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I grind my teeth together. He knows I hate being dismissed and ignored, and I feel like he’s baiting me. I either shut up and fall into line – which he expects – or I say something and publicly challenge him. Which would be messy and downright dangerous.
I sigh and try to let it go, but my anger simmers under my skin, irritating me like the early signs of sunburn.
I dare to glance at The Son to see what his take on all of this is.
He’s white as a sheet, an iron grip so tight on his cutlery that it has bent, and his jaw looks to be made of stone.
Fucking hell. Can’t I just get one year of peace?
“But my mum said it had to be a princess and pirates party because boys wouldn’t come if I only had a princess party.”
I stare in wide-eyed amazement at my three best friends, who are all dressed up in various well known princess dresses.
Axel is dressed in yellow, complete with a rose which he hands to me with a curtsy. I smell it and smile. No one has ever bought me flowers before and it feels like something out of a film.
Zie is in a beautiful blue ball gown and glass slippers. He lifts the skirts of his dress to show off the shoes and then moans about how much they’re pinching his feet.
“I hope you don’t ever start wearing heels,” he grumbles. “Actually, you should! Then I’ll beat you in all the races!”
“I think I could beat you, even in heels, while running backwards,” I brag, laughing.
“Oh, game on, Odi!”
Kaiden is dressed in a sheer blue belly top and harem pants. I giggle. They even have wigs and makeup on.
My whole face lights up at the sight before me and I don’t even care if the boys and girls from my class are staring and whispering. They don’t have three older boys turning up at their parties and smiling at them like they’re the sun.
“You wanted a princess party, and we’re your friends, so here we are,” Axel tells me, spreading his arms wide as he speaks. An easy smile lights his face and I laugh as I launch myself at each of the boys to hug and thank them.
“This is the best birthday ever.”
“Anything for you, Peony,” Axel tells me, gently kissing the top of my head. “You’re one of us.”
I don’t understand why Axel’s so obsessed with Odile. I mean, she’s alright for a girl, but he’s seriously obsessed with her. He involves her in everything, is always talking about her, planning things we can all do together, insisting we call for her after school and ask if she wants to come out to play.
She’s okay, but I understand why Zie is annoyed. I don’t want to spend all my time with a girl.
The dresses were a step too far, but Axel insisted. He always gets his own way. One day I’m going to be bigger than him and he’ll have to listen when I say no. Sucks to be Zie, though. The baby of the group is never gonna grow enough to put Axel in his place.
As awful as the dresses were, when Odile saw us and smiled, I didn’t mind one bit. No one would dare laugh at us anyway, but I still felt stupid. Until she beamed at me like I made all her dreams come true.
It made my stomach do a weird flip flop thing like the time we snuck onto the roller coaster at the theme park that we were too short for, only without me feeling like I wanted to throw up afterwards.
Odile has a really nice smile actually.
You know, for a girl.
