The next day...
There were plenty of ways that Katie tends to wake up to; whether it would be the light shining through the curtains of her window, or the smell of her father cooking pancakes for themselves downstairs, or maybe even the alarm-clock that she has next to her on the desk; but never in her life had she woken up to the sound of somebody knocking on the front-door before. She was hoping that her father would take care of it, but that was when she noticed the time on the clock, seeing that it was ten; the time Maxwell would already be at work. With no other choice, the tomboy got out of bed to see who was here and what they wanted.
Upon approaching the front-door, Katie immediately opened it up, only to see Liberty standing on the other side; now dressed in a dark-blue jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, as well as a brown skirt with light-green leggings. "Hello Katie." The Australian greeted with a gentle wave. "I heard you were back in town."
"Uh...hey, Liberty." Katie greeted back in a sluggish tone. "W-What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was just wanting to invite you to a get-together that Travis and I are planning to have this Wednesday." Liberty explained as she pulled out an envelope from her jacket; one that had the tomboy's name written on the front of it. "We're going to have dinner, talk about how our lives have been since graduation, and maybe even throw a football around if it's still daylight out; it'll be fun, mate."
"Well, I'll have to see wait and what my dad says first..." Katie stated as she proceeded to open the envelope in order to retrieve the invitation inside. "Just yesterday, I was finally hired at his office, but the only downside is that I haven't received my schedule from him yet; so, if, by chance, that my first day on the job just so happens to be this Wednesday...well, I presume that it's obvious that I won't be participating; but if it winds up being a day either before or after that day, then I'll be able to partake in your little gathering."
"Crikey, mate...I don't believe I understood half the words that came out of your mouth there..." Liberty jokes, much to the studious tomboy's annoyance. "Honestly, I've forgot that you're vocabulary was way more complex than some of the other students I know."
"Surrounding yourself with academics throughout your youth can really do something to you, I can tell you that much, dude." Katie commented as she began reading the invitation that the Australian had gave her. "By the way, who else is presumably coming to this party, other than me?"
"Some of the drama-students, a few of the goths, a few of the studious ones...Ian; although, that really depends if his aunt doesn't want him to come work at the library that day."
"Well, your invite here says that you're having this party specifically at night, so I'm pretty sure that he'll be able to join us; the library doesn't stay open all night."
Liberty then smiled at the tomboy, crossing her arms as she stared at her. "You must've really missed him while you were in New York, huh?" She asked in a soft tone. "You two used to be so close back then."
"Are you gonna tell me that it wouldn't surprise you if he and I started going out?" Katie then asked, causing the Australian's smile to immediately falter. "If so, all I can tell you is that we don't have feelings for each other; we just see each other as friends and that's it."
"I...take it that Crystal's been teasing you about it lately, hasn't she?"
"Honestly, she's been pestering me about since the day we all graduated; even during our time in New York she hadn't let it go, at all." Katie then rolled her eyes as she placed the invitation aside on a nearby table next to her. "Now, don't get me wrong; Ian's a cool dude, but I just don't see us working out as a couple, even if I do have feelings for him; his aunt, despite knowing that I was the one who had the highest grades out of everyone in my class, always glared at me whenever I stepped foot in her library. Besides, I was already informed that he has a girlfriend already; and truthfully, I think he and Amelia make a better couple anyhow, especially considering their mutual love for reading."
"Alright; if you say that you don't have feelings for him, then you don't have feelings for him."
"Thank you."
"Anyway, I think I'm gonna let you go back to...whatever it is you were doing; I'm going to go back to delivering the rest of these invitations." Liberty then stepped off the porch behind her. "Before I go, do you mind if I ask you one more question?"
"What is it?"
"I was told by one of my mates that James and Stacy live on this street. Do you know where which house is theirs?"
"That one right over there." Katie stated as she pointed to the house across the street. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to get back to giving myself some additional minutes of shut-eye upstairs."
"Alright; I hope to see you Wednesday, mate." Once her conversation with the tomboy had came to an end, Liberty began to make her way over to the Louiston's house across the street, while Katie simply just closed the door behind her in silence.
Upon arriving at the house, Liberty went up to the front-porch and was prepared to knock on the door; but right before she could do that, someone came walking out of the house; but it wasn't James or Stacy. The person was a woman who appeared to be rather sophisticated, with her hair tied in a low bun, wore glasses, and had on a white cardigan with a light-blue blouse underneath, as well as black dress-pants and dark purple high-heels. This person was Nancy Louiston; a district attorney, jury member in training, and James's mother.
"Hello there, Mrs. Louiston." Liberty greeted as she pulled out two of the envelopes from the bunch that she's still carrying. "Are your son and stepdaughter home right now?"
"Well, James is sitting in the living-room playing video-games by himself...which is really no surprise at all; and Stacy's at work." Nancy answered as she rummaged through the mailbox that was on the wall, next to the front-door. "Why do you ask, Liberty?"
"I was hoping that, if he's not busy Wednesday evening, he could come to this get-together that me and Travis are having at our house." Liberty then hands the two invitations over to the older woman. "Don't worry, it's not going to be like one of those wild parties that this town's usually known for."
"If you were one of the more rowdy kids that my son knew, then I'd probably call your whole statement a bluff instantly; you don't seem like the type of girl who would throw a party where everyone gets drunk, or laid, or both." Nancy comments, before putting both of the envelopes into one of the pockets that were inside her jacket. "Anyway, if Trevor were here, he and I would talk things out with each other and decide if, whether or not, this party is acceptable for both of our kids to go; but since he's at work, and since you seem trustworthy anyway, I'll allow it; but I'm afraid you're going to have to convince James to come, since he's...usually lazy and hates parties..."
"Well, Jenny's hopefully coming to the party too; so, that should probably be enough to convince him to come." Liberty paused for a second so that she can check the time on her phone. "I'm afraid I have to go now; I still have a few more invites to give out in a short amount of time. Do you think you can try and convince your son for me instead?"
"I'll see what I can do." Nancy then collected the mail out of the mailbox, before stepping back into her house. "It was a pleasure to see you again, Liberty."
"Same to you too, Mrs. Louiston." After that was said, Liberty stepped off of the porch and headed off to continue delivering the rest of her invitations, while Nancy silently went back into her house.
Since he had nothing to do today, and since he would usually work the night-shifts at his job, James was busy playing video-games in the living-room, just like Nancy had previously told Liberty minutes ago; with Stacy at work, he felt like now was a better time than ever to play some rounds of 'Street Fighter 2' to himself. He had a bag of chips open right next to him on the couch, and there was a can of Mountain Dew on the coffee-table in front of him. All in all, this was pretty much a typical day for somebody like him, whenever he wasn't hanging out with any of his friends or had anything to do for the day; and boy, did his mother hated it.
As she made her way over to the living-room, Nancy's cellphone started to ring, prompting her to immediately pull it out and answer the call. "Hello, you've reached Nancy Louiston; district attorney by day and mother by night. How may I-" She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of angry yelling coming from the caller on the other end. "Oh...hello there, Richard...I presume you've found out about the end results of your son's court-case, now did you?"
"Who was at the door, mom?" James asked as he kept his eyes focused on the television in front of him.
"One of your friends-"
"WHAT?!!" The man on the phone yelled, much to the Nancy's annoyance.
"I wasn't talking to you, Richard; I was talking to my son." Nancy told the caller, sitting down in the armchair next to the couch, pulling out the envelope that was addressed to the emo as she did. "They wanted me to give this to you."
"Uh...thanks." James said as he placed his game-controller aside, then taking the envelope out of his mother's hand.
"Anyways, Richard, don't get angry with me because your son was found guilty for starting that street race and causing that car-crash; it wasn't part of my job to see if he was-" Nancy was interrupted once again by the caller yelling at her some more. "Look, I get there was evidence that one of the passengers had recorded everything on their phone and it was one of his friends who caused it, but the judge and the jury both claimed it as inadmissible; the kid did steal that phone from his father that day, so-" She was, once again, interrupted by yelling coming out of Richard. "Okay...I'm just gonna call you back when you're not losing your cool with me." She muttered bluntly, before immediately hanging up the phone, all while the caller was still yelling at her.
"I'm guessing ol' Richard didn't take the news of his son being behind bars so well, now didn't he?" James asked his mother as he slowly opened the envelope.
"No, he sure didn't..." Nancy muttered as she sat down in the armchair that was right next to her couch, holding one side of her temple as she did. "Somehow, I fear that I may not be hearing the end of this for awhile..."
"I'm sure he'll get over it one of these days." The emo stated in a nonchalant, yet clearly snide, tone of voice. "Besides, his son was a psycho; if anything, Richard's just wasting his anger, breath, and time over someone who doesn't deserve it; the person that he claimed to be his so-called 'good son', who just so happened to be the same douchebag who pushed me down the stairs and landed me in the nurse's office for a whole day."
"That's a thing to say about one of your former classmates." Nancy said while glaring at her son.
"Dude and I had one too many bad run-ins throughout our time in high-school, so..." James shrugged his shoulders as he continued reading the paper in his hand, all with a smirk plastered across his face. "I wouldn't say this was that big of a loss."
"I swear, you can be so fucking cynical sometimes..." Nancy then muttered under her breath, before deciding to ultimately change the subject to something else; or more specifically, to the invitation that her son had just received. "Anyway, are you going to that reunion that your friend there's inviting you to?" She asked, eyeing her son, already knowing exactly what he's going to say as his answer.
"Yeah...I don't really know if I'll actually feel like going, because I kinda have stuff to do on Wednesday, so-"
"By 'stuff', do you mean 'chores and work', or do you mean 'sit around the living-room all night and either watch TV or play video-games until it's midnight'?"
"I-" James was about to answer, only to immediately notice the annoyed look on his mother's face. "Uh..."
"You have better things to do rather than be at home all day, James; there's plenty of fun things for you to do at that get-together. Don't you want to reunite with some of your old friends from high-school?"
"Of course I do." The geeky emo answered honestly. "It's just that every time I go to one of these parties, none of actual friends show up...or worse, the only person I actually wind up knowing is Stacy, or Derek."
"Well, unfortunately for you, Stacy was also invited to this party." Nancy bluntly informed her son.
"Then you just gave me every reason not to go." James tosses his invitation aside and proceeded to pick up his game-controller again; but right before he can unpause his game, his mother spoke up.
"Jenny'll be there too."
"Yeah, I don't ca-" The emo immediately stopped talking as soon as he realized what name his mother had just mentioned. "W-Wait, she will?"
"That's what Liberty told me out there, so...yes, it looks like she is." Nancy then gave her son a smirk. "I believe that should be enough of a reason for you to attend this reunion, now isn't it?"
James remained silent as he stared at his mother for a good few seconds, before glancing at his television for another few seconds, and then turning his attention back over to his mother one last time. "You know...now that you've mentioned it, I guess it couldn't hurt to see some of the old faces again, especially her." The emo stated awkwardly, as he slowly puts down his controller.
"That's exactly what I want to hear." The attorney said with a nod and a smile, before her phone started ringing again. "Oh, crap..."
"Is it Richard again?"
Nancy pulled out her phone and checked who the caller was. "Oh, of course it's him..." She answered under her breath, before standing up and moving herself over to the next room so that she can talk with Richard more privately, leaving her son to play his video-games alone once again.
Note: So, another short chapter today, my fellow readers. I wanted this one to have a third section, but I couldn't think of anything without the flow being too messed up. Either way, we somewhat kickstart the subplot that belongs to James here; it's admittedly short, but as chapters come and go, it'll expand more and more; and what'll happen during his arc is something that you'll have to wait and see.
Now, let's see what reviews we have for today are...
lordgemini: Well, Luke didn't enter the scene just yet; but he will eventually. Also, the entire conversation between Chaz and Katie had to be one of my all-time favorite parts I have ever written about in this entire story thus far; the flow, the structure (although, this can be a bit subjective), and the pacing felt perfect in my personal opinion.
In the next chapter, not only will James be focused on, but we'll also take a look at how Chaz and Summer are doing on this fine morning so far. I will see you guys then.