Me: Hey readers! I love you all soooo much!

Finn: Virtual cookies and celery for vegans and vegetarians!

Me: But we need your help!

Finn: Catluver3 and KingdomKeeperNerdness have challenged us to a holiday fic battle! You go on Catluver3's thing story… I think… and tell her who you're voting for! VOTE FOR KATOFFLORIDA.

Me: It's vital! WE HAVE TO WIN! So here's chapter uno of the Amazing Race!

Finn: This isn't the Amazing Race.

Me: It's amazing and it's a race. Thus, an Amazing Race.

Chapter 1: Purse-Hunting, Fluorescents, and Monotonous Gum-Chewers

Finn worriedly poked through the aisles of jewelry, hopelessly wondering what he could possibly decide to do now. He needed the perfect necklace, the perfect pair of earrings for Amanda. Christmas was approaching, and last minute shopping was on his mind. He growled as he picked up a pair of earrings, saw the price and set it down. He went to every jewelry store he could, trying to find the right price. He went to Jared's! Every Kiss begins with Kay! All that hogwash. Finn knew these were just marketing lines. None of that was true. He sighed as he looked among the rubies again.

"Store's closing soon, sir," the guy behind the register said in a monotonous voice. He blew a bubble with his gum and flipped the page in his People Magazine. Finn sighed again and left the store.

"Well?" his mom asked, tapping the steering wheel as he got in.

"Nothing," he said. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and drove off.

"Crap!" Maybeck exclaimed, digging through the mountains of tissue paper and already wrapped presents. "Where's the pin?"

"You put a pin in that mess?" Jelly said, disbelievingly.

"It was on the orange paper…"

"There's a ton of orange paper in that mountain, Terry."

"Please call me Maybeck," he groaned, lifting up the tissues.

"Only your friends call you Maybeck. I take care of you, your friends do not. I call you whatever I want." She snapped. He grumbled to himself before finding the star-shaped pin for Amanda underneath the carpet.

"What was that?' she said sarcastically.

"Nothing," he grumbled. "Now where's the box?"

"Good heavens, Terry! Get it together! Christmas is only a week away!" she exclaimed.

"Relax. Procrastinating is what I do best," Maybeck replied, once again, finding what he was looking for.

"You also need to help with decorations around the Crazy Glaze. Kids love coming here and making presents for their parents. Got to make it festival! But nothing too festival, some don't celebrate Christmas, and we don't want to get caught up in that mess, now do we? I think not. Now what kind of lights should we have? Fluorescents take too long, but shows we're eco-friendly…" Jelly rambled on about nothing and Maybeck rolled his eyes, having heard similar monologues before. He wrapped the delicate box in purple wrapping paper. He took a tag and stuck it on there, then threw it carelessly into the pile with the others, where he had wrapped Finn's gift and Willa's gift already.

"Be careful with that!" Jelly exclaimed, interrupting herself. "Some stuff is delicate you know. Why, when I was a girl…"

George Washington was my best friend, Maybeck thought sarcastically. Good thing Jelly can't read minds. He would've been dead two Christmas' ago.

Willa scrolled through page after page of special purses. Charlene was her best friend and she had been swooning over this Prada purse and Willa was determined to buy it. Then, she saw the price tag. If she wasn't the strong girl she was, she would've had to have been driven to the hospital. That much? For a purse? Outrageous, this economy was. She was adamant about finding the right one, but cheaper, on eBay. Thank goodness for websites like that. Her cell phone rang and she picked it up.

"Hello, Willa here," she said, still staring at the screen of the computer.

"Hey Willa," Philby's voice said. Her heart jumped into her throat.

"Oh, Philby! Uh, oh, hi! What's up?" she stuttered, flopping on her bed with the laptop.

"I was wondering if you knew what Finn would want."

"Oh, well, Maybeck said he was getting Finn a basketball. Finn said he wanted to learn in October. I got him iTunes gift cards. I think Charlene got him some comfy sweatpants. I don't know what Amanda got him."

"I don't know what to get Finn. Something symbolic that he would wear all the time…" Philby sighed, his voice crackling against her earpiece. Willa abandoned her search for the purse temporarily and searched through the eBay for something.
"A pen?" she suggested, scrolling down.

"He already has Walt's Pen."

"What about something to hold the pen?"

"Like a pencil cup?" he asked. Willa sighed and rolled her eyes. Sometimes, he could be so stupid.

"No, genius, like a lanyerd to hold gift cards and I.D.'s. A pen holder. Something that can keep it safe. Maybe a bracelet holder?" she said. Philby didn't say anything for a moment.

"Oh! I get it! So where would…"

"Oh my goodness! Do it yourself! I can't do everything myself!" she exclaimed.

"Right, right. Sorry, Willa. I have to go find some stuff that can be used as a pen holder. Bye," he said. Without waiting for a response, he hung up. She sighed and continued purse-hunting. Sometimes, she wished she could find a sniper rifle and shoot the wild purse down and not be charged over 200 dollars for it.

Me: How did it go?

Finn: Please let it be good.

Me: Remember to vote! Ask Catluver3 if you have questions about reviewing. I don't even know where to review. I would vote for me.

Finn: Get the other account to do it too.

Me: Yes! So…

Read and Review everyone! Help KatofFlorida win the Battle of the Writers! I made it up. Now it's a real thing. TELL ME! Pretty please?

He went to Jared's!