It's been a week since the day Mia and Noah told me they were dating. Today was December 21st, and the last day of our finals week at school. After today we have a two week break from school. During those two weeks, both Christmas and my birthday happen. And this birthday is the one I had been waiting 12 years for.

 

I still hadn’t made a decision about what Aria and Anthem had asked me. I always expected to finish high school, but this would basically be that.

 

Over the last week I had also been texting with Liliana and Willow. I hadn’t asked them what they thought about it yet.

 

Today was the last day of finals for our school. I expected to do good in all of them but was still nervous about the outcomes, but there is a chance I will never find out how I did.

 

A lot of what I texted with Willow about was finals. She asked for tips around the classes she is taking right now. She is one grade below me right now so those classes are ones I had taken in the past.

 

Since I didn’t have anything to do at school after the test was done, I started making my way home.

 

As I left the school, I saw Mia and Noah hanging out with their friend group. A few of the members saw me as well and turned away from me. I didn’t care what they did.

 

On my way home, I noticed how cold it had gotten. It was the start of winter and it was expected to get colder as winter went on but I had to start thinking about wearing warmer clothes.

 

My walk home is very uneventful.

 

But when I got home, I found something shocking.

 

My parents home.

 

My parents often travel for work, and because the anniversary of the first outbreak is in December, they often have more work this time of year. They usually make it home in time for Christmas, but they very rarely are home for my birthday, either leaving on the 26th or early on the 27th. They usually only get back on the 23rd or 24th as well so they are only home for a few days.

 

In return, they usually are home for all of the summer months.

 

Them not being home for my birthday never really mattered to me. I usually refused to celebrate anyway. I was once told that on my 5th birthday, the first one I had in this family, I refused to even leave my room, but I don’t remember that.

 

My birthday is actually one of the two things I remember from before my 4th birthday, and my birth family. The other is my first name.

 

When I enter my house, I find my whole family hanging out in the living room. Aria and Anthem were home as well.

 

“Welcome home, Zenith.” my mom said seeing me come in. “How was your last day of finals?”

 

“Hi mom. They were fine” I told her.

 

“Oh really, just fine. You know, my guess is top of the class. The third valedictorian in the family” my dad said in an excited tone. Anthem and Aria had tied for valedictorian when they graduated, something that dad was super excited about.

 

But his comment bugged me. I had asked Aria when she first brought up not going back to school if she talked to our parents about it and she said she would.

 

That was until mom hit dad on the side. “Honey, you know what Aria was talking about.” So Aria had brought up the idea to them.

 

“Yeah, sorry buddy. So, have you given it any more thought? About testing out of Highschool?” dad asked.

 

“I’m still not sure” I tell them.

 

We spent the night together as a family. Because mom is home, she ends up making dinner.

 

I know I am skilled in the kitchen, but comparing my food to mom’s is like comparing night and day. It's just that good.

 

One other story I had heard about, was from right after I was taken in.

 

I would apparently refuse to eat anything that mom had made, claiming that everything tastes wrong. I apparently sometimes went weeks without eating. This led mom to try to make better food. She bought books and asked me if I could explain what was wrong with it, but it continued.

 

Until one day she made me a simple sandwich, which I apparently cried after eating.

 

After dinner we talked some more about Christmas and my birthday. For the first time ever, Aria and Anthem started asking me about what kind of adventurer I wanted to be, but I told them it depended on if or what I got as an intrinsic skill. I had given thoughts on skills that would be helpful, but that was all based on what people posted online, in public forums, which were never that reliable. Most hunter forms needed you to have a license to join them.

 

One thing I did learn was that Mom and Dad where going to be home until January 7th, the whole time I would be on break, which was super exciting. Having them home felt really good.

 

✾

 

After Zenith went to bed, the rest of his family stayed up to talk about the things going on with him recently.

 

His parents had Aria tell them anytime something bad happened, like the constant bullying he had been facing at school. They also wanted to know if he ever was talking to Mana specifically.

 

“So, last Friday, he texted Mana again?” Zenith's dad, Daniel asks his twins.

 

“Yeah. He had a panic attack earlier that day, and afterwards he started texting with her” Aria explained.

 

“Do you know why he had the panic attack?” Zenith’s mom, Andrea, then asked.

 

“That might have been my fault. I was asking him some stuff about his ‘friends’ and how he felt about them leaving and went a little too far, "Aria explained.

 

“Ok, so its either about what happened earlier in the day, or that” Anthem said, trying to work out what the cause was.

 

“Based on his thoughts, I think it was what I asked. He seemed pretty unfazed by not having Mia as a friend anymore.” Aria said.

 

“Ok, so that was the Mana stuff then. What about the other things?” Daniel asked.

 

“He is still getting texts from that group. It’s not the whole group. Based on who was at the association, two of them don’t send harassment to him, one of whom is Mia, but we have no way of knowing what's going on at school.” Aria said.

 

“Is that why you brought up the test to skip highschool?” Andrea asked.

 

“One of the reasons, yes. But also the fact that the only reason he was in school still is gone now.” Anthem said. They all knew that he had asked to stay in school to be with Noah and Mia.

 

“Well, no matter what, we can’t force him” Daniel said.

 

“We know” Aria said.

 

✾

 

Over the next few days my family spent a lot of time together. Mom and dad didn’t go into work because it was the weekend and then a holiday.

 

Today is Christmas morning. I woke up at a normal time for me, but since I am in high school, my normal time to wake up is much earlier than some other people in my house do, mainly Aria and Anthem.

 

We had agreed that we won’t do anything for Christmas before 8am and since I normally wake up around 6 for school, I have 2 hours to waste. Thankfully I have things I can do in my room without making too much noise.

 

Pulling out one of my game consoles I lie back on my bed and play a game to try and pass the time.

 

That is until I hear a knock on my door.

 

Not really sure who would be here that early, knowing the sleeping habits of my family, I walked over to my door.

 

“Merry Christmas, Zenith” Anthem said, standing outside my door.

 

“Anthem, what are you doing awake?” I ask him.

 

“Well, I just couldn’t sleep anymore. It's christmas. I was just too excited.” he tells me.

 

“I agreed to doing things later because I would be the only one awake. Why didn’t you agree to do things earlier?” I ask him.

 

“Because I know that Aria won’t be able to wake up in time. She is barely going to be awake at 8” he explained.

 

“Well, ok then. What are you doing here?”

 

“Well, I am not going to be able to sleep anymore, so I came to play some games with you” He told me.

 

“Allright, do you have something you want to play?” I ask him, “Also I don’t have duplicates of a lot of games so I don’t think there's a lot we can play”

 

“We don’t have to play the same game. We can just hang out” He told me.

 

So I let Anthem into my room and we spent the early morning hanging out.

 

Anthem does this every now and then. He tries to take an interest in my interests which includes what games I play.

 

✾

 

Eventually 8 comes around and Anthem and I make our way downstairs. During December, Aria, Anthem and I put up our Christmas tree, and we found that at some point someone put the presents under the tree.

 

Since I don’t have a way to make my own money, I needed to ask Aria and Anthem to help me buy presents for my family.

 

I had gotten everyone a present I would think they would like. I got mom and dad things they like, like jewelry for mom and some cologne for dad. My gifts for Aria and Anthem were slightly more personal.

 

Because I spend a lot more time with them, I see things that they look at more often.

 

I got Anthem a jacket I often saw him looking at in the store.

 

And I got Aria a necklace I saw her looking at in a store we went to together.

 

I felt weird about having to ask for help buying these gifts, but it was the only way I could do it.

 

We had to wait a little before our parents made their way downstairs. Mom started to make some breakfast for us while we waited for Aria.

 

And Anthem was right, she really was not ready to do things at 8. Or even 9.

 

At 9:30, everyone asked me to go wake her up so we can do the presents and so she doesn’t sleep until noon.

 

So I walked into her room. I found her sound asleep in her bed, hugging a stuffed animal I had bought for her at some point. Well, Anthem paid for it but it was a gift from me.

 

“Aria it's time to get up. The family is waiting for you” I say to her while shaking her awake.

 

“5 more minutes,” she said, still asleep.

 

“If you don’t wake up, I'm going to return your presents” I tell her. This gets her to sit up quickly.

 

“You can’t do that.” She said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me back.

 

“I was just trying to wake you up. No one is going to return your presents”

 

“Then why would you say that? It's so mean. I look forward to what you buy me every time” she says.

 

“Well let's head downstairs and have a good christmas” I tell her, trying to get her to stop shaking me.

 

After stopping, she said “Alright. Let's go”. She then grabbed me by the arm and lead me downstairs.

 

✾

 

Christmas was very fun. Being with my family is always nice. I received some books or games I was looking at as gifts.

 

I also got new clothes that seem to be quite stylish.

 

The day was very nice.

 

By the end of the day, I was lying in my bed thinking about getting some sleep, when I remembered I should wish my friends a merry christmas. I would normally do this for Noah and Mia, but since I don’t talk to them anymore I didn’t.

 

So instead I texted Liliana and Willow. It was a basic merry christmas message, but it was nice texting them.

 

Then I also sent one to Mana, which I did every year.

 

I got a message back from Liliana and Willow pretty quickly, but they were also just an easy merry christmas.

 

But the message I got back from Mana was different. It seems that Mana is getting more open with her relationship she wants with me.

 

On top of the merry christmas message, she also sent a picture of her in a Santa costume for women. It was very revealing, to the point I could clearly make out her breasts.