Adopted by Mean Girls

Birthday

**Taylor's POV**

Grey and Kyle had gotten Comet out of the apartment for a few hours so that we could decorate for her birthday. We'd finished the streamers and balloons when Casper, Joanna, Joseph, and a few other school friends of Comet's arrived.

"Casper, you've known her the longest - do you think she'll like it?" I asked him.

Casper shrugged, "She was never big on her birthday because her dad always forgot, but in elementary school, we would always decorate her cubby and now we're going to decorate her locker and she seemed to a appreciate that. Besides," he picked up a jar of sparkly dust, "Who doesn't love glitter."

"The kid's got a point," Ashley called from across the room.

"I don't want the glitter going everywhere," Erika shouted, "I can tolerate some, but I don't want to be picking glitter out of the couch when I'm old."

I took the glitter from Casper, "Why not? It's the perfect reminder of Comet's first birthday with us."

"No!" Erika shook her head, "It would be the perfect reminder that I should've killed you for getting glitter on the couch."

I shrugged, "Why can't both be true?"

Casper snickered and Erika rolled her eyes but went back into the kitchen.

"Kyle just texted," Kate shrieked, "They're on their way back!"

Chaos ensued as everyone ran around to put the final touches around the house. When we heard Kyle's voice outside the door, I hit the lights and we all hid.

"SURPRISE!"

Together, we jumped out of our hiding spaces to see Comet's eyes wide as she looked around the room.

"Happy Birthday, Comet," Erika wrapped her daughter in a hug.

"Happy Birthday!" I shouted, jumping in and tackling them both to the floor.

Erika groaned and rolled onto her back, "That wasn't the best choice, you know that right?"

I nodded quickly, "But I can't think straight because I ate an entire bag of Sour Patch Kids over the past hour."

"Nice!" Comet high-fived me.

Barrett, Kerry, and Ashley helped us all to our feet and we tried again. We had game after game of "Can Comet Catch This in Her Mouth?" that entailed grapes, marshmallows, blueberries, chips, mints, and chocolate. It was the longest and the widest I've ever seen her smile. The entire night was a blast complete with music, dancing, food, laughter, tricks, and crazy. Thankfully, Comet's birthday landed on a day that the theatre was closed so we were able to stay late into the night.

"Are you having fun?" I asked, wrapping my arms around Comet's shoulders.

She laughed, "Yeah! Thank you for the party."

"Of course, Comet. It's your birthday, why wouldn't we throw a party?"

Comet's face fell slightly, "It was never that simple with my father."

"Well, kiddo," I put my hands on my hips, "Now it is. Come on - let's dance!"

**Erika's POV**

Close to midnight, I finally shooed everyone out of the apartment and collapsed onto Comet's bed beside her.

"Did you have a happy birthday?" I pulled my daughter into a hug.

"I did," Comet answered groggily, "Thank you."

"My pleasure. I love you, Meadowlark."

Comet snuggled close to me and I heard her whisper, "I love you, too, Mom."

Hey, guys, gals, & non-binary pals. This chapter was shorter than most of the others, but I hope it's still up to par. I'm just going to warn you that while I'll continue to publish all of this week, starting Sunday things will most likely be a little more scattered and updates might not be every day. 

Stay safe and stay healthy,

                        -Spaceheater1