Chapter 2: Chapter 2

S A V A N N A H

BIRTHDAYS WERE NOT things that were celebrated in my household. They meant cake; presents; cards; and the expected absence of my father. They were supposed to be happy and spent with your family —so how were mine supposed to be celebrated, if my family had been torn in two and my wish would always be to have been born on purpose?

Phoebe did not want to put me through that. That was why she treated it like any other day and made no effort to treat me any differently.

That was why I told my friends not to make a fuss. Though thankfully even they knew that the topic was taboo, and had stopped sending me Happy Birthday messages and presents willingly. No one else really inquired as to how old I was; because I made it a touchy subject.

Except Aaron Carter; my boyfriend of three years. He was making it his personal mission to make my eighteenth birthday, a birthday. It was so typical of him —since we had met, he had gone out of his way to see me smile; to hear me laugh; or to just get a reaction from me. I had called it picking on an innocent soul. He liked to recall it as flirting.

“Happy birthday!” Aaron exclaimed, holding a cake out to me at seven in the morning.

Ron whined in protest, and remained curled up, his back turned to us. I stumbled backwards in surprise whilst lacing up my left sneaker; not having expected anything of the sort. Aaron was wearing his usual ripped jeans and plaid, sporting an ebony leather jacket. His messy brown hair was unusually well kept this morning and he had made the effort to fill in every single piercing in his ears; but a Disney Princess party hat sat on top of his head, looking very out of place.

Once I had gotten over my heart attack, I looked at the cake and blinked in bewilderment at the crazily scrawled iced words.

welcome to adulthood ♡

congratulations on not being dead yet!

“…Wow, Carter. Just wow,” I deadpanned, turning away from the cake. “Where did you even get that from? And how did my Mom even let you in?”

“I made it,” he said, shrugging innocently. “And your Mom loves me, Green, you know that.”

I looked between him and the cake, cringing uncomfortably. “…Hard pass.”

“Aw come on, I slaved on it for like, forever,” he reasoned, pouting. I gave him a look. “What, are you not even going to try it?”

I clicked my tongue but swiped a finger across the cake, ruining the message. I smiled at him triumphantly, before sucking on my finger. His face fell a mile, but I was too busy concentrating on cake.

“Mm…buttercream,” I hummed, before patting his shoulder.

Aaron shook his head, disappointment written all over his face as he put the cake down on my bedside table. “What is wrong with you, Green?”

“You’re my boyfriend. Aren’t you supposed to know that?” I quipped, standing up on my tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek.

He frowned. “I would have thought you would loosen up for your sixteenth at least, but you proved me wrong, as usual. Why can’t you just be a normal teenage girl for once and enjoy your eighteenth birthday?”

I paused, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. I did not answer him straight away. His question made me think.

It made me break.

I had never disclosed the true reasons why I never celebrated my birthday with anyone besides Luca —not even Aaron knew. I felt that no one else deserved to know. And I certainly was not ready to share the information I had found in Phoebe’s room with anyone else but Luca, either.

“None of my birthdays are enjoyable anymore,” I whispered, turning my back on him and wiping my face hurriedly.

“Hey,” his voice grew gentle, “I saw that.”

“You want a prize, then?” I whipped around and clipped. I abruptly clenched my fists and growled, before turning back around. Then I gasped, feeling the tears stream down my cheeks in a fulminating burst.

I was crying…properly. Ardently. I stood there at a loss, my chest compressing and my lungs burning.

I had not cried like this in twelve years; since my father left.

“Savannah —” Aaron tried.

“No. Leave me alone,” I sobbed, beginning to wipe the tears away as soon as they escaped with the back of my maroon top’s sleeve. “I don’t need to tell you anything.”

He backed off immediately at that, and slowly lowered himself down to sit on my bed as I sobbed by my bedroom door. This was one of the reasons why birthdays were not celebrated. There was simply nothing to celebrate.

At least my father had not left on my birthday. That would have banished the word from my vocabulary entirely.

“…Hey, you should take what you get as it comes,” Aaron sighed eventually, dropping one of my snow globes with which he had been playing onto the carpet suddenly, “Being alive is something to look forward to more than when you won’t be, or choose not to.”

I frowned and looked up, not believing him. I then gestured being sick by shoving a finger in my mouth. “Yolo,” I deadpanned.

“That’s the spirit,” he encouraged sarcastically, jumping up and setting the snow globe by my bedside.

I lidded my eyes and wiped my face dry one last time. “You’re not very good at comforting people, are you, Carter?” I snorted, folding my arms.

“The only person I need to comfort is you, Green,” he smirked, circling my waist. I reached up and took the party hat off of his head, before putting it on mine and sticking out my tongue.

“That, is so alarmingly cheesy,” I chuckled weakly, hugging him closer to me and pressing my lips against his. That did not seem to satisfy him —he took the irreverent liberty of deepening it. Though I did hum in satisfaction, so he tilted my head back and ran his hands down to my black denim skirt; his body enveloping mine. I loved the way he smelled —a subtle mixture of Axe and rained-on wood. His scent always put me at ease.

He had this needy heated habit that came and went —but it did not throw me off or make me want to resist. I would not admit it aloud, but I loved the insatiable side of him as much as the solicitous.

I could easily stay in his embrace indefinitely.

“…You did your hair. Kind of,” he then commented when we reluctantly broke apart, remembering what time it was.

I absentmindedly twirled a lock of my curled dark red hair, smiling slightly. He had noticed. “Why not,” I quipped, before tugging off the party hat and shoving it back on his head.

“You are unbelievably lucky to get away with that, Green,” he chuckled. “It’s a good thing you’re so cute —and mine.”

“I’ll let that one slide,” I giggled as he grabbed the cake from my bedside and followed me out of the door. “Since you’re pretty cute too.”

We then made our way downstairs and quickly headed for the front —only to be stopped by my mother in the kitchen.

“Savannah, there’s someone I’d like you to meet before you go,” she smiled, moving aside to reveal a large man doing something that might have been washing the dishes, at the sink. “Don, this is Savannah.”

My skin crawled and I remained still as Aaron stood behind me. I blinked, still processing the meaning of the situation.

Ron emerged and jumped down the stairs two at a time, before staring at the strange out-of-place giant man in our house too.

“Hello, Savannah,” he greeted, turning around. I was a little surprised to hear the slight Korean lilt to his accent; and to see that part of his ancestry shine through in his warm grin. He resembled a lumberjack —the murderous kind. “I’m Don. I’ll be hanging around for a bit,” he beamed.

I glanced from his untamed dark hair and five o’clock shave; to the greying hair on his arms and legs; and to his wild green eyes.

Big, gruff and hairy was not what I had imagined to be a turn on for my mother. But I supposed that I was in no position to be too quick to turn my nose up at him considering Phoebe Green’s past experimenting with different types of men, in all various shapes and sizes.

I then looked at her. “Another one?” I scoffed before I could stop myself.

Ron arched his back threateningly before turning on his heels and walking into the living room.

“Savannah,” my mother warned, “be nice.”

I failed to see what obligation I was under in order to obey that. “I don’t have the time to deal with this, Mom,” I said truthfully. “We’re going to be late for school.” I then turned sharply to leave.

“No, we’re not —” Aaron started.

“Late,” I insisted, pushing him out of the door, with him spewing out more protests as he nearly dropped the cake. I growled as I stomped over to my car, before forcefully opening the driver’s door.

“Savannah,” Aaron chuckled, shaking his head, “Sooner or later you’re going to have to deal with a boyfriend of your Mom’s —one who you’re not going to be pissed off with.”

He slid in and balanced the cake precariously on his lap.

I gave him a look as I turned the ignition. “That’s some really helpful advice, Carter. But I will never be happy with any of her boyfriends,” I sighed as I put the car into reverse gear. “…Especially not one that looks like a grizzly bear.” I gave him a tired and knowing smile.

Aaron cracked a smile. “Happy birthday, Savannah Green,” he chuckled. He knew that saying that would get on my nerves.

“I don’t know you,” I sang begrudgingly, reversing out of the driveway.

✠

School was in a strange and unexpected louder buzz than usual for a Friday. Students were littered around the main building, engaged in suspiciously excited conversations, and holding pieces of paper. I frowned, wondering what on Earth could have gotten them into such a zealous mood. Perhaps the Environmental Club was finally resorting to bribery.

Holy Reed was a plain, and sadly not desolate high school which cared more about our basketball team than the students’ grade point averages —the only enriching thing left was probably being part of the physics club.

I parked the car a good distance away from the entrance before Aaron and I then made our way there. Several pairs of eyes glanced in our direction; with wide smiles still glued onto faces. We must have looked a sight —a bad boy and his girl. I used to laugh at couples like that; now I was part of one of them. It certainly was not his delinquent charm for which I had fallen.

I quickly spotted Luca in all of her puffy, dark curly-haired and honey-skinned glory passing out what appeared to be flyers. I made a beeline for her.

“Hey lovebirds.” She winked as she saw us approach. “Here —take these.”

She gave us a colourful flyer each and then grinned expectantly as we skimmed over them.

“…A private party?” Aaron commented, raising an eyebrow. “At a nightclub the next town over? Aren’t we legally underage?”

“It’s hosted by Francesca Minetti,” I muttered. “I’m not surprised.”

I then spotted the words, ‘in honour of Savannah Green’s birthday’.

I tensed up as Aaron and Luca both glanced at me. So that was what all of the commotion was about. I bit my lip to prevent myself from saying anything I would regret, before letting out a sigh and shaking my head.

“…I think the hell not,” I said calmly, folding my arms.

“She promised me ten bucks if I handed the flyers out,” Luca confessed, offering me a sympathetic smile. “Besides —maybe it’s time you loosened up a little. It’s your special day; it only comes once a year. And it’s your eighteenth.” Then she paused, noticing how I fidgeted. “…I know you hate birthdays. But…we just wanted to do something special.” She then gave me a small smile. “We were kind of hoping you’d say yes?” she said hopefully.

“I don’t hate birthdays,” I grumbled. “They’re just…hard,” I whispered, my gaze flickering downwards.

“Don’t let this get to you,” Aaron murmured as he put a strong arm around me, “Francesca has always been a little…difficult. But I think she’s honestly just trying to help.”

He was right —she never had been good at understanding and considering other people’s feelings. I took a deep breath and exhaled noisily, letting out my frustration. “Maybe you’re right. But we should get to class before we’re late.”

I dismissed further discussion with a wave of my hand and started walking that way anyway.

“What about this cake?” Aaron called after me.

I turned around to walk backwards through the crowd, shrugging. “Put it in your locker or something. I mean, I kind of ruined it, so maybe just toss it.”

He gave me a disappointed look, which I returned, before turning around again. School was manageable on a day like this. As long as everyone kept their mouths shut and averted their gazes as they usually did, I could survive and file another twelfth of April under unquantified success. But unfortunately for today, Fate had other plans.

“Happy birthday, Savannah!” someone said to me in the hallway, which only caused a ripple effect for others to blurt out the same. “It’s awesome that you’re celebrating it again!”

…Right. I smiled nervously in response and picked up the pace, fighting the feeling of bile rising up in my throat.

“Hey, if you weren’t taken, I could have given you the best birthday present you’ve ever experienced, babe.” Some weirdo winked at me, just as Aaron steered me to the other side of him and kept his arm on my waist.

“Disgusting,” Luca spat.

We agreed, ignoring all the cat calls that entailed.

When I had started dating Aaron —who had been the designated bad news when he transferred —it had taken me to centre stage in the scandal theatre. Growing up in a small town made it difficult to hide anything from prying eyes and ears. I had been relatively quiet and uninterested in high school politics prior to Aaron. Time had now tainted that claim, but before, rumours had circled and suggested that we had been getting it on after someone found us making out in one of the bedrooms of Jessica Harris’ house at the junior prom after party. It had inevitably further ruined my reputation.

I had worked hard to somewhat restore my dignity. But sometimes people made it difficult maintaining my composure.

We gathered around Luca’s desk before class was supposed to start and chatted, though I could not bring myself to join in. My focus kept shifting to the letters, and the prospect of my father possibly sending another letter today. I hoped that my mother would not receive it first and immediately stuff it into that box underneath her bed.

“Hey, you okay?” Aaron’s voice brought me back to the classroom, causing me to sigh and rest my head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I whispered.

✠

Throughout the day, I kept repeating a phrase inside my head, hoping that I would start to believe it if I said it enough.

I am fine.

I am fine.

But someone could clearly see that I was definitely not fine. Luca saw through my strained smile and read me like an open book; shooting me wary dark-eyed glances every now and then throughout class.

At least the teachers left me and the subject of birthdays alone. It was refreshing to hear my name only being called to answer a question, and not to receive a card or well wish. That would have drained me —I was already trudging through every lesson like I was wading waist-deep in mud.

It was only when we were hanging by our lockers after the last bell had rang that Luca decided to say something. People still thought it was a good idea to tell me to have a happy birthday, and did so valiantly as they walked past. I was pretending to be busy on my cellphone, feeling entitled to my socially acceptable form of ignoring people.

“…Savannah, please don’t be mad at me,” Luca started, “I swear I only wanted to throw you a party. Aaron’s right. She may not be the most generous person, but she is trying to help.”

I bit my lip and said nothing, unsure of how to respond. I tried to think back to the last time I had celebrated a birthday: my fifth. It was everything it sounded like —wild, sugar-rushed and smothered in strawberry flavoured ice cream cake. Ten other children from my preschool class had been there, and I was surprised that Phoebe had not torn out her hair at the chaos. No matter what kind, parties were also banned at my house.

This one was at a nightclub. Pros: it would be out of anyone’s hair besides the host; no mess to clean up; out of town; and alcohol on tap. Cons: I had a foreboding because the host was the one person who I knew despised me. Just what did she hope to gain from this?

Then again…free drinks and a venue that was not my problem were hard things to pass up. So, perhaps it would not be so bad —having another birthday party. At least one more until I went back on hiatus.

“…What time does it start again?” I sighed, a reluctant smile tugging at my lips. Luca squealed and crushed me in a tight hug, bouncing up and down.

“Ten o’clock,” Luca then answered. “Till morning. It’s Friday, which means we can sleep in tomorrow as late as we want.”

Then it hit me. I would need to convince my mother to let me go to this party —without letting her know that it was for my birthday.

“Just get her to let you stay over at my place,” Luca offered generously. “She trusts me, doesn’t she?”

I shrugged unconvincingly. “I guess…?”

“Just call her,” Luca insisted, putting her hands on her hips.

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled, opening the phone app on my cellphone. “…Hey Mom,” I drawled out sweetly, the device pressed to my ear and my opposite hand blocking out the background noise. “So…there’s this party. What? No, it’s got nothing to do with today’s date. It’s just because it’s a Friday. No, it has nothing to do with Don either —does the world revolve around him already?” I mocked. She then gave me an earful about disrespect. “…Yeah, okay, I’m sorry. Yes, we’d be going to Luca’s after. I was thinking I could sleep over there and come back in the morning,” I reasoned. I listened to her blabbering on for another minute, testing my patience, before she reluctantly warned me to behave myself and not let things get out of hand.

“Yes Mom, I promise I’ll be safe. Bye. Love you too,” I sighed and ended the call, before returning the gesture of Aaron wrapping an arm around me. “This is peer pressure,” I stated, eyeing them begrudgingly.

They only laughed as we then headed for the exit.

“To Riddley’s?” Luca asked hopefully, searching for confirmation rather than making a suggestion.

“Definitely,” Aaron and I agreed.

Riddley’s was our favourite diner at which to hang out, and no matter in what mood I was, their slushies never failed to colour up my day —and my teeth. I loved the retro decor of the seventies, and the rainbow jukebox was pretty cool, even though it no longer worked.

“Hey, whose house are we getting ready at?” Aaron dared to ask, hugging me closer to his side. Luca and I shared a look.

“Who said that you were going to get ready with us?” I scoffed and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a guy,” Luca snorted, “It would take you fifty-five minutes less time than us to get ready, then you’d be sitting there twiddling your thumbs.”

I burst out laughing, poking Aaron’s cheek when he pouted and looked wounded. “Don’t take it personally, Carter —it’s just gender-based stereotypes,” I comforted him. “We won’t really take an hour to get ready,” I said, much to his suspicious relief. “…We’ll take two.”

✠

When we arrived, Riddley’s was already infested with school kids and working adults who were on lunch break. After waving hello to Joe Riddley Jr, the owner, we slid into our favourite booth and settled down with the menus, eager to eat something different to the usual burger and curly fries.

But as we browsed the options, I found myself turning around and glancing behind us. Someone had their eyes on me, or at least that was what the chill that ran up my spine told me. I breathed in and out deeply in an effort to clear my head, before dismissing my suspicion and trying to decide on a snack. I was scoping the menu, when my gaze happened to flicker upwards. My eyes locked with a pair of light grey ones across the diner; with the look in them hard and intense. They belonged to a tall figure from what I could see, since the rest of their face was obscured by a menu card, but other than that I could not tell anything else about them. They were dressed in black —leather, upon inspection —and looked deathly pale. Their dark eyebrows furrowed as we maintained eye contact, before the person glared at me. The air suddenly felt a lot colder, making me consequently shiver and suddenly wish for a jacket.

“I’m going to order some cheese fries this time,” Luca announced, bringing me back to Earth, as she leaned back against the weathered seat across from me and Aaron. The atmosphere loosened, and the air returned to its normal balmy temperature. I blinked, shook my head and glanced back in the direction of the stranger. They were looking down, eyeing their menu.

“Cheese fries?” Aaron raised an eyebrow. “You know, I never understood the concept of them. That’s just reconstituted discarded milk solids on fried

potato sticks.”

My best friend pulled a horridly disgusted face. “Oh my God. Well, when you put it like that —”

“Let the girl eat,” I said, elbowing him. “What she puts in her mouth is none of your business.”

Luca stared at me as Aaron then burst out laughing. “…That’s what she said,” she muttered —which made my boyfriend choke.

I laughed harder, feeling drawn back into the conversation —and away from the creepy twenty seconds of my life that I would never get back.

“…Have you decided yet?” Aaron then wheezed as I drummed my fingertips on the laminated card thoughtfully.

“Mm,” I hummed, nodding, “I’ll have a chocolate milkshake.”

“Just a chocolate milkshake?” he questioned.

“Just a chocolate milkshake. I’m…not very hungry,” I sheepishly admitted.

“Hey, let the girl have a milkshake,” Luca came to my defence. “What she puts in her mouth —”

“All right!” I cut her off after seeing her smile grow wide. “Thank you for that. Now,” I turned to Aaron, “have you decided, Carter?”

“A slice of gooseberry pie, Green,” he sighed, getting a far-away look that made Luca and me share a wary one. “I’ve been craving some lately,” he said in a matter-of-fact way. There was a pause.

“…I know that we’re supposed to be ordering things that are out of the ordinary, but you don’t even know what a gooseberry is, do you?” I raised an eyebrow, becoming increasingly amused.

“Of course not,” he admitted, lidding his eyes.

More laughter held up the now pleasant atmosphere, before it settled down as Aaron motioned for a waitress. I glanced at the stranger again to see that they had then stood up. I could then see that they were a teenager, with messy raven hair and heavy-looking black buckled boots. I watched as he picked something up from the seat next to him before walking towards the door.

A crossbow. I started, startled by the discovery.

“Green? You good?” Aaron put an arm around my shoulders.

I jumped again, surprised by the sound of his voice. I glanced between him and the person with the crossbow, who was now leaving.

“Yeah…” I said uncertainly. “Tell me something. Is it legal to carry around a crossbow in public?”

“What?” Luca blinked, confusion furrowing her eyebrows.

“That guy over there,” I jerked my head in the direction of the door. “He’s got one —can’t you see?”

There he still stood, doing something with the crossbow. I then noticed a quiver of arrows strapped to his back, and instinctively shrank back against the blue leather seat. Aaron and Luca looked at each other before looking back at me. I shrugged, in a way of saying what?

Aaron then put a hand on my forehead, causing me to flinch.

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” he asked.

“Savannah —there’s no one there,” Luca frowned. “Are you high? You’re seriously hallucinating.”

“I’m not high,” I deadpanned, rather offended. I paused, and glanced back at the stranger, only to find that he was now gone. I blinked, but nothing materialised there. “…I think that I might be going crazy though,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “It’s all this party nonsense —it’s getting me worked up,” I groaned.

They laughed, to my relief, and agreed with me. But I glared at the door. I knew what had transpired —there was no way that I was just seeing things.