[Shock's POV:] (AN: I dont own any of the nightmare before Christmas characters. I only own my only original characters such as Drake, Angela, Penny, Katy, Twilight, Shadow, Lloyd and Jack. I have to be specific on this chapter)

The crowd stared at me as I spoke my words. Pressure seemed to keep my words in my body like a secret spells in a locked spell book. My body pulsed.

"I'm in love with..." I began. My throat burned. It felt kinda good to tell people. So I could be happy. In private. And in public. I took a big gulp but it only made my throat burn worse. I stared at my friends. Lock. Drake. Angela. Katy. Penny. Twilight. Shadow. Lloyd. Everyone.

"Come out now. They know your here." I sighed. He walked through the crowd. Everyone cleared a path for him. He was tall as Lock. I felt so happy. Yet, so scared. He was a great kisser, too. His combed hair fit behind the mask he borrowed from the school's theature. I had a flashback as I heard the clack of his shoes click against the floor.

Click. Click. Click. The footsteps became louder. I looked back to see Barrel.

"Hey, have you seen my mask?" He asked, chewing some gum.

"Nah, ask Lock." I replied, bending down and grabbing a knife. I sharpened my favorite weapon. I heard Oogie's voice. Fear shot through my body. I stood frozen. Pain pierced my throat. I wanted to cry. He was dead but I could still hear his voice. My mask echoed. I placed it on. It burned my face. Whispers entered my head for the first time. A deafning laughed marked my soul. Oogie's laugh. "Get out of my head!" I shouted. I crashed into the TV and my video game collection. Everything fell off. The boys ran downstairs. My head ached. "Get it off her!" Lock ordered. Barrel grabbed me with a bear hug and held my arms down. Lock peeled off the mask with all his might. It was stuck. Until...

"Errrrg!" Lock groaned, finally being able to take the mask off regularly.

"That mask! It's not yours." Barrel panted, setting me down.

"Noooo!" I said sarcastically.

I snapped out of my trance. He grabbed my hand. Everyone stared.

"I'm in love with..." I started, lifting up his mask.

"What!" Lock gasped.

"Since when!" Drake snapped.

"That's right! I'm in love with Barrel!" I exclaimed. He ran his fingers through his green hair. My friends' jaws dropped. Barrel gave me a hug and kissed me. I dug my fingers into his soft green hair. Lock stopped our kiss. He grabbed Barrel's shoulder and threw a fist at him. Barrel caught it and pushed him back. "I don't think so. There's alot you still don't know about me, Lock. All these years you've been calling me an idiot, I planned this. I'm the smart one now, bitch! I'm strong. I'm athletic. I know how to handle weapons. All these days you have been playing with Shock's feelings, I have been training. I'm always there for her. And now," He explained. "She's mine."

"Holy. Fucking. Crap. He's a genius." Lock gasped. I nodded and kissed him again.

"Wait, what about us?" Drake asked pointed to Lock and himself. Barrel went to go get something. "Guys, you're great. You'll be great today and so on but Barrel has always been there for me." I sighed. Barrel came by and offered his arm. I grabbed it and we walked away. We danced at the corner of the dance floor. Lloyd chased Angela near the food table. I was tired of them always fighting so I quickly extended my leg and Lloyd tripped on it. He landed on Angela and accidently kissed her as he fell on top of her. She landed against the table and Lloyd landed on her. There eyes widened with shock. They relaxed their muscles and enjoyed it while it lasted. Penny was scratching her head as she looked through her tiny spell book. "Try number 32." Twilight suggested.

"Thanks." She exclaimed. She didn't know who it was until she turned around. Penny gasped and walked away. "Wait!" He said, grabbing her hand. She stopped in her tracks. It was cute. Katy still hadn't earn her wings but Shadow was cool about it. "Sorry for being a jerk." He sighed, holding her hand.

"It's alright, I forgive you." She planted a kiss on his cheek and Shadow turned bright red. She earned her wings for feeling the last feeling she needed to feel, love. Barrel clutched my hand tighter and I snapped out of my trance. Lock and Drake stood in the corner sipping soda.

"Did we just -" Drake asked with an unfinished sentence.

"Yup." Lock sighed, cutting Drake off.

"And she's gonna -"

"Uh- huh."

"So, were basically -"

"The worst friends ever."

"Well, atleast it's not a slow dance."

Two girls walked by them giving them 'the flirty fingers'. There eyes followed them as they walked away. They looked at me. I was still clutching Barrel's hand when I gave them a thumbs up. They ran after the girls. Barrel and my hands were pressed against our chests. It was the only thing keeping ourselves from full body contact. Barrel kissed my wrist. A slow dance started to play.

"I love this song!" I cheered softly.

"I know, I asked them to play it. For you." Barrel replied. I grabbed his hands and pulled him onto the dance floor. "Here's you reward then." I smiled, grabbing his hands and placing them on my waist. I clutched his shoulders and we began to move slowly. Barrel held my waist tightly. He moved his hands lower until,

"Hey, no wondering fingers!" Jay snapped, looking up from his card game with some other kids. It was more of joke.

We were arms length. I guess Barrel was not so satisfied so he pulled me closer. So close that not even a piece of paper could fit between us. I looked into his eyes and then to the side. Everyone else danced with their crush. I felt kinda shy. I never knew Barrel liked me. I placed on my mask and so did he. He lifted his up and rested it upon his soft, fluffy green hair. I looked down as I reviewed my memories mentally. Slowly, he lifted up my mask and leaned in. We locked lips. It seemed as if all our memories were put into this kiss. All the pain. The relief. The suprises. The abuse. The adventure. The love. Barrel pressed himself against me tighter and kissed me hungrily with more passion. Not just a pop kiss. A real kiss. I was full of surprise as he pushed his tongue inside my mouth. A weird surprise. A good one. A great surprise. Just like before Barrel didn't listen to Jay's warning. I didn't care. I was happy. Out of the heart breaks I took from guys, I finally found my happily ever after. Sally was right. It felt weird when I thought about it in my mind.

Today:

If you would ask me questions about my childhood such as, How was it? I would say, "Horrible, confusing, and painful,". Did you like it? "Eh,". Would you change it? "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Would you go back and do that over again, knowing what you know now? "Wouldn't you?:-)"

Back to The Story:

Barrel grabbed me tight and pulled me as close as possible. Full body contact. I could tell he wanted it to last. I'm kissing Barrel! Those words echoed my head. If was younger and I saw this, I throw up. I would've done the same two months ago. What if you saw yourself kissing your best guy friend that you had no interest in what so ever? You'd probably feel the same way. It felt creepy. Disturbing. Shocking. Crazy. Insane. Sick. Weird. Out of all the feelings I had, one stood out. It felt so...so. It felt so right.