Survive

Chapter Twenty

Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

September 9, 2022.

Andrey Butler's Point Of View.

I place the purple two-tiered cake on the table, because Anthony will be back with her from the movies in a little while, so everything had better be ready, and am happy to see that everything is the way I planned it.

Today is Mad's birthday, so Mrs. Stone and I have organized a surprise party for her.

I look around and see some people I don't know sitting at the tables with white and lilac tablecloths, who are probably relatives and close friends of her family. I also see Ashley, Emily, David, Ryan and Bryan gathered at a table, talking.

Bryan joined the school soccer team and since Mad introduced him to our friends that day, he hangs out with us now. I won't say I like this, but I respect it because I know she likes him and she wants nothing more than a friendship with him, which I don't think is what he wants.

And Emily is here, because after the event at the break that day, David talked to her about his friendship with Sarah and opened her eyes about her friend not being a good person to have around, so Emily went to talk to Sarah to get her to stop taking these childish and disrespectful attitudes and the two ended up fighting. Now Emily walks with us too, as her other friends have taken Sarah's side.

"Thank you for coming up with this idea of having a surprise party for her." Mrs. Stone says when she stops by my side and I smile.

"To tell you the truth, it was Anthony's and my idea, but you don't have to thank anyway. She deserves to get something special on her birthday." I say and she agrees.

"Yeah, she deserves it.. by the way, her father is present. May I call him to introduce you to each other?" And when she talks about Mad's father, my expression gets more serious, because this man is not good for her.

A while after our meeting in the park, she called me in tears saying that she didn't know what she had done to make her father despise her so much. She said that her mother and father fought because her mother thinks that he doesn't care about her and as much as she didn't want to, it made her feel very bad. Therefore, I have no reason to want to meet him.

Since that day, she has been a little sad. I was thinking of doing something just for the two of us on her birthday, but then as I have been seeing her like this, I came up with the idea with Anthony to have a surprise party, as we think this party will be good to cheer her up a bit and for her to see that there are people who love and care about her.

"Did you fight with him to make him part of the party?" I ask and she gets embarrassed, making me regret what I said. "Sorry... it's just that I really don't like the way he treats Mad."

"All right, you're right. But this time I didn't fight with him. Some of our friends are here, so they will probably take this moment to talk about their successful lives."

"Well Mad said he only does things with his own benefit in mind."

"She has a pretty negative perception of him and the worst part is that I can't even take away her reason, since he has never made a point of showing her that she is wrong."

"Not to sound nosy or anything, but... why is such a nice woman like you are with such a selfish man like him?" I ask and she gives me a smile.

"Good question... maybe it's because of the famous love."

"Got it."

"But so what? Can I call him to introduce you to him?" And even though I don't want to, I agree.