Perfect Hunter

Not so Happy Birthday

"Calli, are you okay?"

"Hm?" She looked up from her latte snapping out of her trance. Calliope Fray blinked her eyes back to awareness, staring into her mom's green eyes who showed evident worry for her. "Yeah, I'm okay," she shakes her head before giving her mom a small smile.

"You were looking at your cereal, I thought you saw a fly," her mom chuckled, kissing her head before standing across from her on the kitchen island. "What's got your mind all fuzzy? It's your birthday, sweetheart."

"Nothing really," Calliope shakes her head, taking a spoon full of cereal, ignoring the soggy state of it and smiling at her mom awkwardly. "I have a lot on my mind," she explained to her mom as soon as she swallowed the cereal. 

"You can tell mom, I'm here," her mom thoughtfully tells her, holding her free hand with a kind smile, one that made Calliope feel a little better. "Is it your classes? If you're loaded we can try to manage your schedule."

"There's no need, mom," Calli politely shakes her head, "I'm just a little worried for Clary, her interview is today. I hope they like her work," she finally admits to her mom. The thought of her sister not getting into her dream school would crush her, especially when she herself was admitted in her own preferred school last. It was stressful that she went up two grades and was now studying in Brooklyn College pursuing psychology, while Clary was just entering her own chosen course.

"You don't have to worry about your sister, she's got this," her mom comforts her, taking away the soggy cereal from in front of her and replacing it with chocolate milk. "Now drink up, and get ready for school."

Calliope rolled her eyes at her mom playfully before drinking her fill, "thanks mom."

"Anytime, sweetie," her mom smiles at her before she hurries to her room to get ready for her class. Unfortunately she had an almost full schedule of classes, from 9am to 2pm and from 3pm to 8. Not the most ideal schedule but she wasn't at all complaining since she enjoyed it very much. The busy-ness of course kept her mind off of other things, such as the weird symbols that she manages to draw all over her notes when she dozes off. She of course never told her mom, otherwise her mom would make her take a gap year putting it all on stress, even Luke, her father figure can't say no to her mom once she's made a demand.

Wasting no time, Calliope forced herself into the shower that morning to finally get rid of the drowsiness left in her system. Finding her way into picking her better clothes since it was her birthday, a simple floral dress that she saw online which arrived a few days before her birthday. Pairing it with her white converse that Clary painted pastel flowers on, something her sister gave her for her graduation the year before.

"Calliope, are done getting ready?" She hears her mom call out.

"Almost," she answered, fixing her hair with a hair clamp, letting a few strands fall to frame her face before she grabbed her bag and text books.

"Oh look at you!" Her mom awed, "you look beautiful."

"Mom," Calliope groaned, a little embarrassed that her mom noticed her small effort in clothes. Not that she thinks it was a big deal, but her mom always made it a point to point out differences in her usual manners.

"Okay, I'm sorry," her mom raised her hands in defeat, "come here, I have a present for you," she beckoned for her to come closer which she did. "Happy birthday, Calliope," Her mom was holding a maroon box, no bow, no card, just a box. Excited, she opened it herself, revealing a pen-like object inside, with engravings and vines, a white crystal at the tip.

"Mom, you know I'm too old for magic wands," Calliope jokes, lifting the pen-like object from the box, ignoring how the symbols on it looked like the ones she scribbled on her notebooks for a while now.