A/N: Hello lovely readers! First off, I want to apologize for taking so long with this chapter. I'm finally done with the semesters but I had finals to study for as well as final projects and final papers to do, write, and present. I worked on this chapter as much as I could between all of that and move-out. Luckily, this chapter turned out to be so long that I had to split it up again. As usual, half the shout-outs are here and the other half are in the next chapter.
I also want to give a HUGE thank you to mavlovesblu for favoriting this story, kkwaii for following this story, and Sophixcx for BOTH favoriting and following this story! I love getting new readers and fans and hope these two chapters don't disappoint!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
Emily: I wonder if you expected me to split this one up too? Calm down though, you know how much I love Alyssa and James. Not too long, probably chapter 35 or 36, but it's going to go differently than I said. I told you she was going to tell Caty, but I have a new idea now, one I think you'll like. Well, there was a confrontation with Silena, and was for your other comment, I'll tell you tonight. Hope you like these TWO chapters! Time for part three of our five day sleepover!
WaterAmulet: I like the way you reviewed! I'm glad you liked it. I knew I wanted to do the soccer thing since the beginning, and everything else kind of just happened. I originally planned for Mexican food and pottery, but liked Indian food and cake baking/decorating better. My ideal date would be a wine and cheese tasting, but Caty and Brian's date would probably be a close second, except for the soccer. Ellie's stuck in an interesting triangle, and she'll soon be in a different one! I have no plan for what Gabi's mother's connection to the guardians is, and just the bare bones of what the danger that caused Audrey to five Caty up is. But yeah, not just Rae, but Alyssa too, trust Angel now. Dean and Kylie are a big mystery, aren't they? There's going to be a huge surprise and reveal with them, and it'll completely blindside everyone. I hope you like these two chapters, despite the long wait.
Guest: James and Ronnie are both good guesses, but I can't confirm or deny unless you PM me unfortunately. I don't want to ruin it for the other readers. I'll tell you this much: the bathroom actually is sound proof, and it's actually not that farfetched. I've worked in a bookstore before, and the bathroom was completely sound proof. That's where I got the idea. However, I'm not denying Ronnie's possible guilt. I hope you like these chapters, and thanks for the review!
SilvenArrow: Well, Alchemy becomes a bigger character in the comics, and when W.I.T.C.H. season 3 was supposed to be made, Alchemy, as well as some other minor characters, were going to get larger roles. But of course, I can't say yes or no. I only have the bare bones of the danger, but you're right, it does have something to do with the way Peter died. It's not really a secret, so I'll tell you, it was guardian danger. The confession will come soon, I promise. Either chapter 35 or 36. Gabi and Josh will have a big moment in the next chapter, and then another big moment in chapter 35. Angel is such a mystery. There is so much to her story that I can't wait to write about! I hope you like these two chapters!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"I love it!" Gabi cried.
"You haven't even opened it yet," Ariel pointed out.
"But I know I'll love it," Gabi replied, sounding like a little kid.
Ariel laughed. "I'm glad you have so much faith in me. But it's not even Christmas Eve yet. No opening presents."
Gabi rolled her eyes. "Oh fine. Just for that, you don't get to join our early exchange tomorrow."
"I wouldn't dream of crashing that anyway," Ariel said.
Gabi smiled. Michael, Luc, and Gabi always exchanged one present they got for the other early, on Christmas Eve. They called it their Early Exchange. Their mother started the tradition with them back when it was just Gabi and Michael and they were both young enough to get away with making everyone presents. Gabi would love for Ariel to join the Early Exchange, but Ariel wanted it to remain a family thing. Gabi suspected Ariel would be family soon enough.
Josh came out of his room and looked at Gabi pointedly. Gabi checked her phone and realized it was almost time for guardian training.
"Oh, we have to go," she said, jumping up.
"Where are you going?" Daniel asked. "You can't just leave."
Gabi rolled her eyes. It was December 23rd. Christmas break had started the previous day. Michael and Ariel drove in that morning. Daniel had insisted everyone stay in until after Christmas, save for Michael and Gabi's ice cream tradition and Michael and Luc's movie tradition. Everyone else had agreed, but Gabi and Josh couldn't just skip guardian practice. Not if they wanted to stay alive and save all the known worlds. And ever since Rae and Alyssa were attacked a little while ago, everyone was on edge, and practicing harder than ever.
"Well we have to. Study group," Gabi said.
"You don't have school for almost two weeks."
"Well maybe I just don't want to tell you where I'm going."
"Gabi, don't cause trouble or we'll never get out of here," Josh said, rolling his eyes. He looked at Daniel. "I guess we forgot to mention it when you asked us not to go anywhere, but we're doing a Secret Santa exchange with some friends today."
Gabi wondered why she didn't just use that excuse since it was true anyway.
"Where are your presents?" Daniel challenged.
"Most of us left them at The Silver Dragon last night," Gabi said before realizing what she said.
"The Chinese restaurant? Why there?" Daniel asked, confused.
"Because that's where we decided to meet up," Gabi sighed. "They have a nice basement. Well, nice-ish."
"Let them go Daniel," Sienna said, and Gabi resisted the urge to sneer at the step-monster. She didn't need Sienna's help. But she knew she'd be confined to this house if she said anything against the step monster. "It'll only be for a little while."
"Three hours tops," Josh agreed.
"I'll be back for dinner," Gabi said. She looked at her older brother. "And we can go out after. But maybe we can do coffee instead of ice cream. It's too cold for ice cream."
"Sounds like a plan," Michael agreed.
Gabi and Josh looked back at Daniel.
"Alright, go ahead," Daniel sighed.
Gabi and Josh smiled and actually slapped high fives before Josh remembered he was supposed to "hate" Gabi.
"Um…let's just…go," he muttered.
Luc looked at them curiously, frowning at their exchange. Gabi gave him an encouraging smile, grabbed her jacket, and followed Josh out the door.
Even with the awkwardness between her and Josh, Gabi couldn't help but smile.
Josh shook his head at her enthusiasm, but couldn't help but smile as well. Gabi loved everything about Christmas, and he loved the way she spoke about it with so much passion and excitement.
At first, he wasn't sure Gabi actually liked Christmas as much as the gifts. When she first asked him during one of their shifts if he was excited for Christmas, a couple days after he and Sage had come back from the Hales', he'd just shrugged.
"I mean, I don't know much about it. My family and Sage's go to my grandparents' house on Christmas Eve, and we basically get up early the next day and open presents and then we have lunch and that's it," he told her.
"Well, that's basically what Christmas is, unless you're super religious," Gabi had said. "My family isn't, so we don't do the whole church thing."
"Well, I'm guessing you're just in it for the presents," Josh replied.
Gabi was very offended by that and went on to make a speech about why she loved Christmas so much.
"Thanksgiving is like a marker, cuz Christmas season starts right after. A week before Thanksgiving, Christmas music starts playing on the radio, and that's basically all I listen to. And I wake up to Christmas songs and it makes me so happy! I'm in a good mood in the mornings. I don't even care that I have to get up early or endure a day of school. And then it starts snowing, and we get days off. And after a big snow, all of it is shoveled to the sides, and then it freezes into ice, and even though it seems childish, Bree and I love to climb up and play on the ice mounds. And my favorite event of the year is the lighting of the Rockefeller Tree. You may not know what that is, but my family goes every year, so you will. And after the tree, we go ice skating in the plaza. And we get an amazing tree and decorate it. And there are carolers going around and Starbucks brings in all these yummy Christmas lattes, and Ariel always spends Christmas with us and she and I spend Christmas Eve baking. And of course there's presents, but after, since we're not religious at all, we do what all the other people who don't celebrate Christmas do on Christmas, which is order in Chinese, and go to a movie. But for dinner, we have a great Christmas dinner. And the week leading up to Christmas, we watch a Christmas movie every night, and we stay up as late as we can after dinner on Christmas watching all our favorite movies. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Polar Express are our favorites, and somehow Luc managed to add The Goonies to the list even though it's not really a Christmas movie, but whatever. It's just really fun and it makes me so happy."
Josh didn't understand half of that, but he did like what he saw of snow, he had seen The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and once December rolled around, he saw what Gabi meant. He noticed she only played Christmas music, both when she drove and when Walter drove them around. She was always happier and chipper in the mornings. Even Sienna couldn't bring her down, and her happy mood actually put Eva off, which was a bonus for her. She obsessed about picking the right tree, she worked really hard stringing popcorn and cranberries because she said tinsel, which is what the Hales used on their tree in lieu of popcorn string, was "tacky and not Christmasey enough." They went to Rockefeller Center, which was an amazing place in New York City, which Gabi told Josh was one of best cities in the world (which she would know since her family vacationed everywhere) and saw the tree being lit up. Then they went ice skating. Josh made a fool of himself, something his father had done too, when he was trying to win Cornelia's heart back, but Gabi didn't laugh. She just gave him lots of tips. She was pretty good, but didn't hold a candle to his mother.
The family watched movies, and saw carolers. Gabi, Bree, and Sage even joined some carolers once. Gabi was really excited to bake with Ariel the next day, and Josh loved to see Gabi this way. She was that enchanting person he fell for in the first place. And he realized even being mean to her and pretending to hate her wasn't going to help him get over his crush. But since he didn't know what else to do, he continued to fight with her. She didn't seem to mind though. She took it all with a smile.
Maybe that had to do with Christmas. She tried to get everyone on Team GRACE in the mood too, proposing Secret Santa, which is something she did with her friends (the cheerleaders in her year of school, plus Eve, Michelle, and Andria). They e-mail a list of two or three things each girl wants, and their secret santa gets one of the items for them. They exchange gifts at one person's house (this year, it was Lana's) after the Hollidazzle Dance.
Gabi put up a list in The Silver Dragon basement so that the members of Team GRACE could write down a few things they wanted, and they were going to exchange presents that day after practice. Gabi couldn't wait!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"Dad is not going to believe I was exchanging Secret Santa presents," Gabi gasped out, checking her reflection in the basement's bathroom mirror after practice. She looked a mess. Sweat was dripping down her face and her hair was matted everywhere. It was raining outside, but the team, including Gabi, insisted they keep practicing. Hay Lin worked them hard since they weren't going to have practice for the next few days, and even though it was freezing outside, the team still managed sweat. The water made the girls' mascara run and they looked like raccoons.
"Yeah, you look like you've been attacked or something. We all do," Caty agreed.
"It's not that big a deal," Josh said as he grabbed a towel Chris offered him.
"You don't wear makeup," Rae said as she and Ellie squeezed into the bathroom with Gabi and Caty. "It's not the same for you."
Cara and Sage squished into the bathroom as well, and all the girls cried out and fell. Alyssa laughed, glad she never bothered with makeup.
"That bathroom is not big enough for all of you," Chris said, rolling his eyes.
The girls went in and fixed their appearance, two at a time. Most of them just dried their hair and watched their face. Gabi took the longest, insisting she had to re-do all her makeup and use a blow dryer on her hair instead of a towel like the others.
"We have half an hour if we want to get back before dinner," Josh said. "Because you took so freaking long!"
"What do you care? It's not like Dad will ground you," Gabi said airily.
"No, but I'm already skating on thin ice with your brother. He'll hate me even more if you get in trouble. He'll find a way to blame me for us not coming back in time."
"That doesn't make much sense," Caty said.
"Nothing about her brother makes sense. He's hated me from day one for no reason," Josh said.
"He's just being overprotective," Gabi defended
"As if you need protection from me," Josh scoffed.
"Actually, I do," Gabi said quietly, an awkward air settling on the group.
"Or, at least your heart does," Alyssa said in Gabi's head, her tone gentle.
Gabi just gave her strained smile.
"He's being a pig," she said. "And a jerk. But I know he likes you. He just doesn't want to admit it. You need to be patient. And in the meantime, don't let him get to you."
"I'll try my best. Thanks," Gabi said.
"Won't you guys not make it home in time if we just sit here arguing?" Ellie asked.
"Good point. Let's get to it," Gabi said.
"Oh, let me go first," Alyssa said. "I know the point of Secret Santa is so that we won't have to spend all our money buying something for everyone, but I made something for the guardians. They weren't supposed to be Christmas presents, because I started them a long time ago, but then we all got in a fight, so I decided to wait til now to give them to you."
James smiled, knowing what his girlfriend was talking about.
Alyssa reached in her bag and pulled out a small drawstring bag. She opened it up and spilled the contents on the floor. There were five necklaces, each with a ribbon acting as a chain. Each chain was in one of the five guardian colors. The pendant matched the color of the chain and had one of the elemental symbols carved onto it.
"These are similar to the necklaces that we found in Irma's lockbox," Rae realized.
Alyssa nodded. "I had this idea a while ago, and seeing the necklaces in the lockbox inspired me to finish them, even though you and I hadn't made up yet. The pendants are made from clay and the ribbon is silk. I made them whenever I had downtime at Lange's."
"Which was a lot," James broke in.
Alyssa had stayed at work late several days since her party so that she could avoid being home, and James stayed with her, which is why Hay Lin started holding guardian practice later, so that everyone could make it.
Alyssa passed the necklaces out.
"The pendants are shining like gemstones," Caty said.
"That's thanks to Sage," Alyssa said. "She used her magic to make each seem like a gemstone. Blue topaz for you, orange tourmaline for me, emerald for Gabi, white opal for Ellie, and ruby for Rae.
"But rubies are red," Ellie said as Rae picked up the pink necklace in awe.
"No they're not. Once their cut and finished, they're red, but rubies are naturally pink," Caty said.
"Why white opal for Ellie?" Gabi asked.
"There are no gray gemstones," Alyssa said with laugh.
"I think it's pretty," Ellie said happily.
"How do we put this on?" Gabi asked. "The silk is ripped."
"Put it around your neck," Alyssa encouraged.
Gabi did so and the two ends of the ribbon joined together.
"Whoa," she whispered.
"Also Sage's magic," Alyssa said.
"If you want to take it off," Sage said, "just pull it apart in the back and it'll come off. Once you put it on again, they'll reattach."
Alyssa put her necklace on, and the other guardians followed suit.
"These are awesome Lyssa, thank you!" Rae cried, giving her best friend a hug.
Alyssa beamed. "I'm glad you like them."
"Now for Secret Santa!" Gabi cheered. "Here are the rules. I'll pick up a present and read the name on it. That person opens it and then we try to guess who the person's Secret Santa is."
Everyone nodded. Gabi went over the corner where everyone stashed their presents and picked up an envelope with Ellie's name scrawled on it.
"El, this is for you," Gabi said.
Ellie opened it up, wondering what kind of present could be in an envelope. She squealed in delight as she pulled out five rectangles.
"Tickets to Finding Neverland on Broadway!" she cried. "I've been dying to see this! And in the orchestra section! This is so perfect!"
"Whoa, who got you those?" James wondered.
"Well, we all know it's not you," Caty laughed.
"Unless he's just covering up for himself," Cara said.
"It would be too weird if it was James," Ellie said.
Everyone gave her strange looks, wondering what that meant.
"It's a girl," Gabi said. "I can tell from the handwriting on the envelope."
"Let's think about this logically," Caty began in her best know-it-all voice. "Orchestra seats are extremely expensive, and five of them on top of that. So it must be Gabi, Alyssa, or Rae. And since Gabi's cut off except for her paycheck…"
Everyone looked at Alyssa, who shook her head. All heads turned to Rae.
"Yeah, it was me," she said. "My mom has some connections so I could get a deal of five tickets for the price of three, plus a discount on that."
"But this wasn't on my list. I was afraid it was too expensive."
"I know, but you've been talking about this for a while, and getting these tickets was a lot easier than trying to find a store that sells sheet music for off Broadway shows or Archie comic themed shoelaces."
Everyone chuckled at Ellie's desired gifts.
"This is awesome, thank you Rae!" Ellie gushed. Rae just smiled.
"James," Gabi said, handing him a huge red bag with gray tissue paper covering up what was inside.
"It's from Ellie," Alyssa said before James could even look inside.
"How did you know?" Ellie asked stunned.
"Because I know you. You always give bags because you can't wrap presents to save your own life, you're not very good at tissue paper either, as is proven by the way the tissue paper in this bag is thrown haphazardly over the present, and you said it'd be weird if James was your secret santa, presumably because you're his."
"I don't know what haphazardly or presumably mean," Ellie said. "But sure."
Everyone laughed.
James took out the tissue paper to look inside. His face lit up. "The longboard I wanted!" he cried happily, taking out a long green skateboard. "How'd you find this? I put this on the list as a sort of wish. I didn't expect it."
"I told Jason what was on your list, and he knew exactly where to find the longboard you wanted."
Alyssa smiled at the look on her boyfriend's face. She was also pretty excited because she'd told Rae to get James a pair of sneakers he needed to get a better ride from the longboard and she knew Sage got James skateboard paints so she and James could personalize his longboard. She wasn't sure if James would actually get the longboard, and if he didn't, Sage and Rae would need to change their presents, but Alyssa was pretty sure whoever got James would get the longboard since everyone knew that's what he wanted the most.
For the next few minutes, the opening and guessing went pretty fast and everyone was more than satisfied with their presents thanks to Gabi's insistence on the list. Alyssa got Caty volumes A-E of the new encyclopedia series she'd been itching for, Caty got Chris a Painter's Art Kit with Winsor & Newton watercolors and nylon brushes (two high end items), Chris got Sage earrings that would match perfectly with the pendant of the Heart of Meridian necklace (he admitted Hay Lin helped him with that), Sage got Cara an amazing green leather jacket the regent drooled over, Cara got Rae a full collection of all of the novels written by Agatha Christie, Rae's favorite author, and James enrolled Gabi in a writing MasterClass run by her favorite author, James Patterson. Gabi nearly cried.
"Okay, only two gifts left," Gabi said. "Alyssa next."
Alyssa looked shocked as she took the wrapped gift. She knew if the gift was from Gabi, she'd wear either a smug expression, if she was proud of the gift, or an apologetic expression if she thought she chose poorly. She wasn't wearing either meaning…
"This must be from…Josh," Alyssa said.
Josh cleared his throat. "Uh…yeah."
Alyssa slowly unwrapped and the present and bit her lip to keep from gasping out loud. Josh had gotten her the most beautiful art kit she'd ever laid eyes on. It was in a wooden box and included oil paints, acrylic paints, spray paints watercolor paints, water color pencils, oil pastels, soft pastels, brown bristle brushes, white nylon brushes, golden talkon brushes, a plastic paint palette, a wooden palette, palette knives, exacto knives, art pencils, a pencil sharpener, a white eraser, a kneaded eraser, black and white charcoal pencils, two canvas boards, and a 11"x14" Bristol paper sketch pad. Most of this was high end; she'd put the three items she wanted the most on her list, and it was painstakingly hard for her to decide which three things she wanted the most. For it all to be in one kit…
"Pretty nice gift Classless-a," Gabi said in her head. As of late, Gabi only called her 'Classless-a' when she was trying to make a point. And usually the point she was trying to make was that Josh was doing whatever he could to show Alyssa how sorry he is and she should just forgive him.
"It must've been so expensive," Alyssa replied. "But it doesn't excuse what he did."
"Are you serious?!" Gabi cried.
Alyssa didn't reply. She just looked at Josh awkwardly. "Thanks," she muttered, her tone not at all conveying how blown away she was by his gift.
"Yeah, you're welcome," Josh said, clearly hoping for a different reaction.
"Um, okay! Last one!" Gabi said, trying to clear the air. She looked at the last box and remembered this was Josh's gift and it was from her, which would be almost as awkward. She handed the wrapped gift to Josh wordlessly.
"That has to be from Gabi. She's the only one left," Caty said quietly.
"Even in the most awkward moments she's a know-it-all," Gabi complained inside Alyssa's head. Alyssa hid a smile.
Josh unwrapped the present just as slowly as Alyssa had to reveal a gorgeous watch. The bracelet and frame of the face were silver, the inside of the face was black. The hands were silver as well and the face was covered with some sort of crystal.
"Oh my God, Gabi, is that a rolex?" Caty squeaked, her voice going higher as she uttered each word.
"Yeah," Gabi said, only looking at Josh. She was suddenly very shy. "Do you like it? I saw you admiring my dad's and Michael's, and you really liked them whenever we went shopping. It's made of steel, but the hands are real silver and the crystal covering the face is scratch resistant sapphire and it shows you the date and time, and it shows the time for two different time zones."
Josh stared at the watch open mouthed. He knew from his mother what a Rolex was and how expensive this must've been. It wouldn't have been bad for Gabi's family. She was much richer than his grandparents, and his grandfather had a few Rolexes. But how did Gabi herself afford this?
"Gabi, are you insane? That must've been crazy expensive, even if the bracelet is made out of steel instead of actual silver or platinum," Alyssa said.
"Oh relax," Gabi said. "It wasn't a really high end watch. It cost less than five grand, which is how much I get for Christmas. I just asked my dad if I could have my Christmas money early so I could use it to shop for presents."
"You get five grand in Christmas money?"
"And that's just from my dad. I have lots of other relatives."
Alyssa couldn't even find a response to that one.
Josh looked at Gabi, shocked. He loved the watch, but he also knew it was probably way too expensive. He didn't feel like he could keep it. He'd been such a jerk to her! He wanted to give the watch back, but he also knew she wouldn't take it.
"Thank you," he said, knowing those words didn't really express how much he liked it. Gabi beamed at him though, so it must've been enough for her.
"Okay, you can do the rest of your exchanges now," Gabi said. At her Secret Santa parties, her friends exchanged gifts with the other girls they were close to. Usually, best friend pairs like Gabi and Bree and Lana and Kelli would exchange gifts providing that they didn't get each other for Secret Santa.
The Silver Dragon basement was quiet as Chris and Alyssa, James and Sage, James and Caty, Caty and Ellie, Caty and Gabi, Josh and Rae, Ellie and Gabi, and Alyssa and Ellie exchanged gifts.
"What no present for your girlfriend?" Gabi asked James teasingly.
"My family, Rae's, and Jake's are spending Christmas at Alyssa's house, and we're doing presents then," James said.
"It'll be so much fun!" Alyssa said. She was really happy Jake and James had become such good friends, because that meant the two couples could double date a lot.
"What is everyone doing for Christmas anyway?" Caty asked. She looked at Josh and Sage. "Are you guys going to the Hales'?"
"Not after the big blowup that happened at Thanksgiving," Josh muttered. Alyssa bit her lip awkwardly.
"They're spending Christmas with us," Gabi said. "What about you?"
"We're going to Aunt Dawn's house again. But this time my grandparents, my Uncle Josh and his family, and my Aunt Alexia are coming. And then my grandparents are coming back to my house to move in," Caty said, her voice turning sour at the end. "Move into my room."
"It should be nice to have your grandparents at your house," Alyssa said.
"Easy for you to say. You have a million guest rooms and don't have to give up your room to make room for extra family members," Caty replied.
"Chris, what are you doing?" Rae broke in.
"We're heading to our grandparents' house as well," he said.
"Mom's parents," Cara specified.
"Ellie?" Caty asked.
"My family doesn't really do Christmas either. And again I couldn't pick up a shift that day. My brothers are going to Markus's house, and I'm invited, but I'll get bored there. I usually go to Adam's house, but we're still in a fight."
"Then come to my house," Gabi said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Sienna's sister is coming, so you'll get to see Mel and Marci again. Bree will be there, and you can sleepover."
"Wait, why doesn't your family join Bree's for Christmas?" Caty asked.
"We used to when we were young, but since we were ten, Bree and her siblings always go to their own friends' houses for Christmas, so we did the same. That year I went to Adam's house, Jason went to Markus's, and Gavin and his friends stayed at school for Christmas break that year, and the same thing happened every year."
"What about your parents. What did they do?" Caty asked.
"They continued going to Bree's house for a little while," Ellie said. "It would just be a quiet Christmas with the grownups. But now my parents don't really celebrate Christmas."
"Why not?" Gabi asked.
Ellie shrugged. Gabi and Caty understood that's all they were going to get out of her that day.
"Are we leaving, or are you getting grounded?" Josh asked.
"Coming, coming," Gabi said, gathering her gifts and getting up. She looked at Ellie. "Everyone's coming over early Christmas morning, but if it would be easier, you can just sleepover tomorrow night. Just make sure to pack for three days and two nights so you can sleepover on Christmas too."
Ellie nodded. "I'll be there tomorrow around 8."
"Sounds good to me."
Gabi and Josh left.
"We have a shift," Cara said as she and Chris got up. "Because Gabi can't leave her house, we don't have training again until the 27th."
Everyone else nodded, happy to have a little break. Chris and Cara headed upstairs.
"Did you hear how Josh's voice changed when he thanked Gabi?" Ellie asked excitedly. "It was so tender and sweet and vulnerable. It was so sexy!"
"Ewwww!" Alyssa cried, looking horrified. "Ellie, that's…ewww!"
Everyone laughed.
"Are you just saying that because he's your brother?" Caty asked.
Alyssa glared at Caty, as she did anytime someone called Josh her brother. She felt the same way Gabi did about Eva.
"She reacted the same way when she and Josh were best friends," Rae said. "She would squeal 'ewwww' every few seconds whenever Sage talked about how much she was in love with Josh."
All eyes turned to the Meridian princess, who went red. "You and Lyssa made me talk about it," she complained.
"And I wish I hadn't every time," Alyssa groaned.
James chuckled as he put his arm around his girlfriend. She smiled and leaned into him.
"How are you with the whole Josh and Gabi thing?" Caty asked. "I mean, everyone told me not to bring it up, but I think it's too much to ignore. You know Gabi likes him, right?"
"Of course," Sage sighed. "And I can tell Josh likes her too. He's just resisting for some reason. I also know Gabi doesn't want to pursue it because of me. I'm going to tell her tomorrow that I'm fine with it. Josh may be the guy I love, but he's also my best friend in the world, and Gabi's been so nice to me since day one. I want them to be happy, even if that's with each other."
"I wish I could be as nice as you," Rae said.
"I know someone who needs to be," Alyssa said, looking at Ellie, who avoided the fire guardian's gaze and looked at the Meridian princess instead.
"Will you be okay?" she asked Sage.
Sage nodded. "I'll find someone else eventually. I've liked other guys before Josh. If he wants to be with Gabi, he should be."
"I know he wants to be with her, but he's trying so hard to not like her. He's being such a jerk. I want to punch him in the face, and I don't even like Gabi that much!" Rae cried.
Everyone laughed at that.
"I'm planning to talk to him about that," Sage said. "I can usually get through to him on things like this. He needs to let go of whatever it is that's holding him back."
"You shouldn't have to be the one to talk to him. That'll just be hurting you," Rae said.
Sage smiled sadly, but shook her head. "It'll make me happy to help."
Ellie groaned. "Sage, you're so good!"
Everyone laughed again. The fire guardian decided it was time to change the subject.
"Okay, Caty, how did you afford your present to Chris?" Alyssa asked. "Those paints are expensive. You got him the big tubes, and those are like $10, and you got him 10 colors."
"My Aunt Alexia is an artist, and she already had a couple of tubes in several colors, so I just took the seven colors of the rainbow, plus black, white, and brown. All I had to buy were the brushes, the palette, and the organizer I put them in."
"He looked at you like you were God's gift to the Earth or something," Ellie said.
"Does that make you jealous?" Alyssa teased.
"Oh shut up," Ellie muttered.
"Wait, what?" Rae asked.
"Alyssa's convinced I have a crush on Chris because we made out that night we all got drunk."
"Do you?" Caty asked.
"No, and I'm done with this conversation," Ellie declared. "Anyway, I have to go home. Gavin's arriving tonight, and I need to be there since Jason and Mom won't be."
"We should go too. Dinner in twenty," Rae said to Alyssa and James, who were having dinner at Rae's house that night.
Alyssa nodded, then looked at Ellie. "I'm going to come by soon to see Gavin."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Lyss, you have a boyfriend now. Let it go!"
"Let what go?" James asked.
"I used to have a crush on her brother Gavin," Alyssa said. "But I used to also have a crush on Jason. So what? It's over now. I just want to show Gavin how mature I am now. I used to make a fool of myself in front of him, and he used to look at me like I was a complete spaz. He doesn't get to think he's better than me."
"Okay, I'm going to pretend that the reason you want to show Gavin how mature you are is because you want to show him up, rather than show yourself off," James said. "But I'm going with you."
"Even better," Alyssa said. "I can show him how I scored a super hot boyfriend."
"And don't you ever forget that boyfriend part," James warned, kissing her.
"Oh, she'll never forget," Ellie muttered.
Sage grimaced, something she rarely did. Since she was on such platonic terms with James, it made her feel weird and slightly grossed out whenever she saw James kiss Alyssa or say something overly sweet to her.
"Alright, let's go," Rae said.
Ellie got up first and climbed up the stairs. Rae went next, Alyssa, James, and Sage following her.
Caty got up too, not seeing any reason to stay in the basement alone. Anyway, she needed to do something important too. Important…and difficult.
She was meeting Misha and Nina at the mall to buy Brian a Christmas present.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"Why'd you have to invite Drokzilla over here?" Lili whined the following night.
"Because we're always allowed to have our friends and boyfriends over for Christmas Eve dinner as long as we keep Christmas family-only," Caty replied.
Lili rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant. It's bad enough I'll already have two female nerds in my house, but Snort Master too?"
"Lil, Nina and Misha are my best friends. I'll thank you not call them nerds. As for Brian, he really wanted to exchange presents and spend time together before Christmas. On Christmas Day, all his family is coming over and staying for the rest of break, and he won't be able to see anyone except on New Year's Eve, which he spends with his friends, not me."
Lili rolled her eyes and dropped her voice to a whisper. "You don't even like Snort Master. Not really."
"You supported this plan Lil. And besides, maybe I don't want to be his girlfriend, but I do like him. I mean, as a friend. He's not the evil Brian Din I grew up with."
"Well why don't you break up with him and become his friend? He'll still write you a good eval and you don't have to be his girlfriend."
"He won't want to be friends if I break up with him," Caty said. "And he needs to be in love with me if he'll ask Ms. Mandel to write me a recommendation letter. Why are you so suddenly against this plan?"
"I'm not against the plan per se," Lili said. "Believe it or not Caty, I do want you to be happy. So I'm against you being Brian's pretend girlfriend when you're true happiness lies in being Tony's actual girlfriend."
Caty blushed and smiled at the mention of Tony, as she always did. "Tony," she sighed happily.
"See? Why don't you invite him over tonight too?"
"I can't do that!" Caty cried, coming out of her reverie. "Tony doesn't know Brian and I are a couple, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"He's going to find out eventually."
"How? Tony's part of your jock/cheerleader clique. News of the honors crowd wouldn't get back to him."
"But he hangs out with you all the time. And he's friends with Jake Saunders. This will come out."
"Why do you have to be such a downer Lil?" Caty complained.
"If that's what you call being realistic, I'll take it. I'd rather be a downer than ignorant."
"You did not just call me ignorant!" Caty fumed.
Lili laughed, but before Caty could say anything else, the doorbell rang.
Lili and Caty both rushed to answer it, Lili expecting Skye and Holly, two of her cheerleader friends, and Caty expecting Nina, Misha, and Brian. Lili got there first and threw the door open to find a blond haired, blue eyed boy neither of them knew. He looked about fifteen and was holding a bouquet of pink wildflowers.
"Uh…hi?" Caty said questioningly.
"Hi," the boy replied. "Um, I'm Peyton. I'm here to see Layla."
Caty and Lili slowly made room for Peyton to come in.
"How do you know my sister?" Lili asked, eyeing the flowers in his hand suspiciously.
"From school," Peyton said, shifting nervously.
"Well, Layla's in her room with her sister," Caty said kindly. "It's the second one on the left down the hall. You can go in."
"Thanks," Peyton said, smiling. He took a wildflower from the bouquet and handed it to her. "For your help," he informed.
Caty looked really surprised as the boy made his way into Layla and Libby's room. Libby came out a few seconds later. "Have fun you two," she giggled, closing the door behind her.
"Lib, who the hell is that?" Lili asked.
"Peyton Starr," Libby replied, shrugging.
"I mean, how does he know Lay? And don't say 'from school.'"
"They're sort of dating," Libby said. "Well, they're technically in limbo. They're in that state where they're not dating yet, but they're more than friends."
Lili looked like she was about to explode. Libby took that as a sign to duck and run, so she headed into the kitchen where Iris and Dawn were.
"Lil, it's Layla's first boyfriend. That's so cute! What's the issue?" Caty asked.
"That's my little sister. She's too young."
"You had your first boyfriend when you were twelve. Lay's fourteen."
"To me, she's too young. You'll understand someday, when your sister starts dating."
Caty groaned. "Stop calling her that," she muttered.
Lili glared at her. "Do I have to lecture you about Catherine again?"
"No, please! Just stop talking!" Caty begged. "In fact, never speak again!"
Lili's mouth snapped shut. Caty was surprised, but just shrugged. It was a few minutes later when Caty realized Lili had never stayed quiet for this long.
"Lil, anything wrong?" she asked.
Lili opened her mouth, and though her lips moved, so sound came out.
At first, Caty thought Lili lost her voice, and actually began to laugh. She, Nina, and Misha spent the entire summer wishing Lili would lose her voice. Then it hit Caty that Lili wasn't sick in anyway, so how could she have randomly lost her voice? Then Caty realized Lili had a dazed look on her face when she decided against talking. Caty could've accidentally taken away Lili's voice with her powers!
"Lili, speak!" Caty commanded.
Lili gasped and said, "Oh my God Caty, never do that again!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose!"
"I know. That's why I'm not mad. But seriously!"
Hay Lin warned the girls that their powers would get stronger, but that was really strong. She hadn't even meant to do that. Before now, she had to really want someone to do something before her mind control took effect. And she had really wanted Lili to be quiet, but only about the baby, and she wasn't trying to control her.
"I wonder how far this power goes," Caty mused. "Like…what can I make people do? When does it stop?"
"Well, let's test it," Lili suggested. "Like…Leo and I are in a fight because I broke his toy car, and even though I still think he was asking for it for snooping in my room, Mom says I'm at fault because he was looking for highlighters, not my diary like I know he was. Anyway, I've apologized but Leo's really mad. Can you make him forgive me?"
"I'm not supposed to use my powers when I'm not fighting," Caty said.
"How will you ever know what you can do if you don't practice?"
"That's what guardian training is for."
"Caty, stop being such a goody-goody! There are so many things I can think of to help test the limits of your powers, but the situations I have in mind won't present themselves at training. Just for today, use your powers here. You don't have training for a few days anyway, right? What better way to make up for that?"
Caty sighed. Lili had a point. She'd never have another chance to see if her powers could do things like make Leo forgive Lili when he really didn't want to.
"Okay," Caty agreed.
Lili beamed at her and the two girls headed to the room Leo and Liam shared. Liam was setting up the chess board so he could play when Caty's grandfather arrived. Leo was playing a game on his TrappleTab.
"What do you want?" Leo asked rudely when he saw Lili.
"Actually, we're here because I wanted to talk to you," Caty said.
"Okay." Leo put the tablet down and looked at his redheaded cousin.
"I heard you and Lil had a fight."
Leo nodded, not sure why Caty was bringing that up. "She wrecked one of my toys just because I was looking for a highlighter in her room. I was going to ask her, but she wasn't home. She thinks I was after her diary, but I wasn't!"
Lili rolled her eyes, and made a disbelieving noise, but didn't say anything.
"Has she apologized?"
"Yeah."
"Well then maybe you should forgive her."
"No way! She doesn't deserve my forgiveness."
Caty nodded. "Maybe not, but I can tell she wants it."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Well she should've thought of that before she broke my car!"
Caty just smiled and concentrated hard.
"Forgive your sister."
"Forgive your sister."
"Forgive your sister!"
The familiar dazed look came over his face. "But I guess I can forgive her this time," he said. He looked at his sister. "I forgive you for breaking my car. But next time I won't let you off so easy."
Lili pursed her lips to keep from laughing at the sight of her ten-year-old brother trying to act stern, and nodded. When she was sure she'd calmed down she said, "Thanks little bro. And I really am sorry."
Leo nodded and went back to his game, signaling the end of the conversation. The girls left, and when the twins were out of earshot, Lili squealed, "See Caty? That was so awesome!"
Caty nodded, too excited to even speak. They decided to keep going before their guests arrived. By the time Nina and Misha got there, followed closely by Brian and Lili's cheerleader friends, Caty and Lili had managed to make Dawn rescind Lili's punishment for breaking Leo's toy car, Iris decide against making the oatmeal raisin cookies that Caty hated and instead stick to regular pumpkin pie, Layla properly introduce Peyton to Lili, and Lili give her $50. Of course since Lili knew about Caty's powers, she also knew what made her make that decision, and Caty had to give the money back, but she was fine with it since she had so much fun.
Caty used to be a little afraid of her mind control, especially after what happened to the baby, but control was exactly what she was after. That was the whole reason she warmed up to her powers. This was the perfect ability for her!
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
Gabi wasn't so naïve as to expect Ellie and Bree not to fight when her best friend arrived at her house, but she did hope. And it seemed like that wish came true. Ellie and Bree didn't fight at all. There was one awkward moment in the morning though.
After Caroline and her kids arrived, and everyone opened their presents, Bree presented Ellie with the black garbage bag she'd lugged to Gabi's house.
"This is last year's winter wardrobe. I'm done with them all, so I'm giving it you," she said to her cousin.
"That's generous," Gabi said, surprised. Bree didn't normally give clothes away. She always resisted when her mother suggested she donate her old clothes to Good Will.
"I always give Ellie my old clothes," Bree said.
"Why?"
"Because she can't afford-"
"Thanks Bree, this is great!" Ellie broke in loudly.
Gabi knew Bree was about to say Ellie couldn't afford her own clothes. Why was that? Gabi made a mental note to ask Bree about this later, and tell Caty what she found out.
The best moment of the day was when Sage pulled Gabi aside, told her she knew she liked Josh and was sure Josh liked her too, and said Gabi should be with him and didn't have to hold back for her sake. Gabi asked Sage if she was sure maybe a million times, but Sage insisted she was okay with it, and wanted them to be happy.
It was now 1 a.m. and everyone (minus the adults) were gathered in Michael's room. This was a tradition. Every Christmas, the kids would gather in Michael's bedroom early the next morning, after the adults had gone to sleep, to play Truth or Dare. The oldest, usually Michael, would be judge, meaning he could decide if the truth was too personal or the dare was too dangerous. The game would go on until someone inevitably broke something or got hurt. The worst injury had taken place the previous year. Michael had gotten dared to perform a skateboard trick outside, even though it was dark. Michael was judge then too, and even though everyone thought it was dangerous, he said he wanted to do it, and since he was judge, no one was allowed to stop him. He ended up breaking his leg.
Gathered in Michael's room were Luc, Melanie, Marci, Bree, Bree's 19-year-old sister Traci, Bree's 16-year-old brother Ben, Josh, Sage, Ellie, and Gabi. They were waiting on Michael and Ariel, who were waiting for the popcorn to finish popping. They always had popcorn while they played. Usually Jake and his sister would be there as well, but this year, Jake had spent Christmas with Rae. Melanie and Marci replaced them, and Sage and Josh added to their count. They considered inviting Marina and Eva, but Gabi knew Eva would tattle the minute something broke (usually everyone would just pretend to be asleep once something broke and wouldn't get punished because no one could figure out who was actually responsible), and Marina always followed Eva's lead. Anyway, they were too young. Luc didn't even start being included than the previous year. It was an unspoken rule that the kids had to be nine or older to be included.
When Michael and Ariel entered the room, Ariel putting the popcorn in the middle or circle the group made, and Michael closing the door, Melanie spoke up.
"Before we start, Gabi, did you confront your dad about those things we found during Thanksgiving?" she asked, looking around at everyone apprehensively.
"No need to be so secretive," Gabi said. "Everyone in this room knows I snooped in my dad's office to find out about my mother and they know what I found."
"Most of us were there that day," Luc added.
"And I tell Ariel everything," Michael added.
"As I do with Bree," Gabi said. "And I told Josh and Sage too. But I didn't know I was supposed to confront my dad."
"You have to find out why he was hiding all that stuff from you!" Mel cried. "Photos, videos, even a journal. There's no reason to hide that from you. No reason you know anyway."
Gabi's eyes widened. "You're right. I never realized. I'll talk to him soon."
"Speaking of," Ellie said, "what did you find in the journal?"
"I haven't read it yet," Gabi admitted. "We, meaning Luc, Michael, and I, looked through all the photos and watched all the videos. Once we read the journal, that's it. Even the stuff our dad was hiding is all gone. We're not ready for that yet."
Everyone else nodded before they finally started the game. It was just as fun as every year.
Melanie, who was particularly evil, dared Ben to play seven minutes in heaven with Ellie. Ben was hot, but Ellie was over a year and half older than him and it made them both uncomfortable. Gabi had to cover Luc's eyes as Ellie and Ben got into the closet so he wouldn't wonder why they were going in there and pretended she had no idea what seven minutes in heaven was when he asked. Everyone else pretended the same, including Melanie. Luc clearly didn't believe Mel didn't know what it was since she's the one who proposed the dare in the first place, but didn't press it. Everyone very quickly learned to only choose truth when it was Mel's turn. Gabi decided to be brave and chose dare once when it was Mel's turn and instantly regretted it when Mel dared Gabi to give Josh a lap dance.
Everyone once again had to play ignorant when Luc asked what a lap dance was, and Michael ruled against the dare, not wanting to see anyone give anyone else a lap dance, especially if the people involved was his sister and a guy he didn't particularly like. Mel changed the dare to a kiss on the lips, which was just as awkward for the pair since Josh was trying to get over his crush on Gabi and Gabi didn't want her second kiss with Josh to be on a dare, especially since her first kiss with Josh already didn't mean anything. She pulled away quickly so that she could say it didn't count.
Michael got the worst truth of the night when Traci, who was in love with Michael and was always trying to break him and Ariel up, asked him what the most annoying thing about his girlfriend was. Michael tried to rule against that, but Ariel insisted he answer. He said it annoyed him that Ariel tuned him out whenever he and his best friend Vince (who also happened to be Ariel's best friend and was the one who introduced the two in the first place) talked about cars, a passion the two boys shared, and missed something important he'd said because she didn't hear them stop talking about cars and tune back in.
Ariel laughed and said it's not her fault she found cars to be the most uninteresting topic in the world. Michael said he also hated how when Ariel and Vince had a conversation, they were in their own world and didn't notice anything or anyone else around them and that made him jealous. Ariel told him not to be so insecure; she acted like that with Vince because he was her best friend, but he was also Michael's, and he needed to trust them both. Michael was offended, saying he did trust them, but he didn't like how everyone they knew thought Ariel was dating Vince, not Michael, and this lead to a huge fight that left Traci looking very happy.
Gabi frowned. Ariel and Michael rarely fought, and she didn't like this, but she couldn't think of anything to do except insist on continuing the game. Ariel and Michael refused to look at each other for the rest of night, and were still mad at each other when the game was over.
The game ended when Gabi, who was dared to ride her bike while using a wiffle bat to bat away plushies broke a window by batting away an apple thrown by Marci, who ran out of plushies to throw. Everyone ran inside and crawled inside their beds and sleeping bags so that Sienna and Daniel couldn't pin the broken window on any one of them when they got up to investigate.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
"Who's going first?" James asked Christmas morning.
"I'm going last," Alyssa declared.
"I'll go first," Rae shrugged. "I don't think I can wait any longer."
Jake swiveled around and grabbed two bags and one wrapped box, all with Rae's name on them. He put the three items in front of his girlfriend.
When Jake and James had first arrived, Alyssa was rearranging the presents under the tree. She explained to the boys she was bored and this was the only thing she could think of to occupy herself while Rae woke up. Of course this was a loose term.
Alyssa had tried waking Rae up both physically and telepathically for the last hour and a half, but Rae had barely stirred. Alyssa wished Caty was around so she could make Rae wake up like she had at their Halloween sleepover. Waking Rae up was quite the chore. Since the boys had arrived though, they played Blackjack for a while, using the cookies Rae's mother had given Rae the previous night as money. The boys, who acted like Silena's cookies were their lifeline, took the game far too seriously, but Alyssa had fun anyway.
Nigel came over a half an hour before Rae came downstairs. He gave Alyssa and John hugs and handed them their presents. He exchanged pleasantries with James and Jake, greeted Taranee, then left, taking John with him. Nigel told Alyssa last week that since she was spending Christmas with her friends, he would take John out for the day. But he was also doing this for Taranee. He and Taranee hadn't fixed things yet, but he did want Taranee and Alyssa to fix things, so he thought if he kept John with him, when Alyssa's friends left, Taranee would have a couple of hours of alone time with Alyssa and could use that time to try to fix their relationship.
It was now a couple of hours since Nigel and John left. Taranee was making lunch in the kitchen. Rae was wide awake and ready. Rae had already opened the presents she'd gotten from her mom, as well the ones sent over by her dad and her friend Kayla the previous night. Jake, James, and Alyssa had done the same, deciding that they'd only open each other's presents that day.
"Okay, open mine first," Alyssa said, pushing the shiny blue bag with the silver tissue paper forward.
Rae took out the tissue paper and pulled out the items inside. There was a black t-shirt with the Hogwarts crest on it, which Alyssa bought since Rae's last Hogwarts crest t-shirt got lost somehow when she and Silena moved, a pair of long purple socks, a set of brand new tennis balls that were guardian pink instead of yellow with 'Rae' engraved in a picture of an electric blue lightning bolt, a set of eleven scented body lotions, and a set of seven body sprays.
"Wow," Rae breathed. "Alyssa, this is amazing!"
Alyssa smiled. "I hope you like it. I know your old Hogwarts shirt got lost in the move, and you asked for the socks. I know you don't love tennis, but it might be more fun if you start playing for you instead of for your father, and I thought the personalized balls would make it more entertaining, and I know you said you like scented lotions and stuff, plus I thought you could share it with Sage, which you're going to want to do when you see Jake's gift since she helped him with it."
"Lyssa, shush!" Jake said.
"Shush? Seriously?" Alyssa asked, collapsing into giggles.
"Well, I'd tell you to shut up, but I don't think your boyfriend would take to kindly to that," Jake replied.
"You got that right," James said, but his eyes were laughing. It was really amazing how well Jake and James got along considering they barely had anything in common, besides maybe a close friendship with Caty.
Alyssa looked at Rae expectantly. The raven haired girl gave Alyssa a hug. "Everything's wonderful, and you're awesome. Thank you."
Alyssa beamed at her best friend.
"Okay, James you go next, because nothing can top Jake's gift."
"I agree," James said, pushing the box gift wrapped in white paper covered in different colored balloons towards Rae.
"Festive," Rae commented.
"We ran out of Christmas and winter themed wrapping paper," James said sheepishly.
Rae unwrapped the box, opened it up, and gasped. Inside was a Gryffindor scarf, the house Rae would be in if she attended Hogwarts, a pair of earring shaped like the deathly hallows, a Harry Potter watch with the elder wand as the hour hand, a lightning bolt as the minute hand, and Harry Potter's wand as the second hand, the wand of Sirius Black, Rae's favorite character, and one of those fake Hogwarts acceptance letters.
"Are you trying to show me up?" Jake asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I know a lot more about Harry Potter than any of Rae's other friends. I love those books almost as much as her, and I used to get Harry Potter merchandise for Christmas and my birthday every year until my family ran out of Harry Potter stuff to get me. And I know Rae doesn't have any of this stuff and I thought she'd like it."
"James, you're my favorite!" Rae exclaimed again.
"Hey!" Alyssa and Jake cried indignantly. Then everyone laughed.
"Go ahead Jake. Alyssa was right, nothing compares with your gift."
"I'm so curious now," Rae said.
Jake handed her the gray bag with sparkly white tissue paper. Rae took out the tissue paper and pulled out the items one by one. Jake had run his gift ideas by Alyssa, and of course, James was around since he was always with Alyssa, and they both had to agree, Jake had really nailed it.
The first was the first edition of Rae's favorite book, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. There were two books because the original book with published in two volumes. Each books had a hard, dark blue cover with an ornate design in gold and the title and author on the spine.
"Jake, this must've been so expensive!"
"Alyssa helped me find it on sale," Jake said.
"It was still almost $200," Alyssa said in Rae's head.
Rae stared at Jake in shock before he gently insisted she look at the rest. The next item was a pink phone case that looked like a cassette tape. Rae had been hinting that she wanted that for a long time. After that, there was a $50 Starbucks gift card. To Rae, Starbucks was the equivalent of heaven (which is why the fact that Down the Rabbit Hole had a Starbucks inside it made the bookstore Rae's dream house). And finally, there was a black velvet box.
"And what's this?" Rae asked with a smile.
Jake grabbed the box out of Rae's hands. "Until the end of this summer, I've never had a real girlfriend. I spent the better part of my time at Sheffield trying to get Gabi Shay to go out with me, and spent most of this past summer not dating any other girls just so she would. And at first, I could not be happier. But then, on the first day of this year, I met this new girl. She was incredibly short, incredibly skinny, and downright incredible."
Rae blushed, not even caring that he mentioned Gabi in this speech he was giving her.
"I liked everything about her, from the glare she gave me the first time she looked at me to the stream of endless sarcastic comments that come out of her mouth every time she opens it to speak. She was pretty and smart, and didn't want to be a cheerleader, which was very refreshing. And I'm lucky enough to call that girl my girlfriend."
Rae beamed at Jake. He grinned back at her and said, "I thought I was serious when I wanted to date Gabi, and to some extent, I was. But then I jumped to you. It was just like my old habits. It took longer than usual, but it happened just the same. But I don't want to jump to anyone else. I'm so happy with you, and even though you won't say it, I know you're worried I will move on to some other girl."
"I'm not-"
"Yes you are," Jake interjected gently. "So, to convince you I'm one hundred percent yours for as long as you want me to be, I got you this." He opened the box and inside was a ring. "When my parents were in high school, a boy would give a girl a ring if he wanted to go steady with her. And if she wore the ring, that would tell every other guy in school that she was taken. I'm not trying to be possessive, and I know it's old fashioned, but I'm hoping you'll wear this ring so you'll know that I only want you, and everyone else will know you have a boyfriend."
Rae laughed. "From anyone else, this would seem like a misogynistic move, but it's so sweet coming from you. I'd love to wear it."
Jake smiled at her, and Rae nearly melted when she realized there was relief in his eyes. Jake took out the ring and slipped it on her ring finger. "I hope you like it. If you do, I picked it out all by myself, but if you don't, Brittany, Alyssa, Sage, and even Bree helped."
Rae laughed and looked at the ring. "It's beautiful," she said, wondering how Ellie's cousin came into play.
"Alyssa said you preferred silver over gold, so I was going to choose a silver band, but my sister suggested white gold instead. I wanted to put an emerald on it, since it was your birth stone, but then I asked Alyssa if maybe I should choose sapphire instead, since blue is your favorite color. She suggested that I use pink sapphire instead of blue. I didn't know why, but since she's your best friend, I said okay. I realize now it's probably because it matches the necklace she gave you."
Rae touched the pendant of the guardian necklace Alyssa gave her, which she wore everyday along with the Heart. Of course, the Heart somehow hid perfectly behind her shirt without bulging, so everyone thought she just wore a random piece of twine around her neck.
"I went on this jewelry website Bree told me about when I wanted to get Gabi a birthday present a few years ago. I made the ring, ordered it, and showed to Alyssa while you were in the bathroom during our movie night."
"The one we had in place of going to the Hollidazzle Dance?"
"Yeah. Alyssa took the ring and said, if I could trust her, then she'd give the ring to Sage, whose aunt, who lives in Star City, is great at making hand-made jewelry, and could make the ring even better."
Rae looked at Alyssa.
"He'll tell you," Alyssa said.
"So I said okay, and Sage's aunt made the sapphire look like glass and managed to put the symbol that's on your necklace inside the stone."
"AKA, the Meridian princess used her magic to make a sapphire look like glass and seared in the Keeper's symbol inside it," Alyssa clarified.
"Alyssa said that symbol is the Shane family symbol meaning leadership?" Jake said questioningly.
"It is," Rae confirmed.
"Nice lie Lyssa," she said to the fire guardian approvingly.
"Jake this is beautiful and such a great idea. I love it."
"I'm glad."
"Okay, okay, Jake's turn next!" Alyssa said.
Jake received concert tickets for the four of them for his favorite band, Maroon 5, from Rae, a new lacrosse stick from James, and a new soccer ball from Alyssa, who used her art skills to personalize it for him. He took one look at it and declared Alyssa as his favorite.
James got the sneakers for his longboard from Rae. Jake got him hundreds of k-cups.
"Dude, how'd you know I needed these?"
"It was when Sage gave me Rae's ring. I mentioned I had no idea what to get you, and she said you were running out of k-cups and that you're Keurig is your favorite thing in the world."
"That's a really good idea," Alyssa said. "But why didn't you ask me what to get James?"
"You weren't around. Sage was. Otherwise I obviously would've asked you."
"Okay, now mine," Alyssa said excitedly, handing him her wrapped present. James opened it up and his face lit up.
"Whoa," he breathed.
Alyssa had gotten him a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones.
"I know you said your old Beats were breaking, and Bose is better anyway, so…"
"I love them, they're perfect!" James exclaimed. Alyssa beamed at him as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Okay Lyssa, your turn. Open mine first," Rae said.
Rae had gotten Alyssa a huge book of 1001 logic puzzles, a book called 1001 Things You Need to See Before You Die, an expensive neck pillow, a purse sized sketchbook, a set of mini sharpies, a pack of higher end colored pencils, some high end sketching pens, and a bag of the big tootsie pops.
"It's a travel kit," Rae explained. "I know you don't love planes, but I also know you do love to travel, and that your family goes to all sorts of places. The logic puzzles is something you can do on the plane, the neck pillow will make you more comfortable, the book of things you need to see will help your family plan their next vacation, the art stuff is so that you can take it on vacation and draw whatever you see, and it's small so you can stuff it into your purse, and the tootsie pops are because you mentioned how badly your ears hurt whenever a plane lands or takes off and lollipops help. And I chose tootsie pops because I know they're your favorite."
"Wow Rae, this is amazing! Thank you so much!"
Jake had hidden his present behind the tree because he was unable to wrap it and didn't want Alyssa to see what he'd gotten her. He presented her with a picnic basket (without the lid) wrapped in see through purple cellophane. Inside were 12 DVDs, lots of candy, a few bags of microwave popcorn, a few cans of Sprite, a pillow, an orange throw, and the same long fuzzy socks Alyssa had gotten Rae, except in neon green instead of purple.
"Jake, this is awesome!" Alyssa cried.
"Well I remember at our movie night, your complained that you wished you had more movies and we had problems with no one wanting to share any of the blankets or pillows, so I got you everything you need to have the perfect movie night, either on your own or with your friends. And all those movies are Disney movies, so you can have a Disney movie marathon, since I know how much you love Disney movies. And the older movies are the remastered versions."
Alyssa grinned. Jake had gotten her Frozen, Tangled, Mulan, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and the special edition versions of her absolute favorite movies, The Lion King and A Bug's Life.
"These are all my favorites. You even picked some Pixar movies. Thank you so much!"
"Hopefully mine will match up," James said, handing her a bag. Alyssa grinned, removed the tissue paper, and took out the items one by one. The first was a Disney calendar of the 2016 year, with characters from a different Disney movie for every month. Next was the warmest, most comfortable, white fuzzy sweater Alyssa had ever had the pleasure of owning. James admitted Rae helped him with that one. After that was a collage filled with pictures, movie ticket stubs, and pieces of menus, and other sentimental things that symbolized their relationship.
"This is so cute, and definitely my favorite," Alyssa said.
"I think you'll want to hold off on saying that," James said, motioning to the bag.
Alyssa wore an amused smile as she pulled out a Mason jar decorated with stickers of all her favorite art pieces like Starry Nights by Vincent can Gogh, or Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans. On top of the jar, written in fancy calligraphy, were the words 'Date Night.'
"Chris wrote that," James admitted, "since he can do calligraphy. I know you can too, but it was your present. In here are 52 pieces of paper with surprise date ideas. 52 so there's one for every week in an entire year. We go out two or three times a week with no real plan. For the coming year, we'll still go out whenever we're free, but I think we should make Friday our date night. We'll go out every Friday, and each Friday morning, you randomly pick something from the jar, and whatever it says is what we'll do."
"That's so romantic, and so sweet, and so creative!" Rae cried.
"I'm starting to feel underappreciated," Jake grumbled jokingly.
Rae smiled sweetly at him and held up her hand. "Don't worry. Your ring tops it all."
Jake smiled back as Alyssa, overcome and speechless, tacked James and kissed him as if it would be their last. Jake and Rae, inspired, did the same until Taranee, wondering why everyone was so quiet, came into the living room and cleared her throat loudly.
Everyone broke apart, embarrassed, Alyssa most of all. She glared at her mother, then turned back to her friends. "So, who wants to put Jake's present to good use?"
Everyone nodded. One reason Alyssa got along so well with Rae, James, and Jake was because they were as obsessed with Disney as she was. Alyssa knew every line of The Lion King. Rae identified with Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Jake, who had a pretty good voice, liked to sing along to all the songs, and James loved the storylines.
Alyssa made three bags of popcorn, they all got comfy on the couch with candy and soda, and started their movie marathon with Aladdin. They ordered Chinese for lunch and watched The Lion King and A Bug's Life before deciding to play a game instead.
Taranee made a fabulous Christmas dinner for Alyssa and her friends. Alyssa hoped Nigel and John would come back for dinner, but they were going to eat at a restaurant, and John was going to sleepover at a friend's house.
After dinner, Taranee said she was going out for a couple of hours. Jake proposed they watch Mulan and play a drinking game. He said they'd do a shot every time someone said 'honor' or 'dishonor' (and this included every time they sang it in the song 'Honor to us All'). Alyssa was very much opposed to this idea since they were underage, but after a lot of begging, Alyssa took out two bottles of scotch and four shot glasses. She refused to touch the alcohol though, and did shots of sprite instead. At the end of the movie, James, Rae, and Jake were all tipsy, and Alyssa said they should just sleepover.
Alyssa's friends went home early the next morning. John was still at his friend's house, so she was alone in the house with Taranee. Alyssa knew there would be no way to avoid her all day, but she was hoping John would be back before Alyssa had to see her. No such luck. Alyssa was starving and went downstairs for lunch before John came back. Taranee was in the kitchen heating up some of the leftover chicken in the oven.
"Do you want some of the chicken too honey?" Taranee asked.
"No. I have leftover lo mein," Alyssa muttered, taking it out of the fridge and popping the container into the microwave.
Taranee sat down at the island to eat. Alyssa put the lo mein on a plate and tried to escape to her room.
"Alyssa, no food in your room," Taranee said instantly.
"Since when is that a rule?" Alyssa spat.
"Since I decided we need to talk."
"I have no interest in-"
"Then you listen and I'll talk," Taranee suggested.
Alyssa barked out a laugh. "I'm done listening to you Mom. And you did more than enough talking when you lied to your family for over seventeen years."
Taranee sighed. "I'm not trying to deny how horrible my actions were. And Caleb and I both agreed we have no idea why we did it or how it happened. And I'm not just saying that. I have no memory of that night, and neither does he. What we do remember is that there's no reason it should've happened. We weren't drinking, we weren't overtired and not thinking clearly…from what I can remember, I was at your grandparents' house that day with Nigel."
Alyssa frowned. That was really strange. How could her mother not remember that night if she wasn't drinking? And how'd she see Caleb?
"If you and Cornelia stayed friends even after the others stopped speaking to you," Alyssa said, keeping her voice cold, "did you know Cornelia and Caleb lived in Meridian?"
"Yes. I was the only one of the old guardians that knew that."
"So you would've had to go to Meridian to see Caleb?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember where you were that night? Did Caleb come to you or did you go to him?"
"I went to him."
"So there had to portal to Meridian open at Grandma and Grandpa's house?"
"Yes."
"And there was?"
Taranee paused for a moment, thinking. "Yes, but…I don't remember how it got there. When I talked to Hay Lin a few months ago, she said Will teletransported here to Heatherfield from wherever she's living now to give Hay Lin the Heart around the same time our powers started to weaken. That was a sign new guardians were being chosen. But at the time that Caleb and I…betrayed Cornelia and Nigel, Will still had the Heart, which is the only object on Earth that could open a portal."
"So then how-"
"I don't know!" Taranee cried. "Nigel and I had arrived at my parents' house the night before. I remember everything we did that day, and then I remember a portal opening in our room. Nigel was out with Dad, so I was the only one in our room. My rational mind knew portals couldn't randomly open when no veil was up. My rational mind was also telling me I couldn't go through a portal and just leave it open with my parents in the house and that I should telepathically contact Will so she could close it, but it was almost as if something was forcing me to go through the portal, so I did. And I don't know how, but I found myself at Caleb's house. Cornelia wasn't home, and I don't remember anything after that."
"Nothing?"
"The next few hours are a blank. I don't remember what we talked about, what we did, or even how I got back to my parents' house a few hours later. I do remember the portal closing right after I was back in our room. Nigel was asleep. He asked me the next morning where I had gone, and I told him I couldn't remember. I was going through this phase of sleepwalking at that time, so we figured that's what had happened, even though I knew what I had done with Caleb. I just couldn't understand or remember it."
Alyssa's frown deepened. Taranee could be lying, but if she was telling the truth, then maybe this wasn't her fault. Maybe there was a more powerful force behind it. Could it be possible that some sort of magic was involved?
Alyssa tried to read Taranee's mind. It wasn't easy to read the minds of non-guardians, but she was getting better. She was surprised when she got through easily, and searching her mother's mind, Alyssa knew her mother was telling the truth. But what did that mean? Taranee's thoughts were the same as Alyssa's: some kind of magic was at play here.
"Be that as it may, it still doesn't excuse your lies. I mean, Dad knew about the guardians and everything. Maybe if you had told him what you're telling me, he would've understood that maybe some kind of magic was involved. And then you lied to me, and when I found out the truth, you erased my memory. I mean, what kind of mother does that? You have the magical objects because you're the rational, responsible one. You're not supposed to abuse that, and you did, just to protect yourself."
"Honey, no matter what I said, Nigel would never believe that magic could've been involved. What kind of magic forces someone to cheat? He would've thought I was lying. The only reason you believe me is because you can read my mind and know I'm telling the truth."
At first Alyssa was surprised that Taranee knew Alyssa read her mind. Then she realized the reason she got in so easily was because Taranee let her in.
"Does Dad know about this now?"
"Yes. He's not sure whether or not to believe it, but he's not fully dismissing it."
"Is that why he's trying to work it out? Because he thinks there's a chance you weren't in control of your own actions?"
"Yes."
"Well, thank you for telling me," Alyssa said. "But I still can't forgive the lies or the erasing my memory."
"I understand."
"I don't think you do. I know Dad left after just a few minutes yesterday because he was hoping we could work things out. But whether you were in control or not, that doesn't erase the fact that you lied to me, and then made me forget when I found out all so you could keep living the perfect life you could only live as long as no one knew about what you did with Caleb and my true parentage. So, even though I believe you don't know what you were doing, I don't forgive you either. Things will never be the same between us when we do start to rebuild our relationship. And no matter what, that rebuilding will not start anytime soon."
With that, Alyssa grabbed her plate and went up to her room, ignoring Taranee's pleas to stay and talk.
G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E. G.R.A.C.E.
A/N: I know that's an awkward place to end it, but like I said, this is only half the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed that, and like the next part of it. The rest of the shout-outs will be there, and I think Josh and Gabi fans will be very happy!