A New Years Plan

Winter break comes quickly. Caleb and I remain merely acquainted only while we’re at school, friends outside of the school grounds. He joined the boy's soccer and volleyball teams with Tristan, making it exceptionally hard to see him throughout the school day. Even his siblings see less of him, and they share every class with each other and live in the same house. But with Volleyball being a winter sport and the soccer team already practicing in the indoor stadium on campus, it wasn’t surprising that he was around less and less as time wore on.

Rowan and Xander have now both started to actively hang out with me while on campus. Even Tristan, who I now see frequently when I go to the Meier house, has started to become nicer to me. At least, he doesn’t avoid me anymore.

Dana and the triplets hit it off excellently, she even goes and hangs out with them when I need to work, and goes out to places with them without me. They all also make sure that I hang out with them as much as possible, and they all four even regularly come to bother me at work as well. Of course, as Dana is Bryan and Linda’s precious niece, they let it go. Mostly.

The first time the group of them all came together to bother me Linda ended up kicking them out. Or well kicking her niece out and then the others followed behind. Dana was in the habit of just going where she wanted to go in the dive, and continuously went into the busy kitchen and bothered her cousin Eddie to make her snacks that weren’t on the menu. The kitchen staff, as usual, laughed it off and said they’d do it once it calmed down. But when she asked for a chocolate fudge cake and Tom was seriously considering how to go about making that there, Linda put her foot down.

All this happened while I was making them a mountain of milkshakes in all the different flavours we serve, and I was only privy to it all after they said they needed them in to-go cups instead. Dana is more well-behaved now when they come, at least while it’s busy.

And it almost seems like the four of them: Dana; Rowan; Xander; and Caleb, are working their hardest to make sure that I am always having fun and enjoying myself. As if they can help me make some happy memories. I might be being a little sappy with that train of thought though.

It makes me unbelievably happy, that I have people I can rely on, and that help cheer me up and cheer me on. I never would have expected to have this feeling before I experienced it. I had isolated myself on purpose, I had thought I was doing alright. But I never noticed how lonely I really was, until I wasn’t alone anymore.

I stare into my locker, wondering if I should clean it out before winter break, or if it’s fine just leaving it as is for now.

“Indecisive?” Xander asks as Rowan and he come up, both already wrapped up in their thick winter coats and scarves.

“Not sure if I want to clean my locker out or not,” I answer, before looking at them. “You guys got ready fast; it hasn’t even been ten minutes since English let out.”

“Oh, hush. I want to get out of here. There are only two weeks to party before we come back and basically get right into exams.” Rowan grumbles and I shake my head.

“Two weeks is long enough, besides the English paper has already been assigned, you could have that finished before we even get back and that’s one less thing to worry about.” I also think about the final essay I have in my social sciences class, also thankfully already assigned like the English final. I’m one of the lucky ones with only three exams during the weeklong exam period.

“Oh my gosh. Vacation, vacation, vay-cay-tion. This girl.” Rowan shakes her head rapidly at Xander in exasperation at my lack of enthusiasm. I smile at the two of them as they both look on in false, overexaggerated disapproval.

“Vacation? What’s that?” I don’t even look up as I continue to fiddle with the stuff in my locker. Finally deciding to take what I need for winter break homework and anything that is useless in it home.

I hear the two of them whispering beside me, but I avoid looking at them and listening in on their conversation. Probably more overexaggerated mutterings about how uncultured I am or something.

Once everything is stuffed into my bag, I pull the zipper closed and turn to look at them again, stuffing my arms into my thick winter coat.

“So, any plans for your own winter breaks?” I finally ask the two of them and they both shrug.

“Albert and Tristan are going to be staying with us because both our parents are going overseas.”

“Your parents, alone?”

“Yeah, they asked if we wanted to come but Albert and Nicholas have group projects to do over the break, and Caleb and Tristan have practice.”

“And what about the two of you?” I ask, waving my hands at the two of them. And they both shrug.

“We just got here from Europe, why would we need to go back there for a trip?” Xander says looking bored, and Rowan shrugs her shoulders.

“It wouldn’t be fun as the only kid going on the trip, so we can let the adults have some fun for a change, without dragging us all along with them.”

“How long are they gone?” As we exit the school, the frigid wind blows, and I shudder. My hair whips around my face and I wish I would have brought my hat from home.

“A week and a half.” Xander smiles and I nod my head.

“So, they’ll be back before New Year?”

“No, they leave after Christmas. We’ll be alone for New Year.”

“Ah, so you have a few days with them at the beginning of the break instead.”

“Yes, and they won’t be back until after school starts.”

“Exciting.”

“You should come stay for a bit too, over New Year,” Xander suggests, and Rowan nods her head excitedly.

“Yes, yes, come stay at our house for New Year. It’ll be so much fun.”

“I’ll see,” I say though I know that my father probably won’t come home. I’ll be lucky if he even shows his face briefly at Christmas. He usually volunteers to be one of the doctors on call on Christmas, or he has for the past few years at least.

And without my father around, it won't be any fun to spend New Year alone, especially not if I already have to do Christmas that way. This probably means that I more than likely won’t turn them down to spend the time with them. It would definitely be more fun than my last few winter breaks.

“We can hang out at other times too.”

“Honestly you could just come to stay for the second half of winter break. What’s one more person.” Rowan interrupts her brother and I smile at their collective enthusiasm. It’s kind of cute, in a way.

“Well… I’ll see,” I respond again. Though I know that spending time with the Meier and Bentley kids will probably be better than hanging out all alone in my house. If it wasn’t that Dana’s family is very family-oriented during this time of year, I’d probably have spent most of the break with her and her parents.

“Common, please?” Rowan grips my arm, and I can feel it even through my thick coat. I look down, remembering how she grabbed my arm the first day that they came to school too. That had been awkward, but now, it wasn’t such a foreign feeling anymore.

“Fine. I’ll definitely be there for New Year, but I can’t guarantee anything else yet.” I put my hand up that isn’t being gripped, as if surrendering. And the two of them smile.

“Alright, I’ll take that for now.”

“So, what schools have you applied to?” Xander pipes in, changing the topic.

“Not many, yet. I’ve mostly applied to colleges. But my dad wants me to apply to some universities too.” I frown a little, knowing that he looks down on colleges even though that’s where both his kids have ended up and will end up going to in the future. He thinks it’s a waste of our brains or something. Instead of nurturing the talents that we want to pursue. Or something like that. I usually tune out his rants about universities pretty quickly.

“Which universities?” Rowan seems intrigued. I can tell that Xander wants to know more about the colleges though.

“I’m planning on applying to Ryerson, and AUArts. We’ll see what my dad says about anything else.” I roll my eyes and she laughs.

“Your dad seems more invested than you are.”

“I think so too, honestly. I’ve applied to over half a dozen colleges around the nation already, I don’t feel the need to apply to universities too. But he wants me to push my limits or something like that.” I shrug. It’s his money being used for the applications so I’m not going to deny him spending it uselessly. Though I will argue with him if he thinks I won’t be applying to the arts and design programs for photography.

“What about you guys?” I ask, turning the topic back on them.

“Oh, I’m done. I applied to a handful of universities back when we first got our registration. I’ve already heard back from UofT.” Rowan starts to hop excitedly about. She seems very excited, and I’m excited for her. If it wasn’t for these new friends of mine and their encouragement, I would have just applied to the universities like my dad wanted me to and used them to leave. But now, I actually think I want to do something I’d enjoy with my life. Maybe.

I notice that Xander stays very quiet while we listen to Rowan. I look over at him and see a large frown on his face. I immediately wonder what’s put it there, but then I also wonder if his disability would make it harder for him to choose what he wants to do and where he wants to go.

I decide to not mention anything as we walk to their car. He doesn’t need me prying into his personal business. He probably feels more comfortable breaching this topic with his family who knows him better anyways, instead of me, an outsider to this situation.

“Want a ride home today?” Rowan asks me as we make it to Zachary and their car. I look up at the sky with Rowan, noting that it’s clear and sunny, albeit chilly because of the snow on the ground.

“Nah, it’s not far to walk. I’ll be fine. Thanks though.” I smile at them and Xander pats me on the head briefly before climbing into the back of the car. Rowan stands in wait, and I look at her questioningly.

“I’ll text you, so you have to come over during the break.” I nod my head in response. “Promise.” Rowan takes off her gloves and holds out her hand, her pinkie out and pointing towards me.

“What are you, twelve?” I ask her with a giggle but then I also reach my pinkie out and wrap it together with hers.

“Pinkie promise?”

“Pinkie promise. I’ll come over for New Year at least if nothing else.” I finally agree one hundred percent to going to the Meier house for the New Year. My first real New Year plans in years.