Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 1

P A R T - E I G H T

Chapter Eight; New Years Eve.
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December 31st, 6:04pm

"Mom?!" Alice called as she walked down the stairs quickly and jogged into the kitchen, "have you seen my fur jacket? The one that you got me last Christmas?"

"The black one?" Sophie replied as she set down the large brown paper bag of groceries and looked up at her daughter. "Oh!" She gasped in amused surprise, seeing Alice with her hair up and a green clay face mask covering her skin. "Are you going out tonight?"

"It's Magnus's New Year's Eve party, I told you about it yesterday." Alice said, "I need my fur jacket,"

"It was dry cleaned last week, so it's probably in the basement," Sophie replied, placing a new bottle of red wine down on the counter. "So you're not staying home with us this year? We thought we could all watch a movie," she continued as Alice walked past her and towards the basement door.

"You can watch movies any time of the year," Alice muttered as she disappeared down stairs to retrieve her jacket. Sophie sighed in defeat and began to unpack the groceries as Charlotte appeared from the garage door and put down some more groceries which were almost too heavy for her to carry. Moments later Alice appeared with her faux fur coat draped over her hands, and glanced at the bottle of wine on the counter. Her next move was so subtle, even she couldn't believe she'd done it so smoothly. As Sophie turned her back to place something in the fridge, Alice swiped the bottle and hid it under her coat as she walked past. Within seconds she was already jogging silently up the stairs to finish getting her outfit together.

It was only Charlotte who had noticed her sister's actions as she stood to one side and watched as Sophie began to search for the bottle in confusion a few minutes later. And when asked, she signed that she hadn't seen where her mother had put it... even though Charlotte was only eight, she knew that Alice was beginning to act differently than how she used to... she stayed in her room a lot, with the door closed, barely spoke or acknowledged anyone during dinner... things were beginning to change and Charlotte felt suddenly uneasy at the thought of losing the sister she was used to.

Upstairs, music flowed from Alice's speakers as she laid her outfit out on her bed and took a swig of red wine from the bottle. She had a good feeling about tonight, and a part of her wasn't sure if it was because she was still riding the high of being invited to Magnus's party by him personally, or the fact she just had something to do on one of the biggest nights of the year... and the potential to receive a New Years kiss at midnight from a cute senior boy added an extra spring in her step.

Suddenly Alice's phone buzzed from where it was lying on her desk and she wandered over to pick it up, expecting it to be one of her close friends but instead it was Noah. Her eyebrows raised as she opened his message, but she didn't get the same heart clench that she did whenever she accidentally saw Magnus's name in her list of recent chats. They hadn't spoken in a week via messenger and if she was honest with herself, she was still riding that high too.

Noah Wilson: hey, do you want a lift to the party later?

Alice hesitated as she stood there and read his message again. She'd originally planned to catch a lift with Candice and Olive to the party, yet... maybe catching a lift with Noah could be the kick start to an entertaining evening she needed.

Alice Murphy: yes please, what time?

She replied, knowing that Magnus's party started later than most and wanted to know how much time she'd have to get ready on top of how much spare time she'd have after that was done. It only took Noah a few seconds to reply and she couldn't help but smile...