3... 2... 1...
"Magic? Like tricks?" asks Diane.
Emily nods. "I would have loved to start learning it this year but I don't have the proper tools yet. When I learn something cool I'm going to show you guys."
"Well, I want to lose weight next year and start going to the gym. I think I'm becoming a bit too fat." Diane says, pinching her arm. I look at her carefully and to be honest, I do not see how she has gotten fatter in any way, but I know enough not to say anything.
Brain leans back into the couch he's sitting on. "I have no new year resolution actually since I'm no good at following them, but there is one thing I'm going to do. I'll be watching you, Ian."
"Me? Why?"
He begins listing. "Let's see, ever since Cassandra's last party you survived a deadly accident, got ripped, started doing shady shit with Drew, and then saved a bunch of people from a fire. I have no idea why but I feel like this coming year is going to be even more intense."
"When did I ever do shady shit with Drew?"
"We're not blind," it's Jason that speaks. "You guys are always together at lunch talking about god knows what, we know you meet him and his crew outside school, and you basically started changing when you began hanging out with him. It all screams shady to me."
"Plus," Emily adds, "Drew taught him martial arts."
"Wait, really?" Jason looks at me with a curious expression. I nod. "Prove it."
At first, I want to refuse, but then everyone else joins him in pressuring me to give a demo. In the end, I grudgingly agree and stand in the middle of the room.
I point at Brain and motion for him to join me. "Attack me. Don't hold back."
He moves in front of me and gives me an unsure look. "Are you sure? You could get hurt."
As if. Outwardly I just smile. "Trust me, you couldn't hurt me if you wanted to." As Drew had said, my constant use of the strengthening noer had ended up increasing my strength and resilience, even when I wasn't using the noer. Currently, I could stand still and allow Brian to unleash everything he could think of on me and he still wouldn't be able to deal as much damage as a wool pillow.
He throws a cautious punch and I easily deflect it with one hand. I give him a provocative look and motion for him to come again. This time he is a little less cautious, still, it doesn't take much for me to deflect or neutralize his attacks. As the seconds pass he slowly begins to stop holding back, finally, I decide to give everyone a little show.
I stop blocking his attack, allowing a punch with his full weight behind it to hit me square on my jaw. Normally, that would probably broken my jaw, but as I am, I didn't even move as the punch landed. I just stood there, staring him in the eyes like a badass.
After taking a step back, he asks, concerned. "Are you okay?"
I nod. "I'm fine. As I said before, you couldn't hurt me if you tried." Looking at his shocked expression, I can't help but wonder how he would have reacted if he had seen me stop that truck two days ago.
He drops to his knees and brings his hands together. "Master, please teach me."
That's not good. Thinking quickly I reply. "This is nothing, you should see what Drew can do. If you want a good teacher, you should go meet him." I'm sorry Drew, but this is the only way I can think of right now.
After my display, it takes a while but I am finally able to shift the subject of conversation away from myself.
I find an empty couch to sit down on, and not long after Cassandra joins me, Emily having stolen her former seat. Slowly, the evening turns to night as the conversation continues.
Everyone here seems to be having fun, except for me. The conversation is mostly centered on school, other people, and to some extent pop culture. At some point, the entire party is split into two groups each arguing that favorite songs are actually the best songs of the year. But to me, none of it is particularly interesting, and for the first time in months, I come to a realization. Magic, Fausurus, the Laen. All of that has so much consumed me in the past few months that I have more or less lost touch with the normal world.
I have no idea which new songs have been popular in the last few months, most of what is happening in school that doesn't directly involve me has flown over my head, the bits of news that had people raging on the internet, I know none. All the little things that I might have been interested in a year ago, none of it seems to matter to me anymore. The only things I care about are growing stronger, finally becoming a Wranth so my family can know this side of me, creating my true body, and so on. Everything is related to magic or the Laen. And what scares me is, I don't mind. Everything not involving magic suddenly seems so shallow to me and I don't care.
Maybe I have a problem, I think to myself. In the end, I push those thoughts away. I should speak to Drew about this later, and find out whether it's really a problem or not.
"Guys, it's two minutes to midnight!" Mia suddenly announces.
Emily suggests. "Why don't we go outside for the countdown? I heard the city paid for a fireworks show."
Following Emily's suggestion, we all gather on Cassandra's porch, our attention on Mia who slowly counts down for us. I take a look around. We aren't the only ones outside, in fact, it seems as if the entire city is outside. The entire city minus children, that is.
10… 9… 8…, the countdown begins. 3… 2… 1… The streets are suddenly filled with shouts of 'Happy New Year!" Smiling, I follow along and wish those around me a happy new year. In the middle of doing so, the fireworks start, lighting up the night sky with various patterns. We all stand there for a quarter of an hour, talking as we watch the endless stream of explosions happening in the sky.
"You know," Jason says after randomly yawning. "I just realized that I haven't slept since last year."
A chorus of groans erupts. "Come on," says Brian, "must I have to hear that lame joke every single year?"
"I know right? I've heard it so many times I feel like piercing my eardrums whenever I hear it again." Emily agrees.
Mia puts her hand on Jason's cheek and says in a very serious voice. "Never, ever, make that joke again."
Jason raises his hands in surrender. "Jeez, relax. You guys need to learn how to take a joke."
"You need to learn how to make better jokes," I say.
A second after I spoke, I realized how insulting my words sounded. Luckily, even though everyone burst out laughing at my comment, nobody seemed to take offense, not even Jason. Since nobody seems worried about it, I decide to keep my apologies to myself. Who knows if bringing it up will actually make someone offended?
Slowly, the others begin to troupe back inside and in the end, only Cassandra and I are left outside. The fireworks show has ended but every once in a while one lights up the night sky, each one coming from various parts of the city.
"You know," says Cassandra as a group of drunk people staggers past us, laughing wildly, "fireworks scare me sometimes."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, two years ago, on New Year's Eve, some drunk idiots decided it would be fun to let out some bullets into the air. One bullet managed to enter our house, it was this close to wrecking our tv." She brings her hands close together.
"That's a joke, right? I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to use a gu- well, some people can be that stupid, but I doub-"
An explosion goes off behind me and a moment later I hear something hit the wood near me. Startled, I jump a bit, turning around to find the source of what I believed to be a gunshot. After a second of looking around in vain, I notice Cassandra trying to suppress a laugh.
Once she sees that I have seen her, she stops trying to hold it back and burst out laughing. "Scaredy-cat."
By now I have put two and two together. Someone nearby set off a firework, while she used the opportunity to hit her banister, successfully convincing me that someone had shot a gun. I put a hand over my beating heart and say while feigning weakness. "Christ, you scared the hell out of me. Please, pity my weak heart."
"Okay, sorry. I solemnly promise that from now on I'll take your weak heart into consideration before playing pranks." She crosses her heart.
"Thank you," I say, letting out a deep sigh. Behind her, on the door, fairy lights suddenly come on, before going back off. "You guys haven't taken down your Christmas decorations?"