Quick disclaimer: I am well aware that a majority of people who are religious are nothing like Melanie's old foster parents, who have been alluded to before and will be alluded to even more in this chapter. Many of them are decent, level-headed human beings. But there are some fanatics out there (albeit in the minority, but they do exist), and poor Melanie was just unfortunate enough to find herself in the care of two of them. So, that being said, I hope you enjoy. ( :

All characters are the property of SNK/Playmore. I don't own them, the video games or the anime.


Chapter Ten: Happy Holidays

December 20th, 1996

It was the last day of class before holiday break, and then the girls of Clemency School would be off for the next two weeks, resuming the Monday after New Year's Day. Melanie was looking forward to a little rest due to how busy the last three months had been, but even if she wasn't going to be given homework, she intended to use some of her free time on knife training and earning some money.

Right now, though, she was sitting in Ms. Kelly's class, internally biting her nails while the teacher handed back their book reports on "The Outsiders". Melanie had put it off until the last minute, and spent most of her time after class on the day before it was due typing it out in the computer lab. "There were some spelling and grammar errors," Kelly told the students as she would her way around the desks, handing back each paper. "But overall, I was very pleased."

She paused when she got to Melanie's desk, and began shuffling through the papers left in hand. It seemed to the small blonde like the bookish woman was stalling on purpose. Finally, Kelly handed Melanie her report, which had a C written on the top in blue marker. "Good work, Melanie," she said with a smile. "You passed. I know that you... didn't like this book, and I sense that you weren't fully applying yourself. But you still scored an average. If you're actually committed to the next report you write, you could easily get an A."

"Maybe next time, we can read a better book," Melanie said with a shrug. But on the inside she was smiling as well.

"Well, I suppose we'll see," Kelly answered. Normally she would have given Melanie detention for that remark, but it was the last day before the break, so she was hesitant to have to stay in class late. She finished passing out the remaining reports and headed back to her desk. "I know it's early," she addressed the students. "But that's all we have for today. Class is dismissed. Have a nice holiday, girls!"

This was met with some cheering from most of the other girls assembled, and even Melanie couldn't help but crack a smile. Of course, it was short-lived, because she knew what was coming next, but at least she didn't have to worry about repeating her English class. As she was gathering up her books, she saw that a few of the girls (Kimberly included) were placing small gifts on Ms. Kelly's desk on the way out, which the teacher accepted with a smile and a word of thanks. As Melanie was one of the few who hadn't gotten anything, she tried to slip out into the hall as discreetly as possible.

Once there, she caught up with Kimberly and fell into step next to her. "Um... were we supposed to get gifts for the teacher?"

"No," Kimberly said with a shrug. "Weren't supposed to. Some of us just felt like doing it."

"Oh. So... buttering her up, eh?"

"Not exactly, Mel. In case you hadn't noticed, she'd already given us our grades for the term."

"So, then... why bother with getting her a gift? You don't owe her anything."

Kimberly slowed in her walking, then, regarded her roommate with a look that tried not to appear too sympathetic, going for analytical. "Have... have you never gotten a gift before, Mel?"

"I thought we agreed no questions about my past," Melanie snapped, sounding more defensive than she intended, but the holidays always brought certain images into the back of her mind... the nuns with their rulers and their chalk, and that one foster family with the extremely heavy, leather-bound Bible. Her roommate's question had pushed all this into the foreground.

"I wasn't asking a question about the orphanage or foster homes, Mel," Kimberly noted. "Just... wondering if you ever got a gift at Christmas."

"I don't wanna talk about it," Melanie said, with a firmness that she rarely used.

Kim decided to drop it, and instead asked her: "So... how'd you do on your book report?"

Melanie's report was on top of the books she carried, and so she did her best to cover it with one hand. "You heard Kelly. I passed."

"Yeah, but... what else did she say?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing from where I stand." Moving quickly, Kimberly snatched the report and started off down the hallway, reading as she ran. Melanie started after her, though the dark-haired girl was a little quicker today.

"Come on, give it back, you nerdy bitch!" Melanie snapped. "Don't make me hurt you!"

The blonde girl might have caught up with Kimberly, if they hadn't run straight into Mr. Coleman, who flashed them an evil eye. "No running in the hallway, girls," he snapped at them.

"Sorry, sir," they both said, and slowed to a fast walk. Though by then, it was too late. Kimberly had already read the teacher's notes, and she passed the paper back to Melanie, who snatched it away quickly.

"Good use of the Robert Frost poem," Kimberly repeated Kelly's notes out loud. "You understood how it applied to Ponyboy, and his growth as a character. But I wish you hadn't kept referring to Ponyboy and Johnny as 'you-know-whats.' That kept you from getting a higher grade. Please make note of that, as well as the grammatical errors I highlighted. Good work, and Merry Christmas."

"Okay, so you can read," Melanie snarled. "Good for you. Don't ever grab my things again, okay?"

"Relax, Mel," the dark-haired girl said with a laugh. "I wasn't gonna keep it. I was honestly curious. And why are you so embarrassed? You passed! I was actually afraid you were gonna stick with your original idea and get an F."

"Yeah, right. You think I wanna be held back in that class? I have something more important I'm working towards."

Kimberly laughed again. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you passed." She decided not to say that she was glad she could help, since Melanie was already annoyed, and a part of it had to do with the fact that the blonde girl was dreading her next class. The fact that they now had more time to kill before that class did not help things one bit.

After they'd paid a visit to their lockers, Kim said she was going to go to the library, while Melanie went to the bathroom, entered an empty stall, put both toilet seats down, and sat there for a while with her head between her knees, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Finally, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. She'd like to, but she'd rather not have it hanging over her head all through the break. So she got up, exited the stall, and went to take her biology exam.


As she feared, even with gloves on, the amphibian on the dissection tray was still slick beneath her fingers. Pretend it's Regina, pretend it's Regina... Melanie kept repeating this as she slid the scalpel downwards from the throat to the groin, then carefully made two crosswise incisions at the top and bottom of her first cut.

It became harder to pretend when she used the forceps to peel back the flaps of tissue and pin them in place. Largely because it exposed the frog's inner anatomy, which she imagined was probably slightly different from a human's.

"Ulp!" Bile rose to the back of her throat, and Melanie swallowed hard, forcing it back down, which thankfully went unnoticed by Dr. Wong. It's Regina... The voice in her head repeated louder, and Melanie shut her eyes for a moment, trying her best to affirm this fact before she opened them again. Thankfully she was here on her own as there was no Biology class scheduled for today, so she didn't have a bigger audience.

"Very good so far, Melanie," her teacher said softly. "Now identify and remove the lungs."

Once again, she wavered. She knew where the lungs were, remembering the diagram in her book. It was just a matter of... slicing and peeling the connective tissue, and then lifting them out and putting them in the specimen tray. All she had to do was... was touch them...

Melanie once again tried to picture Regina in place of the frog, imagined her saying: Don't take my lungs, runt! I need those to breathe.

A smile crept across Melanie's face. I'll take whatever the fuck I want, you slimy bitch. And I'd like to see you try and stop me! The smile grew wider as she cut around the lungs with renewed vigor, then placed them in their tray.

"Good job, Melanie," said Dr. Wong. "And now the heart."

Didn't know you had a heart, you cunt, Melanie thought at her Regina-frog, picking up the scalpel and making the correct incisions at all the major arteries and veins, then picking it up with the tweezers and placing it in the labeled tray. She tried to keep the same mindset while removing everything else: liver, stomach, kidneys... she almost faltered again, and was forced to swallow her bile when she cut open the stomach and was asked to identify the frog's last meal. It rose in her gullet a third time while removing the intestinal tract, largely because of how stringy it was, which made it harder to pretend she was dissecting Regina.

But the blonde girl still managed to get it into the proper tray, earning a clap from her teacher. "Excellent work, Melanie," Wong said. "You passed! Just like I knew you would."

"Thank you, sir," said Melanie. "Can... I please go to the bathroom before I clean this up?"

"Yes, of course," he answered.

Melanie got up from her stool, tossed her rubber gloves in the trash, and then moved as quickly as she could without running to the nearest restroom. Though each step sent fresh waves of nausea through her, she managed to make it to an empty stall before dropping to her knees and retching into the toilet bowl. When she was sure her stomach was empty, she got up and flushed, then went to the sink and splashed cold water on her face.

"You did it," she told her reflection in the mirror over the sink. "It's done. You won't have to look at a frog again." Though, she still had to help the teacher clean up, but that was easy, seeing as how her stomach was empty now. Once she'd gotten back to the lab and finished helping with that, it was time for her to go to to the last class of the day: Social Studies, which was also short. The class had a brief quiz on the previous assignment, and then the teacher gave them punch and Christmas cookies.

Kimberly and the other eight girls in the class were engaging in a pretty lively conversation, while Melanie mostly just sat and listened. It looked like the music being played by Mr. Santiago, holiday carols by Nat King Cole, was making her uneasy. Kim had heard her roommate mention earlier in the month that she hated Christmas, and so decided to ask about something else: "So, Mel, how'd the Biology exam go?"

"Passed it," Melanie answered, and tried to take a bite of her cookie.

"Did you puke?" Asked another girl in their class, a brunette named Jaclyn.

The small blonde made a face and set the cookie down. She'd been trying to forget the exam ever since she'd passed it, but the questions only refreshed the images. "None of your business," she answered.

"She did," spoke up another blonde, named Janine. "I was in the stall next to her. Heard the whole thing."

This was met with groans from two other students, Marissa and Regan, and Melanie watched with a scowl as money was discreetly passed between the hands of the four girls. A betting pool, by the looks of it. She immediately turned her ire on Kimberly. "Did you tell anyone I hate frogs?" She snapped.

Kimberly raised a defensive hand. "No, Mel. Swear on my mom's life."

"You don't have a mom!"

"Then I swear on Landy's life, okay? Look, Mel, this is a school. It's full of people. People are gonna find out some shit on their own, even if I keep my mouth shut. That's just how it is when this many of us live together."

"Language, Kimberly!" Santiago called from his desk. "That's your only warning!"

As with Kelly, Kim knew that the social studies teacher didn't want to give detention and have to stay late on the last day before break. But she simply answered with: "Sorry, sir."

Fortunately, her explanation made sense to Melanie, as the other girl was calming down a bit. After a few tense moments, Janine spoke: "Look, Mel, I don't know if this helps, but there was a rumor that Amanda has had her ear to the door on days when you had to stay and do extra classwork. Maybe that's how the news spread."

"Yeah, probably," Melanie said, her expression growing darker. She was already thinking about what else Regina's right hand might have picked up on in her spying.

Kimberly decided to try and break the tension, since it was, in theory, supposed to be a party. "So, who else is looking forward to two weeks off?"

This was met with affirmatives from the other girls, including Melanie. "What sort of stuff do we do over break?" The blonde asked her roommate.

"Well, we still have exercise and gym class," Kim explained. "But there's other activities, too. We take more frequent trips into Burlington, including a night trip on Christmas Eve to see the lights. They set up a projector and screen in the assembly hall to show movies..."

"Any chance they'll show 'Die Hard'?" Melanie asked.

"I don't think so," Marissa said with a scowl. "That's not even a Christmas movie."

"Is so," Mel countered. "Takes place at Christmas, doesn't it? And it's better than most of the other shi... um, crap that usually gets shown this time of year. The only reason I liked 'It's a Wonderful Life' is because the old guy at the end got away with stealing all that money."

"I don't think you got the point of that movie," said Regan.

"Or maybe I did, and you all missed the point." Melanie took a bite of cookie and finished talking with her mouth half-full. "The old banker guy was one of the smartest people in that movie." To be honest, she was surprised she had already said so much about it, as it was bringing back memories of the first Christmas she'd been forced to watch that movie. So she asked: "Do you think that Landy takes requests for movies at assembly?"

"We can ask her," said Kimberly. "But I doubt it. And anyway, we can watch any movie we want in the rec room when Niko finishes her pet project."

"And then you can all see a real Christmas movie," Melanie said.

"Speaking of which," Jaclyn spoke up. "How come you haven't put your stocking up by your door, Mel?" At the start of the month, Kimberly had explained to her roommate that gift-giving wasn't mandatory. Every girl had a stocking which was hung by the door of their room, and if anyone felt like putting something in that stocking, they could. Even though Joan had given Melanie a stocking with her name on it after Thanksgiving, Melanie had stuck it in her dresser drawer and not looked at it again.

"I didn't feel like it," said Melanie.

"What are you, a Grinch?" Janine asked.

"No, I just don't like this holiday, and I don't see why anyone has to like it."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," said Kimberly. "Now anyway..."

"Why don't you like it?" One of the other girls chimed in.

"I just don't," Melanie snapped. "Now drop it, okay?"

The mood became darker once again in contrast to the music playing in the background. Kimberly was recalling the first weekend in December, when the girls spent most of Saturday trimming a large evergreen tree and putting up other decorations in the dining hall, Melanie had quietly ducked out shortly after it started and spent the rest of the day back in the dorms, reading her library book on Kali Eskrima. The dark-haired girl had plenty of questions, but was determined to honor their agreement, so she tried a new subject. "Well, on the plus side, we get a decent meal, like we did on Thanksgiving."

Melanie flashed back to that week. The students had no classes on the holiday itself, as well as the day before and the day after, and dinner had actually been a traditional spread: roasted turkey, stuffing, whipped potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, fresh rolls, an assortment of pies for dessert, and the food had actually tasted good. She still remembered how the turkey and the stuffing had both been moist. And seasoned.

There had only been one downside, which was that each girl had to say something they were thankful for before they started eating. Melanie was glad that Joan had accepted her answer that she was thankful for knives. "Well, as long as we don't have to sing for our supper, that at least sounds good," the small blonde said, and took a sip of her punch.

Once school was out for the day, all the girls went back to the dorms, to relax before it was time for dinner. The first thing Melanie noticed when she got to her and Kim's room was her stocking hanging on the side of the door opposite her roommate's.

"You hadn't hung yer stocking yet, girlie," Ms. Wallace explained, appearing behind Melanie. "So I figured I'd do you a favor."

"Well, thank you," Melanie spat at her, temper rising unexpectedly. "Next time, why don't you just stay the fuck out of my stuff, because it's not yours?"

Melanie turned to pull the stocking down, but in a flash she found herself draped over Wallace's shoulder, where she was carried to the showers and subjected to another spray of ice water, as she'd not experienced since the first day of school. This one was even worse than that, since she had more clothes on, including her winter leggings.

"Sorry, Melanie, but this is gonna have to go in my evening report to Ms. Landy," the dorm supervisor told her. She then tossed Melanie a towel and started back towards her office. After she was gone, Kimberly appeared in the shower stall entrance and tossed the shivering blonde another towel. Her expression suggested unspoken questions, and also a growing curiosity that was getting harder to contain regarding Melanie and her hatred of this holiday. But she simply gave a nod and went back to their room.

After a cursory drying, Melanie went back as well, pausing in the doorway to rip the stocking down. Then she shut the door, peeled off her wet uniform, worked herself over more thoroughly with the towels, and put on dry clothes.

"I gotta say, Mel," Kimberly told her, attempting to lighten the mood. "Before you got here, we hadn't seen Wallace dole out any punishment in a long time. You know how to keep things lively."

"She shouldn't have rummaged through my dresser," Melanie growled, dragging a comb through her still-damp blonde hair. "I hate when grown-ups do that. They think that just because they're bigger, or they signed a form, that gives them the right to tell me what and how to think on this stupid..." She realized she was rambling then, spat out a gruff, "never mind," and finished dressing in silence. Kimberly decided to drop it and buried her nose back in the book she was reading.

Melanie was still in a bad mood when dinner rolled around, and so wound up going without it, as she could not even muster the energy to say one of her half-assed graces when Joan called upon her.


December 25th, 1996

"Speak when spoken to, Melanie... children should be seen and not heard..."

"It was the Almighty's will that you came into our home, child... because you're damaged. And the reason for that is you've not accepted Jesus into your heart. But we can fix you..."

The leather strap came down hard across her thighs, leaving an angry red streak. Then another... and another... and another...

"You must reject the tempter, Melanie..."

She started suddenly in bed, her amber eyes slowly coming open. Images of the interior of a drab, very conservative home melted into the ceiling above her bed. She was in her dorm room, not in the other place.

"Morning, Mel," came Kimberly's voice from the neighboring bed. The dark-haired girl was lounging under her covers, reading a comic book that she was hiding inside one of her textbooks. "Merry Christmas."

Melanie said nothing, only stared at the ceiling. She wouldn't have minded sleeping a little later (the clock on her dresser said it was only seven), but she was afraid to close her eyes again. "Were you having a bad dream?" She then heard her roommate ask her.

The small blonde flashed her a look of annoyance. "What did we agree on?"

Now Kimberly looked annoyed. "Mel, it was not a question about your fucking past. Yes or no: were you dreaming? Because you looked like you were."

An angry breath was blown from her nostrils. "Yes, but I don't wanna talk about it."

"What a surprise," Kim said with a roll of her eyes, and went back to reading. Melanie decided to do the same. She jumped out of bed, and pulled a "Milk and Cheese" comic out from under her mattress (she'd gotten hooked on them ever since reading that one comic on the plane trip that now seemed like ages ago), then she climbed back in and started to do her own reading.

"So, breakfast is at the usual time," Kimberly said when it was getting closer to eight. "And then after that, we'll get our stockings passed back to us." The cut-off time for putting things in each others' stockings had been yesterday, just before they got on buses to walk around Burlington and see the Christmas lights. Wallace had put Melanie's back up for her, but the blonde wasn't expecting anything in her stocking, but then she hadn't bought gifts for anyone else, so that was fine with her.

"Well, at least you've been told the truth about Santa," Melanie said. It was something she had learned a few years ago from the nuns at the orphanage, and she'd been hoping to be able to ruin things here for the girls at the school. But Kimberly had told her that when they'd spent their first Christmas here, Joan had gathered them for assembly and told them the naked truth: Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy... none of them were real. So even though the Clemency School still celebrated, at least they had one foot on the ground.

"You kidding?" Kimberly said with a laugh. "The idea of Santa sounds like the plot of one of my animes. I'm glad Landy told us the truth."

"And what's for breakfast today?" Melanie asked.

"Real good, actually," said Kimberly. "Nikolai must have the day off on Christmas, because we get pancakes, biscuits, cornbread, a few different kinds of meat, potatoes."

Despite her mood, Melanie found her mouth watering. It had been a while since she'd had potatoes for breakfast, probably not since her hotel stay, just before her life took an interesting turn. "Well, that's something, at least," she conceded. "Think Regina will be pissed I didn't get her anything?"

Kimberly laughed. "Is Landy a dictator when it comes to eating healthy?" Her roommate couldn't help but laugh along, in spite of herself.

It was then they heard footsteps coming down the hall. Melanie quickly hid her comic under her pillow just before Ms. Wallace entered the room. The Southern dame, who at her heart was Southern though anything but a dame, was lugging a pillowcase which seemed to be filled to the brim with something, and placed a wrapped gift at the foot of each child's bed. "Merry Christmas, girls," she said.

"Merry Christmas, ma'am," Kimberly answered. "Thank you." Melanie remained silent, so the dark-haired girl reached over and smacked her on the arm. "Mel... wasn't this nice of her?"
Despite Melanie's hatred of the holiday, the icy shower from last Friday was still fresh in her mind. So she also gave a nod. "Thank you, ma'am," she said. She did not feel like saying the traditional holiday greeting, but fortunately Wallace accepted it.

After she'd gone to the next room, the girls opened their gifts to find that they'd each been given a pair of earmuffs. Melanie was used to getting clothes for Christmas, but this time she was surprised at how practical it was. Especially since this was the first time she'd experienced a winter in the Pacific northwest. Shortly after unwrapping, however, it was time to make beds, get dressed, and proceed to the dining hall for holiday breakfast. But they got to test their new possessions out, as there were a few inches of snow on the ground, with more drifting lazily down from the sky.

Joan Landy had actually arrived ahead of the students and was standing behind her chair, smartly dressed as usual, but this time with a holly corsage pinned to her lapel. "Merry Christmas, girls!" She said to the students after they'd found their chairs.

"Merry Christmas, Ms. Landy," everyone answered in unison, though it took Melanie a second to figure out what was happening, so she wound up only mouthing the last part.

"As we celebrate today," Joan went on, "I hope that we will also take time to reflect on what an eventful year its been. Our little family is complete, and both she and the rest of my dear charges have accomplished a great deal this year. I hope we can all take a moment to appreciate that as we enjoy our breakfast. Now, normally we don't say grace for this meal, but a special day requires something special. Melanie, dear, as this is your first Christmas in your new home... will you do the honors?"

The small blonde most certainly did not want to do the honors, but she also didn't feel like missing out on breakfast, the smell of which was already filling the dining hall and making her mouth water. So she bowed her head and said: "Hey, God, thanks for tricking some gullible teenager into letting you knock her up with your magic baby so that we could get a break from class today. God bless God, Amen."

As always, there was a protracted moment of silence after Melanie had finished her blasphemous blessing. But this time, Joan did not seem placated. "Is that all you'd like to say?" She asked.

Melanie shrugged. "Uuuuum... Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown?"

"Hm," Joan blew a short breath out through her nostrils. "Well, you'll have time to come up with something better for dinner. In the meantime, let's be seated." The conversation started in earnest as the students took their seats and the holiday breakfast was served.

It turned out there were both pancakes and French toast, and Melanie opted for the latter, which was crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and tasted wonderful with butter and syrup. Kimberly also hadn't been lying about the meat: there was bacon strips, Canadian bacon, and sausage patties. There was even sausage gravy for the biscuits, which were actually soft, as opposed to the hockey pucks Nikolai usually served. And of course, Melanie saved some room for the hash browns, which were perfectly seasoned.

It was almost enough to make her forget what day it was. But she received a nice reminder towards the end of the meal, when the stockings were brought in and passed around to the students. Melanie ignored hers, even though it felt like there was something in it, and picked at what was left on her plate.

Kimberly turned her stocking out, and was pleased to find a figure of a dark-haired woman in some sort of mech suit, no doubt a character from one of her animes. "Wow, Niko, you actually managed to find Priss!" She called over the freckled blonde. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it," Niko called back. "Thanks for the parts!"

"Dunno what you've got planned for them, but you're welcome," Kimberly said. She then turned to her roommate. "Don't you wanna check your stocking, Mel? Seems like there's something in it."

Melanie shook her head. "Nah. I didn't ask for anything."

"It's not something you ask for, Mel. That's why it's called a gift." Kim was starting to think that perhaps Melanie had never gotten one before.

Melanie ignored the dark-haired girl, reached for her milk instead. "Yoink!" Moving once again with a speed to rival Melanie's, Kim grabbed the stocking, turned it upside-down, and began to shake.

"Don't, I'm warning you," Melanie grumbled.

"Awe, c'mon, Mel, I'm curious. I mean, I didn't get you anything because you hate this holiday. So I wanna see what you got."

Melanie was about to try and grab the stocking back when her roommate freed what was inside it: a large plastic cockroach plopped out of the ornamental sock, bounced off the surface of the table, and landed square in Melanie's lap. Melanie, still holding her milk glass, dropped it on the floor, spilling it everywhere.

The small blond hardly noticed her mess, as she was too busy screaming bloody murder at the plastic bug on her lap, which was the size of her fist and looked extremely lifelike. She only realized it was not living after she bolted out of her chair and brushed it to the floor, which also caused her to slip on the puddle of milk and fall back onto her butt.

The collateral damage had also been done at this point, as most of the cafeteria was laughing at her. Regina called over: "Merry Christmas, runt!" Then she continued to laugh the loudest, along with her crew. As Kim was helping Melanie get to her feet, Joan came over and asked what was going on.

After the situation was explained, the elder woman asked for the offending plastic roach. Melanie somehow managed to pick it up off the floor and hand it to Joan, though she kept her eyes shut the whole time, which earned a few more giggles from those assembled. "Who is responsible for this?" The headmistress's voice rang through the dining hall. She held up the roach so that all the girls could get a clear view.

But there was no answer to her question. So she turned to Melanie. "Melanie, dear, can you think of anyone who might have wanted to put this in your stocking?"

The small blonde deliberately kept her eyes off Regina. "No, Ms. Landy. I have no idea."

A long look of scrutiny from Joan's steel-blue eyes. Then, she cleared her throat to address the entire dining hall. "Very well. It appears there is no way of knowing who is responsible for this. But one thing I do know. It seems this community needs to learn a little Christmas spirit. So, there will be a mandatory assembly following breakfast. Consider all other morning activities canceled." With that, Joan motioned for one of the staff to help clean up the milk, pocketed the plastic roach, and walked back to her table, ignoring the groans from the other students.

And so when breakfast was done, instead of getting to go back to her room and trying to pretend it was a different day, Melanie wound up following the rest of the girls to assembly. After a brief lecture from Joan, they were subjected to some black and white movies: "It's a Wonderful Life" and the 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol."

Needless to say, the next few hours went by very slowly for the girls. By the time assembly was done and they were dismissed, they were eager to get out of there. But Melanie still stayed behind so she could walk out on her own. She left the hall to a sky that was still overcast, though it had stopped snowing. It would have been more serene, if it were any other day of the year. Melanie stuck her hands in the pockets of her parka and started off towards the dorms.

The dorm building was brightly decorated with paper snowflakes taped to the insides of the windows, and the staff had strung up lights on the outside. It was cheerful-looking, something that Melanie was most definitely not at the moment. Her mood worsened not long after she'd entered and made her way to the rec room.

It looked like most of the girls were having what appeared to be a party. Someone had smuggled in some cookies and soda, as well as a few other goodies, and the TV was playing a video of some Christmas special with the Looney Tunes characters. Regina was sitting in one of the easy chairs, surrounded by her four "bitches." Melanie tried to ignore her and went to go get a deck of cards, but Regina was up from the chair and intercepting her halfway.

The sneer of satisfaction was just a little more pronounced than it usually was. "Like your present, runt?" The taller blonde asked. The question was met by laughter from the jackals scrounging around the chair.

"Dunno," Melanie shot back. "Does your question mean that you admit giving it to me?"

Regina laughed and sucked on a candy cane. "Nope. Just a question. Now here's another: you got a present for me?"

Melanie was about to ready another insult, but then she got a better idea. "Sure do," she said. "Hold out your hand."

Regina did as asked. Melanie started to rummage through the pocket of her parka, pretending to look for something, which gave her the cover she needed to hock a large loogie onto Regina's palm, which earned equal parts laughter, equal parts squeals of revulsion from everyone else assembled. Regina immediately grabbed the shorter girl by the collar with her other hand and wiped the spit-laden one into Melanie's hair. "You're gonna pay for that, "she snarled, and shoved Melanie back against the wall.

Melanie had been learning her lessons well, and managed to block several of Regina's attacks. But the Alpha still had better reach, and hadn't gotten to where she was by slouching in her training. Melanie eventually found herself face-down on the ground, the toe of Regina's boot pressed against the back of her head.

"Have something to give me next year," Regina warned. "Or I'll make you lick some yellow snow."

"Are you finished?" Melanie asked, her voice muffled by the floorboards.

For a split-second, Regina pressed a little harder with her foot, then let go. "Lucky for you, it's Christmas, so I'm in a good mood. Now beat it. This is a private party and you're not invited."

Melanie got to her feet, wiped the blood from her nose, and started towards the exit. On her way out, one of the other girls stepped up and asked her: "Hey, is it true that you gave yourself that bug to make us all go to assembly? That's what Regina said."

If the small blonde had been in a better mood, she'd have laughed contemptuously at the other girl. Instead, she asked: "Just how fucking stupid are you?" Then she knocked the girl's plate of food from her hands and stalked off.

Wallace's door was half-open, and judging by the singing of some Christmas carol emanating from the room, the supervisor was having her own "celebration" (Wallace sometimes drank on the job, but was usually better at keeping it hidden). Melanie snuck past, grabbed a shower, went back to her room, and after changing clothes, lay face-down on the bed and wished for the day to just end already.


"But you said God was perfect. If he doesn't make mistakes, then that means I'm not one."

"But you are, Melanie... because you haven't accepted him. He wants you to be normal, but first you have to let him in and allow him to make you a proper lady."

The paddle stung the palm of her hand, bringing a fresh bruise to the surface.

"Children should be seen and not heard, Melanie. You're fortunate that God blessed us with patience."

"Don't touch that! You will wait until your father has eaten to be served."

"He's not my father, MARGARET..."

Melanie had no idea how long she'd been laying there when she heard the door to the room open. Kimberly stepped in, wearing her boots and parka, the red in her cheeks suggesting that she'd been outside for a while. "Hey," she said to her roommate, and stepped over to the closet.

"How come you're not at the party?" Melanie grumbled.

"Didn't feel like it. And anyway, since Regina bought the food, she'd only let in the people who show her respect. And I don't feel like pretending to respect her right now."

"Hm." Melanie sat up a little on the bed. "Are people really this stupid, Kim? Some of the girls actually think I put that bug in my own stocking."

"Yeah, that's what Regina's been saying," Kimberly said with a nod. "I don't believe it, but I can see how others might be so gullible. I mean, you haven't exactly been hiding your hatred of this holiday, Mel. Plus, Regina paid for a party, so people will believe anything she says. And maybe overlook the fact that it was actually Regina who ruined their morning."

"People are so stupid," Melanie growled, practically spitting out the words.

"You may be right," Kimberly said with a shrug. "But forget about them. Let 'em have their party. I've got something even better to show you."

One yellow eyebrow went up in suspicion. "What?"

"You'll see." Melanie's roommate pulled her parka from the closet and tossed it to her. "Come on, let's go outside."

"Forget it," said Melanie, lying back down on the bed. "If we have to go out, whatever you wanna show me can come in here to me, where it's warm."

"Come on, Mel, don't be a pussy." Kimberly picked up her parka again and this time dropped it on Melanie's face, causing her to sit up once more. "Look, just come and see what I have to show you, and I promise you that after that, I will leave you alone for the rest of our lives if you ask me to."

This made Melanie even more suspicious, but in the end, she donned her boots, parka, and earmuffs, and followed Kimberly outside. The dark-haired girl led her down the freshly-shoveled sidewalk in the rapidly approaching twilight, until they came to one of the larger evergreens that lined the path along the edge of the quad.

To Melanie's surprise, Kim then stepped off the path and started to shimmy up the trunk of the tree. She was halfway to the first sturdy bough when she looked back down at the blonde. "Coming?" She asked.

"What is it?" Melanie growled. "Did a family of squirrels adopt you or something?"

Now Kimberly started to look annoyed. "Just climb the damn tree, Mel. You can climb, can't you?"

Melanie rolled her eyes and started to scale the trunk as well. When she reached the first of the sturdiest branches, about ten feet of the ground, Kimberly pulled her up onto the bough and showed her what she'd wanted Mel to see: a small pile of snowballs sat on the wide surface of the branch, within easy reach. The blonde girl's annoyed look quickly turned confused. "What? What is this? Were you up here making snowballs?"

"Yup," Kim said with a smile and a nod. "That's not the only cache. I've got a few more on the surrounding branches, and there's some in a hollow in the trunk. All told, there's a few dozen. And..." As she spoke, she pointed to the sidewalk they'd just come from. "It might interest you to know that Regina walks that path to dinner every evening, which is about ten minutes from now. So..." Kimberly's smile grew wider as she picked a snowball up off the pile and held it out to her roommate. "Merry Christmas, Melanie."

Melanie could only stare at the other girl's outstretched hand. "You... you did this for me?"

"Well, I know that might make you uncomfortable, so if you want, you could say I did it for both of us," Kimberly said with a laugh. "But you don't have to thank me, or say anything that you don't feel like saying. I know that isn't you. But just know that I'll never ask you for a favor. I did this because I wanted to. Which is why it's called a gift."

"But... what about your rules? You keep saying we shouldn't piss Regina off..."

"It's Christmas, Mel. Let's just forget the rules for one day. Besides, you're not the only one who wants payback. I had plans after breakfast, like most of the girls. Had signed up to watch some 'Bubblegum Crisis' in the rec room. Then that bitch ruined it. So let's take her down a peg. What do you say?"

At hearing that, Melanie finally gave a short cackle and accepted the snowball. "I say fuck yeah!"

The girls took up their positions, crouching to use the needles still on the branches as cover. Fortunately, there were plenty of cracks wide enough between those branches for them to shoot through. The dusk grew closer, but there was still enough light for them to aim by. Students began to file past them on the sidewalk, ahead of the PA announcement for dinner, but none of them noticed the ambush waiting to happen. Finally, they saw Regina coming past, walking slightly ahead of her "entourage." Kimberly turned her head just enough to face her roommate, gave a slight nod.

Both girls stood up on the branch and let fly. The icy projectiles hit Regina squarely on the side of her head, knocking her down into a snowdrift. Amanda was at her side almost instantly to help her up, while the other three took up defensive positions in front of the drift, scanning the trees to see where the shots had come from. They didn't have to look long, as another snowball whizzed through the air and struck Lacey dead-center in the face, sending her sprawling into the snow. This was followed instantly by another ball that grazed Sunako's ear, but was no less painful.

Lacey was down for the moment, trying to shake off the sting of that direct hit. Regina had regained her feet, with some slush matted into her hair, and brushed snow from her cheek. Her eyes had adjusted to the dimness, and grew livid when they saw Melanie and Kimberly up in the tree, each one holding a fresh snowball. "You runts are fucking dead!" She growled.

"You'll have to climb up here and get us first, shorty!" Kimberly called, and launched the snowball she was holding. Regina managed to duck this one, but as she straightened up, Melanie's snowball struck her in the face.

This pushed the Alpha over the edge. "Get them!" She snapped at her cronies. All five of them charged the tree with a yell. Some other girls who had been on their way to dinner stopped at a safe distance to watch the battle unfold. None of them were crazy enough to go up against Regina's clique, but whatever happened, they'd get a good show.

Lacey had regained her feet by now, but was felled again by another snowball smacking her square in the face again, courtesy of Kimberly. The others paused in their advance to scoop some snow from the ground and start forming their own ammunition, which left them open to get pelted by a few more icy spheres from the girls up in the tree.

Regina spit dirt and snow from her mouth as she attempted to finish crafting her first snowball. Being out in front, she'd taken a few more hits than the other girls, but rage kept her on her feet. "You're gonna eat a fucking gallon of yellow snow when we catch you!" She bellowed at the tree, raising her arm to throw.

Then another snowball from Melanie hit her in the face and caused her to drop her own weapon. "Eat that, horse-face!" Melanie called down to her. "You wanna fucking present? I got a few dozen more for you!"

"Hey, Regina!" Kimberly shouted, nailing her with another snowball. "If I had a dog that looked like you, I'd shave its butt and train it to walk backwards!"

"Nice one!" Melanie commented, and reached for another snowball.

By now, the girls on the ground had managed to craft a few snowballs of their own, but it was clear they were at a disadvantage. Their targets were small, and elevated, and already had plenty of ammo pre-made. Not to mention that by now, they'd all taken several head-shots, and the snow that stuck to them was melting, and running down under their parkas to soak the clothes beneath, which was distracting, to say the least.

Still, the two petite girls in the tree continued their onslaught, moving from branch to branch, easily dodging what was being thrown up at them, and responding in kind. Though the fight soon went out of her cronies, Regina herself was battling on despite taking a pounding. She launched another snowball that fell short, and screamed: "I'm gonna rip your goddamn heads off!"

"Ah, go lick a skunk's ass!" Melanie called down, and lobbed another ball.

"I don't think the skunk could stand the smell," Kimberly said with a laugh, launching her own snowball. Though she didn't show it, the dark-haired girl was starting to worry. She'd underestimated how potent Regina's rage was, and the snowball caches she'd made earlier were running low.

These latest remarks ignited a fresh spark in Regina, and she charged forward, jumped at the trunk, and started to climb it. Mel and Kim each tossed some snowballs, but Regina was flying on her anger like a steroid, shrugged off the blows, and kept climbing. "We may be in trouble," Kimberly said, and took a few steps back, retreating a little ways up the bough.

Melanie cast a quick glance around the tree and got an idea. "Naw, we're totally good. Watch this." She waited another few seconds for Regina to get halfway up, then she jumped out and grabbed onto an overhead branch with both hands. Gripping it as tight as she could, she gave it a shake, releasing the huge drift of snow that had accumulated on top of it... which landed smack on her adversary, knocking Regina off the tree.

Melanie found solid ground on the bough once more and looked down with glee at the sight of Regina buried under a mini-avalanche at the foot of the evergreen, with her legs sticking out. By now, her cronies had regained their feet and were helping her up. Having the snowdrift dropped on her had cooled off everything except Regina's temper, but it had finally taken the fight out of her. She glared daggers at Kimberly and Melanie. "Don't think this is over," she growled. "You're gonna pay for this. In spades."

"Go fuck yourself," Mel retorted, and threw another snowball at her face.

"Yeah, I'm with Mel. Go fuck yourself." Kimberly's own snowball found its mark, as well, and with that, Regina and her entourage stalked back to the dorms to change into dry clothes.

After she was gone, the two roommates stayed up in the tree for another minute. Kimberly risked putting a hand on Mel's shoulder, and the blonde did not flinch away. "Feel better?" She asked.

Mel gave what almost looked like a half-grin. "What do you think?"

"I think we should make this a holiday tradition."

"If we live that long, Melanie pointed out.

"Heh." It started as a small noise, but then Kimberly started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh. And then... in spite of herself, Melanie found that she was laughing too. And so the two girls laughed together for a minute, then spent another minute catching their breath. It seemed to Kimberly like their understanding of each other might have grown a little deeper in that moment. She chose not to point that out, and instead said: "Don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

"Me too," Melanie affirmed. "I think I heard the PA announcement close to the end of our fight. Let's eat."

"After you," Kim said, and the two girls finally left the tree.

They were some of the last to get to the dining hall, but they were still ahead of Regina and her crew. Melanie was in such a good mood that she actually said what sounded more like a "real" grace when prompted, even though she didn't believe a word of it (plus there was no way in hell she was missing out on Christmas dinner, which as Kimberly had said, looked and smelled as good as Thanksgiving). Regina finally entered just as Melanie was almost finished, and the small blonde never broke eye contact with the Alpha as she said: "Oh, and uh... thanks for helping me find some Christmas spirit. Amen." The look Regina gave her after she said that was the icing, as far as Melanie was concerned.

"Impressive, Melanie," Joan said with a nod. "It seems we may get you to conform after all. And thank you to Regina, Amanda, Sunako, Janis and Lacey for finally gracing us with their presence. Everyone be seated."

A few hours later found both of the girls back in their dorm room, reading their respective comics until lights out. It felt almost like Death Row: they knew that retaliation from Regina would be inevitable, so they were neither watching nor waiting for it. They embraced the fact that it would eventually happen, and that was enough. At the moment, however, they were both dressed in their comfy pajama pants and brown nightshirts, with stomachs full of turkey, trimmings and pie, and life was good.

Then suddenly, Kimberly threw off her blanket and jumped up. "Almost forgot!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Melanie asked, looking up from her reading.

"Been saving these for today." The dark-haired girl got down on one knee, opened what seemed to be a hidden compartment in their nightstand, and pulled out a pack of two of those chocolate cakes covered in marshmallow and pink coconut. She opened the pack and held it out to Melanie. "Want one?"

"Um... sure." Melanie took one of the cakes, and then Kimberly closed the compartment and climbed back into bed. For a while, the two girls were silent. Then Melanie rolled on her side to face Kim's bed. "Um... Kim?"

"Yeah, Mel?" She noticed that the blonde had that rare look in her amber eyes, that Kimberly had only seen on her once or twice in the past.

Melanie took a deep breath, like she was considering her words carefully. "Look, I... have gotten gifts before. But... it's been a while. And usually... it was just... something stupid, clothes, or... or a doll, or sewing kit. No one's ever... given me something I actually wanted. Until today. So... thanks."

Kimberly smiled at her. "You're welcome, Mel. Was happy to do it. And even though we are probably gonna die in the next few days, I hope it was worth it."

"Oh, it was," the blonde girl said with a short laugh. "But I don't doubt that she is gonna make us eat yellow snow."

Kimberly shrugged. "Urine is a sterile liquid. Bet I eat it faster than you."

Melanie couldn't help but laugh again. "You're such a fucking weirdo."

"And proud of it!" Kimberly stuffed the last of her cake into her mouth and then tossed the wrapper into their wastebasket. The two girls then hid their comics, and not a minute too soon, because right after they did, Ms. Wallace passed by to announce lights out.

As Melanie settled back onto her pillow, she heard her roommate whisper through the darkness: "Merry Christmas, Mel."

"Um... Merry Christmas," Melanie whispered back after a momentary pause, and then she drifted off to sleep, feeling a lot better than she had in a very long time...


December 31st, 1996. 11:50 PM, Pacific Time

"Hey, Kim..."

"Yeah?"

"You really wanna see some stupid ball drop?"

Kimberly turned her head slightly towards the blonde seated to her right. "Not really. Why?"

"Let's sneak back to our room. I have something I wanna show you."

The two girls were seated with most of the others in the Rec Room, being supervised by Ms. Wallace. Even though it was now New Year's Day on the East Coast, a local TV station was replaying the earlier celebration in Times Square for those who lived in the Pacific Time Zone. This was the one day of the year where Joan let them stay up past curfew, so they could watch the ball drop. The students all spent the time leading up to it having a party of sorts: watching television, playing games, socializing.

Now the lights had been dimmed, and most of the eyes were fixed on the replayed broadcast. It was easy for two girls of small stature to sneak out unnoticed, which is what Melanie and Kimberly did. After they arrived back up in their bedroom, Melanie shut the door, walked over to the window, and opened it.

To say Kimberly was intrigued was an understatement. She was wondering why Melanie would take an initiative such as this, and what the blonde wanted to show her, when Melanie reached outside, pulled two cans of soda off the sill, then shut the window once more and went to sit down on her bed. She held one of the cans out to her roommate.

"I, um... I didn't feel like going through Des, so I swiped these from the teacher's lounge," Melanie said, her cheeks tinted with a slight haze of red. "I... I hope you like this flavor."

Kimberly's smile was a foot wide as she sat down on her own bed and accepted the can. It was nicely chilled, courtesy of the natural refrigeration of the winter night outside. Melanie had clearly put some thought into this. "Are you kidding?" She said with a laugh. "Dr. Pepper is my favorite."

"Really? It's mine, too." Melanie opened her can and extended it to Kim. "Um... cheers, I guess."

Kimberly knocked her own can against Mel's. "Cheers!" She exclaimed. After they'd each taken a sip, she asked: "So, I'm just curious. What's the occasion?"

"Well, it's... not because I feel I owe you for the snowball thing. It's just... this term has been kind of a bitch. I mean... I probably could have passed that stupid book report on my own, but you did... um, suggest a new theme, which I explored, and I got a passing grade. And then... cutting that frog open. You suggested that I pretend it was Regina, and that... may have given me the boost I needed to get through that damn thing. Plus, you know... all the training and stuff... I guess I just wanted to..." As Melanie was talking, her cheeks started to flush, and the color grew deeper the more she spoke. Kimberly was now looking at her slack-jawed, which the blonde girl picked up on. "What?" She snapped suddenly. "What the hell are you staring at?"

Kimberly shook her head, smiled again. "Nothing. I know what you're trying to say, Mel, so you don't have to say any more if you don't want to. Happy New Year." She offered her can out for another toast.

Mel blew a sigh of relief. "Is it midnight yet?" She asked.

"Who cares?"

"Yeah, not me. Happy New Year." The two girls knocked cans together again.

"It has been quite a year, hasn't it?" Kimberly ventured after taking another sip. "And, you don't have to say anything if you don't want, Mel, but... I'm glad we're roommates."

"Well..." Melanie stumbled over her words for a moment. "I'm... pretty sure I don't hate you."

The other girl laughed. "Thanks. I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well, yeah," Melanie said, her own laugh a little nervous. "That's... how I meant it." The blonde grew strangely silent, then, as she thought back over what a year it had been. It had started with her managing to liberate herself from that fanatical foster couple, and had ended with her in another state, learning how to fight people with knives. Ever since what happened on Christmas Day, she'd been asking herself: could she settle down here? Find a new life? Maybe even... happiness?

Nah, that small voice deep inside her spoke up. You know that life isn't for you. Kim seems okay, but... as soon as you get that knife, you're gone, so don't bother getting too close. It's just easier that way.

Midnight had come and gone at this point. Melanie had been silent for a few minutes, and it was starting to make her roommate fidget a little. "Hey, Mel?" Kimberly asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Melanie lied, and managed to fake another smile, raising her can. "Here's to 1997!"

"Right," Kimberly said, and returned the toast, though she noticed that odd look never left Melanie's deep amber eyes.


ADDITIONAL NOTES

So, first I have to give a shout-out to my friend Illyrilex. When I entered this project, I knew that I would be telling the story of a young girl growing up, going through everything a girl would go through as they progressed from age ten to seventeen. But I'm a male who's almost forty with no kids, so I don't have much perspective. But she does have perspective, since she has kids, and her input has been invaluable in shaping the voices of Melanie and most of the other characters to make them sound natural. Plus, she's followed this fic from Day One, and let me bounce a few Christmas-y ideas off of her for this chapter. So thank you, Ills!

Also, Ills is on the west coast, so another shout-out for explaining to me how people in other time zones watch the ball-drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve. I've never celebrated New Year's anywhere except the East Coast.

And concerning Kimberly's stocking: Priss is a character from "Bubblegum Crisis," an anime she likes.

I also have no plans to write a scene for Regina's retaliation, since I didn't want to detract from Mel and Kim's moment. It happens off-screen at some point, and I will leave it at that.

Well, that's all for now. Please review, if thou art so inclined.