Amelia was the type of girl who would sleep in until noon if given the chance. Nothing could wake her, not even a hurricane. Well… almost nothing. Holidays were a different story. Especially if it was Christmas. She opened her eyes and sat up, running them and scratching her head. She gave a yawn and looked around. Julchen was still asleep on the floor a few feet away from her and Maddie was not far. Madeline had felt it would be unfair for anyone to get the bed, so all three of them had slept on the floor.

Less than a minute awake and she could feel excitement rising in her. Amelia shifted and reached over to gently shake Madeline.

"Maddie. Maddie. Wake up. It's Christmas."

Madeline hummed and opened her eyes. She yawned and looked up at Amelia before smiling and murmuring out sleepily, "Merry Christmas, Ame."

Amelia got up and went into the bathroom to brush her hair while Madeline shook and prodded at Julchen trying to wake her. The pale girl grunted and swatted at the hands then rolled over and continued to snooze. By the time Amelia had brushed her teeth and gotten dressed, Julchen was finally opening her eyes.

"Ugh. Jesus freakin christ, what time is it?"

"It's a quarter past- It's Christmas! Get up!"

That was all it took before all three were finally up and heading downstairs. Francis and Arthur were already downstairs. This didn't surprise Amelia, her father got up at the crack of dawn, or something ridiculous like that, every day. Francis was making breakfast and Arthur was attempting to help but getting shooed away. As the girls entered the room, both men smiled quickly served their food and ushered them into the living room where the tree was.

They ate quickly, too excited to savor anything. The food was gone in the blink of an eye and there was a sudden mess of bright colorful wrapping paper as presents were passed around and distributed. Even Julchen received some. They each took turns opening one until all the gifts were opened and the floor was littered with torn up paper. As they sat around admiring their presents and repeating thank yous over and over, Amelia chewed on her tongue anxiously and looked around. All the gifts under the tree were gone, but that didn't mean there weren't any left.

After a bit of clean up in the livingroom and kitchen, they each still had a couple of hours to kill before they would all go out and carol around the neighborhood. They weren't exactly the best group, but it was still fun. Even when people shut the door on them or politely asked them to leave and stop singing, Amelia couldn't deny that she still enjoyed it. Amelia went home to change her clothes for the family carolling. As she got dressed, she rummaged through her suitcase that she'd brought from school and pulled out a small wrapped present. She held it in her hand and took a deep breath. Maybe this was a bad idea. She picked up the card that went with the gift and stared at it for a moment. Yeah, definitely a bad idea. She stuffed the card and present into her pockets and prepared herself for some off pitch christmas songs.

They left the house and the first few places went not terrible. Families opened their doors and smiled, not caring that the songs weren't exactly in tune. It wasn't about the quality of the music, it was the message the songs had. People thanked them and offered them warm drinks and treats. It wasn't until about the fifth house that someone actually cringed but continued to listen, looking slightly uncomfortably the whole time.

After getting almost all the houses on their block, it was clear that even they were getting a bit tired of singing the same songs over and over. They decided to do just one more house, then they would be done caroling. After said house, Arthur and Francis started talking back home, leaving the girls to spend the rest of the afternoon however they wanted. Given that it was Christmas and everything was closed, the three of them just wandered around and chatting.

In their wanderings, they ended up at a park. People were there, walking in pairs or with their dogs, some children were on the playground. But given the cold and most people wanting to spend the day with family, most didn't stay long and after a certain point, they were the only three at the park.

Amelia plopped herself onto one of the swings and began to swing back and forth. She had always loved the swings. They were her favorite. When she was younger she remembered pretending she could fly and that she was a superhero. But even heroes weren't exactly invincible and after swinging too high one and and jumping off, she got an earful from Arthur on the way to the emergency room for a broken arm.

Julchen ran to climb on the big playground jungle gym and Maddie walked after her, laughing a bit and warning her friend not to fall. Julchen hung upside down, her long hair touching the dirty snow on the ground and Maddie crouched down to bunch her friend's hair up and tie it for her.

Amelia sat on the swing watching and chewing on her lip. She slipped her hands into her pockets and felt the present and card. She knew if she didn't do it soon she would chicken out. It was now or never.

"Hey, Maddie. C'mere, I wanna show you something."

"Just a second."

Amelia looked over and the other two. Julchen climbed down and made her way to the monkey bars where Maddie was standing. Everything seemed to stop for a moment when all three pairs of eyes landed on something tied to one of the bars.

Someone had tied a bit of mistletoe to the monkey bars. Julchen froze when she realized that she and Madeline were both standing under it. Amelia held her breath and watched. Maddie gave a small shrug and laughed nervously, cheeks turning pink. Julchen laughed along, grinning as she inched closer. Amelia could feel her heart shrivel up inside her chest as the other two got closer and touched lips. It was just a split second, but it was a kiss. The two laughed it off nervously and Amelia looked away, rubbing her eyes and fighting with everything she had not to get up and just run. One minute she was flying and the next it was like hitting the ground and breaking her arm all over again, only this time it hurt worse.

She exhaled a shaky breath, trying to compose herself as Madeline walked over and sat in the swing next to her.

"So what did you want to show me? Hey, are you okay? You're face is all red. Do you want my scarf?"

Amelia shook her head and coughed, choking back the tears.

"N-No. I'm fine. Thanks though." She paused. Her mind went completely blank for a second.

"You sure you're okay? What did you wanna show me?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh…" She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wrapped gift, leaving the card behind. "I had one more gift for you. I completely forgot about it until just now."

"Oh! Thank you!" Madeline smiled and took the gift, unwrapping it and examining the velvet case. She opened it and let out a small gasp. "Oh my gosh, Ame it's so beautiful." Madeline picked up the amethyst necklace, clasping the silver chain around her neck to try it on. The stone matched the color of her eyes and Amelia felt her breath leave her lungs again. "I don't know what to say… Thank you."

"Yeah… don't mention it okay? I just thought it would look pretty on you." She had been right. It suited her perfectly. "Anyways. We should get back home. I am actually feeling kind of cold." She stood and walked away quickly, not letting Madeline get another word in as she pulled the card out of her pocket and tossed it in the nearby trashcan. She didn't look back as she started to leave.

"Hey! Wait up!" Madeline chased after her and caught up shortly. "Wait, you dropped something." She held out the card that Amelia had just thrown away, the envelope was speckled in garbage.

"No, I didn't. I threw it out."

"Well you shouldn't throw out Christmas cards, you should put it in a shoe box and save it. They have fond memories. Keep it, please? You'll regret it if you throw it out." Madeline looked down at the card and paused, her brow furrowing in confusion. Madeline's name was written on the envelope in Amelia's handwriting. "Wait. Was this supposed to be for me? How come you threw it out?" Madeline frowned and looked back up at Amelia.

"Look, it doesn't matter. Okay? It was just a dumb card and it was just really generic and didn't feel genuine so I decided not to give it to you okay?" Amelia could feel herself panicking on the inside as she reached to snatch the card away but Maddie was too fast. The other girl turned around and began to open the card.

"I don't care. It's still a nice gesture." She pulled the card out of the envelope and started to read it.

"Stop! Give that back!" Amelia lunged at her, trying to grab it before it was too late, knocking them both over to the ground. Madeline let out a startled shriek as she was tackled.

Just then Julchen bolted over, pulled Amelia off of Madeline. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Jesus."

Madeline stared at Amelia in pure shock. "What has gotten into you all of a sudden?!"

Both of them just stared at her, waiting for some kind of answer.

"I just- I… Just forget it!" She couldn't hold it back anymore and tears began to flow openly from her eyes, spilling down her cheeks and landing in the mess of snow on the ground. "This was supposed to be the perfect Christmas and you ruined it!" She pointed at Julchen as she said this. The girl looked stunned then hurt. And Madeline was equally mortified. Amelia stood up and ran. She didn't know where to go, if she went home they'd just find her there and Arthur would ask what was wrong and what happened. Not knowing where to go, she just ran.