Terezi was a little anxious about the New Year's party, and rightfully so, considering what had happened at the last party, and she hadn't really seen anyone except Dave since then. Reportedly, he and Karkat had been on a date in the interim, but Terezi didn't want to press either of them on it. In fact, while she was at Feferi's, the main thing on her mind was a very sharp awareness that Vriska was around, though there wasn't the same tension lingering in the air as there had been at the Christmas party, and Terezi felt no need to make amends. Vriska was minding her own business as well, and Terezi let her do so, neither of them even making an attempt to talk to the other. Terezi once again found herself enjoying the company of her other friends, for a change. She lingered around the drink table for a bit, where Gamzee had spent the better part of the evening leaning against the wall and basically just watching everything unfold.

"Hey Ter," he drawled, "looking good."

"Uh. Ok."

"Seriously, if it weren't for Kar, I'd wanna…"

An unsavory feeling rolled through Terezi's stomach and chest. "I thought you were into Tavros." She found herself rebuking Gamzee's compliments, even though part of her was a little flattered. Gamzee made an odd sort of low, growling noise in his throat, and Terezi tried to ignore him while she got herself a drink. After a moment, she heard footsteps.

"Hey, Terezi." Oh. It was John.

"Hey John."

"Hey… you're pretty close with Vriska, right?" Yeah, she had kind of been wondering when John was going to bring this up. Well, she wasn't in a position to be giving him advice about Vriska.

"We used to be closer, but… I don't know right now, actually, the friendship's kind of been at odds. Why do you ask?" she said, knowing exactly why he was asking; it was because he had a painfully obvious crush on Vris, and he didn't understand why Vriska waffled between him and Tavros, and truth be told, Terezi didn't understand that either. Vriska rejected Tavros when she knew they were both into each other, but now that Vriska and John were into each other, Tavros was this sad little pawn she was using. It was really weird and confusing, even to Terezi.

"No reason," John muttered. Terezi furrowed her brow, and she wanted to help him out, just a smidge.

"Listen, she's a hard one to get a hold on. Don't stress yourself out about it."

"Heh. If you say so." Some levity seemed to have re-entered John's voice, so Terezi felt a bit better about the situation. John was just confused, and if she was able to help just a bit- even though she found John fun to mess with she didn't like playing with emotions- that was a good sign. After John left, Terezi wasn't really sure what to do with herself. Gamzee was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable, so she didn't want to hang around the drink table for too much longer. Instead, she found herself striking up conversation with Feferi, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Hey Fef."

"Hi Terezi!"

"Thanks for hosting again."

"It's really no trouble. I love it when we all get to hang out together!" Terezi couldn't help but smile. Feferi was absolutely the cinnamon roll friend who just wanted to love everyone around her.

"Where's fishdick?" Terezi asked, and Feferi hesitated for a moment.

"He had to go home. We got into a… disagreement."

"Hm." Terezi thought that odd, but what also struck her as odd was the fact that Feferi didn't correct the "nickname". Normally she would have defended Eridan from being called such names, whether he was around or not, but she didn't. So whatever he'd done must've been really bad for Feferi to start thinking of him as a dick, too. "Everything alright?"

"Oh!" Feferi's trademark cheer reappeared in her voice, though Terezi honestly couldn't tell how genuine she was being. "Yeah, everything's fine! I didn't make him leave or anything; that was his choice." Terezi still couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something seemed off. But she wasn't one to force people to talk about their problems.

"Alright. Well, if there ever is something you want to talk about…"

There was a pause. "Thanks, Terezi. You know, we don't talk enough."

"Agreed." After another moment, Feferi places a hand on Terezi's shoulder and scooted around her, finding a seat next to Sollux. The next thing Terezi heard was, not to anyone's surprise, a shout from Karkat.

"You piece of shit! You spiked the goddamn punch!" he yelled, the accusation ony further confirmed by Gamzee's spurt of laughter.

"No wonder Tavros looks worse than usual," Vriska said. Terezi rolled her eyes. Drama was unfolding; she could feel it. The countdown was going to start soon, and Terezi tried to distract herself with that, but as usual, Vriska's relationship issues took center stage. It was really getting tiresome. Terezi's ears pricked at Tavros' laugh.

"Waht're you doin'?" he slurred.

"I was gonna kiss you at midnight, you drunk fool," Vriska berated him. Oh. Oh no. Terezi pieced things together quickly. Vriska must've said something to John that made him pull away, so this was Vriska's way of not only getting Tavros all twisted, but also trying to make John jealous. Terezi sort of hated that she understood Vriska's mind so well. But Tavros seemed to be putting it together too.

"Ahah! I, uh, no. Nnnno. You don' wanna kiss meeee, you! Jus' wanna make…John…jealous. An' anyway! I don' think I wannaaa kiss you, anymore. You're, uhhhh, a mean. Person. You are mean to me. I don' like it. And if I haaaad to geuss, I don' think that, uh, Mister John likes it either. I know… must of us? Don't like it either. And uh, that's just. Sad. Vriskers. That most of us don't really like you? You're… too mean, eheheh. Gamzee! Can I get anudder drink?"

The room went silent, except for Gamzee's laughter. Wow, someone needed to get that kid drunk a lot sooner. Terezi would have applauded him. Drunk Tavros had finally stoof up to Vriska, and that was honestly kind of badass.

"Are you going to talk to her?" Terezi jumped a bit at the sudden voice speaking quietly next to her, but it was only Jade. "I thought you two were close."

"No," Terezi answered. "I told her she needs to get her act together. Tavros yelling at her like that is actually a good thing. I think."

"Hm." Jade hopped up onto the counter, perching next to Terezi.

"Hey guys! The countdown's starting!" Feferi called, presumably trying to maintain focus on the festivities. Terezi grinned, trying to push everything out of her mind. But the truth was, despite knowing it was for the best for both of them for the time being, she kind of missed having her partner in crime. Everyone was a duo at that point. There was Gamzee and Tavros, though it was questionable if Tav was even aware of his actions at that point. Sollux and Feferi, Karkat and Dave (who, whether they'd admit it or not, were one conversation away from being a couple), Nepeta and Equius, Kanaya and Rose, and even John and Jade, though that was pretty evidently only platonic. Terezi was the only one in the room who was alone, and as the countdown commenced, she really couldn't help but be very, very aware of that.

When school was back in session, Terezi slowly felt less alone, if only because she was literally surrounded by people and spending more time with her friends again, but there was still something missing; that bond that she had with Vriska wasn't replaceable, despite Terezi's closeness with Dave. And then, things got even weirder.

"Hey, Ter," Gamzee murmured at her in the halls one afternoon just before lunch, his voice seeming more gravelly and low than usual.

"What do you want, Gamzee?" she hissed back, not really in the mood to deal with his bullshit clown antics.

"Can't a dude just say hi to a motherfuckin' bombshell?" Terezi turned, raising an eyebrow.

"'Bombshell'? What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Just saying, you look real motherfuckin' pretty," Gamzee said, taking a step closer. Even though he was just a blur in front of her, Terezi knew when her personal space was being invaded, and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable. But still…

"You think… I'm pretty?"

"Yeah. Hell yeah, sis. Bet you'd look even prettier with some bruises… maybe tied up…"

Terezi's stomach lurched. Why was she flattered by that? It was… she didn't know what to make of it. Gamzee was being weird. Well, more weird than usual. Thankfully, the conversation was prevented from going any further, and any weirder, by Vriska spontaneously falling through the door of the girls' bathroom, apparently halfway through a literal fight with Aradia. The weird part was that, Vriska was losing. As Aradia stormed out of the bathroom, standing over Vriska, a crowd began to form, and Terezi could barely hear over the din.

"Don't! Screw with me, Serket."

In all the commotion, Terezi escaped, both from the possible confrontation with Vriska and her uncomfortable encounter with Gamzee, searching for some solace in the cafeteria.

"So there was a fight at school today," Latula said, very blasé.

"Yeah, I know," Terezi murmured back. "I saw the very end of it."

"Who was it? I couldn't see."

"It was Aradia, and Vriska."

"Really? Never took Aradia for the type to get into a fight."

"No, she's not, that's why it's odd," Terezi said, turning in her swivel chair to face Latula. "The weirder part is that she won. Like, Vriska's arm was severely damaged and she was bleeding and stuff." The even more fucked up thing was that Terezi doubted Vriska's mother would even care.

"Hmm," Latula hummed. "So what happened after?"

"I dunno, I kinda bolted. I think Tavros took her to the nurse? Aranea probably checked them both out of school for the day."

"Yeah. She was gone at lunch."

"And Aradia was probably at the principal's office… Man, so much drama," Terezi sighed. She propped her elbow up on the kitchen table and leaned her head against it.

"Do you know why Aradia was so upset?"

"Probably the same thing Tavros yelled at Vriska about on New Year's… being a mean bully and pushing everyone around. But no. I didn't talk to Aradia."

Latula hesitated, not sure if Terezi was appreciating this line of questioning. But there was one more thing.

"Ter, I know you and Vris haven't been hanging out as much lately. Are you… do you think she deserved this?"

"I dunno. Maybe it was harsh. Maybe that on top of Tavros' words was a lot. But it doesn't matter to me. I'm just… not meddling in her affairs anymore."