Different

Chapet 13 Holidays

Chapter 13

Holidays

The days turned to weeks and weeks into months. The summer heat cooled to a comfortable fall. School flowed normally. I went to my classes and made decent grades, except the C- in algebra, but it's a work in progress. Mr. Solomon's class has turned out to be one of my favorites, and no not because of Mason. The class is a lot of fun and I really like the experiments we've been doing. Contrary to the time we've been spending together, we don't discuss topics such as his flavors of the nights or what happened back at the track the first time I went. We just go on with our lives, and let what happens happen.

I got closer to the girls and they're other friends. With the group extending so quickly drama was bound to happen, but I tried my best to stay out of it. I can barely handle my own issues. I may act like everything's fine, and some days I begin to believe it, but in reality I'm still grieving. The whole lifestyle change made the whole situation seem unreal. I push most of those emotions away, not wanting to deal with them. It's my way of coping. I try to help Aunt Jodi out around the house and with the kids as much possible. I don't really have the girls over here a lot so I don't become a bother. Nicole has visited once or twice mostly for a weekend and it was nice to see her. Speaking if college kids, Damon went back to school as promised the weekend after we met. Throughout the weekend whatever tension between the King brothers seemed to dissipate. Before leaving Damon promised to return for the holidays. Which were now quickly approaching. Thanksgiving would be arriving in the next week. It would be weird going through the holidays without my parents, so for the first time I was not looking forward to them. Halloween was a prime example of this. I stayed away from the rest of the family and went to Cassie's apparent annual party. Not the most compassionate way to deal with my family but I was avoiding all of those emotions at the moment. Really at every moment since it happened but still. The party was fun. I met a lot of new people that don't go to our school which I always enjoy. This is because you can be whoever you want to be, even for one night without any questions asked. Isn't that the point of Halloween? The majority of Halloween night was just me and the girls dancing around in the living room together while others danced around. Now apparently Cassie's momma bear went into early hibernation, or she's too naive to realize when her punch bowl has been spiked and vodka bottles are being passed around. I don't remember the other girls really drinking maybe a swig here or there, but not enough to get wasted. I on the other hand was far from a light weight, and drank more than the others. I don't really know how much I drank because Mason always found a way to make it leave my hand. He would be all over anyone and everyone but as soon as the glass was in palm it seemed like he was by my side. I must admit he was pretty creative about it. First he "accidentally" ran into me causing me to spill it. Then he dragged me away to show me something and set my drink down for me. Another time he took it right from my hand and swallowed the shot for himself. This received a profanity as a reply to describe his action.

I called him a dick.

So at the end of the night I barely even had a buzz. This, although I'll never admit it to him, kind of saved my butt. Toward the end of the party, my group had somehow disappeared into the masses, but I didn't fret and continued to dance along with the strangers. I got sandwiched between two guys and moved toward a corner. If I had been more heavily intoxicated I probably wouldn't have noticed the behavior that set alarms off in my clear head. As I hit the wall with no more room to reverse I made eye contact with Mason who was coming down the stairs on the other side of the house. Cole was behind and Mason grabbed his attention and pointed in my direction. The boys tried to maneuver through the thick crowd. Before they were anywhere close to me, one of the random guys put his hands on my waste and tried to force me to dance. I gave my hips a hard sway each direction before pulling my knee up as hard as possible into his groin. As he went down his buddy stepped in my way. Mason was only a few feet away at this point, but I never had the damsel in distress gene to wait for him. I just reared back and punched him in the jaw. I heard a crack and it was probably from my hand breaking not his jaw, but I played off the pain as much as I could. As the two guys seemed to be recuperating past their pain I took the chance to start my get away. As I turned to submerge myself into the crowd I was pulled by my elbow. I started to throw another punch, with the other hand, before even looking or even fully facing my new attacker. My punch was captured by a much larger, calloused hand.