Forever And Never

"Nicolette!" Raven screamed as loud as she could suddenly, causing me to jump in surprise and drop the box of tea onto the floor in front of me. Rarely could I be that caught off guard, and when I turned around to look at the entrance of the kitchen she stepped from where she'd been sitting on the floor in the living room.
"What is it?" I questioned as I kneeled down to pick up the small box on the center of the kitchen floor, setting in on the counter and giving my full attention to her. She let out a breath of air and after a seconds finally spoke, "Are you going to the Yearly Ball?" She lowered her chin and smiled to herself, and I gave her a questioning look as I had only ever heard small bits of information about a ball at the Youth group meetings we'd attended recently. "The what?" I rose my eyebrows at her, leaning against the counter behind me.
"The Yearly Ball!" She exclaimed loudly, throwing her arms out and letting her smile break out into a wide grin. "It's a big annual celebration that every institute has, and Branch Wood's is coming up soon." She paused and put a finger to her mouth, thinking to herself for a moment before continuing. I took the opportunity to turn and began making the tea, continuing to listen as she talked on. "Hundreds of people come from all over the world, and there's dancing and music and food... Well, I've never been to one since I was still in training last year, but I know it's a lot of fun!"
I turned on the burner beneath the tea pot, then turned and walked from the kitchen past Raven who immediately followed me back to the living room where we'd laid out a circle of textbooks and papers. Once Raven had convinced me to help her understand Algebra better, she'd come to the apartment with her arms full of material and we'd been busy for hours ever since. Only when I took a break to make the tea had she brought up the Yearly Ball topic.
"When is it?" I asked as I sat down with my legs crossed in the middle of a circle of papers, looking up at her as she walked back towards the area. She looked down for a second, trying to remember the date, then having recalled it answer, "Oh, it's on October 5th! The ball is held on the founder's human birthday, and Mr. Marshall's birthday is that date." "October 5th..." I repeated to myself, quickly calculating the time in between now and then in my head. "That's only two and a half weeks away...It's already pretty close." My eyes went to her and I could see the mounting excitement that she had over the event. She was shifting back and forth from one leg to another, and was almost fighting to keep her smile from her face. "Are you going this year?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her as I put my hands on the floor behind me and sat back.
"Of course I'm going!" She all by yelled, appalled by the idea that she would stay home when there was such a big celebration being held. After a second she pointed to me and said, "You and I are both going!" She giggled at my expression before I could even say anything in reply to her statement, and wait until she was finished laughing to speak. "I don't even know if I want to go yet," I objected, bringing up my right hand to push back my bangs falling in my face.
"Why wouldn't you go?" She questioned immediately her shoulders dropping as she spoke. "Neither of us have ever been, so it's only natural for us to show up!" I nodded at her as I thought about the ball, wondering if I was even allowed to go. Ramsey had never mentioned anything about the ball to me, so it was a mystery to me whether he would loosen his grip enough to let me go to the event.
"If its Ramsey your worried about, forget about that loser," Raven stated suddenly as she'd been reading my mind. I laughed at her words, knowing that she was still not very fond of Ramsey from when she had stayed with us. Though it seemed that Ramsey didn't like her either, I sensed that it was more than just the fact that they annoyed each other. Both held secrets that I didn't have knowledge of, and that kept be in the dark as to why they were so hostile towards each other.
"I don't really know many vampires…" I countered, thinking of the handful of vampires I was familiar with. "The entire Youth group is going to be there!" Raven replied loudly, "That's eleven people, not including me. Ira and Damien are going, even Nate's going." She paused to look at me, wondering if she'd convinced me to attend yet. When I didn't say anything she continued, "And I know other people because of Maribelle so I'll introduce all of them to you!"
I pondered to myself whether or not it was a good idea to go, only looking up at Raven when I she fell to her knees and crawled towards me across the carpeted floor, stepping on the textbooks and papers around me as she got closer. Finally arriving, she grabbed my right arm a tugged on it repeatedly wining, "Please! Please come, it would suck if you weren't there! Please, please!" She was practically sobbing on the ground next to me as she pulled on my arm, and after laughing at her for a few seconds I finally answered, "Alright I'll go to the ball, are you happy now?"
She gasped loudly and her eyes went to me for a second before she sat up completely and kneeled back. "You mean it? You're really going to go to the Yearly Ball?!" When I nodded to confirm it to her, she squealed loudly and tackled me suddenly causing me to fall back and land on the collection of papers behind me. She thanked me over and over again, reminding me of an overly hyper dog when its owner comes home. I was glad that I could make her so happy and excited for the ball, but I had one thing on my mind the second I had agreed to go: Ramsey.

"Raven was talking about a Yearly Ball coming up…" I voiced as I stepped though the half opened door to the Blood Room to where Ramsey stood at the counter, looking over his shoulder from the stack of papers in front of him once he heard my voice. He looked at me strangely for a second, seeming confused as to why I was bring this up, but after a second he looked back at the collection of forms in front of him and replied, "Oh yeah, that's coming up soon."
"You're going? " I asked, hoping it meant that if he was attending the event, then I would also be expected to go. I'd already promised Raven earlier that I'd go to the ball, if he decided that I wasn't allowed to go then he would have to break the news to Raven which wouldn't be a pretty site. Ramsey continued to look through the papers in front of him, turning one over as he answered: "Well yea, it's a pretty big deal for the institute. I've gone almost every year since I've been at Branch Wood." He was silent for a few seconds, but once he was finished looking over the paper before him he turned around and leaned against the counter behind him, crossing his arms and looking to me. "Why?"
"Well Raven's going and I was thinking of going as well," I answered as I walked over to the long chair to the left of him and sat down on it to where I could see Ramsey. I didn't see any point in shying away from the main topic at hand, as it was important for me to know if he was going to allow me to attend the Yearly Ball. Though I had already decided I was going and was willing to argue with him to be given permission, it did still have to so with Ramsey's word.
After a few seconds of silence, I looked over to where Ramsey was standing with a curious expression to see that he was grinning at me where I sat now that he understood why I was asking him about the ball. I gave him a weird look and he laughed lightly before speaking, "You're so antisocial sometimes, I didn't know if you'd go if I asked." I watching him as he turned to where his side was against the counter and he took his pen in his hands, twirling it between his fingers half heartedly as he continued to laugh at me.
"Raven was the one who talked me into it," I replied as I looked to the ground at the dark carpet of the Blood Room and listening to the rhythmic beeping of the machines behind me. "Maribelle was telling me how excited Raven was about it, since it's her first time going," Ramsey spoke as his eyes looked to the ground. I straightened my back and looked at him as he finished, "She's really looking forward to it." I smiled to myself as I thought of Raven, and how I was experienced firsthand just how thrilled she was to be going this year.
"Are you excited about it?" He questioned as he looked back up at me, "I don't want you to go just because of Raven and end up having a bad time." I looked around the dimly lit room for a second as I thought about it, finding that I was actually a little excited about going to the event. What Raven had told me about it made it sound like it could be fun, and it gave me the opportunity to meet people and be more involved in the vampire world. "Yea, I am excited about it…" I replied with a smile.
"I'm sure you'll have a great time," He grinned back at me as he turned back to the counter and to the collection of papers before him, continuing with that he was doing. I watch him work silently for a second, thinking of the event only a few weeks away. I had no idea what to expect, as all I'd heard of it had been from Raven who'd simply described it as 'fun'. After only a few minutes of quiet between us I spoke suddenly, "It's just.. I don't have a dress to wear."
His eyes met mine again, looking from the paper in front of him to where I sat a few feet away. "I'm sure it's pretty formal if it's call a 'Ball'… I don't have anything even close to a fancy dress in my closet." I frowned to myself at the realization that I would have to go dress shopping, one of the most aggravating activities I would think of.
"Don't worry about that," Ramsey answered with a laugh as I looked up at him with questioning eyes. "you can just borrow a dress from Maribelle. I know that she owns several from past Yearly Balls, and you're about the same size as her." I nodded as a reply, smiling at the thought of not having to go through so much trouble to find a dress. School had started almost two weeks ago and I'd hardly gotten used to the hectic schedule as well as being so exposed to the public again, now with the Ball quickly approaching I didn't want any more stress added onto the massive amount I was already carrying.
"One more thing…" I voiced again, causing Ramsey to glance up from his papers again to look at me. "I don't know how to dance," I admitted with a shrug and a small laugh, realizing that a Ball wouldn't be fun without dancing.