Disclaimer: Don't own it

So here's the follow up to "Eggnog between Friends" it's a little late for New Year's but i just hought of it. If you read that you probably know what the pairing will be...ENJOY

Ellie Nash might have been a horrible grinch and one helluva liar, but she wasn't too fond of New Year's Eve either. It wasn't that she disliked all holidays, though she knew it must seem to most small-minded people that because she like to dress in black and listen to loud music, that celebrations of family, happiness and the like were appalling to her, but it just wasn't the case. Usually she enjoyed Christmas, just this year...not so much. She had always been revolted by New Year's Eve though, and it wasn't just because the holiday was developed almost solely for couples. Decked out in their expensive festive-wear, giggling and batting their eyelashes at each other, waiting for the clock to strike twelve so that they could get in that first kiss of the year. Stupid couples, stupid love, stupid kisses...well, that didn't make the event any more tolerable, but she had hated that night since she thought boys had cooties and considered herself lucky to be without one.

After all, what was so special about a "New Year" anyways? What the hell was the big difference between December 31st, 11:59:99 and January 1st, 12:00:00? One measly second? What could possibly have changed in the world, in Degrassi, in herself in that one little instant that everyone was making such a clamor over? The truth was that nothing has changed. World peace was just as far away as ever, the fatties still hadn't lost any of their holiday weight, and everyone was so plastered that they wouldn't remember half of what they said or did.

That was the real reason Ellie detested that night, it gave every drunk in the world an excuse to get loaded without condemnation form their friends and family. After all, drinking was just the thing to do on New Year's Eve, wasn't it? Back when she was little and her father was still home, he had always been able to keep her mother's alcohol intake under control. The occasional glass of wine with dinner, a couple of cocktails when they had guests over, but on New Year's Eve...that was the one night of the year that he too let loose and had more to drink than he should. Without her father to stop her mother from doing too far, oh God how Ellie hated those nights. They never got drunk in front of her of course, always sent her to bed around 9:00 or 9:30 and then brought out the liquor about thirty minutes later, when they were sure little Ellie was sleeping. The thing was though; she never actually went to sleep. When she was really young she was upset that she wasn't included in the fun, and wanted to stay up and watch, peering through her post on the staircase through the rails she took in all the lights and sounds and voices with feeling of being an intruder in her own home. As she grew older the feeling stayed the same, those her purpose changed. No longer was she just there to watch the pretty ladies in their sparkly dresses dancing, but to babysit her own parents. Keep and eye on Mom and make sure she doesn't decide to make their tree more old-fashioned by putting candles on the branches and almost burning the house down. At ten she learned where Dad kept the fire extinguisher. Oh, and don't forget Dad, he gets a little violent when he's drunk so try not to let him and Mr. Burnett get too close to one another, don't want to have to call the police at 4 a.m. again. Oh, and always, always remember to start pouring gout the vodka and replacing it with water around 1 a.m., by then their already starting to get too tipsy to notice the difference. New Year's was stupid, just a chance for grown-ass men and women to act like children. Big, drunk, stupid children.

She was sure that Marco would understand her hatred for that day and reluctance to go to his big New Year's party if she told him the truth about it, but she didn't want to. She was sick of being pitied and had finally convinced most people that she was as close to okay as she was gonna get, but their thoughts still screamed out at her whenever they avoided her gaze in the hallway. Poor little Ellie, her mommy drinks too much. Poor little Ellie, she cuts herself. Poor little Ellie, Craig turned her down for his old slut.

Wait...

She was talking about New Year's, and how much she hates it. She was talking about her parents and their drinking problems. She was talking about anything and everything besides Craig Fucking Manning, so how the hell did he weasel his way into her thoughts?

Craig was going to Marco's new Year's Eve party, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

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