Chapter 1

New Year’s Eve., Tempe Arizona.

Images of people celebrating in Times Square flashed across the 72” television that was mounted on the wall in the living room. However, the volume was turned all the way down, as music was playing from the sound system inside the house. If nothing else, it served as a visual reminder to everyone that the year was coming to an end, with the clock showing a countdown to midnight.

The Marquez sisters were hosting a gathering of their friends who ranged in age from mid teens to early twenties. Felicia, and her fiancé, Tank, had invited friends from the college they attended, along with friends from high school, while Karmen had invited her friends from Corona del Sol high school. Her boyfriend, Scott had flown out from Lodi, California, for the holiday season.

Close to 40 people packed the house to celebrate the holiday. When the girls had asked their parents if they could host a party, the parents thought long and hard about it. In the end, it was decided to extend their trust to their daughters and respective boyfriends, to have the gathering, but not trash the house in the process.

Tables sagged under the weight of snack foods, pizza and cold drinks. There was even a large coffee maker for anyone who wanted it. Not a drop of alcohol was present. Extra folding chairs had been rented for the night, so people could sit, and the sofa in the living room had been pushed to the wall to allow for a dance area. The music rotation was three or four fun, fast paced songs, followed up by one or two slower songs to let people cool off and enjoy a slow dance with someone special.

The hosts had worked for several days to put together a digital play -list that could be enjoyed with minimal attention. Mostly contemporary, there were occasional songs from earlier decades, for the party flavor of the night. Some were even suggested by the parents.

“Mama? What does it mean when he says ‘Everybody wang-chung tonight!’?”

Adult supervision was in attendance. Sitting around an outdoor fireplace in the back yard were Hector and Sylvia, along with several other neighbors, a few were parents of the younger party-goers inside. They had their own quiet celebration, talking and laughing about life and being parents of young adults. In fact, it was for that reason alone that one girl was allowed to attend.

Gina Cosgrove strolled around the rooms, laughing and talking with several people. A lot had happened in her life since the near disaster of being drugged at a school dance the previous year. As an innocent 9th grader, she had been asked by one of the school ‘bad boys’ to go to the dance. Had Karmen’s boyfriend not seen her drink being drugged, the consequences would have been horrific. She had spent a week either in the hospital or at home to recover, while Merced Romero would be spending the next several years in prison. At the age of 18, he had been tried as an adult. The other boys at the table who witnessed his actions were all given long sentences of probation.

Gina was a nerd, and damned proud of it.

The majority of her 10th grade classes were advanced placement, and she was even taking college level classes twice a week at the local community college. As an only child, her parents were happy to encourage her academic pursuits. And while she knew her way around the classrooms, she was still shy in most social situations.

When her nervous father had dropped her off at the party that evening, he was reassured that Gina would be perfectly safe, and she could easily call or text home to ‘check in’ at intervals if that would help. “A number of us have minivans so after the party we will be bringing kids home,” Sylvia smiled. “Sort of a mom’s taxi service.”

Looking around, Gina was able to tell who was there as a classmate from her high school and who were the students from the college. Last year, Karmen had kept her promise to take Gina ‘under her wing’ and make sure she was more involved with her classmates. Unfortunately, she was still shy about dating. There was no doubt that she was very cute, standing at 5’6” with a slightly fuller figure (“I’m not fat, I’m fluffy!”), her long brown hair shimmering with auburn highlights. But everyone agreed that her best feature was her beautiful smile and eyes that held warmth and intensity. The splash of freckles across her nose also helped. Any guy who had more than a few brain cells could see she was quite attractive.

Over near the drinks, a tall, thin boy was laughing with others as he juggled three water bottles. “Who’s that?” Gina asked.

“That’s Martin Baker,” Yvonne answered. “He just transferred in from another school at the end of the semester. He’s another stray kitten that Karmen rescued.”

“Hey! I resemble that remark!”

Gina stopped in front of Martin and watched. He looked at her and smiled. “Hi!” Gina smiled back. “That’s pretty cool. But I was wondering if I could get a drink? Some water?” Grabbing two of the bottles from the air, he spun around and placed them on the table, he then caught the third as it descended and handed it to her with a bow.

“DIS chu’ DatIvjaj!”

“Ooohhh! Klingon!” Gina giggled. “nuqneH!”

“Huh?” Several people were confused.

“I wished her a happy new year and she thanked me,” Martin grinned. “A woman after mine own heart! Come!” he held out a hand. “We shall sit and talk of matters that involve trans-warp conduits and what teams might get to the Super Bowl this year!”