Author's Notes: *Yawn* Sleepy… will finish though!!!! ^-^
Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimer
Carol of the Bells
Chapter 7: It's PARTY TIME!!
"I finally finished!!!" Millie cried.
"And about time too! The party is in an hour!" Viki giggled. "It's very pretty, Millie-chan. That is your gift for Luc, right?"
"Uh-huh!" Millie nodded happily.
"Wow, you and Meg are really talented, making these gifts…" Viki sighed. "I do hope Tir-chama will like the fishing rod I brought him… by the way Millie-chan… what is that pretty thing anyway?"
Millie felt a bead of sweat slide down her forehead. Well, at least she thought it was pretty. "It's a 'dreamcatcher', Viki-chan."
"What is this 'dreamcatcher for?" Viki asks puzzledly. "It catches dreams for you?"
"Yes," Millie nodded. "Only the good ones though, it will never let nightmares come to you!!!"
"So Luc will never get nightmares again??!" Viki asks excitedly.
"Yes, as long as he has it by him when he goes to sleep." Millie holds up the dreamcatcher. She had fashioned a tiny, delicate web of beads and little ribbons and strung it on a necklace. "As long as Luc wears it…"
"Viki-chan, come here!!" Tengaar called. "I need to do your hair now!!"
"Millie-chan!!" Meg cried, rushing by her friend's side. "Do me a favor and hold this up," she flaps a section of her hair. "While I put this up."
"Oh… okay…" Millie nods and holds Meg's light brown hair as the trickster girl placed it up in an intricate twist behind her head.
"Wow, this is so pretty, Tengaar-neechan!!" Viki exclaimed; examining the 'weave' Tengaar did to her hair.
"Goodness, Millie-chan!!" Tengaar cried. Her red hair was pulled off one shoulder, piled on top of her head and cascaded over the other shoulder. "You are not prepared yet!!"
"Yeah…" Millie said. "Eek!!" Tengaar and Meg attacked her hair, trusty brushes and pins in their hands.
"Yay, more pretty hair!!" Viki squealed. She held out a mirror so Millie can see her hair.
"Do you like it?" Tengaar asked.
"Yes, Onee-chan." Millie nodded, her cheeks flushing. She carefully touched her hair, loosely pulled up and falling down in waves.
"I think it's perfect." Meg declared. "All of us are perfect right now."
"No…" Tengaar says. She walked towards Nanami. "You are not going out like that. Not ruining a lovely dress with that hair."
"Don't be silly, Tengaar-neechan." Nanami says, pulling her usual headband through her hair. "It's just a party—waaah!!!" Tengaar and Meg bore down at her, brushes drawn.
"I am SO glad Leona-san decided the party is to be a formal event!!" Viki said excitedly.
"My head hurts," Nanami complained afterwards, running her fingertips over the jeweled hairpins stuck on her head.
"It will be all worth it later." Tengaar winks at her.
"Tengaar-neechan!!" Wakaba called excitedly.
"Your date has arrived!!" Tomo chirped.
"Hmm…" Tengaar looked at the clock on the wall. "He's five minutes early… I'll go out in fifteen minutes."
"You're making him wait!!" Wakaba said indignantly. "That's not right!!"
Nanami and Tomo laughed in a conspiratorial way.
Meg laughed as well. "Onee-chan knows what she's doing. Trust me."
"Yes," Tengaar nodded. "Hix will understand. It's the way of the world. Always be fashionably late for any date."
"That's… ridiculous." Wakaba says, feeling a bead of sweat slide down her forehead.
"I think…" Millie says haltingly. "You should make a boy wait a little so he will not think you are too eager…"
"Exactly, Millie-chan!!" Tengaar beamed at her protégé. "Men—you should never let them think you're all over them!! They are conceited enough as they are!!"
"Well in that case," Wakaba began. "We should do away completely without them!!"
"Ooh, really??" Tomo nudged Wakaba's ribs. "Then why do you have a date with Sasuke??!"
"I think they look so cute together!!" Viki says excitedly.
"I do NOT have a date!!" Wakaba cried. "At least, not the way you think!! I am only telling him to get off his butt and quit moping just because Tir-san is here and he'll be dancing with Kasumi!!"
"WHAA??!" Viki shrieked. "So that is why he couldn't go with me!!!"
"That's okay, Viki." Nanami says consolingly. "I don't have a date either."
"But that's because you are waiting for the Highland King, Sempai!!" Wakaba says. Nanami's cheeks turned red.
"Wakaba-chan!!" Tomo cried.
"Oops!!" Wakaba clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Well…" Millie pats Viki's back. "I don't have a date either. And Luc… is just here… and I don't even know if he will be coming… not after that incident with Tir-niichan…"
All of them fell silent, then Tengaar chirps; "What about you, Meg-chan?? Do you have a date??"
"Well, sort of." Meg says. "He's my date so long as the girl he likes doesn't like him."
"WHAAT??!" Tengaar cried, outraged. "What kind of guy would be so rude—"
"Tengaar-neechan, I think you better check on Hix." Meg says.
"Oh, yes!! Hix!!!" Tengaar pulled up her skirt and ran to the doorway.
"I guess we'd better leave as well. " Meg says.
"You changed the subject." Nanami says. "Who is you sort of date?"
"You don't have to know that." Meg says.
"C'MON MEG!!" The girls squealed.
"NO!!"