This chapter holds some stuff, though a lot of you are so kind, telling me that the fluff is good. Thank you to everyone who is reviewing! Knowing what you guys think makes me happy! Enjoy, guys!

.I own nothing.

x—x

"So..." Paul said slowly, "You saw Max with a mystery girl and Derek freaked out over the Christmas cards, and mysteriously seemed to know why you and Max had broken up."

"Yeah." Casey shook her head. "I don't understand it, either."

Paul picked up his coffee, took a sip and put it back down. He took a deep breath. "Do you think that there are any connectible dots in the situation?" Paul suggested.

"No, why would there be? They are all just really annoying situations." Casey shrugged.

Paul took another deep breath. "I guess you could look at it that way, but-"

"Paul, I have to go to the Junior Christmas party. I just needed to vent." Casey got up. "Can you believe that for once I don't actually need to figure anything out?"

"Not even about the mystery girl?" Paul asked.

Casey faltered at the door. "No. Because if she were the reason we had broken up, I trust that he would have told me that."

Casey gave a small nod before exiting the room.

Paul stared at the closed for a moment before letting his head hit the desk and mumbling something about not being a teenage girl for a million dollars...

--

"You'd think they'd make it somewhat original, right?" Emily asked with her arms crossed.

Casey, Kendra, and Emily stared out over the room where their fellow classmates were schmoozing. The place was decorated in jolly tinsel of red and gold and sparkly lights lined everything including the fake plants at each corner. The lights even wrapped around the benches that were set up around the room. A table was set up with a punch bowl and rows of napkins and holiday themed cookies. A Merry-Happy-Christmahanziquanikah soundtrack was playing in the background. Oh goody. There was even a decorated tree with fake, empty presents under it.

"I say thank God." Casey said.

"Why?" Kendra asked.

"There's no mistletoe." Casey said.

Both Kendra and Emily made and 'ah' agreement sound and nodded their heads.

"Mistletoe is the creation of the Devil." Emily said.

Casey sighed and pressed her palms down against her pleated skirt, flattening it out. She glanced around and saw Max. He still looked happy, but saw no blond anywhere around him. A pang of jealousy passed through her for a moment, but she quickly forced herself to squash it. If she were the reason we had broken up, I trust that he would have told me that. Casey reminded herself.

"I'm going to go see what the punch is like." Casey said. "Want any?"

Her friends declined and she walked to the other side of the room where the refreshment table was set up.

"What do you think of everything?" Emily turned to see Noel had come up.

"Of what?"

"The decorations." Noel said.

"Are you on the decorating committee, or something?" Kendra asked.

"Actually, yeah." Noel chuckled.

Kendra blushed slightly and excused herself to go get some punch with Casey.

"It's alright." Emily said. "Casey's already pointed out the grace of no mistletoe."

Noel smiled, looking over at Casey. "Yeah, we had some that I wanted to use, but the rest of the committee nixed the idea." He ran his hand over his pocket before pushing his hand into it.

"Probably for the best." Emily said.

Noel nodded and watched as Casey and Kendra made their way back toward them.

"Hey, Noel!" Casey smiled.

"Hi."

"Oh, I've got your Christmas cards." Casey said, remembering the stack of cards that were rubber-banded together in her bag.

She handed her cup of punch to Noel for him to hold and searched through her bag for a moment before pulling out the envelopes with their names on it.

"Here you go." Casey said, trading the envelope for her punch and then handing Emily and Kendra's theirs.

"And here's Sheldon's, Em." Casey said, giving another card.

"Thanks Casey." Noel said.

Casey smiled. "That reminds me, I've got a couple more cards to give out."

Casey nodded at her friends before walking away with the cards.

Sam was with Derek, so she walked up to him with a smiling face, her back to Derek.

"Happy Holidays, Sam." Casey said, giving him the card.

"Thanks, Case!" Sam said, leaning in to give her a quick hug.

Casey began to move away but Derek grabbed her wrist.

"What?" Casey asked.

Derek narrowed his eyes at her and then looked behind her. Casey turned her head and followed his gaze. He was looking at Max. Casey turned back and looked at Derek. He let go of her wrist.

"Never mind." He said, turning away from her.

Casey stared at the back of his head before scoffing and walking away.

When she was far enough away she took a deep breath before making her way to Max.

"Hey." She said when she reached him.

"Oh, hey Casey." Max said.

"Um, here." Casey said pushing the card toward him. "Happy Holidays."

"Oh, thanks, Case." Max said, taking the card. "You too."

Casey gave a weak smile and stood there for several seconds in an awkward silence.

"Well, I'll talk to you later, then." Casey said. Max nodded and then Casey shuffled away, trying not to blush as she made her way back toward her friends.

"You gave Max a Christmas card?" Emily asked.

"Even after, you know?" Kendra asked, talking about what they had seen the day before.

"I'm being civil." Casey shrugged.

"You didn't give Derek a card, though, right?" Emily asked bluntly.

"Hey, don't lecture me. Derek did that yesterday." Casey said, holding up both of her hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine." Emily said.

Casey sighed and Noel moved and put his hand on the small of her back.

"Derek is a jerk to you ninety-nine point nine percent of the time." He said.

Casey nodded. "See? Noel understands."

Emily playfully rolled her eyes.

"How do you feel about some cookies?" Emily asked Kendra.

"Um. But all the sugar..." Kendra said.

"Give me a break. You can handle a few cookies." Emily shook her head, dragging Kendra toward the table of cookies.

Casey chuckled as she watched Emily wave a cookie in front of Kendra's face.

"Pretty boring in here." Noel said.

"Yeah, I guess." Casey shrugged, and they began to walk slowly.

"But it could be worse." Casey pointed out.

"True, true." Noel agreed. "But there could be better music, too."

Casey laughed. "I like Christmas music. I have several death threats over my head for playing it nonstop at home."

Noel stopped walking and laughed. Casey stopped and laughed with him for several seconds until their laughter was interrupted.

"Hey, Casey and Noel are under mistletoe!" A voice called out.

Casey's looked above to see the tiny plant and then her head snapped to see where the voice had come from. Low and behold, Derek was snickering, not too far away.

Seeing the terror in Casey's features, Noel quickly spoke.

"It's a stupid tradition. We don't have to do it."

Casey looked relieved. She knew about Noels crush on her. She had been scarily oblivious until Kendra had brought it to her attention. And now that she knew she didn't want even the slightest thing to lead him on. She just didn't feel that way about him.

"Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss." Someone began to chant and many in the room quickly followed suit.

Casey bit her lip, trying not to grimace in front of Noel, knowing that she wasn't getting out of it as easy as she had hoped.

"It is tradition." Casey managed to say.

Noel smiled and began to lean in.

"Well, looks like we were wrong about the mistletoe." Kendra said, grimacing as she watched her friends discomfort as she neared Noel until their lips met in a chaste kiss.

"Kendra," Emily said, "That wasn't there five minutes ago."

Kendra gave a small gasp. "Hey, it wasn't!"

"And Noel is on the decorating committee." Kendra stated more than asked.

"Yep." Emily said swiftly. "And said he wanted to use mistletoe, but they said no."

"Damn. Boy moves quick." Kendra gave a low whistle.

x—x

Things will become much more defined with the next chapters, because the play and Sally's Christmas party is coming up. Yay! Hope you enjoyed. Please tell me what you think!

Review, loves.

-Tarryn