"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Avery. Happy birthday to you!" The dozens of voices sang, standing around me in a circle. A small was stuck on my face as the chorus flowed through my ears.

"Make a wish," Sophia whispered quietly in my ear, once they all began cheering at the end. I closed my eyes took a few moments to visualize, before blowing out the candles on the cake in front of me. A round of applause broke out from around me leaving a permanent blush on my face.

I can't lie, tonight has been the best night I've had in a long time.

Even though I didn't know 95% of the people here, the small percentage of people I did know were making sure I was having the time of my life.

Of course, Sophia, Drake, and Seth were here. Ethan came as well, but he brought Wyatt with him, so he was busy hiding from his brother and Drake for the majority of the party. It was extremely amusing watching Drake and Seth trying to corner the two, and epically failing because they were dealing with a boy genius. So far they've only reported seeing glimpses of Wyatt's face, and I didn't want to be the one to tell them that's all they were going to get because it'd ruin my fun.

Dancing was a little difficult with a crutch and injured arm, but I was making it work. I started the night of dancing with Sophia for the most part, but eventually, Marisol showed. Dancing with Marisol has always been a treat because she makes it a point to do dances that did not match the music. She made me salsa while rap was playing, and slow dance when techno came on. We got a lot of weird looks for it, but that was Marisol's goal from the beginning. She never passes up on an opportunity to freak people out. Eventually, she saw a girl she thought was pretty, and I haven't seen her since.

The best part about tonight was that neither Chris nor his friends were here. I already knew Chris wouldn't show, Sophia made it a point not to invite her ex. But I was still worried about any of his friends coming in his place. Luckily, Sophia had the soccer players acting as security for the party and watching for anyone who looked like they had bad intentions.

It was nice not having to check behind me every four seconds, and even nicer when I realized not everyone is as awful as Chris. A lot of people even brought me gifts and had been extremely nice to me the entire party. I figured out that everyone was (rightfully) a little terrified of him, and acted the way they did so that they wouldn't cross him. It definitely didn't excuse them letting me get abused for three and a half years, but it was nice to have an actual reason behind everything.

"Can I please get everyone's attention?" Sophia suddenly spoke into the microphone, standing midway in the staircase. The room immediately fell silent, and I resisted the urge to snort at their obedience.

"Hey everyone! Are you guys having fun?!" She exclaimed, and the room erupted into a burst of cheers.

"No." Drake and Seth muttered from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see them with matching pouts and crossed arms. I rolled my eyes at their dramatics and turned my attention back towards Sophia.

"I'm glad," Sophia responded with a smile, and then cleared her throat. "I wanted to thank all of you for coming out and celebrating Avery's birthday with us. She means a lot to me, and I'm glad that I could her big day worthwhile." Her eyes caught mine as she spoke, and my cheeks turned even redder than they already were.

"I actually have an announcement to make concerning Avery and I," Sophia spoke, and my heart immediately dropped. The floating heat in my chest turned cold, and my throat turned dry. All I could do is pray that she isn't about to do what I think she is because that would be a problem.

There is no way that she can tell all of these people about us. Does she understand what could happen? I get that they're all being nice about me being gay, but that says nothing about what they'll do to Sophia. Someone could be texting Chris right this moment.

I tried to tell her all of this with my eyes, and she must've realized because she eventually broke eye contact with me. I began to nervously weave my way to where she was, pushing through the small crowd that had surrounded the stairs.

"Recently I've come to a revelation," She breathed, and my heart began to beat wildly in my chest.

I was almost to the front of the crowd, but there was a wall of people whose attention I couldn't get, so my crutches and I were stuck. My heart threatened to jump out of my chest, and my hands became more and more clammy.

"I like girls and...Avery is my girlfriend."

If the room wasn't silent before then it most definitely was now. I don't think there's ever been a party so quiet you could hear a feather drop, but we have achieved that record today. The only noise was erratic breathing.

"I'm bisexual which means I like boys and girls. And right now I really like Avery, not Chris. I hope that you guys can understand that." Sophia continued, her eyes darting across the crowd to take in everyone's expressions.

By now my eyes had begun to water from the stress, and my body was screaming to run, but I was on crutches in the middle of a room full of people.

Everyone's eyes had turned to face me, but no one spoke a word and it was impossible to read anybody's facial expression.

"We're all okay with it. Right guys?" A random kid from the soccer team, I think that his name was Rick, finally spoke.

It was quiet for a few beats longer before the crowd slowly broke out into a chorus of "yeah"s and "sure"s. The air only began to fill my lungs again when people began smiling at me and Sophia.

Sophia squealed happily before practically throwing the microphone back to the DJ, and pushing her way towards me. Before I could react, she threw her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.

I let my crutches fall to the ground and slowly wrapped my arms around her as my consciousness came back. The smile that made its way onto my face was impossible to stop, and I couldn't help the hysterical laughter that bubbled out of my throat.

This is the best day ever.

∆

The next day, for the first time in my life, I wanted to go to school because the girlfriend who I was openly dating was there and I didn't have to hide it from anyone anymore.

And I realized when I got there, that it was going to be the best school day of my life too.

No one had called me a single derogatory name or pushed me into a locker. I haven't even been glared at. When Sophia left to go to the restroom, someone actually helped me get my books out of my locker without Sophia even having to ask them. They just walked up to me, asked if I needed help, and they actually helped me. The whole interaction was baffling, where has this been for the past three years?

I also haven't seen Chris or any of his ogres today either, and I couldn't even bring myself to be worried because I was stuck on cloud nine. I honestly believed that everyone here would back me up now if he were to mess with me because let's face it: Chris is scary, but an angry Sophia is terrifying; anyone with sense knows that. Is me not worrying about Chris going come back and bite me? Probably. But the future is the future, and I'll deal with it then.

"Did somebody give Avery coffee?" Seth asked once Drake and I sat down with him and Sophia at lunch. I just stuck out my tongue at him and began to unwrap my sandwich.

I saw Sophia smirk out of the corner of my eye, and then she pressed a kiss to my cheek. On instinct, I froze, but relaxed when a fist didn't come flying towards my face seconds after.

"I just have that effect on people Seth. Didn't you know?" Sophia answered, and Seth and Drake exchanged dull looks.

"The only effect you have on me is pain. I still have a bruise from last night, and I don't even remember why you hit me!" Seth exclaimed and all Sophia did was a shrug.

"I'm sure it was for a good reason. I don't hit people unless I have a good reason." She stated, and this time even I had to give her a look. The whole table waited for her to say something along the lines of "just kidding".

Sophia's eyes widened and the sudden onslaught of looks. "Why are all of you looking at me?" She asked slowly.

Drake was the first to make his case. "Sophia, on the way to school this morning, you punched me for going 31 instead of 30."

"Was 30 the speed limit?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well yes, but-"

"Then I punched you because you were breaking the law. I was making the world a safer place." She argued and then waved him off, signaling that she was done with the conversation.

Seth, Drake, and I all turned to look at her in disbelief before Seth shook his head.

"Avery are you sure that you want to date her," Seth asked me with raised eyebrows.

"Absolutely," I responded without any hesitation and I watched Sophia's cheeks turn pink.

"So what took you two so long to get here?" Sophia eventually complained, once her blush died down.

I pointed at my crutches. "Remember these?" I teased and she rolled her eyes.

"You got to stop using those things as an excuse Ave. You could totally walk like a normal person if you really wanted to." She said before sitting down, and I gave her a stunned look. This was coming from the girl who won't let me take half of a step without my crutches.

"Soph, what are you-"

"So I think I know what I want to do for our date." She cut me off and I rolled my eyes, trying to not let the excitement flood my face, but most likely failing severely.

Sophia and I are going on our first date in two days, and I am extremely excited. Even more excited now that we didn't have to sneak around. Sophia told me that she wanted the entire thing to be a surprise, so I had no idea what was going to happen. Knowing Sophia, I should probably be a little scared, but I was too happy that it was even happening to be worried about that.

"Wait you guys are going on a date?! When?! Where?! Why wasn't I informed?!" Seth exclaimed from across the table, and Sophia and I shot him weird looks.

"Seth why would we tell you?" I asked slowly, and Sophia nodded in agreement beside me.

"I'm a planner extraordinaire! And of course, I want to be apart of the planning of your first date!" He sighed with much more exasperation than necessary for the occasion. He glanced back and forth between Sophia and me with a desperate look, while Sophia and I exchanged looks of our own. We were both trying to figure out when Seth became a professional planner.

"Seth I love you. You're like my brother. But I don't know if-"

"Please Sophia," He begged, widening his eyes. "I promise that it will be the best date that you have ever been."

I watched Sophia's face as she contemplated the idea. Sophia was a sucker for puppy dog faces and Seth had a damn good one

"Ethan and I will help him." Drake chimed in, obviously not liking the sight of his best friend pouting.

I'm surrounded by a bunch of wimps.

Sophia glanced between the two for a few seconds more, before sighing and giving in.

"Fine. But you have to let Ethan help too." She warned, and the two grinned at each other before exchanging high fives. Sophia shook her head at them before turning towards me and resting her head on my shoulder.

"Are you ready for our date?" Sophia whispered, playing with my hands.

I nodded, my confidence surprising me as I placed a kiss on the top of her head. before kissing the top of her head. I wanted to tell her that I've been ready for the past three years, but I didn't want to come off as too desperate.

My life was nothing but beautiful right now, and I couldn't be more grateful.