String of Fate

Chapter Forty Seven

"Fine. I'll see you later." Mark spoke before both he and Fitz left to go to their own room. Before the door shut, Mark poked his head back in. "We're going to be watching a movie later if you two want to join us. Fitz hasn't seen Brave before and he's brought his projector."

"I'm in." I answered with a smile. He nodded and left, shutting the door behind him. I started emptying the box of desk stuff, putting my dragon ornament next to the monitor that I had already unpacked. My notebooks and pens went in the top drawer, my headset, external hard drive, normal headphones, and some memory sticks in the drawer below. The tower was on the floor below them. "I'm guessing that there'll be a lot of movie nights."

"Yes. Mark brought a stack with him. Hopefully, he'll run out by Christmas." Mary replied with a smile, folding her now empty boxes and tucking them under her bed. She looked like she was going to be a tidy person at least.

"Even if he does run out, Fitz will probably have a ton of movies for us to watch." I pointed out, laying down on my bed and pulling my phone from the bedside cabinet. Mary pulled a book from her backpack before setting the backpack back on the floor. "At least we should never be bored with all the movies that they will make us watch."

Weeks passed with the twins getting used to the school life really quickly. After a couple of days, you would have thought that they had been in boarding school for years. I got close to the two of them, it probably helped that Fitz and I were friends anyway. The four of us were in the same class for all our lessons and it was common to find us all studying together in one of the rooms, or the common room when we wanted a change of scenery. Which wasn't actually that often.

The twin's sixteenth birthday came in late October, Halloween to be exact, and we had a little celebration in our dorm room before the school Halloween disco. When we went to town beforehand, we bought cupcakes and snack foods, to celebrate and snack on while we got ready, the four of us flitting in and out of the rooms like we usually did. It was a good evening and it was discovered that Fitz and Mary were destined to be together. I felt like I should have seen it coming since they were good together. It led onto the question of when my birthday is. Mark's reply had been hilarious when I told them. "Christmas Eve? Really?"

"Well, it's not like I picked it." I laughed, grabbing a handful of popcorn as Fitz put on the movie. He was the only one allowed to mess around with his entertainment system because he was so protective of it. None of us minded – we didn't want to break it.

It was the week before the Christmas holidays that I got the call that I didn't want. I checked the caller ID, and noticed that it was my dad that called me. "Honey, I'm so sorry but we're not going to be home for Christmas. We're currently in Japan working on some marketing things and something has gone wrong. We're going to need to work until the New Year to get it sorted. I'm having your birthday and Christmas presents being delivered to the dorm so you'll have them in time. Your mother and I should have some free time when we're back in the country so we'll come and visit for a weekend. I love you, Imogen."

"Okay, dad. Work hard. I love you, too." I replied, hanging up the mobile. I looked around the room, seeing everyone staring at me. They had paused the movie for me to take the phone call. "Mum and Dad are working in Japan for the holidays, so, I can't go home for the holidays."

"So, you're going to be alone for your birthday and Christmas?" Mark asked. I nodded, sitting back down on the bed with the three of them. "Well, that's not fair."

"I'm going to be staying here for the holidays." Fitz explained, looking at me from Mary's other side. The two of them were holding hands, which they had practically done since they had gotten together. "So, you won't be alone."

"I have an idea. Fitz, use my train ticket and spend Christmas with your girlfriend while I stay here for Christmas." Mark offered. We all looked at him, surprised. He couldn't be serious. His parents had booked that back in September, and it had seemed like he had secretly been looking forward to it. "What? It's kind of a win for everybody. Fitz gets to spend his first Christmas with his girlfriend. Mary gets to show off her new boyfriend to the family. Imogen gets company for the holidays. I have a valid excuse to avoid gran."

"She's not that bad." Mary spoke, looking at him. "She just likes feeding everyone all the food possible until everyone is about to burst."

"For you, obviously." Mark objected. "You could tell that after having two sons, she really wanted a granddaughter. With me coming along as well must have really put a damper on it. Have you noticed that she sings your praises and complains about me."

"Fine. I'll take Fitz back and you and Imogen can spend the holidays watching films. I'll bring your Christmas presents back with me." Mary replied. Then she turned to Fitzwilliam and squeezed his hand. "You'll let him borrow the projector, right?"

"Oh, if I have to." Fitz said, rolling his eyes, but he was smiling so we knew that he was joking.

"Good. That sounds brilliant." I told them, smiling at them all. I can't believe that they just quickly changed their Christmas plans for me like that. I had the best group of friends and I did not deserve them.

The rest of the week went quickly and Mark and I walked with Mary and Fitz to the train station for their train for the holidays. There were hugs and promises to make sure we all contacted over messenger. If we didn't I would probably kill. Before heading back to the dorm, Mark and I stopped by the discount shops to grab enough movie food to probably last until they were back after Christmas. We spent the rest of the time leading up to Christmas in each other's rooms or eating food in the canteen. It was a relaxing week.

Then the morning of the 24th arrived. We'd fallen asleep in my room after watching some films on my computer, just deciding that it would be a good change of scenery. The teachers were a lot more lax now that most of the students had gone home and it was the holiday period so we were able to get away with it.

I opened my eyes and looked across the room to see Mark sprawled across Mary's bed. He looked so adorable with his face so peaceful, making me smile. He was in such a deep sleep. I looked at my desk, which was right next to my bed and found an eraser. I threw it gently towards him, hitting his stomach and making him jump up, the blanket flying around. "Huh, what? Where?"

"Good morning! Come on, the sun is up and I think it might have snowed last night." I replied, laughing as I tried to talk. His reaction had been so funny. I calmed myself down before getting out of bed and heading to grab some clothes. Mark got up and headed to the window just like a kid at Christmas. Technically, he was a kid at Christmas. Well, Christmas was tomorrow but close enough. "I'll be in the bathroom."

After changing, I headed back out to see Mark still looking out the window. I put my clothes from the day before in the washing basket and he finally turned to me as I finished pulling my hair into a braid. "It did snow! Uh, Imogen, your finger."

"Wait, what?" I questioned, looking at my finger. There was a string leading from it. I followed it, and it led across my room to Mark. I couldn't help but laugh, making him look surprised. "I'm not actually surprised that it's you."

I walked across the room and stretched onto my toes to surprise kiss him. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me close. He was really strong. He pulled back after a moment to smile down at me. I smiled back at him. "Do you want to go outside and build a snowman?"

I smiled and nodded in reply, glancing out of the window at the blanket of snow on the front lawn.