As I carefully followed Alex and Tara down the stairs, I began to hear  music coming up towards me.  When I reached the bottom, there was a  short hall with a similar design to the one under the house.  There were  a couple of doors on either side and at the end of the short hallway  the doors stood wide open to a large hall.

It was a huge room and there were scores of tables with chairs around  them.  There were already a few people sitting around them in  clusters.  Off to one side was a bar and there was a large clear area  for dancing.  The decorations were much like the ones in the hall above  and there was a huge silver banner proclaiming the coming year.

Alex and Tara walked over to a table and I followed them mutely.  We  all sat down, Tara and I on either side of Alex.  While I looked around,  I wondered how many of the chairs would be filled.  A lot of people  would fit in the room.  I felt anxious just thinking about it.

"Don't worry, it won't be that bad," Alex told me.  I followed Alex's  gaze and realized he was looking at my white knuckled hand which was  gripping my useless purse.  I wondered when I had started to do that and  I forcibly unclenched my fist from the handle.  Alex was right; it was  not going to be that bad.

"I'll  be right back!" Tara announced before hopping up and moving  off to talk  to a couple of people sitting a few tables away from us.

"Mister Thompson said bringing you early would help you feel less nervous, but I'm not sure that he was right," Alex commented.

"I don't think anything could make this night less nerve wracking," I  replied, surprising myself with my honestly.  Curse Alex's comforting  nature for making me want to confide in him.

"I know what you mean, but we may as well try to have a good time, right?"  He sounded like he wanted to enjoy himself.

"Yeah," I agreed, not wanting to bring him down.

We passed a couple of minutes in a fairly comfortable silence,  looking around.  A few more people came in and I observed them as they  went by us.  I was wondering when everything was going to get started  when Tara returned.

"I come bearing gifts," she giggled, putting drinks in martini  glasses down in front of Alex and me.  They were filled with an unknown  pink beverage and had little umbrellas in them. 

"What is this?" Alex asked.

"A surprise!" Tara giggled.

Alex looked down at his somewhat mournfully, then shrugged and took a drink.  I copied him, it was pretty good.

"It's good," I said and Alex nodded.  "So what is it?"

Tara giggled again, "It's a Tara Surprise.  I invented it myself."

"Oh."  Well,  the sugary drink did seem to fit Tara's personality but  I would have  been more surprised if she had invented something bitter.

Tara began to give Alex and me a play by report on who was in the room and everything else Tara knew about them.

"How do you know all this?" I asked her.

"I listen," she replied in the shortest sentence I had ever heard her  speak.  When did she have time to listen with all her talking?  I  shrugged and took another drink, hoping it would settle and fill my  stomach at the same time.

Shortly after this, I saw Michael walk into the room with a group of  people.  They went and sat at another table and I studiously ignored his  presence.  The room was starting to get fuller and I was starting to  get more nervous.  While I passively listened to Tara continue on and  on, I wished for the night to be over already.  I only felt awkward and  out of place.  What precisely had Tara been looking forward to?  I could  not figure it out.

During another half hour of agonizing waiting the room grew  increasingly full.  There was a range of ages in the room.  Six of the  other eight chairs filled at our table.  Tara seemed to know a few of  them and they sat by her leaving the only two chairs still open beside  me.  I sincerely hoped they would remain empty.  Tara twice got up to  get more drinks and brought me another one on her second trip.

My  building anxiety and the monotonous pattern that the evening was  taking  on was relieved unfortunately, by a whining, childish voice  behind me.  I cringed.

"Terrence!" Alicia whined loudly from behind me, "I don't want to sit by her!"

"It's this spot or the other," I heard Terrence respond evenly.

"But  I don't want to sit by those boring old people, Terrence," she  wailed,  her tone rising even higher to an incredibly grating level.  It  was a wonder the martini glass in my hand did not shatter at her voice.

"Then sit here, Alicia.  If you had been ready earlier..."  I was amazed by how calm he always sounded when dealing with Alicia.

"Fine!  At least that cute boy Alex is at this table.  Maybe I can  convince him to share with me," she said.  "I'll sit close to him."  I  saw Alex grimace slightly and oddly it made me feel a little bit  better.  Then  I realized what an awful person I was for thinking that  way and kept my  face straight and then I realized the closest available  seat to Alex  was the one next to me.  I tried not to groan.

Alicia flounced down in the chair next to mine and Terrence took the  chair next to her.  "Oh, I didn't see you there, Dylan," she told me in a  high, false voice.  I supposed I should have been flattered she even  remembered my name.

"How nice," I said benignly to the nasty little witch.

"Oh, you actually look quite passable tonight," Alicia said.

"Thank you, so do you," I said warily.  I was unlike her to say  anything even this remotely nice to me.  I waited for the coming insult.

Alicia nodded, as if accepting her homage.  She was certainly  convinced she looked beautiful.  I suppose, had I been able to actually  been able to look at her objectively, I would have thought she did look  nice.  It was the personality constantly seeping out of her that was so  repellent.

She leaned over me and spoke to Alex, "Alex, how are you tonight?"

"I'm fine and you?" he responded.

"I'm wonderful, thank you," she responded in a sweet tone, reminding  me of the way she spoke to Michael.  "I love these New Year's parties; I  look forward to them every year."  Alicia then turned in the direction  of  Tara and said, "Tara, I must say you did a marvelous job of turning  this  drab person into someone who looks halfway decent."

"Uh,  thank you?" Tara responded uncertainly while colorful images of  me  strangling the wretched little egotist danced through my head.

Thankfully, all conversation ceased with the shrill squeal of a  speaker followed by Michael's amplified voice.  Even Alicia turned her  attention towards the podium where Michael stood.  He looked as  confident and as in control as ever and it sort of impressed and annoyed  me.

"Friends, I would just like to take this moment before we begin the  festivities to thank you all for coming today.  It has been a pleasure  to associate with you this past year and I look forward to another good  year to come amongst you all."  There  was a chorus of agreement from  throughout the tables and finally  Michael said, "But I know no one here  wants to listen to a long and boring speech this evening from me, so  I'll take my leave and pass it over to my wonderful  assistant, Missus  Elizabeth Eggleston!"

Elizabeth went up to the podium.  She looked exactly like she  normally did, except she was wearing a prudish dress rather than her  customary pantsuit.  She spoke for a few long and boring minutes about  various topics I doubted anyone needed to know.  There  was something  about coming challenges and teamwork and some other  boring platitudes I  could not force my attention to no matter how hard I tried.  There was a  collective sigh of relief when she finished and sat down.  A few people  moved around and I saw Tara sneak off to get more drinks from the  corner of my eye.

A team of servers started bringing out plates and putting them on  tables.  Tara returned and passed both Alex and me newly filled martini  glasses.  About the same time a couple of the servers brought the food  out, which turned out to be an option of either steak with lobster or  shrimp.  I took a lobster plate, Tara took a shrimp plate and Alex piled  half of the shrimp from his steak plate onto my plate and half onto  Tara's plate. 

Alicia whined about nearly everything.  She wanted a glass of blood  to drink, she did not like how the shrimp had been cooked, the steak was  too well done, and on until I was ready to stuff my napkin into her  mouth to shut her up.  Sometime during the meal a server came and  removed all of our accumulated glasses and brought us new drinks.  Alex  requested a beer.  When we finished the meal, they removed our plates  and brought dessert, which was  something chocolate and wonderful and  seemed for all the world like a  reward for not giving in to the  temptation to gag Alicia.

Finally supper was done, all the dishes were cleared and Tara got us  some refills.  The slow music that had played most of the evening was  replaced by a faster tempo and people were getting up and milling  around.  Tara  kept talking to people who passed by nearly nonstop and I  gave up trying  to have a conversation with Alex because Alicia kept  butting in with her rude comments.  By the time she finally got  sidetracked from annoying me and flounced away, I was ready to take  strangling her to a whole new level.  I watched Terrence follow Alicia  over to where Michael was standing.  She attached herself to his arm.   Even across the room she annoyed me, I was irritated to note.

After a while of sitting and silently watching the crowds go by, Alex spoke up.  "I just saw someone.  Do you mind..?"

"Go ahead," I told him, although the last thing I wanted was to be by myself in a room full of strangers.

"Do  you want to come with me?" he offered and I appreciated his   thoughtfulness although I had no desire to go and meet anyone new.

"No thanks, you go ahead," I said.  I would just sit there semi  patiently until this whole endless evening was finally over.  Alex left  and I sat there.

"Well, isn't this fun?" I muttered to myself.  Shortly thereafter I  saw people begin dancing.  I noticed Michael dancing with Alicia and  various other women.  I was not shocked to see it because anyone  with  eyes could see he was ridiculously attractive, at least when he  stopped  being so intentionally annoying.  I was bothered on some level I had no  intention of acknowledging.

"Dylan, are you still sitting here!?" Tara said as she walked up,  startling me.  "Come on, we're young, you need to have a good time!"

"I don't need to do anything," I said mutinously.

"Oh, come on now!  You should come with me and have a good time!  You  know I was right about how you would look, trust me on this too!   There's no reason to be all by yourself when you're surrounded by  people!  Plus, it's selfish of you not to give me a chance to show off  my handiwork!  Come on!" Tara said as she practically dragged me out of  my seat.

I teetered a bit off balance, but caught myself on a chair with my injured hand.  It barely hurt at all.

"Wow, my hand feels pretty good," I said stupidly, inspecting it.

"Of course it feels better now," Tara said laughing.  "Come on, let's go and get more drinks!"     

I followed Tara around while she subjected me to meeting a number of  people and fetching ourselves drinks.  I was becoming more relaxed and  might have been actually having a good time.  It was pretty easy because  Tara took care of the bulk of the conversations.  I just had to smile  vaguely, nod and say the occasional word or two.

Tara dragged me over towards a couple of men, one wearing black and one wearing grey.  "Hello!" she called out.

"Hello," the one in the black suit replied.  He had short cropped hair and a friendly smile.

"Do you remember me from last year, Todd?"  Tara asked, smiling.

"Of course I do, Tara, how could I forget you?  You're unforgettable."  In more ways than one, I thought not entirely unkindly.

"Oh, you charmer.  Let me introduce you to Dylan."  She turned my way  and said, "Dylan, this is Todd Smith.  He's been at Michael's parties  the last three years."

"It's good to meet you, Dylan.  I'd like to take this moment to point  out I'm not nearly as boring as my name suggests."  He then gestured to  the man beside him, who had a round, young looking face.  He stood on  the same level as me, at least while I was wearing heels.  "This here is  my partner, Robert." 

Robert?  My first terrible thought was he might be the trainer  Michael had looming over my head.  Then I realized this Robert had more  the build of a banker than an athlete, so I relaxed.  Besides, Robert  was a common enough name.  Unless he was a complete hypocrite, there was  no way he was the evil one who was coming to torture me into  exercising.

I smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you, Robert."

"Nice to meet you too," he agreed.

"So what do you do for a living?" I asked sweetly.  There was no  reason not to be sure, I thought practically.  Tara looked amused I had  finally contributed to the conversation.  I wondered what she was  thinking.  No doubt it was far removed from any resemblance of reality.

He smiled and exchanged glances with his friend.  "We own a shipping business that Mister Thompson frequently makes use of."

"How nice."  That you are not the one coming to torture me on the treadmill, I added silently.

"Would you ladies like to dance?" asked Todd.  No, I thought, but  Tara answered before I could even think about forming the necessary  words to escape the situation.

"Yes, but could you just give us a minute first?" Tara responded.   "Come on, Dylan," she said as she dragged me off to the washroom.

"Oh, they asked us to dance!  You make sure you dance with Robert, okay?"

"I don't want to dance at all," I said.  I noticed I was feeling kind of dizzy.

"Please!  Please do it for me!" she begged.

"I feel kind of dizzy.  I think that I may have had too many drinks."

"You've only had a few, you'll be fine.  I promise!  Please, Dylan!  Come party, it's the last day of the millennium!  We'll never have a New Year's party like this again!"

She paused and looked at me with pleading eyes.  She added, "Well, I won't have another New Year's like this one, anyway."

How could I say no to that?  "Oh, all right.  I'll dance with Robert."

She giggled.  I accidentally giggled along with her.

"You really like that other guy, what's his face?  Smith?" I asked.

"Smith.  Todd Smith," Tara said in a serious voice.  We both giggled.  "Yeah, I do like him.  He's nice."

"Okay, let's go and get this over with then," I said, striding towards the door and almost toppling again. 

"Think I need some practice in these shoes.  But it's not my fault.  It's Michael's fault," I added, straightening up.  These perilous heels could not stop me!

Tara just laughed and pulled me along.

We walked back out of the washroom and towards the two men waiting for us.  "We're back," Tara announced.

"Would you like to dance now?" Todd asked.  He took Tara's hand and pulled her towards the dance floor.

Robert looked awkward.  I felt quite the same.  "Come on, Robert,  let's go," I said decisively.  "Although I have a rule that I'll only  dance one time," I invented.  I held up my finger to indicate one.  I  used my sore hand.  It barely hurt.

"What did you do you your hand?" he wondered.

"I tripped.  But I'm not clumsy; it's something that could have happened to anyone."

"I'm sure that you are not clumsy," he agreed amiably.

"Are you just humoring me?" I asked suspiciously.

He looked torn between wariness and amusement.  "No, why would I?  Shall we dance?"

"I guess so."  I glanced over at Tara, who was already happily  dancing with Todd.  I allowed Robert to lead me out the dance floor.  We  danced and I felt incredibly awkward.

"I've never really danced much," I confessed, although it was probably self evident.

"I couldn't tell," he assured me, obviously lying.  I was quite certain he was sucking up to me by this point.

Finally the song ended.  "I'm going to get another drink," I informed  him and marched off the dance floor.  I lost my balance yet again and  Robert quickly caught me by my waist and kept me from topping over.  I  disengaged myself quickly and moved over to the bar.

"Can I get another of those, oh; I don't know what they are called.   They're in martini glasses, they're pink, you put little umbrellas into  them..." I looked at the neat looking man behind the counter blankly.

"Do you mean the drinks that Tara keeps ordering?" he asked me.

"Yes, that's exactly it!  How did you know?" I said, feeling rather happy for no apparent reason.

"That's my job," he said and then went about making drinks.  I  noticed Robert had followed me over to the counter and was standing to  my right, so I strategically turned and leaned on the counter, looking  slightly to the left.

"Pierre!" I said, surprised to see him.  He was sitting on a stool  against the counter.  He had clearly attempted to tame his hair but with  only some success.  I thought it was cute that he tried.

"Hey," he mumbled.  I could barely hear him over the music in the background.  I heard Robert order a rye and cola behind me.

"Are you having a good time?" I asked.

"Sure," he agreed.

"How did you like supper?" I asked, trying to think of conversation.   The main thing we had in common was food, so it was a good place to  start.

He glanced over at me and responded with a question of his own, "Did you?"

"Yeah, it was really good.  Definitely the best part of tonight.   Well, these drinks are pretty good too," I added as the bartender handed  mine to me.

Pierre almost smiled at me.  It was like a blinding expression of joy coming from him.

"Want to dance again?" Robert asked.  I looked across the dance floor  and could see Tara having what looked like a great time with Todd.  I  had to admit she had tried hard to turn this night into an enjoyable  experience for me.  Finally, I turned towards Robert.

"Sorry, I already danced with you once.  I can't break my rule.   Besides, I'm too warm.  I think I'll go outside now.  Bye Pierre," I  said, as I set off, carrying my drink.  Robert trailed behind me.  I  continued to ignore him; although I was kind of glad he did not go and  bother Tara instead.  My head felt rather disconnected, so I simply  charged straight forward, keeping my eye on my goal.

I walked up the stairs and then went out of the building.  There were  chairs outside and a number of people were smoking in groups.  Had they  not heard it would kill them?  I grabbed one of the chairs and dragged  it away from the cloud of smoke that was billowing around.  I did not  need immortal cancer lungs.

I set the chair down and sat down in it.  I knew Robert was still  following me, because I could hear a second chair being set down next to  mine.  I shrugged.  There was little enough I could do but endure his  presence.  Then I glanced over and he looked kind of nervous.  I began  to feel sorry for ignoring him and maybe being rude.  Had I been rude?  I  could not quite decide.  Either way, he seemed sort of pathetic.  Would  it hurt me to be nice to him?  It would do Tara a favor and even though  I was bullied into all of her assistance, I still felt rather indebted.

"So, are you like Michael?" he asked me, in a sort of stilted voice.

"No, I don't like Michael," I said sharply.  Not that it was any of his business.

"I said; are you like Michael?" he repeated.

"Oh, like Michael.  In what way?"  That was embarrassing.

Robert prodded, "You know, his nature."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I said, not wanting to continue the conversation.

He paused.  "You're very beautiful."

"What?" I asked.  I felt startled in an uncomfortable way.

He repeated himself, "You're very beautiful."

"No I'm not," I denied, turning my head.  I suddenly realized the  people smoking had gone back inside and even the cloud of smoke had  dissipated.  I felt very alone with the man beside me.

"I'd like to get to know you better."

I tried to think about how to extract myself from the situation, but  my mind was absolutely spinning.  I wondered how many drinks I had  drunk, I could not even remember.  I was definitely an idiot.

"How many drinks did I have?" I muttered out loud while I tried to count.

"What?" Robert asked; it was his turn to sound confused.

Six?  Seven?  Less?  More?  It was not like me to be so irresponsible.

Robert cleared his throat.  "So, would you like to go somewhere sometime?"

"Uh, you don't live here on the island, do you?" I asked, trying to think of an excuse.

"I don't mind flying in.  I can afford it," he said, puffing up a bit.

I wished I had not drunk so much.  My head felt foggy, and I was having trouble thinking of what to say.

"What are you doing out here, little girl?"

"Michael!" I said, jumping up.  The  world spun and I grabbed on to  Michael for support, but even my spinning world could not stop me from  feeling incredibly grateful for his presence at that particular moment.

He looked me over.  "Drank a bit too much, did we?"

"It's Tara's fault," I complained.  "No, it's mine.  Don't blame her."

"I think that you've had enough fun for tonight," Michael said,  setting me firmly on my feet.  He glanced at Robert.  "Don't worry; I'll  take care of her from here."

Robert looked disappointed, but he reluctantly walked back inside the building.

I was still thinking about my own foolishness.  I muttered under my breath, "It's your fault.  Stupid mandatory party."

Apparently Michael heard me.  "Mandatory?" he repeated with a raised  eyebrow.  "I don't recall saying anything about this being mandatory."

"You mean I didn't have to come?" I asked.  I felt embarrassed that I had not questioned it further.

"Probably came from Elizabeth," Michael commented.  He shrugged and looked rather amused.

He was right.  It probably did originate with Elizabeth.  She had  probably said that everyone should be grateful to Michael because he was  such a wonderful overlord blah blah blah and we were required to pay  his yearly homage.  I shrugged to cover my embarrassment.

"Come with me," Michael said.  "I'll take you home."

"Okay," I agreed, then followed Michael to the vehicle.  It was not  until we were halfway home I realized we had left Tara and Alex there  without even saying goodbye.  I felt a bit bad, but not as bad as I  probably should have.

When we were back at the  house, Michael asked, "Do you want some blood?"

"No, I'm too tired.  I just want to go to bed."

"Suit yourself," Michael said.  He walked inside with me and to the stairs.  "Good night.  I'm heading back to my guests."

"Good   night," I agreed.  I kicked off my shoes and dragged my poor feet up   the stairs and into my room.  I struggled into pajamas and tumbled into   bed.