New Year's Eve

3

New Year's Eve 2005

Age: 15

I bounded into the party room, clearly in a better mood than I had been in compared to recent years. A smile graced my face, and a spring bounced in my step. I appeared annoyingly excited to get this party started.

As soon as I stepped over the threshold, my parents searched for people to socialise with. I immediately started searching the area for Robert.

Over the past year, Robert and I had been hanging out anytime we could. It quite surprised us to find out we lived near one another, making it easier for us to both meet up. At first, we met up sporadically, as we were still a little nervous about getting to know each other. But eventually, we met up whenever we could. I considered him as one of my best friends and we quickly became pretty much inseparable.

Robert had also met my best friend Millie and our other friend, Nicole. Now, Nicole was one of those friends you tolerated, but you didn't get along with necessarily. Snobbiness exuded from Nicole whenever you spoke to her. Her dominant personality trait was thinking she was better than others, looking down her nose at anyone she thought was below her. Chances were, she only hung out with Millie and me because we improved her looks. She had loved it when Robert joined us on our outings, and she soon tried to stick her claws into him and claim him as her own.

Which sucked a little, considering I harboured a little crush on Robert.

What? Come on; don't tell me you didn't see that one coming! It was obvious! I mean, I got along with him very well and he was very pleasing to look at. So, it was difficult for me not to have feelings for my best friend. But it was only a little crush... as I continued to tell myself. I couldn't envision it growing any larger, and nothing would come out of it, I was sure.

Two hands gripped my waist, breaking me from my thoughts. The hands then started tickling my sides. I let out a sound that was a cross between a scream and a squawk. A scrawk? A scweam? Whatever it was called, it was a weird sound.

"Did you miss me?" A voice came as the hands stilled and landed on my waist. A head peered over my arm and placed itself on my shoulder.

"We saw each other like two days ago, Robert." I rolled my eyes and scoffed, tempted to throw his head off my shoulder.

I felt Robert shrug from around me. "So? I'm so awesome that you can barely manage without me for an hour."

I detached myself from Robert's arms and turned around to face him with a raised eyebrow. "Somehow, I doubt that."

Robert only chuckled before he dragged me away so we could greet each other's parents. Frank and his wife, Mia, were down-to-earth, considering they owned a multi-million-pound company. Whenever I visited their house, they were always hospitable, and they offered me an abundance of food and drink. They appeared genuine when they asked how my family and I were doing. They quickly became like a second family to me, which was bizarre and rather embarrassing to think about considering how I treated them a couple of years ago.

After we exchanged pleasantries, Robert and I went off and did what we did best: we caused trouble. Well, it wasn't exactly trouble. We were both well-behaved teenagers, but we liked to be a little spontaneous when the mood took us that way. We saw it as supplying entertainment for those who may experience boredom at the party.

Our latest set of antics included storming the game of pass the parcel that the DJ started. When the music played, Robert and I would dance around the circle. And when the music stopped — so a child could unwrap a layer — we moaned at the DJ. We told him we were dancing and asked why he stopped it in the middle of the song. We acted as if we didn't understand the rules to pass the parcel, as we thought we were the height of comedy.