Chapter One: Birthday Girl

A Chapter by Nicole

7:46AM

The smell of burnt bacon and scorched eggs filled Virginia Troutman’s diminutive apartment as she prepared breakfast for her teenage daughter Mia. She faintly hummed a relaxing tune to herself as she sipped freshly squeezed orange juice from a crystal wine glass and sloppily flipped pancakes.

“Making good use of the wedding china I see…” Mia teased as she fumbled out of her room with her backpack draped around one shoulder and her shoes dangling in her adjacent hand.

“You forgot to wash the dishes last night actually,“ Virginia retaliated while flipping a pancake high into the air and just barely catching it in the pan,

“Well played…” Mia surrendered as she threw her shoes on the floor and flung her dark purple backpack onto the old raggedy sofa which was situated directly behind the kitchen table. “Whoa, what did I do to deserve all this?” Mia gasped as she plopped down at the table while Virginia served her breakfast,

“Oh it’s nothing Mia...just wanted to do something special for your birthday since I may be working late tonight. By the way...happy birthday, baby!” Virginia softly squealed as she flipped the last not-so-heart-shaped pancake onto Mia’s plate.

“Thanks Mom…” Mia sighed as she pulled her fluffy hot pink socks onto her feet,

“No problem baby. So...uh, your dad called and said he wants to maybe see if he can pick you up after school and do something with you since I won’t be here. What do you think?” Virginia tested the waters as she put the remainder of the dishes into the dishwasher.

“Mom...are we really going to have this conversation again?” Mia calmly threatened as she dropped her fork onto her plate, sending a loud thunderclap throughout the small apartment as she crossed her arms.

Virginia jumped and turned immediately with sorrow painted across her face, “I know sweetie, he just really wanted me to ask you. You know, he really is sorry…” Virginia breathed a sigh of uneasiness as she sat at the table beside Mia, wiping her hands with the dishtowel.

“It’s alright Mom, just please...don’t ever bring him up around me again...please,” Mia placed her hand on her mother’s as she reminded herself of just how much she hated her father. “I gotta go…you’re gonna be okay, right?” Mia empathized,

“Oh, yeah...of course honey. You go on to school. Have a great day,” Virginia shuddered as she whipped her hair around into a loose ponytail and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

Mia cleared her plate and within thirty seconds she was out the door.

3:43 PM

Mia repeatedly drummed her pencil onto her desk and popped bright pink bubble gum between her slightly crooked teeth as Mr. Siward taught her oh-so-boring Algebra II class. When the bell finally rung, permitting rowdy teenagers to roam the streets for the weekend, Mia wandered the halls hoping to run into Isaac Carney, her future husband of course, to confirm their plans to go to Andrea Parsons’ party that weekend.

“Hey babe! Lookin’ for Isaac?” Mia’s best friend Lydia Kaufman, AKA 13th most popular girl in school, teased as she swung her arm around Mia’s shoulders leaning most of her weight on the scrawny sixteen-year-old, pushing them both directly towards the lockers,

“Actually I was...have you seen him? I need to talk to him about the party Saturday,” Mia questioned as she regained their balance by pushing off of the lockers they would have soon crashed into.

“Nope. Still can’t believe he asked you to go with him though,”

“Jeez, thanks for the confidence boost…” Mia shrugged Lydia’s arm off her shoulders and they sat on the floor under Isaac’s locker.

After waiting a good fifteen minutes and eating all of the snacks out of Mia’s backpack, Isaac finally emerged from the principal's office, his parents not far behind him,

“Hey Isaac, what’s going on?” Mia questioned, getting up from her spot on the floor.

Isaac looked shocked to see her waiting for him...which made everything worse, “Uh...hey Mia. By the way, I’m so sorry but I don’t think I’ll be able to go to the party with you Saturday...cause I’m pretty sure I’m grounded for life. Again...super sorry,” Isaac blurted out insincerely as he grabbed his backpack from his locker, failing to hold back an evil smirk from his face as he went on his way.

Mia fell back onto the lockers which thankfully caught her fall as Lydia jumped up from her position on the floor to console her friend,

“OMG...I’m so sorry Mia,” Lydia apologized, “Don’t worry Mi, I’ll totally ditch my date and we’ll go together...okay?” Lydia suggested, secretly hoping Mia wouldn’t take the offer,

“Umm, no... don’t do that. I’ll be fine. Not like I’ve been looking forward to this for three weeks or anything. I’ll just go to the movies with my mom or something...don’t worry about me.” Mia assured as she gathered her things from the ground and marched outside.

Sitting on the city bus, Mia tried to pull herself together...but she’d been looking forward to this night with Isaac since Andrea announced the party at homecoming last month. She’d already picked out her outfit and planned the night out by the minute. She was devastated. She was thankful it was the weekend though, because there was no way she’d be showing her face any time soon.

11:47 PM

The sound of her mother’s keys fumbling around in the lock jolted Mia out of her light sleep.

“Mom? Why are you home so late?” Mia sleepily whispered as she emerged from her dark room, eyes squinted due to shock from the bright kitchen light,

“Oh, Mia! Sorry...I thought you were asleep. I didn’t mean to wake you,” Virginia apologized as she slipped off her distasteful beige flats,

“It’s okay...wasn’t really sleeping anyways...” Mia yawned as she combed her fingers through her hair, her eyes finally adjusting to the light.

Virginia grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and settled into a chair at the kitchen table to release the ever-growing tension in her neck and feet. Distress consumed her face as she placed the peas on her cheek.

Something was wrong. The way her mother greeted her in such a precarious way; the way she was startled when Mia entered the room; the look on her face... everything was pointing to the one thing Mia dreaded, but she asked anyway...although she already knew the answer,

“What’s wrong Ma?” Mia interrogated, also taking a seat at the unsteady table,

Virginia hesitated, but eventually gave in, “I---I visited your father. I guess things...ended badly.” Virginia whimpered, turning her head to reveal a slight black eye and an unsightly bruise on the lower portion of her cheekbone, trying her absolute hardest to hold back the tears swelling in her eyes.

Mia was instantly filled with anger, “Mom...What were you thinking!?” Mia scolded her mother, holding back just how angry she really was.

Her father was a bad man. It took Virginia three years just to muster up the courage to leave him. Mia was baffled at how much power he still held over their heads, but she knew that her mother had no control over his influence,

“I’m sorry. He called and said he wanted to see me...we got into an argument...I wasn’t thinking,” Virginia dropped the frozen peas onto the table and threw her head into her hands.

Mia realized how scared and regretful her mother was, so she dropped her anger and decided to comfort her, “Just promise me, never again,” Mia demanded as she took her mother’s hands, “Never again...I swear,” Virginia promised a promise she knew she couldn’t keep.