That Christmas, Aimee and Tim both spent the night in guest rooms at my house. To all our surprise, Aimee told us the next morning that Machivelli had called and told her that since he wasn't able to come back to town then, he'd booked a flight for her and Tim to go see him.

Therefore, Aimee and Tim left early that morning in order to pack. Now I know that they'd only spent a night over, but somehow the house felt...emptier after they left.

Despite my initial assumptions, I didn't fall back into my former daily patterns after they left. Rather than locking myself up in my room with an unhealthy amount of snacks, I found myself actually spending time with Annie and Max (Annie tried to hide the surprised look on her face from me when I walked into the living room after breakfast. Note: I said tried).

However, just because I spent more of my day awake does not mean I corrected my sleep routine. For the next few days after that Christmas, I spent majority of my day with Annie and Max, and my nights bingeing series and snacks. I think I was only about getting three hours of sleep each of those days.

So when I involuntarily fell asleep at 11pm on the 29th and woke up at 7pm the next day, I wasn't all too surprised.

In fact, you want to know something funny?

I fell back asleep right after I woke up.

Honestly, I think it was my grumbling stomach that woke me up the next morning. So at 10am, I bolted out of bed, quickly brushed my teeth, then rushed downstairs to the fridge.

As I grabbed a bowl of fruit salad and packet of yogurt from the fridge, I heard, "Well good morning."

Turning back, I nodded at Annie. "'Morning."

Much like me, she looked like she hadn't bothered to have a shower before coming down. Her red hair was a tangled mess, her skin pasty, and she still wore her slightly crumpled plain pink pyjamas. 

She sipped on the coffee in front of her as I sat down. After putting down her cup, she furrowed her brow. "Wait, did I see you yesterday?"

As I opened the yogurt and poured it over the fruit salad, I replied, "Not unless you have x-ray vision."

"Oh. I'm kinda surprised. I thought you would have wanted to spend more time out of your room."

I paused in the middle of raising my spoon of fruits to my mouth when I heard the tone of her voice. Her eyes were fixed on her coffee as she spoke.

I thought for a bit, then said, "Well the only way that would have been possible yesterday is if I sleep walk."

Her eyes flashed up to my face. "Wait, are you saying that you-"

"Slept all through out the day yesterday? If only it were that simple. I practically lost 24 hours of my life!"

"Hmm. Well, we both shouldn't be surprised. That's what you get for staying up all night."

"Suddenly I regret telling you."

She rolled her eyes, but a smile broke over her face.

The first spoon of fruit I put in my mouth triggered a chain reaction. Soon enough, I was shoveling down spoon after spoon, relishing in the cool mixture of the yogurt and the fruits.

When I was about halfway through the bowl, I heard Annie say, "By the way, has Max spoken to you about it yet?"

After chewing everything in my mouth, I replied, "You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"She's wondering whether I've told you about The Society event happening later this night."

A quick glance behind me revealed that those words had come from Max, who also looked like he had just rolled out of bed, as he reached into the fridge and grabbed a carton of orange juice.

As Max walked to the table and sat at it, I turned back to Annie. "Oh. Well no, he hasn't."

"You said you'd tell him yesterday."

"Yeah, but I didn't see him all day." Looking at me, he said, "Every year, one of the members of the five leading families of The Society throws a huge dinner to welcome in the New Year. Annie and I don't usually go, but we figured you might want to see what it's like."

"Ok. What time are we leaving?"

"Like around 11pm," Annie answered. "But sadly, I won't be going with you both. For some reason, I've been going to the bathroom a lot since yesterday and almost anything I eat irritates my stomach. I don't want to have to be visiting the bathroom every five minutes when I get there."

"Or you just don't want to see Mother."

"No!" Annie paused, then added, "Well, that is an added benefit."

Max chuckled, then said to me, "Also, I should probably let you know beforehand that it's Lucas that's hosting the dinner this year."

I bristled. "Are you talking about that immature joke of a leader I spoke to last time?"

"Yep, the one and only Lucas Terriere. I wouldn't refer to him that way to his face if I were you though."

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. I'm not going."

"WHAT!"

Max and I both looked at Annie, whose face flushed a full moment after.

"Sorry, I'm just... shocked. I never expected you of all people to cower away from that asshole."

"I'm not cowering,' I snapped. "I just don't want to go into the New Year in a bad mood because of some pompous asshole."

"Then don't! Don't allow him to ruin your time there, or rob you of the chance to have this experience."

"Annie is right," Max piped in. "It's highly unlikely that you and Lucas would have much contact anyways. Just be civil with him if you happen to bump into him and you should be fine."

As much as I cringed at the very thought at even having to look at Lucas' face once again , Annie and Max's words gained more dominance over my mind as I thought about them.

After a bit, I spoke again. "You know, you're both actually right. Screw Lucas, I'm going to that dinner!"

Grinning, Annie clapped her hands together. "That's the spirit! Now, all that's left is to pick out the suit you're going to wea-"

"Woah woah woah, who said anything about a suit?"

"What do you mean? Of course you're wearing a suit!"

"No, I'm not! If I could dress informally to La Palais, then I'm dressing informally to that dinner."

"Coincedentaly, the dinner is being held at La Palais," Max said.

My brow furrowed. "Aren't they usually closed during this time of the year."

"Trust me, no restaurant is considered closed for any of these Society dinners. Anyways, you have to show up dressed formally. You wouldn't be allowed inside otherwise."

Sighing, I grumbled, "Fine. But the only reason I'm going is because I don't want to feel like I'm letting that Lucas prick influence my decision." 

Anytime I look back at that day, I always wonder what would have happened if I'd stubbornly stuck to my initial decision.

Maybe everything would be different now.
.       .       .

As I looked at myself in the mirror, even I had to admit I looked great in formal wear.

From my neatly combed curly hair to my gleaming dark shoes, there were no flaws to my appearance. There was not a crease on the deep blue jacket I had on, nor on the white shirt I wore underneath it. My dark pants looked like they'd never even been touched before.

The only problem I had with my attire was the red monstrosity wrapped around my neck region, threatening to strangle me with every slight movement I made.

I made a face, then adjusted my tie for the hundredth time since I'd put it on. As far as I'm concerned, it's a miracle I hadn't just decided to take my chances with Annie and rip the thing off my neck.

A knock on my door drew me out of my thoughts. Shortly after, I realized that I'd forgotten to lock my door when Annie opened it, peeked inside, then just walked on in.

"Sure, don't even wait for a reply," I grumbled.

"What do you mean, I'm pretty sure I gave you at least five seconds before I came in."

I gave a grunt in reply, then went back to attempting to figure out how I could position my tie in order for it not to strangle me everytime I moved my head.

I heard Annie tutting, then shortly after she removed the tie off my neck. "Lord have mercy, if this is how you knot your tie then it's no wonder you hate formal attire!"

My cheeks grew warm. "Hey, it's not that bad!"

However as I looked on at the shrivelled mass in her hand, I realized that she might have had a point.

She grunted as she pulled apart the tie, then wrapped it around her neck and began knotting it again. "Seriously though, how don't you know how to knot a tie?"

"How do you?"

"From observation, duh! Plus, I used to help Max with his. Besides, isn't it more shameful that I, who doesn't even need to wear it, know how to not a tie, but you-"

"What are you going to be doing all night?"

Annie smirked at me, but replied, "Probably watching sitcoms while hanging close to the bathroom."

"Mmm. Sounds fun."

"Yeah, like such a blast." After knotting the tie, she took it off and handed it to me. "Here."

"Thanks."

After I had put it on, I turned round to grab my cufflinks off the table. "Are you going to be watching on your TV or laptop? I suggest laptop, that way you can just spend the entire night on the toilet."

Several seconds passed, but Annie didn't reply. Furrowing my brow, I looked back and said, "Did you hear-"

My voice caught as I saw the tear running down Annie's cheek, reflecting the sad smile on her face.

For a brief moment, I was at a loss for words. When I finally found my voice, I asked, "Hey...is something wrong?"

Annie blinked, then quickly rubbed at the tear. "Oh, don't worry! I'm just getting emotional over nothing, that's all."

I gave a shaky chuckle. "Well I doubt that."

"Okay, so maybe it's not nothing. It's just...everything seems to be going so well right now. For some reason, it's like this holiday- don't get me wrong, it's not like the others have been terrible, but-"

"Something about this one just feels better."

She nodded. "And it just hurts to think that things would... would never be like this again."

"Woah," I gave a shaky laugh, "I thought I'm supposed to be the pessimistic one."

"N-no, I don't mean it in a bad way! What I mean is... well, you'd be off to college sometime next year."

"Ann, it's college, not prison. I can come visit during Christmas."

"I know, but it still wouldn't be the same. The house would feel a whole lot emptier without you in it if you decide to live on-campus. You're eighteen now, so things are different. You don't...you don't need me anymore."

Annie looked away, but not soon enough for me to miss the tear running out of one of her eyes again.

For a while, I fidgeted with my cufflinks as I tried to come up with what to say. Finally, in my typical fashion, I scoffed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but how could you honestly think that I don't need you anymore? Because I finally reached a milestone age set by society? Ridiculous. Why if not for you, I'd have probably just given up on my tie and ripped it off in the car!"

"We both know that's not true." Sniffling, she pulled me into a hug. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up though."

A few seconds later, she released me and said, "Well what are you waiting for? Get downstairs, Max is waiting for you!"
.       .       .

"Why is the driveway looking so empty?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I know it's packed full of cars," I said without looking back at Max, "but at the last Society function I was at, the place was crawling with security."

"That's because it was an official function, which means that all important Society members are obligated to attend. This is an optional event, so if you choose to attend, you bring your own security with you."

"Then shouldn't we have brought more people than just Tony?"

"Not really. The only reason why other people even bother to bring security is so that they can look intimidating when interacting with other members."

"So if we're the only ones who didn't bring security, we'd basically look like easy pickings."

To my surprise, Max burst out laughing. "Hardly! Besides, Tony is all the security we need. Trust me."

"The man is right, Angelo," Tony said.

I let out a grunt, but didn't say anything else as Tony looked for a space to park in. Which was looking like a hopeless task by the way, considering the fact that the driveway was packed to the brim with cars of varying sizes. Either that or the free packing space was hiding in some dark spot the yellow lanterns all around couldn't cover.

It took us about ten minutes to find a free space...

...but it took barely a minute for me to realize that the people who stepped out from the car we parked beside happened to be Mayor Prickleberry...

...and her husband, Mr Prickleberry.
.       .       .

Congrats people, we are one step closer to the end of part one!

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