CHAPTER ONE (KLEO'S POV)

Kleo........

It currently is 12.04 pm, the 12th of May, my birthday *eyes roll* and I had been up all through the night before till this moment and if I had to say anything it would be that the last minute before the day began thought it very convenient to take its time before elapsing.

Maybe it's my nerves which wouldn't let me rest although I tried to act like that wasn't the case

Yes, from my personality it's quite obvious that I was in my pajamas, alone at home, scooping and eating from a bucket of strawberry ice cream and binge watching friends, the TV show, trying to keep away from humanity.

What a recluse I've become, but it's not going to last for too long as my best friend Dawn had already made plans to take me out whether I liked it or not, if I was changed or not and if it was possible or not

With all the enthusiasm she showed about the whole birthday issue I thought she would have been banging on my door no later than a minute after 12:00AM, 12:01AM that is but I guess I was wrong to predict what someone who acts rashly would do.

However, having half the day already gone by with not a single word from her and I had already given up all of a sudden by 1:00PM I had Dawn insistently ringing my doorbell like she was trying to bring the house down.

I quickly glance at the clock to check the time because even I had lost track of it after being several seasons deep in my binging and it was her inconsiderate ringing on my doorbell that pulled me out of it

"Sigh... This girl" without a single shred of doubt in mind I knew that it could only be Dawn doing the ringing and no one else even if it was the middle of the afternoon and the chances of it being someone else was high but not as likely as it was being her

I reluctantly went downstairs stretching every limb I had since I got off the bed and swung the door open to reveal Dawn in her full Californian glory. She was stunning, she really was, her thick straight blonde hair which was technically white went all the way to her waist, and to match was her gorgeous ocean blue eyes that looked exciting to stare into which bolstered her happy and mischievous nature all at once,

Her complexion hinted that she gets a lot of sun but also the right amount as there wasn't any sunburn signs in sights which was me saying she has flawless skin and while she looked like the beach and I on the other hand look like the forest. 

I have emerald green eyes which only flares up when I feel overly emotional, plump pink lips and brown, almost red, hair but unlike my bestfriend my skin was kind of pale too.

The moment I saw her after opening the door to stop the excessive ringing Dawn tackled me in a hug "Birthday girl!!"

"Hey Dawn"

I smiled as I hugged her back although I couldn't do it that well as her grip was too much and came in when I wasn't prepared for it that in a way I felt restrained but who could blame this over enthusiastic baby in front of me, I couldn't.

"You can let go now" I said and In less than a second of me saying that she pulled back "Sigh... free at last" I retorted with a smile

"Soo, tell me, what's Jace doing for your birthday?" She asked with a mocking tone and scorn written all over her face

I was kind of expecting her to bring up this topic although I had wanted it not to come up at all "Well, he called to say that he has a double shift at work, something about helping someone out and it couldn't be avoided but then he said that he'd come by tomorrow to make up for missing my birthday" I shrugged a bit to make what I said come off as me being indifferent about it

"Kleo, you aren't a stupid girl because if you were the we wouldn't be best of friends"

I tilted my head to the side a bit looking confused as to what she meant "What'd you mean by th—"

"It means for you to... get... yourself... an actual... BOYFRIEND. I've told you this exact thing hundreds of times but you always talk about love and nonsense like that" She said while rolling her eyes at me but before I could even react or say something to defend myself and as an extension Jace from her snarky advice and remark the girl overtook me and bounced up the stairs going all the way to my room,

"Sigh... This girl" Feeling dejected I dropped my head before shortly after I followed behind with hands stuffed inside the pocket of my PJ's while taking each step up the staircase but in the process I flailed my arms at the elbow with each step which gave the impression of an exasperated bird except mine was done out of fatigue 

"Kleo Alexis Dawson, what the fuck!!" I had barely made it up the stairs but this was the greeting I got from Dawn and did i forget to mention that she's this close to having OCD,

"Get your ass here, now!"

I trudged along from the top of the stairs and all the way to her in my room reluctantly just to meet my doom. When I arrived, she was already straightening out my bed and trying to reorganize my table and knowing I couldn't do anything to stop her at this point when she gets like this I rested my frame against the door frame.

"The room was pretty okay to me tho" I mumbled 

"Then I don't want to see when it isn't."

I scoffed then drove my hands deeper into my PJ pockets while I waited for her to be done with what she was doing which after 5 minutes since she started she was done and this just reinforced the notion that she was used to cleaning up messes she didn't like seeing, an irritation she called them

"Go take a shower Kleo" she instructed 

"I already had one tho"

"Go take a shower!" This time was an outright order and because she had spoken with such a stern voice which I hardly get to hear from her and aimed at me in this particular moment I could not rebel.

Ten minutes later I emerge from the bathroom after taking a hot shower smelling of honey and vanilla with my towel snugly wrapped above my breasts and my messy damped hair behind my back and some strands dangling in front of my face and so I walked up to my closet when for some reason unknown to me I heard 

"Just what do you think you're doing?" 

"Huh?" I paused then turned to face her "I want to search my closet for what to wear like everyone in the planet does... What's wrong with that that you had to ask and with that voice of yours like I did something... Did I do something?" I was confused 

"How many times have I told you to use two towels, one for your body and the other for your hair alone like how ladies do and stop acting like some prepubescent boy" she had her eyebrows scrunched in annoyance and arms folded

"!!" I didn't give any answers in return as that felt like the best thing to do rather than say what she might get ticked off by 

 "Sigh... There's no winning with you" she said with two fingers in her eyes while she rubbed them together mostly out of anger and seeing how she wasn't speaking to me again I went back to search my closet for what to wear, first underwear but then it came again  "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm searching my closet for what to wear like I said earlier... Did you not hear me?" 

"Your clothes are on the bed, missy" she pointed at them laying there beside her on the bed escaping my notice while she was standing

I stared at them for a moment and then at her staring back at me before I shrugged rolling my eyes as I walked up to the bed and put on my underwear, slapped on some lotion and used my deodorant... She had everything I could possibly use to get ready placed side by side on the bed in the order she knew I would use them and I was done

After I got dressed in the camp pants and a black crop top, we stepped out of the house, locked up and headed to Dawns car where we played electric love by Borns and soon enough we drove off to a destination only she knew