{13} ✔️

Dahlia's POV

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The week had dragged on and on, but finally, it's the weekend. Billie and I had barely spoken, Kai had been avoiding the shit out of me, and even the twins were out of school with bad colds. Well, I'm pretty sure they'd felt better after like two days, but why would they come back to school a second before they were forced to?

"You're not wearing that to my party. All my friends are gonna be there." Cora whined as she looked at my outfit. I rolled my eyes as I looked at myself in the mirror. I look fucking good. My outfits simple, a black turtleneck and light blue overalls with black, chunky boots.

"It's not even bad."

"Turtlenecks went out of style in the early two thousands. Overalls? Are you a farmer? And those boots—"

"I will use these boots to jump up and down on your neck if you say anything bad about them. They're my favorite." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Stop threatening your sister on her birthday, please." Dad popped into the bathroom and put a hand on each of our shoulders, guiding us out. "We're running late to our own party," he sighed. "I have to pee and then we're leaving. Whoever isn't in the car is getting left, even you, Cora."

"If I'm not there why would people show up?" She sassed. He gave her a look. "For the ice cream cake. In the car. Now."

We shoved each other on the way down the stairs and stopped once we saw Denver sitting on the couch, Julia on his lap as they made out. I cringed at how sloppy and disgusting the kiss looked, and at the fact that his hands were gripping her bony ass as her hands yanked at his hair.

"This is the most disgusting thing I've seen since those childbirth videos in health class a few weeks ago." Cora shook her head.

"This—" I pointed at them. "Is exactly what leads to those childbirth videos."

"Stop fucking staring, you freaks. Can't you see I'm busy?" Denver broke away from her only to say that and then his mouth was right back on hers.

I walked out of the house and got into the car while Cora continued to annoy Denver until dad came out of the bathroom and told them all to get into the car too. It was an awkward thirty-minute ride. Cora was smart enough to sit in the passenger seat so I was forced to be squished up against the door as I tried to steer clear of Denver and Julia's roaming hands. I tried to ignore him sliding his hand up her thigh and her 'accidentally' touching his little Den.

I stared at my phone for the majority of the ride and I was the first one out of the car when we got to the venue Cora had handpicked for her party.

It was a small little building practically in the middle of nowhere, but it's super cute and it's been decorated nicely with fairy lights hanging both inside and outside of it. It's also surrounded by a large field where there are about ten horses. The man who lives closest to this little building, Mr. Elkins, was nice enough to offer to let us ride some of his and his buddies' horses for free because apparently, 15 is his favorite and luckiest number and Cora had practically begged when she saw his favorite horse, a jet black one with a blonde tail, Kitty. He told us we could all take turns riding the horses as long as we treated them well and promised not to get the law involved if anyone happened to fall off and get hurt.

There's a large table set up towards the back for all the presents to go on and a few tables around the room for holding all the snacks. Other than that, there isn't much furniture, just a few chairs for people to sit on and a karaoke machine.

We got a few things set up quickly before the first few people started to show up. Caden and Cadence were the first ones to arrive, each holding two gifts and running to hug Cora before putting them on the table. Then a large truck filled with some of Cora's friends pulled up.

I took note of how close she was standing to one friend in particular. What was his name? Matthew Carr? I'll make sure to bring him up any time she tries to blackmail me.

"When do we get the cake?" Caden leaned over to whisper in my ear, sending a small nod to some of the freshman girls who were giggling and trying desperately to get his attention. "We're not cutting the cake for at least another hour." I answered him.

He looked at me in disgust and shook his head. "But that can't be right. It's an ice cream cake, it'll melt!"

"We...have a cooler?" I pointed toward the small cooler in the corner and almost instantly regretted it. Telling him where the cake is was a bad idea. What if he gets so hungry he decides to just say fuck it and take a slice before we get to cut it? He'd done that at least three times before at my birthday parties. He was younger, but...I still don't trust him.

"But there are lots of other snacks! Nachos, wings, brownies, cupcakes—"

"Cupcakes?!" He practically ran to them once he spotted them. I laughed and shook my head before walking toward the entrance where I saw my dad. I sighed a little as I noticed his eyes frantically looking all over the place.

He invited mom. Again. And he actually expects her to show up. Again. And she definitely won't. Again.

He's over her as a wife but not as a mother. He keeps trying to get her to see us and she won't and he won't accept that. He always thinks she'll show up and she never does.

I think that he thinks he's failed as a parent because she has. He thinks that us not getting to see our mom is all his fault because he'd 'been a bad husband' and she decided she didn't want him anymore and so divorced him and moved on not only from him but also from us. I wish he could understand that that isn't true at all. He's a great dad and he's sacrificed so much for us. He was just unlucky enough to marry a vindictive bitch who chewed him up and spit him out.

"Hey, dad. What are you doing?" I poked his side and he smiled softly as he reached down to do the same to mine.

"Just looking. Seeing who shows up."

I always, always, always freeze up when it's most important that I speak up. "She won't show up because you asked her to. She'll show up if she wants to, and she does not want to." That's what I wished I could say to him, but I couldn't.

If I let him know I knew what he was thinking he'd just get sadder and start blaming himself more for 'Involving me in his problems'.

If I told him I didn't think mom would show up he'd get upset that I'd given up on her.

"Lots of people will." I nearly whispered before turning to head back toward the middle of the room.

It was probably thirty minutes later when Billie showed up. She was among the last of the guests to arrive and I didn't know how to feel about that. Part of me was hoping she wouldn't show up. It's too awkward between us right now and I'm upset that we're not speaking right now.

Part of me—A larger part of me—Is glad she did show up. She looks amazing as always and I'm sure Cora will be happy that she came.

I pretended I didn't notice her walking over to me after she'd put all her presents down. Damn, she'd really gone all out. It was like five small presents and three big ones.

"Hey," she sighed. "Look, I just want to get this out of the way so we don't spend this entire time avoiding each other and being weird."

I nodded slowly, biting my lip as I waited for her to continue. Her eyes flickered away from mine and down to my lips briefly before coming back up.

"I'm really sorry for being such a pussy the last few days. It's nothing to do with you it's just...I suck at dealing with shit and I'd rather suffer alone than talk about my feelings and—and I didn't mean to ignore you but...I don't know. I do that sometimes. I'm sorry."

I didn't fully believe her. She had been talking to other people just fine. All her popular friends, all our club members, even my brother. She couldn't talk to me though, and that means that whatever was up with her had something to do with me. It's annoying as shit that she won't tell me what it is, but now isn't the time to pry. I just want to have a good time at my sister's party and ride some fucking horses.

I sent her a small smile and nodded again. "Yeah, that's okay. I'm sorry I pushed when you just needed a little space. We're cool."

"Great. I missed you, baby."

***

"I've gotta say, I'm so glad one of my sister's only friends is this cool." Cora grinned as she held up the hoodie Billie had gotten her.

I was fucking shocked myself at how much Billie had gotten her and how nice the presents were. She'd gotten a lot of items from her list, but she also got a few that she just wanted to get and Cora actually loved those too. One of those presents was Cora's first piece of designer clothing, a Gucci hoodie, which she had definitely not gotten out of the mall.

I don't even know where the nearest Gucci store is. Probably not very close, so she probably ordered it online.

Cora would be decked out in designer clothing every day if she could, but we don't have the funds for that. She always says, though, that when she gets rich and famous she'll wear nothing but Gucci and Chanel all the time, and she'll give us her hand me downs. This hoodie probably means a lot to her.

"Seriously, thank you so much." She smiled before squeezing Billie tightly. Billie shrugged, clearly proud of her gifts. "No problem, kid."

"You didn't have to do that." I smiled, nudging her with my shoulder.

"I wanted to. Don't tell anybody, but I love buying people gifts. I'm like obsessed with it."

"Hey, I'm gonna cut the cake in a few minutes. Would you mind going outside to help get the horses ready?" Dad asked. I nodded eagerly. I'd been waiting to ride the horses all damn day.

"I'll help too." Billie smiled.

We walked outside and practically ran over to where the horses were fenced in. They were all so fucking beautiful and majestic looking.

"Do you know how to ride?" Billie asked. I shook my head. "No fucking clue, but I'm about to find out!"

***

"You're doing amazing, sweetie!" Caden's voice was muffled as he screamed at the top of his lungs from the other side of the fence. His mouth was full of cake, his fourth slice probably. I'm surprised any of Cora's friends had managed to get even a small piece before he got to it.

And for the record, I was not doing amazing in the least bit.

I thought that riding a horse would be easy, but that is not the fucking case. Not for me at least.

Everyone else was doing just fine, whether they'd rode a horse before or not, but here I was struggling like fuck because I ended up with the most demonic horse here. Mrs. Horsekins. Named by Mr. Elkin's daughter when she was younger. This horse is old as shit and apparently very angry.

"Whoa, Whoa, whoa! Oh my god, please slow down!" I practically screamed as I clung to the ugly horse tightly, trying not to slide off as she raced around the big field. I could hear Cora and her ugly ass friends cackling each and every time I passed by them, Caden trying to encourage me through mouth fulls of food, Cadence talking about how she was gonna show the video she must've been recording to my grandkids, and Billie screaming for someone to help me between her own hysterical bouts of laughter.

"Just calm down and she'll calm down, little lady." Mr. Elkins didn't make any effort to help other than that, though I can't blame him. He's too damn old to try to chase us down and get the stupid horse to slow down himself.

"I'm fucking god damn calm as shit!" I screeched as I rode by. I knew my dad would have something to say about me using foul language around someone old, but that was the least of my worries right now. I'm trapped on a fucking horse, not sure if I'll make it off alive.

"You're gonna—you're gonna be o—I CAN'T!" Billie chuckled loudly as I passed her again.

"You're really not doing so bad! She'll get tired soon enough!" Caden yelled.

"Wow, this is tragic." It was Julia's bitch ass and Denver laughed loudly at her comment.

My grip loosened and I screamed, feeling myself slipping off of the horse. I was damn near hanging sideways for a whole minute before I finally fell off with a loud thud. I coughed as the wind was knocked out of me and slowly rolled over closer to the fence in hopes of not getting trampled next time Mrs. Horsekins ran by, but I didn't have to worry about that. The sound of her hooves pounding on the ground stopped almost immediately after I was thrown off.

"Oh my fuck, get her up!" Somebody yelled.

A few moments later, a blurry Billie appeared leaning over me and looking worried. "A-Are you okay, baby? Oh my god!"

I furrowed my brows and scooted away from her slightly. "Who...Who are you?"

Her eyes nearly bulged out and I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me. "Michelle Tanner who?" I smirked. I'd be a bad bitch even with a concussion.

"Don't fucking scare me like that, bro, seriously!" She grabbed the sides of my face and looked into my eyes, breathing heavily, probably from hauling ass over here to check on me. "Damn, that was a nasty fall. It doesn't look like you broke anything. Surprisingly."

"I'm gonna be sore as fuck tomorrow." I sighed. "This is what the fuck I get for trying to be on some yeehaw bullshit."

She let out a loud laugh and leaned down, burying her head in my shoulder. I enjoyed the affection for only a few seconds before I looked away from her and realized that everyone was watching.

I quickly pushed her away, struggling to get up after doing so. She hopped up and helped me stand up straight, and then I limped my way over toward everyone else as she helped keep me steady.

"Thanks." I muttered before walking away from her and into my dad's arms.

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A/N: this chapter is fucking ass honestly, but the next chapters will hopefully be great!