Chapter 37

             “Well this doesn’t look so bad,” Alicia says as she pulls up to the curb.

            Zoey’s friends arrive at Zoey’s new home, ready for the New Year’s Eve housewarming combo party. Marina and Chloe help Alicia bring in their housewarming gifts while Karina does the “hard work” of walking up the staircase in heels.

            “I don’t know why you wear those when you know you’ll be taking them off inside,” Alicia says. “Which means you’ll still be the shortest.”

            Karina grumbles as she looks over her shoulder at her sister. She pouts as she rings the doorbell.

            “There you are,” Zoey says as she opens the door.

            “Whoa~…!” her friends all say.

            “You’re hair’s black!” Marina says.

            “Did you run out of hair dye?” Chloe asks.

            “No,” Zoey laughs. “I just chose not to use it.”

            Zoey steps aside to let her friends in, and they set the gifts on the coffee table.

            “Hello, girls,” Zoey’s mom says from the door of the kitchen.

            “Hello, Mrs. Mizaki,” they reply.

            “Oh, what did you bring?” she asks as she walks over, drying her hands on her apron.

            “Well, this is the one that’s food,” Alicia says as she picks up a medium-sized box.

            Zoey’s mom unwraps it to reveal a case of boneless chicken wings.

            “Delicious,” Zoey’s mom says. “Thank your uncles for this, I know it was them.”

            Zoey’s mom takes the meat to the kitchen while Alicia joins the others at the couches.

            “What made you not dye your hair?” Karina asks.

            “I’m not really sure what it was,” Zoey says. “My dye was washing out in the shower, and when I grabbed my hair-dying stuff, I just had this thought that maybe I shouldn’t this time. New house, new city, new year, new school, I guess a part of me didn’t feel like I needed a new round of dye, decided to bring something old back instead.”

            “I think that’s great,” Chloe says.

            “Thank you,” Zoey smiles.

            “Does it affect your transformation?” Marina asks.

            “No, I already tested it,” Zoey says. “Catgirl still has pink hair.”

            Zoey’s dad walks up from downstairs, wiping the sweat from his forehead on his sleeve.

            “So I did hear more people walking around,” he says. “Hello, girls.”

            “Hello, Mr. Mizaki,” they reply.

            “Honey,” he calls to Zoey’s mom in the kitchen. “I got the television set up.”

            “Oh, good,” she replies. “How’s the signal?”

            “Well, since it’s digital cable and it’s all wires, it’s just fine,” Zoey’s dad says. “We’d really only have to worry if we were stuck with satellite.”

            “How many channels do you have?” Marina asks as she picks up the remote.

            “No more than before,” Zoey chuckles as she takes it from Marina. “What are the other housewarming gifts?”

            “Oh, right,” Karina says as she picks one up. “Go ahead and open them up.”

            Zoey unwraps each gift to reveal a novelty incense burner shaped like a cat, a “Home Sweet Home” welcome mat, and a blanket with kittens on it.

            “Aww, yay~!” Zoey says as she snuggles the blanket. “Now Neeko can have my old blanket for her bed.”

            “Oh, for that matter,” Chloe says, “we need to see your new room.”

            “Oh, yeah!” Zoey says. “C’mon!”

            Zoey leads the way down the stairs while her dad takes care of putting the new welcome mat out.

            “Neeko~,” Zoey says. “Look! New blanket for me, which means new blanket for you!”

            Neeko stops rolling around at the end of the hall long enough to look at Zoey and the new blanket, which results in her being upside down with back legs skewed in a weird but funny way.

            Zoey leads the way into the room, and she puts the blanket on the foot of her bed. She takes the blanket in Neeko’s cat bed and shoves it in the hamper then pulls a blanket out from under the covers of her bed. Zoey folds the heart-pattern blanket and tucks it into the cat bed, and then redoes her bed covers so the new kitten blanket is now included.

            “The room isn’t bad,” Karina says as she sits down on the bed. “A bit smaller, though.”

            “Yeah,” Zoey says as she sits down. “Neeko couldn’t have all her things in here, so I’m wondering how it’d look to have something at the end of the hall.”

            “Have you registered with San Leandro High yet?” Chloe asks.

            “Yeah, with the help of the website,” Zoey says. “I think Reciprocity Inc. had something to do with making it smoother, though. I don’t think they would’ve gotten my Encinal High transcripts as quickly as they did without Reciprocity doing something.”

            “Well that’s great,” Chloe says. “We might be able to still do homework together if we still have the same subjects.”

            “Yeah,” Zoey says with a smile. “I’m still gonna need help on math.”

            “Zoey, you’re still going into Pre-Calculus,” Alicia chuckles. “You’re plenty smart already.”

            “Well, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be difficult,” Zoey pouts.

 

            Time passes while Zoey and friends wait for her relatives to arrive. They move back up to the living room since Zoey doesn’t have room for a television in her room. Zoey’s father reluctantly concedes the television control to his daughter and her friends since they outnumber him.

            “As the year comes to a close,” a television co-host says, “we remember all those we have lost this year.”

            Naturally, a major name on the list is The Spektrum. They don’t have a birth date but they have his death, December 19^th. And almost as sad, they don’t have a good picture of him. It’s all pictures from the internet that are too far away or out of focus.

            Zoey’s friends comfort her even before the wave of sadness wells up in her. She thanks them with smiles and holding their hands to give a squeeze.

 

            Simon sees the tribute to the lost, and again it’s just odd to see something about him dying when he’s not dead. He knows everyone’s seeing this, and this will really only complicate him trying to talk to Catgirl and her cousins at church. It seems really unfair that she was so close this entire time and he never knew until now. Though maybe if he did, life would’ve been completely different from how it is, like an alternate timeline.

            “Si, it’s your turn,” one of his brothers says.

            Simon turns away from the television and back to their card game. He and his brothers are having a special 2-on-1 duel, but Simon has both decks working together as if there were two players. And since he knows everything both decks have, it’s agreed that James and Josh can work together to coordinate. Simon draws for deck one and assesses the situation.

            Even though James and Josh are twins, they still think and play rather differently. Josh has a Fire element deck while James has a Warrior type deck. Josh has Burning Warrior and Burning Warrior Jr, with some support cards face-down. James has The White Knight in Defense, and The Nervous General, whose effect lets him grow stronger when there are other Warriors on the Field, meaning Josh having the Burning Warriors face-up helps The Nervous General grow strong.

            Of course, Simon’s two decks are different, too. Deck 1, on his left, is a Dark element deck, but specifically using a new archetype known as the Chaos Force. Deck 2 on the right is a Light element deck, but specifically using the other new archetype, The Order of Order. The two are apparently related as Simon has many support cards that relate them as enemies. But for now, Simon uses them together in this tag team, because they’re both really good, and he was lucky to get some of the better, rarer cards.

            On the field for Chaos Force are Sinister Sorcerer in Attack and Lil’ Imp in Defense. His brothers have avoided destroying Lil’ Imp in battle because it would allow Simon to Special Summon a monster from his discard pile, aka the Graveyard. On the field for The Order of Order are several support cards and two Shining Shields, both in Defense. The support cards are: the Trap known as Reinforce to raise a single monster’s Defense points, currently face-down; the Trap known as Spell Cancellation which is of course to counter a Spell, also face-down; and the Spell known as The Hall of Order, face-up.

            The Hall of Order obviously works with the Order of Order archetype, and is a World Spell, meaning it acts like a terrain. Its actual effects are: Light monsters can only be destroyed by battle, not card effects; and any and all Order of Order monsters are sent back to the deck rather than the Graveyard when destroyed.

            Simon looks at his Chaos Force hand. The card he just drew is Chaos Force monster, Lady Eris. She’s a higher-level monster that would need a sacrifice to be summoned. The other cards in his hand are: Monster Fusion, a Spell that’s a bit self-explanatory in that it allows a Fusion Summon of a Fusion Monster, provided the right monsters are available; and The Hall of Chaos, which is of course the parallel to the Hall of Order to help Dark and Chaos Force monsters.

            “I sacrifice Sinister Sorcerer to summon Chaos Force Eris,” he says.

            James and Josh don’t have anything to counter this, or else they’d use them now.

            “Chaos Force member Eris has a special ability,” Simon says. “Once per turn, I roll a single six-sided die. The number I get is the number of cards from the field I can return to their respective owner’s decks. The decks are then obviously shuffled. I see six cards between both of you, so if I roll a six, everything is cleared.”

            James and Josh are a little nervous as Simon brings out the black six-sided die. Simon rolls and gets a 1… His brothers laugh at Simon’s poor luck.

            “Well fine,” he says. “I’ll use this to get rid of this face-down card on Josh’s field.”

            Simon points to the one on his left, and Josh puts it away in his deck. Josh shuffles while Simon considers his next move.

            “Eris will attack James’ White Knight,” he says. “Her 2000 Attack points beat his 1800, but Defense position means no life points lost.”

            “Did he get rid of the…?” James asks Josh.

            “Yeah,” Josh sighs. “Sorry, bro, couldn’t protect you.”

            James puts White Knight in the Graveyard, and now The Nervous General is weakened by 300 points, down to 2000.

            “That ends Chaos Force’s turn,” Simon says as he puts the hand down. “Now for The Order of Order.”

            Simon draws a card for this deck and picks up its hand. The new card is Order of Order monster, Uriel. She’s a bit like Eris in that she needs a sacrifice to be summoned because of her higher level. The other cards in this hand are: another Order of Order monster, Sariel, who is also a higher level monster; Order Calls, a Spell that can summon a Order of Order monster from the hand or deck, but can only be activated when another Order of Order monster is on the field; Restore Order, a Spell which moves one Order of Order monster from Graveyard to deck; and another Reinforce.

            “I sacrifice one Shining Shield for Order of Order Uriel.”

            Again, no reactions to the summoning.

            “Uriel’s ability is to see one face-down card per turn,” Simon says. “I’m going to take a look at the card that remains.”

            Josh reveals the card to be Trap Defect, a Trap that counters Traps, but at the cost of few life points. Simon now has to be careful in using his many Trap cards.

            “And now I activate Order Calls,” Simon says as he plays the Spell. “I Special Summon Order of Order Sariel!”

            Uriel has 2000 Attack points while Sariel has 2100. Uriel won’t be effective in battle right now, because The Nervous General is still at 2000. The Burning Warriors are difficult to get past, as Burning Warrior Jr. is protected from being targeted by Burning Warrior. And Burning Warrior himself is 2200, so obviously that’s not an option.

            “Sariel attacks the Nervous General,” he says.

            “I use Living Decoy’s ability,” James says. “I discard him to negate the battle.”

            Living Decoy goes to the Graveyard and The Nervous General is safe.

            “After Sariel attacks, she goes into Defense,” Simon says as he turns the card sideways. “I end my turn.”

            Josh takes his turn as he draws his card.

            “I play Flash Fire,” Josh says as he plays the Spell card. “That’s 500 points of damage.”

            “Okay but to which deck?” Simon asks.

            “Oh, uh… This one.”

            He points at the Order of Order.

            “Okay,” Simon says.

            Simon makes note that Order of Order is down to 3500 points.

            “And then Burning Warrior attacks Uriel,” Josh says.

            Burning Warrior’s 2200 points beat Uriel’s 2000, and Simon takes another 200 points of damage because Uriel was in Attack position.

            “Thanks to Hall of Order,” Simon points out, “Uriel goes to the deck, not the Graveyard.”

            Simon shuffles the Order of Order deck.

            “I end my turn,” Josh says.

            James draws a card right away.

            “I set a card,” he says as he does it. “And I summon the Wayward Soldier. The Nervous General is back to 2300. Wayward Soldier also has his own ability, where if he’s destroyed in battle, he returns to the deck rather than going into the Graveyard. And now, The Nervous General attacks Eris.”

            “I activate Sariel’s secondary effect,” Simon says. “While Sariel is in Defense, once per battle phase, she can redirect an attack to her. Nervous General attacks her, his 2300 Attack loses to her 3000 Defense, James takes 700 points in recoil damage.”

            James’ life points drop from 3500 to 2800.

            “Then I get to use this card,” James says as he discards another card. “The Retaliator can be sacrificed to deal the same amount of damage back, so Order of Order takes 700.”

            The Order of Order now only has 2600 points.

            Simon takes his turn again with Chaos Force. He draws Chaos Calls, the parallel to Order Calls. With this and Monster Fusion, Simon starts to see the moves he can pull.

            “I play the Hall of Chaos,” Simon says. “This of course gets rid of the Hall of Order.”

            The Hall of Order goes into the Graveyard and the Hall of Chaos is put in the World Spell space.

            “You’ve activated my Trap Card!” James says with a grin as he copies the anime. “Spell Cancellation! I give up another card and cancel your Spell.”

            Simon sighs as he realizes neither Chaos Force nor Order of Order has protection. But he’ll still follow through with the rest of his plan.

            “I play Chaos Calls. It’s like Order Calls, but for Chaos Force. And with it, I summon from the deck…”

            Simon looks through it and considers his options.

            “Chaos Force Tzeentch,” he says as he makes his selection.

            Tzeentch is summoned and the deck is shuffled.

            “Tzeentch’s effect costs 1000 life points,” Simon says, “but it allows me to change the Monster Types of all my opponent’s monsters. Which means none of these monsters are Warrior type anymore, they’re now Zombies.”

            “No…” James says as The Nervous General returns to his default 1400 Attack.

            “And now I activate Monster Fusion,” Simon continues. “I select Chaos Force Tzeentch and Lil’ Imp to Fusion Summon Chaos Force Tzeentch, King of Change.”

            Simon puts Lil’ Imp and regular Tzeentch in the Graveyard, and brings the King of Change out of the special Extra Deck, which is really just the selection of Fusion Monsters set on the opposite side of the playing field.

            “The King of Change has a special ability per its Fusion Summon,” Simon explains. “It takes the base attack of Tzeentch and adds the base attack of whatever Dark element monster I chose to combine with it. Lil’ Imp had 1000 Attack, and Tzeentch had 1800, so that’s 2800. I use The King of Change to attack the Nervous General.”

            James has no more cards to sacrifice so his Nervous General is destroyed, and he takes 1500 points of damage.

            “And Eris attacks Wayward Soldier,” Simon says.

            Eris’ 2000 Attack defeats Wayward Solider’s 1500 for another 500 points. Wayward Soldier is put back in the deck and James shuffles while Simon moves to the Order of Order.

            Simon draws Monster Fusion! He of course put one in this deck, as the Order of Order has a great selection of Fusion Monsters, too. If only he had something more to give up.

            Just like Tzeentch’s Fusion Monster counterpart, the other Chaos Force and Order of Order Fusion Monsters rely on the other monster to give it more strength. But Shining Shield is the only other monster on this side of the field, and while it has a great 2500 Defense, it only has 100 Attack. So needless to say, there’s no point.

            “I end my turn,” Simon says.

            Josh draws a card.

            “I set this card,” Josh says, “and end my turn.”

            James draws a card.

            “I set a monster face-down,” he says, “and end my turn.”

            Simon draws for Chaos Force, and gets another Chaos Calls!

            “I play Chaos Calls!” he says. “And now I summon… Chaos Force Mammon!”

            Simon places Mammon on the field then shuffles his deck.

            “Mammon’s effect allows me to draw five cards,” he says as he does so. “But I have to use all five cards in this turn, or pay 1000 life points.”

            Simon’s new hand of five is: normal monster, Lopsided Frankenstein, named so because while he has 2000 Attack, he has 200 Defense; Chaos Returns, which restores one Chaos Force monster in the Graveyard to the hand; Big Bandage, which gives the user 500 life points, very useful right about now; Reinforce, which is obviously just a good card to have in any deck; and Chaos Force Azazel, who is a lower level monster but still very strong.

            “I set this card,” he says as he plays Reinforce face-down. “And I play Chaos Returns to bring back Chaos Force Tzeentch to my hand.”

            Chaos Returns goes to the discard pile and Tzeentch is back, though he doesn’t really serve a purpose now.

            “I summon Chaos Force Azazel,” Simon continues. “This is allowed because Chaos Call was a Special Summon and this is my Normal Summon for the turn. Chaos Force Azazel of course has his own effect, and he allows me to bring back one card from the Graveyard upon his summoning. And I choose Monster Fusion.”

            Simon brings the Spell card back to his hand.

            “I play Big Bandage and get back 500 points,” Simon continues again. “And I use Monster Fusion to fuse Lopsided Frankenstein with Chaos Force Eris to Fusion Summon Chaos Force Eris, Queen of Chance.”

            Simon discards Lopsided Frankenstein and moves Eris from the field to replace her with her Fusion Monster counterpart.

            “Same as before, Queen of Chance has Attack equal to the total base Attack points. That’s 4000 points!”

            James and Josh both groan at the sound of that.

            “And she still has the same effect,” Simon says as he rolls the die.

            “A five?!” Josh blurts when he sees the result.

            “Which means I get rid of all the cards!” Simon cheers. “You both are wide open, so Queen of Chance attacks Josh, as does Mammon, that’s 5300 which is obviously more than he has. And then Tzeentch attacks James and obviously 2800 is more than 800. I win.”

            His brothers sigh and he smiles while all the decks are put back together.

            Cars pull up to the house and Simon’s dad looks outside.

            “They’re here,” he calls to Simon’s mom in the kitchen.

            By “they”, he obviously means the rest of the family. Simon’s cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandfather pile into the living room, carrying food to eat, soda to drink and a board game for later. Everyone takes time to say hi and help bring things in.

            “You just missed it,” James tells the cousins. “Simon just beat us in another tag duel.”

            “Order and Chaos worked together again?” Matt says.

            “Yep,” Simon says with a smirk. “It’s surprising how well they work together.”

            “Well, cuz I think they’re actually able to,” Matt says. “I heard about a card that can get them to work together.”

            “Wait, what?” Simon says in surprise.

            “Yeah, it’s called… Oh, it’s called Order X Chaos. It’s like the Hall of Order and the Hall of Chaos combined so that Dark, Light, Chaos and Order monsters are protected.”

            “Agh… I need that card…”

            “Yeah but it’s apparently in the highest rarity.”

            “Oh, with the holographic image and the gold foil letters? Man, now I really need that card because it probably looks amazing.”

            “Alright, kids,” Simon’s mom calls. “Let’s all pray now so we can eat.”

            Simon, his brothers and his cousins go to the dining room and the family prays for the meal.

 

            “Finally,” Zoey says as she hears a car pull up. “They’re here.”

            “Could you get that, then?” her mom replies from the kitchen. “I’ve got my hands full of buns.”

            Zoey and her friends giggle at how weird that sounds. Zoey gets up and goes to the door. She opens it and watches the Takagakis head up the stairs, her cousins leading the way.

            “Now that I’m carrying a pot of hot soup,” Jeff says as he nears the top, “this staircase seems a little steep.”

            Zoey chuckles as she moves aside.

            “Oh, you changed your hair,” Seth says. “Or rather, you left it alone this time.”

            “Huh,” Jeff says. “What’s that about?”

            “I just wanted to do something different,” Zoey shrugs.

            Seth, Jeff and Aunt Megan head to the kitchen while her uncle helps Grandfather Takagaki up the steps.

            “I’m fine, Joseph, I’m fine,” Grandfather says with slight irritation. “I am old, but I will not lose to stairs.”

            “I’m just being careful,” Uncle Joseph says. “Hello, Zoey.”

            “Hi, Uncle,” Zoey says as he walks past. “Konbanwa, Ojii-chan!”

            “Konbanwa, Zoey Kana,” he replies with a hug. “Ohf…”

            He rolls his shoulder as he lets go of the hug.

            “Hmm… My shoulder being this stiff, I think it’s going to rain,” he says.

            “Rain on New Year’s Eve,” Zoey says. “Sounds refreshing.”

            Zoey helps Grandfather over the doorstep, and to the living room proper.

            “Okay, no more watching chick stuff,” Jeff says.

            “Hey…!” Zoey pouts as Jeff takes the remote control from the coffee table.

            Jeff ignores his cousin as he goes to the cable guide. He sits on the arm of the couch while he skims the channels. Karina makes sure she sits right up next to the arm so that she’s right next to him. Jeff notices, blushes, but doesn’t move away. Karina looks up at him and smiles, so he smiles back.

            “Oh, they’re talking up the Rose Bowl,” Marina says. “Go to that.”

            “Sports?” Karina pouts. “Ugh, no, New Year’s Eve parties are supposed to be fun.”

            “It’s just for a little while,” Jeff says as he selects ESPN.

            “Oh good, we didn’t miss any talk about the Rose Bowl,” Marina says.

            Karina sighs and pulls out her smartphone.

            “This is what you’ll be able to do now that you have one of these, Zoey,” Karina says. “You can just scroll through your social media.”

            “Social media?” Zoey repeats.

            “Yeah, it’s what they’re calling sites like MySpace and Facebook,” Karina explains as she scrolls. “I think even YouTube counts, actually.”

            “Huh,” Zoey says.

            Zoey uses her phone’s mobile internet to go to Facebook and scroll by swiping, just like Karina.

            “You get kinda distracted by it around the house, though,” Alicia says to Karina.

            “What?” Karina asks as she looks up at her sister.

            Alicia sighs then sips her drink. Karina and Zoey compare Facebook feeds, from funny images to cute videos to New Year’s Eve posts from Facebook friends.

            “Oh…” Karina says with a wincing frown.

            “What?” Zoey asks.

            “Well, I only have this because he tagged you in it,” Karina says. “But it looks like Shaun posted something he wanted you to see.”

            Zoey looks at Karina’s phone to see what it is.

            “He posted some kind of video playlist?” Zoey says.

            “Do you not have it on your feed?” Karina asks.

            “I probably do,” Zoey says as she starts scrolling. “I didn’t remove him from my Facebook Friends list, but I haven’t exactly given him time to talk because I’m still mad. Guess he got desperate.”

            “Desperate is never good,” Jeff says. “Remember that girl in Santa Clara?”

            “Oh yeah,” Seth says. “Emily. Yikes.”

            He and Jeff chuckle.

            “W-Why ‘yikes’?” Alicia asks.

            “She left notes attached to my locker practically every day,” he says, “even after I told her to stop. It got pretty sad, and maybe a little scary.”

            “Oof,” Karina says. “There are quite a few songs on this, but it’s pretty obvious what the theme is when he leads off with the Jackson 5, I Want You Back.”

            Everyone, even the adults, let out an “Oh…” with that.

            “Okay, I found it,” Zoey says.

            Zoey taps the screen to see the YouTube playlist, and waits for it to load. Once it does, she scrolls through the song selection.

            There’s Willie Nelson’s version of You Were Always on My Mind, as well as Elvis Presley’s. There’s Mariah Carey’s We Belong Together and Don’t Forget About Us. There’s Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together and Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You. And lastly, there’s Alone at the Drive-In from the movie, Grease.

            “Shaun does realize that the song, ‘Alone at the Drive-In’ has John Travolta saying ‘Sandy’, right?” Zoey asks Karina. “It’ll sound like he picked it for a girl named Sandy.”

            “Oh, no, the title gets cut off,” Karina says. “It’s a cover.”

            The group lets out another “Oh…”

            “He’s not a good singer,” Zoey says with a frown. “Cute, but not a good singer.”

            “Are you going to listen to it?” Chloe asks.

            “Nooo no no,” Zoey says. “But I think I have to call him about this.”

            “Well alright,” Chloe says as Zoey gets up.

            Zoey heads downstairs as she looks Shaun’s number up in her contacts.

            “Scoot over,” Jeff says to Karina.

            “But Zoey’s gonna be right back,” Karina says.

            “Then we’ll go back when she’s back,” Jeff says. “I just need to sit, my butt’s starting to hurt on this arm rest.”

            “Which is why it’s an arm rest,” Seth says from his seat on the floor.

            Karina scoots over into Zoey’s spot and Jeff takes her spot.

            “Boy, I didn’t think Shaun was so sad,” Jeff says. “And not just sad sad, but like pathetic sad.”

            “I mean, yeah,” Karina says. “But are you trying to say you wouldn’t be as broken up over a girl?”

            “Not enough to make a playlist,” Jeff says. “Though I never really got that attached to any of the girls I met in Santa Clara.”

            “And why’s that?”

            “Well, I dunno. Just, none of the girls were that interesting, I guess. I mean, there were cute girls, and pretty girls, and boy, there were some hot ones. Like, wow!”

            Jeff feels Karina’s eyes staring at him with something like a wild animal ready to bite him.

            “But, none of them were all that interesting,” he says.

            “Huh,” Karina says, her expression not really changing. “I see.”

            Meanwhile, Zoey calls Shaun and waits for the ring. It doesn’t ring long before it picks up.

            “Zoey?!” Shaun says in a rush.

            “H-Hi, Shaun,” she says. “Um, I saw your playlist, since you tagged me on Facebook and all.”

            “Oh, yeah, yeah,” Shaun says. “So, did you like it, or…?”

            “They’re all nice songs,” Zoey says with a nervous shrug. “I just wish you didn’t make it public putting it on Facebook like that. You could’ve emailed me or something like that.”

            “Well, I made sure it only showed to Facebook Friends,” Shaun defends.

            “Yeah, but that means all your friends and all my friends saw it,” she counters. “Karina’s how I knew about it at all, because she found it first.”

            “Well, yeah, I guess that’s true. But, I’m having a hard time knowing what to do without you. We spent so much time together last year and this year, and I thought it was bad enough that you were moving away. You won’t even talk to me, you barely even looked at me at the New Year’s Eve party, you and your friends were hanging out with those other guys. I’m just really lonely without you, Zoey.”

            “You didn’t just go off with Rachel or Thia or some other girl?” Zoey asks.

            “No,” Shaun says. “I would’ve told you on Christmas Eve, but you didn’t let me. After you guys all left, Rachel tried to act like it was no big deal, but I got away from her. I kinda sulked and annoyed her and Xavier, so I just left and went home.”

            “Oh.”

            Zoey starts to feel bad for how she gave him the cold shoulder. And for assuming he’d drown his sorrows in skanks.

            “Shaun, I should apologize,” she says. “I didn’t give you enough credit. I thought you were really shallow and you’d immediately move on, but I guess I forgot that we weren’t just boyfriend and girlfriend, we were also friends. It has been a little weird not getting a text or a call from you. How have things been for the holidays?”

            “They’re fine,” Shaun says. “Dad loved the new grilling utensil set, and mom was actually okay with those silly taco slippers.”

            “That’s great,” Zoey chuckles with Shaun. “I… was really surprised that you got me the perfume.”

            “Oh, uh, yeah,” Shaun says, sounding bashful. “And… I was just as surprised to see the scrapbook you made. It was really well-made. You should be in the Yearbook Club, y’know? Oh but, you’ll be at the other school, huh?”

            “For now,” Zoey says. “Like I said, there’s always a chance I can come back home.”

            “If you do, will you give me a second chance?”

            Zoey’s speechless from the catch in her throat. It’s because she isn’t so sure herself. Not if she will, but if she should.

            “Let’s not worry about that right now,” Zoey says. “Happy New Year, Shaun.”

            “Happy New Year,” he replies.

            Zoey hangs up and puts her phone away before returning upstairs.

            “Hey, you guys took my spot,” Zoey says when she spots Karina and Jeff.

 

            Simon zips up his jacket and rubs his arms as he walks down the street. He’s cold and nervous as he heads for Cyndi’s. There’re only so many streetlights, so it’s a little spooky, too. But he spots Cyndi up ahead, and while he’s not scared anymore, he’s much more nervous.

            “H-Hey,” he says, seeing his breath in the dim yellow light.

            “Hey,” she says back, her breath also visible.

            The two smile, looking each other in the eyes.

            “So, um,” Cyndi says. “Will you try and get a message out to Catgirl about that shooter?”

            “Yes, I will try,” he says. “There might be a chance after the service, when everyone’s socializing.”

            “Cool, cool,” Cyndi nods and smiles.

            The two stand quietly again, smiling and staring into each other’s eyes a few seconds at a time. Then Cyndi’s phone starts beeping quickly.

            “Oh!” she says as she takes her phone out. “8:59.”

            “Oh you set an alarm,” Simon says.

            “Yeah, I didn’t want to miss the moment,” she says.

            Cyndi opens the clock on her phone and stands very close to Simon. They both watch the seconds tick away, and Simon’s still nervous. It’s not like they’re cheek to cheek that often.

 

            “Okay, here it is,” Zoey’s mom says.

            Everyone watches the New Year’s Eve celebration in New York. The crowds huddle together in heavy jackets but are smiling, cheering and celebrating all the same.

            “The ball’s dropping!” the TV host says.

            And they’re right. The big ball of glass and neon lights is slowly going down, blinking all sorts of colors.

            “Ten! Nine!” the crowd in New York counts down.

            “Eight! Seven!” Zoey, her friends and her family join in.

 

            “Six, five, four,” Howie “Homeboy” Holmes says, sitting up in bed while looking at his phone.

            The wallpaper of his phone is his parents, the last picture he has of them both. He sniffles back the tears as he looks at the seconds tick by.

 

            “Three! Two! One!” Cyndi and Simon count. “Happy New Year!”

            Cyndi turns Simon’s head to look at her, and then she plants a big kiss right on the mouth! Simon’s surprised, and he closes his eyes to embrace the feeling of her lips on his. He wraps her in his arms and brings her in, and even lifts her off the ground. This surprises Cyndi, and as he lets her down and their lips part, she smiles with wide eyes.

            “Wow~,” she says. “If only it was New Year’s Eve all the time.”

            The two of them share a laugh, but then they feel water drip on their heads.

            “Oh no it’s raining!” Cyndi says. “I gotta protect my phone!”

            “And we should both get inside,” Simon says, still feeling excited from the kiss.

            “Right!” Cyndi says, a bit giggly herself while she puts her phone away. “Make sure to call me when you get home.”

            “Right, yeah,” he says as the two start turning to go. “Talk to you then.”

            “Talk to you then,” Cyndi repeats with more giggles.

            The two hurry down the street head for their homes, their hearts skipping beats even as they cover themselves from the rain.

 

            “Happy New Year!” Zoey cheers with everyone.

            “Big hug!” Marina says as she wrangles both Zoey and Chloe in from the side.

            “Marina, careful,” Chloe giggles. “Your tennis guns are gonna crush us.”

            Marina and Zoey laugh along, but then Zoey takes in a short gasp as she sees Karina bring Jeff in for a kiss.

            “Whoa~, Kari~!” she teases.

            Alicia and Seth both see their younger siblings kissing on the couch, and so do Jeff’s parents.

            “Let her mother worry,” Mrs. Takagaki tells her husband.

            Alicia glances over at Seth, who is still seated on the ground. She’s on the opposite side of the living room, borrowing a chair from the dining room table to sit in behind the couch. She feels stupid for not having found a way to get closer to Seth before now. And she feels it’d be awkward if she just went right over to him out of the blue.

            “Well,” Mrs. Takagaki says once Karina frees Jeff. “Should we get going?”

            “Aww,” Zoey and Karina protest.

            “C’mon, Ma, we can stay longer, can’t we?” Jeff says.

            “So you can get another kiss?” his mom counters.

            “He already got his kiss,” Karina says. “I’m not giving him another just because it’ll be New Year’s again somewhere else.”

            “There is still church in the morning, you know,” Mr. Takagaki says.

            “Alright, alright,” Jeff sighs as he gets up.

            Seth also stands, and Alicia gets anxious.

            “Umm,” escapes from her mouth, and gets everyone’s attention.

            “What’s up?” Karina asks her.

            “Uh,” Alicia says, thinking quickly. “Well, nothing. I suppose we should consider heading home, too.”

            “Aw, c’mon, we can stay later,” Marina says.

            “Yeah, just until 10?” Karina asks.

            “No, no,” Alicia says. “We should go so we can get up for church tomorrow, too.”

            “Aww…” the girls all pout.

            “Well, it’s fine, actually,” Zoey says. “We’ve got to get up a bit earlier because of the extra commute to Alameda, anyway.”

            The girls get up and they say their farewells for the night.

            “See everybody at church,” Zoey says as her friends and extended family exit.

            Alicia leads her sister and friends to the car, and they wave to the Takagakis as they go to theirs. Alicia swallows her regret and tries to be optimistic. After all, Seth’s moved back to Alameda, so there will be many more opportunities to make a move.

 

            Simon feels excited but also nervous and anxious.

            Wait, nervous and anxious are synonyms…

            Simon grumbles at himself to shut up and just do what he’s supposed to.

            He follows behind his family out of the sanctuary into the gymnasium-auditorium for the usual after-service socializing. He looks around for Catgirl/Zoey and her cherry red hair, but doesn’t see it anywhere. Simon gets himself a cup of lemonade while he keeps his eyes looking around.

            What am I even supposed to say, though? “First off, don’t take this as me trying to ask you out, I know you have a boyfriend. How do I know? Because I’m the guy you fight a giant man-tiger with and the whole world thinks died.” Actually maybe that might work. But where is she?

            Simon recognizes her cousins, talking to some of Zoey’s friends. But he still doesn’t see Zoey herself.

            “Zoey, let’s get going,” a woman calls.

            “Okay, okay,” Zoey replies.

            Simon looks over and sees a girl with normal black hair, but she is waving to Zoey’s friends from the church’s New Year’s Eve party.

            She changed her hair!

            Simon almost wants to slap himself. He was so focused on Zoey and her red hair when he could’ve just talked to her cousins! He wants to hurry after, but Zoey and her parents are already out the door.

            “Si, let’s get going,” his dad calls to him.

            “Y-Yeah…”

            Simon goes with his family to their car, but he still looks over at Zoey and her parents at the other end of the parking lot. His brothers notice him looking her way.

            “Why’re you staring at Zoey?” Josh asks.

            “I’m not staring,” he says as they pile into the back.

            “Do you have a crush on her?” James asks.

            Simon hesitates. Considering Zoey is Catgirl, it’s not like he can say no.

            “Aren’t you and Cyndi together?” Josh asks.

            “That’s not cool,” James adds.

            “That’s not what this is about,” Simon says as he takes out his phone.

            Simon brings Cyndi up, but decides to text instead of call.

            Simon: failed my mission, she changed her hair color

          Cyndi: Umm ok, r those related?

          Simon: Yes. Zoey changed her hair so I totally didn’t recognize her

          Cyndi: Oh OK. Well that’s ok, just try again next week. C U @ school tomorrow

          Simon: See you then

          Simon puts his phone away in his pocket but wants to ram it into his head. He can only hope nothing happens between then and now.