Walking To the Moon

VII (Christmas Special)

The next few days were pretty silent in the Stafford house. Victor was mostly at the office or on a business trip. Bryant tried his best not to tell anybody about his little chat with the principal and gave much thought to the idea of going to medical college. Becoming a doctor couldn't be so bad after all. He just could never think of himself as a doctor before. However now things have changed and a new idea emerged in his thoughtful mind. Everything had to stay private for a while.

Ally who was his age and happened to study at the same high school as him couldn't keep herself from being curious about Bryant's life.

"I headed the principal had you in her office." She almost yelled in the hallways when Bryant was just passing by.

He stopped, turned around and looked at her, frustration and embarrassment evident on his face.

"What did she say?" Ally insisted.

"It's none of your business." He tried to be as diplomatic as possible even though his in his head he was going insane. He simply couldn't understand her wish of knowing about his life.

"Oh come on! We're friends. What was it about?"

"I'm friends with Shawn. Indirectly it happens that you are his sister."

"So Shawn knows? Hm... maybe I'm going to ask him then as you are being so mysterious."

"No. Just..."

"So he don't know? You're keeping secrets from your friend." She interrupted him before he could defend himself.

"He doesn't know because it doesn't involve him, does it? Or is Shawn still part of this school?" Bryant grinned showing off a bit of his with teeth.

The only thing left for her to do was to roll her eyes and turn back to what she was doing before he passed by.

———

Christmas was knocking at the door and the Stafford family was getting intense preparations for the annual Christmas party at their house. For the first time in weeks Bryant saw his father back on the living room couch looking at all the maids running from place to place trying to find the best spot for this decoration or those lights or that wreath. Melissa was holding a clipboard over her forearm reading the guest list to her husband.

"So this year I thought something more private should be better so I only filled the list with close friends and family. Luckily most of them send the confirmation, but there are a few that still haven't replied so I don't know how many chairs to add at the table." She was talking faster than usual.

"Honey, it's just a matter of chairs. Put some extra chairs and we'll see tomorrow if there's any need for you to add more."

"Vick I think you don't understand! I don't wanna add more chairs because if I do that and those people will not come then the rest of the guests would be staying to close one to another and some seats at the table would be empty and I don't want anybody to feel anything but good at this Christmas Eve party!"

"You're wasting your time, most people won't even notice that." Bryant joined their parents' chat.

If looks could kill, Melissa's would definitely kill him. Victor on the other hand seems relaxed and unbothered by any of them. He was simply in the mood for holidays.

"You and your father can't understand anything. You're both the same! I'll go talk to someone who understands me."

"Did you invite the Martines?" Bryant raised a finger.

"I didn't."

"They're our neighbours. I'm just saying. And in case you forgot Shawn's still my friend."