As he walked through the mall, which was bursting at the seams,
Alejandro looked around at the Christmas cheer and the dreams.
Women walked by with bags, buying gift after gift,
From scarves to perfume to CDs by Taylor Swift.
Rowdy children waited to see Santa in a mile-long line,
While the frazzled Santa looked like he needed some wine.
It almost sickened him, all this joy and this cheer.
What was it that he hated about this time of year?
His family moved often, he had no friends that actually stuck,
And his family was cruel, unforgiving… And, well, they suck.
It wasn't only that, he thought as he passed Santa's sleigh,
The main source of his frustration? His brother José.
In his young life, José only had one mission,
Turn everything with poor Al into a competition.
This didn't change even at this time of year,
He got the best gifts, which made Alejandro sneer.
Why did his parents favor José over him?
He tried his best to please them, but he still felt grim.
No matter what he did that was successful and right,
José was still favored every day and every night.
Christmas was supposed to be about family and hope,
But with a family like his, he was better off to mope.
Besides, look at all the hassle among the shoppers!
Searching so hard for sales on laptops and lettuce choppers.
To him, it seemed like more trouble than it worth,
Too bad no one else felt that way on this Earth.
All the joy and goodwill, it made him sick,
What did he have to be happy about? His special chick?
No, Alejandro did not even have that.
Well, he did, but… She acted like a brat.
Heather, the woman that filled him with lust,
She'd rather have fortune than his love and trust.
Though the volcano erupted and took her money away,
The lava also burnt him to a crisp, like a fillet.
Before then, he had been tramped and stomped on.
It might have been payback, from each and every pawn.
He cried out for help, but no one came back,
Except for their host, dressed in a cloak, hooded and black.
Chris placed him in a robotic suit, so cramped and so cold,
Like he actually thought that was an appropriate mold.
Once the idiot host got him some actual medical help,
His burns were severe, even grazing them made him yelp.
His bones were wrapped, they eventually healed,
The burns took longer, but they slowly peeled.
His beautiful hair, scorched off from the lava,
Grew back after several long months… Guava.
Though on the outside, he looked just fine,
On the inside… He didn't feel so divine.
He made his way past the chaos, past every mom and pop,
Until he finally made it to his favorite coffee shop.
He ordered plain coffee, no holiday fixings or foam,
He already got enough of that Christmas crap at home.
No, he thought, taking one of the last tables in the café,
I came here to forget about my family and their- "Hey!"
"We saw this table first!" exclaimed a blonde teenage girl.
She turned to her friend and said, "That's that one guy, Ale-hurl."
"It's Christmas," the other girl chided, suddenly losing her glee.
"I know what he did, but you should still be nice, Marilee."
Marilee shook her head and glared at him. "Oh, sweet Candace…
After what he did to my brother, he's lucky I don't kick his ass."
"I'm sorry about my friend's behavior," Candace gave her apology,
"You should take the table… We actually need to go. Feliz Navidee!"
"That is not how you say it, Candace," snapped a super grumpy Mar.
"His 'accidental' kisses broke my brother's heart." She gave him a glare.
Turning on her heels, she stormed off, several shopping bags in tow.
Candace sheepishly smiled and ran after her through the fake snow.
Accidental kisses? Alejandro thought to himself as Candace ran after her BFF.
Marilee's blonde hair, blue eyes… the heart-broken brother must have been Geoff.
"Of course," he muttered, rolling his eyes.
Another reason why he was despised.
Could he not get a break, even here?
Not even at this time of the year?
He had just played the game, like each other teen.
Though, of course, his methods hadn't been as clean.
He just wanted to be better than his brother for once,
But he just ended up looking like a douche and a dunce.
Maybe it wasn't smart to try and be alone at the mall on this of all days,
Alejandro realized that when he tried to push through the people maze.
But he wanted coffee and this shop had the best in town.
The glares he received from others still made him frown.
He tried to push those thoughts out of his head as he drank his java.
Crap, sorry, but nothing rhymes with lava and java except for guava.
As he began to mellow and his coffee was starting to cool,
A small girl approached him from the crowd fueled on Yule.
The girl couldn't have been older than age five or maybe four,
She had with her a stuffed elf toy, which she dragged on the floor.
Her small head was covered with a red Santa hat,
With her short black hair poking out, this way and that.
Her face was innocent, her eyes the color of an evergreen tree,
But her cheer slightly faltered when she saw he wasn't filled with glee.
"Mister," she began, as she clung to her elf,
"Why are you here all by yourself?"
Alejandro glanced down at her, then one way, then the other,
He looked back down at her and asked, "Where is your mother?"
"Somewhere," she quietly said with a shrug.
"I snuck off 'cause you look like you need a hug."
"I'm fine," he said, putting his coffee down.
"Go find your mother." This caused her to frown.
"But you look so sad and it's Christmas Eve."
Oh, how Alejandro wished she would leave.
"Little girl," he began, the irritation in his voice clear,
"You shouldn't talk to strangers, especially this one here."
"You're not a stranger," the girl said with joy.
"You know my big brother, Duncan McCoy!"
His green eyes widened at hearing that name.
Duncan McCoy… Could he be the same?
The same green-haired punk from Total Drama World Tour?
He and the little girl looked alike, that was for sure.
"Ah, I'm guessing you recognize me from the show?"
She nodded, yet he still felt compelled to add, "I'm Alejandro."
"Duncan says you're the biggest jerk from here to Timbuktu…"
She looked at him and said, "But I don't think that that's true."
"Your brother is smart," Alejandro said with a sigh.
"I have to admit, even though I don't like the guy."
"Now maybe you should be going," he began as he sipped his joe.
"You mother must be looking for you, running to and fro."
But the girl was persistent, as a winter blizzard, so snowy,
She jumped up on the chair across him and said, "My name's Zoey."
"It's nice to meet you," Alejandro said, as politely as ever.
"But how did you sneak off? You must be quite clever."
"Duncan taught me how," Zoey said with a mischievous grin.
"But you didn't answer my question," she added, a finger on her chin.
"It's Christmas! Why are you so frowny and gloomy?"
He sat in silence, as the café got less and less roomy.
"Christmas is the bestest day in December!
You're all sad, like it's lame old September."
She blithered on, saying one thing or another, so sappy,
Then she finally ended with, "Why are you so unhappy?"
People shuffled into of the shop, wanting a warm holiday treat.
Zoey looked expectant. Alejandro sighed. He had to admit defeat.
"There's not much to celebrate, if you do recall."
He shook his head. "I lost it… I lost it all."
"The money, my pride, the respect of my family and peers, the woman that I longed for,
All was lost, because Heather was a wh-" He almost cursed, but remembered Zoey was four.
"I just don't feel cheerful," he admitted with a sigh.
"Give me one reason. Why, why on earth should I?"
"You're still alive!" Zoey said. That was true…
"And I bet your family still loves you!"
Alejandro shook his head. "You've never met my brother.
The winner, the favorite of my father and my mother."
"He ruins each Christmas, each Christmas, I say!
The torture doesn't end until New Year's Day!"
"You don't know what it's like to have a brother like him!
One who has to make things so cheerless and grim!"
He huffed, but then realized what he said was untrue,
Because he remembered whose sister he was talking to.
"Or… maybe you do?" he asked, over the noise in the café,
"Tell me… How does Duncan act on Christmas Day?"
"He doesn't act like your big brother, that's for sure!
Duncan's the best!" The same Duncan from World Tour?
"Last Christmas, he got me a soccer ball in one night!
I think he stole it from my mean neighbor… But that's alright."
"He's nicer at home than he is on TV,"
She quietly said, setting her elf on her knee.
"I know you don't like him. I don't blame you."
Alejandro looked up, surprised, from his brew.
"He wasn't very nice to anyone on the show,
But he isn't always like that… Just so you know."
"I'm sure he isn't." Al drank his coffee, which suddenly seemed bland,
"Competition can bring out the worst in people, I know that firsthand."
Zoey was silent at that moment, but nodded at his words,
The café was getting so noisy, with all the shopper herds.
She finally said, "You seem nicer than you were on TV,
If the people from the show were here, I think they'd agree."
"Oh, Zoey," Alejandro muttered, running a hand through his hair
"Such a smart child, yet you think the world is always so fair…"
"I know some things can't always be right,"
She smiled, "But they can be on Christmas night!"
"I'll show you that Christmas can always clear the air…
Let's find Duncan! I'll bet he's around here somewhere!"
Al thought this over. No, her plan might be bizarre.
Duncan would not being so forgiv- "There you are!"
And approaching their table was the pierced punk himself,
He halted, almost knocking over the mug display shelf.
"Zoey, I appreciate you following in my rascally footsteps and all,
But Ma called me wailing, saying you were alone in this huge mall."
Before complaining more about the fit his mother threw,
He looked at Alejandro and slowly asked, "Al, is that you?"
Alejandro, for once at a loss of words,
Nodded at the green-haired hater of nerds.
The Hispanic boy quietly said, "It's nice to see you."
He was surprised when Duncan said, "Yeah… You too."
Duncan added, "I, uh, didn't know you lived around here.
You'd think I would have seen you during the school year."
"I've been taking courses online," Alejandro simply told him.
"I got used to it during hospitalization," he muttered, lips on his mug's brim.
"Oh." Duncan quieted as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat.
He always pictured in his head that if he ever saw him again, he'd gloat.
But something was different, Alejandro seemed changed.
After what happened, Duncan knew he must have felt estranged.
He used to think that if they met again, he'd tell Alejandro off.
But he had realized something… He had been just as big a jerk-off
After the show ended, Duncan took a good look at himself in the mirror,
He didn't like how he acted towards others; he had never felt queerer.
Not queer in that sense, you boob, the other definition.
It was then that Duncan made a slight personality transition.
He wasn't perfect, but he was different, much kinder.
He befriended Courtney… He actually didn't mind her.
He hadn't been arrested, his good side was renewing,
But, of course, this shift wasn't all Duncan's doing.
Gwen broke up with him soon after the day Al almost died.
The guilt from betraying Courtney was killing her inside.
She also said she hated how Duncan had been so cold towards his ex,
And his attitude always made her wonder… Would she be next?
Duncan was still way mean and said things in spite,
But hey, Rome wasn't built in a day, am I right?
In Duncan's opinion, everything happened for a reason,
And that explained Zoey running into Al this holiday season.
"Uh, thanks for making sure nobody stepped on her."
Duncan added, "If Ma thought that happened, I'd be a goner."
"Duncan, Duncan!" Zoey happily exclaimed.
"Alejandro's not bad now!" she proclaimed.
Thinking he might say Al's words were just a bluff,
She added, "I know for sure, 'cause I'm good at this stuff!"
Alejandro thought he should add to her proclamation a little more,
But Duncan then said, "Well… You've never been wrong before."
Al was shocked. "I must ask, Duncan, what's with the sudden forgiveness?"
Duncan shrugged and smirked at him. "Dude, come on, it's Christmas."
"It's all in the past, what's done is done,
I feel less and less angry after each rerun."
"I… apologize for my behavior then," Al said, surprised by his own dialogue.
"I'd ask the others for forgiveness, but they'd still think of me as the same old dog."
"They might not," Zoey said, trying to do good.
"If Duncan can forgive you, then anyone could!"
"Let's put that to the test," Duncan said, biting back a smirk with all his might.
"Some of the old gang are getting together for a sort-of Christmas party tonight."
"Not everyone will be there, but enough for you to begin.
It's mostly the softies, anyways." Duncan gave him a grin.
"It's at Geoff's house, he lives on 84 Herrington Square.
It's sort of hard to find… I could give you a ride there."
Such a party might be a way to give his bad attitude and feelings a disposal.
He gave a small grin and said, "I might have to take you up on that proposal."
"We can leave from here as soon as I bring Zoey back to my ma,
But it'll take a while, 'cause she'll ask questions, and blah blah blah."
Duncan walked to Zoey's chair and concluded, "I'll be right back.
Let me drop Zoey off now before Mom has a heart attack."
"I told you Duncan would make you happier!" Zoey told Al in bliss.
She pulled a candy cane out of nowhere. "I want you to have this!"
He looked at it, confused. "I got it from Santa, but I want you to have it!"
She shrugged and added, "'Sides, I'm trying to quit candy. Nasty habit."
He took it and swung it once around his finger like a key ring.
Alejandro then quietly said, "Gracias, Zoey. For everything."
She proudly shut her eyes, head tilted at a slight angle.
"That's why I'm here. Just call me your Christmas angel!"
Duncan rolled his eyes at that statement, but couldn't help but laugh.
He took her hand and dragged her past a cardboard standee of Zach Braff.
Though by this point, the shop was so packed, it was overheated,
Alejandro's spirits were no longer so depressed and depleted.
He was being given a second chance with some of the teens,
And he was going to take advantage of that, by all means.
Zoey just happening to be Duncan's sister, and so full of wisdom and wit,
Was nothing short of a Christmas miracle, he was now willing to admit.
A mere child second-handedly made his holidays a tad less blue.
When she said she was his Christmas angel… that had to be true.
He had been in a rut, his joy had gone splat,
But she managed to break it in five minutes flat.
He looked at his coffee, so bland, so tasteless, so thin.
Being adventurous, he plopped the candy cane right in.
Using it as a stirrer, he thought about what had happened. It was a blessing.
It was a merciful God giving him a second chance, he was guessing.
He wouldn't let fortune and greed take over him this time,
He would be much nicer, like he was in this story in rhyme.
As he sipped his coffee and played with a string on his sweater,
He decided Zoey's candy cane made his drink taste ten times better.
...
Don't ask me why there's a Zach Braff cardboard cutout by a coffee shop… Maybe there's a DVD store next to it and they were having a sale on Scrubs season collections? Or maybe nothing rhymes with laugh?
Yeah. Let's go with the second one.
Originally, Zoey was supposed to be some random little kid, but then I thought Al needed a new friend somehow. One way or another, the kid turned into Zoey.
And Marilee and Candace? Meh. Who knows how they got there.
You can interpret the Alejandro/Duncan thing anyway you like. It's friendship in my eyes, but it could be seen as romantic… And I'm not just saying that because I ship AleDuncan…
I hope you all enjoy this. It was my first time writing a poem-thingy this long and it was super hard to write, but so very fun :D Please review, if you would!