If Not For Her

Chapter 47. "Sweet Sixteenth"

Annabeth blew the sixteen pink candles of the chocolate cake her mother baked. Her mum kissed her cheek. "Happy birthday love." "I can't believe you are sixteen," her father said. "She is growing old, soon she will have gray hair," Alex said as he ate one cupcake. Annabeth just faintly smiled. "Hurry up, we will be late for school," Alex said. "Honey, if you want to skip school today you can. We can spend our time together, go and watch the movie you wanted" her mother said. "No, it's fine," she said, getting up.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as soon as they were in the car. "Evelyn kissed me, Emmalyn, saw it, and then she walked away," Annabeth said. "Wait, hold on, Evelyn as in her twin sister who hooked up with her ex kissed you?" he asked. "Yes," Annabeth said, "I called after her and we got into an argument and...we broke up, I think we did. She said some things then I said somethings but I don't want to lose her and I think... I will talk to her today. Now that I think about it, it wasn't either of our faults, I was taken aback by the kiss and she saw it. It was a shock" Annabeth said.

"She made a cake for you, did you know that? She seemed excited,  a lot" He said. "I know she threw it in front of us, you know what never mind. It's...I will try to figure something out after all it's my birthday things should go in my favor" she said. "There is no such thing but let's hope there is," he said as he took out his phone. Annabeth heard the soft music, the one they played at the party during their kiss. She faintly smiled at the memory. "Annabeth you need to see it," he said. Annabeth took his phone and felt her face burn. It was a video of them kissing. Someone had recorded it. She felt tears form, she blinked hard to not cry. Alex wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder. "Don't" he softly whispered.

It was supposed to be something private, something only they remembered and now nearly everyone she went to school with has seen it. She thought of Emmalyn, her face was visible and she had a larger risk. Her phone buzzed she didn't answer, it was filled with texts like "Emmalyn Cole is gay" "who is that girl,?" "Are they dating?" Anyone who went to that party knew it was Annabeth. Alex picked up his phone, she heard him say "yes she is right there...Christina calm down we are not doing anything until she says it is fine" he looked at her. "I will call you back" he hung up. "You shouldn't cry on your birthday we will fix everything" he assured. She wiped a tear, "I need to find Emmalyn"

Annabeth did find Emmalyn surrounded by a group of people. She cursed under her breath and made her way to the front when she heard Emmalyn's voice loud and clear, "I am not into girls, it was a drunken mistake. I don't like girls" her eyes met Annabeth's. Annabeth took a sharp breath as she felt the eyes turn to her. She stepped back as she heard the whispers grow loud. "She is a freak" "She kissed Emmalyn, though she doesn't like her" and she ran to the washroom and locked herself in one of the cubicles. Her sixteenth birthday was surely memorable.

She heard someone banging on her door. "Open up, Annabeth" Chris's voice came. "Open the door," she didn't budge. "Annie..." Chris said from the other side. "We can fix this, all of us. Open the door" Annabeth stood up and slowly opened the door. Chris hugged her as soon as she was out. "I am here, it's fine" Annabeth just felt her tears flow down. She was labeled a drunken mistake. She should have known better than to kiss Emmalyn. Not a single person would say something to her all the students would blame Annabeth. She closed her eyes as she hugged Christina tighter.

Chris squeezed her before pulling her by her shoulders. "Listen and listen carefully, the person who did this is going to suffer that's beside the point we will take care of the video and I am sure by the time we get out of here the video will be down." "How?" Annabeth asked. "The person who set used the school network so Adam use the same network and did some technical stuff to bring it down. Do you want to inform the authorities because this is a" "No, and I think Coles definitely will" Annabeth said. "But see you don't deserve this Annie, You don't deserve to hide who you are. What she did there was a shitty thing to do" Chris wiped her tears.

"It's your day Annie, you can either sit in this cubicle and sob or you can go out and face them and show them you don't care about anyone's opinion. What are you going to do?" Chris asked. "I am going out" Annabeth said. Chris gave her, her glasses. "Don't listen to anyone," she whispered as she braided Annabeth's hair. "I won't' she said but Emmalyn's words rang in her ears. She closed her eyes and she pulled herself together. She had to get her life together.

As soon as she stepped out she once again felt all the eyes on her. She passed the people whispering about her, about them and some disgusted looks. She saw Emmalyn standing next to her locker with Evelyn talking to her. She looked ahead and was about to pass them when one of Emmalyn's friends stopped her. "Is it true you like girls?" she asked. "You got a problem?" Chris asked,stepping ahead. Annabeth stopped Chris, glanced at Emmalyn, and answered, "Yes, and for anyone who wants to I like girls" she turned and walked to Art. Happy sweet sixteenth to her.