“Happy birthday!”

That was the first thing I said to Ethan once he finally came down the stairs, but no type of emotion even crossed his face when he saw me. I thought he would have been excited, since he still was a kid and all, but he didn’t even seem to care at all that he was now eleven years old.

“Ethan’s never been a huge fan of birthdays, even his own,” Zach laughed when he noticed the frustrated look on his face. “I’m surprised he actually agreed to having a party this year. Last year he didn’t want one.”

Ethan glared at his brother and said nothing, walking right by us and into the kitchen so he could see the cake Brianna had made for his party, which was going to start soon. All I did was look in the direction he had left in, sitting down on the couch next to Zach afterwards.

“Something’s wrong with him,” I swallowed, crossing my arms over my chest as I did so. “Have you noticed?”

“No,” Zach shrugged simply, placing his arm around my shoulders now.

This bothered me a little. Not that he was putting his arm around me, but that he didn’t notice that his brother was acting strangely. He was a lot quieter than he used to be, and things he said to me were a lot meaner than his normal jokes. There had to be a chance for me to ask him what was wrong soon…

Five minutes later, the house suddenly became flooding with kids, all of them heading out to the backyard where the party was going to take place. Luckily, Brianna and Steve said that Zach and I could invite our friends over so we weren’t completely bored during the party.

Kate and Logan were the first ones to get here, and before even saying hello to me, Kate stared at my neck intently.

“Maxynn, why do you have a bruise on your neck?”

I was not expecting her to ask me a question like this, and I couldn’t believe that I actually had a hickey on my neck from what Zach and I were doing earlier. I said nothing, knowing that it wasn’t a bruise, but she seemed not to notice this at all.

“It’s not a bruise,” Ethan snapped at her flatly, and I felt my stomach drop. “It’s a hickey.”

Kate now grinned at Zach and me suggestively, and all I did was steer my way away from them and back toward the couch. I didn’t feel like being embarrassed any longer.

Zach grabbed onto my and didn’t let me move any farther, and I fought the urge to elbow him in the stomach to get him to let me go. He was holding me, so at least that made me feel a little better.

But when I saw Johnny make his way into the house, I elbowed Zach and made him let me go. It was still awkward whenever I was around both Johnny and Zach, and the last thing I wanted to do was make Johnny feel uncomfortable.

But before Johnny could even look over at us, something stopped him. Elizabeth quickly popped out in front of him, both of them laughing as he took her in his arms and he kissed her deeply.

I wasn’t the only one who was completely shocked by this. Both Logan and Kate were staring at them, their eyes wide and their mouth agape. Zach, like always, didn’t look fazed in the slightest.

“Elizabeth went on a date the other night…” I blinked, still trying to process it all. “She went on a date with Johnny.”

Zach shrugged, now wrapping his arm around me greedily. “Well, at least I can hold you now.”

I remembered Johnny telling Zach that he was going to go after a girl that Zach couldn’t have, and that was what he definitely did. Zach couldn’t steal his sister from Johnny, and it would have been really creepy if he did.

Johnny nodded at Zach as he went by us with Elizabeth out to the backyard, and Zach nodded right back at him. All I did was stare at the two retreating backs, still not able to comprehend what was going on.

“We should go out there, too,” Logan grinned, then taking Kate’s hand and leading her away from us and out of the house. Zach and I were now the only ones still in the house, and I lightly slapped my cheeks to wake myself up a little.

“Well if it isn’t Zach and Maxynn, together like always…” we both heard a voice say once a few more children had hurried off into the backyard for their party. “I guess it’s not a surprise to see both of you here.”

I could tell she was trying to be menacing and mean, but it wasn’t working in the slightest. This girl just didn’t know how to be mean to someone who had something she wanted.

“We both live here, Aveline,” I made sure to remind her, in case she had somehow forgotten that very important fact. “Of course we would be here together.”

I don’t even think Aveline heard what I was saying, because she then saw the diamond ring on my finger. Her eyes turned fiery, even more than usual, and I could only hope that she wouldn’t pounce on me.

“What the hell is this?” she demanded, grabbing onto my hand and yanking me closer to her so she could get a better look at the ring. She examined the big diamond, and I stopped myself from smirking at her. Angering was a lot more fun than I ever remembered.

“It’s my engagement ring,” I shrugged, not removing my hand from her grasp as she continued to look at the ring. “It was my mother’s.”

Aveline scowled, slapping my hand away from her. “So you’re wearing the jewelry of a person you killed, huh? How disgusting?”

My sly smile was now swiped right off my face, and I felt as if she had slapped me. She hadn’t said that I had killed my mother in so long, so I wasn’t expecting her to say it ever again. Just how mad was she about Zach’s and my engagement?

“I didn’t kill my mother,” was all I said back to her, trying to be as calm as I possibly could have. “You can think what you want, Aveline, but I didn’t kill my mother. I’ve never even threatened to kill someone, unlike you.”

Her cheeks burned red, and soon her entire face looked like a tomato. Zach then put his arm around me, trying his hardest not to smirk as he said, “Maybe you should go home, Aveline. Neither of us really want you here.”

She looked up at him in shock, obviously surprised that her beloved and precious Zach would say something like this to her.

“No, I don’t think I will,” she sneered, puffing out her chest as she crossed her arms over it. “I’ll stay and enjoy the party. It seems like it’ll be a lot of fun.”

She was only saying that because she knew Ethan loved to torture me. Now I knew this party was going to be even worse than I thought.

Aveline smiled snottily at me before turning away from us and making her way into the backyard where everyone else was. I let out a sigh, rubbing my hands over my face. I just couldn’t believe I had to deal with her and everything else that was going on.

“Zach, could you help me with this, please?” Brianna now called out from the backyard, and Zach let out a sigh as he reluctantly let go of me and went into the backyard to help his mother with whatever she needed.

I now sat down on the arm of the couch, not wanting to go outside just yet. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t relax. Aveline being there made everything so much more stressful, not to mention there were so many little kids running around.

“Maxynn!” I now heard Kate shout from the backyard as well. “Get out here, will you? The party’s about to start and I’m not about to let you miss it!”

I let out a sigh, shaking my head as I pushed myself up from the couch and towards the back door. There weren’t too many kids, at least from what I had seen, and I was sure Aveline wouldn’t have been a complete bitch in front of a bunch of other people.

I stepped outside onto the porch and nearly fell over when two kids ran right by me. I wanted to yell at them for getting in my way, but stopped myself when I remembered that they were just little kids. They came to the party to have fun, not get yelled at.

I then saw what they were running to, and my jaw nearly hit the ground. A gigantic bouncy house, something that I had always wanted to go in ever since I was a little kid, but never had the chance to.

Even though the thing was huge, there was still enough room in the backyard for other activities and games, not to mention the pool as well. I had never appreciated how big their backyard was, but now I couldn’t help but do so. The backyard at my old house was small and cramped. It was nothing like this.

“Earth to Maxynn!” I heard someone call out now.

I turned toward the person shouting at me, smiling when I saw that it was Kate. She was wearing a yellow sundress that showed off her large stomach. She ready to burst at any time, and I knew that she was excited for it, just as we all were.

For some reason, I blushed and smiled at her sheepishly. I guess I was embarrassed about zoning out over an inflatable house…

“Hey,” I greeted her now, tearing my gaze away from the house multiple kids were jumping in. “I like your dress.”

She smiled down at it and ruffled it a little. “Thanks! You know, it’s been a while since I saw you in a dress, Maxynn.”

That was because there weren’t many long sleeved dresses that I thought looked good on me. I was surprised more people hadn’t noticed that I hadn’t shown my arms in so long, but it was better that no one was notices. Not only was my right arm scarred, both of my arms were incredibly pale from the lack of sunlight.

I merely shrugged and told her that I just didn’t feel like wearing dresses anymore, and she then cracked a joke about how I was going to have to wear a dress for when I marred Zach. Just the thought of getting married made my stomach flip, and Kate immediately noticed.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” she grinned at me, placing a hand on my uninjured arm. “You guys don’t have to get married right away if you don’t want to. I’m pretty sure the only reason Zach wants to marry you so soon is because he’s afraid he might lose you if he doesn’t.”

I gulped, knowing that that wasn’t true. We didn’t even have to get married at all, and I wouldn’t ever leave him. I loved him, even if we weren’t engaged or wife and husband.

“So…” Kate grinned now, taking a step closer to me. I knew I wasn’t going to want to hear what she had to say, but I didn’t cut her off and let her ask the question anyway. “Have you and Zach done it yet?”

If my face had been red before, it was completely scarlet now. How could she ask me something so personal when we were surrounded by kids, even though she was being quiet enough for them not to hear us? I was sure Ethan would have been the only one out of all of them who even knew what we were really talking about anyway.

I really wished that we weren’t talking about something like this. She might have been my best friend, but this was still really embarrassing.

“Have you?” she asked me again when I didn’t answer her.

I gulped again, not knowing how to tell her that we hadn’t yet, even if we did live in the same house together. I was more embarrassed to tell her that we hadn’t done anything yet than telling her that we did.

There was no point in making this any more awkward…

“No, we haven’t,” I shrugged, trying to sound like it didn’t matter at all. But honestly, I was wondering why Zach hadn’t even tried yet. He tried more when we were playing the game, and even before that. Now, it was like sex didn’t even exist to him.

Kate looked a lot more shocked than I thought she would, and it freaked me out for a second.

“You guys haven’t had sex yet?” she nearly shouted, and I had to slap my hand over her mouth when a few kids looked over at us, including Ethan. He glared at him, and cocked my head toward the bouncy house in a way that told him to go over there and leave us alone.

“Why are you so surprised?” I asked her after I made sure all the kids that had turned toward us had gone away. “It’s not that big of a deal… is it?”

Kate shook her head, waving what I had said away. “No, it’s not that…”

I felt my stomach turn. “Then what is it?”

“It’s just… Zach is Zach,” she blinked, as if that was going to explain absolutely everything that she was trying to say. “He’s been with nearly every girl in the school. He didn’t have sex with all of them, but he’s sure done it with a lot of them. I’m just surprised that he hasn’t had sex with the girl he’s going to marry, especially when she lives in his house with him.”

I tried to not let this bother me, but I couldn’t help but fell a little ticked off. I didn’t know why Zach wouldn’t have slept with me yet, but I wasn’t going to worry about it at his younger brother’s birthday party. I’d worry about it at some other time.

“But I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal,” Kate continued quickly now, obviously noticing how anxious this was making me. “You guys are going to do it one day. All couples do it evetually, right? If you guys are getting married, you’re definitely going to do it. Especially if the two of you want kids.”

I felt myself blush even more at the thought of having kids with Zach. It almost seemed too good to be true.

When I heard someone wailing, I assumed that one of the kids had fallen or had somehow gotten hurt. After a few moments of looking around to see who it was, I realized that this crying was way too familiar.

“That damn doll,” I spat, sprinting off back into the house and up the stairs to shut the stupid doll up before it made me fail the damned project.

It was sitting on my bed just how I left it, and I picked it up gently and rocked it even though I just wanted to throw it out the window. This project was so stupid, and it wasn’t something that I needed to deal with. Zach and I weren’t even having sex yet, so of course we weren’t going to have a baby anytime soon.

I hated this stupid thing so much. I don’t even think words could describe how much I despised it. I’d definitely love my own child, since I knew it wouldn’t be as annoying and lifeless as this thing, but I still wasn’t planning on having kids anytime soon. I knew Zach would have agreed with me on that.

At least, I hoped he did. He did want to get married as soon as possible…

As soon I started rocking it, I knew that something wasn’t right. It had stopped crying, so now I heard another sound. A ticking sound. And without even thinking about it, I immediately opened my window and threw the thing right out into the middle of the street in front of our house.

“Maxynn’s finally lost it!” I heard Logan shout, since they could see me and the street from where they were all standing. “I thought Zach would have thrown it out the window before Maxynn did!”

“What are you doing, Maxynn?” I heard Zach asked me now. “You’re going to make us fail!”

He started off toward it, not stopping until I shouted, “No, don’t go anywhere near it!”

And then it exploded. It wasn’t anything too big; it went nowhere near any of the houses and it quickly fizzled out in the street after a few moments. But if I had been holding it, I had no idea what could have happened. I knew that I definitely would have been injured, but there was also a chance that I could have been killed.

At least I finally got to throw it out the window…

“And you said I wasn’t ever allowed to hold it again!” Zach called out, looking at the remains of the stupid thing as it continued to lie in the street. “I’m pretty sure exploding is a lot worse than crying!”

I was in too much of a shock to say anything back to him. None of my friends seemed to see that this wasn’t my fault, but it was better if they thought the way they were. I knew what really happened, and I knew why it really happened, but it was better if my friends didn’t. I just couldn’t worry them, especially Zach. He already spent enough time worrying about me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ew. This is so late. I need to step up with this story or it's never going to be finished in time for the Watty Awards.

This is for the 2012 Watty Awards! Please COMMENT, VOTE, and SHARE! Don't forget to NOMINATE Ethan for Funniest Character! Why he's changed will be revealed soon. ;)