I'm Not Cinderella - I'm Chloe

Chapter 16

s i x t e e n

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"Chlo, wake up," a voice murmured softly, pulling me away from my amazing dream of meeting Leonardo DiCaprio. I groaned and rolled over, burying my face in in my pillows.

"Go away," I growled at the voice, my morning grogginess not allowing me to identify who it was. "Leonardo and I are busy." I heard the sounds of a quiet chuckle and a loud snort.

"You better not be dreaming of some other man when you're already blessed with my beautiful body," another voice commented, this one gruffer than the last. I peeked my open to see Alannah, Tyler, and Jared standing around my bedroom. I glared at them as their amused faces stared back at me

"Why are you waking me up so early? It's the weekend," I whined tiredly. Tyler chuckled as he bent down so our faces were level with each other.

"Come on, babe; it's already ten in the morning. It's not that early," he reasoned, showing me the time on his phone. I smiled as I saw his wallpaper was a picture of us from our New Year's Eve date.

"Besides, you like waking up early," Alannah piped in, moving my legs out of the way so she could sit at the end of my bed. I sighed and sat up, realizing returning to sleep was futile at this point.

"Yeah, but I was up late doing chores and checking my tumblr," I explained, causing her to roll her eyes at my addiction. Hey, it's the perfect place for photography lovers like me. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, stretching out my arms. I glanced down and noticed I looked like utter crap right now, but I honestly don't care. If you wanna be friends with/date me, you're gonna have to put up with my disgusting self sometimes. "How did you even get in? No offense, but my mom hates all of you."

"Martha let us in," Alannah explained. "She had just finished cleaning up from your mom's breakfast and was on her way out so she let us in."

"It's pathetic your mom needs to hire somebody to come make her breakfast," Jared scoffed, rolling his eyes. I chuckled in agreement.

"She also told us your mom went out but Audrey's still in her room. Oh, and she wanted us to give you this." Alannah handed me an envelope with my name neatly scribbled on it. "But first..."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHLOE!" my friends chorused, their voices piercing my ear drums. I flinched a bit at their volume, but a big smile grew on my face.

"How's it feel to be seventeen, kiddo?" Alannah questioned.

"I turned seventeen two days ago," I reminded her, pointing at my calendar with one of those birthday cake stickers on Thursday. She covered it with her hands and sent me a frustrated look.

"Yes, but we are celebrating it today. Stop being such a little miss know it all," she scolded, sticking her tongue out at me. I held up my hands and giggled.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry. I'm glad I'm finally seventeen, but I don't feel any different." Alannah scowled at me.

"Gosh, you're so boring!" she proclaimed. I scoffed at her.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe a 'it's amazing!' or 'I feel so enlightened!' or 'I can accomplish anything'," she offered, speaking her suggestions rather excitedly. I arched my eyebrow at her.

"This isn't a musical, Lana; I'm not going to jump out of bed and sing about how enlightened I feel." She huffed and jutted out her lip in a pout. "Is that what you do on your birthday?" Crossing her arms, she looked down at her lap.