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Hazzer123 Presents: Homebound - Chapter One

Homebound –Chapter One by @Hazzer123

Hi everyone! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Hayley, otherwise known as Hazzer123. I write a lot of teen fiction, and this happens to be the first chapter of my new novel, Homebound. I hope you guys like it! There's plenty of other things happening over on my profile today, including LOTS of new content and a Q&A, so do make sure to pop over and get involved!

There's a lot resting on a birthday wish. You only get them once a year, and you don't want to waste them. Sure, you get other opportunities in the year to make a wish. A turkey bone at Christmas, four leaf clovers, dandelion puffs and shooting stars. But birthday wishes are the best. They actually work sometimes.

'Make a wish, Lori!' Marigold tells me as I sit in front of my cake, seventeen candles stuck haphazardly into the icing. The whole kitchen smells of burning sugar as the wax melts onto the cake. Marigold and Rita wait, expectant, with their hands entwined. Rowena sits with her clunky boots up on the chair next to her, eyeing up the cake from the corner of her eye. Honey's bent over her homework, but she's smiling, humming Happy Birthday. I close my eyes.

'I've not thought of one yet.'

'Birthday wishes are for babies,' Rowena mutters, chipping at her black nail varnish. Since she turned thirteen last month, she's become the model example of why old people hate teenagers.

'Don't listen. Take your time,' Honey murmurs so only I can hear, but she doesn't look up from her homework. I squeeze my eyes shut again. I don't care what Ro says anyway. A birthday wish got me here – here with a family.

What can I wish for when I have everything? Over the years, my wishes have come true – get fostered, then adopted, be loved. But now I have all of those things. I could wish for my anxiety to disappear, but wishes aren't miracles. So what do I want? I take a deep breath and blow out the candles.

I wish for everything to stay the same.

Marigold cheers and rests her blushed cheek against Rita's as I blow out my candles. I hang my head to hide my smile. Rita and Marigold both bend to put their arms around me from behind. I can feel Rita's curls and Marigold's long, beaded necklaces tickling my face. Rita pecks my cheek.

'Our little girl. Seventeen...'

I'm practically glowing. It always makes me feel good when they call me their daughter, or their little girl. Rowena would die if she received the same treatment, but then again, she was never as desperate to leave the care system as I was. Rita straightens up, her arms re-twining around her wife.

'Right then. Birthday presents? Check. Birthday cake? Check. What else?'

'Birthday pizza?' Marigold interjects.

'I knew we'd forgotten something. What does everyone want?'

'Pepperoni!' Honey and I cry in unison. She finally glances up from her work to smile at me.

Rowena folds her pale, skinny arms. 'I'm not eating pizza. I'm on a diet.'

'Darling, we're a family that believes in getting your seven a day, and we think that Coke was brewed by the Devil. Half a pizza on your sister's birthday is not going to make you put on six pounds. Not that it matters,' Rita says, poking Rowena in her bony ribs. 'Veggie supreme to share, my dear?'

A ghost of a smile flickers on Ro's sullen face for a moment, before it's replaced with a sour expression. 'Sure. Whatever.'

Rita grins, ruffling Rowena's black bobbed hair. Ro's hands immediately rush to smooth it back down. Rita grins crosses to the other side of our circle dinner table and closes Honey's textbook. Honey looks up, panic-stricken.