A little late, but technically we're still in the holiday season, so I guess it works. Anyway, this is another one-shot featuring the little gang. And if anyone is confused about the teacher, remember that they are now in second grade because that's how the dates worked out.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers

"I want everyone to reach into the bucket and take one piece of paper," Ms. Reynolds said. She set the bucket on top of her desk and stepped back. "If you get your own name, put it back and draw again. Okay, row one goes first."

I watched as the first row scrambled up from their seats and rushed over to the bucket. I know that just because they were first didn't mean that they would get a better person for secret Santa, but I still didn't like being in the last row. And from the look of Simon bouncing in his seat, neither did he. We were table buddies. We got assigned a partner at the beginning of the year that we would have for the entire year and I got lucky. I got Simon. Unfortunately, we weren't all lucky. Tori has to sit by Rae and Derek has to sit by Brady. I tried to tell Derek that it wasn't so bad, but he asked me how. I couldn't think of anything. And Tori was constantly complaining about how Rae always hogged the treat at snack time. Simon made a joke once that Tori could scream so loud that only Wolf could hear her. Tori didn't think it was so funny. Simon lost his front tooth that day.

The first two rows went and then it was row three's turn. I watched Tori walk up and grab one. When she opened it, her face got all scrunched up like it did when Simon popped all the heads off her Barbie's. I wondered who she got. When she walked back to her seat, I saw her glance at Rae, who was already sitting down and she got mad again. Uh oh. If I get somebody good, I'll switch with her.

Derek's row was next. He didn't rush to the desk like everyone else. He just walked normally. When he grabbed his, he just looked at it and shoved it in his pocket. I wondered who he got, too. We weren't supposed to tell each other, but Derek would tell me if I asked. When he sat back down, it was finally my turn to go up. Simon and I were the first ones up there and we reached in at the same time. I opened mine and read Victoria. Guess I won't be switching. Simon looked really happy with his. We went back to our seats and Ms. Reynolds started talking again.

"Now remember to put effort into your gifts," she said. "Even if you didn't get who you wanted, I want everyone to really think. You can either buy a present or make one. If you buy one, please don't spend too much. This isn't a competition. You have one week to get your gifts. We will open them next Friday before you all leave for vacation."

The bell rang after that and everybody started talking. I put my homework in my backpack and zipped it up. Derek walked up to us and handed us each our coats. I thanked him and reached into my pockets. Grabbing out my hat and mittens, I set the hat down and put on the mittens first. Then I pulled my arms through the sleeves and Derek zipped me up because I was wearing my mittens. I noticed Simon making a face when he pulled on his gloves, which were soaking wet from recess. He pulled them back off and stuffed them in his pocket. I giggled as Derek pulled an extra pair from his pocket and handed them over. We waited for Simon to finish and we left. Tori was already waiting for us at the front doors. Pushing them open, we stepped out into the cold. I tugged my hat farther down and followed them to Kit's car. Kit drove me home almost every day because Dad was really busy. On Mondays and Fridays, though, I went with Derek and Simon and Tori to their house because Dad wasn't home until late.

Kit was waiting for us and waved when he saw us. Tori got in the front seat and slammed the door as hard as she could. Derek and I looked at each other and kept our mouths shut. Simon scrambled into the back seat first and I got in after him, followed by Derek. I always got the middle seat, so I got to be by both Simon and Derek.

"Who did you get?" Simon asked me.

I leaned over and whispered, "Tori."

He made a face and I giggled. When Derek looked confused, Simon pointed to the front seat and Derek nodded.

"How about you?" I asked Simon.

He smiled big and said, "Liz."

"What are you going to get her?" I asked.

"I don't know yet," he said, his face getting serious. He looked over my head at Derek and said, "Who did you get?"

Derek just shrugged and said, "Nobody important."

"Will you tell me?" I asked.

"It's nobody important," he repeated and turned to look out the window. I was a little hurt and I turned back to face ahead. Why isn't he telling me? Did I do something?

After half an hour, we finally got to the house and we went inside. Wolf met us at the door and took time to get drool over all of us, mostly Simon. I think Derek taught him that but he won't admit it. Simon rushed to get his coat off so that he could escape the drool, but Wolf was faster. He tackled him and held him down until he was convinced that Simon was wet enough. I just laughed and followed Derek to the kitchen. Tori was already there. Simon took a little longer. When he walked in, he was wearing different clothes.

"Who's hungry?" Kit asked, walking in.

Like usual, Simon waved his arms.

"Everybody but Simon?" Kit asked as he walked to the fridge and opened the freezer.

"No!" Simon said.

"Alright, everybody but Simon it is," Kit said, smiling as he grabbed out the frozen chicken fingers.

"Dad!" Simon said.

"Okay, okay," Kit said, laughing.

When the chicken fingers were done, Kit divided them up between all of us and we ate while we did our homework. I was still confused about earlier. I thought that Derek was mad at me, but when he helped me with my math, he didn't seem mad. He even split his last chicken finger with me. Simon lost his last one in a surprise attack. Wolf snatched it off his plate when Simon reached down to get his reading homework. Even Tori laughed at that. She still didn't like Wolf all that much, but I think she was warming up to him. Especially since all of Wolf's antics were targeted towards Simon. I still think Derek taught him that, be he won't admit it.

When we were done with our homework, I followed Simon and Derek up to their room. Wolf came with and settled himself on Simon's bed.

"I need help coming up with something to get Liz," Simon said.

"Well, I need help coming up with something to get Tori," I said, crawling up onto Derek's bed. He followed me up and Simon went to his bed. Wolf welcomed him with a quick lick and then settled down and fell asleep.

We looked at Derek who said, "What?"

"Do you know what you're getting your person?" Simon asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Well?" Simon asked, "What is it?"

"I'm not telling," Derek said.

"Well, why not?" Simon asked.

"Because," Derek said.

"Fine," Simon grumbled. "I still need help with Liz. I want to get her something nice, but I don't have any money."

"That's because you spent it on your truck," Derek said.

"Hey, it's a nice truck! The headlights work!" Simon argued.

"You could get her something sweet," I suggested.

"Like what?" Simon asked.

"Liz loves Laffy Taffy," I said.

"But I don't have any money," Simon said.

"You could ask Dad," Derek said. "I'm sure he'd give you some if you shoveled off the steps or something."

Simon brightened up and said, "That's a great idea. I'll ask him now."

With that, he ran out of the room and I heard him running down the stairs calling for Kit. I turned to Derek and asked, "Got any tips for me?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if you're allowed to give it as a present," he said.

"What is it?" I asked.

When he told me, I smiled. It was perfect.

…,,,…

When the Friday finally came, I had my gift safely tucked into backpack. Ms. Reynolds had a hard time keeping everyone in their seats the entire day. We were all excited to get our gifts. When the clock hit two o' clock, Ms. Reynolds brought out a plastic container. When she opened it, we all sat up straight. Inside were little gingerbread men and women with different colored clothes made out of frosting. She also brought out milk to drink with them, both plain and chocolate. I instantly decided that Ms. Reynolds was the best teacher ever.

"Everybody gets two cookies. One man and one woman. When I come around, you can pick which ones you want and which milk you want. Don't eat your cookies until we're done passing out our gifts. Can I get a few helpers?"

A bunch of people raised their hands. Liz was picked to hand out napkins and cups. When she was done, Simon and Brady were chosen to help her carry the milk because she was carrying the cookies. She started in the back first, so I got to chose first. I chose a gingerbread man with white pants and a red tie and a gingerbread woman with a green dress. I also chose chocolate milk. Since Simon was carrying the milk, he let me pick his cookies for him. When everybody finally had their cookies and milk, Simon came back to his seat and sat down.

"Okay, in order to keep our secret Santa's secret, we'll go by rows. We'll start with the back row. Everybody close their eyes until we're all done. Peter, all the way. Now, the back row can hand out theirs."

I grabbed mine from by backpack and walked up to Tori. I quietly set mine in front of her and went back to my seat. When we were done, the fourth row went next and then the third and so on. When everybody was done, Ms. Reynolds told everybody to open their presents. I opened my eyes to see a small gift sitting in front of me. It was wrapped carefully in green paper and a red ribbon was tied around it. I looked at Simon, who had torn open his gift was currently smiling at a small blue truck. I turned back to mine and gently pulled the ribbon. I carefully unwrapped it and found a box. When I opened it, I gasped. Inside was a gold locket. I could tell that it wasn't new, but it was beautiful. I reached in carefully pulled it out.

"Whoa," Simon said when he saw it. "I wonder who gave you that."

I just smiled. I knew exactly who gave it to me. I looked up to the desk in front of me and saw Derek looking down into a box.

"What did you get?" Simon asked.

Derek turned around and set the box on our table. We looked in and Simon said, "Sweet!"

Inside was a boat load of giant candy bars. Simon looked at Derek and then reached into the box and grabbed out a giant Hershey's bar. Derek held the box out to me and I smiled and grabbed the same.

"Okay," Ms. Reynolds said, "Now you can eat your cookies and drink your milk. You can all talk until the bell rings."

Simon instantly bit the head off his gingerbread man. I ate mine carefully. Derek turned his chair around and set his cookies and milk on our table as we all talked and joked around. Tori even joined us, followed by Liz and Rae, who sat on the opposite end of the table from Tori.

When the bell rang, we all stood up and started to grab our stuff. While everybody was getting ready, I grabbed my locket and tried to put it on. When I couldn't get it, Derek offered to help. I pulled up my hair and turned around and he put it on for me.

"Come on guys," Simon said, in a hurry.

I rushed and got my coat on. Grabbing my backpack, I followed them outside. And like the Friday before, I followed them to the car and got in after Simon. After we had been driving for fifteen minutes, Kit asked, "So what did you all get?"

"I got a truck!" Simon said excitedly.

"I got candy," Derek said.

"I got a locket," I said, reaching up and touching it. With my other hand, I reached down and grabbed Derek's. He looked at me and I smiled. He smiled back and I turned back to the front.

"What did you get Tori?" he asked.

To answer him, she reached into her bag. Me and Derek plugged out ears and Simon looked at us confused. When Kit saw what Tori had, he just turned back to the road. Just as Simon was about to ask what it was, Tori pushed the button and the air horn went off.

Okay, so I totally just wrote this in like three hours. It is now five in the morning and I need some shuteye.