I heard that some schools gave their students a week-long fall break before Thanksgiving. Such an idea made me jealous though, since Taireah High School kept breaks to a minimum. Our fall break happened after Thanksgiving, and on Thanksgiving itself, giving us two days off.

Some of those students also attend big family gatherings, where they can share huge feasts with their cousins, uncles, aunts, and even friends. I envied all that. Instead of having such a merry time with others, my sister and I usually stay home. My sister spent that time working, and I spent it writing.

This time though, Thanksgiving went down a path I didn’t expect it to. Just the day before, I got an email on my computer. Harry and I were working on our stories, so we hadn’t been chatting with each other. Well, a few words were exchanged between us, but not our usual amount.

Itra composed an email to me, and it contained an invitation. I scrambled to open it up, and quickly read through the message. A little jolt sparked in my chest, as I read the words, “invited,” “Thanksgiving,” and “Can you come?”

“Whoa, are you alright?” Harry swapped his focus from his story, “Why’d you jump like that?”

“It’s nothing,” I stiffened up, “I’m fine.”

“Really? Well, you’re smiling a lot,” Harry commented, “why are you acting so happy?”

“N-no reason,” I lied, “I don’t need to have a reason to be happy, do I?”

“But you’re beaming, like, you look like you’re holding something back,” Harry pointed out, “are you sure there isn’t anything that’s really pleasing you?”

“Why are you pressing?” I whined, “It’s nothing!”

“Illate, you’re bad at lying,” Harry chuckled, “but fine, I’ll leave you alone for now.”

With that, Harry turned his attention back to his writing. So, I faced my computer again, looking over the email over and over, just to make sure that I read it correctly the last time.

“Itra really invited me,” I whispered to myself, “she’s really kind, huh?”

The next day, I ravaged my closet, searching for the perfect clothes to wear to her party. Attending her party in a tank top and shorts could be seen as rude, yet I might stick out as weird arriving in a suit. Then again, I didn’t have anything that expensive. Only my school uniform could be called formalwear.

I pulled out T-shirt after T-shirt, and nothing stuck out to me. Panic started to well up in me, as I poured over my outfits. None of them would work, I needed something that would work in a party.

Without an answer, I decided to grab help from the only one I knew that had experience with parties. My sister, Elliot, must have known something about what to wear. She didn’t seem too busy today, so she might have extra time to pick something out for me.

Mustering up my little pools of courage, I strode over to the door to the office she slept in. All day, Elliot locked herself away in this room, where she worked on editing for her boss. Other than that, she came out to cook meals for me, when she had to.

Despite her boring life now, I remember her having a very active lifestyle. Leaving the house on a regular basis and chatting on the phone with a variety of people sat among the large list of the things she did. I hoped she would be able to call upon her past to help me now. So, I knocked on her door.

After opening the door, Elliot greeted me with, “What is it?”

“I need some help,” I told her, “Itra invited me to her Thanksgiving party, and…”

“Oh? You mean that girl that you’ve been thinking of all day?” Elliot asked, “You’re going to a party, huh…alright, tell me, what things do you need help with? Do you need me to drop you off?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Well, now that you mention it, I guess it would be helpful if you dropped me off,” I muttered, “but I was wondering if you could help me with, uh, picking out clothes?”

“Really? You want help with choosing what to wear?” Elliot questioned, “Just wear whatever, unless there’s some dress code.”

“Itra didn’t mention one,” I responded, “but what if I wear something weird?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Elliot soothed, “your clothes don’t matter, as long as you don’t dress like a clown, I think you’ll do well.”

“You really think so?” I asked, “Will I really be okay?”

“That’s right,” Elliot affirmed, “no one’s going to judge you just because you wore a red shirt instead of a green one. And no one will get angry if you pick out a jacket to wear in the cold.”

“O-okay…but still,” I insisted, “I should wear something that doesn’t attract too much attention then, right?”

Elliot laughed to herself, then shooed me away, “Just wear what you want.”

In the end, I didn’t get any complete answers on what I should wear. But, that didn’t mean that Elliot’s advice didn’t help me. Despite her not coming out and picking my clothes for me, she did clear my anxiety. Perhaps that helped me better than any hands on assistance would have.

That left me leaving my room in a simple shirt and pants. They were still meant for formal events, but I didn’t wear a full-on tuxedo. I just donned a long-sleeved, button-up shirt with pants and a belt.

Elliot stood in the hallway, waiting for me with her keys. She asked, after I came out, “Are you ready? I hope you don’t think arriving in a beat-up coupe isn’t good enough for the party.”

“It’s fine,” I replied, “that’s probably better than arriving on a bicycle.”

“Hah, I guess,” Elliot gestured for me to follow her, as she made her way to the door, “come on now, we need to go to the parking garage across the street. Be glad we didn’t sell the car for money yet.”

“Yeah, I’m glad,” I mumbled, “but if it’s really bothering us, then we can sell it…”

“No, I’m sticking to dad’s old plan,” Elliot refused, “once you’re old enough, that car’s yours, so you better get your driver's license.”

“Yes ma’am…”

After ten minutes of driving, Elliot and I came across the address listed in the invitation. My heart began to race, the closer we got to Itra’s house, and once we arrived, I made sure to ask Elliot if we got the right address. The huge house couldn’t have possibly belonged to Itra, though I suppose it could make sense.

The monster of a house loomed over us, with its three floors and marble-colored walls. It even had columns holding up a platform over the porch. Their driveway could have been mistaken for a parking lot, and the amount of people inside boasted about the same number as a supermarket.

“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Elliot looked over her GPS, “this is the wrong address, just wait a bit.”

And just like that, all my wonder escaped me. So it wasn’t Itra’s house, what a bummer.

“Alright, this time, I think this is it,” Elliot stopped in front of a small run-down home in a very dirty area. No one here looked happy, and some people eyed Elliot from within the car.

“A-are you really sure?” I whimpered, “This doesn’t look like the kind of place Itra would live in…”

“Oh, silly me,” Elliot chuckled, “I typed the address wrong.”

Once again, we left the area, and Elliot began driving somewhere new. I really got scared there, but knowing my sister just made a mistake, my worries blew away.

“Elliot? Where are we going?” I asked, staring at the open road, “I don’t think Itra lives outside of the city, she walks to the park…”

“Aha! I’m sorry, I got the address wrong again!” Elliot mended her mistake, “Okay, so we were on a track to California…”

“All the way to California?! Elliot!”

“Eheh, don’t worry, we’re going back,” Elliot settled me down, “I got it right this time, I’m sure.”

“Let me see the GPS! I’ll put it in!” I snatched the device away from my sister, and carefully put in the name of the address given by Itra.”

Safely, Elliot and I made it to a plain home with a few cars parked in front of it. While it didn’t compare to the mansion from earlier, it sure beat the slums. We didn’t have to drive all the way to California for the party either, so that’s a plus.

“Okay, I’m going home now,” Elliot waved at me, “I know where to go now, so I’ll pick you up at nine, okay?”

“Got it,” I took a mental note on when to expect her, “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” Elliot waved, before driving off.

Now, I faced the exterior of Itra’s home, with my laptop tucked into my arm. Because of Elliot’s blunders, I arrived after the sunset, leaving me facing the lights shining from the inside of her house.

I can’t wait…