Chapter 44: 18th Birthday Party - Part 2
Michelle looked at her mom and just nodded yes. Celine called for Michael to come and help, much to Michelle’s surprise. “We are both angels, remember, we can each take a shoulder blade and reset it, and help Silver to heal it faster.” Michelle just remained quiet and let her mom and uncle work on her shoulder blades. Silver knew, of course, that this was not entirely the truth, but also knew she could not tell Michelle what was really happening, because Michelle herself was not ready. “There you go, all healed up and looking as perfect as you are.” Celine kissed her forehead, and Michael just ruffled her hair, “Take a shower and meet us in the kitchen for breakfast, you and Drake have not had anything to eat yet.”
A few hours later……
All the guests for the pool party started arriving. The boys were talking away with some of their friends when Mathias suddenly went quiet and sucked in a deep breath. All the other boys followed his gaze, and one of the boys who had always teased Michelle was stupid enough to open his mouth right next to Mathias and Drake, “Damn, she grew up to be really hot. Think I might get lucky tonight.” A deep rumble came from both his left and right flanks, and he realized he had just booked his ticket straight to his grave. Michelle looked in their direction with a slight frown and walked off to a sunny spot near a tree and sat down on one of the loungers. She knew the pool party was more for the boys than for her. She hardly had any friends at school.
One of the popular girls came and sat down next to her. “Hey, I’m Hayley, happy birthday.” Michelle turned to look at the dark-haired girl, who clearly spent too much time in the sun. “O, hi. Thank you.” She turned her attention back to her book as she started sketching a part of the scene from that morning, she recalled, while she was just looking out over the pond. “So, Drake, is your brother right? Do you think you could maybe like introduce me to him or something?” Silver popped her voice through to Michelle, “I dare you to say yes, but link him first and give him a heads up, and let him take things from there himself.” Michelle smiled, looked up from her book, and said sure thing.
As she got up from where she was lounging, she linked with Drake, “Hey, Bimbo here wants to hook up…” Drake looked in their direction as Michelle walked over with Hayley in tow. Hayley’s friends looked at her as she walked with more and more arrogance, as if to say, see, I told you. When they reached the boys, Drake looked at his sister as she introduced him to Hayley, then looked at Hayley, shook her hand, and Michelle walked off to where she was sitting. She watched as Hayley gushed and rambled on. Suddenly, Drake put his hand up to silence Hayley. “Look, Toots, you seem nice and all, but you are not my kind.” She looked at him, dumbfounded.
“What do you mean, I am not your kind. I mean, come on, look at me.” Drake gave a once-over with a bored expression on his face, “I am, and like I said, you are not in my league, you are not the kind of girl I would go for. You are too full of yourself, and you are clearly only interested in me because of the crown. My type of girl is confident for all the other reasons, someone who is willing to help others, not look down on them.” Hayley looked at him, defeated and turned, and caught sight of Michelle. She stomped over to her, and Michelle could sense her coming. When she looked up, it was Silver who spoke, not Michelle. “One more step, one word, and it will be your last. You asked for the intro, that’s what you got. Everything else after that is none of our business.”
Hayley walked back to her friends, and they consoled her while she complained, clearly not used to being rejected.
After a while, Michelle took her book and pencils back to her room and joined the boys as they asked her to swim with them. A few hours into swimming, they heard music starting to play, and then things got into full swing. Dominique stepped up with Celine, Michael, and Eleanour, and took the mic from the DJ. “Welcome, everyone. We won’t take too much of your time, as we would like this to be an adult-free party, for once.” Cheers erupted from everyone. We just want to wish these 4 over here a happy 18th birthday. Enjoy the party and always remain true to yourselves. We love you guys.”
With that, they went inside and had a gathering of their own with some of their own friends, while the teenagers did what they did best, partying until late in the night. After the party ended, Michelle started clearing up and helping to carry gifts inside. It was already past 23h00 at night. They received many gifts. Michelle didn’t even know half the people who had given her gifts. But she was still grateful. She made a mental note to write a card to each person who gifted her something, to say thank you. She walked into her bathroom and showered before getting dressed in her shorts and sleep shirt. Drake knocked on her door and sat on her bed as he watched her brush her hair out to braid it. “Something’s on your mind, what is it, brother?” “Are you ready for tomorrow? We leave in the late morning for the academy. Monday, we start classes. I won’t be in all your classes, and there will be lots of other species there as well. I guess what I am trying to say is that I really hope this time around will be better for you, and that will finally make at least one good friend whom you can trust.”
She walked over to him and hugged him tight. “You always worry about me, since our 16th birthday. I love you for that. But I will be ok. Silver and I will be ok. I know it.” She shooed him out and bid him a good night before getting into bed, trying really hard to swallow down the unease she had been feeling all day.