Hey guys! Here's the Christmas story I said I'd write, and as promised, Kelly's in it! It's kinda like Spooked - humanized, Doc is younger, around his mid-thirties or forties, Doc adopted Kelly when she was six, and Shannon and Andrea are in it. Unlike Spooked, there are no demonic ghosts that take joy in scaring the crap out of 'innocent' fifteen-year-olds (sorry... You'll just have to wait till next October. *evil, knowing smirk*), and Kelly, Shannon, and Andrea are fourteen instead of fifteen.

Hope you guys all like this! :D

Sunday, December 14, 2014 - Eleven Days Until Christmas

Kelly's P.O.V.

Most mornings, I wake up to Jimmy Hendrix, a rousing rendition of Reveille, and the yells of "Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?!" and "Respect the classics, man! It's Hendrix!" Today, I woke up to "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!", Reveille, and "Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?!" and "Respect the classics, man! It's Jingle Bells!"

I chuckled sleepily and glanced at the clock, even though I knew perfectly well what time it was. Six o'clock. Of course. I had never set an alarm clock before in my life - I had always had Fillmore and Sarge to wake me up promptly at seven o'clock a.m. ever since Doc adopted me when I was six, and before then, my natural six-year-old genes would wake me up at five thirty in the morning. Course, now I was fourteen, and would love to get up at ten in the morning, but between school and the bickering soldier and hippie, that was not going to happen.

I rolled over. Might as well get up then. I nearly fell on the floor in my sleepy state, but I threw my arms out to the ground and just barely saved myself. My arms were holding me up off the ground, but my legs were still tangled up in the blankets. I sighed and rolled my eyes, mentally blaming Fillmore and Sarge for the mess.

I wasn't entirely sure of how to get myself out of this mess I had gotten myself in. I tried to push myself up back on the bed, but my legs were tied in such a funky position, I couldn't do it. Eventually, I had no choice but to roll out of the bed and onto the floor. I was lowering myself gently and slowly to the floor when my hand slipped on the rug I had on the wooden floor next to my bed. The rug slid away, along with my hand, and with a loud THUMP! I crashed onto the floor. "Argh!" I yelped as I twisted around, trying to get out of the blanket's tight grip.

A minute later, Doc jogged in, holding a cup of coffee. "What happened?" he asked, confused and maybe slightly worried, but that faded once he grasped the situation. He looked at me in amusement as I struggled with my blanket.

"Um... I don't really know," I confessed. Doc chuckled, and shaking his head, walked out the room. "Hey, uh, a little help, please?"

No reply. "THANKS!" I shouted sarcastically. After a minute or two, I finally untangled myself from my blankets. "HA! Take that, ya stupid blanket!"

I heard Doc chuckling from the kitchen. I snorted in dissatisfaction as I stood up and put my bed back together. I stretched and walked into my bathroom to get ready. As usual, my hair was a rat's nest, but only took a minute to comb. Wow, that must be a world record or something for me...

Ten minutes later, I walked into the kitchen. "Thanks for the help in there," I complained as Doc sipped his coffee, reading the morning paper. He chuckled again. "Stop laughing, it isn't funny," I scolded him as I cracked a grin and giggled a bit myself.

"You're very convincing," Doc commented. I laughed.

"Hey, I haven't had caffeine yet," I teased.

"And you aren't getting any, either," Doc shot back. My mouth fell open in shock, as if this wasn't the same exchange we had had almost every morning for the past seven months.

"Awww."

"Sorry, kiddo."

"I'll satisfy myself with a donut," I reasoned as I raided my wallet, which was sitting on the counter (I should probably put it somewhere safer, in case Lightning comes over... No, I'm joking. He has enough cash of his own), and headed towards the door. "I'll be right back, going to Flo's."

"Wear a coat!" Doc shouted as I slipped on my Converse. I snorted.

"Pfft, this is the desert, not Colorado. I don't need a coat!" I replied as I walked out the door. I got about five feet before the blustery wind drove me back inside. "...I hate it when you're right."

I grabbed a coat and ducked back outside before Doc could respond. I laughed a bit and looked around. Finally, it felt like Christmas instead of the Fourth of July, but with school in session. But there were only a few days of school left! I remembered when Doc homeschooled me, that if I worked extra hard two weeks before Christmas, I could have the week before Christmas off, too. Unfortunately, now I went to a regular school now because Doc was so busy. At least I had met some new friends (and some incredibly cute boys).

I walked into Flo's blissfully warm cafe, which was already pretty busy for a Sunday morning, thanks to Fillmore and Sarge. I got in the line as I rubbed my hands together - I should have gotten some gloves, too. I wondered if it might snow, and I'd have my first white Christmas.

Flo finished with the person before me and smiled me as I stepped up to the counter. "Hey, there, honey. How ya doing?" Flo asked me cheerily.

"Cold, but good, thanks. You?"

"I'm good, thanks for asking! What can I getchya?"

"Um, can I have a glazed donut, please?"

"Sure," Flo said and she went to the kitchen to get my donut. I looked around the cafe and spotted Andrea and Shannon sitting at a booth together. I waved at them, trying to catch their eyes. Andrea just barely saw me and looked up from her pancakes. She waved back, grinning. She was wearing a fuchsia long-sleeved blouse with a crew neck and dark blue jeans, and a black headband held her short blonde bob back from her friendly chocolate-brown eyes. Shannon was wearing a gray hoodie with a black hockey stick on the front and black jeans. Her hair, parted over her left eye, was pulled up into a ponytail so that it would stop falling in her right eye. They both grinned at me and gestured for me to join them. I lifted a finger up to tell them I'd be right there as Flo returned with my donut in a bag.

"Thank you," I said politely as I paid for the tasty breakfast. I smiled at the dark-skinned woman before I turned around and headed for Shannon and Andrea.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" I asked as I slipped into the space next to Andrea.

"Not much, you?" Shannon replied.

"Putting up Christmas decorations today," Andrea said as she munched on her pancakes. Shannon gagged on her waffle.

"What? It's Christmas?!"

"Not yet, genius," I snorted. "Eleven days."

"Oh, dang, I thought it was the seventh..."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Now I know what I'm going to get you for Christmas. A calendar."

Shannon groaned. "Dude, my grandma always gets me that. You're turning into my grandma!"

Andrea and I laughed as I dug my donut out of it's bag. Mm, it was still warm. I bit into the sugary goodness and almost closed my eyes in bliss. "Gaaah, so good," I moaned happily.

"Now you sound like a drunk person," Shannon remarked. Andrea snorted, which was a bad thing since she was taking a sip of water. I think you all know what happens when you snort while drinking - you get a big mess. She ended up getting water up her nose, on the table, and on her face. Shannon and I died laughing as Lightning walked up, snickering.

"Nice, Andrea. Very mature," he said teasingly. Andrea blushed as she mopped herself up.

"I could say the same to you," she retorted as she wiped her nose on the napkin. Lightning smiled at us.

"So, how are you guys? What are you all doing today?" Lightning asked us.

"I dunno," Shannon shrugged.

"Putting up Christmas decorations," Andrea and I said unison. Lightning nodded as he stepped backwards to let a little old lady pass.

"Same here. I'm helping Sally put up some decorations at the Cozy Cones," Lightning informed us.

"Cool. If you need help, just call me," I offered. Andrea and Shannon agreed.

"Thanks, guys," Lightning said gratefully, smiling at us. "I better go. See ya."

"Bye."

"TTYL."

"Later."

I finished my donut. "I better go if I'm going to put up stuff round my place and help Lightning," I told my friends as I stood up, brushing crumbs off my hands.

"Do you want some help?" Shannon offered. I shrugged.

"Sure, that'd be great," I accepted.

"I can help for a bit," Andrea added. "My parents are still sleeping, somehow."

I glared at Fillmore and Sarge, who were wisely exiting the restaurant before one of us three teenagers could punish them for their sinful deeds. "Wow, a miracle," I said dryly. "But yeah, that'd be great. I can help you, too, later."

"Thanks," Andrea said, smiling as she finished her pancakes, which were slightly soggy because of the water she had spilled on them. The two of us stared at Shannon as she shoveled down her waffle.

"What? Stop staring at me," she growled. We snickered and just kept watching her, and she groaned, rolling her eyes. She ate the last bite and then wiped her mouth before jumping up, then nearly falling down because of the small space and the seat knocking against the back of her knees. Andrea and I slid gracefully out of the booth and waved to Flo as we walked outside.

The wind was blowing again, and I stuck my hands in my pocket to stay warm. "Come on, let's go," I said unnecessarily to my friends. We sprinted to my house and rushed through the door. "Hi, Doc, I'm back."

"Okay," Doc called from another room.

"Come on, I think he's in the basement," I said as I was about to lead my two best friends into our basement, then I stopped. "Never mind, you don't wanna see our basement. It's a huge mess..."

Andrea laughed. "Okay," she said as she hung her coat up in the closet.

I loudly jogged down the stairs, clutching the hand rail. "Hey, Doc, Shannon and Andrea came over. They want to help. Is that okay?" I asked him as I spotted him digging some boxes full of Christmas decorations out of a large pile of more boxes.

"The more the merrier," he grunted as he finally got the box out of the pile without having the entire thing collapse. I rolled my eyes.

"We need to clean this place up soon," I muttered as I went to help him.

Long story short, Doc and I got all the decorations out of the basement with only a few avalanches. Then, the fun began.

The house was already fairly clean because it was only Doc and I living in it, so we didn't have to waste a bunch of time cleaning. I used my iPod to play some Christmas music, starting with my favorite song, "Carol of the Bells". I love "Carol of the Bells" and other songs like it, like "Ring Christmas Bells" by Ray Conniff Singers. This version was sang by Emmy Rossum.

"Awww, this is so cute," Andrea squealed as she unwrapped a large snowglobe with Santa on his sleigh, pulled by his eight reindeer, inside of it. She shook it gently so that the snow fell down around the jolly old man and his reindeer.

"Yeah, we got that when I was... How old was I, Doc?"

"Eight," he grunted as he continued to struggle with untangling the lights.

"Yeah, thanks. So yeah, we got that when I was eight," I explained, smiling. We had gotten it when we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast on Christmas Eve in 2009. We went to a largish city, and I could tell Doc was a bit nervous about being around so many people. I hadn't understood that at the time, but I later learned it was because he didn't want anyone to recognize the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. We ate breakfast (can't remember exactly what I ate, but it had lots and lots of syrup!) and were about to leave when I saw the snow globe. Being the eight year old I was, I thought it was adorable and wanted it so bad, but knew better than to ask.

Doc noticed my staring, and cleared his throat. "Kelly, why don't you go grab that snowglobe? I think Flo would love that in her store window."

Being the naive eight year old I was, I totally believed that it was for Flo. I held it the way home, looking at it glowingly. Once we got home, Doc took it into his room to 'wrap it up for Flo'. Instead, I found it under the Christmas tree the next morning, much to my excitement.

I smiled at the memory, and Doc had a slightly distant look in his eyes, so I think he was recalling that day, too. Andrea carefully put the snowglobe up on the center of the mantel and dove back to the other decorations.

About three hours later, we were done. The reason it took three hours was because Shannon (not me, SHANNON) 'accidentally' got us three girls tied up in tinsel. Doc spent half an hour untying us.

The house looked bright and cheery. In the living room, there was an artificial tree garland on the fireplace mantle, with a couple of snow-frosted pine cones, cranberries, and and the Santa Claus snowglobe nestled in it, two stockings hanging on the mantle, one for Doc, one for me, a nativity set on the coffee table by the wall in between two arm chairs, a stuffed Santa Claus standing in the corner by the door with a few fake presents, more tree garland on the window sills, with a few fake candles nestled in it, and some childish but cheery paper snowflakes on the windows. The left corner by the fireplace was empty, waiting for the Christmas tree.

In the kitchen, the fridge had some red ribbons on it to make it look like a giant present, a centerpiece of tree garland, holly, and frosted pine cones with two candles on either side of it on the table, which also had red place mats on top of the white table cloth, and a small, fake frosted Christmas tree on the counter. Also on the counter, there was a jar of candy canes and Hershey's Kisses, wrapped in Christmas colors, on it.

Two Nutcrackers guarded my room from the outside, keeping intruders from the decorated inside. My bedspread was red with big white snowflakes on it, and I had a round peppermint candy pillow on top of my normal white one. There was fake snow and snowmen on the window sills of my two windows on either side of my bed, and a three-foot tall fake Christmas tree in the corner of my room, across from my desk. It had a red tree skirt that matched my bedspread, and was decorated with red, green, and white balls. It also had a classic red and green paper chain on it.

In the hallway, there were a few small wreaths on the wall, and on the table in the middle of the wall between the front door and the entrance to the living room, there were two toy soldiers on either side of a bowl of ornaments, and three tall candles standing behind the bowl. Near the edge of the table was a white wooden cut out of the word "NOEL". In all, I think our house looked pretty great.

We girls then moved over to Andrea's, leaving Doc to peacefully enjoy the newly decorated house, and spent two uneventful hours there (thankfully no one tied us up in tinsel, mainly because Shannon had to go home) before continuing to the Cozy Cones.

"Hey, guys," I called out to Lightning and Sally, who were toting boxes out of Sally's office. Lightning raised a hand in greeting and nearly lost the box he was holding. "Smooth, Light."

Sally, who hadn't seen, sent a sharp glance towards Lightning. "What'd you do this time, Stickers?" she asked in bored, 'not again' tone.

"Nothing!" he protested as he set the box down. "See? The lights are all in one."

Sally gave him an amused look before looking back at us. "So how are you two doing?"

"Goooooood," I drawled out. "We just came over here to help you guys out with decorating."

Sally smiled gratefully. "Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. So Lightning and I can tackle hanging up the lights - I don't trust you two on ladders."

"HEY!"

Sally continued," If you two could get the yard stuff, that'd be helpful."

Although I was a little annoyed about Sally's 'not trusting us on ladders' thing, Andrea and I just nodded and headed for the tallest box labeled 'Yard Decorations' as Shannon ran up.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" she panted as she slowed to a stop. I explained the plans and Shannon nodded in understanding. "Sounds good."

With that, Shannon tore open the box and pounced upon a pack of two and a half feet tall plastic candy canes. She untied the twine wrapped around them and grabbed a stick lying on the ground near Cone Number One, and starting poking holes in the ground to later insert the candy canes in around the half-circle of land in between Sally's house and Main Street (did that make sense?). I laughed a bit as I grabbed a box of ornaments and starting decorating the cactus outside Cone Number Three.

Lightning climbed up on top of the ladder to start string lights around the door of Cone Number One as Sally outlined the base of the motel with lights. I hoped no one would step on them. I moved on from the cactus after a good five or six needles had found my clumsy hands, which were shaking from cold (I had taken my gloves off for the delicate operation, but obviously, that was a mistake). I removed the needles from my hands, cursing, as I slipped away to Sally's lobby to grab some anointment. I quickly applied that then ran back outside to join in the decorating again.

"Hey, Sally?" Lightning called as I returned to the group and grabbed some three foot tall plastic snowman to arrange around Shannon's candy canes.

"Mm-hmm?"

"Could you pass me some more lights?"

Sally walked around from the back of the Cone and looked up at Lightning, who was sitting on the door canopy above the front door of the Cone. She frowned. "Um... Could you just come down here and get them?"

Lightning smirked and shook his head, pretending to be ignorant to reality - the jerk knew full-well that Sally was not found of heights. However, refusing the let Lightning get the best of her, Sally just gritted her teeth and grabbed some lights and wound them around her arm so she had both hands free for climbing. She gripped the ladder with a pale hand and took a deep breath.

"Sally? Do you want me to get it?" I called, concerned. She shook her head without looking at me, and started to climb, her knuckles white as paper. Lightning looked somewhat surprised at her determination, and even more shocked when she reached the top, whipped something (my guess is mistletoe) out from her back pocket, held it over their heads, and kissed him. Actually, he was so surprised, he slipped and fell off the canopy, thankfully landing in a bush. My mouth fell open in surprise and amusement, and I gave a small, almost disbelieving laugh.

Sally tossed the lights on top of the door canopy, climbed down a few rungs, and then jumped off the ladder, smirking as Lightning thrashed around in the bush.

"Thanks, Stickers. Now I'm not as afraid of heights," she said cheerfully as she started to skip to the back of the Cone to resume her decorating, stuffing the mistletoe back in her pocket to keep for her next victim. Lightning jumped out of the bush, brushing some dead leaves off his jacket.

"Hey! What kind of kiss do you call that?" he yelled as he raced towards Sally. Sally laughed and starting running around the Cone. They raced around and around it until Lightning finally got smart and started racing the other way around the Cone. Unsuspecting Sally nearly ran into him as he grabbed her and kissed her passionately. She was surprised, but pleased, and kissed him back. I rolled my eyes in amusement and started to turn back to my snowman, but instead found myself facing Aidan Spencer. I yelped in surprise, and he grinned, then pointed at Lightning and Sally.

"Is that us in five years?" he inquired. I facepalmed and shoved him away. Aidan had a massive crush on me, and was practically my own personal stalker. He was annoying, but I had to admit, it felt good to know that someone actually felt that way about me. "Okay, six?"

I glared at him. He grinned goofily and just shrugged. Shannon had once insisted that we were perfect for each other - we were both kind of silly, both had blue eyes, although Aidan's were lighter, and were both obsessed with chocolate. My response had been to sock her in the arm. "Aidan, you dork. Why do you always have to sneak up on me?!"

"I read that when you catch people off-guard, they tend to 'fess up easier," he said logically. We were both also very educated in both regular school and the art of the comeback.

"I once read that when you break someone's nose, they go away," I retorted in a sweet, cheery tone.

"Aw, come on, Kelly, we all know how much you love my nose," he said, acting flirty. I gave another brief laugh. I hated to admit it, but Aidan Spencer always succeeded in making me laugh.

"Go away, Aidan."

"What's the magic word?"

"What are you, four?"

"Mm, maybe."

"Ugh... PLEASE get out of here before I rearrange your face."

"You're very cheerful today, aren't you?"

"Aidan, please, I'm busy!" I huffed. He held his gloved hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay... See ya, baby," he said, then ran off.

"I AM NOT YOUR BABY!" I hollered after him. Oh, he was so lucky there was no snow on the ground. Otherwise, he'd be dealing with a snowball down his shirt. I whipped around and squealed in surprise as someone scooped me up, bridal-style

"Haha, now you're my baby!" Lightning crowed delightedly. "Hey, Sally, look, we have a baby!"

Sally looked up from her lights in slight alarm. "WHA - oh. Aw, she's cute," Sally teased after her initial shock. I crossed my arms and glared at Lightning.

"Seriously? Put me down," I demanded heatedly. Lightning just laughed.

"Aw, you're a feisty little baby, aren't you?" Lightning said as he started cooing over me like I was a real baby and starting swinging me around so I was forced to wrap my arms around his neck so I wouldn't going flying to the cold, hard ground.

"Lightning!" I laughed, my annoyance fading slightly, replaced by amusement. "Come on, put me down! Please? We have work to do!"

Lightning swung me onto my feet, and I stumbled a bit, but he helped to steady me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said laughingly, dusting myself off before returning to my snowmen, still smiling slightly in amusement.

We finished decorating the Cozy Cones without further interruptions, and by then, it was about three, which meant we were all starving. Despite my stomach's growling, I was happy. The Cozy Cones looked awesome. Candy canes dotted the border of the land between the road and Sally's office (we had moved my snowmen to stand outside a couple of the Cozy Cones' doors alongside a couple of Nutcrackers and Santa Clauses of relatively the same height because there weren't enough snowmen to make a good pattern among the candy canes), lights lined the doors and bases of the cones and several cacti (my genius idea), and those white wire reindeer with the lights on them stood were scattered around the Cozy Cones. Lights also lined the motel lobby and Sally's home, and two plastic, three-foot-tall toy soldiers guarded her doors.

"Wow, thanks guys. The place looks amazing," Sally said happily as she surveyed the area.

"No problem," I said, smiling at the young woman. She brushed a bit of her curly blonde hair out of her green eyes and smiled back.

"All right, who wants lunch at Flo's? My treat," she announced. I grinned again as my stomach grumbled loudly in a "HECK, YA." Everyone laughed as we started off towards Flo's cafe, Lightning, the pig, happily leading the way.

I won't go into detail about the rest of the relatively ordinary day, except I will say that Lightning did scarf down three sandwiches at Flo's.

Boys.

Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter! Sorry if it was too long for some of your likings, but I want to do twelve chapters covering each day from the fourteenth to the twenty-fifth of December - the twelve days of Christmas. ;)

Reviews make me smile... And I'd just like to say that forty comments on this entire book (which will be twelve chapters, just in case you didn't pick up on the cheesey twelve days of Christmas thingy) would be the best Christmas present ever... *wink wink nudge nudge*

Thanks for reading!

Kitty

P.S. Just wanna say that I had a dance show last night, and I don't mean to brag, but I did AWESOME. I'm really happy about that, cause I was put in a bad group, so I'm grateful that I could at least do well in that stupid group. Okay, I'll shut up now.