CHAPTER NINE:
❝︎16th Birthday❞︎

SHE WOKE UP LATE THAT DAY, SKIPPING BREAKFAST, AND MISSING ALL THE AMAZING ACTIVITIES THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE. First, Hope had went to Emma as a counselor and Emma simply told Hope that she needed a friend, which was where Harper came in and Hope ranted about the beauty that was Landon. Second, Josie and Lizzie's mother came back from the dead and Alaric was convinced that this was their new monster. Third, today was the Saltzman twins birthday, and this was the first year that Harper hadn't surprised Josie with a cupcake for breakfast.

Harper stood in the kitchen with her cupcake and smiled gently to herself before walking out and making her way down the halls until she made it to Lizzie and Josie's room. She knocked on the door, silently hoping Lizzie wasn't in there and much to her relief, Josie opened the door and a smile immediately fell on the brunette's face when she saw Harper standing there.

"Harper." Josie greeted.

"Happy birthday, Jo." Harper smiled before handing the girl her cupcake. "I know I usually give it to you at breakfast, but I just woke up not even an hour ago."

"It's alright." Josie assured with a chuckle. "I'm just glad to see you, today. Want to come in?" Harper nodded and Josie allowed her into the room. "I can't take too long or Lizzie will come find me and drag me downstairs to help her continue planning. But, I found out that Lizzie and Raf slept together."

Harper's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah." Josie nodded with a small frown.

"Jo, I'm so sorry. I know you liked him and all." Harper placed a hand over Josie's and Josie looked down at their hands for a moment, a desperation to interlace their fingers crossing her mind before remembering the Harper was actually in a relationship now, so she immediately forced the thought away.

"It's alright." Josie nodded her head. "Enough about that uncomfortable topic. How are you and Scarlett?"

Harper's face brightened and it seemed to make a pain shoot through the twins heart. "We're good. I'm supposed to see her sometime this weekend and we're going to go chill out at one our favorite spots."

"You already have a favorite spot?" Josie asked in surprise.

"Well, it's not necessarily our spot." Harper shrugged. "It's the library." Josie hummed. Harper cleared her throat and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I heard your. . . mom was back? Josette, I mean."

"Yeah." Josie nodded. "She seemed to check out. But. . . I don't know." Josie stood up. "I better get back downstairs before Lizzie rains hell fire. Thanks for the cupcake, Harp."

"Of course." Harper nodded before watching as Josie stood up and left the room, causing the girl to sigh before glancing down at her hand, missing the warmth of Josie's hand underneath her own.

It wasn't until later that night that Harper had her party dress on, her hair slightly curled and the lightest touch of make up ever that she decided to head down to the party. She stopped only when she watched Penelope make her way out of Lizzie and Josie's room. Harper frowned before making her way towards the open door and peeking her head in to see Josie standing there, having yet to get dressed.

"Jo? Everything alright?" Josie snapped her head towards Harper's voice and her breath hitched in her throat as she looked at the teenager. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Harper wasn't known to dress up, but every time she did it seemed to take Josie's breath away.

"Yeah." Josie nodded, swallowing. "You, uh, you look amazing Harp."

Harper smiled, trying to hide her blush. "Thanks, Jo." She bit the inside of her cheek before entering the room, Josie's present in her hand. She held it out to the girl. "Here."

"The cupcake was enough, Harp." Josie told her and Harper smiled before nodding her head.

"I know. But I couldn't not get my favorite girl something for her birthday." She nodded towards the gift. "Open it." Josie did and she found herself smiling. There were three bracelet's inside. One that was a simple golden bracelet with a heart on it outlined with small crystal's. The other two had Josie and Harper's initials on them.

"Harp. . . this is gorgeous." She picked the golden one up first and placed it around her wrist with a smile before picking up the other two and setting the box onto the bed. She looked at them before looking at Harper. "Friendship bracelet's?"

"What can I say?" Harper shrugged with a small smile. Josie chuckled before putting the one with Harper's intial's on her wrist. Harper was confused at first, wondering why she hadn't put her own initials on her wrist before allowing the girl to place the other bracelet onto Harper's wrist.

"It wouldn't be a friendship bracelet if we didn't have each other's initials instead of our own, right?" Josie was widely smiling and it made Harper's stomach feel with butterflies.

"Damn straight." Harper whispered. "I'll let you get dressed. See you down there?"

"Yeah." Josie nodded with a smile before watching Harper walk out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Harper stood there, leaning against one of the walls and watching everyone dance before noticing Lizzie standing at the top of the steps in a blue dress and white fur on her shoulders. Kaleb was quick to announce her arrival and everyone cheered. Harper watched as she made it down the steps to meet her escort, only for Rafael to be missing, and MG to appear instead. Harper furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. The female also couldn't help but notice that Josie had yet to arrive as well.

"Hey, Harper." It was Penelope. Harper turned her head to look at the girl. "Have you seen Josie?"

"No." Harper shook her head. "I'm kinda getting a little worried. Should we tell Lizzie?"

"You think she cares? She doesn't even realize that Jo isn't here." Penelope scoffed. "I'll go look upstairs."

"I'll go search outside." Harper nodded and Penelope nodded back before the two females split off. Harper made it outside and looked around for the girl, calling out her name only to find Hope in beautiful red dress that went off the shoulders, standing in front of Dr. Saltzman and the woman that was Josie and Lizzie's birth mother with Alaric pinning the woman up against the tree.

"Has anyone seen Josie?" Harper questioned. She frowned as she looked at the three. "What did I just walk into?" She looked towards Hope who had asked the question literally seconds before the girl had arrived.

"Hope, Harper, I need your help." Dr. Saltzman nodded. After explaining everything, Harper felt panic.

"You buried your own goddamn daughter?" Harper scowled.

"Come on." Hope nudged her. "We got to search the entire area before she runs out of air." Harper looked at Hope before nodding her head and quickly following after the girl who now had a flashlight in her hand. On their way, they ended up passing MG and Penelope who were standing by the gazebo.

"You gonna howl at the moon wearing that?" Penelope asked Hope.

Hope didn't stop as she responded. "Sorry, no time for bitchy banter." That's when Hope stopped, which caused Harper to stop. "Actually. . . I could use your help finding Josie." Hope turned towards the two and Harper did the same.

"What happened?" Penelope quickly asked.

"Apparently, her possessed biological mother buried her alive in the cemetery." Harper was the one to answer.

Penelope was quick to grab a shovel whilst MG said, "We're coming with you."

"I can turn, try to sniff her out if possible?" Harper said, looking towards Hope as the four continued walking. "Look, we have three witches, two of us can turn into wolves. You and Penelope are probably some of the most powerful witches at this school. MG can use his vampire hearing to try and find her heart beat, and I can use my claws to help dig her out. I have to help in someway that doesn't involve simply walking in circles."

"Harper."

"I won't lose control." Harper promised. "I've been practicing off campus, sneaking out and forcing myself to learn how to change on my own demand. Just. . . please, Hope."

"Fine." Hope sighed.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Harper quickly told them before watching them walk away before she stripped herself of her clothes and allowed her bones to break as she turned into her wolf form. It wasn't as bad as it used to be. Harper was quick to run towards the three and walk ahead of them, sniffing the ground in hopes of finding any sign of the girl.

"Hold on." MG suddenly called, grabbing the wolf's attention. "I hear something. Shovel." Penelope handed it to him and then he started digging and Harper started to help only to jump away when a hand shot from the grave and wrapped around MG's leg. And it wasn't Josie. No, it was a zombie. Harper snarled before pouncing on the creature and getting it off MG. The zombie continued to try and bite the wolf and Penelope was quick to take her shovel and hit it before MG took it and slammed the shovel through the zombie's forehead.

MG stood up. "To kill a walker, you got to go for the brains. Everybody knows that." Harper let out a bark of agreement. The Walking Dead was currently one of her favorite shows, so of course she knew that.

"Yeah, every nerd maybe."

"Harper's not a nerd and she knew that." MG defended.

"Just call it a zombie." Penelope scoffed. That's when another hand shot out from the ground.

"Zombies." Hope was quick to correct. "Plural." Harper started to growl at the creatures as the four stood back to back, completely surrounded by zombie's. And the group were quick to attack any one of them that came close.

"Penelope and I can handle the rest, you and Harper find Josie." Hope ordered.

"Right." MG nodded. "Harper!" He grabbed the wolf's attention before nodding for her to follow and the wolf huffed in response before quickly running after the super speeding vampire. MG noticed the sound of something under the ground. This time it was Josie, or at least they though.

"Josie, we hear you. We're coming." MG assured the girl and immediately the two started digging as fast as the possibly could before MG pulled open the coffin only to reveal another zombie. Hope then appeared and killed the creature.

"MG we're running out of time!" Hope snapped.

"Watch out!" MG quickly yelled and a zombie came behind the tribrid and grabbed hold of her.

"Penelope, axe." Hope quickly called and Penelope tossed it to her before Hope quickly killed the zombie.

"Damnit, MG, get up and find her!" Hope snapped.

"There's too much noise." MG snapped back.

"Well listen harder, pretend you're at the beach or something!"

That's when Harper caught something and she started barking, grabbing the groups attention before watching the wolf sprint off into another direction. The other three were quick to follow after the wolf, arriving just as they watched Harper sniff the ground before barking again, furiously digging the ground. MG was quick to join the wolf's side, helping her remove the dirt until a hand poked out. Harper started barking again when she saw the friendship bracelet that she had given Josie earlier that night.

MG was quick to grab onto Josie's hand before pulling her to the surface, causing the brunette to gasp as fresh air hit her lungs. The talisman that Josie was wearing around her neck, that Hope had given her, was to help quiet things be heard. Harper whined, grabbing Josie's attention and you could see the tears in the wolf's eyes.

"Harper?" Josie questioned. She had never seen the girl in her wolf form. The silver wolf sat on the ground and looked at Josie. Josie placed a hand on the wolf's fur before leaning her head down so that her forehead was pressed against the wolf's.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"KNOCK, KNOCK." Harper gently knocked on the door, and peeked her head in. Josie looked up at her and her heart dropped as she looked at Harper. Not a few moments prior she had just had a moment of weakness along with a make out session with Penelope. And seeing Harper standing there with a smile on her face made her feel guilty. There was that, and also the fact that she and Lizzie had just siphoned their mother back to her grave.

"Hey." Josie softly answered.

"I know you want to sleep." Harper softly told the girl, entering the room. "And I know that today has probably been one of the worst birthdays ever. But, I want you to come with me." Harper held out her hand and Josie looked at her for a moment before putting her shoes back on and grabbing Harper's hand, allowing the female to lead her outside and to the gazebo.

Harper had strung fairy lights along with the place, and her personal record players was sitting out there, with music softly playing from it. Harper watched as Josie looked around at the scenery before looking back towards Harper. Harper smiled at her. "You can't have your 16th birthday without having at least one dance." Harper held out her hand again. "Josette Saltzman, may I have this dance?"

Josie found herself smiling before nodding her hand and taking Harper's hand, allowing for the two to be held close together as they slow danced to the song. Harper smiled, spinning Josie around before bringing the girl back to her chest once more. And this was the most memorable moment for Josie, the most enjoyable one.

"Harper, can I tell you something?"

"Of course." Harper nodded, furrowing her eyebrows in slight concern.

"I. . . I kissed Penelope." Josie answered.

"Oh?" Harper raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you hated her?"

"No, I do. I just. . . I couldn't tell Lizzie cause she would freak out, and I trust you with my life and because you're not really known to freak out and I sort of wanted a calm reaction."

"I'm not mad at you, if that's what you think." Harper told her, spinning the girl around once more. "It's your life, Jo. Kiss who the hell you want to, even if you regret it afterwards. You don't need to have any explanation. Especially not one for me."

"Why are you so understanding?" Josie questioned.

"Did you not want me to be?" Harper frowned, cocking her head slightly.

"No, I just. . . your understanding pisses me off sometimes. Sometimes I just want you to yell and scream at me for whatever reason, but you haven't done that at all in the almost two years I've known you. You always respond so kindly and it just catches me off guard sometimes."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, this conversation caught me off guard." Harper spoke with an amused smile and Josie chuckled. That's when Josie found herself staring at Harper, and Harper was staring back. And before either of them knew it, their lips were crashing onto one another's. It was something they had both wanted since they had met each other, but it wasn't until Harper realized what was happening, she was quick to push herself away, placing a hand over her mouth.

"Oh my god." Harper breathed, and tears started filling her eyes. "I just cheated on Scarlett. Not even a week into my first relationship and I've already cheated. I gotta go."

"Harper, I-I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Harper denied, shaking her head. "Happy birthday, Josie." And with that, Harper was running away and back towards her room, panicking as she tried to think about what she was going to tell Scarlett on their date tomorrow.