Disclaimer: I don't own hush, hush. you'd think after 7 chapter lawers would know this already! *sigh* oh well on with the story

Chapter 7:

It was 8:45am before I was awoken by a gentle shake on my shoulder. I looked up to see my mum standing in front of me with a soft smile on her face and one hand on my shoulder, the other had a plate of pancakes – with maple syrup and whipped crème on top – in it. It was a birthday tradition in my family to have pancakes for breakfast.

"Happy birthday Hunnie."

"Thanks mum, they look great." My mood had finally picked up and after eating my birthday pancakes, I was back to normal. Well, as normal as I get.

After I had gotten up to do the dishes, mum grabbed the plate from my hands and told me to go get ready for my big party.

Just as I was about to go up the stairs, there was a knock on the door. I backtracked down the hall and opened the front door.

"Happy birthday Slim!" Said Joe, he was my dad's best friend and helped me and mum a lot after he died. He calls absolutely EVERYONE Slim. He's a tall, muscular, T-shirt tan kinda guy with short black hair and hazel eyes. His son, Kaine, who was only a couple of years older than me, was standing beside him. After all the time we spent together while my mum and Joe were concentrating on 'grown-up things', we became fast friends. He has dark black hair and sapphire eyes, he's taller than his dad and stands at about six foot two or three. You can tell that he works out by the muscles that showed through his T-shirt.

Kaine gave me a smile and said "Yea, happy birthday Shortie." He said as he passed me a small package. His smile reminded me of Patch's in a way, though his was less full of himself and more . . . kind.

"Thanks, but stop with the Shortie comments, I'm not short! You're just tall!" I said as I stuck my tongue out at him and took the parcel happily. This made them both laugh and I invited them in.

"So what ya got planned for your party?" Joe asked as he nudged me with his shoulder.

"I don't know, it's a surprise, or so says Vee." I replied. The realization had just hit me, I hadn't invited Kaine to my party. "Hey," I said as I turned to face Kaine. "Do you wanna come? I don't know the details, but when Patch gets here at 10:30am," If he gets here I thought to myself because of his weird behavior earlier this morning. "I'm sure he can tell you all about it. He was, after all, on the two people planning committee."

This made Kaine smile in a playful kinda way. "FINALLY! I didn't think you were going to ask, but it's a bit short notice isn't it? I won't have any time to get ready!" He was stumbling around dramatically as the three of us walked down the hall towards the kitchen where mum was.

That entitled him to a playful, friendly punch on the shoulder, and he just grinned like the fool he is.

Mum was sitting at the kitchen table reading today's paper when we walked in, she gave each of the boys a hug and offered them coffee. I looked at the clock on the microwave, it said 9:15am.

"Opps!" I said, everyone looked at me. "Sorry, I've gotta go get ready! I shouldn't be too long."

Mum and Kaine just nodded, while Joe asked "Now? How long does it take to have a shower and pull on some pants and a top?"

"Don't forget the necessary half hour on hair and the compulsory twenty minuets on make-up!" Kaine said in an overly high, girly voice, which was kind of scary because he has a really deep voice. I mean REALLY deep.

I gave him the look and went upstairs, present in hand, to get ready. By the time I was done I was wearing a modest length, black skirt, a white under top, a bright blue tank top and a black hoodie. I slipped on my flat, black, ankle high boots, put in my large silver hoops and put on minimal make-up. Before I headed downstairs I opened the present from Joe and Kaine and gasped in surprise. It was a fairly big sized black crystal heart with silver around the edge. It hung on a silver chain and when I put it on, it hung above my breasts.

It was 10:26am by the time I got downstairs. Joe and Kaine were still talking to mum but were drinking coffee too. When Kaine looked at me he choked on his coffee a little, but when he managed to smooth his throat he said "Wow, you look great!" I smiled then he noticed that I was wearing the necklace and smiled.

"Yea, you clean up nice Slim." Joe complimented. "I guess you like the necklace which is good cause if you didn't than I could blame it all on Kaine, since he picked it out. I don't know much bout jewelry." I gave him a smile and a slight nod.

"You look beautiful dear." Mum said with a smile, which I returned.

There was a knock on the door and everyone turned towards it (I jumped slightly too). Patch had let himself in and walked into kitchen wearing all black – as usual – and walked straight up to me giving me a sweet kiss then said "Happy birthday Angel." With his normal lopsided grin on.

He was acting as if nothing happened earlier, for that I was a little angry about, but I didn't want to get into a fight in front of mum and the others so – for now anyway – I let it go.

"So, get anything good for your birthday yet?" he didn't give me time to answer before producing a small, black box with a silver ribbon from his pocket. "Hope you like it, it took me forever to find."

"Yea black boxes are quite difficult to find these days." Kaine said from behind me, Patch just smiled politely. "So I guess you're the guy that occupies most of Shortie's time now." Kaine walked up and offered his hand to Patch. "I'm Kaine, Nora's best guy friend, nice to meet you." Patch hesitated slightly before gripping his hand firmly.

"I'm Patch, Nora's boyfriend, nice to meet you too." He grinned and put a little more emphasis on the word boyfriend.

After a while they each released their grips on each other and once a short moment of silence passed, I spoke up. "Oh yea, um, Patch, ah, I know it's short notice and all but could you please give Kaine the party details?"

"Yea sure, I need to give the details to Blythe anyway. While I tell them why don't you go get your bag? Oh and open your present!" Patch said as he pushed me into the hallway.

"OK I'm goin, I'm goin!" I said as I took the stairs two at a time up to my room and closed the door behind me.

I walked to my bed and flopped down on it, present in hand. The box wasn't very big – which I was thankful for since I didn't like people spending lots of money on big things that I didn't need and didn't have any room for – and the ribbon was as smooth as silk. I tugged on the ribbon, which came off easily, and put it to the side, then, I opened the box and looked inside to find . . .

A/N: yea i know it's been too long since i last updated but at the moment im absolutely swamped at school so it may be some time til the next chapter is up, not to mention i had absolutely no idea how to write the ending for this one . . . SO I LEFT IT OUT! he he i is evil, and to make matters worse i got writers block! so if you guys have any ideas, the review button is somewhere under this message about here anyway please give me your feedback and ideas, god knows i need them!