A/N - Just to clear something up: I said they were in Toronto and I'm not really sure why. It's supposed to be Indianapolis. Don't ask how I got those two mixed up T_T

*****

“So…do any of you three care to tell me what you’re doing here climbing buildings, exactly?”

The four of us had grabbed a table at one of the hotel restaurants. I was currently interrogating them—well, Amelia mostly, because I was kinda sorta avoiding Alexander’s and Louisa’s faces—while angrily grinding up my banana split.

Amelia sighed wearily and eyed the goopy mess. “Only you could make a banana split look unappealing.”

“Answer the question, Amelia.” I gave my pathetic-looking dessert another stab.

“Well, we couldn’t get into your room without a room pass, and Genius here thought it would be better to surprise you than have the concierge people inform you.” Amelia jerked her thumb in Alexander’s direction and he frowned at her.

“Do you guys always follow Genius’s great ideas blindly?” I said flatly. “Because he’s usually dead wrong. Remember the time where he lost that math competition on purpose because winning had lost its appeal? Yeah. What a genius.”

Alexander sighed and shifted in his seat, crossing his arms. “I’m right here, you know.”

I ignored him and turned back to Amelia. “Putting Genius’s terrible idea aside, it’s Thanksgiving break. What are you doing away from your family?”

She must have sensed that I wasn’t in the mood for small talk, because Amelia sighed again and looked over at Louisa and Alexander. I still refused to even glance over at them. Okay, maybe a tiny peek out of the corner of my eye. Damn Alexander for looking so well kempt when I was in the middle of hating him.

“Well, my parents are away on a cruise and their flight got seriously delayed. I won’t be seeing them for the next few days at least.” She shrugged, trying to cover up her disappointment. “So much for Thanksgiving dinner.”

    “Oh…sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Not like it’s your fault.”

My brow furrowed up and I quickly forgot my sympathy for Amelia’s situation. “So then your logic was to drive up to Indianapolis and stalk me?”

Amelia smiled. “Geez, your ego is getting out of hand. I didn’t only come here to see you, you know. I’ve got other business to take care of nearby.”

“What kind of business?”

“The kind that’s none of your concern.”

I frowned, but Amelia just kept smiling at me in that way she knew I hated. Besides, if Amelia was clamming up, I’d respect her decision. We weren’t attached at the hip. We had our secrets. I could respect that.

An awkward silence fell upon the table. I stirred my spoon around the melted ice cream, concentrating hard on not looking at Alexander even though I could feel his eyes burning into my head.

“My dad…let me come,” Louisa offered quietly.

I looked up at her in surprise. She hadn’t said one thing the entire conversation, and now that I looked at her, she only appeared weary. Not angry at me. Not hateful. Just...tired. And somehow, seeing Louisa in that state dissolved the hostility between us.

“Really? I thought your dad would’ve sooner eaten his own foot than let you travel without him.”

“Yeah, well. Growing up has got to start somewhere.”

Before I could express more surprise at Louisa’s situation, Alexander leaned across the table. “Want to know how I convinced my parents to let me come?” he said. Somehow, he managed to make the question sound suggestive.

I nearly choked on my ice cream. “No.” Was I blushing? Jesus, I was blushing. I quickly spooned the half melted ice cream into my mouth to avoid Alexander's eyes.

“I told them I’d bring home the single most important girl in my life for them to see.” Alexander grinned crookedly.

Jesus, who gave him those killer dimples?

“Louisa, you better consider yourself a lucky girl,” I said with a lump in my throat.

“Oh, she does,” Alexander answered. The way he was looking at me so intensely made my stomach squirm.

Louisa sighed. “Would you two stop talking about me like I’m not here?”

Before I got to see more of the Alexander and Louisa show, I stood up and tossed my barely eaten banana split into the trash. I looked only at Amelia when I said, “It’s been real, but I’m gonna leave forst. Got business to tend to. Important Thanksgiving dinner and all.”

“Wait. We wanted to invite you to come to dinner with us,” Amelia interjected.

“Sorry, I’ve got plans already. Maybe we can hang out later.”

“Really? You’re seriously ditching us?” She looked at me incredulously. “You do realize the reason we're here, right?”

“Look, I appreciate you guys coming out here, but I can’t not go to the Thanksgiving dinner. The Chairman is going to be there.”

Amelia let out a foul word that caused all three of us to be taken aback—I’d never heard her so much as insult anyone before. “Nancy, I don’t get you. You’d really rather spend Thanksgiving dinner with those freakin’ robotic math geeks than with your friends?” she burst out incredulously. “Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends.”

“Yeah, well. There’s plenty of time for them all other days of the year.”

“But it's not Thanksgiving every other day of the year.”

        “So? Your point is?”

Amelia rubbed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t understand. Do academics really mean that much to you? More than celebrating the holidays with the people you love?”

I threw Amelia a look. “You realize how sappy that sounds, right? Sorry, I can’t help it. I can’t get out of this dinner...or else.”

“Or else what?” Alexander piped up.

“Or else…” My dad will be furious. “Just or else, okay. Besides, it’s not that bad. It’s a fancy restaurant, and my parents will be there with me.”

“But nobody else will be. What about Kevin? Where’s he? Didn’t you even think about him spending Thanksgiving all alone, away from his family?” Amelia demanded.

My mouth went dry. I had no good response to fire off with, because she was right. I hadn’t thought about Kevin. I hadn’t thought about my brother at all. What was he doing? Was he enjoying himself with Vanessa? Was he even thinking of his family on Thanksgiving?

But I refused to show my emotions. I whirled around on my heel. “Well, you three enjoy your wonderful, loving, better-than-my Thanksgiving then.”

“Oh, we will,” Alexander snapped. “It might not be high class, but it sure will beat yours.”

I looked back one last time and immediately regretted it. Alexander had his hand curled around Louisa’s and she was snuggled up against his chest.

But I was Nancy Pang, Junior Mathematics Tournament winner. This was my weekend. And nobody, especially not Alexander Lin, was getting in the way of my success—I mean, happiness. So I turned around and stalked off.

*****

Dinner at the hotel restaurant called Cherry Blossom was every bit as uncomfortable as I’d imagined it to be. And then some. For one thing, the dress I was wearing (which Louisa would have categorized under the ‘prude grandmother meets train wreck’ type if she and I were still talking) felt like it was made out of porcupine quills. My dad’s tiny mustache was less frickin’ scratchy than that thing.

For another thing, I couldn’t get my fight with Amelia out of my head. Nor could I stop feeling guilt over Louisa. Or anger at Alexander.

Man, I was an emotional mess. I probably looked pretty deranged, too. No wonder none of the other winners had come over to socialize with me. That, and my parents were cranking up the embarrassment factor to a whole new level.

“Ai-ya, don’t leave the snail butt on your plate, Nancy,” Mom scolded through her fake lipstick’ed smile. “Snail butt is good for you.”

Someone started snickering at the next table over. I sighed and resigned myself to my fate. Only my mom would talk about private parts that loudly in public.

“Mom, lower your voice a little,” I hissed, casting a glance around the room. We were seated at round tables that were patterned from one wall to the other. The room had been decorated with white canopies and flowers. At the head table in the center sat Chairman Richards, a tall, severe-looking Caucasian man, and on either side of him sat a lot of important-looking people.

The event was supposed to be social, but the way I saw it, nobody was being social with anyone except their families. So much for making new friends. We were all lousy socializers.

And according to the organizers, there were at least thirty more minutes before anyone even got to the speeches.

“Do you think I’ll get fat if I eat this rib?” Dad asked.

There was no way I could sit through another half an hour of this.

I was so bored that I took out my phone and, biting down my pride, sent a message to Amelia.

Nancy: Hey. Look, I’m sorry about the things I said earlier.

Her reply came almost immediately.

Amelia: Haha, already forgiven. I bet ur wishing u were anywhere but there right now, amirite? (:

Nancy: Ok, ok, fine. You’re always right. I’ve been bored for the past half hour, and there’s a whole other half hour of boredom left. I’m miserable. I bow down to you, O Wise One. Happy now?

Amelia: Very. Sooo how much would u love me if I said we’re outside Cherry Blossom right now?

Nancy: Um…what.

Amelia: R u speechless or what?

Nancy: But I don't get it. I said all those insensitive things to you guys.

Amelia: Yeah, but we're used to it by now. Water under the bridge :P

Nancy: ...Oh.

Amelia: So I think you need to go to the bathroom right now. For a long time. Because your stomach is killing you. So you might not be back for at least half an hour…catch my drift?

Nancy: Amelia…I can’t leave.

Amelia: Aw, come on. Just for a lil bit. No one will even notice.

Nancy: But what if they do?

Amelia: Then say u needed some fresh air so u went for a walk outside.

Nancy: Oh…didn’t think of that.

Amelia: -_- Geez, for a genius, u sure r stupid sometimes.

Nancy: And for someone who calls herself my friend, you sure at non-supportive sometimes.

Amelia: R u coming out or not? The hot cocoa is getting all cold.

Nancy: There’s hot chocolate?!

Amelia: Yea, lots of it. What? Fancy restaurant doesn’t have some good ol’ hot cocoa? Pffffft.

Nancy: Ok, I’m coming. Be there in a few min.

“Nancy, what are you doing?” Dad demanded, nearly causing me to drop my phone to the floor.

“Um…nothing.”

“Good, then try this pig butt. Pig butt is good for the skin.”

“You made that up,” I accused, recalling how apparently everything nasty-tasting under the sun was “good for the skin” according to my parents. They'd tricked me into eating virtually anything with that phrase. Then I remembered I was supposed to be sick. “I mean, uh, I might have eaten something bad,” I covered, wincing and moaning. “My stomach is killing me.”

Mom let her fork clatter to the plate in alarm. “What’s wrong? Do you need medicine? I brought along an herbal remedy your grandmother left. It’s a few years old, but I’m sure it’ll work just—”

“Mom, I’m fine.” The thought of being force-fed nasty, likely expired Chinese medicine again was enough to make my stomach actually roll. “I’ll be in the bathroom if anyone needs me.”

“Don’t take too long,” Dad warned.

“If I’m not back by half an hour, send a search party. Any sooner, and assume I’m barfing my guts out and you don’t want to see it at all.”

With that, I stood up and made a big show of clutching my stomach and limping out the doors of the restaurant. I have to say I handled that pretty well. Hollywood would soon be banging down my door asking for a contract if they knew what was good for them.

As soon as I exited through the automatic double doors, I caught sight of Alexander leaning against a pillar with his eyes closed. Amelia and Louisa didn’t appear to be anywhere in sight.

The November wind gusted by and left me in shivers. Suddenly, it occurred to me that, like a complete airhead, I’d left my jacket back on my seat. Now I was left to fend for myself in nothing but a thin dress and high heels.

It was, in all fondness, a Kevin moment.

It took me a while to build up the courage to talk to Alexander. The bitingly freezing wind was the factor that tipped me in favor of conversation. That, and despite all the arguments we’d been having lately, I didn’t want to ignore Alexander. I was going soft.

“Hey…psst. Alexander.” I shook his arm lightly and he groaned, opening his eyes. When he looked at me with his mouth slightly hanging open, I found I couldn’t meet his eyes. There was a long silence.

“Took you long enough,” Alexander said at last, his tone perfectly neutral.

“Yeah, sorry. Oscar-worthy performances take time.” I looked around, everywhere and anywhere but at Alexander. “Where are Amelia and Louisa?”

Alexander’s lip tilted slightly. Jesus, we were standing really close together. I should have moved back to avoid any misunderstandings. But I didn’t.

“Out getting more hot chocolate. They spilled the last batch.”

“R-really?” I smiled. Or tried to smile. My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering now.

A concerned look fell over Alexander’s face. He reached out and touched my shoulder lightly. “Hey, you’re freezing.”

“N-no, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“A-am not.”

“Nancy, you obviously can’t stop shaking. Accept you might need help sometimes, okay?”

“I’m really not—”

 But Alexander cut off the rest of my protests with one stern look. He shook his varsity swim jacket off his shoulders and wrapped it around mine while I just stood there, face flushing, unable to do anything.

“That better?”

It was all snuggly and warm, and it smelled like Alexander. I was in heaven. “Much.”

An awkward moment of silence passed between us, in which Alexander rubbed his hair and cleared his throat. “So, about, er…Louisa…”

But before I could hear about Louisa, the girl herself was suddenly thrusting two hot chocolates in front of us. Her smile looked slightly forced as she looked between the two of us. Then her eyes flickered to the jacket around my shoulders and I immediately felt my face flame.

Louisa arched an eyebrow. “So what exactly is going on here?”