December 24 2014, Wednesday
05:13 PM.
A week has passed since the day Phoebe arranged the secret Santa gift exchange for her family, and now she was very happy because there's only a few hours left for Christmas. The last Wednesday, some hours after Billy threw a bucket of water all over Nora, (which was nothing more than melted snow from Mount Fuji), Phoebe went to Hidenville Galleria to get a present for her father.
It wasn't that hard to choose his gift, she already knew he needed a new wallet, after she found out a couple weeks ago that Dr. Colosso destroyed his old wallet by biting it, while being in a bunny rage attack. Phoebe was sure he would love this present. And now, that elegant wallet was on her desktop, safe and sound inside of a golden box with a green present bow on it. But it was not the only gift inside of her room, because while she was seated on her bed, she had a second present between her hands, a present that she was still wrapping.
"Just a few more tape over here and..." Phoebe says with a low voice, after she cuts more adhesive tape to join the paper.
This present was for no one else but her brother, Max. She bought it the same day she went to the mall, and she hid it inside of her closet so nobody else could see it, at least not until tomorrow.
It doesn't matter if she couldn't pick her brother's name during the gift exchange, Phoebe always used to give him something for Christmas. Not because she wanted to call for his attention, or because she wanted to bother him with the spirit of Christmas, but because being twins, she felt that deep inside her, it was something she had to do. And as she sticks more tape on the last edges of the paper, she can't take Max out of her head.
"Why would he hate Christmas so much?" The adolescent seriously thought, while she was observing the present, checking it out.
Phoebe could not understand how it was possible for someone to reject this beautiful holiday, and she definitely disliked the moment when she heard Max getting happy after she called him "Scrooge" one hour ago. Unlike him, she always had a good time with her parents and her little siblings, singing together, or watching some Christmas movie marathon on T.V. but every year the same story would happen, and for some reason she couldn't help but see Max acting the same way, and she wondered, why he always tried to ruin this day to everyone, because he already did it since they were living in Metroburg.
Back then, she thought that he just liked to have fun with his classic pranks. She thought that maybe he just wanted to feel as evil as one of the super villains he admired so much, but after she heard what he said to Nora last week...
"You're going down Nora!"
...she realized that she had to do something, she had to stop him somehow. So, after she placed on her bed that big box wrapped with blue paper and some yellow thunders printed on it, she found herself just there, in the middle of all the Christmas decorations she put in her room. Phoebe looked around her and then, an idea came to her mind.
Max can keep saying that he hate Christmas over and over, but she's almost sure that it's not true, that deep inside this cold and tough facade he insists to show, a very kind but insecure heart was hiding, and Phoebe was anxious to meet this Max Thunderman. She used to imagine what he would be like if he ever leaves his villain phase behind.
But after she stood up, the teenager knew exactly what she had to do. If Max was refusing to join the spirit of Christmas, then she would bring the spirit of Christmas to him. And without thinking twice, she quickly walks to her closet and takes a big cardboard box. She proceeds to put most of the decorations she placed in her room, the ones she installed since the last week. She takes off some of her colored lights, a little Christmas tree covered with all kind of decorations, a big red ornament, and some other things.
Two hours ago, Max left the house without saying where he was going. Normally, by those days he used to leave the house for a long time as the Christmas was getting closer, that's why Phoebe knew he would be out for some hours, so she had enough time to do what she planned.
05:42 PM.
Having everything she needed, she took the box with both hands and then she got out of her room, but not before closing her door using her foot, because she was already using both hands. After she walked down the stairs, she passed through the living room and saw Billy and Nora were there, together in the couch watching a Christmas movie: "The Grinch", one of their favorites. They were so concentrated that they could barely notice Phoebe walked in front of them.
"If you're going to the store, can you bring some popcorns Phoebe?" Nora asks her, without stop watching the T.V.
"I think I have a bag next to the cereal box, you can make them if you want." The teenager says.
"Thanks Phoebe!" Billy says, very happy.
"Yeah, thanks Phoebe. Billy, you're up." The girl with the bow adds.
In a blink of an eye, Billy runs with his super speed to the kitchen and puts the popcorn bag in the microwave. He did it so fast that Nora didn't had to pause the movie and stop him from losing some scenes, in an instant he's back in the living room, but he also brings a big wind burst behind him.
"Billy! Slow down!" Nora complains, after she felt the cold wind of his speed.
"Sorry." Billy says, apologizing.
Phoebe couldn't help but laugh after she saw her little siblings getting along, and after a moment she continues with her mission, and walks down to Max's lair. When she got there, she placed the box on the floor in order to open the door and get the lights on. She lifts the box again and carefully walks down the stairs. She goes to Max's bed and she finally put the cardboard container on it. She then begins to take some of the things out of it.
05:55 PM.
Her plan was very clear; decorating her twin's lair with all kind of cute things. She was sure that she could make Max join the spirit of Christmas. And being in the middle of his room, she looked around and took a deep breath.
"All right, I think I'm gonna start with... this." Phoebe thought, before deciding what she would do first.
Right after, she takes the Christmas lights and using a chair, she got up to place them from one side of the room to the other. She was very careful doing this, because she had nothing to hold on to, or someone to help her, so she had to keep her balance to avoid falling. But anyway, being an excellent ballerina is was not a problem for her. When she finished with the lights, she left the chair where she found it, and then she walked to the bed to take more stuff. But all of a sudden, she hears a voice behind her, which took her by surprise:
"Well, well... looks like we have an intruder around here." Dr. Colosso says, with a challenging tone of voice.
He was observing her moves, while sitting on the metallic table that Max regularly uses to make his experiments.
"Oh, hi Colosso, I'm just bringing some of the spirit of Christmas to this place." She commented, as she takes a rolled paper from the box.
"You can't put all this things here, villains don't celebrate Christmas." The evil bunny replies.
"I know, and that's terrible because everybody love Christmas. But maybe if I put all this things around here, Max will change his mind." Phoebe states.
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't let you do that." Colosso replies, teasing Phoebe.
"So what? Is a bunny gonna stop me?" Phoebe sarcastically asks.
"I can try." Colosso says.
And just when he was about to walk across the table, Phoebe moves her hand to use her telekinesis to throw the rabbit inside of his cage, and right after, she makes a second move to lock the little door.
"Max won't like this" Colosso warns her, inside of his cage.
"I'm sure he will love it" She says, very convinced with her idea.
Once she got rid of the annoying ex-villain, Phoebe continues with the decorations. She carefully unfolds the rolled paper with her hands, and then she goes to the stairs to cover the rail with it, and with this red-white color, it looked like a candy bar. She placed the big red ornament on his desk, and then she could finally start with the last decoration she brought, the little tree which she spent so much time decorating in her room, last week.
So, Phoebe took the box again and walked to those artificial rocks that Max had inside of his lair. She takes out the little tree and place it on one of the flat rocks, but before doing anything else, she makes sure that it won't fall later in the night. While doing it, Phoebe couldn't fade the smile on her face, it's like if being decorating her brother's room was making her happy somehow, and maybe even more than when she did the same in the living room. She hadn't noticed yet, but her heartbeats had grown since she began with this.
Some moments later, she plugs the lights in the closest connection and the little tree was ready. The only thing inside of the box was some empty presents that could make the pine look like a real size one.
"Perfect!" A smiley Phoebe exclaims, as she watches her doing, very satisfied.
With nothing else to do, she took the box again, and right after she faces the evil bunny, just to say:
"So Colosso, what do you think?" She asks very proud of herself.
"It looks like I entered an improvised Santa's workshop." Colosso responds joking about it, and provoking an annoyed reaction on her.
"Oh, I think I missed something, wait..." She says, after she noticed something weird.
In an instant, she points her finger to one of the sides where the Christmas lights are placed across the room, and after a short movement, she telekinetically plugs the cable to the wall, turning on the lights very quickly. Then, she faces the ex-villain again.
"And now?" She joyfully asks.
"A lighting improvised Santa's workshop." The bunny sarcastically says.
"Very funny. Well, I think my work is done here. Enjoy the atmosphere." Phoebe replies walking by the stairs.
"Hey wait! At least you could freeze me until tomorrow and I won't have to bear this! Come back here!" Dr. Colosso desperately yells inside of his cage.
"I can't hear you. Good bye!" Phoebe replies from the room's door, just before closing it behind her.
06:43 PM.
When Phoebe walked up to living room, she noticed Billy and Nora were gone. Her parents were nowhere to be found. She supposed Hank and Barb would be in their room watching some T.V. before dinner, and maybe her little siblings were outside right now, trying Billy's idea again; having snow in Hiddenville using his snow dance. She thought it was very funny and she was smiling with the mental image of her younger siblings dancing on the garden. After all her laughs, she took a seat in the couch and turned the T.V. on.
She began surfing through the channels for some time, but she couldn't find something she really liked.
"Titanic? Transformers? Where are the Christmas specials?" She asked herself without ending with the zapping.
When she reached the last channels, she could find a movie that she really loved, which she hadn't seen since a long time. The movie was "A Carol Christmas", with Tori Spelling. After she found that channel, she left the remote next to her, she hugged herself to a cushion and now she was ready to enjoy the movie, and luckily for her, they were showing the starting scenes.
About an hour has passed and during the commercials, Phoebe went to the kitchen for a moment. She was trying to get some snacks. She looked inside of the cupboards, but she couldn't find anything she wanted.
"Damn! There are no Brussels sprouts." She says with a low voice, and she keeps looking there.
Some minutes later, she looked inside of the last cupboard and she found some unopened jelly jams, so she took them immediately and got back to the living room. She was just in time for the movie, and now she could eat those delicious desserts while watching all the weird adventures of "Carol" the night before Christmas.
07:15 PM.
There's only 10 minutes left for the movie to end, and Hank, Barb, Billy and Nora were now in the kitchen, getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner. But all of a sudden, Phoebe hears a noise at the door, and some seconds later, she sees Max entering the house. He spent a considerable amount of time outside, but he definitely hadn't the permission to miss the family dinner. Phoebe knew what will happen next; Max will finish with his food before all of them, and then he would go to his lair to sleep, in a desperate attempt to try to skip the festivities.
"Hi Max! Are you ready for Christmas?" Phoebe asks, smiling.
"Stop torturing me 'Dweebie' I'm just here for dinner." Max replies with a bad mood.
Phoebe smiled again with his comment, and kept watching the movie. Some moments later, Barb called them for the family dinner, so Phoebe turned the T.V. off and joined to them at the kitchen. Max followed her.
Everything went normal, everyone had something to tell during the diner. Everyone except but Max, because all the time he remained very quiet, trying to ignore what they were saying. Phoebe was seated next to him, and sometimes she secretly looked at him. She couldn't stop thinking why he had to act like this. She would be very happy if he could only join to the festivities, if he could only be more open about his feelings. Sometimes, she kept staring at him for so long, and when Max turned to his left to face her, she quickly escaped from his eyes. This happened several times.
09:40 PM.
And as if she could see the future, things happened exactly as Phoebe thought, Max finished with his food before anyone else could, he then stood up to leave to his lair.
"Well, I think I'm done. Good night." Max says, and right after, he turned around and walked to the living room.
While he was walking to his slide, everyone said good night to him. Once he got there, he pressed the button to open the door and slide down, but for some reason, he changed his mind and decided to walk down the stairs. At that very moment, Phoebe stood up from her sit very quickly, and went to the slide. She remained there for a moment, just waiting. But the family did not understand what she was doing there, so, Barb walked to her.
"Phoebe, what are you...?" Barb tried to ask, a little curious for her daughter's attitude.
"Hold on mom..." Phoebe told her, anxious to listen to her brother.
And finally, some seconds later, she heard his door opening, and as fast as a thunder, Phoebe could hear the voice of her twin:
"Stay out of my lair!" He yelled from that place, obviously annoyed.
"Good night! Merry Christmas Eve!" She replies, very happy.
To be continued...
