That evening, Lucy had chosen to wear her most plainest and blank face she could muster by the time she arrived at the location of the Christmas party. Though, she didn't put it on as soon as she stepped out of her mother's car. It could wait, and it did, as she returned the same gleeful smile her mother gave her as she waved her off, and watched as the car made its way back from down the driveway it came from, before turning left onto the road and out of sight. Then, like a switch, the smile left her, she then turned towards the mansion that was Katie's home. A face of indifference now plastered across her her face. Now she resembled what she was known for — before, and since returning to Roseville more than a year ago.

She was already met with a problem. She met no bouncer there to accost her before she went inside. She was told to expect one, and she was looking forward to a little practice before the main event. It had been a while since she last wore her usual mask, and while she was confident she could pull it off in much of the same way she could have years before, she had to be sure she still could.. Particularly if her friends—

She stopped and took a small breath, a moment to herself before moving forward again towards the porch. She continued thinking to herself, and made a correction; the people she once knew, who were livid about her reappearing in the town.

She wouldn't have minded the practice run. Truthfully she would have preferred it; for she would never tell anyone about the sweat that formed on the nape of her neck when the door swung open; the face she gave was a stark contrast to the jaw-dropped and utter surprise of Stacy gave in reply when she answered the doorbell. Nevermind her disappointment from the lack of the bouncer. Already the night was going as well as she'd expected, but it took an insurmountable effort on Lucy's behalf not to break down into laughter as soon as she saw the reaction. Instead, her face remained about as indifferent as it had been when the door opened, as she would keep it that way in the best way she could — not a smile, not a smirk, not a single twitch escaped. It didn't help — testing her own resilience wanted her to break into laughter more-so. It was almost too much. She wanted to laugh; Stacy's face was everything she'd been expecting from tonight, especially from the people who once knew her.

The feeling continued to tease and goad her into just dropping the frozen expression she had. It had just been so long since she'd done something like this! It was far too good of a moment! She shook a little, the cracks in her iron-clad mask were starting to form, but a moment later, disappeared when she remembered, and suddenly she just couldn't. Not right here, not right now, she convinced herself. It had to be this way; with Lucy instead looking as if she were clueless about why Stacy was showing such surprise. She wasn't that sort of person anymore. It had been the last thing she wanted to do that evening; offend anyone, particularly with all of her friendships in the jumbled way they were, and especially after last year.

She had her reasons. Never you mind how they came to be. All you had to know was when she returned, her friends had changed. It took a little while longer before Lucy had changed too.

Lucy was very sure nobody was going to have been expecting her to show up that evening. She certainly got that response with Stacy; her face said it all, and she couldn't blame them for not thinking otherwise. Parties were just never her thing. She'd done her best in the past showing that part of her off, finding ways to avoid them like saying she was busy. Never having parties of her own. Though, that didn't sit well with a few of her friends at all. There was that one time when it got to the point of frustration that one of her friends had even invited her as guest to her own party! Imagine! Surely Stacy of all people had remembered this part about her.

And here she was, in the flesh, long before many of the other party goers had even started to arrive.

Lucy's thoughts went elsewhere — Stacy still stared back towards her with the same exact wide-eyed face she had when she opened the door, still trying to find the nerve or even work up the courage to say something to her. Every so often an occasional sound managed to find its way out of her mouth, but nothing comprehensible — noises that didn't make sense to herself or to Lucy for that matter. She was in far too much shock to try. That did nothing but worry Lucy the longer it went on. she didn't want to laugh about it anymore. It made her realise it wasn't her presence that was the reason Stacy was being like this. At least, not alone anyway. She started to have the feeling that, maybe...Stacy didn't want Lucy here, and that she was having trouble finding the words. Maybe she knew what she'd done. Maybe Stacy wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, like much of the others in her grade.

She didn't want to think about it. It was fine! She had already decided; Stacy could think like that! She had a right to! She couldn't find the means to blame them deep down either; she wanted it to be like this originally. She didn't want or need the friends anymore, them and their collected dramas. Friends just use you, they only care about you for something they want, and then they abandon you.

It happened before. Mike had done the same thing.

She didn't need anyone — let alone him. That stupid jerk.

She caught herself; she'd only realised then her mouth had moved in much the same way Stacy's had, and much in the same way that no words came out. She couldn't tell what face she gave Stacy at that point, she hoped it was a smile, though she'd guess it was close given how Stacy seemed to be edging closer towards forming words now, it must've been something more comforting. She let it continue, and the smile took over her mouth without any resistance. A small laugh followed, out from nowhere as well. 'H—Hey, it's been a while!' Lucy said to her.

It had been enough to finally give Stacy the means to finally say something she was able to understand, 'H—Hey!' She managed. 'It's...I didn't expect you! At all, you know?' She said with a bit of a laugh.

It was all smiles, but Lucy's ears couldn't help but flatten themselves. 'O...Oh!' She said with a sombre tone. 'Well. . .I uh. . .Someone had told me there was a Christmas party going on.'

'Yeah! There is.' Stacy said.

'A—Ah...!' Lucy replied.

Awkward. It was so very awkward. There were a lot of feelings she had inside of her at this point. She couldn't help but be fearful. She wondered what would happen at that point. The door didn't swing open wide enough for Lucy to take the invitation in. Instead she couldn't help but feel that Stacy was more intimidated than before. She couldn't help but hope that Stacy's guarded replies were only at her presence. She worried. Would she be told to leave instead?

She...She couldn't blame her if she asked her to. Parties...just weren't her thing, and...she guessed the other stuff...too, probably would make her choose otherwise.

She didn't care about the party. Really. She didn't. But.. . .a different feeling was there now, a feeling she couldn't explain. Her hand came up against her arm and she secretly hoped Stacy wouldn't turn her away. It surprised her a little. It'd been a long time since they'd both spoken. An actual conversation with someone in her own school year after. . . months now, she figured, it'd have been about that long. She couldn't describe the feeling talking to Stacy.

She sighed. 'I'm overstaying my welcome. . .aren't I?' Lucy asked her.

'Huh?' Stacy asked.

'It's okay. I'll just go.'

She didn't get far. She looked down towards Stacy's hand on her arm. She turned back to a wided-eyed Stacy.

'N—n—n—no! It's not that at all!' Stacy shouted. 'I—It's just...' Her voice trailing off.

'What's wrong?'

'It's just. . . I didn't give you an invite. That's all! I didn't expect you'd want to come at all!'

Lucy couldn't help but seem puzzled, 'But I have an invitation.'

Surprise washed over Stacy. 'You do?' She watched as Lucy reached a hand into her bow and with drew what she knew was an invitation. She couldn't confuse it with another; the golden etchings in the paper screamed everything to do with Katie, and Stacy herself had handed all of them to everyone in their class.

But just not Lucy.

Lucy's face matched hers in confusion. She opened the folded invite and held it towards Stacy for her to read. 'See?' She said to her as Stacy took it. 'It was in my locker.'

'I. . .I don't understand.'

'You weren't the one who put it there?'

'Well, N—No. I mean. . .I made one! But I never delivered it!' Stacy said, studying it further. She looked up from it. 'D—Don't think I didn't want to! I—It's just you never—'

'Go to them. . .Yeah.' Lucy giggled. 'I don't blame you for thinking I wouldn't. You'd have been right. . .if . . .well.' She trailed off. 'But if you kept the invite, then who delivered it?'

'Oh, that was me.' A voice called out from behind Stacy.

The door Stacy peered her head out from swung in completely to reveal the host of the evening. Lucy couldn't mistake Katie; dolled up and looking as glamorous as she could for the evening. Her dress was beautiful, but certainly not Christmas themed. 'Yah, it was me!' She announced.

'You?' Lucy said puzzled. 'But we've never—'

'I made an extra invitation since you invited me to your party years ago.' She said lively. 'I always remember my debts.'

That was actually Daisy. Lucy wanted to tell her, but kept her lips sealed.

Katie's head went to the side. 'Well? You're coming inside right?' She asked.

'Oh! Of course I am.' She turned to Stacy with a little worry in her. 'That's okay with you too, right?'

Katie looked at her in confusion. 'What does she mean?'

'It's nothing! Just some confusion with the invitation!' She said turning to her. 'It's fine though with you, right? She didn't respond to the RSVP.'

'Oh!' Katie said, before shrugging.' Ah. . .who cares about that? I had a feeling people were just gonna show up anyway so, there wasn't a need.'

'But. . .It...does matter? You told me it did!'

'Why would I do that?'

'The catering! That was the whole point of it.'

'Oh, yeah.' Katie said, appearing as if she was deep in thought. It didn't last for long. 'Nah, it's okay.'

'No it's not!' Stacy shouted back. 'I spent each night checking that email like you asked! What do you mean it's okay?! What if there's no food to go around?' Stacy asked her.

Katie didn't look a bit phased. 'There's plenty of food. We didn't even need to know who was coming.' She'd only noticed Stacy's face growing redder 'What? Don't be angry! I have chefs fer cryin' out loud. They'll make me a sandwich at 3am if I ask 'em.' Finally, she turned towards Lucy. 'Yer coming in right?' She asked.

'O—Oh, well, I'm here, right?!' Lucy said, stepping forward. She turned towards Stacy who breathed a deep sigh of resignation into their hands. When they caught Lucy looking towards them, her shoulders fell and she smiled. She stepped away from the doors and held it open for her.

'Feel free to roam around the bottom floor but don't go up the stairs. Your friends have also got a room to yourselves unless you want to hang out with the guys and me, which, you're always welcome to.' Katie said as she lead Lucy through one of the rooms, though she was too preoccupied to reply, instead gazing towards the ceiling in astonishment. 'Lavish' was not a word she used often, but it certainly had to come to use now. Katie's house was enormous and the ceilings were high. She was sure not a single penny had been spared in the construction of the mansion. It was simply fit for a royal family. Or someone spoilt as she was rich in Katie's place. Her ear twitched when she finally began to process what Katie said to her. 'Wait, my friends?'

'Yeah, sure, like, the only people in our year who RSVP'ed?' Katie said as she turned to her, a second later a hand coming to her chin, and she assumed being deep in thought, causing Lucy to tilt her head in interest.

'What's wrong?' Lucy asked.

'What were their names again?'

Her hand found its place on her face in astonishment. Katie had not changed at all in the last few years they knew each other. How she could forget who her own classmates' names were was beyond her. She sighed to herself, she was going to tell her their names, but then Katie appeared to have remembered by herself. 'Oh yeah!' She proclaimed. 'Abbey, Jasmine, David, Paulo and Sue.' She said proudly to herself. 'They haven't arrived yet either but you can like, hang out together if you want.'

Lucy turned towards Stacy, things were starting to come together, and she had begun to understand why Stacy was being a little jittery that evening — Katie must have forgotten what happened last year. Then again, she considered she never noticed in the firts place. She turned back to Katie, 'O—Oh, actually, I didn't know they were all going to be here.'

'Yep, so get yourself a drink and make yerself at home. I've got other houseguests to entertain too, so I'll leave you to party how you want.' And with that, she made her way out of their room and into one of the others, leaving Stacy and Lucy alone together. Lucy had opened her mouth to speak, before they heard Katie shouting from the other room. After a moment, Stacy appeared as if she wanted to say something.

'Lucy, I don't—' Stacy tried to say.

Lucy smiled and shook her head. 'It's okay. I don't want to interfere with your night, I'm only—'

Stacy shook her head back to her. 'That's not it!' She shouted back. 'I didn't invite you because I didn't think you liked parties!'

Lucy looked taken aback. 'O—Oh. . .Well, just as well you didn't. I'm only really here at the last minute because my mother made me come here.'

'Your mom told you to?'

Lucy sighed and smiled to herself, the cat was out of the bag. 'Well. . .it was more between a decision of staying at home with my mother's company or to hang out with people from school. That, and I guess my. . . friends suggested I should socialise more.' She laughed.

She had only planned to refuse the RSVP on the date but her mother had forced her to come. Now, that piqued her curiosity. It would be the first time she'd been allowed to stay out later than curfew too. What changed in mother to allow that? She wondered to herself. Jordan wasn't allowed to stay out as late as this party promised to go on for when he was a senior. Why would her mother give her this allowance? She thought hard. God. Wait, nevermind, she remembered; how couldn't she forget how her mother went on about finding a boy when she was in highschool. That must've been her plan, Lucy realised, sighing to herself.

'O—Oh. There aren't actually too many of our friends coming today?'

'It's just you guys?'

'And Katie's friends, but I don't know how you'd fare with them.'

'Not from our school?'

'One of the colleges in the town over.'

'A nice college, though, right?' Lucy joked, still looking a little worried at the news.

Stacy didn't say anything. She looked a little worried herself.

Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed by herself. 'I couldn't begin to imagine what tonight's going to be like then.' She'd expected Stacy to join her. She didn't. Instead looking a little avoidant. She knew why — She didn't blame her, not after last year. 'Stacy I'm not . . . encroaching on the party, am I?'

'H—Huh?' Stacy said, snapping out of it. 'N—No! It's good to see you, I just—'

'Sue's going to be here tonight too right?' Lucy asked. 'She usually hangs out with you guys.'

'Y—Yes.'

'Ah. . . Well, I'm guessing she probably hasn't forgiven me too for last year.'

Stacy shook her head with a sadness in her heart. 'No.'

She looked up, 'Don't worry then. I don't plan on hanging around you guys.'

'Are you sure? You know, if I talk to them—'

'I'll be fine!' Lucy said walking off with a smile on her face. 'I'm sure of it. Don't worry. I'll probably be gone by the time they get here too.' She said with a laugh, leaving Stacy alone.

Stacy let a hand come up beside her face and her cheek, she held it there and wondered with a sigh. If there had been one regret in her, it was that she wasn't as close to Lucy as she thought she should have in the past, and maybe if they had been better friends, Lucy wouldn't go about with this blank face she always had. She was sure about this as she watched her walking away, because even though Lucy's face told her there was nothing wrong, Stacy knew deep down somewhere inside Lucy's heart, she was hurting just like the rest of them.