The Black Rose Society

Chapter 8: We Are Wild

AN: The Black Rose necklace that you learn about in this chapter is pictured at the right :)

Copyright © 2013 Bree Eischen

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o8. We Are Wild

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I woke up the next day with images of some extremely messed up dreams still lingering in my mind. I hadn’t been able to think of anything else but Jake’s brother’s text and how in the hell he happened to get my number.

And speaking of Jake, I suppose on some other level, I was also thinking about why in the world he had decided not to call or text me at all in two weeks. I wanted to know if it was something I did or said, and I tried so many times to reach out to him, but not once did I get a reply. In the end, it was my birthday and I didn’t want anyone getting me down.

As I sat up and tried to shake some unwanted thoughts and images out of my head, Simone and my dad decided it was the opportune moment to barge into my room and yell “Happy birthday!” at the top of their lungs. However, they did bring with them a tray of chocolate chip pancakes and orange juice and for that, I wasn’t about to complain about their rather obnoxious wake-up call.

“Aww, thank you so much, guys. This is so awesome!”

Simone set the tray down on my dresser and my face fell for a minute—since I wanted those pancakes really bad—until my dad said, “And guess what else we brought for you, Lily Bear?” He whipped out a bag and an envelope that he was hiding behind his back as he came into my room. “Presents!”

I laughed at my dad. It was my seventeenth birthday and he was still acting like a dork, but I loved him with all my heart.

“This one’s from me,” Simone claimed as she grabbed the purple envelope from my dad and handed it to me. I eyed my step-mom with joking suspicion and took it from her. It looked like a regular old birthday card, but what was inside of it was much more exciting.

“Holy crap! Three tickets to Warped Tour for next weekend?...wait, why three?”

“Well, that’s where my card comes in,” my dad said, giving me the polka-dotted gift bag he held. I whipped out the card as quickly as I could and opened it. I was slightly confused when I just found a folded-up receipt from an airline company inside. I looked up at him with what must have been a funny look on my face.

“That is a flight conformation for today. I paid for Faye and Molly’s airfare to Chicago so that they can spend the week here for your birthday, the party tonight, and they can go to the concert with you before they leave next weekend. Their parents agreed to it and we’re all going to pick them up in a couple of hours from the airport!”

My eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, my gosh! This is crazy! Thank you guys so much!” I jumped up and gave both of them the biggest hugs.

“No problem, honey. I’m glad you’re happy,” my dad told me.

“Well, I’m going to go try to get Brooke up. God knows she sleep forever if she could,” Simone said, and then she got up and left leaving my dad and I alone.

“There’s, uh, more to your gift, sweetheart.” I glanced at my dad with a bit of scrutiny and then grabbed the gift bag. I reached in there and retrieved a rather old looking square black velvet box that might hold jewelry. Sure enough, I opened it to find one of the most beautiful antique necklaces I had ever seen. It definitely appeared to be a cameo-style pendant of a fully-bloomed black rose with little diamonds on its outer border. It looked so expensive, too.