When Lucy Van Pelt was thirteen, she hosted a New Years party. On this night, Lucy received two kisses from two different boys. This was also the first night Lucy had ever been kissed directly on the lips - well, the first time a dog hadn't kissed her on the lips.

Lucy and a ten year old Linus, soon to be turning eleven, were hanging up decorations, while they're eight year old brother, Rerun, was still going on a bike ride with his mother. In the dead of winter!

"So, did you invite the Lydia-Susan girl to the party, little brother?" Lucy asked, leaning over a box of decorations, boredly.

"Today, she told me it's Annabelle," Linus said, with a sigh. "And no, she can't come."

Lucy snickered.

"What?" Linus asked, raising an eyebrow at his older sister.

"If she isn't coming, you know that you're gonna have to kiss Sally tonight. You are her 'sweet baboo' after all," Lucy grinned.

"Arghhh!" Linus said, sticking his tongue out. "I refuse! I refuse!"

"Than who're ya gonna kiss?" Lucy asked, leaning her fist again her cheek.

"No one," Linus said.

"Well that's stupid!" Lucy announced. "I know who I'm going to kiss!"

"Hooray for you," Linus said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, you aren't gonna carry that stupid blanket around all day, are you?" Lucy asked, her eyebrows narrowing at him.

"Why shouldn't I?" He asked.

"Linus, you are almost eleven years old," Lucy said, her fists clenching. "GROW UP!"

"Good grief," Linus said, groaning. "You grow up!"

"I already am grown up! I'm all grown up! Are you a Queen, Linus? Huh? Are you are Queen?!"

"No, are you?" Linus asked.

Lucy growled, continuing to put up decorations. Her little brother was so annoying. She honestly had better things to do than bicker with Linus all night when she knew she was far more mature than him. She was positive any of her friends would agree. Even Sally thought his blanket was a little childish, and Sally agreed to every word Linus said! Lucy was quite annoyed that her friend was so obsessed over her little brother. Lucy knew not many people liked her, and counted on Sally to be her friend after everything. The fact she was more interested in Linus infuriated her.

The party had just begun. Lucy was next to the punch bowl, for once, wearing a different dress. A nice dark purple dress with spaghetti straps and a blue belt. Lucy looked much more grown up today. She was definitely maturing, and it was showing more physically almost every day. Lucy was becoming more and more a young woman instead of a little girl. Her girly, rosy cheeks were beginning to lose their first layer of baby fat. Even Linus was noticing it.

Lucy may have been a crabby, aggressive, and hostile little girl, but she was growing up to be very beautiful.

Lucy poured herself a cup of punch, and finished it all in one sip. That made her hiccup a moment later, which was embarrassing. She was trying to make herself look cool and pretty, and now, she had embarrassed herself a little.

A second later, Lucy realized she was overreacting. No one had noticed.

Of course, everyone is more self conscious when there is a boy you're trying to impress. The young pre-teen strolled over to where the DJ was. Of course, the music he had picked was not what Lucy had originally asked for. But, what could you do when the boy you liked liked Beethoven more than he liked you? Lucy had to let him play it. Though, she had been listening to him play it for years and years now, so Lucy didn't really mind. She had even grown to really love the music he played.

"Schroeder, don't you have any music that people could dance to?" Lucy asked, leaning against the wall, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Dance?" Schroeder asked, looking horrified. "You are supposed to appreciate Beethoven! How are you supposed to appreciate it when you are too busy dancing?!"

Lucy grunted, narrowing her eyes. "Listen, punk. This is my New Years party, and if Lucy says give us dance music, you give us dance music. I don't wanna stand here all night, and you can't make me!"

Schroeder rolled his eyes. "I'll see what I can do."

Lucy's smile immediately returned. "Thank you, sweetie!'

"Don't call me that!"

Lucy giggled. Schroeder's face went a bit red, not that Lucy noticed. She was already socializing again.

Schroeder watched her. The annoying blockhead who had made him immediately jump at the opportunity to play music at her stupid New Years party. How could he have said yes so quickly? To go to her house on this night of all nights? He may as well have sent her a Valentine with roses and a box of chocolates! Schroeder just knew that Lucy intended to kiss him at midnight. He knew that was the reason that Lucy had invited him.

So why had he jumped on the opportunity to go? He didn't like her! He hated her guts! Didn't he? Well, he could at least admit that Lucy looked really damn pretty tonight.

As the night progressed, Sally had followed Linus around constantly. She was being as annoying as ever. It was also embarrassing to Linus since Sally had turned eleven before he had! He knew Sally was a month older, but the month in between, it was far too embarrassing to stand.

Peppermint Patty and Marcie were talking in the corner, and laughing away. Freida and Violet were holding a nice conversation. Shermy and Franklin were there, too. Paddy had seemed to disappear. Charlie Brown was standing in the corner, angsting away his whole life. It annoyed Lucy.

Eventually, Schroeder did find some music that was possible to dance to. In this time, Lucy waltzed over to him, grinning.

"Since it's on a record, do you think you could pull your mind away from the music for just a little while and dance with me?" She asked, somewhat aggressively, getting right in his face. Schroeder looked embarrassed.

"Why would I do that?" The thirteen year old boy asked.

"Because you like me!" Lucy said, cheerfully.

"I don't," Schroeder said, rolling his eyes. Lucy grunted.

"Well...at least pretend you do? C'mon, Schroeder! It's just one itzy bitzy dance! It won't kill you!" She complained. She continued to beg him before he put his hand up.

"You know what? Fine. But this doesn't mean anything," Schroeder said, taking Lucy's hands. Lucy blushed deeply. She had not been expecting him to ever say yes. This caught her very much off guard. It was evident she didn't know how to react. It made Schroeder snicker, and he began to pull her along. After a moment, Lucy finally caught up and began to dance with him. It was amazing. She had never expected to have the chance to dance with Schroeder...she liked him so much, and this just made it worse! Schroeder knew it would happen, so why was he letting her dance with him?

They spun across the dance floor. The two pre-teens were obviously having a good time. Schroeder didn't even realize he was letting Lucy see that he actually was enjoying this. Lucy would never let him forget it, and that was not something Schroeder needed. Her flirting would only continue, and be more and more annoying.

"Four minutes to midnight!" Sally Brown announced, in her still very childlike and high pitched voice.

Lucy realized she didn't have her new years crown.

"Whoops!" She said. "I'll be right back! Stay here, Schroeder! Don't wander away!"

Schroeder was too dizzy to respond. He smiled a bit to himself, blushing. Oh, what the hey? He may as well give Lucy one New Years...just one small kiss would make things a bit worse, but than again...it was only New Years, wasn't it? It wasn't like it meant anything.

Lucy grabbed her crown, which was right next to where Charlie Brown was. He looked just as depressed as usual.

"What's the matter, Charlie Brown?" Lucy asked. Not that she really cared or anything. He was just...kind of a downer at her enthusiastic party.

"It's that little red haired girl..." Charlie Brown muttered. "She didn't even show up...and I have another assignment! And...oh, everything is just going wrong, Lucy. And this new years is going to be the exact same. I'm not going to get one single kiss this year, just like every year...I'm almost fourteen, and no one...not one person likes me..."

Lucy stopped. She wanted to yell at Charlie Brown for being a blockhead, but it was almost midnight. Midnight on New Years. For once, the Grinch felt her heart grow just a little bit. She looked back at Schroeder, who was still waiting for her, and her heart sank. Now...she had to pick between kissing the boy of her dreams or some blockhead she felt sorry for! Why was everything going wrong?! How could this New Years get any worse?!

"One minute!" Sally yelled. She grabbed Linus quickly, who looked resistant. But he knew that Sally wasn't going to give up, no matter how much it bothered him.

Shermy had found Violet, and Franklin found Freida. Marcie and Peppermint Patty huddled in the corner, and Snoopy was giggling next to a very annoyed Patty.

Schroeder was all alone...but Lucy was going to be nice.

As they began counting down, when they got to three, Lucy grabbed Charlie Brown by the collar, and kissed him right on the lips, as the counted down to the New Year. Lucy looked kind of disgusted when she pulled away. Charlie Brown looked dazed and confused, and he was blushing a considerable amount. After a second, a goofy grin appeared on his face. He was kissed by a girl! He was kissed by a girl on New Years!

"Happy New Years indeed, Charlie Brown," Lucy said, crossing her arms with a bitter expression on her face. She turned back to look at Schroeder.

The blond looked stunned, and hurt. He had waited...he had waited right there for her to return and kiss him! He had danced all night with her, and was giving her the opportunity to kiss him, and she chose someone else! She kissed someone else when she was going to kiss him!

Schroeder glared at her, stomping away from the floor, and heading down the hall. He looked very hurt...and it began to hurt Lucy. Charlie Brown had ruined it! Now Lucy lost her chance with the man of her dreams!

Lucy pushed Charlie Brown away, and ran after Schroeder. She found him in the entry hall, beginning to put on his coat to leave.

"Wait, Schroeder!" She shouted.

He turned to her, glaring.

"What?" He asked, sharply.

"It's..." She paused. "It's an over night party! You can't leave yet!"

"Oh yeah?" He asked. "Watch me."

"But you're the DJ!" She complained. "You can't leave!"

"Just put on the record and give it back to me when your stupid party ends!" He said.

"Why are you mad at me?!" She yelled.

"What do you mean?!" He yelled back.

"You don't even like me, Schroeder! Why are you mad I kissed someone else?! It's not like you care!"

"You stood me up, too! I was waiting for four minutes for you, and when I turn in the middle of the floor completely alone and I see my kiss kissing someone else, you think I'm not gonna get upset?! It was so embarrassing!" He said. Lucy took a step back.

"I'm sorry..." She said. "But please don't go!"

"It's too late to kiss me now. Midnight is over. Maybe next year," He grunted.

"It's not too late!" She cried. Schroeder turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "Just 'cause it's a stupid tradition doesn't mean you can't still kiss me! The kiss on midnight doesn't mean anything anyway! A real kiss means something!"

Schroeder huffed. "I don't wanna really kiss you."

Lucy's shoulders drooped. "...Right..."

"Oh, don't look so disappointed," Schroeder complained.

"Just go if you want," Lucy said, with a sigh. Schroeder began to walk out the door, and with a slam, he was gone.

Lucy sat down, in sadness. Her first kiss was with Charlie Brown...her very first kiss. When it could have been Schroeder, she had to kiss the biggest blockhead in the whole world. Her life was a tragedy.

Suddenly, she was pulling on her boots and jacket, and she had ran out the door.

"Schroeder, wait!" She was yelling. Schroeder luckily hadn't gotten very far. He turned back, to look at her. He still looked very annoyed, and was about to keep walking when she ran right up to him. She got to him in under a minute, grabbing him by the collar, and kissing him directly on the lips.

It was freezing cold outside. It was a few minutes after midnight at the beginning of a new year. Lucy's bare legs were freezing, and beginning to buckle. The snow dripped down onto her cheeks, and made her freezing to the bone. But the warmth radiating off of Schroeder made everything better. The warmness of Schroeder's lips made it magical. Here she was, for the first time, kissing him...it felt magical. So much better than her sloppy kiss with Charlie Brown. His lips were warm, like a dream. She didn't care about how cold she was, because she was kissing the biggest crush she had ever had.

And after a minute, she realized Schroeder was kissing her back. Schroeder was gripping her arms, and leaning into her kiss.

The pre-teens stood there for about a minute, before finally pulling away. They both blushed at each other. Lucy smiled brightly at him, taking one of his hands. Schroeder gulped.

"Happy New Years, Schroeder," She said.

"Happy New Years, Lucy," He answered.