Asked, Answered, and Attempted

attempt: [uh-tempt]; verb; to make an effort at; try; undertake; seek.

    "Your TV is bigger than my entire house."

    "Alright, that is an exaggeration." Jessica rolled her eyes and continued to flip through channels. "Maybe half your house."

    "Whoa, low blow."

    "You said it first, babe."

    Felix sat in silence for a moment before realizing something.

    "Hey, babe?"

    "Yeah?" She was still flipping through channels, oblivious to her surroundings.

    "It's December 19th. Happy two month anniversary."

    Jessica paused in her scrolling and looked up at Felix long enough to smile and kiss him.

    "Happy two month anniversary, love. If only it was on a day where I actually could find something good to watch on this stupid TV."

    Felix rolled his eyes and put his arm around Jess, pulling her closer. "Just pick a show already. You know I'm fine with watching whatever you want to watch."

    "Yeah, I know, but I don't know what I want to watch." Eventually she ended up throwing the remote down on the bed, the TV paused on a show that Felix didn't know the name of. "I have a question."

    "Ask away." Felix replied, looking down at her. He could never get over just how beautiful she was; her blonde hair was always hit just right by the sun that shone through the open curtains in the late afternoon, her green eyes sparkling as they looked up at Felix. She had just showered before Felix came over, and her hair smelled like roses...the kinds without thorns. She was always happy to see him, and always showed it; it was something that you couldn't really hide from your face. Everything about Jessica Anastos made Felix happy, and made him feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

    All in secret, of course.

    "What are you doing for New Year's Eve?"

    "New Year's Eve?" The question caught Felix by surprise. "I...I don't know."

    "You must have put some thought into it." Jessica laughed. "It's less than two weeks away."

    "Yeah, but I've never really been into the whole partying scene. I don't usually do anything on New Year's Eve but stay in my house and hang out with my family."

    Jessica nodded, and Felix immediately felt like the biggest loser in the universe. His girlfriend was queen of parties, of throwing them, attending them, being them. There wasn't a party that was attended by Jessica Anastos that wasn't the talk of the school the next day. And here he was, her supposed boyfriend, talking about how much he wasn't into "the whole partying scene".

    "Well, I am throwing my annual New Year's Eve party." Jessica said after a few minutes of silence. "You're welcome to come if you want."

    Felix couldn't help but laugh.

    "You're joking, right?"

    Jessica pulled away from Felix and looked up at him in confusion.

    "No. Why would I be joking?"

    "Just because I'm...me." Felix replied. "I'm Felix Brannon. You know, Capital High School's biggest nerd? There's no way that me showing up to Jessica Anastos' New Year's Eve party wouldn't raise some red flags with your friends."

    "It wouldn't!" Jessica insisted. "I've been known to invite unexpected people before."

    "But not people like me." Felix shook his head. "No way. Nothing good can come of that. Nothing good can come of me showing up to your house when it's full of people in your crowd, looking like a total idiot who thought it would be socially acceptable to be at the most popular girl in the school's party. Not happening."

    Jessica looked a bit hurt at his comments.

    "Felix, you know it wouldn't be that bad. I want to be able to kiss my boyfriend at midnight, I want to be able to spend our last New Year's Eve together."

    "I'm sorry, Jess, but I'm not coming." Felix shook his head. "It wouldn't work out."

    Jessica pulled away from Felix's arm completely and looked at him hard.

    "I'm not going to embarrass you. Is this because of what happened in English a few weeks ago? I told you I was sorry, what more do you want me to say?"

    "This isn't because of that!" Felix answered, "I know you're sorry about that. This is because I want to be able to not feel out of place. I want to feel normal."

    "You don't feel 'normal' at my house?"

    "Not when it's full of people I don't know or associate with!"

    "Fine." Jessica folded her arms and faced forward. "Whatever."

    "Yeah. Whatever." Felix shook his head. "I have to go."

    He stood up and walked to the bedroom door, taking one more look at his girlfriend before slamming it shut and walking out of the house.

    Some two-month anniversary.

<><><>

    "Felix Brannon? I need to speak with you on behalf of the welcoming committee."

    "The welcoming committee?" A sophomore from the back of Mrs. Lewis' homeroom commented, "Isn't their job done in like September?"

    Jessica Anastos ignored the whispers and waited as Felix Brannon gathered his things together and followed her out of the door, looking angry and hostile the entire time.

    "What do you want?" Felix asked as Jessica continued to walk down the hallway at a pace that her boyfriend had to run to keep up with.

    "Hush until we get there."

    She could feel the annoyance coming from Felix, but chose to ignore it as she walked down the hallway and entered a deserted classroom on the bottom floor of the school, closing and locking the door behind her.

    "Sit."

    Felix obeyed, sitting down in an empty chair. Jessica sat on the desk next to it.

    "I wanted to start off by apologizing for yesterday. It was rude of me to act like that, to act like you feelings and concerns didn't matter."

    Felix nodded.

    "Thank you."

    "But I think that I gave it a lot of thought, and I may have found a solution that will help us both. But only if it suits you as well."

    Felix's eyes narrowed.

    "I'm listening."

    "Alright." Jessica took a deep breath. "I have already invited your cousin to my party, since I thought it would be a nice gesture after being her tour guide for the first week. She said she can come, and I'm expecting her to be there. I know that your biggest concern was why you would be showing up. That if you were there, people would wonder why."

    Felix nodded silently.

    "Well, I'm sure Nova is going to have to bring up the party to her parents at least once between now and New Year's Eve. So, when she does, if you act like you have absolutely no plans for New Year's Eve, she may invite you to tag along. You would say yes, of course. That way, if you were asked by someone why you were there, you could say that you went with your cousin. Nothing would seem out of the ordinary, and we could still sort of spend New Year's Eve together." She paused. "What do you think?"

    Felix thought for a moment, remaining silent for just enough time to start to make Jessica worry that her plan had simply angered him further.

    "Alright." He said finally. "I think that would work."

    "Really?" Jessica cried, "Oh, thank goodness!" She jumped off the desk and kissed him, "I'm so glad. Are you okay with that whole thing?"

    Felix nodded, smiling for the first time since Jessica had seen him a few minutes prior.

    "I am." He kissed her again. "I'm just happy to be able to spend time with you, babe."

    What more could a girl ask for?

How do you guys think New Year's Eve is going to work out?