''Blue, I absolutely adore your shoes!'' Chrystal squealed, pointing at my teal coloured heels.
She probably liked them because of the tiny stars that hung at the sides, though... For some reason she was obsessed with the little symbols. Not that I didn't like them... I loved the way they danced around with every movement I made.
''Gee, thanks.'' I said.
I had been talking to people all night. Every time I wanted to go to the dining table to get some punch and maybe a few seconds in which I didn't have to force a smile and pretend I was all happy, I ran into someone I knew.
Because I really wasn't happy.
Not tonight.
There wasn't any particular reason for my gloominess. I had just fallen asleep kind of late yesterday night, and woken up at four am. I was now also suffering from the consequences of inviting too many people.
My mom had wanted to give a party for Christmas and the New Year this year, and asked a few of her friends to come, Silver had invited Gold and Crystal, I had invited Red, Green, Yellow, Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Pearl and Platina, and my dad had asked a few people from his work to come.
...And their friends and family, judging from the lack of personal space.
For some reason, nobody seemed to mind though. Nobody, except for me.
''I love this party, seriously!'' the dark-blue haired girl said, ''It's so cosy and- is that punch?''
She ran off quickly, waving at me without looking over her shoulder.
Ok, now I just had to find Red, Green and Yellow without-
''Why hello, Blue! A merry Christmas to you!'' I heard a deep, but cheerful voice say.
'I'm going to cry.'
I looked up at an elderly man with a lab coat and a friendly face.
''Hey, professor Oak!'' I said, trying to sound cheerful like he did.
Professor Oak was running a lab quite close to my house. He also was Green's grandfather and caretaker.
''If you're looking for Red, Yellow and my grandson, I saw them in the hallway just a moment ago.''
Could this man read my mind?
''Thanks!'' I said, smiling.
A real smile this time.

I tried to make my way through the mass of people, now and then nudging someone in the ribs or stepping on somebody's foot unintentionally.
Finally I noticed my friends leaning against the wall in the hallway; they were each holding a glass of Champaign.
Even here it was crowded.
''Finally, I found you!'' I yelled, I had to call out to them a few times more before they heard me, though.
Red was first to notice me. I couldn't hear him, but he prodded Green and Yellow, said something I didn't understand and pointed in my direction.
I waved at them and made my way through the crowd. The ground was slippery, probably because of people dancing with cans of beer and glasses of wine and Champaign in their hands. My heels made it hard to keep standing, though.
Eventually, when I had almost reached my friends, someone bumped into me, causing me to fall over.
Somebody caught me by my wrist, though. When I looked up, I noticed it was Green.
I mouthed a 'thanks' and stepped back, my cheeks heating up.
Talking over the cheesy Christmas-songs that were played was hard, so we each had to yell at the top of our lungs.
''Your parents are getting married?'' Yellow chirped. For some reason she succeeded in sounding cheerful, even though her high-pitched voice was barely understandable.
I nodded, ''Yes!''
''I'd like to congratulate them.'' Red decided, raising his fist in the air.
''Good luck finding them in all this,'' Green said, gesturing to the mass of people around us.
Red swallowed audibly. ''Good point.'' he said, sweat dropping and lowering his fist again.

After about fifteen minutes, in the middle of ''Jingle bell Rock'' Gold walked up to us, ''Hey there, you guys. Merry Christmas. What's up?''
''Yeah, we're fi-'' Yellow started.
She was cut of by Gold though, who continued, ''-Good. So, what I was thinking... That upcoming dance, it's not for people in my year. I heard though, that if you go with a person that is allowed to go to the dance, you can go as well.''
I could see where this was going.
''-So, Blue...'' He said, turning to me and curling one of his mouth corners up in a way that would have been quite sexy if he was a few years older, ''Would you like to go to the dance with me?''
''...Er...'' I looked at my friends.
For some reason Green was glaring even more than usual.
''She'd rather die.'' He hissed when I didn't answer.
Gold didn't look intimidated at all. In fact, he raised his eyebrow at Green.
There were a few seconds of awkward silence between the five of us.
''Right.'' I said, ''I'm sorry, Gold. You can go next year, right?''
''...Yeah.'' Gold said.
A few seconds before he disappeared into the mass of people, he looked over his shoulder and eyed Green suspiciously.

Gold was gone now, but the awkwardness stayed.
After a few minutes I thought of saying something useless about our big Christmas-tree, just to start a conversation, but that wasn't necessary.
''Hey, Blue!''
I turned around.
The voice belonged to Pearl. Diamond stood next to him, smiling and waving sheepishly.
''Hey you guys!'' I rasped, running towards them gratefully.
I was glad I now had an excuse to escape from the awkwardness.
I waved at the my three friends apologetically, and then turned around screaming ''Merry Christmas!'' at the two boys.
''You said it.'' Said Pearl and Diamond simultaneously.
I wondered how they always did that.
''Where's Platina? I thought she'd come, too.'' I noticed.
''She's here, somewhere.'' Diamond said, ''I dunno where exactly, though. I believe she was talking to your dad the last time I saw her.''
''That's too bad... I would have liked to wish her a merry Christmas, too.''
The two boys looked at each other and then turned to me, ''You rarely talk to her, do you?''
I looked up at them, ''I saw her in the children's hospital... My dad told me what kind of work she does there.''
I smiled, brushing a strand of hair out of my face, ''I think she kind of... Gained my respect.''
When I looked up again I noticed they were both smiling at me.
''What's up with the idiotic smirks?!'' I asked them, but they just shrugged.
I punched Pearl's arm, pouting, ''Tell me.''
He just patted my head, and said, ''I heard the Christmas-cake is good. I'm gonna have some.''
''Where is it?!'' Diamond yelled, suddenly awoken from his daze.
They then left, walking into the direction of the living room.

For some reason the music seemed to be turned up with every minute. I could now barely hear people talking, even when they were standing right next to me.
I was now talking to Green, if you could call it talking.
He said something, but I couldn't understand him.
''You did what?'' I yelled randomly. Honestly, I didn't hear a thing he was saying.
He tried to talk over the music, but I still couldn't understand, ''What?!''
He sighed, and then tried yelling at me again.
Unfortunately, at the same second he started yelling, the music was turned down.
''-THAT DRESS LOOKS NICE ON YOU!'' mercilessly echoed through the house.
Everybody had stopped talking and turned their heads in our direction.
After a few seconds of silence the corners of my mouth slowly turned up.
I tried to stop myself from laughing and say thanks, but it was in vain.
In a few seconds I burst out laughing so badly that the tears were streaming down my face.
When I looked up at Green, my vision was blurred, so I could only make out his silhouette, though it looked like he was chuckling too.
For some reason everyone else was still silent, even when Green also burst out laughing.
''Er... Excuse me?'' I heard a hesitating voice say -through a microphone, judging from the volume- trying to get some attention.
I wiped away my tears and peeked around the corner from the corridor, still chuckling slightly. It was my mother who had been talking through the microphone. She was standing on the small stage covered in Christmas-decorations my father and Silver hand spent all afternoon on.
''There are things in a man's life that they want to be perfect''they had answered me when I asked them why they worked on a thing like that for so long. Tsk, men could be so naive.
I noticed my mom was shivering slightly.
I now knew where I had gotten my stage fright from.
''So, welcome to the party and a belated Merry Christmas to you all!'' There were a few seconds of applause and cheering, before the woman continued talking, ''We'll start the countdown in about half an hour! In the meantime my daughter Blue will entertain you with a few songs.'' She finished, smiling at me.
I gasped, and looked at Green. All signs that we had been laughing like crazy just minutes before had disappeared from both our faces.
''It'll be ok, as soon as you've started singing, all worries will disappear. It's always like that.'' he paused a while, and then added, ''If you think you'll faint, try closing your eyes.''
I nodded. I could feel my skin turn white.

When I arrived at the stage, which went quite quickly noticing everybody made way for me, someone gave me my guitar and pushed me towards the stage.
I didn't expect that, causing me to trip. Luckily I could stop myself from falling by grabbing a hold of the microphone stand just in time.
I could hear some laughing from the crowd, and swallowed.
The room was very crowded. Everywhere I looked were faces, and everywhere I looked they were looking at me.
I blinked a few times, afraid that if I didn't I would faint, like at the talent show.
Then, all of a sudden, I noticed all of my friends standing together. Even Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Pearl and Platina were there. They were all waving smiling encouragingly.
They wanted me to do this.
My friends believed in me.
I couldn't let them down.
'I can do this.' flashed through my mind.
I then sat down on a bar stool that had been placed on the stage -probably for me- cleared my throat, closed my eyes and started singing.

''2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake,
"Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?,
I don't love him. Winter just wasn't my season"
Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes
Like they have any right at all to criticize,
Hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason

'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl.
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe... just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe

May he turned 21 on the base at Fort Bliss
"Just a day" he said down to the flask in his fist,
"Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year."
Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while,
But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
Wanna hold him. Maybe I'll just sing about it.

Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table.
No one can find the rewind button, boys,
So cradle your head in your hands,
And breathe... just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe

There's a light at each end of this tunnel,
You shout 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
And these mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again
If you only try turning around.

2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me,
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them, however you want to

But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand.
and breathe, just breathe
woah breathe, just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe.''

I slowly opened my eyes. Nobody was saying anything.
I looked around, had I done something wrong?
Then, slowly, somebody started clapping. Somebody else joined in, and slowly but surely everybody started applauding and cheering for me.
My mom entered the stage with tears in her eyes, gave me a quick hug, quietly whispered ''You were great, honey!'' and then grabbed the microphone and started talking again.
''I hope you all enjoyed my daughter's singing -and if you didn't, you need a serious brain check- but now it's almost time for the countdown. There's still ten minutes, so grab a glass of Campaign and gather around the stage if you didn't already.'' She finished, clapping her hands together excitedly.

I made my way through the crowd, attempting to join my friends so I could be with them during the countdown and the start of the New Year.
As I finally managed to reach the spot by the window -there were snowflakes all over it, making it hard to look outside- I was hugged and shouted at by my friends.
''Oh Blue, you did great!'' Yellow chimed.
''Proud to be a friend of yours.'' Red joked, patting my back.
Silver then walked by, grinned and offered me a glass of champagne.
I had, to my mother's amazement, somehow managed to convince Silver and his friends to walk around with Champagne for the guests.
''Thanks, Silver!'' I said, accepting the drink gratefully.
The rest now took a glass of champagne too, and bumped it into mine with a ''Cheers!'' and lots of compliments about my previous singing.
I brushed a few of stubborn hair strands out of my face, and smiled at my friends. I wasn't used to that many compliments.
''Gee, well done Blue.'' Ruby and Sapphire said simultaneously, in the same lifeless tone.
They shot each other a glare, and then looked at me again.
I sweat dropped. 'Why doesn't Sapphire make up with Ruby so we can get this thing over with?' I thought with a sigh.
I was about to ask her if I could speak to her privately, when my mother's voice resounded through the microphone. Every head in the room was now turned in her direction. I noticed it was now even more crowded in the room, since everybody wanted to be able to be present when the countdown started.
I was now squashed between Pearl and Red, while Yellow was standing on my toes and Silver's collar was stuck to my earrings. It wasn't the most comfortable I had ever been, but I liked it. Being with my friends was always a party to me, even if it wasn't to them.
''Ten!'' The crowd screamed, waking me up from my thoughts.
''Nine!'' Boomed through the house.
''Eight!'' ''...Er, eight!" I muttered, a bit too late to join the burst of voices.
''Seven!'' ''-Seven!'' What was up with my sense of rhythm today?
''Six!'' Yes, I was in time!
''Five!'' ''-five!'' Aw, crap...
''Four! three! two!'' the crowd chimed.
''One...'' The crowd shouted. There were a few seconds of silence, before music started playing loudly, balloons were thrown into the air and everybody shouted, ''Happy New year!''

My friends and me all toasted, laughing and shouting.
''Happy New year, Blue!'' Silver said.
''Happy New year to you too, Silver!'' I yelled, hugging the redhead.
I pulled away almost instantly, making my way through the crowd so I could congratulate the rest.
''Blue! Happy New year!'' Diamond said, holding his hand out for a high-five.
I chuckled, and smacked his hand with mine, ''Happy New Year to you too, Dia. And to you, Pearl!''
The blond nodded, smiling broadly.
''Do you guys know where Green and Platina are? I would like to congratulate them.''
''Yeah, they're right behind you.'' Diamond told me, smiling sheepishly. I smiled too, I had no idea his smile would be this contagious.
However, as soon as I turned around, my grin faded.
There they were, kissing. They looked so, happy...
So innocent.
So... Perfect.
I couldn't believe I had the nerve to want to be with Green instead.
I felt like someone had stabbed me right through the heart.
When I tore my gaze away from Green and Platina, I looked at the two boys. I noticed that Diamond was still looking happy. Pearl, however, looked different. He was looking at the couple, too. His face didn't look that happy anymore.
I woke up from my thoughts as Red approached me. ''Hey there, Blue! It's probably going to sound cliché, but a Happy New Year!''
''-Yes, you too!'' I said, putting on my most faked smile.
''Want some more champagne?'' He asked me.
He noticed I was feeling bad, I could see it. He knew that if he was supposed to know, I would tell him, so he wasn't bothering me with it. That was Red. There were these small things that made him compatible with every single person, even though most of the time he didn't even notice himself.
''Yeah, champagne would be nice.'' I said.
He took a glass from Chrystal, with a smile.
Her face reddened a bit, but she nodded stiffly and walked on.
''Thanks.'' I said when he gave me the c.
I gulped it all down at once.
He flinched, and stammered, ''H-hey! Slow down with that!''
We were interrupted by loud banging noises coming from outside, hesitating at first, but more and more sounds sought a way in through the walls and windows, until all of a sudden the whole house seemed to be bursting with loud exploding sounds. Everybody knew what that meant, so in no time the house was empty.

Everybody was outside, looking at the colourful explosions that now coloured the sky, and lit everything up.

''Blue! Blue! It's firework!'' Yellow prodded me, she then clapped her hands together and started swirling around, pointing at the sky.

''Yes!'' I laughed.

Sapphire ran in our direction. She seemed to be at least as happy with the firework as Yellow was.

''Look, you guys!'' She squealed. She sounded way more girly than she did usually.

''I know!'' Yellow chirped.

''Look at that one! It's blue!"'

''And that one! It has like a million colours!''

They started running in circles, but then bumped into each other and fell down on the snow-covered grass, giggling and pointing.

I stood next to them uncomfortably for a while, until I thought, 'Oh, for the hell of it.' and laid down next to them.

In only minutes I was also caught by the beauty of the spectacle that took place above us.

Enjoying even the smallest things in life doesn't require an ability. All it takes is to open up to it.

I actually wrote thischapter on New Year's eve. Lawl, sorry for uploading it this late. XD

~Lion3queen