Chapter Nine- Forgotten Birthdays

I wake up the next morning with a killer headache and when I take in my surroundings I am confused at first and ready to make a run for it.

I don't remember being kidnapped though and after some time it all comes back to me. I remember my mothers promotion; moving to the Netherlands; the fair and meeting the guys.

The headache comes as a suprise though because I don't remember doing anything extreme with the guys last night. In fact after I puked on half the people at the fair and swore Michael to secrecy, we met up with my parents, said our goodbyes and then drove straight home and we all went to bed.

Well it must just be dehydration. I haven't been drinking much water lately and my skin is all the proof I need to back up this theory. Maybe I should just take a nice hot shower and eat something.

Today is the first day I go to my new school, the school year works differently this side and although I may have just finished off with eleventh grade I am at least a week behind with senior year here. I guess no vacation time for me, might as well get this whole high school drama over with already.

After my shower I make my way back into my room and see that a baby blue floral dress has been laid out on my bed with a sticky note attached to it. 'Wear this' it reads with a smiley face drawn on the side. I immediately identify the handwriting as my mothers , she most probably got the dress for my first day at my new school. I honestly was just going to throw on the first shirt and jeans I saw, but I guess this is a much better outfit compared to that. I get dressed and make my way downstairs.

The heavenly smell of blueberry pancakes fills the house and makes my stomach rumble. The house is awfully quite this morning. Coming to think of it Nikkita hasn't banged on my door and I don't hear any of my mother's Bob Marley songs.

Could it be that they were attacked in their sleep by some psychopath? Or maybe they were abducted by aliens? Or maybe, just maybe, heaven has finally answered my prayers and they all allowed me to skip school and sleep in? I check the watch on my wrist and see that it's still 7, school doesn't start till 8 and on a good day I don't wake up before 7:45. What alternate universe am I living in and why am I here?

My train of thought crashes the minute I reach the last step and feel something warm and fluffy rub up against my leg. I don't scream immediately as to not scare off the creature, but when I look down into it's sky blue eyes I can't help but let out a shriek that sends it running.

Oh my actual cheeseballs! It's a puppy! A freak'n husky! With blue eyes! Wait, when did we get a dog? But that's not important because there is a puppy. Here in my house. Maybe this alternate universe thing isn't so bad after all.

I go off in search for it and as I pass the kitchen I see my mom standing behind the stove.

"Ah, Jasmine honey it's you. I should have known you were awake. No one can scare off animals the way you do. You and your weird noises.", she says when she notices me.

I stand with my mouth wide open in disbelief. "Haha mom, you're not that good at making jokes please stop."

"But I made you, didn't I?", she says looking me dead in the eyes as her face gives away no emotion.

Did she just..? I look around the kitchen for confirmation that someone else heard what my own mother just said to me. Who knew my mother could be such a meanie.

"Now Lilly. That's no way to talk to our little princess, especially on her birthday." My dad says coming towards me to give me a bone crushing hug and kiss on the forehead.

My birthday? What's the date? I've been so out of it that I didn't even realize that I turn 17 today. One after the other my family members take turns to give me a hug and wish me but I don't hear much of it as I'm still recovering from the fact that I forgot my own birthday? I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly.

"Earth to Jasmine?" Nikkita says shaking my shoulders.

"Yeah?" Is all I can manage to say.

"You good? You zoned out for a bit there.", she points out.

"Uhm, I'm okay. It's just that I forgot that today is my birthday." I say and the whole room goes quite.

They all look at each other and then burst out laughing at my expense. "You're such an odd little creature." Nikki says ruffling my hair.

My beautiful curls, they took me a while to perfect and she just ruined them. Oh well I'll just have to run a brush through them and curl them with my fingers.

"So now let's get down to business. Where's my gifts?" I say jokingly, sitting down at the kitchen table.

They look at me and roll their eyes simultaneously, the way they all did it would make you think they spend a lot of time practicing that, but why would they need to practice when they live with me and my personality. I am annoying and dramatic at times, or so I'm told.

My dad is first and he gifts me a collection of flower pendant necklaces, I carefully take out the one with the daisy pendant, as it matches my dress, and ask him to help me put it on.

Kean gifts me a voucher worth £500 for a book store that is apparently a fifteen minute drive from our house.

When it's Nikkita's turn she asks me to close my eyes and not to open it unless she says so. I hear her walk out of the room and it feels like a decade has passed until I hear her footsteps again. When she tells me to open my eyes I almost shriek again. But the way the poor thing is looking at me has the shriek die in my throat.

"He is all yours." She says smiling.

I go up to her and take the cute little ball of fluff from her hands. The minute he is in my arms he snuggles further into my chest. "Thank you Nikki", I say kissing her on the cheek.

"It's a pleasure. I figured if you had someone to play with you wouldn't be as reserved as you are." I ignore her words and focus on the little cutie in my hands.

When she realizes that I'm not going to reply to her statement anytime soon she decides to change the topic. "What are you going to name him?"

"Jellybean. His name is Jellybean." I say after much thought, looking down at him as he licks my face. Who knew love at first sight really existed.

I look up I see that my family is staring lovingly at Jellybean and me. All this attention is making me sweaty and uncomfortable so I clear my throat. They all seem to snap out of it and I look at my mom.

"Don't look at me like that missy. I got you that dress and I made you blueberry pancakes covered in chocolate sauce and a chocolate milkshake. What more do you want from me?", she says noticing my stare.

I would have honestly been grateful if I had gotten a bag of rocks from them. I am not really the fussy type and it's the thought that counts after all. The amount of love I feel for the people and animal in this room right now is overwhelming, God really has blessed me.

The mention of food has me gently placing Jellybean on the ground. I quickly rush to the sink to wash my hands and speed walk back into my seat as my mom lovingly pours me a generous amount of chocolate sauce.

____________________________________

I enjoy the rest of my breakfast and have at least two more helpings before they all practically shove me into Nikki's car and send me off to school.

"Well enjoy the rest of your day guys and Kean please make sure she comes back home in one piece. No getting into trouble like you seniors usually do." Nikki says before we can close the door and drive off to explore her new campus.

Staring at the building in front of me all I can hope for is that my experience here will not be half as bad as my experience at my old high school.

And for a minute I allow myself to imagine what life would be like if I had actual friends to hang out with and be my goofy self like how I had Peppy and Jay back home. But I guess in a way I do have friends now, kind of. And I can text them whenever....a thought occurs to me that I don't have any of their numbers or so much as know their last names. Well I guess you could say I once upon a time had friends.

"You coming or what? I know it's your birthday and everything but I will not hesitate to leave you to fend for yourself if you get caught up in Lala land again." Kean says breaking up the fight I was having with myself in my head for being such an idiot.

I roll my eyes regardless of the fact that I would rather much give him a piece of my mind, and follow him into the school.

When we walk through the doors Kean immediately rushes in but stops in his tracks when he notices that I am not following him. He turns around and sees that I have not even placed a foot in the hallways yet.

"What now?", he says annoyed.

Wow this boy really has no manners. "I want my first time walking into this school to be memorable and special." I say lifting one foot of the ground.

It's important that I get it right, especially if I want to get a 'normal' high school experience.

"Well can you hurry up already? The bell is going to ring in less than a minute." He points out looking at his wrist watch.

This is it, this is my new beginning. And in honor of starting off good I shall use my right foot to step into the place I will most probably spend the rest of my high school years in.

Just as I am about to step in the bell rings and my special moment is ruined as a bunch of kids start walking into the school building and push me forward. Kean quickly reaches for my hand and pulls me out of the mess of bodies. Great I haven't even been here for more than a minute and I already have people part of the 'I hate Jasmine club'.

Kean leads me away from the harsh stares thrown my way as people try to get out of the pile of bodies I caused. We make our way towards the main office. When we get there an old lady that looks like she has a permanent scowl on her face acknowledges us.

"How may I help you two?" Her tone seems somewhat softer as compared to her facial expression.

As Kean talks to her I look around. I would talk to her but if it isn't that obvious yet, I really suck at talking to my fellow humans. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I can't. I don't really know how and every time I try to I come off as weird. I guess you could say I'm socially awkward but that would be an understatement. Puberty may not have hit me hard but social anxiety has.

"Here is your locker number; it's code, your timetable; and a map to guide you around the school. Please try not to loose any of these. I'll see you later, I'm late for my first class anyways and I still need to find my locker. Enjoy the rest of your day and at least try to make friends." Kean says whilst hugging me.

He makes it seem as if I deliberately scare people off. If people didn't know any better they would have mistaken him as my older brother. I don't have an opportunity to argue with him as he has my face up against his chest and my whole argument cames out as mumbles.

Once he has said what he felt he needed to, he makes his way towards his locker and leaves me in the dust. Okay so maybe I'm exaggerating, but he still did just leave me behind.

Sighing, I figure I might as well get to my class as well. Lord give me the strength I need for this day, that is all I'm asking for.

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Well it turns out I got more than just strength, it's around break time and I don't feel like running back home. The new school experience hasn't been bad after all. Maybe public schools are different from private ones.

I've been in private schools ever since I can remember and I forgot what it feels like being around normal people. Not that I'm saying all rich people are snobs and all other people are basic. I'm totally for equality, it's just that they are different in a way, whether they like it or not we can't all be the same. And that's the uniqueness of it all.

So far 4 people have initiated conversation with me out of their own genuine interest and not because they felt sorry for me. And I haven't come across any trouble makers so you could say I'm having a good day.

As I make my way to my locker I see that 5 figures are standing in front of it, and the one in the centre is holding a multi-coloured balloon written 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!♡' in white. As I get closer I realize that I actually know these five dorks.

Standing in front of me they all have the biggest, goofiest and most alarming smiles plastered on their faces. And what is so alarming about that you may ask, well they are all staring at me and drawing attention to us.

"Happy birthday!" They all scream at once. I look down and fiddle with my hands, unsure of what to do with all this attention.

"Uhm, thanks?" I say still looking down. San steps foward and taps my shoulder.

"You can look up, it's just us we don't bite." He says and I internally scoff, well that's easier said than done and I barely know you guys anyways, I think to myself.

"How did you guys know it was my birthday?", I say once I realize that I certainly didn't tell them, especially since I forgot.

"Jordon here saw you this morning and came up to greet you and that's when he heard Kean mention it. We then all had this brilliant idea to welcome you to our school and wish you." Diego replies smiling down at me.

I'm not going to lie that was actually pretty sweet of them. I muster up the biggest smile I can and send it their way, hoping I don't come of as some weirdo.

"Well what do you want to do first birthday girl?" Karan asks.

"Well I'm starved, how about we head to the cafeteria and get some lunch?", I say as they all look at me in disbelief.

"Okay so I know we've known you for less than 24 hours but it seems as if you jump at any opportunity to stuff your face. I strongly believe that if someone were to write a book about your life, you would be stuffing your face at least 3 times in every chapter." Karan finishes and the rest of the guys nod in agreement to his statement.

"But if you really want to eat that badly then how about we get you some real food. Not something that would have you spending the rest of your life on a toilet.", Michael says.

"Before we go though I'd like to introduce you to someone. She could even come with us if you'd like. She's my girlfriend and she's just so amazing, you'd love her.", Karan says leading us towards a group of cheerleaders.

Plenty of scenarios run through my head as I don't have the best experiences with popular girls but I follow Karan nonetheless. I need to stop judging people based of their popularity status and now is a good time to break that cycle.

"Lee! Babe come over here." He gestures for her to join us.

The dazzling white smile she sends our way once she has turned around nearly blinds me. And when I see the intense sea blue colour of her eyes I am left in a state of disbelief. It can't be her, not now, especially when things have been going so well for me.

A/N

Yay a cliffhanger. Don't we just love those:-|

I have been thinking of writing a chapter dedicated to physical details about the characters to help you guys imagine them better. If you'd like that then please let me know your thoughts on this in the comments.

I hope you are enjoying The Freak's Secret so far. Please don't forget to vote, comment and even leave a review. Gifts are highly appreciated as well!❤️

Please take care of yourselves, especially in this whole pandemic and now that this new racism virus is spreading. Choose kindness, we are all human and we are all in this together, yes I did just quote High school musical. Please be safe❤️