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63

*Elena*

I flinch suddenly as the sound of yet another champagne bottle being popped open reaches my ears, and I turn my head to find Noah making his way into the living room with it in his hand.

"Only a few minutes left!" I giggle, along with everyone else in the room, as we extend our glasses to receive Noah's champagne pour.

"Do I get one too?" Lily pouts, holding out her empty glass a little further after Noah had skipped her.

"Of course you do!" I reassure her, reaching for the sparkling cider on the coffee table I had bought just for her.

Justin and Ashley laugh as I pour Lily a big glass of the sparking cider, doing my best not to spill it given that I've already had four glasses of champagne tonight.

A couple of weeks ago, during one of our practice sessions, Blake, Noah, Olivia, and I decided to spend New Year's Eve together. James had mentioned he wanted to hang out with us after having no other plans.

Somehow, Lily ended up on the guest list too, along with Justin and Ashley. I'm surprised at how civil the two seem with one another, given their recent divorce. But I'm glad Lily is able to see her parents more due to Blake constantly flying Justin down for games. He always tries to insist he will pay Blake back, but Blake refuses to take any money from him.

Lily has almost fallen asleep twice now, but with only 10 minutes left until midnight, I think she'll make it.

Besides Lily and her family, the five of us celebrated Christmas together as well. When I opened Blake's present for me I almost burst into tears– it was tickets for us to travel to Harry Potter World in Orlando after we graduate. I practically passed out when I saw the Hogwarts symbol on the papers as I took them out of the envelope, always wanting to go as a teen but never being able to afford it.

Given that I'm currently not in the best financial standing, I simply got Blake a framed picture of us, a handwritten note telling him everything I love about him, some cologne, and a subscription gift card to an audio-book app to buy the Harry Potter books and listen to them since he's not a big reader.

I don't think he has used the gift card though, claiming that he prefers to have me read them to him instead.

All of us have spent the last couple of hours of tonight playing board games, dancing to music, eating, and simply enjoying each other's company.

When I see James lean over the couch to pour himself another glass of whiskey, I know there's no way he'll be able to drive home tonight.

"How come Officer Ramirez isn't here too!" I slur, whining to James next to me on the couch. James originally asked if he could invite one of his cop friends tonight and that he was going to drive him home. Even though he didn't mention who exactly he planned to invite, I figured he meant Officer Ramirez.

"You mean Julian?" James chuckles. "How do you even know him?"

I freeze in my intoxicated state, my slightly widened eyes mirroring my friends' reactions. We all instantly realize that Julian must've not told James anything about Blake's short jail visit or Lucas' arrest. I should've assumed as much, given that I asked him to try and protect Blake's image as much as he could.

The rumor on campus is that Lucas dropped out of school after not being able to play football anymore, so nobody has really been questioning his absence. It helps that he apparently stopped showing up to classes for weeks before his arrest. I've talked to Abby here and there about it all and she said in the last few weeks of their relationship he constantly seemed on the edge of a psychotic break– talking to himself, not sleeping, and consuming copious amounts of drugs daily as a substitute for food.