We are having the Christmas party before my birthday, so we celebrate it on the 23rd, and my birthday party will be on the 24th. 'How are we doing for time?' I ask Mummy as I arrange some of the food in the kitchen. Mum had to kick Mummy out of the kitchen, so she is in the living room, preparing a couple of extra decorations besides our normal Christmas ones. She is hanging tinsel on top of the bookshelf, something she said she wouldn't do.
'We're doing fine,' she assures me. 'There are still a few minutes until we get underway. Besides, you're meant to enjoy yourself and spend time with your friends.'
'I know,' I agree. 'But my friends did this for years; this will be my first Christmas party with them. What if they judge me because of—'
'Emma, are they the type of people that would judge you?'
'No, but—'
'Then they will not judge you based on one party. Just relax and have a good time. Let Ruby and I stress about anything. Besides, aren't you meant to get changed?'

I am still in my usual t-shirt and jeans. We all agreed to dress up, not only in our standard colours but also try and make it Christmas-themed. Anne decided that the six of us will make our own costumes or mix-and-match the clothes we already have to create something different. We all went into town soon after Catalina's birthday to get supplies. Jane brought a white tank top and giant black pom poms. 'I'm going to be a snowman,' she said. 'I already have a lot of things at home, so I don't have to worry about getting too many crafting supplies.' Anne brought green netting and Christmas lights. 'Anne, what the...?'
'I want to be a Christmas tree, Janie!' Anna brought a Christmas dress and a matching red hat. 'How are you going to decorate that?'
'I don't know yet, but I'll have an idea soon.' Catalina already had a gold dress in her hands and matching netting.
'I'll use gold tinsel to make a halo.'

That only left Kitty and me. Not many Christmas costumes use pink and blue, so we had to get creative with our outfits. I brought a white trim and a light blue fabric. I also brought a pattern that looks a lot like Belle's dress from Beauty and the Beast. I made it in blue with white trim around the sleeves and the edge of the skirts. I also took the liberty of making the sleeves longer so they would keep me a little warmer.

Now, I take it out of the wardrobe and admire it. There is silver stitching on the bodice, and when I put it on, it feels comfortable. 'You need a hand there?' Mum asks. She is standing in the doorway wearing a red dress with a white collar and cuffs and a trim at the end of the knee-length skirt.
'Yes, that would help, thank you.' Mum helps me tie up the laces at the back, then turns me around so she can see me. 'Oh, my little princess,' she smiles and brushes the tears from her eyes. 'I think I have something that will complete the look.' She hurries out of the room, and when she returns, she is holding a tiara studded with diamonds. 'I've had this for a long time; it used to belong to my grandmother.' She places it in my hair. 'She always wore it to parties, and it was the one thing she never wanted to part with.'
'So, where did my great-grandmother get it from?'
'She was in love with a human,' she says, sitting me down. 'My family wanted her to follow her dreams, even if that meant marrying a human. The rest of society wasn't happy, and when she fell pregnant, they condemned her lover to death. She met him one last time, and he gave her the tiara.'
'If you don't mind me asking, what happened to the baby?'
'The baby was my mother. She understood why her mother wanted to marry for love. Her mother's new husband never liked my mother, so she ran away and married another Qetesh.'
'Then that makes you three-quarters Qetesh and one-quarter human?'
'My mother wanted me to have some humanity within me, but my father said no. He said that I could have human qualities, but I could not have any human DNA in me. She gave me a conscience.' Mum smiles at me. 'When my father banished me for falling in love with a human, my grandmother visited me for the first time. Before the Qetesh imprisoned me, she gave me the tiara and begged me to give it to her great-granddaughter, and she'll watch over you.'
'I like that story,' I smile. 'Is my great-grandmother still alive?'
'We keep in contact, and I told her about you and Sarah Jane. She wants to meet you.'
'I would like to meet her, too.'
'I'll see what I can do. I better go downstairs and make sure everything is ready.'
'And also to make sure Mummy didn't burn down the kitchen?'
'That too,' Mum giggles. She heads for the door, then turns back and smiles. 'We'll have a good time today. Don't worry about that, Emma. You have fun with your friends.'
'I will,' I promise. When Mum leaves, I open a shoebox and pull out silver heels. All of my friends are wearing high heels and encourage me to try wearing them. I am starting with small heels to see how I feel about them before I start wearing bigger heels. I put the shoes on and practice walking around my bedroom. I wobble a little and cling onto the bed before I try walking again. It's going to take a little getting used to, but I'm willing to give it a go.

The doorbell rings, and I go down to see who it is. 'Hey, what are you wearing on your feet?' Mummy asks. I pull my dress up a little so she can see the shoes.
'Wow,' Mummy smiles. 'But you won't be able to wear them much.'
'I already grew a lot since I was a kid, I doubt I'll do much more growing.'
'Well, if you are sure about them, then that's fine.'
'Besides, the school is holding a year eight party at the end of school, so I'll wear them for that.'
'Fair enough. Now, you better see who's at the door.' The doorbell rings again, and I drop my skirt.

When I open the door, Catalina, Anne and Jane are standing in the doorway. Catalina is wearing a gold dress and wrapped tinsel around her waist and head. She also has a pair of white angel wings and gold heeled shoes. Anne is wearing a green tulle dress with sparkling fairy lights and black shoes, and Jane is wearing a white ballerina dress with black pom poms on the front. She is also wearing a pair of black gloves, black pumps and a woolly hat. 'Hello,' I smile. 'Please, come in out of the cold.' They walk through and place the bags they brought for our Secret Santa down in the hallway.
'Thanks, Emma,' Jane smiles. 'Wow, it looks incredible in here.' I shut the door behind them when the doorbell rings again. I open the door to find Anna on the other side.

'Anna, you haven't decorated your costume!' Anne says.
'I added a black and gold belt,' Anna argues.
'Yes, but that's not creative! We all had a go at our costumes, but you barely tried!'
'Hey, it's not my fault that I have zero creative skills.' We all head into the living room.

'Where's Kitty?' Anna asks.
'She's not here yet,' Anne says as she checks her phone. 'Nothing on the group chat either.' That's when our phones beep.

LambethQueen: Hi everyone. Sorry I'm running late, caught up at home. Parents fighting. Will be there soon.
LesbianHybrid: No matter. We'll wait for you.

A few minutes later, Kitty arrives. She is wearing a pink gown like the one Aurora from Sleeping Beauty wears, but the sleeves and end of the dress have white trim stitched onto it. Katheryn also has a cape and a hood made of the same fabric. 'Sorry for keeping you all waiting,' she says. 'I wanted to get out of the house, but my parents started an awful row again.'
'That's all right,' I assure her. 'You didn't miss anything.' Katheryn smiles, and Anna turns the Christmas CD we have in the CD player on.

'What do we want to do first?' Catalina asks.
'Instead of asking each other what to do,' Mummy says as she walks into the room. She is wearing a blue dress with white trim and a coat on top. 'Look out the window.' We all hurry to the window and stare outside.
'Oh, my God!' Catalina squeals.
'You were the last person I thought would say that!' Anne laughs. 'Besides, it's only snow.'
'Only snow? Anne Boleyn, where have you been living for the past few hundred years? You know we never get snow in Spain, so I always enjoy it when we have it here. Come on, let's go outside to play!'
'Yeah, put your coats on first,' Mummy calls after us. We all stop at the front doors to grab our coats before we run outside. The snow is falling fast, and the whole driveway looks like a winter wonderland.

'Hey, Boloser!' Anna yells and throws a snowball at Anne.
'Hey, watch the lights!' Anne packs some snow into a snowball and throws it at Anna. Anna sidesteps it, and it hits Jane. 'Sorry, Jane! That was meant for Anna!' Jane throws a snowball back at Anne. Kitty throws a snowball at me.
'Oh, you're so in for it!' I pack some snow together.
'Cata, save me!' Kitty hides behind Catalina. Catalina moves out of the way, and I hit Kitty in the chest with the snowball. 'Traitor!' Catalina is laughing. I share a quick glance with the others, and we start making more snowballs.
'Oh no,' Catalina says, and we start throwing them. 'Hey, five against one! That's not fair.'
'It wasn't fair that you didn't protect our cousin!' Jane yells back. 'If you took the snowball for her, you wouldn't be in this mess!' We continue throwing snowballs at each other when I feel something cold slip down my back.

'Who put snow down the back of my dress?' I scream. I turn to find Mum and Mummy standing behind me. 'Oh, you two are so gonna get it now!'
'Emma, no!' Mummy laughs as I make a snowball and throw it in their direction.

We end up stopping a few minutes later and retreat into the warm. 'I'm freezing!' Anne complains.
'Hey, the rest of us aren't complaining,' Anna says.
'I want to complain,' Jane says. The rest of us nod.
'Okay,' Anna shrugs. 'Never mind.' We all go back into the living room to warm up and hand out the presents we brought for our Secret Santa. We all put our names in a hat before drawing one out.

I had Jane Seymour. As a rule for Secret Santa, we could not ask the person we got for inspiration, but we can ask our other friends. Anne seems to be the person who knows Jane best, so I asked her. It turns out that while Jane has a dance studio at home, it is mostly for her younger sisters. She has asked them to teach her how to dance, but they keep refusing. There is a local dance school, and I decide to check it out to see if Jane will like it. They hold a range of classes, and there must be something that Jane will like. Anne went with me, and we watched for a while and talked to the teachers there. It seems worthwhile, and Jane will learn how to dance, so we decided to book her in for some lessons so she can give it a try. I also got her a dance workout DVD so Jane can practice at home.

When Jane opens her bag, her face lights up. 'Thank you for the dancing lessons, Emma!'
'Anne helped me come up with the idea,' I admit. 'And you always said that you wanted to dance, and that would give you the chance to learn.'
'Thank you!' Jane pulls me into a hug. Catalina gave Anna a puppet.
'Oh, I love it!' Anna says. 'I never had a puppet before! Thanks, Catalina!' Anne got Catalina a gold phone case, and Catalina seems to like it. Jane gives Anne a green dragon soft toy, which Anne decides to name Elizabeth. I'm not too surprised by that.

Only Kitty and I are left to receive our gifts. Catalina gives Kitty a pink notebook and pen set. 'Thank you, Cata. I will use it often.' Then, Kitty turns to me. 'I couldn't think of much to get you,' she says to me. 'A lot of the ideas I had seemed a little bit strange or unoriginal.'
'Hey, I like strange,' I assure Kitty.
'I know, but they seemed a bit too strange for your liking. So, instead, I did this.' She hands the bag to me, and I look inside.

There is a notebook in there, and the cover has a marble effect. I open the inside cover to find a picture of my and my parents. 'Thank you, Kitty,' I say.
'You're welcome.' I pull Kitty into a hug.

'Right, shall we continue partying?' Anne asks. We all smile and begin to stand up. I head outside onto the drive to get some air when I notice the neighbours across the road. They are irritating, that man and wife. I think they had it out for me since I got here; probably because I have two mums as I never showed any alien qualities in front of others.

They are pointing up at the sky, and I look up. A massive star is hovering in the sky. No, wait, things are connecting the points. 'That's no star!' I yell and run back inside.
'Emma, what's going on?' Mum asks.
'There's a huge web outside.'
'What?' We all run outside as a blue light fires from the web into the heart of London.
'What do you think?' Catalina asks. 'Aliens?'
'I can sense them, yes,' Mum confirms. 'But they've been here for centuries, why are they waking up now? What happened?'
'And the web? What about that?'
'It's definitely alien technology, but I can't identify the species.' Mum is looking confused. 'We better head back inside. I prepared a safe room in the cellar in case something like this happened.'

Just as we are about to head down into the cellar, Anne looks out of the window. 'I can't see the web now,' she says, then switches the TV on. The news reads THAMES DRAINED. Is that linked to what happened with the web?
'Not how I expected the party to go, but we have to deal with what we have,' Jane shrugs. 'We get many Christmases that end up as alien invasions.'
'How many?' I ask.
'About one hundred, two hundred at a push.'
'You're joking.'
'I wish I was.'

The others begin heading home for the night. 'We'll need to find an excuse to get you out of the house tomorrow so we can decorate it for your birthday,' Anna says.
'Okay,' I nod. 'Well, I trust you lot not to make a mess.'
'Did she say she trusted us to make a mess?' Anne asks.
'No, Emma said she trusted us to NOT make a mess. There's a difference!' My friends laugh and begin to walk away.

'I hope Christmas Day will be uneventful,' Mum says. 'But, who's to say?' My family are going to have a quiet Christmas Day, but we will celebrate it. Today was about my friends and me, but we will spend Christmas Day as a family.