THE END

Chapter 36

I hope you all have enjoyed this story as much as I have writing it. Thank, thank, thank you all for reading or reviewing!

I sighed, annoyed, as I walked up and down the aisles at Wal-Mart, looking for a gift for Iggy.

"You could get him something lame like a flash light or hot sauce. That'd be funny," Nudge said.

"It would but I'm thinking something funnier..."

"Like a box of tampons?"

I laughed. "Yes, something funny like that, but for guys."

We looked in a big cardboard bin, trying to find something, anything really. Wal-Mart had been cleared out by the holiday rush and there was hardly anything left.

"Um, how about a yo-yo?" Nudge offered.

I shook my head.

"Why don't you just get him a lame holiday sweater?"

"That'll be the back up plan."

We walked through another aisle. It was full of hygienic stuff for men, tooth brushes, hair brushes, deodorant, shampoo, weird other stuff that men used. Though, most of it was picked over and only a few of each item was left over.

I passed something an paused. An evil smile lit my face. "Nudge? How about this?" I picked it up and showed her.

Her smile mirrored mine. "Perfect."

Later on, I sat in my room, wrapping my Christmas presents. I smiled, I was all set. I had everyone's gifts, Cheyenne, Ben, Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang; that I'd give to him later on so the others won't get suspicious. I didn't know what to get Fang, but I made a little make-shift gift. Sort of. I got a big stocking and put Crunch candy bars, a few movies I had managed to get a hold of, a CD, and a few other things I found. It wasn't great but it was still a gift, and I hope he'd like it.

I also got a gift for Total. A doggy bone that he'd be chewing on for days.

I grabbed the presents and went downstairs, Total trotted behind me. Cheyenne was in the kitchen on the phone, she nodded her head, and when she saw me, smiled. I smiled back and piled the gifts under the tree and glanced at the TV. It was about 8:30 PM and all the holiday movies were on. I plopped down on the couch next Nudge.

"What're we watching?"

"Holiday in Handcuffs."

I raised my eyebrow.

She shook her head, "Just watch."

Fang's POV

I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. I didn't know what to get Max for Christmas. She was my secret Santa… person… thing. Whatever. I couldn't find anything to get her. Everything was pretty much cleaned out and everything that I could find I knew she wouldn't like. Not that she'd say it, but I wanted to find something special. I was in my car driving around the dark and snowy city, trying to find a shop that would be worth looking in. I had already gone to two stores and the mall and couldn't find anything. I glanced at the window at the passing signs. Pulling up to a stoplight, one sign in particular stood out. Just then, I knew what I was getting Max for Christmas. But then I'd have to ask Cheyenne or Ben if they'd allow it. Sighing, I brought up Cheyenne's number in my phone, figuring she be more agreeable and kinder than Ben. Ben had been giving me the cold shoulder lately and I didn't blame him but I didn't want to push him either.

Max's POV

On Christmas eve morning, I walked in to the kitchen. Ben was sitting at the table reading a paper, and Nudge was across the counter from Cheyenne, talking to her.

"Can we please?" Nudge asked.

Cheyenne thought for a minute and sighed. "Fine. But you have to ask him."

Nudge's face paled a little but she smiled, "Okay. Thank you." She glanced at me, "Hey Max? Will you come with me please?"

"To where?" I asked as she led me out of the kitchen.

"To invite Mr. Jones to tomorrow's dinner."

"What? No!"

An hour later we stepped onto Mr. Jones's slippery front porch. Nudge dang the doorbell.

Nothing happened. A minute passed.

"Maybe he's not home," I suggested quietly.

Nudge looked saddened by this. "We can try later-"

Just then the door flung open.

"What?" Mr. Jones demanded, staring at us. He was about 5'3 with watery green eyes and balding white hair.

Nudge quickly stepped up, "Hi Mr. Jones, I'm Ally Preston from down the street-"

"I know who you are." he grumbled.

"Um, well, tomorrow, if you don't have any plans, we were wondering if you wanted to come over to my house at 5 o' clock for Christmas dinner?" She rushed this all out and I barely understood her.

His face softened a fraction. "Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"At 5?"

"Yes, sir."

"For Christmas?" he sneered the last word.

"Uh-huh."

He paused glaring at us. A few beats passed before he finally said, "Fine." and slammed the door shut.

I glanced at Nudge, "Do you realize how messed up tomorrow's dinner is going to be?"

She smiled and laughed as we stepped off his porch.

That night I sat on Nudge's bed as we talked about tomorrow. What was going to happen, what might happen, the order of everything, and so on. Suddenly I was filled with nostalgia. On Christmas at my old house, we'd go to church all day long from 9 AM to 6 PM and do nothing else, no presents, or a meal or any other celebration. And it all just felt so weird now, I couldn't wrap my head around it. I wonder what dad was doing at jail. Was there going to be some kind of celebration? A church service? I realized then, this was the first time since leaving I actually wondered how my dad was. What was happening in jail and what he was doing. Something hot twisted in my stomach and I had to excuse myself to the bathroom. I managed to get in there walking normally but as soon as the door shut, tears slid down my cheeks. I didn't even know what I was crying for or for who and suddenly I felt stupid and selfish. I made the tears stop, washed my face with warm water, took a deep breath, and went back to Nudge's room.

I woke up with a scream of horror as someone flung themselves on my bed and tried to "shake" me awake. I stared wide eyed at Gazzy who was smirking but somehow managed to look apologetic, "Sorry," he said. "but you need to wake up! "

I looked from him to my open door where Nudge stood also smirking, "You okay?"

"Fine," I mumbled, standing up.

"Merry Christmas!" Gazzy beamed at me.

"Merry Christmas to you, you little asshole."

He laughed.

"Can we go downstairs?"

Nudge nodded, "We had to wake you up."

We left my room and walked downstairs. Cheyenne and Ben were already down there, a camcorder aimed at us. Total sat on a pillow licking his paw and Cheyenne rubbed his ears. The lights on the tree were lit, a fire was crackling in the fire place, and we could see snow falling outside through the window.

Chatter started as we sat next to the tree. Presents were passed, and started opening, and wrapping paper began to pile up, and "Thank you!" s were squealed. It was so amazing to see everyone so excited and happy all at the same time.

An hour and a half later we all had our things stashed together in a pile. I had gotten an iPod, and an iTunes gift card, along with a few movies, and scented lotion and a few other knick knacks.

Even Total got a little pile of doggy toys which he was happily chewing on.

The Wilson's were coming over at 4 and it was about 11:40.

Nudge and I retreated upstairs to get dressed as Ben and Cheyenne started the feast, and Gazzy put on holiday cartoons.

Upstairs, I let Nudge decide what I should wear. Big mistake. She had pulled out a thigh length red dress. After much agreement and a few insults, I stepped into the dress.

Nudge smiled. "Ohh! You look so pretty!"

I put in a new pair of shiny blue earrings. I knew they didn't match but I had to do something that made me look a little Max- ish. Then I pulled my hair up using a teeth hair clip.

After we were dressed, we went downstairs and helped cook.

When 4 rolled around the Wilson's came over. After some chatting we decided it was time to exchange gifts.

Cheyenne said, "Okay, find your secret Santa and trade gifts."

I picked up my two gifts and went over to Iggy.

"Merry Christmas." I said smirking, handing him the gifts.

"What's with the smile? Fantasizing about Fang?"

"Is that all you ever think about?"

"No, sometimes I think about other girls." he unwrapped his first gift and pull out a tacky red sweater with giant Santa that lit up on it. We had also gone with Nudge's sweater idea.

"Thanks…" Iggy mumbled. He unwrapped his other box, in which he found a Cheerio box, he opened that to find another wrapped box. He rolled his eyes at me and unwrapped the paper and finally found his gift.

"Nose… hair trimmers?"

"Take the hint," I whispered loudly.

He smirked, "I think my dad needs this more than I do."

Just then someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around to find a full blown smile from Fang, who was holding a large box.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Iggy thankfully walking over to Gazzy.

"Merry Christmas," Fang said, sitting on the couch.

I followed his lead and sat down too.

Fang held out the box to me and I lamely said, "Is that for me?"

He was kind enough not to say, "well, duh." instead, he nodded.

I took the box and smiled at him. "Thank you."

"Well, open it." he encouraged.

It was a box with a lid, not wrapped in holiday paper. I pulled off the lid and out popped a tiny gold retriever. S/he was furry with light gold fur, her/his ear were floppy and when s/he saw me, it barked a tiny puppy yip.

I stared at it and pulled it out of the box.

"Hi honey," I said that's when I noticed s/he only had three legs. Her/his back right leg was nonexistent.

I rubbed its ear and s/he licked my hand happily.

"Her name's Glory. You can change it though if you want. She's three and a half weeks old."

She panted and looked around the room. Surprisingly the others hadn't noticed yet.

"Hi sweetie. You're so little."

She crawled out of my lap and I moved the empty box to the floor. She sat on the couch and when she spotted Fang baked again.

"I got her from the pound two days ago. They got her and her siblings when they where one week old. She was born without a hind leg, but she gets around pretty well."

"Oh Fang," I quickly wrapped my arms around him, "thank you! Thank you so much!"

He smiled.

I pulled back and looked at my puppy who was sniffing the couch.

I moved her onto the floor and watched her walk around. Soon everyone else noticed and came to meet her, cooing and baby talking. I loved her already she found one of Total's toys and started gnawing on it.

"She's so cute!" Nudge squealed.

"Hopefully Total won't eat her!" Gazzy said merrily, earning a hand to the back of the head.

When 5 rolled around Mr. Jones came over and dinner started. And what was really surprising was Mr. Jones wasn't his normal cold hearted self. He wasn't exactly nice, but he wasn't rude either, more like blunt.

We were all gathered around the table, passing around food.

I couldn't help but smile at the scene. I couldn't help but feel like something was going to mess it up.

And Glory- as weird as her name was, I decided to keep it- kept wandering off, sniffing through the house but I kept a close eye on her as she explored. When Total first meet her he growled and she coward but after they stiffed each other's butts they didn't growl or act different. They didn't really interact after that, although Total watched her from the corner of his eye.

After dinner we all hung around for awhile. Ben, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Jones cracked open the beers in the kitchen. Mom and Mrs. Wilson- who I've surprisingly manage to avoid- sat on the couch talking. And the rest of us went upstairs; watching Glory roam around and everyone playing with gifts. Like Gazzy's remote control helicopter, that had already rammed into Iggy's face. Twice.

When 8 PM struck, everyone was still over. Talking and laughing, Ben, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Wilson were passed drunk and I kept my space not liking the scent on their breath. Glory had peed in Gazzy's room and Iggy was still laughing as Gazzy complained.

"We should go for a drive," Cheyenne suggested, "this might be our last chance to see Christmas lights."

We all agreed and I kissed Glory goodbye- putting her in Total's old kennel and gave her a treat and bone.

We had to take two separate cars since there was so many of us. Cheyenne, Ben, Mrs. Jones, Nudge, Angel and I were in one car and the others were taking Mrs. Wilson's car.

We began driving through our neighborhood, the heater cranked up to fight off the cold. The holiday lights twinkled and gleamed, some lights streaking together. Robotic deer turned their heads and fake sleighs sat on roofs.

We went from one neighborhood to another, enjoying the company, not wanting the fun to end. The others, in Mrs. Wilson's car followed behind us.

We had gone through most of our neighbor hoods and Ben offered, well more like slurred, "We s-should go to the rich people's neighbor. They're psh-probably decked out in the good ol' holly jolly spirit."

Cheyenne sighed but obliged. She left the neighborhood we were in and got on the free way, the big houses were about 5 minutes away if you took the freeway. We were the only two cars on the freeway, it was deserted. Everyone must be at there houses still too stuffed to move.

"Be c-careful, now," Ben warned from the passenger seat.

Christmas music blared from the speakers and everything happened so suddenly. We hit the black ice out of no where, no one prepared for it. Cheyenne jerked the steering wheel trying to gain some control. It didn't work. We began to spin and slide, then suddenly we hit something making the car rolled over and everyone kept screaming as we heard a blood curdling crunch. Just as vivid as the details formed in the accident, they vanished. I saw black. Black like being tainted, I was tainted. I was falling; I felt it, free falling and it felt amazing. I didn't know was happening but the deeper I fell the more lost I got, knowing I'd never find my way back. So. this is how you lose yourself