I wake up alone, which is the first thing I register because it's the strangest, Virgil is usually beside me.
Then the rest of my situation slowly filters into my sleep muddled brain, I'm uncomfortable, like there are lumps in my pillow and pins on the bed.
The blanket isn't over me either and it's not on the bed too because I had kicked it off, my hair plastered wetly to my face and my damp clothes sticking to my body.
I'm heated
The uncomfortable warmth is making me feel delirious and my limbs refuse to cooperate to get me out of the bed, to maybe try and cool down or get my mom.
The drapes are drawn when I turn my head weakly to get my bearings of the time, thank goodness it's a Saturday because there's no way I can make it to school.
My throat is parched and aching from the dryness but the thought of making any serious movements makes me cringe, unfamiliar heat pools in my stomach and spreads outwards and I curl into a ball, sweating harder.
At this point the door swings open, loud sounds of poppers going off and things falling all over me.
"Happy Birthday!!!"
Variations of my name get called after this and I flip on my back with a groan, the confetti and streamers sticking to my damp skin.
They all freeze when I do, variations of horror on their faces.
"Ugh! I feel like I got run over by a train." I groan, covering my face with a hand when they come in with light streaming in.
Shana is holding a gigantic cake while my mom and the rest are standing around holding poppers.
"Oh my baby." My mom rushes forward.
"T-Thanks." I mumble to the others. "But you should all probably go before you catch whatever this is."
"Um, we can't." Virgil says, looking very worried. "But we'll be in the living room so we don't crowd you."
They all murmur their sympathies and soon it's just my mom and I.
"How do you feel? Good Lord! You're burning up!" She exclaims when she places a palm in my forehead.
The next couple hours are spent getting my temperature down, it wasn't fun but it was way better than having to go down to hospital because the Pack Clinic wouldn't have the necessary equipment as apparently Werewolves didn't get sick.
Just my luck, coming down with a fever on my eighteenth birthday.
"Baby? I'm about to pick you up okay?" My mom explains to me when I wake up from another endless nap, feeling way better.
"Hmm? Why?" I hum, disoriented.
"Well, your sheets are soaked through plus you need to eat something, your fever has broken and you need to get nutrients so it doesn't come back." She explains softly, smoothening down my damp hair.
"Oh." I murmur, my mom had long discarded the sweater I had worn to sleep and now I'm in a small, thin shirt.
"Will you be okay?" I ask in worry, she has been hanging around me all day.
"Of course." She gives me a wide grin. "I rarely fall sick." She says proudly and I smile at her.
I rarely did too, must have something to do with our genes so coming down with an impromptu fever like this was just weird.
"I'm so old." I mumble when she picks me up and makes her way to her room.
She looks stunned for a split second before she bursts out laughing and then sobers up with tears in her eyes. "Yeah, you are."
"Julia made chicken soup, your fever might have broken but you should sleep a little more to regain your strength." She clucks, settling me on the bed.
"Aww, my birthday is ruined." I pout, getting comfortable on her cool bed.
"I don't think so, it's not that late you know, get better okay? That's all we want."
I take another peaceful nap after eating an unnecessary amount of chicken soup, my mom had insisted, saying that I had sweated out every last ounce of fat on me so I had to replace it.
I wake up again and for the first time I'm not covered in sweat, my skin prickling as the inner heat that kept warming me up fades, leaving me to feel the actual temperature, it's the 4th of November so fall is almost over and therefore very cold.
I sneak to my room, hearing muted sounds of conversation and the TV, I needed a shower to wash off every last trace of the fever.
It hadn't lasted long at all which I'm grateful for or I would have had to go down to the hospital and if my Grammy had found out, I'd be carted to the city to get checked up.
My movements are still sluggish but I really do feel much better so I clean up and put on one of my mom's sweaters and a duck printed pajama bottoms, it's not the best outfit I've ever worn on my birthday but it's comfortable and my skin is still sensitive.
Slowly I make my way to the living room, wondering what I would find.
Virgil is the first to notice me, sitting close to the hallway like he had been checking up on me occasionally.
I freeze and gape when I get a good look at the living room, the sun is slowly setting which meant I had slept the entire day away.
My Grammy and Aunt are also sitting on sofas, wearing knitted sweaters that no doubt my mom and Shana had forced on them.
Virgil quickly rushes up to support me and I swat him away. "I just had a fever, my legs work fine."
"It's the birthday boy!" My Aunt Candy announces and there's more of the popping of poppers, confetti spiraling around me.
I laugh happily, letting Virgil support me anyway, my birthday wasn't wasted at all because not long after we settle down, Julia comes over with Luke and it's a full house.
Usually on my birthdays, it's just my mom and friends, my Grammy and Aunt don't always make it either.
I smile so much that my cheeks start to hurt, Shana starts a cake fight and gets nearly drowned in it when my Aunt Candy uses her superior strength to hold her down and shove cake down her sweater.
I just sit cross-legged on a sofa, content to watch them have fun, Virgil leans over to kiss my hair and I smile even wider, content.