"Layla! Hey!" Derek says as he opens the door.
"Hey, Derek," I say shyly.
"You're right on time," Derek says, pulling my arm and leading me inside, "We can party until midnight, when we do the midnight countdown."
The traditional midnight kiss?
"Oh, um, who will you pick?" I ask as we enter a large room.
"You," Derek says.
I feel my cheeks grow hot as I process what he said.
He wants a relationship with me? Or else he just took a bet and decided to be nice…
"What? Do you have someone already?" Derek asks.
I shake my head and say, "Nope! Don't have anyone I want to kiss!"
Other than you.
Then I remember what Omega-Xis did.
He set the alarm to midnight, when the kiss is! I don't blame him if he didn't think about this, but if he did…
I walk over to the table where the refreshments are and say, "Derek…um…I can't be at the midnight countdown."
"Why?" Derek says, following me.
"I have to leave at the stroke of midnight," I say, "for urgent reasons."
"You mean like the fairy tale of Cinderella?" Derek says, taking a cup and filling it with punch.
"Kinda," I say, "but it's not an evil stepmother I'm going to."
Derek takes a sip of his punch and says, "I'll go with you, then. If it's not a stepmother, then I'll go with you, Layla."
I shake my head and say, "No. You can't go where I'm going. It's dangerous, most likely, and I'm going to find out where exactly I'm going after the party."
"Then how do you know I can't go with you, if you don't even know where you're going?" Derek asks.
Uh-oh.
I notice Petra enter the room out of the corner of my eye.
"Listen," I whisper, "I know that it's dangerous, as one of my friends' enemies are involved. You won't be able to stand up to whatever I have to face. Please understand that."
"All right," Derek says, "but next year, will you be free?"
"Most likely at Valentine's," I say.
I catch Petra's eye and murmur, "If I live that long."