Decisions Ch. 05

"Uh.. yes, sir. That's correct."

"Your three and a half seasons as a starter, you recorded a record of 34 and 5, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. That's correct."

"Marvelous, absolutely marvelous. That takes talent, dedication, and leadership to be able to take your team that far. You did it all by yourself?"

"Well... no, si-..."

"Mike, please. Call me Mike."

"Right, sorry sir." Stasi kicked me under the table. "Ow! I mean, Mike! Right... football is a team sport. I had my team with me. We all had the same amount of talent and dedication to take the team where we wanted it to go."

His eyes shined. "Couldn't have said it better myself. Are you excited for hockey season to begin?"

"Yes, si-... Mike. I can't wait until I finally take to the ice. It's been pretty long since I was able to suit up."

"I'll make sure to have your games filmed." He turned to Stasi. "Anna, I read your biology paper. Your teacher, Mr. Carson, had it sent to the university with the most raving praise. Absolutely impressive work..." The resulting conversation went way, way over my head. I caught tidbits of it, some vocabulary that I understood, but overall, I was left smiling and nodding along.

A complete opposite of what Stasi was doing. At first, she was standoffish and stoic, merely giving minimal replies. She doesn't do well with strangers. You had to get past her defenses. Once Mike did that, she was utterly enraptured with what he had to say, hanging onto every word and giving her own input. I loved it when she was able to talk about things that she was passionate about. Her smile was wide and her eyes were expressive. The epitome of beauty and brains.

It wasn't until our food had turned cold did he finally address the both of us. "Christopher, Anastasia, we're currently reviewing the applications you both sent us earlier this month, and it's safe to say that despite Anna's label as a vampire and a 'menace to society', you'll find the process quite facilitated. Our school has a substantial demographic of monsters and I'm sure you'll settle in just fine."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to get some of that wonderful turkey that your father cooked. Before I leave, allow me to tell you something. Make no mistake, you two are remarkable people. Everyone knows or has heard of your name one way or another. You are more than qualified to study anywhere you may wish. You will find it quite... within your grasp to attend at the University of California, Los Angeles... and if you're lucky..." He gave me a grin. "You may find it quite easy to turn our football team's fortunes around, Christopher."

When he departed from us, we had smiles on our face. Huge smiles, in fact. Things were starting to look up with the encouraging words. My mom peeked her head into the dining room when she saw Mike leave, a conniving grin on her face.

"Well? Aren't you glad I didn't spoil who that special someone was?"

Chapter 6:

We were in the loft upstairs, settled on the couches haphazardly, ready to doze off from the excess of turkey. Well, everybody else was ready to doze off. Lucy was jittery and souped up on caffeine after accidently having a cup of coffee that Jazz gave her, on the pretense that it was hot chocolate. As an arachne, she was just as susceptible to caffeine as a human, if not more.

"Hey guys. It's Thanksgiving. What are you all thankful for?" Viktor asked from his spot in the corner. He had his arm draped around Abby, his mermaid girlfriend, who had a towel under her so she didn't get the carpet wet. Viktor had to carry her upstairs since she was confined to a wheelchair. It was actually kind of romantic to see. He had gotten stronger over football season, that's for sure.

Abby's family was here because they didn't make any plans for Thanksgiving, so Vik invited them to come over. Our family didn't mind. The more the merrier. As it turned out, Abby's family loved seafood and they brought the most delicious scallop tartare that I practically inhaled. I reminded myself to ask for the recipe.

"I'm thankful for my partner in crime over here." Jazz replied, hi fiving Ricky. He was lounging on her tail, seeing as he couldn't sit on actual furniture.

"Oh come on, you're thankful for that every year. Say something else for a change." Stasi scoffed from her spot on my lap.

"Yeah!" Elena insisted. "Say something original for once."

"Why should I say something original? We all know you're going to say you're thankful for Chris, Anna." Jazz replied. While the both of us turned slightly red, we all gave her a look. "What?! It's true!" We continued staring, until she finally caved. "Fine. You know what I'm thankful for? I'm thankful for you guys. I never fit in anywhere when I was growing up and you guys took me in. I love you guys. Some more than others." She gave Lucy, her best friend, an appraising look.

"Me too, Jazz." Lucy muttered rapidly, still jittery. "Me too."

"Anyways, who's next?" Jazz asked. "Here, Ricky, since you're crushing my tail, why don't you go next?"

"I'm thankful that I can stay here without my green card. Next!" He joked. Jazz coiled her tail around his body and squeezed. "Ow, ow, ow, ow! Ok, stop! Stop! No mas! I was just kidding, jeez. I'm thankful for... for the opportunity. When my house burned down in Los Angeles because of those monster haters, I never thought that I'd be able to recover. All my stuff was basura, you know? Trash, burned to the ground. When I came here and met you guys, especially Chris, you guys gave me what I never thought I'd ever get. A fresh start."

He reached over to me and clasped my hand, shaking it. I was touched my his words.

"That's what I'm thankful for, amigo." He said, before turning to Jazz. "Satisfied?"

"Very." She stroked his cheek with the end of her tail. "That was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes."

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled. Despite his boisterous and rowdy attitude, he was very withdrawn when it came to talking of his own feelings. "Who's next? You? Why don't you go, Vik?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You were the one that started this."

He paused for a minute.

"Can I skip?"

"No." Everybody said.

"But.." He began, growing slightly red.

"Come on, it can't be that embarrassing." Abby reassured him. "Will a kiss on the cheek from your favorite mermaid give you enough courage?" While everyone was talking to Viktor, trying to convince him to swallow his pride and go, I wrapped my arms around Stasi.

"Hey... what are you thankful for?" I murmured into her ear.

"I have to be thankful for something?" She asked.

"Yes... that's the point of Thanksgiving... unless you don't know what Thanksgiving is."

"I know what Thanksgiving is, thank you very much. I'm American!" She said, in the best Russian accent she could muster, making the both of us laugh.

"Just tell me."

"We'll say it at the same time." She insisted.

"Fine. Ready?"

"Yes."

"One..." I began.

"Two..." She continued, turning her head around and staring at me with those wide crystal blue eyes that I just adored and wished I could just dive into.

"Three." We concluded at the same time, our faces inches apart. "I'm thankful for you and everything you do."

"Jinx, you owe me a soda." I whispered, my face lighting up in a smile.

"You're not supposed to have soda during hockey season, zayka." She corrected me softly, placing her hand on my cheek. "Actually, you're not supposed to have anything sugary if we want to get super technical."

"What would I do without you?" I leaned in to kiss her deeply and passionately. Except, that wasn't what happened; in fact, I wasn't even sure what happened next. One moment, Stasi's face is in front of me, the next, it was utter chaos. I know that I heard the shattering of glass and the screaming, saw the surprise on everyone's face, and felt the sharp pain at the back of my head.

The rest was pretty much up in the air after everything went black.

To be continued.

*****

Author's notes: Hey guys! I'm glad that you guys still like the series. I certainly like writing everything out. As always, thank you to Christopher, my wonderful editor, for going through the story and making sure it was in great shape. You're the absolute greatest!

I love to talk to you guys, so if you feel like it shoot me a PM! Your feedback is what drives this story and motivates me to write. I want to hear any ideas you guys may have or where you want me to take this story and our lovable characters.