Naia's POV

Behind me, I heard Gabby start to cry which made me confused. Why was she crying? I looked at James who was also crying. I waited for him to say something but when he didn't, I turned around to leave.

"I'm sorry." I heard James' voice say. "If I had only listened to you that first day, it could have all been avoided."

I turned to face him. Tears streaked his cheeks and his apology was clearly genuine. Smiling, I shook my head.

"Whatever happens is supposed to happen. I forgive you so we can both move on now. I may not ever see you again but I don't want what happened to drag us both down." I said and James nodded.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you are one wise girl?" James asked.

I laughed, "I'm not smart. Sure, my math grades are pretty good but I still have a lot to learn. Take care of yourself James." I gave James a salute and he saluted back.

"Farewell Naia."

Matt drove the way home since Gabby was still crying. Matt threw a few teases at her which Gabby quickly threw back but even now that we're home, Gabby was still sniffling.

"Did I make you sad?" I asked, taking a seat next to her on the couch. "I don't want you to be sad."

Gabby shook her head, "No, I'm not crying because I'm sad. It's kind of like happy tears, but I'm not really happy."

"Then what are you?" I asked as I snuggled next to her.

Gabby stroked my head, thinking before she answered. "I'm proud of you for doing that. I'm amazed. I'm touched. It makes me think of life differently. If I was you, I wouldn't have forgiven James for what he did. See, before just now, I was kind of mad at James myself for almost taking away someone so dear to me. But after what you said, I think I've forgiven him too."

"We're proud of you Munchkin." Matt said, taking a seat on the other side of Gabby. I smiled, happy that I made them proud. I didn't forgive James to make them proud though, I did it so that both of us could move on from something so scarring and to something better.

"Can we watch a movie?" I asked, changing the subject without really meaning to.

Matt and Gabby both nodded, agreeing with me.

"What do you want to watch? Elf is on. So is Home Alone." Matt said, scrolling through the channels. I've never seen any of the two movies that he mentioned to I shrugged.

"Whatever you guys want to watch." I answered.

Matt and Gabby smiled at each other. "It's kind of our tradition to watch Home Alone during the Christmas season." Gabby said and Matt nodded.

I laughed, "I don't want to ruin your tradition. Let's watch Home Alone then."

As Matt played the movie, we were thrilled that it had only begun and that we hadn't really missed anything. Gabby said she'd go make us some popcorn and got up. I scooched over to where she was sitting and snuggled next to Matt.

It was official. Home Alone was my favourite movie ever. Not that I had really seen any other movies but I still liked it.

"So, what do you two want for dinner?" Gabby asked, getting up.

I yawned and stretched while still sitting on the couch, "I'm okay with anything."

"What about nachos?" Matt asked and Gabby nodded.

"Sure, why not. You good with nachos Naia?" She asked me.

I nodded, "Sounds good." I realized now that I still had homework that I had to do and reluctantly got up to get my backpack. I had a math worksheet along with some math textbook work, a small grammar package, and I had to study for my geography test which was tomorrow.

"How's school going?" Matt asked me as I started filling out the math worksheet.

I shrugged, "It's going pretty good. I mean, people have been leaving me alone since Nate started hanging out with me."

Matt raised his eyebrows, "Who's this Nate guy?"

"I don't really know. He helped pick up my books one day and now he's always talking to me at lunch and recess which keeps all the other boys away from beating me up." I replied, continuing to work on this math.

Silence.

I looked up from my math to see Matt smirking like he knew something that I didn't. Rolling my eyes, I asked, "So you wanna tell me?"

Matt chuckled a little bit. "Do you think that this Nate guy likes you."

"No!" I said without a doubt. "Absolutely he does not like me."

"How do you know that?" Matt asked.

I shook my head, "Why would he like me?"

Matt gave me a noogie and I scowled at him. "I can give you a lot of reasons why he would like you." Matt said and I shook my head again.

"No, he doesn't like me. And that's a fact." I said, returning to my homework.