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    I watched him silently, trying to think of a good way to explain to my mother that I was going to be at a cemetery on New Year’s Eve. Alone. With a boy. A very, very handsome, charming, utterly strange, mysterious boy. Did I mention handsome already? Yeah. Very handsome. There’s no way in hell she’d let me come. Nope. No way. Mom had no objections to me dating boys in public places, or having dinner at home, but she’d have a big objection to me being completely alone with one, especially at a cemetery.
    Tristan took my silence as rejection. “It’s all right if you don’t want to,” he said quietly. He looked so crestfallen and sad.
    “No, it’s not that! I was just thinking that I’ll have to come up with a good excuse so my mom will let me, but I’ll come!” I said, cursing myself mentally. What was I doing? There’s no way I could keep this promise.
    “Really? You’ll come?” he asked excitedly.
    “Yeah. It should be fun!” Crap. Crap. Crap . Stop making promises you know you can’t keep, Joey!
    “Swell!” he cheered.
    “What?”
    “What, what?” he asked, confused.
    “What did you just say?”
    “I said, it’ll be great! So you’re really coming?”
    “Yes, I’m coming,” I said, smiling. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that my mom would never let me. I never had anyone wanting me to be somewhere as badly as he did …
    Wait! Was this like … a date? Was he asking me out on a date? Or was it just a goodbye-old-year party type of thing? A big send-off before I left for school? I was still pondering that when he turned around, like he’d just remembered something really important.
    “So … I have to go now, Joey. But I’ll see you around, right? We have all week until Friday night! I’ll talk to you later, okay?” he said, standing up really fast and running away, waving me goodbye. “And thanks again for your amazing gift! I loved it!” he yelled from far away.
    I felt warm inside my chest, despite the cold wind brushing past me. How could I say no to him? He was the most amazing boy I had ever met! New Year’s Eve with him would be incredible. Maybe I could get a hug from him at midnight! Or even a quick kiss? It was a New Year’s tradition after all, right?
    I sighed heavily and felt really sad about going away to boarding school. That would mean leaving Tristan behind. Well, I could always visit him at weekends, when I came to see my mom. That was a plan of sorts. I walked back home with mixed feelings of excitement, sadness and worry. I needed to find a way to trick my mom into letting me go out on New Year’s Eve. But what would I tell her?
    The week went by like a hurricane. There was just so much to do, and so little time!
    I had to go shopping with my mom, to buy new clothes for my new school. I got mostly sports clothes, baggy jeans, big sweats and Converse shoes, to my mother’s utmost chagrin. I like being comfortable!
    And after that came the best surprise news ever. I was having breakfast in the kitchen when my mom walked in asking me what I was doing tonight for New Year’s Eve. Luckily, she had her back to me, or she would have seen me almost choking on my cereal. Before I could come up with a lie, she told me her office was throwing a big party, and asked me if I wanted to come.
    I, of course, told her that I wasn’t in the mood for office parties (just cemetery ones), but that she should definitely go (please, please, just go!), that I would be at home, chilling out (not!). I even told her she didn’t need to call me at midnight because I’d probably be sleeping. She knew that I wasn’t a big fan of New Year parties, never had been. Some years I’d spent the whole evening sleeping through it all. So she didn’t think much of it. I, on the other hand, could NOT believe my luck! It was destiny giving me a thumbs-up to my New Year’s cemetery celebration! I didn’t even need to come up with a lie; Mom handed all of it to me on a silver