12 Days of Christmas
Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review letting me know what you think! :)
"...And that's why I think we should do Secret Santa again this year, because it helps to spread the Christmas spirit for everyone!" Riley announced as she walked out of her father's history classroom towards her locker.
"I guess you're right, Riley. Christmases have actually turned out to be pretty good since mom and Shawn got married. If everyone else agrees, let's do Secret Santa." Maya replied as she opened her locker door.
Riley grinned. "Seriously Maya? You mean it? I'm so glad you've got the Christmas spirit! And you didn't even pinch me for mentioning Secret Santa! Well lucky for us, everyone has already agreed and we are meeting at the bakery this afternoon to draw names!"
"Alright, so this year for Secret Santa we're all going to pick names and not tell anyone who we got! Everyone's doing it so I don't want to hear anyone complaining! This is our last year together in high school and I want this to be something fun that we all can do together! Everyone reach in the hat and draw out a name!"
Riley passed the hat around the circle, starting with Maya to her left and ending with Farkle on her right. "I mean it, no telling, because it will ruin the surprise of Secret Santa! We'll exchange gifts here at the bakery in 2 weeks so we have some time to come up with some great gifts!" Riley smiled as she hopped up from the couch and headed towards the door.
"See you all tomorrow at school!"
"Bye guys! See y'all tomorrow."
Maya walked up to Lucas as everyone was walking out the bakery door. "So Huckleberry, whose name did you draw?"
Lucas smirked at Maya. "Now Maya, that'd be telling, and I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but if you must know, it's Smackle."
Maya laughed. "Good luck with that, I'll have to figure out what I'm getting you for Christmas, this is what the fourth year I've drawn your name?"
"Just admit Maya, you want me and purposefully draw out my name every year." Lucas replied with a wink.
"Oh yeah Huckleberry, you figured me out. I just can't control myself around you, and always fix the name drawing to always choose you." Maya climbed up the stairs and headed towards the subway. "Bye Huckleberry, see you at school tomorrow."
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear tree
"Peaches!"
Maya turned around and saw her best friend Riley running up to her.
"Hey Riles, what's up?"
"There's something with your name on it outside!"
"What are you talking about Riles?"
Riley grabbed Maya's hand and started dragging her towards the front door of the school. "Come on."
The pair of girls walked out the front door, and hanging from a branch on the tree outside was a bag with Maya's name on it.
"Go on, go open it!"
Maya walked over to the tree and grabbed the bag. She pulled out the tissue paper and was surprised to find a pear and a Partridge family CD. "Seriously Riles? You set this up? So you're my Secret Santa?"
"It wasn't me! I just saw that bag there with your name on it."
Maya shook her head and took a bite out of the pear before heading back into the school.
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me two turtledoves
Maya opened her locker the next morning to find two boxes of Dove chocolate and caramel turtles, with a note that said two turtledoves attached.
"Riley!"
"It wasn't me, Maya! How could it be? We walked into school together!"
"You could've had your dad do it for you!" Maya narrowed her eyes at her friend. "I'm on to you, Matthews."
"Good morning Maya, Riley." Lucas said, walking up to his friends and interrupting their conversation.
"Hey Huckleberry. Riley here keeps trying to convince me that she's not my Secret Santa, but she's doing a terrible job at it."
Lucas chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Riley isn't your Secret Santa, it's one of our other friends."
"How would you know that?"
Lucas smirked. "See you in class, Maya."
"Huckleberry! Who told you that they drew out my name? It it's not Riley, and it's not you, it's gotta be Farkle, Zay, or Smackle."
Lucas began to walk away, waving over his shoulder. "See you in class Maya."
On the third of day Christmas my true love sent to me three French Hens
Maya woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of a knock on her bedroom door.
"Baby girl, are you awake? One of your friends just dropped something off for you."
Maya sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as her mom opened the door. "Who was it?" Maya asked with a yawn.
Katy smiled and walked into the room carrying a box with a bow on it. "I was asked not to tell you who it was."
Maya rolled her eyes and accepted the box from her mother, who sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Well? Go on and open it!"
Maya looked down at the box sitting on her lap and pulled the lid off. Sitting in the box was 3 small chicken stuffed animals, a beret, and a takeout container of French toast. Maya laughed. "Really?"
"What is it, baby girl?"
Maya shook her head with a smirk on her face. "Three French hens."
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me four calling birds
Maya hoped to get to the bakery early before her friends arrived to find out which one of them had been sending her gifts. She walked into the door of Topanga's and was pleased to see that she was the first to arrive out of her friends. Maya sat down in her usual spot and waited for her friends.
"Well if it isn't the Fierce Amazon Warrior herself."
Maya looked up to see the bakery's namesake standing behind the counter. "Hey Topanga."
"Can I get you something while you wait? Riley said everyone wasn't meeting here for another 30 minutes."
"Yeah, I wanted to be early before everyone else got here. I think I'll take a strawberry smoothie for now, thanks Topanga."
Topanga smiled and began to make the smoothie. "Of course Maya. Now why did you want to get here so early?"
Maya sat down at the barstool by the counter. "Well, we all decided to do Secret Santa, and it turns out that someone is giving me gifts for the 12 days of Christmas. You know how I've felt about Christmas, and even now that mom and Shawn have been married and we've had great Christmases, I still find it difficult to deal with surprises. I was hoping that getting here early would help me find out who is giving me all these gifts."
Topanga smiled as she set the smoothie down in front of Maya. "I think it's great how you're embracing the holiday season and even accepting the gifts. I know that it's difficult for you to do surprises, but I think that you should just go along with it and see what happens."
Maya nodded her head and took a sip of her smoothie. "You're right."
"Of course I'm right. And on that note, here you go." Topanga placed a small box in front of Maya.
"What's this?"
"Your friend stopped by earlier and asked me to give this to you when you arrived."
Maya looked down at the box that Topanga handed her. "I thought that I would've beat them by getting here early. Well today would be the fourth day, so four calling birds." She lifted the lid off of the box and pulled out a phone case with a picture of four birds on it. Maya held up the phone case and showed Topanga.
"Oh that's clever." Topanga took a sip of her coffee and nodded towards the door as Maya's friends walked through the door.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me five golden rings
The only good thing about it being Monday at school was lunch time. Maya loved lunch time.
"Sloppy Joes. The best thing about Mondays." Maya grabbed a tray and waited in line, Riley standing in line right behind her.
"What? Sloppy Joe? No, definitely chicken pot pie." Riley grabbed a tray from the stack.
Maya looked over at Farkle who was paying for his lunch and laughed. "Well at least we know that Farkle still can't choose between the Sloppy Joe and the chicken pot pie." Maya continued to follow the line, grabbing a juice and putting it on her tray. "Good afternoon Mrs. Gloria! Happy Sloppy Joe day!"
"Well good afternoon to you sugar! Here's your Sloppy Joe, fries, and some onion rings."
"No it's okay, just the sandwich and fries is good, thanks."
"Sugar, they've already been paid for. I was asked by that darling over there to give you these onion rings today." Gloria pointed towards the table that her friends were all sitting at.
"Okay, Mrs. Gloria, I'll take them. You wouldn't by any chance mind telling me who asked you to give me onion rings would you?"
Gloria just smiled. "They asked me not to." She replied with a wink.
Maya grabbed her tray, walked over to the table and sat down.
"5 golden onion rings, that's tasty." Zay said, reaching over and grabbing an onion ring from Maya's plate.
Maya just rolled her eyes and dug into her sandwich.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me six geese a laying
Maya walked into Mr. Matthews' class the next morning to see a bunch of middle school aged kids laying on the ground. "What the heck is going on?"
Smackle stood by the door with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.
"Smackle, is that your little brother?"
"Yeah, he owed me a favor for not getting him in trouble."
"Ok, but that doesn't explain why he's here laying on the floor of our history class."
"Just think about it, Maya. They're lying on the floor, there's six of them, and they're from the same middle school I went to, where the mascot was a goose."
"Six geese a laying! Smackle! That's pretty funny actually."
"Yeah, I thought it was clever. Alright you guys, get up. Head back to class." Smackle turned towards Maya. "They're here for a science club field trip."
"That was pretty creative, along with the rest of the days that have already gone by, I'm just glad that I know you're my Secret Santa."
"Hate to break it to you Maya, but I'm not your Secret Santa."
Maya stomped her foot. "Well then it has to be Farkle or Zay, since it's not you, Riley, or Lucas."
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me seven swans a swimming
Maya looked down at her phone to check the address that Zay sent to the group chat. Everyone was supposed to be meeting here. She had a feeling that it had to do with her day 7 gift, but she wasn't too sure exactly what it would be. Maya walked into the door and followed the sound that was coming from the open door towards the back of the room. She saw a bunch of dancers dressed in feathered costumes, dancing to a classical song she'd heard before.
"Swan Lake."
Maya turned around to see Zay standing in the doorway with a smirk on his face. "I believe today is seven swans a swimming. Well, here's Swan Lake for you."
"You did all this?"
"Technically, yes, but I'm not your Secret Santa."
"Ugh!" Maya growled in frustration, she was so close, so sure that it was Zay who was her Secret Santa, and that he had been the one to set up all of the gifts she had been receiving for the last week. "Well if it's not you, it's gotta be Farkle! He thinks he is so sneaky, trying to get this past me! Where is everyone else?"
As if on cue, the rest of her friends came walking in the door.
"Wow Zay, this looks really good. You did an amazing job setting this up!"
"Thanks Riley, but I can't take all the credit for it, the dancers here are amazing, and it was really nice of them to help out."
"I agree, this is really nice, Zay. I just wish that I knew who set this up for me so I could thank them properly." Maya glanced over towards Farkle, who seemed to be finding the ceiling tile very interesting.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me eight maids a milking
Maya opened her locker and was surprised to see what was in there. She turned towards Riley and motioned towards her locker. "You gotta be kidding me."
"Oh I loved those books!" Riley said, reaching in and grabbing one of the Amelia Bedelia books that was sitting in Maya's locker. Maya grabbed the box of Milk Duds and opened them, shoving a handful into her mouth.
"Eight maids a milking, so eight Amelia Bedelia books and box of Milk Duds? Hmm, at least he's creative."
Riley put the book back into Maya's locker. "Come on Peaches, we'll be late for class."
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me nine ladies dancing
Friday! The best day of the school week, the last day of the school week. "I can't wait for this weekend, I'm ready to just chill and do nothing."
"Maya, you act like you don't already do that all the time. Besides, you still have a few more days left of your twelve days!"
"Riles, it's not that much of a secret anymore, I know that it's Farkle. Everyone else already told me that it wasn't them."
"Well I still think that you should just accept it and have fun, and even if your Secret Santa is Farkle, you should act surprised, because he's really going out of his way to do something nice for you."
The sound of the announcement bell cut Riley and Maya's conversation short. "Students, as a special holiday treat, the dance team will be performing a dance routine in the front of the school office."
"Riles, you don't think this is part of the 12 days of Christmas, do you?"
"Peaches, there's only one way to find out, we go and watch the dance performance."
Maya and Riley ran to the front of the school where the dance team was getting set up. Maya quickly counted and noticed that out of the dance team, only 9 of them were here to dance. The music started and it was a funky hip hop version of 12 days of Christmas.
"Riles, this has to be part of the 12 days of Christmas! Even the song was connected!"
"We gotta hurry Peaches, if we're gonna make it to English on time."
"Luckily it's Harper, so we won't get into too much trouble."
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me ten lords a leaping
"Ok class, before I let you go for the afternoon, just a little assignment for over the weekend."
The sound of groans could be heard from the students in the classroom.
"Oh come on, it's not that hard. Your assignment is to read the poem on page 245. The poem is very intriguing, and I've heard that it makes people want to jump with joy. Some might even say leap."
The sound of the bell ringing was met with everyone packing up and heading out the door towards the start of their weekend.
Maya stopped by Ms. Harper's desk. "Hey Harper, what's the name of the poem we're supposed to be reading this weekend?"
"She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron."
Maya turned and looked at her teacher.
"He got to you too?"
"Now, Miss Hunter, I won't tell you which one of your friends shared a little secret with me, but I will say this, read the poem. You might find that you seem to understand it and relate to it a lot more than you're letting on."
"Thanks Harper. Have a good weekend, see you on Monday."
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me eleven pipers piping
Maya enjoyed her lazy Saturday, surprised that none of her friends tried to get her to hang out with them, but she knew that they were trying to respect her wishes of having a day of doing nothing. She let her thoughts get the best of her and actually read through the poem that Harper had assigned them to read. It only made her thoughts wander even more. What did the poem mean? How did it tie into all of this? Was Farkle really her Secret Santa? And why did he do all this stuff for her? The sound of her phone chiming shook her from her thoughts.
"Hello?"
"Hey Maya, I'm glad you're awake."
"Hey Farkle, yeah I'm awake. I've been up for a while now."
"Really? That's odd for you. Anyways, I was wondering if you had any plans for today, there was something going on today that I really wanted to go to with you."
Was this part of her Secret Santa? Why was he just coming out and asking her? It wasn't very secretive like it had been earlier in the week.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise, just dress warm, because it's gonna be outside. I'll stop by your house to pick you up in around 30 minutes."
"Sounds good Farkle, see you then."
A half hour later, Maya runs down the stairs of her apartment to meet Farkle.
"Hey Farkle!"
"Hey Maya." Farkle looked down at his watch. "We gotta hurry if we're gonna be on time."
Farkle grabbed Maya's hand and began to pull her towards the park. He stopped in front of a guy who was tapping on a bunch of PVC pipes, the sounds coming out and sounding like a Christmas carol.
"Farkle, is this the piper? I only see one!"
Farkle chuckled. "Yeah, but its 11am, so technically, it's all there. The eleven pipers piping."
"Well thank you for all this Farkle. I know that Secret Santa is supposed to be secret, but you've done a great job this past week and a half with all the gifts you've gotten for me."
Farkle turned and looked at Maya before walking her over towards the park bench and sitting down.
"I'm glad that you like all of this, but I can't take credit for it. I'm not your Secret Santa."
"Well then who has been giving me gifts all week? Lucas said it wasn't him, Riley told me it wasn't her, Smackle and Zay said it wasn't them, and now you're telling me that it wasn't you. Is this just some kind of joke that someone is playing on me?" Tears began to well up in Maya's eyes.
"Maya don't cry. You're one of my best friends, I never want to see you upset. Do you think that maybe whoever your Secret Santa is lied to you, not because they wanted to play a joke on you, but because they wanted you to have a nice holiday surprise? And you even said it yourself, you've really enjoyed this last week and a half and all the stuff that came with it. Maya, we've all spent so long watching you be sad and glum about the holiday that your Secret Santa wanted to do something that created even more happy memories to go along with the ones that come from your mom and stepdad."
Maya leaned her head on Farkle's shoulder. "Thank you Farkle. So if you're not my Secret Santa, whose name did you draw?"
Farkle chuckled. "Well since we're doing the gift exchange in a couple days anyways, I'll just tell you. I picked Riley's name."
"Awww. What are you getting for her?"
"I'm not really sure, I want it to be special, because she's special, but I haven't really figured out what I want to get her. And even then, your Secret Santa has completely blown all of us out of the water. I guess that's what happens when he's been in love with you for the last 4 years."
Farkle's eyes grew wide as a smirk formed on Maya's face.
"I didn't say anything! I didn't tell you who it is, so don't ask me!"
"I didn't hear anything." Maya said, the smirk on her face getting bigger.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me twelve drummers drumming
Maya woke up on Monday morning excited for the day. Today was the last day of her 12 days of Christmas. Even though Farkle didn't actually say his name, she had a feeling that she knew who her Secret Santa was. Maya looked at her desk and looked at the box she'd set there last night. Lucas's gift. Even if he wasn't her Secret Santa, she was his, and she hoped that he liked his gift as much as she thought he would, especially after her conversation with Farkle the previous day.
Maya jumped out of bed and ran to the shower to get ready for the day, making sure that her hair and makeup were fixed just right. She looked though her closet and decided that jeans and a sweater would be a good combination. After some careful consideration, Maya switched the heeled black boots that she was going to wear for the pair of brown cowboy boots sitting in the back of her closet. She was glad to see that they still fit, having not worn them since their trip to Texas, years ago. Standing back and looking at herself in the mirror, she was pleased with the way that her look came together. She grabbed the gift she had for Lucas and stuck it in her bag. Now she'd just have to wait for the right time to give it to him.
Maya walked into school and was surprised to find a note on her locker. Meet me at the football field it said. Maya glanced down at her phone and checked the time. She was early, and had plenty of time to head to the football field before heading to class.
Maya walked outside and gasped as she saw the entire drumline for the band marching and playing their drums. Maya went and sat on the bleachers, wrapping her jacket tightly around her to ward off some of the chill of the December morning air.
"12 drummers drumming."
Maya turned around and looked up to see Lucas standing there. "So you're my Secret Santa. You're not gonna start singing like the movie 10 Things I Hate About You are you?" Maya asked with a smirk.
Lucas chuckled. "No, It's too early in the morning to subject everyone to my voice with a Southern twang. Nice boots by the way."
Maya turned back towards the field, watching the band march off of the field and towards the locker room. She tried to prevent the blush that was spreading across her face, but the cold winter air was just making her cheeks even rosier. "So… you lied to me Huckleberry."
Lucas sat down beside Maya. "I know. Are you mad?"
"I'm not mad, I'm actually pretty impressed that you pulled this off. I was convinced the whole time that Farkle was the one doing all of this. And how did everyone else keep it a secret? Riley can't keep a secret for anything!"
Lucas smiled. "I actually didn't tell Riley, but I needed help from the other three, so they were sworn to secrecy."
Maya scowled her eyes at Lucas. "But you had to know that they would tell me that they weren't my Secret Santa."
"Another part of the plan, they were allowed to tell you that it wasn't them, they just couldn't tell you that it was me."
"Well, I say your plan was pretty fool proof, especially when you told me it wasn't you in the very beginning to throw me off. And it all worked until yesterday, when Farkle and I were talking and he said something that made me realize that it was you, or at least made me really hope that it was you."
"What did he say?"
Maya reached into her bag and pulled out the present that she had for Lucas. "Why don't you go ahead and open up your present?" Maya pressed the box into Lucas's hands.
Lucas looked at Maya with a look of slight confusion on his face, but decided to go ahead and just open the box. He pulled the lid off of the gift box and had a slight intake of breath as he realized what was in the box.
"Merry Christmas Lucas."
Lucas stared at Maya, noticing the teal necklace around her neck. The same teal necklace that was paired with the boots she was wearing. The last time she'd worn them together was in Texas. Thinking of Texas brought back all the thoughts and memories he'd kept hidden about her. Thoughts of the campfire and being close to her filled his mind. He glanced over at the gift she'd given him and then looked up at her face. He saw the vulnerable look on her face, wondering if she was regretting that she gave him mistletoe for Christmas. Neither of them blinked as Lucas placed his warm hands on Maya's cold cheeks, cradling her face between his hands. The stared in each other's eyes for what felt like minutes or hours but was really only a few seconds.
Finally doing what he was too scared to do all those years before, he leaned in and closed the gap between their faces, pressing his lips against Maya's. Her lips met his with the same force and need, erasing the 4 years of lost time between them. The two of them sat there on the cold bleachers, kissing for what felt like a blissful eternity, with a feeling of coming home to a comfort that you didn't know you needed settling in between them. When the need for air was too much, they pulled apart, resting their foreheads together, sharing the same air in their space.
"That was…"
"Yeah. Wow."
Maya giggled as heart rate began to return to normal, all the excitement of finally kissing Lucas catching up to her. "So Huckleberry, what does this all mean?"
"Well, it's only taken us 4 years, 4 Secret Santas and 12 days of Christmas to realize that I'm your true love." Lucas said with a cheeky grin.
"Really Huckleberry? That's how you want our story to start? I'm the one that made the first move."
"Technically I'm the one that kissed you."
"Yeah, but I'm the one that gave you mistletoe."
"Hmm, you are right, and you did come up to me on the subway all those years ago, so I guess this would be our third time dating?"
Maya smirked and shook her head. "Well, you know what they say, third time's the charm."
Lucas laughed and leaned over to kiss Maya again.