Daughter of Fire | I ✓ [ SAMPLE ]

chapter 2

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."