Tohrue's Note: Ah, I'm sorry guys. It's taken me forever to update. I was in California and Oregon for a while and then when I came home, I was totally exhausted. And now that it's a new year of school .. oi. Anyways, please enjoy the update and I promise to try and get a couple other of updates going in the next 48 hours.

The Dumbing Down of Love

High Class Christmas Invitations

September Twenty Third, Two Thousand and Six

The next few days of school quickly passed though Kairi couldn't have exactly said that they were "smooth." Selphie, for the worst part, was no longer on speaking terms with her and had officially kicked her out of her table. Although she wasn't really sure she could have called it her table, as she'd only been attending the school a few days. So now during her lunch block, she sat at another table with Riku and a few other guys. Of course, it must have looked odd with only one girl sitting at a table full of nine of the opposite sex. By the end of the week when the rumors were flying how the new girl was a total "skank," Kairi sadly could see how they'd gotten the idea.

Finally Friday had rolled around and the morning that she had woken up, she couldn't wait to go to school and then spend the next week and a half of winter break, chilling out with her girlfriends that she had missed so terribly much. Every morning she was planning on waking up 10-11 AM, taking the bus to the mall, meeting the girls for the lunch at the food court, shopping, and then heading back to one of their houses to spend the night and rent cult flicks.

By the end of the period on Friday, nobody in class was even paying attention and halfway through their class, the teacher had told them they'd pause their lesson until they got back from break and that to enjoy the rest of the class 'chilling out.' People ran to their lockers and came back with little,assorted gifts to give to their friends for the holidays while boyfriends and girlfriends were exchanging kisses and much more larger in size gifts. Hell, even their teacher had gotten up to head for the staff lounge to get the variety of treats staff had brought in. During the middle of the chaotic mess though, Kairi remained seated in her desk with her head bowed. Her cellphone sitting in her lap, she texted with furiously fast fingers to a couple of friends from her old school, who had already been out of school since Tuesday.

Yuffie 12/22/06:

so r u comin over 2nite?

Hitting the 'reply' button, Kairi began to peck back the letters in the text message to her friend.

mhm ill take the bus 2 wshgtn..can u meet me there at seven?

"Wow. You're pretty involved in that whole texting thing."

Snapping up her head, Kairi's hair immediately fell out of her face and back into place. Raising a finger though, she wiped away a couple of strands that had remained glued in front of her face. Sora, obviously a bit entertained, laughed.

"O-oh. Hey."

"So what? Riku didn't get you a gift or anything? I haven't seen you guys exchanging gifts today or at least in the classes we all share."

"Nah. We usually wait until Christmas to exchange gifts. His mother and him usually come over every year on Christmas and all of us four celebrate together. I guess you could say our families are close."

"Sure sounds like it."

She laughed. "Yeah. Last year, Riku gave me a 24 pack of Chocolate soda."

Sora's face immediately grew sick looking. His nose wrinkled a bit and a brow raised, as his lips twisted trying hard to find whether to smile or frown. "Chocolate soda? What the ..? And what did you get him?"

"A DVD player for his room."

".. Wow. Uh, fair deal?"

"It's Riku," she shrugged back in response.

Realizing that she wasn't going to find the time now to text back Yuffie, she flipped her cellphone closed and then placed it into her pocket. Once the day was over, she'd call her outside the school. She was going over her text messaging plan anyway.

"Well, I have you a present!"

".. Really?"

A little surprised, she wasn't exactly sure what to think. She saw Sora's friends in the front of the room, all obviously focusing their viewing pleasure on the two. A couple seemed to be developed in normal conversation while one boy was laughing. Was this some sort of a joke to play on her? It wasn't like they talked a lot or were good friends. Yeah, he'd called her a couple of times and he'd talked to her a little during school, but he wasn't someone she had thought of while during her own Christmas shopping for friends.

"Yup."

All of a sudden, Sora took his hand from behind his back and slipped a piece of paper onto the surface of the desk. Sliding the parchment with apparent red and green text towards her, she switched her ocean blue eyes downwards to read it.

Who's: Sora's.

What: Christmas Ball / High Class Party

Where: Destati Ball Room at Miracle Court Hall, downtown.

When: December 24th, 2006, 7:oo PM to the early hours of morning.

Why: In celebration of the Holidays, Sora is holding a theme ball based on the internationally famous Nutcracker play. Boys are asked to wear white tuxedos as well as white shoes and a white tie. Any other color worn and there will be denied entrance. Girls are asked to wear FORMAL dresses that cut off right exactly at the knee. Colors of the dresses should be soft, light, pale and in the colors of blue, silver, or pink. No high heals. Shoe apparel should be in the form of ballet slippers of lace material, ankle strings, and coloring close to the dress. Tiaras shall be worn by all girls in the hair. NO CROWNS; just tiaras! Any other form of dresses and shoes and you will not be allowed into the party. A date is also required for terms of the carpet. Entrance of the party is required that the person and his or her date arrives in car. Chauffeur will be present. Press and paparazzi are expected to be present so please, if not in the mood for media, contact the Miracle Court Hall staff. They will more than happy to make arrangements for you to arrive another way without the distraction of press.

After Kairi had finished reading, she stared at it amazed. Either because she had been invited or she had no idea where she was going to get all of this on a budget of like, 20.00. She couldn't exactly that she kept a bundle of dresses or tiaras around her house for occasions like this.

"Wow."

"Yeah .. I know, it's strict." Rubbing the nape of his neck, the brunette looked a bit embarrassed. "I didn't come up with it. My uncle did. He wanted me to have this huge ball, inviting friends and people I work with it. He thinks it'll give me good publicity. I didn't really want to do it, but ... you know."

"It sounds fun, though. I really hope I can go."

"Me too. There's gonna be around 500 people so it's probably going to be a little out of control. I've only invited about 11 people from our entire school, so the rest are gonna be just people I work with and friends out of town."

Kairi knew exactly what he meant when he said 'people I work with and friends from out of town.' The people he worked with, meaning directors, magazine editors, stylists, photographers, producers, .. And the friends meaning actors, actresses, designers, models, writers, heirs and heiresses. So while they'd be in their Prada designed tuxedos and Dolce & Gabanna dresses, Kairi would be wearing from the local thrift store. How adorable.

"So wait. What does this mean? 'A date is also required for terms of the carpet.'"

"You need to bring someone with, who wasn't given an invitation. A date, actually. So you'll need to bring one of your guy friends or boyfriend with. You know, just for the sake of the red carpet. Well, actually it's going to be a white carpet because of the theme of the ball .. But whatever, you know what I mean."

"Y-yeah .. ha ha .."

"Oh Sora! Get over here! I have your gift!"

Kairi spared her gaze back to the group of Sora's friends. Though the same boys remained in the front of the room in the corner, a few girls had joined now. A particularly tall and thin blonde stood out among them all; obviously the one who was now calling for Sora. A small box remained in her possession as Kairi studied it from across the room, in its pretty glittering silver wrap and pale green ribbon. It looked .. expensive and the funny thing was, it was just the box that she was seeing.

"Hey, I uh, have to go but please consider coming, okay? And uh, call me too?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Bye. Oh! And happy holidays! I hope to see you in a couple days!"

"Yup. Happy holidays to you, too."

Folding the parchment on her desk, she soon placed it in her hand and in her sweatshirt pocket. Within this, she immediately stood up from her desk and pushed her chair in. Her cellphone that she had abandoned when Sora came over with the quick conversation, she had pulled it out and flipped it open. Erasing the previous text she had been writing, she began to tap a new message.

hey chnge of plans meet me at the plaza in 45

"I can't believe this, Kairi."

"I know! Ah!"

Snowflakes heavy and soft, fell down softly to earth. Lanterns down the plazas were lit early as with winter, came early setting sun. Though, you would have never known the sun existed by the weather today. Dark and depressing clouds flooded the sky only bringing the white guests. Kairi, who thankfully was dressed for the temperature this time, spun in a circle as the scarf wrapped around her neck followed. Yuffie, in her black clad designer jacket with her hat and mittens knitted gray and dark hair pulled back tightly into a strict bun, looked rather intriguing and mysterious -- which, was a complete opposite to Kairi who had on her mother's long wheat colored coat and bright white gloves with her red tresses dorned in braids.

"You know I am jealous, right?"

"Oh Yuffie."

Kairi stopped her spinning and looked over to her friend. The girl who always seemed to look particularly serious and intimidating, was rather a nice and outgoing person -- just not in public. So sometimes it was hard to deal with her split personality. But she'd been involved in a friendship with her since the fifth grade so it had grown on her.

"Well. What are we waiting for?"

".. What do you mean?"

"You called me down to the plaza. I'm assuming were here to go to dress shopping."

".. O-oh, no. I just thought that we could go over to the cafe to celebrate, Besides, you know I don't have the money for it. .. In fact, you know." She paused. "I don't even know where I'm going to get a cheap dress. I mean, I'd borrow one of my mom's .. but all of her designer dresses are from when she was size 00. And I'm hardly there."

Yuffie stopped to wrinkle her nose in disgust before replying.

"00. Disgusting. I wonder how many meals she had to skip to get there." Clearing her throat, the subject was quickly dropped. "Anyhow, Kairi, you don't think I would really want you wearing some 15.00 dress from the local Salvation Army to this grande vu, right? So, .."

She didn't even need to know the next sentence coming from her mouth. Watching the friend, she grabbed for the purse that hung on her shoulder and quickly unzipped it. Inside, her hands went digging for something. And in a matter of minutes, a leather wallet was pulled out.

"No, no, no, no!" Kairi immediately began shaking her head. "No. I am not taking your money. There's no way. You've already done enough by being my friend, Yuffie. There's no way I could let you buy me anything. Not even a coff--."

"Love, all respect when I say this, but .. shut up. You deserve it, let's face it. Besides, this is my weekly spending allowance; I'll get my next one in a couple days. And if you don't take my money and let me buy you dress, I'm going to be offended. So, no more chit chat. We need to hurry up and get this shopping done before the stores close early. And we want to hurry and hit the cafe for some coffee, anyway."

The dollar bills retrieved from the wallet, it was soon put back into her overly sized purse. Picking up her boots, she immediately began to take lead. Upon passing Kairi, she shoved the money into her jacket's pocket. A little bit awe struck, she turned to watch the friend walk away. .. Well, if she was going to put it like that ... And she didn't need to feel TOO badly about letting her friend pay for the dress and accessories, right? Her mother was a high top fashion magazine editor and the woman earned thousands. Their high class condo downtown said it all.

"Hurry up, Kairi. What did I say?"

"O-oh .. right! Sorry!"

Kairi then lifted her feet and began to jog afterwards.

It wasn't until about 11 that night that Kairi came upon her doorstep of her own home. Standing outside, she fiddled with her jumble of keys; trying to hurry and find the right one that opened the door to her house. Her mother wasn't home --- no way. She was out at one of the clubs with her once A list friends, drinking the Holiday's cheer. Or she was on a curb somewhere, puking her guts out.

"You're home late."

Turning her head, she found Riku sitting opposite the fence of their homes', staring at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Gosh, you loser. You scared me half to death."

"What's in the bag?" He immediately asked.

"Oh. Just something Yuffie bought me."

"By the special bag it's in, it looks like a dress."

".. Yeah, it is."

"What for?"

"It's none of your business, ding dong." Finally finding the key, she popped it in the lock, twisted, and turned. A sound came from the locking device indicating that the door had properly been unlocked. A sigh of relief, she placed her hand on the handle and pulled down. Seconds later, the wooden blockade was pushed open and she was ancy to step in the doorway.

"Night Riku."

".. Yeah, night."

A frown began to form upon her face, but she quickly dismissed it before stepping inside the warm home and shutting the door behind her.

Tohrue's Note:

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HUGS&KISSES

TOHRUE