5 Happy Birthday

Juliette woke up to the smell of something burning. She tumbled over Harmony, struggling to get out of her room and bolted towards the kitchen, only to find Wes and Hazel covered in flour. They were screaming at each other. Hale was also part of this argument, who had caught something on fire.

"How was I supposed to know we shouldn't use fire magic to bake a cake!!" Wes shouted as Hale locked eyes with Juliette.

"You're supposed to be the smart one!!" Hazel growled back, and Hale stalks over to Juliette.

"I'm not the smart one!! That's what Thea's for!!" Wes exclaimed, and Hale pulled Juliette out of the kitchen.

"Don't mind them, princess," Juliette felt a shiver run down her spine as Hale practically purred the pet name. "They're just having a lovers quarrel." Juliette nodded and stiffened as Hale put a hand on the small of her back. Hale must've noticed, because he let out a low chuckle.

"If I wanted to do something, I would have done it already, princess." Juliette felt her mind turn to putty at Hale's smirk, as if he knew what he was doing to her.

"That doesn't make me feel better." Juliette mumbles as Hale leads her to the living room, where both Leo and Thea are sitting together.

Thea spots Juliette and pats the spot next to her, a small but soft smile on her face. Juliette hesitates, before slowly walking over to Thea. As she sits next to Thea, she spots Leo, staring at Thea. Obviously, Thea didn't notice, but Juliette realized how much Leo actually cared for the girl in front of her.

"Juliette?" Thea's soft voice cut into Juliette's thoughts. "Were you listening? Do you want me to repeat what I just said."

"Um- yeah. Sorry." Juliette mumbles sheepishly.

"It's no problem. Leo and I found out that we can create whatever we want in this space. It's like our own little world. Leo, Hale and I were going to ask you if you wanted to come with us. We created a small town while you were asleep." Thea explains slowly, the small smile never leaving her face.

Juliette pretended to think, even though she already knew she wanted to go. She needed new clothes, seeing as her clothes only changed when she was in a scenario. Juliette smiled at Thea and nodded.

"I would love to go!" Juliette exclaims, and Thea's smile gets bigger.

"Great, go put on your shoes and we can get going." Thea says, then she and Leo get up and walk to their rooms.

Juliette gets up and all, but walks to her room. As she's slipping her shoes on, she hears a soft knock on her door. She glances up and spots Hazel and Wes sheepishly smiling at her.

"Can you tell Thea and Leo we need more flour… and eggs… and milk… and sugar… and-"

"Okay, we get it Wes!! Just tell Thea we need cake ingredients, please. Thanks, Juliette." Hazel gives her a grin before dragging Wes out of her room.

Juliette looks at the flour on her door and shakes her head. She finished tying her shoes and rushes out to meet with the other three. When she reaches the front door, she realized that Thea was wearing glasses.

"I didn't know you wore glasses, Thea." Juliette smiles. "They look good on you."

"Thanks, Juliette. At least someone knows how to give a compliment." Thea turns her gaze to the boys behind her and sends them a glare.

"Oh, right!! Wes and Hazel need cake ingredients, for some odd reason." Juliette recalls.

Thea sighs and Hale chuckles.

"Are we leaving or what? Come on you guys!!" Leo exclaims as he bounces out the door. Thea rolls her eyes as Hale runs out after him, before turning to look at Juliette. Thea gives Juliette a soft smile.

"Boys, right?" She chuckled, before opening the door. "Come on. Let's go!"

Juliette follows Thea out the door, slightly confused. As she walked out the door, she watched Leo and Hale running down a road that seemed to be connected to multiple buildings. There were no people around, and that confused Juliette.

"Are there any people here? You know, besides us." Juliette asks, and Thea shakes her head.

"We have a town, but no people. Every time we tried to add someone else, they would burst into flames and disintegrate. So, we eventually stopped trying." Thea clarified quickly, and Juliette nods her head in understanding.

"Is that a store?" Juliette asks, pointing in the distance.

"Yeah, I figured we could head there and pick things out. I could look for the things on this list Hazel gave me, and you could look for whatever you need." Thea explained, and Juliette nods excitedly.

The two head over to the store, only to find Hale and Leo waiting for them at the doors. As Juliette looked over the store, she realized it looked nothing like the stores from her world. The entire building was wooden, excluding the windows, and it was huge. Juliette's mouth hung open as Leo pulled the door open, revealing what was inside. She saw all types of garments and jewelry that she had never seen before. She looked at Thea, quickly realizing that she was wearing something similar to what she saw in the shop. Except for one thing Juliette couldn't put her finger on.

"Hey, Thea?" Juliette asks, and Thea hums in response. "Where did you get your beanie from?"

Thea opens her mouth to answer before it snaps shut. She takes her beanie off and stares at it in confusion. As the beanie was taken off, Juliette saw green vines and leaves at Thea's hair line. As the vines were revealed, a forest green started taking over the edges of Thea's face. Soon enough, the forest green had taken over the top of Thea's forehead, her cheekbones, the sides of her face, and her jaw. Thea pushed her hair back in confusion, allowing the three others to see her small pointed ears.

"I actually don't know where I got it. That's weird, isn't it." Thea mutters.

As she goes to pull her beanie back on, Leo quickly takes it from her. Thea opens her mouth to protest as Leo tosses her beanie towards Hale. Leo gives Hale a thumbs up and Hale quickly burns the beanie.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!?" Thea growled, glaring at the two boys.

"Hey, Thea. It's fine. You look great without it." Juliette comforts, giving Thea a soft smile.

Thea gives Juliette a hesitant smile, before clapping her hands. The three turn their heads towards Thea.

"I'm going to get the things on this list and Juliette is going to look for clothes. Leo and Hale, you can go with one of us because I don't trust you alone." Thea says, and Juliette snickers.

"I'll go with you!!" Leo exclaims quickly, and this time Hale snickers.

"I'll go with Juliette, then." Hale grins, causing Juliette to shudder slightly.

Juliette quickly walks off, hearing Hale's footsteps slowly following hers. She grabs something off of a rack, and walks into a changing room. She looks at herself in the mirror, trying to smooth her hair. Juliette looked at the piece of fabric she grabbed, and is happily surprised. It was a scarlet dress, that looked like it would end mid-thigh for her. She turned around and pulled her pale blue dress off, unaware of the door being opened behind her.

She felt fingers messing with the clip of her bra. She jumped and turned around, attempting to cover up what she could. She looked up, and was face to face with a smirking Hale.

"What… what are you doing..?" She stuttered, trying not to let the fear seep through her voice.

"What? I'm not doing anything." Hale mumbles, moving closer to her.

Juliette backed up, squeaking when her back touches the wall. Hale places a hand on the wall next to her head, much like when they first met.

"You're legal now." Hale whispers into her ear. "And I just couldn't wait to get my hands on you." Hale practically growls under his breath.

Juliette squeezes her eyes closed as she feels his breath on her face. In her hands, she's desperately clutching the dress. All of a sudden, Hale's presence is gone. She opens her eyes, only to find she's alone. She lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She quickly pulls the dress on and looks at herself in the mirror. The dress had an off the shoulder look and, like Juliette thought, it ended around her mid-thigh.

She hears a knock at the door and her heart skips a beat.

"Hey, princess? Are you almost done? Thea and Leo finished a while ago. We're all waiting for you." She heard Hale's voice shout at her, and her face flushed pink.

"I'm…. I'm almost done. I just want to grab a couple of things after I get out." Juliette exclaims, pressing against the door as she picks up her old dress.

She quickly changes back into her pale blue dress and looks at herself in the mirror. She fixes her hair and tries to calm her blush down before opening the door and walking out.

She hears Hale mutter something as she walks by, but she doesn't pay any mind to it. She picked out a couple more outfits, before walking side by side with Hale towards the front.

When they reach the front, they spot Thea and Leo talking. They were talking in a very hushed voices, and their faces were nearly squashed together. Thea looks annoyed, and Juliette spots a black beanie in Leo's hand. When the two spot Juliette and Hale, Leo tosses it to Hale who does the same thing he did before.

"That dress looks great, Juliette!! Scarlett would totally be your color!!" Thea compliments, ignoring the two guys completely.

"Thanks, Thea." Juliette smiles softly.

"Alright, everybody. Let's head back." Thea announces, before leaning down and picking up a couple of woven bags.

Leo picks up the rest of the bags, and the four of them start walking. Thea and Juliette are talking about the outfits Juliette picks out, and Hale and Leo were talking about something the girls couldn't hear.

When they reach the house, Hazel opens the door with a grin on her face. She ushers everyone inside, before dragging Leo and Thea towards the kitchen. Juliette heard Hazel and Wes both commenting on Thea's look, to which Leo was the one who replied.

"I'm going to take a nap. Tell Thea to wake me up when Hazel and Wes are done with their cake." Juliette mutters to Hale, before walking to her room.

When she reaches her room, she takes her shoes off and sits on the bed. She carefully lays down next to Harmony, then pulls the blanket over her body. She stares at the ceiling for a couple of minutes before she seeps into the darkness.

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"Juliette. It's time to wake up" Juliette woke up to someone softly shaking her. Juliette opened her eyes to see Thea leaning over her, Thea's hands on her shoulders. Juliette sat up and yawned softly, rubbing her eyes. "Come on, get up. I'll help you." Thea mutters, helping Juliette get out of bed.

As Thea pulled Juliette out, she leaned against Thea. Thea chuckled and pulled her towards the bathroom. She sat Juliette on the toilet seat and picked up a brush. She gently started combing through Juliette's hair, and Juliette yawned again.

"Alright, now, we have to get to the living room. Can you get up? You can still lean on me if you need to." Thea says softly, and Juliette nods slightly.

Juliette stood up, then gripped Thea's forearm. Thea put her other hand on top of Juliette's and led her into the hallway. They soon arrived in the living room, where Thea dropped Juliette off on the couch.

Juliette rubbed the remaining sleep out of her eye, and yawned one last time. She looked around the room, awe written on her face. There were streamers hanging from the walls and the ceiling, and balloons covered the floor. On the coffee table in front of the couch, there was a beautiful pink cake with dark red sprinkles covering it. Around the coffee table, eight faces smiling back at her, including Harmony and Weslyn.

"What…?" Juliette muttered, looking at the smiling faces of the people she was trapped with.

"Well, Hazel got a note when she woke up saying that it was your birthday today. So, we decided to throw you a little party!! Sorry if it's not as good as you wanted it to be." Wes explained quickly, giving Juliette another hesitant smile.

"But why would you do this for me? We barely know each other." Juliette mumbles, looking down at her lap.

"Really?" Thea asks, and Juliette looks up at her. "And here I thought we were all becoming friends."

'Friends?' Juliette thought. 'They want to be friends with me?'

"We… we are friends!!" Juliette exclaims, before sinking into her seat with a slight blush.

"Great, now eat your cake. It took three trips to the store to get this right." Hazel jokes as Thea starts cutting the cake.

The eight of them spent the rest of the night laughing, and eating cake. It was as if someone cast a spell on them, or as if they had known each other forever. Whatever it was, it was amazing. There was one thing that bothered Juliette though.

'Did what happened in the changing room really happen, or did I just imagine it?' Juliette thought, glancing at Hale.

He caught her gaze and winked at her. Juliette rolled her eyes as a light blush covered her cheeks.

'I was probably just imagining it.' Was what she convinced herself, but part of her wished it was real.