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SIXTEEN WAS NO DIFFERENT THAN fifteen. The significant "change" in Bailey's life was that she'd had forcefully obtained her driver's license. It wasn't her own idea, she would have preferred to go her entire life without having to get behind the wheel but Charlie was adamant about her taking the test. He said that she needed to get over her irrational fears of the road if ever the time came that she need to drive somewhere for her own safety or something similar. Bailey not feeling overtly confrontational at the time just did as she was told—and seeing as she'd never failed a test in her life, she obviously passed. Bailey was excellent at driving; it was the other drivers that she didn't trust. Fortunately, since then her license had been collecting dust in the darkest corner of her wallet never to be touched or of any use.
The official and legal date of Bailey's birth was in August. More specifically August twenty-third; ten days before Bella's birthday in September. Bailey never cared about her birthday. It was just another day of the year, there was nothing overtly phenomenal about it. This year had been no different, or it should have been if the Cullens and Charlie hadn't made such a big deal about it.
Charlie was especially excited about it because it was his first birthday with Bailey after years of not seeing her. He had given her three "gifts". The first was driving her to get her license; Bailey wasn't keen on that one. The second was a new cellphone (a light pink Motorola Razr). His final gift was Bailey's favourite, it was a refurbished bookcase that had Charlie had made himself. Bailey liked it the most because up until then she had just kept her books in her suitcase without anywhere to put them.
Bailey's birthday celebrations with the Cullens were something she was still recovering from—the over-the-top decorations, being force-fed birthday cake, and continuously blinded by the flash of digital cameras every two seconds. All that torture was part of the reason why Bailey didn't want to go to Bella's birthday "surprise" party happening tonight. She didn't want to relive those moments and Bailey was well-aware that Bella didn't even want a party thrown for her (as was the case annually).
Besides, there were much more important matters Bailey had to attend to today—like recording the last bit of her observation from her summer-long experimentations with vampire venom. She had indeed gotten her own personal laboratory in the Cullen house (they'd remodelled the basement) and Bailey spent almost every waking moment there, even if the Cullens were around. It wasn't as if they locked their doors—what could possibly be a threat to vampires living in the middle of the woods?
So far Bailey had found out that vampire venom was virtually indestructible except for fire—fascinatingly enough fire didn't melt the venom, instead, Bailey witnessed (under the view of a microscope) that on a molecular level the venom hardened and cracked... like smashed china plates. Furthermore, the regenerative properties of vampire venom were incredible. For that experiment, Bailey had used dead human skin cells to test out her theory. Upon adding a bit of venom she was shocked to see how fast those dead cells came back to life, crystalized into perfected versions of themselves. It was virtually instantaneous!
