Chapter 6
The Night Before Christmas- Eve
"I can't believe Christmas came so fast!" Callie said excitedly. "I know! It's crazy that today is our last day before Christmas break." Nicole said shutting her locker. "Well the day is already over we're going home now. But guys I have something for you, I've been dying to give it to you all day." Kayla said. "What?" She handed them a small box. They opened it. They were necklaces, and Callie's said 'Best', Nicole's said 'Friends', and Kayla's said 'Forever'. "Aw, thanks Kay!" The girls said and they hugged each other. "Ooh now it's my turn." Nicole said. She handed Callie and Kayla a present. Kayla's was a pair of jeans from B&B, and a pair of flip-flops that said 'Jersey Girl' on them. "How did you get this? They only have B&B on the beaches on the east coast!" She hugged her best friend. "I ordered them online." She smiled. She gave Callie the same thing only a shirt with jeans. They hugged. Callie gave Kayla and Nicole the cutest dresses for Christmas Eve. Kayla's was a purple-red tank-dress, and it had patterns of roses in silver glitter, and it was tight-fitted. Nicole's was a tank dress too, only it was navy and had silver roses. "Thanks Cal, this will be perfect for Christmas Eve with Bradin's fam." She smiled. "Your welcome. Well lets get going. I wanna give the guys their presents now." They smiled. They walked over to the guys. Kayla gave Lucas his gift. "Bradin has to wait until tomorrow night, Jake has to wait until Christmas day." She smiled. They all gave each other their gifts and went home. Kayla finished up her wrapping, then did her assignments for over the break, and then got out Bradin's gift. It was absolutely perfect. Then she put it away and picked up the photo of her family that was back in New York- New Jersey. She missed them. Her little cousins that looked up to her, dressed like her, did everything she did, asked her for advice. Her cousins a little bit younger that just hung out and talked about everything they could think of. Her cousins a little bit older that were her friends. They went to the mall together, did each other's hair and makeup, and went to the movies together. Then her oldest cousins were like her Aunts and Uncles only they were easier to talk to, even though her Aunts and Uncles were easy to talk to. She missed all of it. She was lying there for a while. She looked over at the clock. It read 5:27. Then she heard her doorbell ring. She ran downstairs to answer it. "Is it them?" Her mother asked. "Who?" Kay asked her mother. "Oh Callie's mother. She was going to drop something off." She recovered. "Ok…" She opened the door. It was Bradin. "Hey." He said and pulled her in for a kiss. When he let go she smiled. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked. "Just thought I'd come by and hang out with you for a little bit." He smiled. "Hi Mrs. K." He gave her a look. "Hi Bradin, would you like to stay over for dinner?" She smiled back. "Sure let me just call my Aunt." He grinned. He grabbed the phone off of the counter. "My mom is acting strange so you might want to stay away." She laughed. The doorbell rang again. "I'll get it!" She yelled. "I wonder who it could...gasps" "Hi Kayla!" Her whole family said at once. "What- what are you guys doing here?!" She said happily and excitedly. "Well your mother noticed how you missed your family so she invited us to Playa Linda." Her Aunt Pat said. "Where is my girl?" Alex said. "ALEX? YOU CAME TOO?" She said in a yelling whisper. "Yes! Hey hon!" She smiled. Kayla started to cry she was so happy. Bradin came over and hugged her. "Merry Christmas." He kissed her on the cheek. "You were in on it?!" She yelled. "Yes." He grinned. She kissed him. "Everyone, this is my boyfriend Bradin, the one who started it all." She smiled. Everyone said hi and gathered into the living room. Bradin was sitting next to her with his arm around her. She still looked like she was going to faint. Everyone was bombarding them with questions about Playa Linda. She answered each and every one of them. "Hold on you have to meet our other friends." Kayla smiled. She grabbed the phone. "Hey Cal, what's up?" She said when she heard Callie's voice on the other end of the receiver. "Oh Lucas is over? Can you come over to meet my family?" She said. "Ok, see you in a minute." She smiled. She went back to her cousins who were now bombarding Jake and Bradin with questions since she was gone. "Kay, can you take me shopping? Now that you have new clothes from California I wan them." Jen said over her other little cousins. "Yeah Kay, show us around!" said the older ones that just liked to hang out. "Can you teach me to surf?" her cousin Katie who loves sports asked. "No problem Kate." She smiled. "Kay, can you help me pick out a really cute bathing suit?" Her cousin Kelly yelled. "Yes." She smiled. She looked over and saw her mom trying to yell that dinner was ready. "Dinner is ready guys. Don't worry I will make sure I will have time for every one of you." She smiled and laughed. She felt tired it was such an overwhelming night. They sat down at the dinner table. "I call the other side of Kayla!" Katie yelled. "What do you mean the other side? There are 2 sides." Alex said. "The other side because Bradin is on one." She smiled. "Ok but I get that side tomorrow." Alex said. "Guys there will be tomorrow morning and lunch and dinner. Everyone will have a turn." Kayla giggled. "Your so cute with your little cousins." Bradin whispered in her ear. She smiled at him. "They're my family, I love them." She said. They sat down at the table and ate. Afterwards, her dad, cousin Brian, and her Uncle Denny got out their guitars. "Come on Kayla, do it for old times sake." Everyone said. "What are they talking about?" Bradin asked curiously. "You'll see." She smiled. "Hit it Bri." He started playing a song. "Baby, now that I've found you I won't let you go I've built my world around you I need you so, baby even though, you don't need me now…" She sang slowly "Baby Now That I've Found You" by Alison Krauss. It was a family tradition for her to sing that. As Bradin listened and watched her sing, he smiled. She looked into his eyes the whole time. When she finished her family went on singing as her little cousins played in the sand. "Jules, I'm going to get you…" Kayla said to her little cousin Julianna as she chased her little cousins around playing with them until she was tired. He sat with Jake and watched her. "She's so great with the little ones and the older ones." He smiled. "Yeah she's always been very family oriented. But, of course, making time for her friends as well." He said. Callie was talking to Lucas and Alex right next to them. "I think Lucas likes Alex." Bradin said as he carefully listened to Alex talk to them about New Jersey. "Yeah I've never seen him care so much about New Jersey." Jake said. "He doesn't care, it just gives him a reason to talk and look at Alex." Bradin laughed. When Kayla got tired, she went over and sat down next to Bradin. "I hope you're not tired." Bradin grinned. "I think I'm going to die." She said breathing heavily. "Well that's too bad." Bradin said and started to chase Kayla. "Bradin Westerly! You're going to pay for this!" She said running as fast as she could. But since she was already tired it didn't take long for Bradin to catch up to her. He started tickling her but then slowly stopped. He looked deep into her eyes. They were lying in the sand. "You are the most amazing person I have ever met." Bradin said to her. They kissed. When they pulled away Kayla yelled, "Hey girls come back me up over here!" She held Bradin as tight as she could and let him go. He ran off but her little cousins caught up to him. "Tickle Attack!" Kayla yelled as her and all her little cousins went in to tickle him. After about five minutes she told them it was enough. "I told you I'd get you back." She smiled. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Bradin's number. "Just to let you know, I'm not home." Bradin said with a confused look. "Hey Nikki!" She said. "Hey Kay, isn't Bradin at your house?" She sounded confused. "I think so, unless the guy right next to me isn't really Bradin." They laughed. "What's up?" She asked. "I have my family over. Want to bring Derrick your Aunt Ava, Susannah, and whoever wants to come over?" She asked. "Yeah sure, hold on." She said. "Hey Aunt Ava, guys?" She waited for their response. "Ok. We're all coming see you in a minute." She said. "Alright, bye." She hung up. "Lets go back and tell my mom your Aunt is coming." She said and they walked back to the fire holding hands. "Hey mom? Ms. Gregory, Johnny, Susannah, Jay, Erika, Nikki, and Derrick are coming over." She said. "Ok sweetie that will be great because we have kids all here for them to hang out with." Her mom smiled. "I'm going to go wait for them. They know where you live but just not exactly where." He smiled. "Ok." She smiled back. "Hey Kay!" Her Aunt's called her over. "It's our turn now to talk to you." They smiled. "Ok." She sat down on the blanket with them. She knew they were going to ask about Bradin. "How is California so far?" They asked. She answered them about California, school, what it's like here, Bradin, Bradin, Bradin, they liked that subject the most obviously. "He seems like a very nice kid." They smiled. "He is, he was one of the first people I met actually. I didn't want to talk to anyone, or do anything, and then he offered to show me around, then told me he wanted to be my friend. Then it became more than friends." She smiled. "Hey Kay!" Nikki and Derrick said. "Hey guys!" She got up and hugged them. She introduced them to her family while her mom introduced Ms.Gregory, Susannah, Jay, Erika, and Johnny to her family.
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