Tomorrow was February 14th, some people call this day Valentines Day. But in my household, along with Ruth, Troy and Marcus, today was better known as Lauren's birthday. Lauren was turning seventeen tomorrow and I was determined to make her birthday the best ever. Ruth and I spent the most time planning this whole day.
Early tomorrow morning we were going to decorate her locker with wrapping paper and ribbons. We had gathered the speech and debate together to sing happy birthday to her at lunch. Then after school; Marcus, Troy, Lauren and I would go out to a trampoline park then to her favorite restaurant where she'll open our gifts. Then when we go to my house after dinner, our families will have set up a surprise party. Tomorrow was going to be perfect, nothing could possibly go wrong.
---
My alarm clock went off at its usual time of 6:45 a.m. At the sound of my horrid ringtone, I immediately hit the snooze button and lay in bed for five minutes before my alarm went off again, forcing me out of bed.
I pulled on jeans, a vintage white Adidas t-shirt and my black bomber jacket that Lauren had given me for my birthday last year. After getting dressed, I hustled downstairs to make my lunch and breakfast, then grabbed Lauren's gifts.
The first gift was a framed picture of us in the sword arena, we were wearing armor and we had our arms around each other. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and her eyes were twinkling with joy and we were both on the verge of laughter. I loved this picture, I hope she'd like it too. Her second gift, was one I'd picked out when Marcus, Lauren and I had stopped in Virginia after we'd killed Medusa we had gone into a local store.
Lauren for some reason was drawn to the necklace display towards the back of the store. The one she was drawn to in particular had a small shiny silver chain with a pendant of a silver crescent moon and a little gold star next to it. She even tried it on and she had this enchanted look on her face, like she'd finally found a piece of herself that she was missing.
The necklace was small but it was easily the prettiest one in that store, if someone passed it without looking at it, they missed out on how beautiful the necklace was. I think the reason Lauren was so drawn to that particular necklace was because she loved the moon and stars but also that the necklace was a lot like her. Small to the eye but when you really looked at it there was so much more to it, just like her.
She didn't have any money with her that day or else she would've bought it, but when she and Marcus left to get our bus tickets, I told them I'd be out later. I grabbed the necklace before anyone else could see it and bought it for her. It's taken a lot of willpower not to give it to her but now, I only had to wait a few more hours.
My mom had just come downstairs as I was gathering my things for the day. "Luke, where are you off to so early?" She yawned.
"Ruth and I are decorating Lauren's locker before anyone else can see it."
"Oh that's right, what time will you five be home at? I'm getting the other moms together to help organize for the party." My mom yawned while scratching her head of curly blonde hair that was wild this morning.
"Uh, I think around seven or eight, I'll let you know when we order dinner."
"Ok thanks kiddo. This so sweet of you to do this for Lauren. She's going to love it," my mom ruffled my hair.
"Thanks mom, I hope she does. We just have to get through the school day then we're in the clearing." I sighed, praying to every god that Lauren wouldn't get harassed at school today.
My mom put her hand on my shoulder, "she'll be fine today, don't worry about her. Remember, this day is about her, so make it fun for her." My mom gave me a soft smile with firm eyes, how could she do that?
"Ok, you're right, thanks mom. See you around seven or eight, thank you!" I waved to her as I walked into the mud room I grabbed my keys to my black Prius.
Troy and Marcus were picking Lauren up and taking her out for coffee this morning while Ruth and I would decorate her locker. I pulled into the student parking lot, grabbed my backpack and ran inside to meet Ruth by Lauren's locker.
"It's about time, I almost finished." Ruth teased as she stuck a bow on the locker.
"Had to wrap my gifts to her, and literally hit every light on the way here, I think the universe is against me today." I laughed.
Ruth laughed and handed me supplies, when we finally finished decorating Lauren's multi colored, balloon wrapping paper locker, the first bell rang. Almost immediately after it sounded, kids started to fill the hallway.
My phone buzzed, it was Troy, "Troy said they just pulled up, they'll be here in five." I told Ruth who was jumping up and down with excitement.
"Yeah! Gods I hope she likes it. Come on, let's hide by the wall over there, I want to see her reaction when we jump out and surprise her." Ruth grabbed my hand and dragged me over behind the wall.
Moments later we saw Troy, Marcus and Lauren navigating their way down the hall. Lauren was laughing at something Marcus had said and the three of them were shoving each other all the way to her locker. When they reached it, Lauren stopped laughing, she cupped her hands over her mouth. Ruth and I leaped out from our hiding place, "surprise! Happy birthday Lauren!" We cheered.
"Oh my gods you guys, how did you? When did you?" Lauren was beaming at the locker then us.
"The locker was by Luke and I, we decorated it this morning while these two took you out for coffee." Ruth put her arm around Lauren.
"Aw, thanks you guys, you're the best." Lauren gave us a hug.
"Don't mention it, come on let's get to class. The day gets funner after school." Marcus said.
"Funner? Really Marcus, is that even a real word?" Lauren smirked.
"According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary published in 2016 yes, funner is a word." Marcus answered proudly.
"Wow, I didn't know that. But I'm still not going to use it." Lauren giggled.
"Hold up, I knew something Lauren didn't? Is it my birthday or something? Holy Hades thank you for this moment." Marcus teased, Lauren bumped his shoulder.
"This is one time, don't get used to it. Come on, I gotta get to pre-calc." Lauren grumbled.
"Yeah, we probably shouldn't be late to that class" I said in agreement and the five of us dispersed to our morning classes.
---
There were five minutes left of sixth period, meaning that I was five minutes away from the weekend. From the other side of the room, Andrea kept staring at me and batting her eyelashes. I kept my eyes off of her and focused them on the clock.
A month ago you'd think she'd take the hint but nope, I must've received three Valentines Day chocolate boxes from her today. My locker was covered in little hearts all from guess who...Andrea.
At some point today, she'd taped a paper bag the held my chocolates on my locker door. I threw away all the hearts on my locker, but I wasn't stupid. She'd given me three free boxes of Bissingers chocolate, there was no way I'd throw those away. I did however throw away the gross, sappy cards though. Can't she see I'm not interested in her at all?
The final bell rang and I leaped out of my seat and rushed out the door. As I was passing Lauren's locker I noticed something written on an envelope. I stopped to pick it up, I opened the card and what it said baffled my mind.
Dear Lauren,
You think you're so innocent? I know the real you, I know about the secrets that you try to hide about your home life. I know what happens at your house, about how your aunt hits you and that her profession is a stripper. Ha! You better watch your step and stay away from my boyfriend or I'll let the entire school know about the real you and everything about your aunt will be exposed and your sweet little good girl act will no longer define you. I know the truth about you and it's time everyone else does too. I will make your life a living hell if you continue to see my boyfriend, I mean after all, I've done it camp, why not make it even worse here?
Sincerely,
Drea
"Luke, whatcha—" I looked up, it was Lauren clutching her history textbook, she had her hood on, I couldn't see her face.
"Lauren let me explain. I'm sorry I was looking at this it was none of my business and I was dumb to do so, but you should see this" I handed her the note. Within a few seconds Lauren let out a small gasp and the note fell to the floor.
"Gods no. This can't be real." She whispered, keeping her eyes n the ground.
"How does she even know? None of my siblings have ever mentioned it to anyone. The rest of our friend ground doesn't even know." I pondered, how could she have known that?
"I don't know Luke. Maybe she followed me home and saw it happen, I don't know but so,show she does and what if it gets out? I don't want people to know about that part of my life." She kept her head down and I could hear her voice change as she held back the tears.
"Lauren, look at me, please." I reached my hand up to take off her hood of her grey sweater.
"No, I just wanna go home." Lauren shoved me off.
I grabbed her shoulders and spun her around her face was bruised with splotches of red. "Who did this?" I demanded.
"It doesn't matter. Luke, please leave me alone." I could hear the tears in her voice.
"Yes it does matter, who did this?" I asked more sternly this time.
"Hey Laur, you ready to...what happened to you?" Troy asked.
"It doesn't matter." Lauren raised her voice.
This time Troy let it out, "yes it does matter because you got beat up. Who did this!?"
"Yeah, who was it, They'll be sorry they ever messed with you." I joined in with Troy.
"Who'll be sorry?" I heard Ruth and Marcus ask.
"Oh my gods, Lauren, what happened?" Ruth ran over to her and threw her arms around Lauren.
"Who was it Laur? Who was the asshole that did this to you?" Marcus clenched fists.
"It was Chandler ok!?" Lauren screamed. Then Marcus, Troy and I took off down the hall, hearing Lauren and Ruth shouting after us not to do anything.
None of us were going to listen, Chandler deserved everything the three of us were going to give him. We rounded the corner and sure enough, Chandler was leaning against the wall talking Andrea.
"Chandler!" I shouted.
"You fucking asshole!" Marcus said louder than I'd anticipated him to say. He marched right up to Chandler and punched him in the mouth.
"What the fuck Marcus?!" Chandler shouted.
"You deserve it, why did you do that to Lauren?" Troy demanded.
"Uh, I'm gonna go..." Andrea tried to sneak away.
"Oh no you're not, stay right there you bitch. What was that about? That note in Lauren's locker?" I advanced towards Andrea.
"It was nothing, just having some fun that's all." Andrea tried to sound innocent.
"No, and let me make myself perfectly clear Andrea. I am not your boyfriend, I will never be your boyfriend. I don't ever want to be your boyfriend. Second, if you ever mess with Lauren again I will make sure your life becomes a living hell because your empire can be knocked down ten times faster than it took to build it. Understand?"
Andrea was shaking like a leaf, "see? It's not as fun on the other side is it? If you really need to take your anger out on someone take it out on me, but leave Lauren alone." I shoved her into the brick wall behind her.
"Chandler, you better leave Lauren alone or I'll—" Troy was cut off by someone shouting.
"STOP!" I heard someone yell. I turned around to see Lauren and Ruth stomping down the hallway. Lauren marched right up to Chandler and punched him in the nose. Then she kicked Andrea in the shin.
"I've had enough of your crap, you three. Let's go now." Lauren stormed off towards the front doors not looking back. Ruth followed her from a safe distance behind. I gestured for the other two to go, Marcus let go of Chandler and shoved him against the wall.
Troy followed me out we met up with Lauren and Ruth in the parking lot. "I ought to break all your noses, you idiots." Lauren scowled at the three of us.
"We're sorry Lauren, we just couldn't stand by and watch it anymore." I apologized, trying to catch her eye.
"Yeah Laur, we couldn't take it anymore." Troy added.
"Yeah, sorry Laur. But I can just say you looked like a fucking badass after you clobbered Chandler's nose and probably shattered Andrea's shin." Marcus praised her in the way only Marcus can.
Lauren was fighting the smile, "it felt good, thanks. Now what did you guys have in mind after school?"
Relieved that she'd gotten over this so quickly, I was happy to change the subject. "Trampoline park and dinner, does that sound good to you?" I asked, smiling at her.
"Yeah, that sounds fun, let's go." Lauren hopped into the passenger seat of my car.
"All right then, you heard the birthday girl, let's go!" I cheered.
---
I checked my phone, "hey Lauren? My sisters wanna know if you wanted to do a movie night tonight." I asked her at the dinner table, we had gone out for Greek food, Lauren was fingering her new necklace from across the table.
"Yeah sure, we're pretty much done here. I got it." Lauren reached for the check.
"Oh no, no, no. You don't get to pay for dinner. I got it." Troy laughed as he snatched the check from Lauren's fingers. Lauren rolled her eyes but didn't fight it.
Soon enough we piled into our cars and drove towards my house. Troy and Marcus carpooled, they followed Ruth to my house and Lauren and I brought up the rear. "Hey Luke?" Lauren said above the radio.
"Yeah," I turned the radio down.
"Thanks for doing this, all of it. The locker, the afternoon, standing up for me. I'm sorry I yelled, I just don't want anyone knowing about my life outside of school." Lauren apologized.
"Hey, don't worry about it, I understand. Thanks for telling me about it seven years ago did it help? Telling me about it?" I desperately wanted to look at her but I kept my eyes on the road ahead of me.
Lauren took a deep breath, "yeah it did, it helped a lot actually. Knowing that there was someone who knew and cared about it, thanks for not telling anyone. Besides your siblings that is."
"You know I'll always be there to help you right? If you ever need someone I'll be there. And if you ever need me to hit someone I'll do it in a heartbeat." I chuckled.
Lauren laughed weakly, "thanks Luke, I might take you up on that more. Does it always feel that good? Punching someone?" Curiosity and humor filled Lauren's voice.
"Sometimes, I think it felt good to you because of all that bottled up rage inside you. And Marcus was right, you looked like a total badass walking away." I laughed.
"Maybe that's why it felt good, being a badass is fun." Lauren chuckled.
"Don't start ditching class now Miss. Badass, I gotta keep you in check."
"Maybe I will." Lauren was laughing hard now as we pulled into the driveway.
"Gods you're right, come on the girls are super excited to see you." I led her into the dark house.
As we approached the door Lauren asked, "are you sure anyone is home? The house is black."
"They said they're home, I'm not sure what's going on, probably a power outage or something." I opened the door.
Suddenly the lights flicked on and everyone in the house shouted, "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!" Lauren must've jumped three feet in the air, her face was bright red, tears of joy filled her eyes but she couldn't stop grinning.
"Lauren, come here birthday girl!" My mom ran over and hugged her.
"Annabeth, thanks so much! How did you do this?" Lauren asked hugging my mom.
"Why don't you ask him. Luke, would you like to tell her?" My mom smiled warmly at me.
Lauren turned around, her eyes sparkling, "you did this?" The look in her eyes was something I'd ever seen before. That look of shock and joy was something I'd never forget, but the look she gave me before we hugged was something I'd dreamed about seeing since I was twelve.
"Yep, I planed all of it. With the help of the family of course. Happy birthday Laur." I whispered as I gave her a quick hug.
"Thank you" she whispered before pulling away.
"Lauren, Lauren! Come here, I wanna show you something." Taylor giggled excitedly, she was wearing a pink shirt and jeans and a sparkly party hat. Her curly blonde hair was up in a ponytail.
"Sure Taylor," Lauren gave my eleven year old sister a loving, sisterly smile as she took Taylor's hand and followed her into the TV room.
The festivities began, there was karaoke in the yard, Heads Up in the dining room and food contests in the kitchen. I watched Lauren play pin the tail on the donkey with my sisters, for a while I didn't join in on the games or talk to people like I usually did. I found myself staring at Lauren, more so than usual. I watched her laugh and smile and the way she interacted with my siblings and the people around her.
I must've been smiling like an idiot because I felt someone tap my shoulder aggressively. I whipped my head around to see none other that the queen of the gods herself, Lauren's mother, Hera.
"Luke, come with me please." It seemed more like an order than a choice. I followed Hera outside before she closed the front door behind me. Hera had shiny blonde hair and powerful blue eyes. She wore a white dress and white slip on shoes. She had a diadem in her hair that was up in a fancy, Greek style way.
"Stop staring Luke Jackson. I'm not here to watch you stare at me like a fool." Heras voice was cold and harsh.
"I'm sorry lady Hera, it won't happen again. I'm glad you could make it." I recovered quickly.
"Hm, let's get to the point." Hera scowled sharply. "I'm not what your parents say I am Luke Jackson and I will not be taken advantage of, and neither will my daughter."
I took a step back, "what? Taken advantage of, what are you talking about?" I've heard the stories from my parents about Hera, my mom hated her, and Hera clearly resented my mother too. My dad never seemed to like her either, but he never really told me why though.
"I know you have feelings for my daughter, I'm not blind even though you deny them. I don't approve of your friendship and what it may become. But I do know this. If you hurt her, I can ruin your parents' marriage with one swipe of my finger. And you wouldn't want that now would you?" Hera knitted her golden blonde eyebrows.
"No ma'am I do not. I wouldn't ever hurt your daughter, she doesn't need anymore hurt in her life. And it's my job to make sure she's happy, since no else seems to care." I answered boldly.
"Ah yes, just like your father. Fatal flaws in all, arrogance clearly runs in your family." Hera said in a sour tone.
"Fatal flaw?" I said before I bit my tongue, that was a dumb comment.
"Your grandmother was right, protectiveness, loyalty, two great qualities. But also two great flaws at the same time, they will be the death of you one day Luke Jackson." Hera smiled sinisterly to herself, like she was picturing my death.
"You're right, they are two great qualities that people like in others. But nothing will stop me from keeping your daughter safe." I resisted the urge to ball fists with my sweaty hands.
"Normally other gods would love that someone who cares so much for their child. But I am not like the others, neither is my daughter. She's a fighter and rebellious at times, just like her father and myself. She likes fending for herself but because of this, she will also lose sight of what's important to her and the people who love her. She is arrogant in that sense." Hera explained calmly as her gaze fell on the window where Lauren was chasing Taylor around.
"Lauren is not arrogant, she's the smartest person I know." I said in defense.
"Think about it, when she's in trouble she never wants help, she always wants to defend herself and solve her own problems. She wants to live alone because of this drive she has, and there will come a day when she will have to realize that she can't fight her battles alone. And there will be nothing you or anyone can do to prevent this day from coming." Hera's stone cold, blue eyes seemed sad as she said this. Yet they were bold and confident at the same time, Lauren had this same look in her eyes sometimes too.
"You know I'm right, I can see it in your eyes because you care so much for her. But I will tell you this, my daughter is a special case, there really is no one else like her. Which is why you love her even though you deny it. But what I am about to say is going to save you, I forbid you to fall in love with her."
I cut Hera off, "what? You can't forbid me to fall in love with her, you can't stop something that's already started."
"Hush you fool. Your life and hers will be ruined if you let your feelings take control over what's important. Lauren is stronger in ways you can't even imagine, and since you care so much for her, you wouldn't want to ruin her life would you?"
I opened my mouth to protest but I couldn't find the words, I shook my head, "no, I don't want to ruin her life because she deserves to live a long, happy life. But lady Hera, I love your daughter so much and I want what's best for her but I know she has feelings for me too, and I know she denies them, but I can't pretend like they aren't there."
"I know you do, it pains me to say so but you're a good guy Luke Jackson." Hera looked sick when she said this but she took a deep breath before she continued, softening her hard tone.
"Lauren is lucky to have a friend like you who cares for her so much. But if you really love her and care for her, you'll do what's best for her. And it may not be what you want, but it will save her from a life she doesn't deserve. Do you understand me?" Hera suddenly seemed so vulnerable, she cared more about Lauren than she'd let on. We both wanted her to be happy and live a life that she, of all people deserved. And if I'm not supposed to be a part of it then I would have to step aside even though it feels like a knife to the heart.
I nodded my head, too lost for words to answer Hera. "I think we are done here but this won't be the last time we meet Luke Jackson, your greatest battle is yet to come. Enjoy the party, I know my daughter is." Hera turned me towards the window where Lauren was wearing a red blindfold stumbling over towards the cartoon donkey poster with that wonderful smile upon her face. I turned to face Hera to tell her I couldn't do what she asked me to do but she was gone, leaving me standing alone drowning in my thoughts under the light above the front door.