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She walked to school with her friends in silence the next morning, deep in comtemplation over her dream and what it could mean. Hannah was quick to notice something was amiss and hung back to talk to the Slayer, while Risa and Jesse strode ahead of them.
"I'm almost afraid to ask what happened this time," Hannah said lightly. "Mind sharing?"
Ivory half smiled, looking over at her younger friend. Adjusting her sunglasses, she said, "Long night, weird prophetic dreams... Nothing I could make sense of though. I was hoping to talk to your mom about it after school. Maybe she could know what it means."
Hannah gave a quizzical smile in turn. "Prophetic dreams, huh?" she said. "Just another vampire Slayer quirk?"
Ivory nodded. "That's about the sum of it, according to my mom... I mean, my foster mother... God, I don't even know how to refer to her anymore. How do you distinguish between the woman who raised you and your real parent whom you've never even met?"
"Does it really matter?" Hannah countered softly. "Risa's mom has been the only guardian you've known all this time. It's not as if that's gonna change." Hannah paused. "Look at it this way. While it may seem important that you may have blood ties to someone else, that isn't the someone who showered you in love all your life... Your mother and father gave you life, but Stefanie Marks gave you a home."
Ivory nodded silently, noticing that they were approaching the school by now. "And if my real Dad should come back for me?" she asked, simply to hear Hannah's opinion. "What then?"
Hannah shrugged. "Play it by ear, I guess," she replied. "What else would you do?"
Ivory remained silent, unable to come up with an appropriate response. Then, without even meaning to, she quietly said, "He is back, Hannah. He approached me about two or so weeks ago."
Hannah's eyes grew wide. "You're kidding! And you didn't tell me! Why?!"
Ivory paused. "Because my father... He's, um... Ah, shoot, things are kinda confusing in this case, Hannah. Can we just leave it at that for now?"
With a deep sigh, Hannah nodded reluctantly. "But you owe me an explanation big time later."
"Agreed," Ivory replied, following Risa and Jesse up the granite staircase in front of the school. And, it pleased her to no end that Kenyon seemed to be leaving them alone today. In fact, he merely glared at her as she walked by, the black eye she had given him really standing out.
The day seemed to pass rather smoothly until lunchtime. After her US History class, Ivory walked to her locker to retrieve her purse. Then, she began to make her way to the cafeteria, only to be stopped by the crowd of people around the school's bulletin board.
Spotting Jesse among them, Ivory moved in to ask what was going on. "Hey," Jesse greeted her. "The roller rink posted a sign-up sheet for a private party. First hundred people to sign up get free admission and the place all to themselves. You still have time to add your name to the list. It's gonna be fun!"
Ivory paled, turning towards the posted flyer. She and Willow still hadn't discovered whether Nick owned the place or not. But if he did...
She stepped forward, her eyes scanning the list for anyone she knew. Besides a few people from various classes, she saw that Jesse, Kenyon, and even Risa had signed up. Or rather, it looked like Jesse had added Risa's name for her.
Ivory grabbed a pen from her purse, writing in her own name without thinking. She gave it a moment of serious thought, then added Cordelia's name right after her own. If things were going to go the way she suspected they would tonight, she was going to need all the help she could get...