Bliss

Chapter 19

There'd been many changes about Margo. Her fingernails were long, her hair was wavy, her teeth were yellowish, and her face was speckled with acne. But all of this was due to the fact that she didn't take the anti-nail and hair growth pills, she didn't have her teeth cleaner, and she only washed her face every so often.

So nothing about her being sixteen changed the fact that she still looked fifteen.

When she woke up on September 21, she felt no different than the day before.

Kiori was missing from the bedroom. Margo asked Jamaica, who was from the room next to hers, and Jamaica said Kiori was at the Linden's place. So Margo skipped around the groggy Sequoia people and ran down the street. She would not be alone on her birthday.

"Kiori?" Margo knocked on Zack's door.

When she opened it, Kiori, Zack, Casen, and Orabelle were gathered together.

"Surprise!" Kiori exclaimed, while the others shouted, "Happy birthday!"

Margo was overwhelmed. Casen gifted her a box of hygienic items—a bar of soap, teeth cleaners, and some other things Kiori told him to get—all of which she was more than thankful for.

"Consider this a gift from Bryn, as well," Casen said. Bryn was on another trip with the Raiders, and Margo doubted she knew it was Margo's birthday.

Orabelle gave her a tube of a pink lip-color and an old bottle of perfume.

"It was my great grandmother's. Exa's daughter, Azara, remember? She wore it a few times to the Pure City parties, but I figured you wouldn't mind," Orabelle said.

The bottle was half-used and smelled like the artificial flowers of Crud. But Margo hugged Orabelle and thanked her anyway. It would be nice to smell good. She would share it with Kiori, who she noticed had an intense fragrance herself. And not the good kind.

"I found some lilies," Zack said, presenting a bouquet of white and purple flowers. He had a bashful grin spread across his face. "They won't live long, but they're pretty for a while, anyway."

Margo hugged him, proably for a beat too long.

Kiori disappeared into the back room and pulled out a—

"No freaking way," Margo gasped.

There he was, in all his rusted-up glory. Rusty, her bike! Being rolled into the living room by Kiori and Zack, who were laughing at Margo's gaping face. Her bike was in Eden, a relic she thought she'd lost forever.

"You went to Crud?" she asked, stopping short before she reached her bike.

"I was with her," Zack replied. "We were careful."

Margo squeezed the handle bars. They were familiar in her calloused hands, and it felt like home. She couldn't believe it.

"Thank you," she said to Kiori, then Zack, then Orabelle, then Casen.

Later, Zack made a bowl of rice drenched in simmer-sauce from Crud. He smuggled it while on their trip, along with several packs of snap noodles and cans of artificial peaches. The peaches, he said, were for dessert.

Kiori, Zack, and Margo took a brief swim. The water was significantly colder, another sign of the approaching fall and winter. Afterward, Kiori performed a diving show for Margo's birthday.

"Can we take a walk?" Zack asked. He was noticeably in a new outfit: blue pinstriped pants and a white shirt, and he looked absolutely adorable.