• “Eric! Wake up! Time for school!”
    tab I started the morning looking at my calendar. November 20, 2125 looked back at me. I realized that today was the last day before I got out of school for a week and a half which I silently felt joyous for.
    tab After my breakfast, I walked out of the door to school. I looked around at the scenery before me. The street was filled with passing hover-cars, which held people going to work. Robots were on the sidewalk making their errands just like any other day.
    tab I looked up at the buildings that were so tall, they grew above the sky. Not only that, they surrounded me. These buildings held thousands of different families who lived their lives as any normal family.
    tab On my way to school, which was only about three blocks away, life was awake on the streets as people were going to work and the noise of the passing cars grew steadily. My thoughts were only on these things for a second though because I was mostly thinking about how I was going to spend this holiday. The answer came to me later on this day.
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    tab As the cars flew by my window on the first day of the holiday, I thought about the conversation I had at school yesterday with Tim, one of those cool guys that everybody seems to love. I don’t know how I got his attention, but when he noticed me, he told me to come over by just a tilt of his head. As nervous as I was, because how many chances does a guy like me get to talk to someone such as him, I tried to keep my composure. I guess I couldn’t keep it long enough because during all of this, I didn’t hear what he had said. I coughed.
    tab “Can you say that again?” I said. He chuckled, although if you can call that a chuckle, it was more like a mumbled gurgle.
    tab “I said that because one of my friends has gotten sick, I would like for you to come to my Thanksgiving Party.”
    tab I thought about this for a second and asked, “What day?” Because this is a lifetime chance!
    “Thursday,” he replied with all calmness. I thought about the days and realized that a week from now, this party is literally a Thanksgiving Day Party.
    I hesitated the second I thought of this and Tim must have caught sight of it because he smiled and said, “Leah is going to be there.” I didn’t think about my response until I got to my room sometime later. “Okay, I’ll be there,” I responded. Tim’s already-showing smile grew even bigger.
    “Great, I’ll see you next week, Eric.”
    So, now here I’m sitting, contemplating my decision about all of this. I made the decision to go to this party because of Leah; she’s probably the reason most guys do anything crazy. And by doing something crazy, I mean go to a party where I don’t know any of the people on Thanksgiving Day when I should be spending it with my family. But, as I’ve said before, this is a lifetime opportunity, and my family wouldn’t care if I skipped one dinner.
    As the days passed towards Thanksgiving, doubts started to creep into my head. I planned to tell them of the party two days before it actually happened, but members of my family started to show up expectedly.
    The first members of my family that showed up to my doorstep were my two grandparents, Grandma Mila and Grandpa Bob. Later came my Uncle Ned and Aunt Beatrice, which rounded out our table with seven people including me if I decided to stay.
    The reason doubt clouded my head was because with all my family being here, they were supportive, comforting, and cheerful. This made it hard to actually be away from them for too long when they came to our apartment. There would be nothing wrong with hanging out with them for Thanksgiving except for the fact that I want to spend the upcoming day not with my family but with people I didn’t know just to see a girl.
    After the past week since Tim’s invitation, I’ve had so much fun with my family that I did not expect. This made me realize that I can have fun as much as I could have at the party except for the constant nervousness I would need to endure. Without asking my parents though, I decided not to go. This is my second-to-only chance to hang out with my family for a year next to Christmas, and I’ve realized with confidence that I should be here rather than there.
    So, as Thanksgiving came with delicious smells and sights, I loved spending time with my family. The foods, such as the Aerodynamic gravy on top of the Technologic mash potatoes, were excellent. Unfortunately, turkeys have long ago been extinct, so instead of traditional turkey, we ate smoked crocodile was on sale in the Space Market. My Uncle Bob made funny faces with the Steampunk peas. I had forgotten what they were like because I haven’t seen them since last Christmas.
    A little after I said goodbyes to them, I went to my room to think about the decision I made about not going to the party. I know probably any normal guy would’ve gone to it but as I saw just how much fun my family was having, I couldn’t pass that up. The smiles, the laughing faces, as I saw those I knew I made the right decision to stay. Besides, I know I’ll get a chance to talk to Leah someday, but maybe not with the “cool” people.
    As I stare out of my bedroom window at the towering buildings, I thought of the other families that were looking at us and how they would think we were insignificant. But, to me, my family wasn’t insignificant at all; they’re kind and I loved them.
    I would give up any day to spend with them as my future progresses, this I know for sure.