4 Holidays

My Dad was home for the week of Christmas and we debated on staying home or not. He thought maybe we should go away and not force our way through the holiday. I agreed and he made all of the plans. He decided on a warm, sunny beach, and we were gone the whole week. It was nice, a new place, nobody looking at me with sad eyes, nobody thinking of what happened. A tan was all we brought back with us, and we both felt really good. It had been a long time since I could say that.

When we came back, he had to work New Years Eve and Day to make up for being gone for Christmas. I talked to Mike and he told me about a party everyone was going to. The Cullen family, who had moved into town last year, were having a New Years Eve party and had invited almost the whole school, it seemed. Mike thought it would be good for me to go and see all of our friends before school started back up. Sort of a nice way to ease me back into life. I wasn't exactly sold on the idea of going to a huge party, but Mike talked me into it. He said the Cullens were still really quiet, and he thought this party was their way of trying to make more friends or something. I had not seen or talked to Emmett at all since the accident, and I realized that I kind of missed the big, quiet guy. I had never spoken to any of his siblings. We didn't have any of the same classes, and I wasn't one to just walk up and talk to new people. Cat had talked to one of the sisters before, but that was it.

So, New Years Eve came and I found myself getting ready. I chose black pants, black low heeled boots, and a light green fuzzy sweater that I loved. I even took the time to do something with my hair. Mike got there around 8PM and I actually caught him look me up and down. I immediately panicked and thought something must be wrong. He never looked at me like that...like he was checking me out. He let out a whistle and said, "Whoa! Carolyn, you look great!".

"Really? You don't have to say that..I just thought I would try to look nice since I'm seeing everyone tonight."

"No...I mean it, Care. You look awesome! It's nice to see you looking like you again. No casts, no bandages, no bruises, and a smile on your face", Mike said. He was smiling as he said it and I thought to myself, "Same goes for you, Mike. Maybe we're both coming back to being ourselves again."

He drove us in his car. I realized once we were on the road that I had no idea where we were going. Mike seemed to not exactly know either, because I saw him take out an invitation with a map. I picked it up and turned on the light to read it. It was a really nice invitation, heavy paper, elegant printing. Not your average Forks High School party.

"Please join us in celebrating the New Year.
The Cullen Residence New Years Eve 7PM- ?"

"The Cullen family.... so tell me, any new news or gossip I should know? I haven't seen Emmett in forever, and I don't think I even remember what the others' names are", I admitted.

"Well, the Dad is a Dr. at the hospital, his wife doesn't work. They have 5 the kids. Two of them are their own kids, they're Edward and Alice. 11th and 10th grade. The other 3 are adopted nephews and nieces or friends of the family or something. I'm not really clear on it all, some sort of family stuff went down and the Dr. and his wife adopted Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie. Emmett is in 11th grade, Jasper and Rosalie are twins and are seniors.

We were pretty shocked when everyone got the invites for this party. They're not very talkative, don't exactly "blend" in at school, you know. But, hey, they're hosting this party to probably try to break the ice, and I'm pretty sure everyone who is in town will be there tonight."

"Hmm, sounds interesting. Make sure you stay with me until I know it's OK...you know, I don't want to be bombarded with attention or questions, K?".

"Oh don't worry! I already told everybody to lay low and not attack you....".

I silently glared at him. "You already told everyone I was going? Ugh...". The last thing I wanted was to be the center of anyone's attention.

He smiled and shook his head. "Same old Care. Don't want any attention and then you go and and make yourself beautiful."

I was shocked. Me? Beautiful? Did Mike Newton just call me beautiful? Maybe he was the one with the concussion.

We were looking for the turn off to their drive, and Mike was driving really slow for him. I looked ahead and said , "umm, I think we found it."

Up ahead, off to the right, a thickly treed narrow road was lit up like an amusement park with thousands of white lights. He let out a low whistle and said, "Yep, I think this is it all right."

We turned and drove slowly down the twisting drive. It went for almost a mile, and the lights were amazing. There was fresh snow on the ground and it sparkled in all of the lights. The house was no less amazing. A huge, three story rectangular house with more lights at each window. The double doors had gigantic Christmas wreaths hung on them.

We were not the first to arrive. There were two men in charge of valet parking all of the cars. Valet parking for a high school party???? Who the heck were these people?

Mike pulled up in front of the steps to the doors, and the valet guy opened my door and helped me out while Mike handed the other guy his keys. He filled out a small form with his name and license plate number, and he walked around to take my arm and lead me towards the stairs. Stairs were still a bit difficult for me, it usally took me about 30 minutes to go up or down the stairs at home. And sometimes, I just sat down and went down on my butt. After I winced and made a face after climbing the first step, Mike stopped and asked me if I was OK.

All of a sudden, there were arms around me, lifting me up effortlessly and carrying me up the remaining steps. By the time I was being put back down onto my own legs, I looked up and was faced with the most gorgeous, smiling face. He looked down at me, and said softly, "Are you OK? I was wondering if the steps would be too difficult for you or not, so I was waiting to make sure you made it inside safely."

"Umm, thank you. How are you Emmett? It's good to see you again", I said. I probably sounded like an idiot.

Suddenly Mike was there again, by my side. He looked a bit....upset.

"Cullen", he said. It was more of a statement than a greeting.

I looked back to Emmett, but he was turning away, leaving. He said a curt, "welcome, Newton". And he was gone. I thought maybe I saw a quick glance to me once before he walked away, but I couldn't be sure.

"What was that about? Are you and Emmett fighting?", I asked Mike. I was confused, he hadn't mentioned any animosity towards Emmett. Why were they practically glaring at one another just then?

"It's fine...I'm sorry. I just told you not two minutes ago that I would take care of you, and then Cullen swoops in and is the one to help you up the stairs. I was just embarrassed, is all," he said. He did look like he was sorry. I thought it was a little funny that he was sad he didn't get to carry me up some stupid steps.

"Oh, it's OK, Mike. I was just worried there was something going on that I didn't know about. And hey, I'm almost positive you'll be able to carry me somewhere some other time, OK?, I said, joking. I jabbed him in the arm and walked inside, laughing.