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They all met in front of the school. The only person that was missing was Lex, because he went to a different school. Nathan bravely pushed open the door, and he and Daley walked in, holding hands, followed by the rest of the group. Melissa gripped Jackson's hand, but he didn't care. He gave her a quick squeeze back. Everyone in the halls stopped what they were doing and stared. Was that Nathan McHugh holding Daley Marin's hand? And what was up with Melissa Wu hanging on to 'that Jackson kid'? And Taylor, the popular one with Eric, the jokester? Everyone was wondering the same question - What'd we miss?
As the bustle returned, the group of survivors headed toward their lockers, which were ironically very close together. Melissa's was two away from Jackson, and Nathan was next to her. Daley was four away from Nathan, and Taylor and Eric were right next to each other, three away from Daley. On Jackson's other side three away was Abby, and two away from her were Jory and Ian.
"Am I imagining things, or is there dust on my books?" Melissa asked Nathan. He peered into her locker.
"Maybe just a little." He said.
They all grabbed their books as the warning bell rang and headed off toward homeroom.
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Taylor, who came first in roll call order of the group, looked offended when her name was skipped. The seats were alphabetical, so when her teacher looked up to check that the person behind her was there, she exclaimed "Taylor! You're back!"
The teacher glanced at Jackson, Nathan, Melissa, Jory, Ian, Eric, Daley, and Abby's seats. "It's wonderful to have all of you back." They smiled hesitantly.
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At lunch, Jackson and Melissa headed to the only table that was left. Soon after, Taylor and Eric flounced past the 'popular' table, and Nathan joined them soon after. Daley's group of school politicians look horrified when she sat down at the table with everyone else. Abby, Jory, and Ian sat down too. The whole cafeteria stared at them. Melissa took out a sandwich, and hesitantly took a bite. A couple people went back to their lunches, but most of the cafeteria still stared.
Suddenly, people started coming up to them and asking questions.
Jackson got up, and said "Can we please just eat our lunch?"
Everyone backed off, still scared of him.
Melissa smiled at him, and went back to her lunch. It was going to be a long study hall period. The whole school had study hall after lunch, and you were allowed to talk, because most of the school had good grades.
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The were bombarded with questions again, and the group tried to ignore them.
"Taylor! Why won't you talk to me!" Her best friend, Sadie, asked her.
"I'm trying to study, duh!"
"You never study, I just want to know what happened!"
"Maybe I don't want to tell you!"
"Bu-"
"She just doesn't want to tell you, okay?" Eric said.
Sadie looked deeply offended.
Nathan and Melissa were having similar problems. Their friend Kaitlyn was trying to get them to talk.
"We were stranded on an island, what more to it is there?" Melissa said.
"But why where you holding that Jackson guy's hand?" She said persistently.
"Firstly, his name is Jackson, and second, it's none of your business!" Melissa said, fed up with the questions. She slid over to sit next to Jackson, and they started quizzing each other over their science notes.
"What's her problem? Anyways, what about you and Daley?" Kaitlyn asked Nathan.
"Can't you take a hint? We don't feel like talking about it right now."
"Fine. But you better be on AIM tonight." She said, and walked off.
Abby, Jory, and Ian, had managed to shoo their friends away without a fuss, and Daley told her friends she'd tell them about it later.
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Christmas break had started, and Melissa had invited everyone over on the day before Christmas Eve to exchange presents and watch some movies.
Jackson rang the doorbell. He heard a dog bark, and Melissa's voice saying 'Jesse, no!'
She opened the door, holding the collar of a yellow Labrador puppy. The dog strained to jump on Jackson, but Melissa easily pulled him away.
"Hey Jackson! This is my dog Jesse. We're still training him, and he loves people." she said.
"It's okay, I have a dog, and he's huge!" He laughed.
Melissa closed the door, and let Jesse go. She took a pile of small, thin, wrapped presents from Jackson and put them on the table next to another pile of larger packages that were the same shape as Jackson's.
Jackson bent down and started playing with Jesse, who loved the attention. Melissa handed Jackson a rope toy, which Jesse immediately started pulling.
"He loves that toy. He'll bug you to play with him for hours!" Melissa said, and sat down cross-legged next to Jackson. He let go of the toy, pretending to be completely worn out.
"You win!" He laughed. Jesse nudged Jackson some more, but Melissa pried it from Jesse's jaws, and threw it down the hall. The doorbell rang again, and Jackson hopped to his feet, then helped Melissa up. She opened the door. Nathan was standing there with another pile of presents.
Jesse barked and came running.
"Jesse! Boy, I haven't seen you in forever! How are you doing, little dude?" Jesse barked again. Nathan placed his pile next to Melissa and Jackson's, and bent down to grab the toy in Jesse's mouth. "You think your strong? Well I'm stronger!" All three laughed. Nathan got the toy from Jesse, and threw it down the hall.
A voice called from the stairs. "Hi Nathan!"
A little girl who looked a little younger than Lex ran down the stairs and Nathan picked her up and swung her around.
"Hey Cassie! Did you have tons of fun adventures while we were gone?"
"No. Me and Jesse were bored without Melissa." She pouted.
"Well, another day I'll come over, and you and me and Melissa can play all the games you want!" He said, turning her frown upside down.
"Okay! Are you Jackson?" She directed her question toward him.
"Yes, I am. You must be Cassie!" He said.
"Melissa doesn't stop talking about you someti-"
Melissa covered Cassie's mouth with her hand. "Okay, time for you to go back upstairs! I'll put in Rudolph for you!" She took Cassie toward the stairs. "I'll be right back!"
"So, Merry Christmas!" Nathan said.
"Yeah. I guess." Jackson said. Before Nathan could reply, Melissa came back downstairs. The doorbell rang again, and on the doorstep stood Taylor and Eric. They both had their arms full to the brim with presents. Melissa helped them put their packages on the table. Daley and Lex came soon after. Abby and Ian were visiting family, and Jory was sick.
Melissa led them into their family room, where a Christmas tree that just barely fit was sitting. It was dripping with homemade ornaments, some with a messy scrawl reading Melissa, others with the same name, only neater handwriting. There were also some with Cassie's name on them.
She found everyone looking at them. Nathan had his eyes on the front of the tree, knowing that was where they put the knew ones.
"We make ornaments every year." She explained.
"Pretty soon you're going to need a new tree, Mel." Nathan said.
"Oh Nathan, I forgot. We found these when we were putting up the ornaments." She handed him a small pile of ornaments. "I thought you might finally want to take them home. We don't have any more room."
They all had Nathan's name on them. He had joined them every year for their ornament making day, but they hadn't asked him to come this year. He was curious why.
"We're having ornament making day today, that's why we never invited you." Melissa said, as if reading his thoughts.
"Cassie! Come here, I want you to meet someone!" Cassie came downstairs, holding Jesse.
"Rudolph was just about to sing the misfit song!" she whined.
"Oh, you've seen that movie a thousand times, and you're almost ten years old! I want you to meet Lex." Melissa said. She grabbed Lex's hand, and pulled him forward. "This is my sister, Cassie. She's your age, I thought you might like to hang out with her more than a bunch of teenagers."
"You want to watch the Rudolph movie?" Cassie asked. Lex nodded eagerly. "Melissa, can you restart it?"
"Sure, I'll be right back. You guys can sit down."
Everyone sat down.
"This is great! Lex found a friend!" Daley said to Nathan.
Melissa came back a couple minutes later, and grabbed some craft supplies for Lex and Cassie to use upstairs, then brought everyone to the kitchen table. At every seat was a picture of all seven in front of the plane. Melissa had made them take it before they left. There was also a bunch of craft supplies on the table. Melissa sat down, and showed them an example. The picture was in the middle, and all around it was foam stockings and palm trees. She told them to be original and not make it exactly like them example her mom had made, and they all got to work. They chatted while they worked, and when they were done, Melissa put a movie in, and made some popcorn and hot chocolate.
When the movie was over, they exchanged gifts. Once everyone had handed their presents out, they tore the paper off the packages. Melissa had made everyone a scrapbook from their adventures on the island. Taylor had brought everyone scarves in different colors, Nathan had given them a book on survival skills, Daley had given them organizers, Eric gave them gift cards to the movies, and Lex gave each of them a different book that he thought they would like. Everyone agreed Jackson's was the best by far. He had given them a CD with songs that fit each person's personality. There were 9 tracks, each with the person's name as the title. Melissa kissed him on the cheek as a thank you.
A "Hee hee." was heard from the stairs.
"Cassie!" Melissa exclaimed. "How many times do I have to tell you, no spying from the stairs!"
"Rudolph ended."
"Then I'll put on Frosty the Snowman." she went to put the tape in for her sister. Everyone thanked Jackson, and then looked over all their gifts. Melissa came back, and got some brownies and ice cream from the refrigerator.
Everyone talked and laughed for the rest of the afternoon. They all stayed up together on New Year's Eve, and once they went back to school everything had calmed down because of the holidays. And so we come to those two word that mean an end and a beginning,
THE END
Sequel Coming Very Soon!
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A/N: I'm so sad it's over! I liked this one way better than my other one, but you have to end it eventually, ya know. I'll get the sequel posted as soon as possible! Which will probably be tomorrow, because I have to start writing it. It will be when they are all grown up, and they will go to the island as a sort of reunion. I can't wait either! Review, and I'll post the sequel faster! I know, I keep saying that, then posting anyways. I'm a very impatient person. So you can count on chapter one tomorrow, review or not. But please review anyways! Please? I'm putting on my pouty face!
Love lots,
pianoplayerand29DWNfan