Cursed Blood | Chaelisa

Chapter 15.

We gathered at my house after school. Joy and Jisoo had gotten the wildest decoration I'd ever seen in my house. I had to keep saying 'No' to five tiers of king-sized cake that Jisoo was trying to get for me. Joy had put sunflowers and balloons and a dozen birthday hats and tooter things even though there were only a few of us attending the party. But the most ridiculous thing of all was, my two best friends spent a good portion of the time dressing me!

"Please, don't tell me to look at myself when you're done," I said while Joy was applying some eyeliners and lip gloss on my face.

"You have to be Cinderella tonight," Joy told me.

"Well, then you both can be my stepsisters."

"Chaeng, today is your birthday, don't spoil the mood," Jisoo scolded me.

How could I keep the mood up when they were dressing me like a Barbie doll? And not to mention those butterfly hair ribbons and silver hair clips with matching bracelets. They also made me wear a sparkling iridescent black skirt, a top with mid-phased silver moon appliquéd on the front, and a pair of combat boots. And guess what? Even though we had agreed on a no-present rule, these were what they got for me, and all of which cost, well, I couldn't bring myself to count the numbers on the price tags.

"All done," Joy said proudly. "I'm sure anyone who sees you will curl up into a ball and die of orgasm."

"Oh please, stop that," I said and turned to look at myself in the mirror. I admit Joy really had turned me into a work of art.

"Great job, Joy," Jisoo said as she was studying my face. "Chaeyoung, you look so..." but then the doorbell rang, Joy and Jisoo looked at each other and squeaked. They quickly dragged me out of the room and practically shoved me towards the front door.

I had no time to get all snappy about their attitude because I had to open the door to the girl who knew exactly what it meant being seventeen. Lisa was standing in front of me. But I had to stop myself from gasping at the sight of her. She wore a black leather jacket over a loose sleeveless tank top with high heels and skinny jeans. I was pretty sure all of which were the latest Italian materials. And don't make me start on how amazingly perfect her hair looked under the moon glow because it hurts.

"My girlfriend looks stunning," she said instead, flashing her perfect white teeth in a smile.

I rolled my eyes at her and she laughed.

"Happy birthday," she said floridly and handed me the fanciest bouquet I've ever seen.

"Oh thank you," I accepted the flowers and invited her in. Joy and Jisoo quickly scooted to my side while I was preparing the flowers in my mom's crystal vase.

"Woo-hoo, Chaeyoung!" Joy hooted.

"She walks you home and now she's brought you roses!" Jisoo said.

"Jisoo, walking out of the school together doesn't count as walking me home!" I corrected her. "And you guys brought me a garden," I gestured around the house.

"That's different," Jisoo said, "This is Lis-"

"Sssh!" I hushed her, "She can hear you."

"It's not like she could hear us all the way here," Jisoo shrugged. I shook my head back, knowing that there are things geniuses don't need to know. Then I escaped to the living room again where Mom was talking to Lisa.

The party was simple. They sang me a birthday song. I blew seventeen candles, cut the frosted cake and then we began eating our feast while chattering away. Everyone kept saying they never had a better vegetarian salad which my mom had made a huge mass of. But we also had creamed spinach, tofu, and even brown rice. I made pumpkin pie and salted popcorn as desserts. But Mom still asked me to heat some canned beef and chicken soup just for the meat- lovers.