Gut Instinct (Teen Wolf)

3:25 It's Perfect

Warning: swearing, mentions of trauma, not that much actually

"It's not that big a deal," Vic denied as she and Liam walked into the cafeteria. She had marker on her fingers, having just come from art class.

"It's a giant deal," Liam argued. They made their way past the tables to where Hayden, Mason and Corey sat at the end of a folding table.

"It isn't," she said.

"You're wrong," Liam said, sitting beside Hayden. Vic sat beside Mason, opposite Liam. "Mason, tell her she's wrong."

"You're wrong," Mason told his friend.

"How do you know what they're arguing about?" Hayden asked.

"We were arguing about the same thing earlier," Mason answered.

"It's not a big deal," Vic said, pulling out her lunch.

"It is a big deal," Mason said. "Vic, this is your birthday for God's sakes."

"It's your birthday?" Hayden asked, shocked.

Vic held up two fingers. "Two days. You've still got time to get me a gift Romero."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Corey asked on the other side of Mason.

"Because it's not a big deal," she repeated, opening the Ziploc bag that contained her sandwich.

"It's a big deal," Mason and Liam said in unison.

Vic rolled her eyes, looking to Hayden in a kind of, 'You see what I have to deal with?' look.

"Vic, it's your sixteenth birthday, it's a big deal," Liam said. "I mean, you made a big deal of my birthday."

"I took you and Mason out for a cheeseburger," she pointed out. "That's not a big deal. It was just getting a cheeseburger."

"Yeah, but you managed to get the whole thing for free," Liam pointed out. "And we got the piece of cake for free too."

"How did you do that?" Hayden asked, shocked.

She took a bite of her sandwich, made a dismissive gesture. "I knew the owner of the joint," she explained. "When I said it was my friend's birthday, he put the whole thing on the house. I said he didn't have to, but he insisted."

"And, it's the first birthday you can celebrate since you've got home from the Dealers," Mason pointed out.

"The Dealers?" Hayden asked, confused.

"The drug dealers that kidnapped me when I was eight," she explained. Hayden and Corey's eyes went wide. "I didn't get to enjoy birthdays with them."

"So, you haven't had a birthday party since you were eight?" Hayden asked, sympathy in her eyes.

"Seven actually," Vic corrected. "My eigth birthday, my mom had died two months before and none of us really felt it was right to celebrate without her."

"Wait, I thought you got home before your fourteenth," Liam said.

"Yeah, I did," she confirmed. "But then I was in a coma, so there's that."

"Your fifteenth?" Corey questioned, slightly scared for the answer.

"Stiles was possesed by an evil Japanese spirit, Coach got hit with an arrow, a bomb went off at the sheriff's station, Scott got stabbed by a Japanese demon, I got thrown into a cabinate, got a piece of glass stuck in my back... it was this whole thing." Vic took another bite of her sandwich, not shaken by her friends' shocked looks.