Author's note: I'm finally back, and this time with a multi-chap! So I didn't have any inspiration for the longest time, and exams and robotics are the busiest. My robotics team just qualified for the championship tournament, so that's been on my mind 24/7 instead of my studies. You might be wondering, how does any of this have to do with fanfiction? Well, I started robotics in the fifth grade, and it's been amazing since then. Fifth grade was also when I realized that my writing skills could use some improvement, after I got 60% on my English creative writing exam. Basically, this new multi-chap is based on that creative piece I wrote way back on that exam. I hope I did better this time! This story is really important to me, because I hope it shows how I've improved and still am improving on my writing skills. Any feedback, positive or negative, is really appreciated. And don't worry. I've got plenty of bad feedback on my first draft of this back when I was 10.
Ally laughed as she watched her best friend run around the store, looking for something to buy. He had persuaded her to go shopping with him, and she had sighed and reluctantly agreed. All juniors at Marino High were doing a Secret Santa gift exchange, and they had to buy something for each of their Secret Santas. Austin, apparently, had drawn a girl's name and was shopping in the jewelry store store. Ally didn't think that her Secret Santa would really appreciate jewelry.
"Ally! Look at this one!" Austin exclaimed, running up to her.
He was holding yet another sparkly necklace, this one silver and very Christmasy. She turned around and gasped. It was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. She wished she could buy it for herself.
"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed. "I wish I could buy it for myself, but you should definitely buy it for your Secret Santa. I'm sure she'll love it."
"Yeah, I think so too." he replied with a small smile.
"Who is she?" she asked.
"Hey!" he exclaimed suddenly. "We said we wouldn't tell each other. It's a surprise, remember?"
"Right, I remember." she sighed.
She had established the rule herself. They would even keep it a secret from each other, so it was more fun when they revealed in front of everyone. Of course, that wasn't why she had established the rule. She, of course, had drawn Austin in the Secret Santa draw.
"Well, what are you going to buy for your Secret Santa?" he asked her. "What store do you want to go to?"
"I think... Sonic Boom." she replied.
"Sonic Boom? But we're in the Miami Mall! It's the biggest mall around, and you want to go back to your store?" he said, astonished.
"Yeah, but I think I know what to get." she replied. "Come on, let's go!"
He hurriedly ran over to the cash register to pay for the sparkly silver necklace that he chose. It was under the $100 limit, but not by much. He shook his head at the thought. Of course, being a pop star, he had the money for that, but some of his classmates probably didn't. It was absurd! $100 was too much. Nevertheless, he was happy that he was able to buy it. But he probably would've bought even if it was over the price limit.
"Do you want me to wrap this?" the man at the cash register asked.
"Um, could you just get a box for it?" he asked.
The man nodded. He left to the back room and returned shortly with a small box with the necklace in it. There was even a bow on top.
"Thanks," Austin said, taking the box.
Ally looked wistfully at it. If only she could have the necklace! But, of course, it was his Secret Santa's. Besides, she already had lots of nice jewelry.
"Ally! Let's go to Sonic Boom now!" Austin exclaimed, getting her attention again.
She nodded as she ran after him back to the music store. If only he knew!
They arrived shortly back at Sonic Boom, Austin grinning and turning around to see Ally running the last few steps, completely out of breath.
"So, what are you buying for your Secret Santa?" he asked excitedly.
"Well, I-" she panted, still trying to catch her breath.
"I mean, there's not much here for under $100," he continued, "and knowing your dad, nothing's going to be on sale."
"Well, I-" she tried again.
"Unless you wanted to get music books?" he continued, apparently not hearing her. "But what if your Secret Santa doesn't already play music?"
Here she smiled. Of course her Secret Santa played music!
"Actually, I was thinking of something else." she said, walking towards the back of the store.
"Where are you going? What are you getting?" he asked giddily. He was really excited.
She emerged from the depths of the back room with the coolest ukulele he had ever seen. It was white, like snow, but with red and green patterns all over it. It reminded him of Christmas! And he wanted that ukulele more than anything.
"That is so cool!" he exclaimed. "Your Secret Santa will love it! Hey, is there any chance that you have any others of those? I would love one! I could have a Christmas concert!"
"Uh... actually, we only have one." she lied.
His face fell. He knew it wouldn't be right to ask if he could have it instead of her Secret Santa, but surely she cared about him more than some random kid that she maybe had one class with!
"Oh!" she exclaimed, her face lighting with a new idea. "Actually, you know what, I think we're getting a delivery of more Christmasy instruments in about a week! Maybe you could get one then! Or maybe you'd find something even cooler!"
She mentally patted herself on the back for coming up with something that fast.
"But I thought your dad only likes to get deliveries once a year? To save, what, $4.36? And I thought that delivery came this past summer?" he asked, confused.
Oh. She had forgotten about that.
"Well, I told him that we should probably get more Christmas-themed stuff," she improvised. "So this is the only exception."
He smiled in understanding. "Awesome! Yay! I'm going to get a cool ukulele! And maybe a cool guitar, too! Hey, do you think there's going to be a cool piano?"
He didn't wait for her reply as he ran out the door, saying something about how he was going to tell Dez. She laughed and shook her head as she watched him excitedly running somewhere else. She never really understood him, running everywhere and always super excited about something or other, but it was okay. They were best friends, and that's all that mattered.
Author's note: I hope you like it so far! I know it was a little short, but hey, the original wasn't even a page long. I could only stretch it out so much. I hope I can get the next chapters up pretty soon, but in the meantime, constructive criticism is really appreciated! I'm not sure what was wrong in the first place, so I need everyone's help to improve:)
One last thing, if you could answer the poll on my profile page, I would really appreciate it! I know this is already a new multi-chap, but I want to see what I should write. And if you have any inspiration for new fics, any type, please PM me or review!