Holly's Fourteenth Birthday

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Holly glanced once again in her portable mirror, unconvinced.
"You look fine," Riley said, "Seriously. Can I eat cake now?"
"Not yet doll," Holly said grinning, and examined the landscape, "People will be arriving soon.....THEN you can eat cake,"
She laughed.

Holly strolled over to Lily, hands in her pockets.
"Ya look nice," she pointed out smiling to her.

Lily smiled shyly "Thank" she said "You very nice too".

Phoenix looked over to see Aura stuffing her face, she rolling her eyes.

Holly grinned.
"Thanks," she said, and looked absently over at Aura too.

"Um..." Natalie said, walking over to Phoenix, "hi...remember me....um....awkward question...but...aren't you dead?...not that it isn't amazing to see you here....are you a ghost?"

Holly nudged Natalie.
"Thats Lily," she muttered.

"No...I don't mean her...I mean that pale girl next to her," Natalie muttered back, "do you not see her?"

Hayley frowned at Holly, surely she had seen Phoenix's ghost....She turned her attention to Phoenix. "Hi Phoe," she said, reaching out to embrace her, then stopped, as she imagined it would be hard to hug a ghost. Instead she smiled at Lily and Aura, "Hi guys" she said, smiling warmly.

Phoenix smiled "Yes i may be dead but you didn't think that would ever stop me from living?" she asked, Aura and Lily smiled "Hey!" they both said

"I can't believe it's you...you look so....ghostly...but still, we're hanging out as friends....just like old times," said Natalie, eyes filling with tears of happiness.

Phoenix smiled "Don't cry Nat, tis alright" she said Aura pulled Lily away as they started to dance.

Natalie smiled and dried her eyes.

"I'm just happy," she said, smiling again.

Phoenix smiled back "You should be" she said

Natalie grinned. Same old Phoenix. Death had done her no harm...apart from the fact that she was dead.

Phoenix smiled, she would never tell her friends why she did what she did, even she knew they would have question.

Holly was confused.
"I thought she was dead?" she asked.

Phoenix turned to answear Holly's question "I am dead, holly" she explained "But i'm a ghost"

Holly should have realised this earlier, and couldnt help smiling at her stupidity, and with happiness.
"Good to 'ave you back kid," was all she said.

Phoenix smiled sadly "Its not the same but least its something" she admitted

Holly nodded, partially understanding.

Phoenix shook her head "So how have you been?" she asked

Holly cocked her head to the side, a terribly Holly thing to do, and considered.
"Coping," she found herself saying, "What.....what about you?"

She didnt know if this was a stupid question or not.

Phoenix smiled "Its ok Holly" she said "Well i've been dead but Aura has been looking at some old magic books"

"Oh really?" Holly asked interested, "Found anything out?"

Phoenix sighed "She was looking at spells to bring me back alive, she found a spell but i refused it" she said

"Refused it?" Holly asked, "Any particular reason?"
Holly knew Phoenix must have had a billion reasons, but she would like just one.

"Its too much for me" she said "And it would be too hard on you guys, finding that i died then all of a sudden me coming back, but maybe i will do the spell but not anytime soon"

Holly nodded taking this in.
"Thats sensible," she remarked, "I would never have the sense to do something like that,"
She grinned at Phoenix, her trademark grin.

Phoenix grinned back "Anyway its quite good being a ghost" she said

Hayley frowned, then said, "I've never had a ghost friend." Blueberry scrambled onto Hayley's shoulder, to greet Phoenix, "Hey Phoe," she said, quite happily.

"If you ever go and see Moaning Myrtle...tell her to stop coming into the Gryffindor girls dorm and crying at night...she drive me nuts....honestly...and she goes into the first years dorms and scares them....and as prefects...me and Holly our supposed to tell her to stop...but she just will not quit," said Natalie.

Hayley nodded, "It's true, and it's so annoying. The other night, I tried to punch her. It did not work," she said, half-smiling at the anecdote she was telling.

"Well...obviously it didn't work....because she's a g- you know what....never mind," said Nataliem grinning at Hayley.

"Oh oh.....you know what you should have done...put your soul into a doll body," said Chucky, grinning.

"Um...sweetface....maybe she didn't have a doll handy," said Tiffany, "but nice to see your thinking of others for a change."

"Hey...I do think of others...like...in those dreams I have where there are a million of you and Glen...and you are bowing down to worship me as you king," said Chucky.

"Oh, what sad little dreams you have Chucky," said Tiffany.

"Well at least I can dream without sleepwalking....Tiffany....or wetting the bed....Glen....or screaming....N-" Chucky said before Natalie cut across him with, "I. do. not. scream....well...only if I have a nightmare."

Glen had gone bright red and his right eye was twitching.

"Why did you have to remind her about the bed-wetting Chucky? She's been doing so w-" started Tiffany.

"HE'S....HE'S BEEN DOING SO WELL!" yelled Chucky.

"I WANT A GIRL!" yelled Tiffany.

"I WANT A BOY!" yelled Chucky.

"YOUR TEARING ME APART!" yelled Glen, "WHAT ABOUT WHAT I WANT?!"

"Oh...well thats new," said Chucky, "ok...what do you want Glen?"

"Yeah sweetface....you chose," said Tiffany.

"Well," said Glen, "Sometimes I feel like a girl-"

"Oh lord...this is how it went the last time.....fine...be both....but I won't be happy about it," said Chucky, sulking.

Hayley half-smiled at the dolls, then stopped. "Why not just let Glen be Glenda for a week, then Glen and so on?" she asked. She thought it was logical.

"But you see....he has to feel like being Glenda to be Glenda," explain Natalie.

"Yeah...the kid's weird that way," said Chucky.

Tiffany gasped.

"Our child is not weird," she said, offended.

Chucky looked at Glen, then Tiffany, then at himself.

"Look at us," said Chucky, "we are way past weird....we are like....like....whats the word I'm looking for?"

"Uncommon...insane....strange," suggested Natalie.

"Yes...any of those," said Chucky.

"You guys, scare my lights out!" Holly yelled.

"WE KNOW!" yelled Chucky.

"That's why I couldn't go to rehab for my killing addiction in the summer of 04...because I'm a doll, and I would just freak everybody out," said Tiffany.

Shadow had discretely stood on Raven's foot when the subject of screaming in the night cameup, as Raven was about to open her mouth.

Natalie saw Shadow step on her sister foot and frowned.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Nothing." Shadow said quickly.

Hayley was about to question Shadow, then decided it was probably best not to be nosy.

Shadow had stiffened when she sensed that Hayley was about to question her, but breathed a short but silent sigh of relief once she realised that she wasn't.

Hayley smiled understandingly at Shadow, then decided it best to change the conversation, "So, we should probably sing Happy Birthday to Holly," she said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yes, we should." Shadow agreed.

Hayley began to sing loudly, even though she wasn't very good. She stopped half-way through. "Sing along guys!" she said.

Phoenix looked at Shadow and smiled "Hey Shad" she said

Shadow bowed her head in acknowledgement.

Phoenix smiled "How've you been?" she asked

" tired, you?" Shadow said.

"Walking through walls" she said smiling hoping to lighten the mood.

Hayley smiled at Phoenix. "Walking through walls....sounds, um...fun?" she said, hoping she didn't sound to stupid.