Non-Denominational Secret Santas

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Higher Ground characters or locations. The only thing I made up was the plot.

Chapter 1: The Drawing

"So what's Peter's latest torture?" Daisy asked, curling tightly into the warmth of her armchair. She looked around at the assembled Cliffhangers: Ezra, Kat, Auggie, Scott, and Shelby. The latter two sat slightly apart from the rest, engrossed in their own private conversation.

Ezra, sitting on the floor by Daisy's chair, frowned thoughtfully. "A camp-out. One that lasts multiple days and involves soul-searching and other such horrors."

"In the snow?" Kat shook her head. "You know Peter's not that cruel. Not even when he's in a bad mood."

"A hike, then," Ezra amended. "We've done those in the snow before."

Auggie shrugged. "That's not so bad. Hikes are cool."

Juliette came bounding in then, dropping down onto the couch beside Auggie. "Hey, guys! Seen Peter or Sophie?"

"Not yet, Jules," Auggie said. He couldn't help smiling when she came into the room. She had that effect on him. "Give 'em five minutes."

"You know what this meeting's about?" Ezra asked.

"No idea," Juliette answered.

"Our wondering is over," Daisy announced. She gestured at the door. "Here come the voices of authority."

Sophie and Peter entered together, discussing what sounded like the geometry test the Cliffhangers would take the next day. As they approached the group, Sophie blatantly sat down between Scott and Shelby, effectively separating them. Peter continued to the front of the group.

"Hey gang, how's it going?"

"Please don't make us do a hike," Ezra said. "We'll take KP duties for the next week. But it's snowy out there."

Peter looked slightly confused. "You want KP?"

"Shut up, E-Z!" Scott hissed, having missed the earlier conversation. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind."

"All right, Cliffhangers," Peter began. Then he paused. "Where's David?"

"Right here," said the Trackers' counselor, hustling the dark-haired boy over to his own group. She shoved him onto the couch beside Juliette and Auggie. "Stay here, David. This is your group."

David offered a broad smile. "But there are hotter girls in your group."

"David…" Sophie nudged him from behind. "That's enough."

"Sorry," he said, turning around and beaming angelically at her. "You're still the hottest, Soph."

"David, you want to have a discussion later?" Peter asked. The answer was negative. "Then that's quite enough."

The Trackers' counselor left and the Cliffhangers returned their attention to Peter. "Okay," he said, starting again. "As you know, the holiday season is upon us."

"Indeed it is," Daisy said dryly. "I can practically smell the chestnuts roasting on an open fire."

"That's the Ridge Runners burning dinner," Shelby corrected. David broke into laughter.

"Come on, guys," Kat said. "Listen up."

"Thank you, Katherine," Peter said. "If you'd be so kind as to direct your attention here, I'll finish what I'm going to say, and you can have free time for an hour. If not, we can take as long as necessary here before going directly into math class."

"We'll listen." Juliette hoped to have some free time to hang out with Auggie or do something fun before sitting in a classroom and listening to Sophie explain trigonometry or whatever it was that they were learning.

"This year, we're going to have a gift exchange," Peter explained. "Every one of you is going to give a gift to one other Cliffhanger, and in turn, each of you will receive a gift from one of your groupmates."

"Peter, that's a great idea and all," Auggie interrupted. "But if you haven't noticed, we don't really have much of an income here at Horizon. Or opportunities to go shopping."

"I know, Aug," Peter said. "You'll have to be resourceful. Make your gift. Put some time into it. On December twenty-first, before you all leave for your winter vacation, we'll all gather again and exchange presents. When you give your gift, you must give a short explanation of why you chose to do what you did."

"So this is Secret Santas, isn't it?" Ezra asked.

"I hate Secret Santas," Shelby muttered.

"It's just a gift exchange," Sophie replied. "We aren't going to get into any traditional holiday phrasing."

"Oooh." Daisy feigned excitement. "Non-denominational Secret Santas!"

"You can think of it that way," Peter said. He pulled several scraps of paper from his pocket and dropped them into a board game's box. Shaking it slightly, he went to Daisy. "Everyone's name is in this box. Draw one, but don't let anyone know whose name you got. It's top secret until the twenty-first. Got it?"

There were several mumbled yeahs, so Peter held the box out to Daisy. Eyes squeezed shut in an exaggerated show, she drew a scrap of paper and looked at it.

"Oh goody."

"No remarks," Sophie said. "Nothing that might give a hint as to the identity of your person."

Daisy shoved her paper into her pocket as Peter held the box out to Ezra, Auggie, Juliette, David, Kat, Scott, and finally Shelby.

David, upon drawing his paper, started dancing around the room. Peter caught him long enough to glance at the paper, then warned, "David, be appropriate." David grinned.

Shelby glanced at Scott. He glanced up at her and winked. She smiled. Perfect. Maybe Secret Santas—er, non-denominational Secret Santas—would work out for her for the first time this year.

"What if we don't know what to get the person we have?" Ezra asked worriedly.

"Think for a while," Peter said. "If you're truly stuck, you can always talk to Sophie or me." He looked around, but nobody seemed to have any more questions. "All right. That's all for now, gang. You can go have your free time, and Sophie'll start math in an hour."

"Remember that you need to have your gifts ready by the twenty-first!" Sophie called after them. "So free time between now and then might be good time to get some work done on those!"

The Cliffhangers took off, talking and joking, but Peter was fairly certain that they would not share their slips of paper. He trusted them. When they were alone, Sophie came over to him.

"Think this'll pan out?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered. "They'll learn the value of giving and receiving. Since the recipients are random, they'll have to."

"You think so?" Sophie raised her eyebrows teasingly.

"Glad you have so much faith in me." He laughed. "But don't worry. I'll keep an eye on them."