"So you're all going home for thanksgiving?" I frowned down at my homework.

"Everyone knows you can't give thanks without being in the presence of blood relations," Nico stated with a hard sarcastic edge to his voice. He never looked up from his complex math homework that he was doing just in front of me. He'd been joking about going home for the past few days but now that it was Wednesday and his departure was looming his jokes were getting increasingly self deprecating.

"And we all know how much you love giving thanks," Mitch teased with a smirk.

"What are you going to give thanks for this year Mitch?" Nico responded blithely, "you've succeeded in getting us to survive the year, with only one of us getting shot!"

"Are you giving thanks for finally getting your first facial hair?" Mitch batted back reaching out and pinching Nico's chin playfully. Nico swatted him away while I released a short laugh.

We were all laying on our stomachs on my bedroom floor trying to get all our homework done before the long thanksgiving weekend. Mitch and Sawyer were either side of me while Nico and Grey were in front facing us; all our books set in a row as music played softly in the background.

"Well in my house we all sit around and sing kum-ba-yah," Grey said with a seriousness that could only mean he was joking, "so I think my thanksgiving wins."

"Do you all braid each other's hair as well and share stories about your first kisses?" Nico tilted his head towards Grey in mock interest, "because if not I win best thanksgiving."

"I wish," I cut in just as Grey was about to open his mouth, "that we could all stay here and have thanksgiving with just the five of us."

"Me too," Mitch smiled sadly at me, his eyes full of longing.

"Didn't you hear my earlier point?" Nico laboured our a heavy sigh, "thanks can only be given with blood relations."

"How could I forget?" Mitch slapped his palm to his forehead dramatically. The hours of homework had put them all in the weirdest mood.

"Okay let's play best thanksgiving story," Nico clapped his hands together in playful excitement and sat up crossing his legs like a small child.

"No one can beat mine," Grey cut in immediately, "it involves spilt red wine and mashed potato in my grandmothers hair."

"Nuh uh," Nico waved a finger in his face, "mine involves plates being thrown and family members cut from wills."

"What is this, a pity party?" I threw my hands up I pointed a finger at each of them individually, "stop complaining. All. Of. You."

"I'm not complaining," Nico's voice was filled with his usual false cheery humour, "do I sound like I'm complaining?"

I raised a disapproving eyebrow at him which made him be quiet and mime locking his lips shut and tossing the key across my bedroom. A reluctant smile crept across my lips.

"All I'm saying is that we shouldn't spend our time complaining, let's do something fun. I'm done with school work," I slammed my book shut and sat up quickly, "who's up for a game of cards?"

A collective groan rose from the boys, they'd lost every single game they'd ever played with me as well as a fair few of their belonging and at least $100 between them.

"Charades?" Nico suggested with a melodramatic eagerness, "we can all act out our dysfunctional family dinners."

Again I shot him a silencing look that made him mouth 'sorry' and seal his lips again.

"Cards it is," Sawyer broke the silence.

"Please no," Grey groaned, "she took my favourite t-shirt last time."

"And it's so comfortable," I teased with a grin.

"Pictionary?" Mitch proposed half joking.

"Monopoly?"

"Can you imagine Cara playing Monopoly?" Sawyer asked raising both brows, "she'd whip all our butts and then put hotels on top of them."

"I ..," I objected but Sawyer was right, my competitive streak would mean that I'd play until the death.

"Cluedo?"

"Do we even have Cluedo?" Mitch countered immediately.

"Okay," I chimed in eager to avoid another roundabout debate, "not a board game."

"Truth or dare?" Grey suggested despondently.

"I dare you to tell me about your shittest thanksgiving," Nico quipped unable to help himself.

"Charades it is," I countered quickly.

Half an hour later I was attempting to act out The Last Airbender to Sawyer and Grey who were on my team while Nico and Mitch smiled smugly at themselves. The 'Airbender' part was causing some difficulty as the boys couldn't hold in their laughter at me waving my arms about wildly. Much to their delight the more frustrated I got the larger and more dramatic my actions became.

"Step up 10?" Grey guessed jumping up as he waved a finger at me.

"Seriously?" I threw my hands up in frustration, "how can you not guess it?"

"It's The Last Airbender," Sawyer rocked back and forth in laughter, "we've known the whole time we just didn't want you to stop." Grey was wiping tears of laughter out his eyes as he chuckled flopping back down onto my bed.

"I hate you both," I raged leaping onto the bed beside them my face twisted up in faux annoyance.

"My turn," Mitch took my place eagerly, "and I want something better than The Grinch this time."

"But it's so easy for you to act out," Grey whined making Mitch stick his tongue out at him.

We spent the rest of the evening playing with easy and quick banter that was as natural as breathing and left me with a pain in my side from laughing by the end of the night. It allowed us all to forget that in less than two days we'd all be apart and each of the boys would be going through very different thanksgivings. Sawyer was the only one who wasn't completely dreading it but he wasn't looking forward to it either. For that night we could exist in a perfect bubble of ignorance where only the five of us existed.