Chapter One: Birthday Night

A Few Hours Earlier...

"Malisha!... Malisha!"

Malisha's mind clears up when Shaina pokes her shoulder. "Did you hear what I just said?" When Shaina asked, she put her head down. Stressed out about what had happened. Malisha sighs, "I'm such an idiot…"

"You're still thinking about Ava, aren't you?"

Frustrated, Malisha gets up and starts pacing up and down. "Well, obviously! I haven't spoken to Ava and I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"Just tell me what happened, Malisha."

When Shaina asks, Malisha stops pacing and sighs, "Me and Ava got stuck in the boiler room and after we got out, I was helping Ava put her shoes back on but… her mom, she yelled at me and told me to stay away from her."

Shaina then turns to her, "Wait a minute, you took her shoes off? Is there something going on between you two that I don't know about?"

"No… Well, not really. Of course, her mom just yelled at me but… the way she looked at me. It was almost as if… she was looking at me as if I was..." Malisha stops for a moment. "As If you were what?"

"As if I was a freak. I mean… I never asked to look like this. None of us did. Mom and Dad are the ones that wished for us. Everyday I'm with her it just feels different. Even though I've been crushing on boys and making friends here and there, I just… I never thought I'd feel this way about my best friend." Hearing Malisha expressing her emotions made Shaina let a small smile across her face.

When Malisha notices this, she looks at her confused on what her sister was smiling about. "What?"

"You care about her?"

Malisha's face slowly blushes when her sister says this. But knowing that she couldn't lie about her own feelings, Malisha sighs in defeat.

"Of course I do…" She admits.

"As a friend or something more?" Shaina asked but Malisha grunts. "No!... I just… really care about her. But not in that way… okay?"

"Malisha, you don't have to be ashamed of who you like…" Shaina tries to lighten up her sister's downer attitude but Malisha continues to deny her feelings towards Ava.

"I'm not ashamed of caring about Ava, okay? I just… I don't want to be judged only because I'm half supreme kai."

Shaina then states, "Well… Kai gets judged. Our neighbor that lives a few blocks from here gets judged. Even our parents got judged for having us. That's just how it is."

"Hey, now that you mentioned, where is Kai?"

Shaina gets up from the desk, "Who knows. Probably feeding on a dead pigeon or something. Or maybe just chilling on the rooftop."

When Shaina was about to leave the room, she asks, "Malisha… you do remember that it's Ava's birthday today, right? She's having a birthday party tonight."

"Oh stars! I forgot!" Malisha jumps up from the chair when Shaina closes the door behind her.

Even though the door was shut, Shaina could hear her little sister starting to complain, "I can't believe you're reminding me only now and it's almost 6 PM!"

As Malisha looks in her drawers and takes out clothes here and there, her mind begins to look back on what happened between her and Ava.

5 Days Ago...

The school bell rings and everyone leaves but Malisha gets a note from Ava, telling her to wait by the maple tree for her. Thinking that maybe Ava forgot something in class, she goes outside and waits by the tree near the school playground.

The maple tree was a spot where Malisha and Ava would sit and eat or sometimes a place when they needed to talk somewhere important.

She sits down on the bench and decides to read while she waits. A few minutes go by but no sign of Ava. Malisha looks at her phone as sees that it was almost half past 2, meaning it was almost time for the school to close.

"I wonder what's taking Ava so long… I guess I should go see if she's okay."

She puts her book back in her bag and goes to look for Ava. While walking through the hallways of the school, Malisha then gets a text message from her sister.

Shaina: "Are you okay at school? You know the school gate closes at 3pm right?"

Malisha: "I know… I think Ava got lost looking for something. I'm gonna go look for her and then I'll be home."

Shaina: "Alright, take care of yourself. And be careful."

When she puts her phone away, Malisha then comes across a dark stairs which leads to the boiler room under the gym. At first, she hesitates but thinking that Ava might be stuck or hurt, she goes down and looks for her.

"I'm gonna regret this if she's not here."

As Malisha walks in, she's unable to see anything since there was no light shining through the lower floor of the gym. When she takes out her phone and puts on her flash, something or someone then moves away when the light touches it.

"Ava?" When Malisha calls out her name, something then makes a thud sound behind her. A trash can is knocked over but there's no one there. She goes to look for what had knocked over the bin until…

"Eek!!"

Someone out of nowhere then pulls her into a room and shuts the door. "Ava? What are you-?"

"Shh!" Ava covers her mouth with both her hands when a dark shadow figure starts moving down the hallway.

Its deep and demonic voice echoes through the whole underground floor as it stomps past the room where Ava and Malisha were hiding.

When the dark shadow's footsteps finally fade, Ava removes her hands from Malisha's mouth.

She asks, "Ava… What was that? What's going on?"

"Hey, you have a flash on your phone too, right? We can get out of here." When Ava mentions the flash on her phone, Malisha takes it out but then looks at her friend with a worried look on her face, "Ava… my battery is only on 30 percent. Using my flashlight will drain it."

"Oh. Well, I guess I'll use my flash then." Ava takes out her phone and puts her flash on. While she tries to adjust her flashlight's brightness, Malisha stares at her with admiration.

"My gosh… She's so smart and… so cute. Wait, what!? No, why am I thinking about this? Ava's my friend."

She couldn't understand why she was feeling this way about Ava. Of course, Malisha had been crushing on boys here and there but never thought she'd fall for her best friend.

"Ava's just a friend, okay? Just a friend. Just a friend…"

"Malisha, are you okay? Your face is turning red…" When Ava points out Malisha's blushy cheeks, she looks away, trying to hide it.

"Ah! I'm sorry… I'm sorry. I'm… just feeling a little hot, that's all."

Ava turns her friend's face towards her own, only for their eyes to be met with each other.

"Malisha… What's wrong?" She asks but Malisha is hesitant to answer. When Ava places her hand on her forehead, Malisha's heart races. "Well, that's strange. Your forehead feels norm-"

"You're amazing…" Malisha mumbled.

"Huh? Did you say something, Malisha?"

She shakes her head, trying to snap out of bliss. "Uh… nothing. I think we should probably leave before the school locks us in here with… that thing."

When they both leave the room, they quickly go back up the ground floor and make it through the front gate of the school.

"Phew… thank gosh." Ava then sits down on the bench, trying to catch her breath. As Malisha rests her back against the wall, she then sees Ava taking off her shoes.

"Oww… I swear, I'm never wearing these shoes again." Ava softly groans as she rubs the sides of her foot.

Malisha sits down next to her and picks up one of her shoes, "What's your shoe size?"

Ava replies, "A size 3."

"Wait, seriously? Aren't these shoes a bit too small for you because this is a size 2.5?"

Ava then frowns, "Well, It's not my fault. My mom just… doesn't have the money to buy me bigger shoes, okay?"

Even though she tried brushing it off, Malisha could see that Ava was lying.

"You know, Ava… you can tell me anything."

When she tries to console her, Ava turns and looks at Malisha with a deep sadness in her eyes. "I wish… I wish it was easy… but… I can't…"

"Hey, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I mean… If you want to talk, I'm always here to listen."

Malisha couldn't bear to see her close friend hurt. At this point, all she wanted to do right now is make Ava smile.

"Ava…"

"Yes?"

Not knowing what to say, Malisha sighs, "Are you gonna put these back on?"

Ava chuckles and lifts her foot up, "Yeah but… You can do the honors because well… you care too much."

Malisha kneels down in front of her and puts on her shoes. "Heh… you know, despite what just happened… I kinda wish for a bigger adventure than that light vs darkness stuff."

Ava smiles, "Me too."

But of course, their happy moment was cut short when a car parked in front of the school. A woman then comes out and walks over to them.

"Ava! What are you doing?"

"Oh uh… Mom, I was just…" Hearing the nervousness and sudden panic in Ava's voice was enough to spike Malisha's suspicion.

"I thought I told you not to talk to this girl…"

"But Mom, she was just… she was just helping me-"

"Get in the car, now. Get in the car. Now!"

Ava quickly takes her bag and walks away, leaving Malisha surprised, yet confused.

"Okay, was that… really necessary?" Malisha asked. Ava's mom then turns to her with a devilish look in her eyes. "Who are you to tell me how to raise my kid?"

"Okay, first of all. I was just helping her put her sh-"

"Stay away from my daughter!"

Malisha was left speechless when Ava's mom gave her the death stare before walking back to the car. When she notices one of Ava's shoes, she calls out. "Hey wait! You forgot… your shoe…"

Of course, they drove off. Leaving Malisha confused about what just happened.

End of Flashback

Malisha grunts, "You know what, I'm not gonna let some middle aged mom ruin our friendship only because I'm not human and I don't care what she says or thinks. I'm going."

Malisha takes out and puts on denim jeans and a black top with a skull on it. When finished getting ready, she takes the shoe Ava forgot about.

"I'm not gonna let anyone come between us only because of our differences. You deserve to be happy Ava. More than I do."

When Malisha comes out of her room, Shaina who is standing by her room door becomes surprised when she sees her little sister looking almost rebellious.

"What are you, a kai or a model?"

"You know sis, not all 13 year olds dress up, looking like a fairytale princess, okay? And besides, what is wrong with my outfit?" Malisha then shows off every detail of her outfit.

"I never thought you were more into fashion than books…"

"Look, say whatever you want about my style, okay? Right now I have to go." When Malisha walks past Shaina, she then notices Ava's shoe in her hand.

Shaina then asked, "Hey, what's with the shoe?"

Malisha replies, "It's Ava's shoe. She forgot it. If I'm forbidden to see Ava, then at least I get to give this back to her."

"Don't come home late, okay!?"

"You don't have to remind me, I already know!"

When Kai walks in, he notices his sister all dressed up. "Hey, Kai." Malisha says as she walks past him and out the front door.

As she walks down the street, Malisha begins to think back on what had happened that day. When she freaked out and yelled at her friend. Suddenly, strange dark clouds in the sky caught her attention.

"Woah… clouds? That's weird, I could've sworn that the weather report said that there was gonna be a clear night sky. *Sigh* Oh well… Not gonna let that stop me."

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Malisha

Before I tell my story, I think I should introduce myself to you guys first. My name is Malisha, I'm half supreme kai. Even though I look almost human, I still have some parts on me that make me look more different than normal. But for now, let's continue onward.

…

While I was walking, I could hear the sound of music playing from a few blocks further from me. I followed the blasting music only to find it coming from a big mansion that was filled with people.

"Don't tell me this is where Ava lives."

Even though I doubted that Ava's family were rich people, I never thought that their lifestyle was like this. Matter a fact, they're not just rich, they're millionaires.

As I knocked on the door, I could feel my nervousness beginning to slip in. When the door opened, I was greeted by a woman who was holding a wine glass in her.

"Oh, hey kid. You must be one of Ava's friends. Just in time, come on in."

I walked in and saw it was a big party. But I didn't want to have fun just yet. I needed to find Ava first. As I'm walking through people left and right, my nervousness soon starts growing. Thinking that Ava's mom might catch me before I could even see her.

"Malisha?"

Suddenly I heard a voice from behind me. I wanted to turn around but then suddenly I was pulled away from the party and into the yard where the pool was.

"Malisha, what are you doing here?"

My nervousness melted away when the sound of Ava's sweet voice filled my ears.

I then asked, "I almost forgot… it's your birthday tonight, right?"

Ava frowns, "Well, yes! If my mom catches you, she mi-"

"I know!... I know… but honestly, I don't care." I cut her off and showed her the shoe I brought with me.

"My… my shoe?" Ava looked surprised when she saw the shoe in my hand.

I sighed, "I know I look stupid right now but… I can't help it… and you… sorta left this at school the day your mom threatened me to stay away from you… so I thought… at least… let me have one fun night partying with you?"

I expected Ava to yell at me at this point but then I heard a snicker. Ava started giggling, "You dummy… Of course I want to have a fun night with you. And besides, it is my 13th birthday party after all."

She then sits down on the chair and takes off her left shoe. "Well, go on. Put it on and see if it fits." Ava smiles when she lifts her foot up.

"Heh… now she's Cinderella."

I kneeled down and took her foot, "I hate to admit it but… this is actually kinda cute." I thought.

When I put her left shoe on, I sighed, "Well, dear Princess. It fits."

Ava then puts her foot down and stands up, "So… wanna dance or do you wanna do karaoke?" She asked. "I don't dance but I like singing karaoke." I replied.

A Few Minutes Later...

Me and Ava, we did have fun and of course sang some karaoke. Even though I expected it to be my one last night with my best friend, I didn't really expect it to be a fun night.

After drinking some cranberry juice, Ava then takes my arm, "Come on, there's something I wanna show you." She whispered and pulled me outside. As we sat by the poolside, Ava smiled shyly, "Malisha…"

"Yes… What's wrong Ava?" I asked.

"Remember when you said that… I could tell you anything?"

Of course I remembered, I mean… how can I forget? Ava is my best friend, I'd do anything for her to be happy. "Is… there something you wanna tell me, Ava?"

At first, Ava seemed hesitant but then she takes an empty plastic cup and uses it to take water from the pool. At first I thought she was gonna drink it or something, I mean since when do people drink pool water?

But what she did left me speechless. When Ava placed her hand over the cup and flipped it upside down, she removed and revealed the water was now moving on its own.

"I… actually wanted to tell you at school but… since this is the last time we might ever see each other, I wanted to at least show you what I could do." Ava's face looked calm but in her eyes, I could see she was nervous.

She puts the cup down and puts her hands together like a bowl, making the water that was floating in her hands start to move around us.

I asked, "My gosh… this is... amazing, Ava. Where did you learn how to do this?"

Suddenly, her face saddens. "Hey, is something wrong? A-"

"I'm leaving the country. My mom is taking me overseas tomorrow." A tear falls from her pink cheeks. Hearing her say that she's moving overseas and seeing her like this was the last thing I wanted.

"Do you want to leave?" I asked and she shook her head in response. Of course she doesn't, I mean… Why would she?

Ava told me she grew up in West City, why would she wanna leave the only place she called home?

"Is there a reason why you and your mom are leaving?"

Ava then frowned, "Well…"

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2 Hours Ago…

As Ava was getting juice from the fridge, she hears her mom and dad talking about something upstairs.

When she goes up to eavesdrop on the conversation, she sees her mom and dad standing in front of each other.

"Agatha, please. It's our daughter's birthday. Can we not talk about this now?"

"Or what? You gonna hit me? Oh wait, that's right. You can't. I mean, of course, you would never do that to your wife… or to that dead wh*ore you messed around with…"

"Don't!... You dare talk about Jennie like that!"

The conversation between the two was beginning to get too personal.

"What? She's dead. You don't have to defend her. And besides, high school was a long time ago."

When Agatha walks to the desk and picks up her phone, Ava's dad fumes, "You… are so damn evil."

Agatha then smirks in amusement, "Hmph, and I'm a rich, beautiful woman, so it doesn't matter."

Ava couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Well, consider it official. I'm talking our… well, my daughter to Vegas tomorrow, once this stupid party is done with."

Ava's father then grunts in anger, "Seriously, why do you even want to take her to Vegas? This is her home, why take her away from it?"

"Well, because she's mine. And well, she doesn't have a choice. She must either leave with her rich mother or rot in this dumb city with her broke, dumfounded father."

"You know what, consider the divorce official then. You know, you used to be a caring, loving wife… but now… you're just a damn witch who cares about nothing but herself."

"Of course, what kind of mother doesn't? You know, Leo… if you didn't get the promotion, then we wouldn't have owned the whole family business right now."

"So that's it, it was all about the money?"

"Tch, what else wouldn't it be about? Love? Ugh, don't even think about it. That lovey, dovey crap just makes me wanna vomit."

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After hearing Ava explain what happened between her mom and dad, It left me disgusted. "I can't believe she did that? I never thought your mom was that much of a gold digger."

"I never thought about it either until I heard my parents were getting a divorce. And on top of all of that, she insulted my dad. My dad is a good man, all he ever did was work hard for our family. Unlike her. All she ever cared about was being rich and buying expensive dresses that cost almost our life expenses." Ava looked frustrated about the whole situation between her mom and dad. Of course she is, finding out that her mom is an awful person was really hard for her to believe because obviously, she's still her mom.

Ava then sighed, "Mom never supported me or my family… She never let me have or make friends with anyone. Mom always says they are nothing but a bad influence towards me."

To be honest, I also thought this… Why Ava didn't have any friends other than me or her classmate friends back at school. I guess it makes sense now why she couldn't talk to anyone outside the school, all because of her selfish mom.

"I guess it's because she's jealous of you."

"Jealous…? You… really think so?..." Her face became confused from what I addressed.

I didn't want to be the one to judge someone else's personal issues but judging by what Ava told me about her parents, I just couldn't stand it. "I mean… you're the only person that has friends and a father that loves and supports you. Maybe she can't stand the fact that you're the center of attention."

Ava then frowns, "Or because of the fact that I have powers and she obviously doesn't want my dad in my life because my dad is the only person that actually cares about me."

I could hear the anger in her voice when she said this. Seeing her upset, I didn't want to see this. The only thing I wanted was a smile on her face. "I care…"

When Ava turned to me, I held her hand tightly. "You… care about me?..." She asked.

"Sure I do… more than anything else..."

At this point, I couldn't keep my emotions in… the only thing I could do was stay by her side. The fact that she was leaving and might never come back, I could bear it. But what Ava said next made me stop thinking about that fact…

"You know… I'm happy… happy to have you here with me." Seeing a warm smile finally cross her face made me happy. Even though this is our last night together… this might be by far the best night ever.

To Be Continued...