And the next thing I saw gave me the reason for everything happening in the past week.

It was a photo of me kissing Kevin?! And I was in a party dress!?! Wait. That's the dress I wore to Selena and Sean's birthday! When the heck did that happen? "Surprised that your secret is out?" Sarah smirked. I just glared at her and looked around the cafeteria for Lena. This was a very very big misunderstanding. But it's a good thing that they don't know that you kissed Stefan. And my brain had to remind me of that.

I walked over to Ryan. "Where the heck is Lena?" I grunted. He just ignored me. I am tired of this sh*t. "Ryan, I am asking for the last time. Where is Lena?" He continued eating the stupid chips, completely ignoring me. That's it. I held Ryan by his collar and pulled him. "For the love of God! Where is she?" I asked him. He stayed quiet. And now my brain wandered into the worst thoughts possible.

Is she hurt? Is she okay? Did something happen? I was about to punch Ryan, when suddenly Melvin said, from behind me, "All the girls at the Basketball court." "Thank you" I sarcastically smiled as I left Ryan's collar. "Bro! Why did you tell her?" He asked Melvin as soon as he was released. "She seemed pretty angry. She already punched him." he pointed at Stefan who looked totally confused about what was going on. "At least someone has some brains." I glared at Ryan as I stomped out of the cafeteria and made my way to towards the basketball court, Sarah's phone still in my hand.

As I neared the court, I saw Selena and Abby shooting three-pointers. Selena was looking a bit exhausted. She never misses lunch. The only time she did was when she was worried that she had feelings for Ryan. So this means that she is highly worried about something. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Selena saw me and walked towards me. Well, that's new. I looked behind me to check whether someone else was standing behind me. But no one was there.

Selena came towards me and hugged me. "Thank God you are okay. You scared the sh*t out of me when you ran outside that classroom. Stefan told us what happened." She smiled. I smirked, knowing that even if the is not talking to me, she still cares. And that is why I love her. My thoughts were interrupted when someone cleared their throat. I looked behind Lena to see Abby glaring at me. "Oh right. I am not supposed to talk to you." Lena said as she stepped behind.

"Guys? You seriously do not believe this, do you?" I showed them the photo on Sarah's phone. No one replied. "Seriously! You believe this sh*t??" I shouted at them. By this time Claire and Tessa, who were sitting on the benches, joined us. "At first, I didn't. But then at Starbucks, you confirmed it, Nessa." Selena silently spoke. "I never kissed Kevin. I would never do that to you." I said, pointing at Tessa. "Y-you didn't?" Tessa asked. "No. Never." I sighed. "But then, why did you agree with it?" Abby asked.

"I never kissed Kevin. It was a huge misunderstanding. Didn't you ask Kevin?" I shrugged. Tessa shook her head. "Oh God! Seriously guys?" I asked them. No one replied anything as they all suddenly found the floor very interesting. Then Selena looked at me with a mischievous grin. Oh no!

"If you didn't kiss Kevin, then who did you kiss?" She asked. And there it was. The question I dreaded the most. "Um...no one?" I replied but it came out more like a question. "Spill it," Selena demanded. I felt my face heat up. "It was Stefan, wasn't it? You were with him after the fire." Selena guessed. I did not reply. "It was him. Finally!!" Selena cheered as Claire excitedly clapped her hands.

"Whatever." I shrugged. "But the fact that you have understood your stupid mistake does not mean that I have forgiven you." I deadpanned. "Okay? We'll make up for it." Abby said. "I am sorry for being so rude to you." She sighed. "You owe me five dollars girl," I told her. "Why?" She asked. "You tore the library book and left me to pay the fine." I reminded her. "Okay okay." She said as she raised her hands in surrender.

"And now, I want you to call Kevin and ask him," I told Tessa. She nodded and took out her phone. She called Kevin and put the phone on speaker. After three rings, he picked up. "Hey! Why are you ignoring me?" He asked, "Did you kiss Vanessa?" She asked him. "Babe, it is not what it looks like. She pushed herself on me." What!?! "Did she?" Tessa glared at the phone. "Yes." Why the heck is he lying? Without saying a word, Tessa ended the call. "I believe you. But I have no idea why he lied." Tessa said. "Yeah, me too." I sighed. "I am breaking up with him." She said as I could see tears forming in her eyes.

Without saying a word, we all pulled her into a hug as she sobbed. After a moment, we separated. "Happy Birthday!!" Everyone suddenly shouted. "Thanks, guys!" I smiled. "Hey...After school, I am taking you shopping." Selena said. "No. Please. You know how much I hate shopping." I whined. But I knew their plan.

Every year someone would keep me busy while the others would plan and arrange a huge party. The problem was that I am not a fan of parties. But I never told them that. They enjoyed it and they were happy. Seeing everyone happy was my best birthday gift.

"Nope. You need some new clothes girl." She said and ran off to the cafeteria, I think. I just chuckled and followed behind.

**********

I was sitting in the library as I had a free period, completing all the work I had missed today. At this point, anyone would ask, why did I not go back to the hospital and spend time with Ethan if I had a free period? Well, I thought that my mom and my so-called dad should get to spend some alone time with their actual son. So I texted Ethan, after a very long time, that I was staying at school. Yeah, I am a nerd. And if anyone is wondering, I gave back Sarah her phone.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw two idiots come into the library. "Hey, Nessa! We are sorry." Ryan said. "Yeah me too. " Melvin said. Of course, Stefan did not come. Someone's missing him. Shut up. "Yeah. You are forgiven. But next time Ryan, do not leave me to paint a whole wall by myself. Okay?" I asked him. He nodded. "Please tell my sister that you forgave us. Otherwise, she won't talk to me." Melvin informed. "Yeah. My girlfriend too. She won't let me kiss her." Ryan joined. I chuckled as an evil idea popped into my head. "You know what, I won't tell them. Let their silent treatment be a punishment for you guys for giving me a silent treatment." I smirked. And their faces dropped.

"Why?" Ryan whined. "Yep. That sounds like a good one." I smirked. Of course, I was going to tell Abby and Selena. But they didn't need to know that. "You are cruel." Melvin glared at me. "I hate you." Ryan scoffed. "I love me too." I sarcastically smiled as they stomped out of the library. I got back to work.

**********
The school bell rang, indicating the end of the day. I happily skipped out of the classroom, glad that I got my friends back. Stefan still hadn't apologized. He didn't even show up for History class. Someone is really missing him. No brain. I just want to see whether he apologizes or not. I walked over to my locker to see Selena standing there.

"Ready to go shopping?" She asked. I just rolled my eyes. "I love your enthusiasm." She scoffed. I just shrugged and we walked over to my car. She got into the driver's seat while I got onto the passenger's seat. The Birthday Girl does not drive (even if it is the Birthday Girl's car). It was a rule we had from the time we got our own cars.

First, we headed to the hospital. We entered Ethan's room only to my beloved brother and my best friend's sister kissing. Selena cleared her throat and they split apart at the speed of light. "Hey, guys!" I said, trying to reduce the awkwardness."Ever heard to knock?" Ethan glared at me, sad that we interrupted their kiss. "Nope. My big brother did not teach me." I smirked.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Ethan. Literally." She whispered the last part making me chuckle. "Thank you, Lena. Glad to be back." He grinned.

After talking about many random things, I and Selena bid the couple Goodbye and unfortunately headed towards the mall. Selena made me try out thousands of outfits, in so many stores that it made me hate shopping even more than I could ever imagine. And the worst part was that every time I came out of the trial room wearing the clothes we (more like she) selected, all she would comment was "I am pretty sure Stefan would like this." or "Nope. Not good enough to impress Stefan." or "Stefan would be read over heels for you in that dress." I was tired of hearing that idiot's name.

After our shopping spree, we headed back. Normally, Selena would take a surprise turn somewhere. But this time she directly brought me to the apartment, which was very weird. I opened the door and stepped inside. I was switched on the lights, but instead of the normal lights, some new fairy lights got switched on. There was an awesome blanket fort in my living room. There were picnic baskets around it (which I hoped consisted of food). There were all kinds of soft toys on those baskets. A huge Teddy Bear, about my size, was sitting in the center of the fort. There were many gifts on his lap. A Happy Birthday banner was hanging from the ceiling. The only words that could come out of my mouth were "Oh My God!" I squealed.

Suddenly, Tessa, Abby, Claire, Ryan, and Melvin stood up, form behind the fort and they all shouted, "Happy Birthday Nessa!!" I had to put my hands on my ears to keep my eardrums from bursting. "Thanks, guys! Wow! This is awesome." I grinned. "Well, we thought that every year we throw a party for you. You seem happy but we all know that you are not a fan of parties. So, we thought that since we missed our Halloween sleepover because of a small misunderstanding-" I raised my eyebrows at the word 'small'. "Okay! A big misunderstanding, we thought we would have that sleepover today, just with an extra flare." Selena smirked.

"I love you guys," I said as I clapped my hands in excitement and entered the fort, cuddling the huge teddy bear. Did I ever mention that I love soft toys? Ironic. The Gang Leader of Elites loves soft toys. Well, I don't care.

Everyone chuckled and entered the fort. Surprisingly, it was big enough for all of us to fit. This was perfect. The only people missing were Ethan, Shirley, and Ash. And Stefan. Nope. I don't want him here. Yes, you do. Shut up.

"Open the gifts," Tessa exclaimed. "Guys! You didn't have to." But I am not complaining. I mean who doesn't love gifts? "Of course we had to. We owe you a huge apology." Abby sighed. "Well, I officially forgive all of you," I smirked. I am not a person to hold grudges. Then what about Stefan. He deserves it. Just then something clicked me.

"How did you guys enter the apartment?" I curiously asked. "Ash may or may not have given me his key." Selena sighed. "So he knew about this?" "Yes?" She asked me. I just shook my head. "So what was your original plan?" I asked them. "Why would we tell you that? It would come in handy next year." Tessa smirked. I chuckled and started opening the first one when I was interrupted by Selena.

"Wait, you idiot! First, you have to guess." Selena grinned. "We used to do that in fifth grade, Selena." "Exactly. Just do it. It's fun." Selena said. Everyone else smiled, agreeing with Selena. "Okay." I agreed. I touched the wrapping. It felt like it was something that could be compressed, but not much. "Is it a ball or something," I asked, and the look on Tessa's face was all I needed. I unwrapped it, to find a soccer ball, which signed by all of my favorite soccer players. "Woah...How did you find this, Tessa?" I asked her, clearly amazed. "Well, my dad made a few calls and it was done." She explained as something in the ball caught my eye.

"Are those your initials?" I raised my eyebrows. "Yep." She exclaimed, popping the 'p'. "Ash and Stefan also signed it. We are your favorite players after all." She smirked. I just chuckled and thanked her. This went on for quite some time. I guessed almost all of their gifts. Turns out, the huge teddy bear on which I was sitting was a Birthday gift for me from Abby and Melvin. Abby also returned my five dollars. Selena bought me a polaroid camera. She knew I enjoyed photography a lot.

Claire got me a Kindle while Ryan got me a huge set of all the professional art supplies I could ever ask for. Surprisingly, there was also a gift with Ash's name tag. He had bought me Airpods. He always complained about my earphones being inconvenient. After that, we face timed Ash and we told him about the fun we were having to make him jealous. It definitely worked as I could smell the jealousy through the phone. Then, we switched on Netflix and started watching all of my favorite movies, starting with 'Charlie's Angels'. The picnic Baskets which surrounded the fort consisted of all of my favorite foods. This was all perfect. I could never ask for more.

We were halfway through the movie when the doorbell rang. I got up, wondering who it would be. I opened the door to see the last person I ever wanted to see. "Happy Birthday Sweetheart!" He greeted. "What the f*ck are you doing here, Anthony?" I glared.

A/N:

Hey guys!
How is everyone?
Hope you liked this chapter...

So Vanessa forgave them. She is not a person who holds grudges (Stefan is an exception). But what do you think? Did they deserve forgiveness?

Why do you think Kevin lie about kissing Nessa?

Where is Stefan? What the heck is he doing?

And who the hell is Anthony?

BTW...who else is a fan of Charlie's Angels?

And why am I asking so many questions? (Someone...help me🙈😂)

Well, you'll just have to wait and watch...

See you soon...