Yay! I love this story! I have been working on it for SO long, it's not even funny. I just had to wait until I got it completely developed before I published… or even talked about… it. Oh my gosh! I just can't wait to hear what you guys think so PLEASE review! This is very similar to Emma, only different. It'll be good, just trust me. If you liked Emma you'll LOVE this :) Anyways, sorry for the stupid A/N, I'll just get to writing.

Love,

Lauren:)

December 2nd, 1926

Nothing makes sense anymore…

With Christmas coming up, everyone around me is going crazy. My life is flipping hectic. Mom and Will have been going crazy trying to get me presents, but you know, I really don't want them to. I know money is tight, and I know they're both working extra shifts at work, but I don't want them to have to do that for me. Besides, the only present I want doesn't have a price tag…

Grandma said they're getting me the art supplies that I had been begging for since school started. But the only reason why I wanted them was because Mr. Robertson said we needed them. I mean, sure, I'd love them! But with Mr. Robertson leaving and a new teacher coming into school next week, who knows what he'll ask for. And besides, I'd rather have mom spend the money on another trip. We hadn't been anywhere in a while. The last time we were in Santa Monica and were on the way home, mom said we would travel there a lot more often, something about it being sentimental. Then a year goes by and we go to Paris. Mom just loves it there. I think she and dad wanted to go to those places… who knows… not me…

I mean, I can't even talk to James about this stuff… and I can tell James anything. Well, except that I have a major crush on him but… that's different. Kara wouldn't understand either. I mean, sure I like her and all, but she's rich, and again, wouldn't understand how it's a struggle for my mom and Will to get me presents. They both asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and since I can't tell anyone what I really want… I just told them both sketchpads. Man, I go through those like crazy! Drawing is just an outlet for me I guess.

And I don't even know why I'm obsessed with this whole thing. What I want for Christmas, that is. I mean, it's not like Mom will ever help me with it, and she's the only one that can. I don't know, I guess I should just forget about it. It's silly, though, that the only thing I want for Christmas is something I could never get…

My father…

I mean, I'm not praying for the miracle that he'll come back from the dead and I can meet him, I just want to know more about him. I don't even know his name. Mom's never told me anything about him, except that I get my artistic ability from him. And that he died saving her life, but those aren't really the things that I want to know most. I want to know where he grew up, what he did for a living, where he's been… and where he and my mom met. And, how he died, I guess.

This is silly… even writing about it sends a tear down my cheek… I don't know, I just-

"Laurel!" Mom cried from downstairs, interrupting my thoughts. I jumped, causing my pen to scatter across the page and leave a large mark, and then sighed. I closed my journal and then tied the ribbon around it tight. I wiped my now tear streaked face and recomposed myself, flashing a smile across my face. I stood up from my chair and walked out of my bedroom, quickly scurrying down the stairs.

"Yes." I said as I spotted mom and grandma in the back of the restaurant that grandma owned. Come to think of it, she wasn't even my real grandma. It didn't bother me, though, she loved mom and I just the same. She had taken mom in when she first came to New York, I guess she had nowhere else to go or something. Then when they found out she was pregnant with me, nothing changed. Grandma just got even more excited.

"Sweetie," mom said, dragging my heads out of the clouds. "We're about to put the star on, and I know that's your favorite part." I smiled and walked over to mom and grandma who were towards the back of the restaurant as they huddled around the large Christmas tree. I pulled the gold and sparkly star out of the cardboard box that was on top of one of the tables, and groaned as I stepped up onto the chair. I pushed my long, curly hair that was just like my mother's, except mine was blonde and hers was red, out of my blue eyes, and focused as I tried my hardest to put the star in the exact middle of the tree. I stepped back slightly, trying not to fall over, and smiled.

Perfect.

"Stay here," I instructed as I quickly jumped off the chair. "I want to draw you guys in front of it." I ran around the table and headed towards the stairs.

"Alright, just wait until Will get's here so we can put him in the photo, too." She said. I smiled and continued up the stairs.

"Okay!" I yelled back. Although he wasn't my father, Will, my mom's boyfriend for about seven years now, was a close second. He really loved me, and in a way, I guess I cared about him, too. And I know my mom did as well, but I don't think she loved him the way he loved her.

I think she'll always love my father more.

I ran up the steps two by two and jumped into my bedroom, although I didn't have to. I slid across the floor and towards my bed, grabbing one of my hundreds of sketchpads from under my bed. This one, however, wasn't completely full of drawings.

I stood back up and opened to a clean page, ready to walk back downstairs, when I heard a knock on my window.

Clink.

I turned around.

Clink.

There it is again.

I walked over to the window and pulled my yellow shades open. At first, my eyes were set on the window that went with James room, but then I looked down and saw James standing in the small grass lawn that separated our houses. He was casually leaning on the small wooden bench, a handful of rocks in his hand. I smiled and waved as he waved as well.

"Come down!" he screamed. I chuckled and opened the window, the cold December air whipping my face.

I could literally smell the snow in the air.

"You come up." I instructed. He rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Laurel, just come down." I smiled and closed the window, thanking god that it was now warm. I walked over to my nightstand and grabbed my pair of gray woolen gloves out of the drawer. I left my sketchbook on my vanity and ran down stairs.

"Hey, Laurel." Will said as I walked down the stairs. I smiled and gave him a small hug.

"Hi Will." I said. He smiled and mom walked out of the kitchen.

"Ready to draw?" she asked. I smiled at her and put on my gray coat over my lilac dress. I then pulled a lilac hat over my blonde hair and pushed my fingers through the openings in my gloves.

"Yeah, just have to talk to James first." I said. She went wide eyed a little, then smiled.

"Oh okay. Oh, and tell him to tell his mom that for Christmas dinner, if she could bring a pie that would be great!" I smiled and opened the front green door, a small bell ringing over my head.

"Will do." I said. I walked out onto the porch and quickly wrapped my arms around my body. I let out a large breath and watched as it floated around in the cold air.

"Hey," James said. I looked up and saw him standing at the bottom of the porch steps. I blushed slightly as he flashed me his goofy James smile.

Even when we were little that smile would always make me melt.

"Hi," I said back as I walked down the steps quickly and stood in front of him. "What's up?" He smiled and looked around at our little street.

"Cold out, huh." He said, changing the subject. I cocked my head and frowned.

"James." I said, urging him to cut the crap and tell me what he wanted. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, fine," he said unwillingly. "So you know how we've known each other since we were little, like, five, when you and your mom moved next door, and we and our moms have been best friends ever since?" I chuckled and stared at him strangely.

"Yeah," I said, confused with where this was going.

"Well, this Saturday will mark ten years my, yours and Kara's friendship," he explained with a grin. "And I planned out the entire night!" I smiled and looked down at the sidewalk that we were standing on.

"Oh," I said with a blush flying across my cheeks.

As if they weren't red enough from the cold.

"Yeah, it's going to be great!" he continued. I looked up and laughed again. Suddenly, James expression dropped as he looked back at my house. I turned around and looked back at the house and saw mom and Will kissing under the missile toe. A knot formed in my stomach, but I quickly shook it away.

"James, it's fine," I reassured him with a smile. "Really." He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, but if it's ever not," he said, now pointing to our windows. "You know where to find me." I smiled as well and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thanks." I whispered in his ear. He blushed and smiled at me as I pulled away slowly. I then turned around and ran up the steps, quite embarrassed, and walked into the restaurant. The warm air instantly hit me, and I immediately had to take off my jacket, hat, and gloves. I put them all back on the coat stand and then walked over to the three of them.

"Okay guys, stand in front of the tree please." I said with a smile. They all did so and smiled as well.

"I brought down your sketchpad for you, baby." Grandma said. I smiled.

She's always called me that.

"Thanks, grandma." I said. She smiled as well and I sat down on the chair at the table that was in front of the tree. I then pulled my pencil from my dress pocket and started to draw away on my sketchpad. I started off with the top of the tree, and then worked my way to the three of them. I drew James and Grandma first, only because of the way I was looking at them, but when I got to mom's face, I stopped for a moment. She was just so… beautiful. Her red hair was always curled to perfection, and her green eyes sparkled like a cat's. Her lips were pouty and sweet, and the light pink that flushed across her cheeks gave her a warm glow. I smiled and looked up at her. She smiled and scratched at her hair that was tied neatly, and beautifully, into a small loose bun. A few loose strands framed her face and the blue dress that she was wearing matched the small silver necklace that she was wearing around her neck perfectly. I chuckled to myself and continued to draw. The only major resemblance I had to my mother was the style of our hair and our lips. But besides that, I couldn't compare myself to anyone. Mom said I was almost the spitting image of my father, with a few of her features of course, but besides that, I was definitely his daughter.

No doubt about it.

She said I acted like him, too. How I loved to travel and loved to try new things, and always accepted life as it was, trying to make the best of it. Apparently he said that all to her once. And apparently my mom wanted to be the same way, but she couldn't, until she met my dad. He changed her or something, changed her heart, and made her a better person, a freer person. She said she would always be grateful for that, and would now always love waking up not knowing what's gonna happen, who's she's gonna meet, or where she's gonna wind up. And that she would never give up, no matter how hopeless. I thought those were some impressive words, and I knew then that my father might not have been rich or highly educated, but he was wise beyond his years. It's funny, though, whenever mom is frustrated or upset or nervous, and worries about what's going to happen, she whispers to herself, "I'll never let go," and somehow, she recomposes herself, and becomes happy again. Becomes calm and accepting. If she's nervous before going on stage for one of her performances, she whispers that to herself. If she's ever upset about money issues, she whispers that to herself. And when she used to put me to sleep, she'd sing, "Come Josephine in my flying machine, going up she goes… up she goes…" quietly to both of us, and then would whisper that to us both as well.

"Come Josephine in my flying machine, going up she goes… up she goes…" I sang very quietly to myself so that the three of them couldn't hear. That song always calmed me down. Mom said dad used to sing it to her, and that was good enough for me for it to be special.

"Hey!" Kara yelled as she opened the door to the restaurant and spotted me. Some people sitting down for people shooshed her, but she just kept her head up and walked to the counter where I was doing my homework. That was why I liked Kara; all though she was kind of rich and snotty, she was confident and could always make me feel better.

"Hi Kara," I said absentmindedly as I continued to write out my short story on a girl and her dog, Oliver.

"You're doing homework… on Saturday?" she asked me in shock. I looked up at her and smiled, shutting my notepad.

"Not anymore." I said with a snarky tone. She rolled her eyes with a smile and sat down as she pulled off her pink scarf.

"Listen," she said as she now ran her fingers through her dark brown hair. "About the new art teacher, Lacy Magdon said that he was some old eighty year old who has heart attacks in the middle of class!" I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Kara, Lacy Magdon is a compulsive liar… remember that time she said her brother was a flying monkey." I explained as Kara now sighed.

"Oh, yeah," she said, remembering the event. "Well, then who's the new art teacher?" I ran my fingers through my hair as well and sighed.

"I have no clue," I confessed angrily. "But I hope this one actually knows how to draw and doesn't just spend the entire class teaching us things. I actually want to do art in art class, not just learn about it!" Kara smiled and ruffled my hair.

"Oh my wittle artiste is yearning to write!" she said with a very fake French accent. I smiled and whacked her hands away, when mother came walking down stairs, more Christmas decorations in hand.

"Oh, hi girls!" she said, her soothing voice full of enthusiasm.

"Hi Mrs. Dawson!" Kara said with just the same amount of excitement. Mom stopped in her tracks and smiled.

"Kara, you can call me Rose. I mean god, I've known you and your brother since you were five! I've seen you both naked a thousand times so I think we're past the formalities." Mom explained. I went wide eyed and spit out the milk that I was sipping.

"Jesus mom!" I said. She laughed and so did Kara.

"It's fine, Laurel," Kara said as she stood up. "She's right anyways." Mom smiled and set the box of decorations on the counter.

"Thank you." She said, looking at me. I smiled and rolled my eyes and pushed back a piece of my blonde curly hair that was falling in front of my face. My mother smiled and pulled out a barrette from apron pocket, and handed it to me.

"Here you go," she said as I took the clip. "You know your dad was blonde." I smiled subtly and looked up.

"Really?" I asked. She chuckled and pulled out a strand of tinsel.

"Laurel, do you really think I would lie about that." She said. I chuckled as well and pinned back my curls.

"No." I said. She smiled again and pulled out another thing of missile toe. Kara smiled and walked around the corner and took it from my mother. She then hung it over the front door and smiled.

"Now people will be getting mono left and right!" Mother cried. Kara laughed and sat back down on the stool.

"Well, it's the door way and I figured that's where everybody walks in, so, people will have to kiss each other!" Kara explained when both she and my mother looked at me. I looked up as my face became pink again from embarrassment.

"What?" I asked them in annoyance. The smiled and turned away.

"Oh, nothing." Mother said smoothly. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Come on you two!" I cried. Kara looked back at me and smiled.

"Okay, you and James have been best friends for what? Like, ten years! When are you both going to admit you like each other?" She asked angrily. I furrowed my brows and gulped loudly.

"Your twin brother and I do NOT like each other!" I yelled just as angrily. "Alright? So both of you just drop it!" Mom rolled her eyes and hung the tinsel above the cabinets while Kara rewrapped her scarf around her neck.

"Whatever," she said as she headed towards the door. "See you Monday!"

December 4th, 1926

So it's about six in the morning, and I should be getting ready for school, but I had a dream last night…

A strange dream…

For some reason in my dream, my dad never died. I met him somewhere, but I can't remember. But now I have this strange feeling… a really strong strange feeling… that maybe, just maybe, my dad's alive.

Ugh… this is stupid.

I just have to shake this stupid feeling and get going with my life. It's been fourteen years! My dad's dead, and he always will be. Even if he was alive, wouldn't he have come looking for my mom and I.

Wouldn't he?

I closed my notepad and tuck it in the drawer of my nightstand. I then grabbed my sketchbook and stuck it in the center of my school bag. I then threw that across my chest and pulled my lilac hat down over my blonde curly hair. I walked over to the vanity and sighed as I looked in the mirror. I couldn't even recognize myself. Who was I? Like I said, I only had my mom's eyes and fair skin, but the rest of me was… my dad. And how could I even know what I look like if I don't know what he looked like? I rolled my eyes and quickly smudged red lipstick across my lips. I smacked them together and then walked out of my room and quickly down the stairs.

"Ready for school?" Mom asked as she flipped a pancake in the air. I smiled and walked over to the coat stand.

"Guess so." I said. She looked at me suspiciously and smiled, her full lips turning upright slightly in the corners.

"Alright." She said. I smiled and put my gloves back on quickly as I headed out the door, when suddenly, I froze. I turned to look at mom, and then ran to her, squeezing her tight.

"I love you." I whispered. She smiled and rubbed my back.

"I love you, too." She said between chuckled. I pulled back and smiled then ran back out the door quickly. I stopped on the sidewalk and watched as Kara and James came strolling out of the house.

"Hey!" They both yelled in unison. I smiled and waved as they came running over.

"I can't wait for art!" Kara yelled as she pulled up beside me. "Someone else said that the new art teacher was this famous movie star!" James and I rolled our eyes and continued walking down the street towards school. As we arrived at the large brick building, I got that strange feeling again. I sighed and shook it away quickly, trying to remain focused on school and art class. I have to admit I was excited. Well, as long as we actually got to do something this time around. I hope our art teacher wasn't a complete dud. The three of us walked up the steps and immediately ran up the stairs to the second floor. We walked down the hallway and over to the lockers that we all shared next to each others. I quickly grabbed my box of different colored pastels and waited anxiously as they slowly grabbed the supplies for art out of out of their lockers.

"God," I complained. "Hurry up!" They both smiled and rolled their eyes and then shut their lockers once they had the stuff they needed. I grabbed their hands and pulled them into the art studio. When we walked in, however, there were no more desks. They were all replaced with stools that sat behind large blank canvases. We looked at each other in shock then sat down in a row. Paint brushes lined the edge of the easel and different colored paints were on the small circular table next to our canvases. I dipped my pinky in the orange and smiled. I rubbed it in with my thumb then wiped it on my book bag which was already covered in paint as it was.

"Good morning." We suddenly heard. The heads in the class shot up, and they all looked at our new teacher. I looked at Kara who was now wide eyed and was wearing a large grin. I furrowed my brows suspiciously then slowly looked up as well. The teacher looked young, in his early thirties, and his shaggy blonde hair covered his eyes.

But I could still see them.

They were blue.

A piercing blue, similar to mine.

"God he's handsome!" Kara whispered to me. I chuckled and looked back up at the teacher who was now placing his briefcase on his desk.

"My name is Mr. Dawson," he said with a smile. "And I'm your new art teacher."

SOOOOO? What do you think? Oh gosh I love this! It's funny because Baylee, well, RikkiChadwick2011 :) And I were both keeping a story a secret from each other and when we finally told each other about it, it was like the same plot! Great mind think alike, I guess! :) Read and Review please! :) Thanks! –Lauren