Another story from me…yeah, it fell out of nowhere and hit me on the head last night while I was listening to Kill Hannah. Partially inspired by the song "New Heart for Xmas" by them, so I pulled the title from those lyrics too…this is going to be a fun story, though. Can't you just imagine the possibilities? Actually, I know vaguely where this is headed, but if you have any ideas for occurrences feel free to let me know. My email is , put something like "School of Rock" in the subject line so I don't mistake it for spam. Thanks!

-Sienna

Strange Holiday

Chapter One: Katie Is Waiting (Katie's POV)

It's so cold outside, but it feels good, looking up at the sharp stars and watching the clouds from my breath swirl over them. My feet crunch and slip in the snow, louder when I'm near my silent house, quieter as I make my way into the road, heading for our meeting place three streets over and one street down. It's a bit of a walk, but I don't mind.

No one was awake when I left. I faked a stomachache and went to my room to pack—jeans, two shirts, a handful of underwear, socks…toothbrush, all 120 dollars of my Christmas money, and CDs. I'm not sure why those were important. Maybe I just feel lonely without the Clash….

But I shouldn't be lonely. I can see the gazebo now, about two blocks away. It's almost one in the morning. Where is Freddy?

We came up with the idea half-jokingly, on the last day of school before vacation.

"I want to get out of here," I said, slumping into my desk for English. I was early, still getting used to changing classes for sixth grade. "I need to get out of here."

"Relax, Brown," said Freddy Jones. "Vacation starts tomorrow."

I shook my head. "No, Freddy. Christmas vacation means—means cooking and cleaning and relatives and babysitting. It's 'oh Katie, would you mash those potatoes?' and 'Just watch Cousin Stevie while we all go to the Nutcracker' and 'that toilet needs scrubbing…get Katie' and how much I've grown…."

"Whoa, I repeat, relax…."

"Sorry. I'm a little spazzed out."

"Hey, I'm the spazzy one, remember?" He rolled his eyes around in a way that was slightly more psychotic than spazzy. I laughed anyway.

"Seriously, though," he said.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, you seriously need to take matters into your own hands, before you become Spazzy McKatie and things go insane."

"And how do you suggest I do that, O Spazzy One?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He shrugged. "Ditch them all. If I were you, I'd just run away."

I laughed harder that time, because the idea of me running away from anywhere was, to use a vocab word, preposterous. As in ridiculous, haha, never-in-your-lifetime kinda thing.

"Have you ever run away?" I asked.

"Sure, loads of times," Freddy answered. "Usually just for a day or night, when I can't take the whole family thing anymore."

"That wouldn't do me any good," I said. "They wouldn't actually miss me for a day, they'd just be annoyed that I wasn't there. And I'd get grounded." I thought for a moment. "I'd have to scare them good, like for a few days or a week, even."

"A week?" he repeated. "I've never tried a whole week before…that's gutsy…."

A possibility was creeping into my mind. It crept into Freddy's, too. He leaned in real close and dropped his voice, a devilish and excited grin sneaking onto his face.

"You wanna do it?"

I nodded.

"For real?"

I nodded again.

"You're not going to flake out on me?"

"Freddy, have I ever flaked?"

"Okay, point. Just making sure." He leaned back and scanned the room.

I looked around my sea of classmates, and I saw them with pity, because they were all on the outside of our killer plans.

"Who should we tell?" I asked, thinking of my friend Zack Mooneyham.

"Let's invite Zack," Freddy said. "Hey! Zack!"

Zack lifted his head from his desk, where he'd been napping.

"You wanna run away with me and Katie?" Freddy whispered across the room. Zack just raised his eyebrows a little, shook his head and went back to sleep.

"Guess he's a no," I said.

"Yeah. Anyone cool you wanna invite?"

"Nah…Summer's on a cruise." I didn't say what I was thinking, that he knew I pretty much only talked to him, Zack and Summer. I'm not antisocial, I don't think…just quiet. Anyway, I said, "I think we're good."

"Okay then," he said, grinning again. "Me and you…this is gonna rock."

And so, we decided. And I talked to him today online, and he said we were still on. But where is the little blonde bastard? I pull my pea coat tighter around me and shove my mittened hands into my pockets. The gazebo is covered in snow, even on the benches inside. I don't want to get the butt of my jeans soaked, so I stand in the middle of the floor, watching fat snowflakes land in the yellowish light of the streetlight. It snowed on Christmas Eve, the night before, how perfect is that? And after spending Christmas Day harried and hustled from room to room and task to task, when I'm supposed to be on vacation, I'm going to get free. Even if it is just for a little while.

Quarter past one. Where is Freddy? God, if he leaves me here, I will never forgive him in a million years. A million and one. I won't talk to him in school, and at band practice I'll give him dirty looks and the silent treatment—not that I say much. If he's going to call it off, he could at least show up to tell me that. I had to walk four blocks to get here, he only has one. I could walk up to his house right now and ring the doorbell.

Brr. It's too cold to walk. I'll wait here for fifteen more minutes. Then I'm going home to my nice warm bed.