplendent in the pink dress from Magix, paired with four-inch silver stilettos that were completely covered in rhinestones (of course), her long blond hair iron-straight and half pulled up in a bun. "Happy birthday, Alyssa!" she cried, throwing her skinny arms around my neck. Her sweet perfume hit me like a slap in the face, but this was a scent overload I welcomed, and I hugged her back tightly.

"You look gorgeous, sweetie," Ivy said, wrapping her arms around me next. "Where did you find that dress?"

"Earth, if you can believe that. And hey, you don't look half bad yourself." Ivy blushed, and spun around a little bit, the long, full skirt of her gown twirling out around her. She wore a long slinky sky-blue gown with barely-there spaghetti straps, a sexy rhinestone floral-appliqué bodice with a deep V-neck, and a long satin skirt that nearly touched the floor. It was gorgeous, and much sexier than she usually went for. On her feet were flat silver sandals, and her long dark blond hair was tied in an elegant knot at the nape of her neck, the only ornamentation a pale blue orchid tucked in the center. That part, at least, was very traditional Ivy-style.

Dee and Mel hugged me next, each gushing over my dress, my hair, my shoes. Dee shone in the purple dress she'd picked out that day before break, with a simple crystal pendant necklace accenting her bare porcelain shoulders. And Mel had, like I'd suggested, hemmed the black-and-white dress, so that the tips of her royal blue sling-back pumps peeked out from under the skirt. Her long dark hair was completely free for once, and it fell down her back in a gleaming curtain.

"So how does it feel to be sixteen?" Aqua asked, letting go of my shoulders but still keeping me at arm's length. Her dark skin glowed against the deep olive green of her fitted chiffon empire-waist one-shoulder dress with an intricate silver brooch at the strap, ruched bodice, and long flowy skirt that fell nearly to the ground and swished around her legs when she walked. Long, intricate silver earrings dangled from her ears, matching her low-heeled strappy sandals, and her hair fell in a mass of beachy waves down her mostly bare back.

"Honestly, not that much different from being fifteen," I admitted, tugging on the necklace again (a bad habit I'd developed lately).

"Yet," I heard Miriam say, as she pushed her way through the others to stand in front of me, a small gold bag in her hand. "Happy birthday, Alyssa!" she exclaimed, giving me the obligatory hug. "We have a surprise for you."

"Oh really? What is it?" I stood back and examined her. She was wearing a simple long fitted burgundy chiffon empire-waist gown with super-thin spaghetti straps, a V-neckline, and a flowy skirt that fell in a long drapy column of fabric down to the floor, just floating above the ground. Her long blond hair was done in ringlet curls, threaded through with tiny red rosebuds, and her lips were painted a matching deep burgundy color.

"Open this," she said, shoving the bag in my hand. Confused, I pushed through layers of tissue paper to find a little gold box sitting at the bottom. When I opened it up, I saw a delicate gold chain-link bracelet sitting on a square of white cotton.

"It's beautiful, Miriam," I said, picking it up and examining it from all angles. "But, um, where's the we?"

"Right here." She stepped back and gestured to all of my friends, who had somehow procured little bags of their own from somewhere.

"You'll get your real presents later, but when Miriam said she wanted to do this, we all decided to contribute," Ivy said, handing me her little bag. I opened it to find a tiny gold blooming flower with a little circle at the top – like a charm to be attached to a bracelet. Hey…

"It was her idea," Lola added, handing me hers – a little gold high-heeled shoe. I noticed that her smile seemed a little fake, but I waved it off quickly. This was my birthday ball; no time for worrying about probably imagined dynamics of hatred between my friends.

Mel's was next – a music note, of course. From Dee, I got a computer, and a wave from Aqua.

"You guys were in on this?" I asked incredulously, as my mom stepped forward with a little bag of her own.

"Miriam contacted us too. Said you'd been going through a bit of a bad patch, and that she wanted to cheer you up." Theirs was a gold dragon, which I clasped on next to Lola's shoe.

"Don't forget about me," Ryan said, handing me his.

"You too?" His was a heart (of course).

"Me too."

I turned back to Miriam, who was beaming. "Miriam, this is… amazing." I stared at the bracelet, so full of charms already. "How can I ever thank you?"

"No thanks necessary," she insisted, giving me her charm, which was an A covered in tiny diamonds. "It's your birthday, girl. You deserve it."

I clasped on the A between the dragon and the heart, and immediately decided I had to wear the bracelet to the party. "Thank you. Thank you all, for everything."

"That's what friends are for," Miriam said, giving me another hug. "Now let's go enjoy this party. You deserve everything that's coming your way and more."