“Happy Birthday, cupcake.”

Queenie Powers simply smiled as she felt the warm kiss against her temple, her doting father’s presence the only thing keeping her from scowling. He’d slid one of her favorite tarts - cherry, of course - in front of her place at the dining table before stepping back and giving his only child her personal space.

The tart was small and cute, as it always was every year that he made them for her. A single candle had found its home in the center of the custom-made heart shape pastry, a tiny flame flickering as it fought to survive.

“Thank you, Dad, Mom.”

Being the dutiful daughter that she was, Queenie’s hands fell in her lap as she waited for the flash of her mother’s camera to go off. Every year went the same - they gave her tarts in lieu of cakes, they took her to the store to purchase her present and she was subjected to a day’s worth of pictures for her mother’s ever-growing collection.

It was always the same. Expected. Predictable.

Boring.

Her friends in high school would usually shower her with affection throughout the school day but Queenie was no longer in high school. College classmates in the occasional class she’d take weren’t aware of her birthday nor did they care for its significance. It left her to celebrate it with the only two people who still gave a fig about it in the world - her parents.

How pathetic was she?

The painted smile on her face didn’t waver as she waited for her mother’s permission to blow out the single candle. She paused again for another picture before manicured nails moved to pluck the candle from the fruit filling and carefully set it to the side of her breakfast plate.

She was twenty now. No longer a teenager yet still treated like a child.

Things had changed for her over the last few months. New job, new social climbing opportunities and, most importantly, new powers. The idea that she was some magical human being with magical capabilities was still an incredible… well, thing to wrap her pretty little head around. Suri had seemed to think that she had potential and even she had seem caught off guard by the fact that Queenie held more power within her than either of them had expected.

Who’d have thought that the daughter of a pastry chef was really a superhero?

Still, even with magical powers she found herself stuck in the cycle of tradition and repetitiveness.

The new job was proving interesting - well, as interesting as science could be. There weren’t as many opportunities for elbow rubbing with the rich and powerful, but Queenie knew that it was bound to come in time. If Ms. Ellis was being sponsored by wealthy individuals, they were bound to show up and check in on things, right?

Maybe her time to shine was coming, maybe it was only a matter of time for the young twenty year old to make a splash of her own in society. She’d dreamed of the day when she was finally noticed, when her dues had paid off and her attempts at being a social butterfly took flight.

In the meantime, though…. sigh.

Lifting the tart up to her lips, she offered her parents one more smile before perfectly white teeth took a small bite of the flavorful dessert.

Was anything ever going to get better for her?

(WC: 578 )