Caged

Chapter 11

I was staring out my window and imagining running around freely with Joseph, Tyler and Skylar. No guards. No restraints. It began to snow and I stared at it in awe. December 8th, tomorrow was Joseph's birthday and I talked Big W into letting us throw him a party. I made mental notes in what I needed to do today to get ready forbid party as I co tinged to watch the snow fall. Paper snowflakes, streamers, cake, music, friends. Was I missing anything? I'll figure it out in time.

My door was opened and Ryder stood at my doorway. "Look it's snowing!" I say excitedly and point out the window. Ryder walks up to me and looks out my barred window.

"So it is! Well, we have some stuff for you to start getting ready for Joseph's surprise party. Did you tell your friends about it?" Ryder asked as we walked out of my room.

"Yes, I spoke to everyone yesterday. Tyler is going to keep Joseph occupied away from the kitchen and quiet room all day, and so is Joseph's guard. Skylar and I are gonna make the cake today and prep for snacks, and tomorrow morning we'll finish all the snacks. The other kids know to come and not tell Joseph about it." I explained and Ryder looked impressed. " I also convicted Big W to let Joseph's brother down here for at least an hour or two."

"Joseph has a brother? Here?" Ryder asked, shocked.

"Yeah. He's 7 so he's on the top floor with the children." I explain. "He can shape shift."

"It'll be nice for Joseph to see his brother for once." Ryder nods and I smile, knowing that I'm doing a good thing. I walk into the kitchen and Skylar is there with Taylor.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind but I decided to cook with Taylor so you can focus on everything else." Skylar explained. I felt as though I had been punched in the throat. "It'll be better for you to focus on decorating. We're taking one stressful thing off your plate."

"I have an idea, though. There's a certain way I want everything to look." I explain, trying not to let my sadness show.

"You've explained it to me, I know exactly how you want it. Don't worry, girl! I got this!" Skylar pinned the front parts of her short curly hair back whilst Taylor tied up her extremely curly hair back. "We got this!" Skylar added and I looked up smiling, but suddenly replaced it with a frown when I noticed she was talking about Taylor.

"Fine..." I mumble and walk out of the kitchen to let them do their thing. I walked into the quiet room and there was white paper, scissors, string and tape laying in the floor. Big W walked into the room and up to me as I began to fold up my first snowflake, getting it ready to be cut.

"What else do you need?" She asked, her time said she was uninterested and her body language said she was pissed off and impatient.

"Streamers and those small lights that get put on a Christmas tree." I say.

"Fairy lights?" Big W asks and rolls her eyes.

"Yes, those. And also some music and a CD player. Or vinyl and a record player." Big W nodded and left the room. "Ryder can you help me cut these out?" I ask and he nods. "I'm just gonna check up on those two.." I narrate and use my ability to find the kitchen. I peek in and see Skylar and Taylor laughing and tossing some flour at each other. I immediately stop and go back to cutting and folding. Jealousy raged through my body and it took all my will power not to cut every single snowflake in half.

Ryder and I were able to cut out a bunch of snowflakes from the paper provided. I left one piece for a card and moved on to the streamers. They were purple, Joseph's favourite colour. I got Ryder to do most of the streamers while I started on the fairy lights. A few times when I looked over I had to ask Ryder to position the streamers a different way. Most of my light set up was spent untangling the lights, so Ryder was finished before me. The streamers were strung across the ceiling, taped in the middle to create for sags from the corners of the room to the middle. I attempted to imitate that with the lights, but to no prevail. I gave up and let Ryder take over, and he had more luck with it than I did. I laughed as he explained how it wasn't that hard at all.

I moved onto the card and wrote on the front with a red crayon "Happy 17th birthday you pleb. (Love you Joseph)" with a tiny heart beside the last word. I opened the card up and wrote on one side in the top corner "you better appreciate this whole thing I've done for you or I'll be pissed forever-Kristy. PS I hope you had a great birthday and I love you my boi." I got Ryder to walk me to the kitchen and I let Skylar and Taylor sign the card. Skylar wrote "You're only a year younger than me now >:) have fun not yet being an adult. Kisses -Skylar" and Taylor wrote "I don't know you that well but you're generally a great human being. Have a good birthday - Taylor." I thanked them and checked out the cake. It was just baking but they had a little bit of batter left over in the mixing bowl. I tasted some of the raw batter and smiled.

"You guys did good. When it's done cooking put it in the fridge and I'll decorate it tomorrow." I instruct.

"But we were having so much fun in here!" Skylar pouts and I almost throw up.

"Fine! I don't even care anymore!" I shout and storm out of the kitchen. Ryder following behind, and Skylar runs up to the door and only peers out, not actually running after me. I really wish she would have.

"Are you okay?" Ryder asked me and I shook my head.

"Can we just talk in my cell? I don't need people who are lingering in the hallways to know about my feelings." I ask and Ryder nods. He sits in the chair at my desk while I stare out the window and the falling snow. I explain my feelings for Skylar and the romantic dreams with her and how her with Taylor makes me feel. Everything.

***

"It's almost 7." Ryder says, looking at his watch.

"Have we really been talking for. 3 hours?" I ask and he laughs and nods.

"Let's go get some dinner." He stands up and I roll off my bed and land on my fuzzy rug. Ryder helps me up and leads me towards the cafeteria.