We are the Warriors ~ Voltron Next Gen (Book 1)

Birthday Party

My birthday party was later that day, about noon. My friends, all their parents, and mine came. Mr. and Mrs. Holt (Though everyone calls them Grandma and Grandpa Holt at their insistence), Max's grandparents, were even there. We had the actual party in the living room of my family's quarters. We just had chocolate cake and presents, nothing too fancy.

Finally, Dad said, "Ok 'Tember, You can open your presents now."

I pumped my fist and grabbed the present with black paper and a red bow that I assumed was Kendall's.

It was two new video games, Space Cop 2, Gladiator 3, and two new controllers.

"Oh yes!" I cried, high fiving Kendall, "Video Game Marathon here we come!"

"OOOH!" cried Alyssa, "Open mine, OPEN MINE!"

She got me makeup stuff just like last year, Uncle Lance and Aunt Allura got me a t-shirt that said, "Talk to the Sword, Cause the head doesn't give a Sh-*".

Shay and her family gave me homemade chocolate and cookies, Karter got me 3 epic new video game posters, and his parents got me a sheath for my katana's.

Max's present was headphones that he engineered himself, and his mom and Commander Holt got me a video game station.

As I was admiring the video game posters, my dad coughed, "Ahem, The people who gave you life, are waiting for you to open their gifts..."

I laughed, and then my gaze landed on mom. Her expression was hard to read, but her eyes weren't. She was heartbroken. 

The events of this morning weren't the only reason for the thick tension between us though. A few days earlier, she and I got into a disagreement. There was an accident with my leg where I almost broke it, but fortunately got away with only a twisted ankle. Mom was still mad that I had risked my life, or rather my leg, like that. 

The argument quickly escalated to a shouting match, and Dad was standing helplessly on the sidelines. He tried to interject and calm us down, but he might as well have dumped gasoline on the situation. I just made things worse. Mom started yelling at him for interrupting, he yelled back, I yelled at him for taking Mom's side, he yelled back at me, and then there were three different arguments going on at once.

I ended it by screaming, "I HATE YOU!" as loud as I could at Mom before escaping to my room, slamming the door for good measure.

The tension was still there, and it was so thick you could cut it with scissors. At least it was between me and Mom, Dad came to me the next day, apologizing, and well, he's pretty easy to forgive.

I couldn't look at her as I opened the gift she got me. It was a taser from Earth. I remembered using something similar in training a week earlier and being really good at it.

The taser glowed to life and I looked up, searching for my first victim. My eyes landed on Alyssa, who was occupied with a hand mirror and her hair. Again.

"Hey Alyssa," I said, hiding the hand holding the taser behind my back, "Come 're."

She looked up and came over, "Wha-"

I zapped her shoulder, and there was a crackle of sparks. She jumped back with a shriek, "YOW! WHAT THE QUIZNACK SKY?!?!?"

I cackled and held up my new present, "You need to pay more attention to what your friends are getting for their birthday than your hair."

She rolled her eyes and sat back down, but didn't pick up the mirror again.

"Alright," dad said when everyone was done laughing, "Open mine now." He pushed a gray package toward me, and I picked it up. It felt squishy and soft. I tore away the paper to find a long-sleeved black jacket that I recognized immediately. It was the same one my dad was wearing in the first photo on my parent's dresser.

"Dad," I said, holding it up to my body, "Is this?..."

My dad nodded, and I tried it on. "How is this even fitting?" I asked him, "You're twenty times my size."

My shrugged, "I don't know about twenty times, but I did have to ask Collen Holt to alter it."

"Thanks, Grandma Holt!" I called over my shoulder to Max's grandma.

She smiled, "You're welcome, Sky."

"That jacket is killer," Kendall told me, "You look twenty at least."

I grinned smugly. "Why thank you."

Then my Dad said, "Ok Sep', Your Mom and I have one more present for you, but it's not here."

I looked at him, confused, "Where is it?"

"We have to fly the Atlas there," Dad answered, "But you will love it, trust me."

"Where are we going to fly it to?" I couldn't help but ask.

Both my parents said in unison, "Aris."

"Aris? Isn't that several galaxies away right now?"

Mom started to answer, "There's something very important there-"

Then she was interrupted by the wail of the Atlas's siren. The noise was long and low. It was the siren that called the Atlas crew to battle stations.

My birthday pretty much went downhill from there.