"Dude," Derek Mount breathed as he looked out at the crowd.

Once again, the stadium was jam-packed with fans eager to see him and the others do what they did best. His friends-slash-bandmates gathered around him and looked out as well.

"It's time, boys," the stage manager said.

"Let's do this!" shouted the bassist, Josh. They all put their hands together and raised them up in a battle cry: "Dance or die!"

They ran out on stage, and the audience went wild. Girls were everywhere, some sporting sunglasses the band members had custom-designed themselves, some with signs that read "I LOVE FAMILY FORCE 5".

That was their name. Derek loved hearing it. He was the most out-of-place member (being the most sane), the worst dancer, and had felt a bit on the outside of the group for a while. Solomon, Josh, and Jacob were all brothers, and Nate had joined even before he had. Still, these guys were great and had accepted him as one of their own. Now it was time to rock the house.

It was December, and they were on their Christmas Pageant tour. They opened with a crowd favorite, "Love Addict" from their first CD, and threw out wrapped presents filled with cookies.

Two hours later, they were bowing to the applause as they exited the stage. Josh high-fived Jacob, and Nate did a fist pump. They changed out of their Charles Dickens-style costumes and headed out for the signing.

Jacob walked over to the merch table to check up on things. "How are we doing?" he asked Swath, the main salesman.

"Pretty good so far," Swath replied. "People are buying up all the shirts."

Just then, an angry-looking woman marched up to the table and smacked her fist down. Jacob jumped.

"My daughter caught one of your presents and it was empty," she growled.

"Well, there should have been at least a cookie in it," Jacob said.

"No, there was nothing in it," she repeated.

"I'm sorry. It was just a prop, you know, a gift."

The lady looked even angrier. "Not to an eight-year-old it wasn't," she said and stormed off.

Derek walked up after she had left. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Some lady just complained that her daughter caught a box and it was empty," Jacob said, imitating the woman.

"Did you tell her it should have had a cookie in it?"
"He tried," Swath cut in. "She didn't even give us a chance to give her something for her daughter."

Derek chuckled and called Solomon over. "Hey, Sol, listen to this. Some lady got an empty gift," he told the lead singer.

"What? I packed those all myself!" Solomon said. Josh and Nate walked up and laughed.

"Epic fail, Mr. Olds," Nate said to Solomon.

Solomon shook his head. "You know what I would've said to her? 'Take a hike, lady!' "

"Be nice, Sol," Swath said.

"Tell it to her," he mumbled as he walked into the dressing room they all shared. He enjoyed his roadies: they always teased each other.

As he started to take off his jacket, he turned around and saw a teenage girl gawking at him. "Whoa!" he said. "Who…who are you?"

"My name is Sarah Whippet," the girl said, still eyeballing Solomon. "I'm your biggest fan, and I just wanted to meet you. I can't believe I'm here!"

"Uh…okay then," Solomon said. He pulled the edges of his jacket tighter around his chest. "Nice to meet you, Sarah. How did you get in here?"

Sarah smiled even wider (if that was possible). "I asked Jacob where the dressing room was, and he showed me right to it. He's so sweet."

Solomon sighed. Jacob didn't hurt anyone, but he had his annoying moments…like when he didn't realize that this girl was only a fan, and no one really important. "Oh, okay. Well…thanks for stopping by," he said in dismissal.

Sarah didn't budge. "Can I help you with something?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, I was wondering…how old are you?" she said, still grinning creepily.

"Thirty-two. Anything else?" He was starting to get annoyed with this chick.

"Would it be possible if I had you guys over for Christmas?" she asked eagerly.

Solomon Olds couldn't believe her. Not only did she walk in his dressing room (that he shared with four other men), but here she is, looking at him like he's a prize-winning pig covered in chocolate (a farm girl's biggest dream), and now she's making demands—

"Sure, that sounds great," he choked out. What? This was not what he had planned on saying! They always spent Christmas with their families, not some stranger's house. He must have been temporarily controlled. Maybe that guy Mark he heard everyone talking about was to blame.

Sarah's giant brown eyes grew even larger (Sol was starting to get truly scared by this point) and she started jumping up and down and screaming, "Thank you so much! Oh my gosh, wait till Reagan hears! You won't regret it! I live in Pennsylvania, by the way! I'll keep in touch through Facebook! Can I give you a hug?"

"Wha—" Solomon began to protest, but it was too late. The girl had her arms wrapped around his middle like a vise. Then she ran out the door, yelling "See you at Christmas!" on the way out.

Solomon slowly walked out to the other FF5 members. "Uh, guys?" he began. "I think I just scheduled Christmas in Pennsylvania."