Alpha Belt
Mortal Belt
Venura Residence
January 12, 2015
“Do you feel old?”
“I do, now that you
reminded me,” Aria complained. Miles laughed and dodged a comb thrown at him.
Aria huffed and turned back to the mirror, brushing her hair. “Seventeen…I’m a
year closer to being legal. It’s so weird.”
“You’re closer to being
arrested,” he offered. She made a face. “And a year closer to celebrating your
debut and dancing with those eighteen roses or whatever.”
“Gross.” Aria shook her
head and slid on her headband, “I don’t even know eighteen guys.”
“Your dad, two brothers
and your uncle.”
“That’s four.”
“And me.”
The short-haired girl
laughed and turned to Miles, a small grin on her face. “You’d really show up in
front of everyone and be my eighteenth rose?”
“Why the hell not?”
Miles jumped forward and took her hands, pretending to dance with her in the
middle of the bedroom. “I can dance. I’m a fairly decent dancer.”
“My Watcher is my
eighteenth rose. Seems nice,” Aria admitted. Miles let go of her hands and
watched as she went back to spray on her cologne, smiling slightly to himself. “But
really…I’m not sure if I even want a debut, you know. It’s like a lot of
hassle.”
“You won’t plan it.”
“I’ll invite people.”
Aria shuddered, “God. My
extroverted-introverted side is rejoicing and cowering at the thought of a lot
of people seeing me in a dress and make up and all. Even though it does seem
nice.”
The Forest Original
chuckled. “Take your time. You’re only seventeen.” He looked at her through the
mirror, his eyes meeting hers, “Enjoy this day first.”
* * * * *
“Happy birthday, dude!” Kaye Tunes greeted, launching into Aria Venura’s
arms. Aria laughed and hugged her back, Anna Angeles smiling as she deposited
her things into the classroom. “I actually thought our birthday was tomorrow,”
she exclaimed in extreme sarcasm.
“Really? I thought it
was yesterday,” Aria retorted back. Kaye smirked and swung an arm around the
taller girl’s shoulders, Anna returning. “How’d your parents take it, Angeles?”
“They were fine,” she
shrugged. Anna wiped her glasses on her white blouse. “I’m already preparing
the appeal letter.”
“ACET?” Kaye asked
curiously. The other two nodded. The ACET results had been released only two
days ago. “That’s chill, bro. You’ll get in. You can’t leave Venura alone over
there and not know how to commute,” she snarked. Aria turned red and Anna
laughed loudly.
“Shut up. I’ll learn in
college.”
While the threesome
bickered and laughed with each other about the weekend’s events, Bea Mora swung
and embraced Aria tightly, then Kaye, greeting both a happy birthday. Marie
Ramos did the same, greeting them in a deadpan tone that resembled Bea’s bae
crush. They laughed about that for a few minutes and returned to the
conversation, Aria feeling a trace of lightness linger in the air.
Things are going well so far, she thought. I
wonder, though, where is –
Something firm hit the
back of her legs. Aria yelped loudly and Kaye started at the doer of the
action, eyes narrowing. “What the–”
Giselle Rivers eyed
Aria Venura innocently, half-smiling and pushing the large box into her hands
before going into the IV-3 classroom. Anna and Kaye eyed Aria as the girl
stared at the box, feeling excitement suddenly bubble up. “That looks big,”
Anna remarked, and Aria quickly sat down on the floor, opening the box in
excitement. Giselle came out of the classroom soon after.
“Have you seen what’s
inside yet?” she asked her. Kaye and Anna had gone back to talking and
laughing, Jana Ayade joining the twosome. Giselle had taken her place next to
Aria. Aria noticed that she was wearing the honey jade necklace and smiled a
bit before reverting her attention back to the box.
“I was going to open
it,” she defended. Giselle said nothing and Aria opened the box, eyes widening
at the contents. “This is–”
“I didn’t spend any
money,” Giselle interrupted, watching as Aria took out the stuffed polar bear
wearing a silver crown and aqua dress. “That…was my first Build-A-Bear. I don’t
have the certificate. You can give her a new identity and stuff,” she
explained. Aria remained speechless. The bear stared back at her, blue eyes meeting
hers and soft fur against her skin. Giselle reached out to touch the stuffed
toy, “I’m giving her to you, now. Your first Build-A-Bear.”
“You shouldn’t have–”
“Don’t say that. Now
look at the other one,” Giselle cut in. Aria pouted at her yet followed anyway,
spotting yet another box – smaller and flatter – inside the polar bear’s ‘home’.
Aria tilted her head and took it into her hands, removing the lid of the indigo
box.
Papers.
As Aria read the
content of the first page, Giselle cleared her throats. “I wasn’t able to
finish all of them…so I’ll continue it for the rest of the school year.” She watched
Aria as the girl flipped through the pages next, noticing that the smile on her
face grew bigger and bigger. “…do you like the gifts?”
“I love them,” she
answered genuinely. Aria’s excited eyes met Giselle’s, and the Storm Original
felt herself be crushed by the smaller girl’s arms, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Giselle merely smiled and
hugged her back, taking the polar bear once they pulled away.
“You forgot something.”
“Hm?”
Giselle unhooked
something from the snow white bear’s neck. Aria gaped. The sight of a silver
necklace greeted her, the insignia of the pendant eerily familiar. “Recognize
it?”
The Lightning Original
managed a stiff nod. Of course she recognized it. The three heads of the dragon
was already an obvious characteristic. “The Targaryen insignia–” Giselle smiled
proudly and handed the necklace, Aria feeling the cold metal in her hands. “How
did you get this?”
“Online shopping,” she
responded simply. Aria removed her other necklace and slid it onto the bear,
soon putting on the Targaryen necklace. The cold radiated nicely. “Again: do
you like it?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Aria
whined. She gave Giselle yet another tight embrace and stood up much after,
holding the polar bear tightly in her arms. “Of course I like them, idiot…”
“I’m glad.” Their gazes
met quickly and Aria made the polar bear touch Giselle’s nose, the latter
rolling her eyes with a small smile. “I really hope they made you happy.”
They did, Aria
thought, and so did you.
* * * * *
That night, Aria sat on
her bed and hugged the stuffed toy. She decided that the dress was better for
display purposes and set it aside for the moment, cuddling the two stuffed toys
she had close to her chest. Patria and the polar bear were crushed to her
chest, and it felt good to have more
than one stuffed toy accompany her – as weird as it seemed to be.
“You look like you’re
enjoying your 6205th night,” Miles noted. Aria looked up. Miles was
standing, smiling amusedly at the sight of her with her stuffed animals.
“I am,” she admitted. “It
was actually really nice.”
“Any surprises?”
“Yes and no,” she
admitted. Miles blinked. “There was no grand surprise. No hidden cake or
balloons or anything. Which…I might have expected, really.” He saw her eyes
sadden for a moment, but the look vanished quickly. “Elle gave me this, though.
She gave me a stuffed bear, the Targaryen necklace and her own personal gift…”
her eyes fell on the box and she smiled this time, Miles noting the look on her
face.
Even he had to smile at
her happiness. “But was it enjoyable?”
“It was. It really was.”
She answered. “It’s one of the first birthdays I’ve actually enjoyed…” she held
the toys a little closer, “And I’m sure that it’s a sign that this year is
going to be fantastic.”
He had missed her
optimism.
“Good.” Miles looked at
Aria and saw her glow, feeling the
euphoria trickle from her skin. “You deserve happiness.”
His last words ended in
a whisper as his Assignment slowly drifted, ending her 6205th day.
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