To all of you who reviewed, I'm sorry I couldn't answer you personally... But thanks! And I made the picture for the story. I got kinda bored on the long drive and decided to make something. :)

17 Years Old

Ever since that little incident we had last year with Shelby, we decided everybody gets a party up until they're 18. One more year of headache for me, then I'm home free. I was kind of nervous today, but not about the party. The party was actually very mild compared to some other ones we've had before. There was a little penguin incident during Felix's birthday. We're still trying to figure out how he managed to fit a few hundred penguins into the Great Room.

What I was really nervous about was my date with Zia. We hadn't exactly had time to ourselves since Armageddon. It's pathetic, I know, but it's hard running a Nome filled with a bunch of kids. Very demanding.

Also, it's not like we were going anywhere fancy or special, just a quiet walk through the park. If you say it out loud it sounds cheesy, but I was nervous nonetheless. I didn't want to dress up and at the same time I didn't want to look like I didn't care. What if I said something stupid?

I'm acting like this is a first date. I've known Zia for about three years now. It's going to be fine. Nothing's going to go wrong.

I'm not a very convincing liar.

I finally settled with a nice t-shirt and shorts. There's one problem out of the way. I found Zia out on the terrace, feeding Philip some leftover bacon from breakfast. She was wearing a pair of capris and a shirt that Shelby had made her for HER birthday. Shelby demanded that her presents be homemade. Mostly that meant that we do the hard stuff and she gets to decorate.

"Hello Carter." Zia didn't even have to turn around to know I was coming.

"Hey. Ready to go?"

"Let me finish feeding Philip first. He seems to be enjoying this." She smiled at me and handed me some strips of bacon. "Watch this." Zia tossed up two strips of bacon in the air, about a crocodile's length apart. Philip, surprisingly agile for an animal his size, sprung into the air, catching one of the strips in his mouth and hitting the other with his tail, causing it to fly into his open mouth. All of that happened before he even started to fall back down. When he hit the water, about half of the water in the pool went out in a splash. It didn't hit me or Zia. What it did hit was an invisible was an invisible wall that seemed to go all the way around the pool.

I looked at her and she said, "Drowah. Boundary. I made it just so the water couldn't get out, but I could still throw the bacon in."

"Wow. Impressive."

"What can I say, he's one smart crocodile." She tossed in another piece of bacon.

I followed suit and said, "I was talking about what you did."

"What, tossing the bacon? It's not that very impressive Carter."

"No, the wall around the pool. What would make you think about tossing bacon?" This conversation was veering way off course, and I had no idea why.

"Oh, that? That's nothing either. I learned how to do that during my first year of training."

"Just the fact that you thought of it. I probably would've just been soaked to the bone before it even occurred to me to do something like that."

Zia seemed to be considering this. "Probably. Now will you do the honors of feeding Philip his last piece of bacon for the day?" She said this last bit in a British accent. Coming out of Zia's mouth, it sounded pretty funny.

I said, also in a British accent, "Why, of course, my lady." I bowed dramatically and tossed Philip his bacon with a flourish. "Now what do you fancy on doing this evening?"

She took my hand in hers and replied, "Why, thank you for asking. I do believe just a small walk in the park and some supper would suffice." We started walking towards the door when she added, "Only if I get to do it with you."

We were both enjoying ourselves, talking in our accents. "That's a splendid idea. There's simply nothing I would like to do more!"

We couldn't take it anymore and just busted out laughing on the spot. When I was closing the door behind me, I heard Sadie yell, "Stop mocking my accent! Besides, you're doing it wrong. Your-" I closed the door so I didn't have to listen to her monologue. Zia and I both started laughing again and we definitely weren't going to stop anytime soon. I was stupid for worrying so much before.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Zia and I were finishing off the "house special" pizza at Ignazios Pizza when I heard some kids at the next table talking in British accents like Zia and I had earlier.

"Hey Zia?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this is completely off topic, but have you noticed that when people talk in British accents, they start a lot of their sentences with 'why?'"

She blinked at my extremely random question, but must have heard the kids next to us. She looked over at them, and when she looked back at me, she was smiling. "They do, don't they? Too bad Sadie doesn't talk like that. That would be hilarious."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The sun was starting to set, but neither of us had any intention of going back to Brooklyn House. We were hand in hand, not talking to each other, just enjoying each others company. It was a nice change from the constant noise back home. I would take a comfortable silence over a friendly talk any day. Silence speaks volumes. The only thing we had said to each other was:

"Carter?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Yay mushy/cheesy endings! It just hit me a few days ago that this story is almost over. :'( A depressing thought, isn't it?