"Merry Christmas" Laura greets.

"Laura...what time is it?" I lay in bed with my cell pressed against my ear.

"Eight am here" she starts "ten pm your time....you sound tired, Partying hard?"

I shake my head slowly "No....I'm in bed"

"You're in bed at ten o'clock on Christmas day?" She cries.

I've actually been in bed all Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Binge watching Seinfeld. That's how I spend my dark day. Hank spends he frantically cleaning the house and baking food, while Thomas just sleeps and plays video games. We don't exchange gifts or put up a tree any more.

"Really? Well, send my love to Dr Frasier Crane" she assumed.

I've finished binging Frasier, now I've moved on to Seinfeld.

"Its Jerry Seinfeld now actually" I admit.

"You live a sad life, my friend," she tells me.

I sigh. Sader then you think.

"Anyway, how's your mum?" I change the subject.

"Having an affair with my father's business partner" she announces casually.

My eyes widen "Oh my god"

That's huge. Wasn't she accused her husband of having an affair like a week or two ago?

"So she's in London with him while I'm in Paris with my cousin Sherry and her fiancé Roger," she tells me. "I presume your Christmas was better?"

I glance down at my laptop that sits on my lap "Yeah me and Jerry Seinfeld had a ball" I laugh.

"Wait you didn't celebrate Christmas?" She cries in surprise.

I widen my eyes, as searching for an excuse. Crap I need an excuse for not celebrating Christmas.

"Um I'm uh Jewish" I snap my finger before sighing in relief.

"Jewish? Since when?" She asks.

"My whole life I guess" I scratch my head.

Nice save Isla.

"Wow I never knew," she says in surprise "did you go to the winter carnival?"

Unfortunately. The maze was good, but every thing else I regret.

"Don't even get me started about the winters carnival" I shake my head.

"Oh no, what happened?" Laura asks concernly.

"Ely and I had a spat....than Kyle got me so triggered I could have torn his head off-" I raise my voice in her.

"What did he say?" She questions.

"Nothing!" I cry "He's avoiding me"

Honestly he can't just ignore his problems and hope they go away. I hang out with the exact same people that he does. Ely can't just hide in the library for the rest of the year.

"No I meant Kyle" she corrects.

Why is she asking about Kyle? She knows what he's like. He's an asshole.

"He just went on and on about how I'm not in a relationship" I roll my eyes, desperate to continue talking about Ely.

Laura gasps. "Oh no"

Oh no?

"Oh no, what?" I raise a brow in confusion.

"Oh my god! Oh my god no!" She cries.

What is it? Is something wrong?

"Laura, what's wrong?" I raise a brow.

"Uh nothing" she obviously lies "nothing at all...I'll call you later, bye" she ends the call.

Well that was weird.

"Bye" I roll my eyes a chucking my cell phone across my bed.

"Who was that?" Thomas questions as walking past my bedroom door.

"Laura" I inform "oh and by the way, we're Jewish now"

He blinks "Do I want to know?"

"Nope" I press play on Seinfeld.

****

"What time are you going to be here?" I question as standing in front of the bathroom mirror.

"I'll be there in two minutes or so" Tommy announces "Kyle will meet us there"

Well that's unfortunate.

"And what about Ely and Will?" I ask.

"Willow hates house parties and Ely-" Tommy starts.

"Is avoiding me" I apply my mascara as my cell phone sits on the counter beside me - on speaker phone.

"He'll get over it soon" Tommy assures. "So have you spoken to Laura? I hope she gets back soon"

Yeah she freaked out and hung up on me on Christmas. Very odd if you ask me. I'll ask her about it the next time I see her.

"She'll be back on the second" I tell him.

The second isn't that far away. He can wait a little longer.

"I know but I need a distraction" he admits.

Such as the party that we're attending tonight?

"Like this New years eve party" I pick up my cell phone as walking out of the bathroom "its going to be fun"

"Alright I just pulled up on your street" he announces.

That was quick. Lucky I'm ready to go.

"Okay, Jacob and I will be right out" I tell him.

"See ya then" he ends the call.

I walk down the staircase, in my short navy blue cocktail dress and navy blue six-inch heels.

"Jacob!" I call "Tommy's here!"

"Have fun" Hank says as standing in the kitchen in a suit "but not too much if you know what I mean"

Why does he look so fancy? Where is he going tonight?

"So where are you spending the last moments of 2017?" I ask.

"I'm going to a bar with some of my co-workers" he announces.

"Wait teachers have social lives?" I smirk.

"Ha ha," Hank says without humour.

"Ready?" Thomas raises a brow as standing beside me in a button up shirt and black jeans.

Thomas looks fancy too. When these guys look good it weirds me out.

"Bye" I wave at Hank.

"Take care of each either please" Hanks orders.

"Will do" I assure as we leave the house. "So meaningless hookups?" I glance to my side at Thomas.

"Meaningless hookups" Thomas cheers as we walk towards Tommy's car.

We both laugh as we jump into Tommy car. I take a seat in the passenger seat, while Thomas sits on the back.

"You two took your time" Tommy starts up the engine.

"Well, it's not like we woke up like this" I smirk.

"That reminds me" Tommy starts "who is going to be designated driver?"

"Who is usually?" Thomas questions.

"Ely" he says simply as zooming down the street.

Ely whom is not coming because he's avoiding the crap out of me.

"Can't you convince him to come?" I question.

"I tried... I honestly did" Tommy sighs.

"Okay, what about Willow?" Thomas suggest. "She said that she will stop by right before midnight,"

Tommy said she's not coming. She never comes because her hate for parties is so high.

I furrowed my brows at him "but she hates parties"

"Why do you think she's showing up right before midnight?" Thomas points out.

How does Thomas know all this? Since when does he and Willow talk so much?

"Wait she told you this?" I ask.

"Over the phone" Thomas say simply.

I blink "Since when do you and Willow talk over the phone?" I raise a brow.

"If Willow's coming than she can be the designated driver," Tommy tells us. "Thank god" he sighs in relief "there's no way that I'm not drinking on New Years Eve"

Tommy drinks too much. Does his parents know that he drink or are they as clueless as most parents?

"Do your parents know that you drink?" I ask him.

"Who do you think poured me my first glass?" Tommy cocks a brow.

"Your parents must be cool then" Thomas looks out the window "I still have to sneak my liquor around my old man"

Hold up. Hank doesn't know that Thomas drinks?

"Wait he doesn't know you drink?" I look over my shoulder at Thomas.

"Of course he knows...he's not oblivious....but he's not like: hey son, here's a beer" he impersonates.

That was a pretty crap impersonation of Hank.

"Mu-I mean dads ex-used to give me sips at the dinner table" I smile at the memory.

"The Sober, tipsy, wasted, ex?" Tommy asks.

"That's the one" I nod "I used to be allowed to drink cider from when I started high school"

"Wait how could you drink and Jacob couldn't?" Tommy questions.

Well because Thomas and I lived very different childhoods.

"Simple...Dad never knew" I lie. "He's so overprotective, right Jacob?"

That part wasn't a lie. Hank has always been protective over Liam and Thomas since their mother walked out on them.

He started getting protective over me when I got pregnant and then he becomes insanely overprotective over both Thomas and I when we joined the witness protection program.

"Overprotective is an understatement" Thomas smirks.

That's a fact. Last year Thomas and I went to a New Years Eve party and he literally searched for us for like an hour. A lots changed, he literally just told us to go and have fun.

"That's true" I chuckle "remember last New Years Eve?"

"What happened last new year?" Tommy questions.

I kissed him slowly, without thinking about the consequences of my actions.

"You can't do that Isla" Thomas pulled away aggressively. "I'm not him! You can't close your eyes and pretend that I'm him!"

That was the first time that he had said my real name in over year. I was taken a back by his words.

"I know" I wiped away my tears.

"Than what the hell are you doing?" Thomas cried.

"I-" I looked down in shame.

"I'm not a boy toy that you can pick up and play with whenever you want!" He yelled at me.

Back then I thought I could pretend that Thomas was Liam, whenever I felt lonely.

"I know that!" I screamed back.

"No I don't think you do" he shook his head as storming out of the bathroom.

I wiped my tears before following Thomas out of the bathroom at the club.

"That was weird," Sarah told me as sipping her drink.

"What was?" I tried to pull myself together.

"Your brother being here" she yelled over the loud music "that's weird, right?"

I nodded slowly "Yeah I guess"

"Where did he find himself a fake I.D?" Ross asked.

"I don't know" I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Oh my god isn't that your dad" Sarah pointed across the dance floor where we see Hank walking towards Thomas.

"Oh crap" I cried "I'm so dead"

"Maybe he doesn't know you're here" Ross suggested just as Hank redirects his gaze at me. "....good luck"

"Thanks" I held my breath.

"Cara Johnson" He screamed from across the club.

"He dragged us by our ears out of that club" Thomas smiles at the memory.

"So you and Jacob used to hate each other?" Tommy cocks a brow.

Yeah pretty much.

"Hate is a strong word," Thomas tells him.

"We just...weren't that close I guess" I admit.

We've changed a lot, especially since we were located here.

"That's a shame" Tommy parks his car in front of a large house "you guys make a great team"

Thomas and I fall silent as we jump out of the car, and begin making our way to the front door. A good team huh?

"So uh...whose house is this anyway?" I question.

"Got no idea" Tommy admits as we enter the crowded house. "Someone from the team, I think"

The football team do throw great parties. What I find concerning is that Tommy doesn't actually know whose house this is.

"That's not at all concerning" I say sarcastically.