((Author's Note:I know this is way late so…Merry Belated Christmas everybody!))

I stand atop one of the trunk-like stools in the center of the diner, strumming my guitar. People in the crowd clap to the beat in time with the music. There's been a slight increase in customers since I started preforming here, but it's mainly friends of my parents or other kids I know from school. Still, I couldn't be happier; I'm a real singer now! The way I see it, this is just the beginning.

"Rockin' around, the Christmas tree,

At the Christmas party hop,

Mistletoe hung where you can see,

Every couple tries to stop,

Rockin' around, the Christmas tree,

Let the Christmas spirit ring,

Later we'll have some pumpkin pie,

And we'll do some caroling,"

I give the classic song my own lively pop and somewhat jazzy beat, twilling around and hopping from trunk to trunk. This is one of the few times I'll ever be caught in makeup, but the mascara makes my eyes pop. My hair is shiny and is parted to one side instead of straight down the middle, with curls running through it. I wear a pair of brown fuzzy winter boots over some peppermint striped socks that are so long, they even come up past my knees. My strapless shirt is a cheerful red, with little white lace trimming the top of it and green stripes crisscrossing each other on two strips on my sides. The front and back have a faint, twinkle design on them. I also wear a pair of dark green shorts with a matching jacket that ends above my waist. A red headband with a branch of holly on it sits atop my head.

"You will get a sentimental feelin',

When you here,

Voices singin' let's be jolly,

Deck, the halls with boughs of holly,"

I step down, dancing with the young children who are there- mainly Amanda's and Haley's friends. They're all laughter and smiles.

"Rockin' around, the Christmas tree,

Have a happy holiday,

Everyone's dancin' merrily,

In the new,

Old,

Faaaashioned,

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

Applause and whistles erupt all around me. This is one of those moments where I just know this is what I'm meant to do; doing what I love and bringing a smile to someone's day because of it. "Alright everyone," I shout happily once things die down, "Any other requests?"

"Frosty! Frosty!" the kids yell in unison.

As I begin, I see the kids bobbing up and down, joining in the song along with some of the other patrons. Jeff suddenly appears from out of the kitchen, wearing a top hat and holding a broomstick. The children surround him as he begins a conga line, marching to the music, playing the role of Frosty. His over the top expressions make the others laugh. This is one of the best parts about working with their family; there's never a dull moment and they know how to enjoy their work.

After today's paycheck, I'll finally have enough to get the last gift for my friends before our party tonight at the ice skating rink in the park, and I'll also have a little extra money on the side to save. I still plan on staying here to work until the season is over though. And if Lucille and Jeff offer me a job again, I'll gladly accept.

It's actually only a few more days until Christmas. School has already let out for Winter Break, but we've still got rehearsals for the play about three to four days a week. With so much going on, I'm as hyper and energetic as Amanda and Haley. But then, who wouldn't be at this time of the year?

"…He led them down the streets of town right to the traffic cop,

And he only paused a moment when he heard him holler…"

"You're a dunce, you know that right?"

"What?" Lysander asked, turning to Rosalya. Both were walking through the crowded mall, carrying the spoils of their trip. Rosalya hadn't wanted to come here alone, but since she was picking out something for Leigh, couldn't bring him along, so she dragged Lysander there instead.

"Oh come on, LysBaby," she said, rolling her eyes, "I told you that if you were going to get her a gift to try to make it a good one. Honestly, I know you've never had a girlfriend, but I never thought you'd need coaching through every little aspect."

"What's wrong with it? It's not exactly what I'd call cheap."

"Expensive and meaningful are to different things you dolt," she said with a slight groan.

"Then what am I supposed to get? I don't know here that well. I still don't even think I should get anything at all, it may make her feel awkward."

"Come on," she began yanking him by the sleeve, racing though the crowds with her bags swinging wildly from her arm, leading the way back out to the parking lot, "I have an idea, but we have to get there before it closes."

"Rosalya, will you at least explain what-"

"Just come on! And start getting your car keys out!"

It's closing time. Dimitry's here to walk me home and he helps us clean up by picking up the dishes left by customers and bringing them to the sink, where Jeff is washing them. Amanda and Haley lay curled up in the booth seats, sound asleep. Meanwhile, Lucille and I wash the table tops. Once we're finished, she signs and hands me my check.

"Here ya go dear," she says grinning, "You certainly earned it. Just be careful not to spend it all at once on some overpriced pair of jeans."

I chortle, "Considering I usually buy jeans at Mega-Mart, I don't think we'll have to worry about that. Now…" I pull a large bag out from behind the poinsettias that I've been hiding it all day, "I have a surprise for you all."

Lucille seems genuinely touched, "Oh sweetie, you didn't have to go through all of this."

I grin, pulling out her gift, a small box wrapped in peppermint candy paper, first, "Here; open it."

She takes it from me, nodding in thanks, and begins tearing at the paper carefully. I think she's one of those types who likes to save it. I'm the same way, especially with this type; it's one of my favorites. The paper removed, she lifts the lid, revealing a set of gold hoop earrings with little birds dangling in the center of them. She gasps a little, "They're beautiful!" Wrapping one arm around me and holding the box with the other, she embraces me in a hug, "Thank you darlin'!"

I return the affection, "It's the least I could do. You've done so much for me, giving me a job, and you and your family are always so kind." I shuffle through the bag again, pulling out two identically wrapped boxes, covered in paper with cartoon Santas and Rudolphs. The only difference is that the name tags. "Would you mind if I woke the girls up?"

"Go ahead. We've got to get them up anyway to get them in the car."

I walk other to them, setting the presents on the table and gently shaking them awake, "Wake up girls," I say softly, "I've got a surprise for you."

They both moan. Then tired, sleepy eyes look up into mine before they spot the gifts. Instantly, they sit up, as if struck with a bolt of lightning. "Are these for us?" they ask excitedly.

I nod, smiling.

And they're off, grabbing their gifts with such vigor and glee only a child could possess. They do not waste a single ounce of time and rip apart the paper, eager to discover what may lie within the boxes. I know the feeling; I was always the same on Christmas Eve, when my parents would let me pick from any one of the gifts under the tree to open, then I would get to open the rest the following morning. It was tradition. As was reading The Night before Christmas and helping mom set out the cookies for Santa.

They both squeal with delight as they each pull out a teddy bear from the boxes. The bears look the same save for their fur color, which are the girl's favorite colors; pink and blue. Both bears have bows tied around their necks. Amanda and Haley get up from their seats and hug me close, chanting their thanks.

I smile, "Merry Christmas, girls," then kiss each of them on top of the forehead before standing. When I do, I see Dimitry watching me from the other side of the diner, grinning. How long had he been standing there?

I hand Lucille Jeff's gift because he's already headed out to their car to start it up and we really need to get going. Bidding them ado, I quickly change into a pair of pants and a warmer jacket before stepping out and locking the door behind us.

"So," Dimitry questions teasingly, with his arm around me as we walk down the city streets, "Where's my present?"

I scoff and smirk, "Impatient, aren't we?" I kiss the bridge of his nose, "You will have to wait until the party for your first gift. And you're still joining my family for Christmas, right?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he pulls me closer, "And what do you mean by 'impatient'? You forget that this is technically my first Christmas."

I laugh, "We best make it good then."

"I couldn't agree more," he makes us stop, than places one warm hand against my cheek. I lean into it, closing my eyes peacefully as he continues, "After the party's over, I want to talk to you for a minute. I'll take you home later." I nod in agreement.

Together, we wind through the streets, reaching the park within a few minutes. Almost everyone else is already there. I smile when I see even Nathaniel enjoying himself, skating with Melody. He hardly does anything or goes anywhere if his parents won't let him, and he'll hardly ask for anything because they always side with Amber. I'm glad that, at least for tonight, he's free from all of that.

"Silya!" I hear someone yell. I look to my right to see Iris skate right up to me. She makes a magnificent stop once she's beside us.

"Iris!" I exclaim as we both hug. "Merry Christmas, but I wish you didn't have to leave town for the holidays." Iris is heading off to her grandparents tomorrow by plane.

"I know, but I promise I'll text you and send lots of pictures. And you better send me some too," she turns to Dimitry, "Sorry, but I'm kidnapping my friend for a bit." She takes me by my wrist, leading me to where the skate rental booth is. I have just enough time to wave bye as we head that way, and I see Dimitry smile and head over to Armin and Alexy.

As I slip on my skates, sitting on a bench, Iris plops down next to me, "Has Dimitry given you your present yet?"

I shake my head no, "We're going to wait to exchange gifts later tonight. Are the other girls here yet?"

She begins naming them off of her fingers, "There's you, me, Melody, Rachel, Kara, Violette, and Kim."

"The Princess and her subjects aren't here, are they?"

"Nope. We've all done our best to keep our lips sealed. We didn't even mention any of this to Capucine."

I smile, "Good. I'd rather not have to watch my back just to be sure someone's not going to throw rocks at me while I skate."

"Oh, I think they'd come up with something worse than that."

I look around, "Rosalya's not here yet then?"

She frowns, "No, and she said she wouldn't miss this. I haven't seen Leigh or Lysander either."

"You don't think something might've happened, do you?"

"I'm sure they're fine, just running a little late is all," once the laces of my skates are tied, she helps me stand back up, "Come on, I want to show you some moves I've been working on, and Kim can do these awesome tricks."

"Rosalya, slow down! You're going to make us crash if the cops don't pull us over first!" Leigh shouted, sitting shot-gun inside Lysander's car. Lysander sat in the back, trying not to fall over as well as keep the presents from falling out of the seat beside him. Rosalya was at the wheel, having insisted that she could get to the park faster than either of the two brothers.

"Calm down, honey, I got this!" She replied without relenting. If anything, she went a little faster. "At least I found us a way around traffic."

"You're going to kill us all!"

"We're already late!"

Lysander looked over to his brother, "You always knew how to pick them."

"Quiet LysBaby or you're walking to the party."

"Rosalya, this is my car."

The other girls and I had taken a break from skating and sat down in a circle upon the snow, surrounding a fire and cradling mugs of my mom's hot chocolate. Christmas jingles played in the background over the park speakers. The boys were in their own group on the other side of the large, frozen solid pond.

Rosalya and the other hadn't shown up yet, so we decided to go ahead and start. I had given each of my friends their own personalized charm bracelets based on things I knew from their personalities; a sport themed one for Kim, an artsy one for Violette with a tiny ballerina charm thrown in, and so on and so forth. They all loved them, even Kim, who's not a big fan of jewelry. I'm just about to open my first gift when we all here someone yelling from far off.

"Wait for me girls!" Every head turns to see Rosalya running toward us, her face flush from the cold and looking a little out of breath. One of her arms was covered with small dangling bags. When she reaches us, she frowns a bit, "Aw, you all started without me."

"Sorry Rosalya," I reply bashfully, "After a while, we didn't think you were coming."

"Nah, it's fine," she makes room from herself and sits in between Violette and me. She chortles, "As long as you all didn't decide to go ahead and open my presents that is." Rosalya and I are the last ones to open our gifts. We each hand her hers as she passes out the bags she brought for everyone. She waits patiently as we all pull out bottles of sweet smelling perfume. In no time flat, everyone's trying them on and sniffing the air. She grins, "I knew you'd all like them!"

Melody smiles, "Rosalya, how did you manage to afford all of this? I certainly hope you didn't let yourself go bankrupt."

She shakes her head, "Nah, I even got them for a discount. Leigh knows this guy who sells them by the dozen for stores. I found these in a catalogue he had lying around his shop."

Rosalya and I open our presents at the same time, basking in 'oohs' and 'ahs' as we give our thanks. I get a new book, The Cupcake Queen, from Iris, a hand-drawn portrait from Violette, an autographed picture of Harrison Ford from Kim, and a box with a ton of pastels from Melody. We're all admiring our gifts when Rosalya pokes me in the arm, then points over to the boy's group. I see Leigh watching us. Rosalya waves to him and he then pokes Lysander. I watch as he excuses himself from the rest of the group and goes to his car…I wonder for a moment why it's parked at such a weird angle.

Rosalya leans over to whisper something, "LysBaby has something for you. Go on." I nod, confused, and stand. As I walk, I hear the other girls chattering away in eager whispers.

When I approach him, I see him with the door open to the back seat of the car. He sees me and blocks my view of it. "Um…hello Silya," he says.

"Hi, Lysander," I reply, "Rosalya said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Um, yes, well…" he blushes and stutters, as if not knowing how to speak to me, "I…I have a friend that has a Christmas present for you."

I raise my eyebrow as he ducks back into the car. I tilt my head to look, but he still blocks the way. When he turns around, my eyes widen in surprise and delight at what he's carrying.

"Awwwwww!" I balk in a high-pitched voice as he carefully puts a pure-white Samoyed puppy in my longing arms, "She's so adorable!"

He smiles shyly as she licks my cheek, "I think she likes you. But I think you're forgetting her gift to you."

I look her over before spotting a lovely pearl necklace. "…Oh, Lysander," I say in a quiet whisper, "Thank you…"

"…Here," he unclips the necklace from around the puppy's neck, and then walks behind me, "let's see it on you…" I feel his fingers softly brush away my hair and touch against my neck as he hooks it on. He walks back around and stares at me for a moment, "There we go…beautiful…"

I must be blushing, because his smile widens, "I can't thank you enough, Lysander. I love her, and I love the necklace….Thank you. I just wish I had something for you too, I mean, my mom and I are handing out goody bags with some hand-baked goods for everyone once the party's over, but that's nowhere near the same."

He scratches behind the puppy's ear, refusing to look me in the eye, "That's fine Silya," looking down even further he adds with a slight laugh, "Maybe you can make up for it by giving me a private concert sometime."

I return to smile, "I'd like that."

Once the parties over, I hand Dimitry his gift from me; a new watch and Black Barlow Columbine and Lenten Rose seeds I had ordered from online. Since he enjoyed gardening before, I thought he might like to start another again. Besides, it would be something we could do together. My mother and I hand out the goody bags as guests leave the party- I make sure that Lysander and Dimitry get a couple extra. Meanwhile, my dad plays with the Samoyed puppy that I now have named Purity, after her pure white coat. It didn't take long to convince my parents to let me keep her, and Lysander already had some dog food and a collar for her, amongst other pet supplies.

Black showed up as well; once everybody else had left anyway. He was practically ecstatic when I gave him my present for him; a bat-sized Santa hat I had made using doll designs. We talked for a bit before he headed off to find some food.

Once everything was over, my mom and dad drove their car home, taking Purity with them. Dimitry started leading me off in the other direction.

"Where are you talking me?" I ask with a giggle.

"You'll see."

He races through the streets, which grow thinner and thinner as we go. Then, I finally begin to recognize some of the buildings, although I've never been this way before. We stop a few minutes later and I find that I know this place from a field trip my class took last year; the local museum. But it should be closed by now, why are we-

He sets me down on my feet then takes me by the hand, leading me around the building, toward the planetarium. I don't know how, but he takes a thin metal wire out from his pocket and picks the lock. He leads me inside.

Darkness. All around us. I can't even see my hand in front of my face once the door silently closes shut. Thankfully, Dimitry takes out a small flashlight. Turning it on, he heads over the control board in the middle of the circular room. After fiddling with the buttons, he pulls up a scene of a brilliant sky. Millions of projected stars surround us, casting their light down upon us. I'm stricken with awe, my breath taken away. I haven't seen a night like this is so long. You never see anything like this in the city.

"I wanted everything to be perfect," I hear Dimitry say in front of me. I turn to find him kneeling down on one knee in front of me. I gasp a little in a combination of surprise, joy, love, and confusion. He grins, "Now this isn't exactly like what you're thinking, but I hope you like it all the same."

He pulls out a small box, opening it to reveal a ring inside. "It's a promise ring," he says, closing his eyes for a moment while still smiling. "I know we're too young for anything very serious, but Silya, I want to be with you," he takes my left hand, sliding the ring on my finger. It's a perfect fit, "only you."

I can only stare at the ring for a moment. The gemstone is a dark violet, surround by tiny hearts of silvery metal. It's so beautiful and I can't believe Dimitry would get something like this for me. I'm beyond touched. I can't really explain why, but silent tears begin to roll down my cheeks. I see his smile disappear, turning into a disappointed and painful frown. He's about to speak, maybe to either comfort me or try to say that this was a mistake, but he doesn't get the chance.

I pounce upon him, crying tears of happiness, kissing him passionately.

Our lips find each other easily. They linger and graze one another in a soft caress. I feel Dimitry's hand drag up one of my arms, up my neck, and pause at the back of my head, his fingers running through my hair. His other hand moves up and down my back, right along my spine. It begins its descent, slowing to a stop as it gets to the end of my hips, and then begins its leisurely crawl back up to the middle of my back. This action repeats often.

His lips part away from mine. Not long after, I find his warm breath tickling my neck. Dimitry's lips barely touch it and they move downward, stopping right above the spot he had bitten the night we met, before he became human again. Perhaps it's instinct, or maybe just dumb luck, that allows him to find it, because the wound had already healed for a good while now.

Even then, that particular place is still sensitive, in more ways than one.

For a moment, he just stays there like this, and then I feel just the bare tip of his tongue move across the spot, sending sparks of sensation through me. I practically melt in his arms. He begins kissing it and then finally taking the soft flesh carefully in between his blunt front teeth, not biting down, but teasing me.

I murmur softly and begin kissing him at his jaw line, moving upward toward his ear. Once there, I gently nibble on the lobe, faintly tugging at it. As he makes a soft, sort of moaning sound, I place my hands on his shoulders, lifting myself up and allowing him to catch me from my behind. I wrap my arms around his neck and we both lean in for a deep kiss. After a long moment of our lips tempting and taunting one another, our mouths part open just barely.

Our tongues have just touched when we hear someone opening the door to the planetarium, snapping us back into reality. We duck behind a row of chairs in time for a guard to walk in. The man beams his flashlight around, but doesn't see us. He turns off the projection of the night sky and walks back outside, grumbling. Once we're sure he's gone, Dimitry and I start laughing, deciding it would be wiser to leave now rather than get caught sneaking around.