London England

It was a few days before Christmas Eve and Sophia planned to meet up with Michelle. The weather outside was cold and windy. There was no snow on the ground but Sophia was used to this. It didn't snow often in London. Sophia got dressed into a sweatshirt and skinny jeans, she put some lipgloss on and then she grabbed her bag. Michelle waited for Sophia at the train station.

"Sophia, I missed you so much," Michelle said.

"I missed you too," Sophia said as she gave her friend a hug. "I got you some presents"

Sophia handed over a small bag with the Japanese flag on it.

"Can I open it now or do I have to wait for Christmas?" Michelle asked.

"You can open it now," Sophia said.

Inside the bag was a model of the Sakura New Town observation tower, some chocolate cookies, some postcards and a Noko Keyring.

"Thank you," Michelle said. "I really like the postcards and the keyring. Could you tell what the strange creature on the keying is?

"Well, I saw them in a shop and thought you might like them. The Noko is a Japanese mythical creature that is said to bring good luck to those who find it." Sophia said. She wanted to tell Michelle that she had actually seen a Noko but she didn't want to tell her about the Yo-Kai.

"That's interesting," Michelle said.

Sophia smiled at Micelle, she was happy to be reunited with her friend. Michelle looked at Sophia again, nothing that she had a new watch on her wrist.

"Can I look at your watch?" Michelle asked.

"Sure," Sophia said as she lifted her wrist up.

"There's no numbers on it. I don't get why a watch doesn't have numbers on it" Michelle said.

"It's a new trend in Sakura New Town," Sophia said.

"Sophia, you can tell her about us if you want to," Esmeralda said. Esmeralda followed Sophia to London. At first, Sophia was angry about Esmeralda being there but she soon changed her mind. She wanted her Yo-Kai friend to see where Sophia lived before she moved to Japan.

"I can't Michelle will I'm crazy," Sophia said.

"Sophia, who are you talking to?" Michelle asked.

"None, Just thinking out loud" Sophia answered.

"Ok," Michelle said. "What does the button do?" Michelle tried to take the watch of Sophia's wrist but Sophia quickly moved her hand away.

"Please don't touch it," Sophia said.

"Ok, I'm sorry," Michelle said. Sophia smiled.

Michelle and Sophia had a lovely afternoon catching up with each other. Sophia told her about her new school and all her friends.

Christmas Eve. story

It was Christmas Eve and Sophia was excited. Every year on Christmas Eve her Nan told stories. All the family would sit in the living room and listen. This year was different, tonight it would only be Sophia and her two cousins, Jackie and Felix. Her Mother and Father had gone out to a Christmas eve party with her Aunt and Uncle.

"It's story time" Sophia's Nan announced.

"I love stories," Jackie said. Jackie was Sophia's six-year-old cousin. She had brown hair that came down to her shoulders, blue eyes, and freckles. Tonight she was wearing her special Pajamas. Felix followed he was three years old. Felix had cropped brown hair and brown eyes, he also carried his favourite teddy bear.

"I sit on Nanna's lap," Felix said in his childish voice. Sophia smiled.

"Come on then," Sophia's Nan said as Felix climbed up onto her lap.

"Tonight, I'm going to tell you about the magic Christmas elf that helps Santa deliver presents" Sophia's Nan would usually tell stories about her Granddad Joseph who sadly passed away when Sophia was seven years old.

"Our story begins on the night before Christmas when all the children were tucked up in bed, waiting for Santa to come. In the North Pole, Santa was making the final preparations for the long night ahead. He counted all the presents when he noticed that one of the presents was missing"

Sophia tried to listen to the story but there were other things on her mind. She kept having flashbacks of her early childhood, starting with her first day at school.

Flashback

September 2010

Sophia stood at the front door, she was wearing her brand new school uniform (a grey pinafore, a long sleeve shirt, bottle green and white tie and a bottle green cardigan with the school logo on it) Her hair was tied back in pigtails.

"Big smiles for the camera, Sophia," her mum said.

"Are we going to school now?" Sophia asked while jumping up and down. She was excited and a little bit nervous.

When Sophia arrived at Oakwood Primary School, she waited outside the gate, clinging to her mother's leg. A few minutes later the teacher came out and asked all the new children to make a line.

"Sophia, I promise that you will really like school and I will be back at 3:00 pm to pick you up." Sophia's Mum told her.

The classroom made Sophia feel welcome. It had bright coloured walls with shapes and numbers on them, there was a home corner and a dressing up box on one side of the classroom. On the table, there was play dough and some colouring pencils. The teacher told all the child to sit down on the carpet and cross their legs.

"Good Morning everyone. My name is Mrs. Jonas, I will be your teacher for this year. We will have lots of fun and do lots of fun activities." Mrs. Jonas said. "Before we starting playing, I would you to get to know each other's names."

Every child in the Classroom said the name. When it got to Sophia she smiled "My name is Sophia. I hope that I make lots of friends this year"

End of Flashback

Soon the story finished and Sophia's cousins went to bed, they left a carrot and a mince pie on a plate for Santa with a glass of milk.(Sophia's Nan live's with her daughter Aunt and Uncle. The family run a small bed and breakfast business)

Sophia wasn't tired yet so she went back downstairs to watch "A Christmas Carol" with her Nan.