Seasons Change

23.

Chapter 23.

Dad and I usually had small, private Christmases just the two of us. This year, he surprised me by announcing that he was throwing a massive Christmas party with all of our friends. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised at that, since he had done the same thing during Thanksgiving. I wondered if it was because he was lonely now that I was at school, and was determined to fill his house as full of people as possible whenever I was home. Whatever the reason, it was a little uncomfortable.

Kelsey arrived to the party early to help us get ready, and she carried two enormous platters of Christmas cookies with her.

"Ooh, fancy," I teased, taking the platters from her and setting them on the island in the kitchen.

Kelsey smirked at me. "I was super bored, since you've been too busy entertaining Avery to hang out with me. I was watching the Food Network, and the next thing I knew, I was baking Christmas cookies. Seriously, I think that channel has hypnotic powers or something."

I laughed. "Probably. Luke made me hold a mock Cupcake Wars style bake off with him after watching it."

Kelsey's eyes widened. "Oh, do tell," she said. "This sounds interesting."

I shrugged. "He bought a ton of baking stuff, and then we held a cupcake bake off in the dorm room kitchen. We had to make coffee flavored cupcakes. I made mint chocolate mocha, and Luke made caramel macchiato. We had Dylan be the judge or us and do a blind taste test."

Kelsey smirked. "I didn't realize Luke baked."

"Me either," I admitted. "But it was actually pretty fun. Even though Dylan told me my frosting tasted like toothpaste."

"Eww," Kelsey giggled. "Seriously, only you could make frosting taste bad."

I nudged her. "Come on, slacker, I thought you were going to help me get ready for the party?"

Kelsey made a face. "I guess," she said, moaning dramatically. "If I have to."

I grabbed a few bowls out of the cupboard, handing her several bags of chips. "Put the chips in here," I instructed. "I'm putting the dip into serving containers, and then we can fill the cooler with ice to keep the soda cold. Then we need to push back all of the furniture in the living room out of the way so there's room for dancing and mingling. Plus we need to set up speakers--"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Kelsey interrupted. "There's a lot of work to be done."

As she filled each bowl with a different kind of chip, Kelsey looked around. "Where is Avery? Shouldn't she be helping with this?"

I grimaced. Avery had been relatively quiet the past couple of days, spending the majority of her time holed up in the guest room. I wasn't about to complain about her absence, since I couldn't stand the girl. Actually, having her stay with us had been surprisingly anticlimactic so far. Aside from seeing her at meals, we had barely crossed paths.

"Avery has pretty much kept to herself," I told her. "I think maybe she feels uncomfortable since this is my dad's house, and she really has no good reason to be here."

Kelsey shook her head. "I don't trust it," she said. "Avery's being too quiet. Just wait, she's planning something big, and it's going to go down tonight."

I sincerely hoped that Kelsey was wrong, and that she was just being over dramatic, but if an entire semester with Avery had taught me anything, it was that I should never underestimate her.

"I hope she's on her best behavior tonight," I said, frowning. "Dad's really looking forward to this Christmas party, and I would hate it if drama with Avery ruined that for him."