Present 12: HAROLD

The surroundings blurred together in a mass of color and music faded into nothingness, until only the rapid heartbeat remained. With a firm kick, the lanky body was propelled upwards. With two quick rotations, the young man landed.

Balancing perfectly on one foot with the other extended in the air, Harold glided back effortlessly from the force of his jump. Turning his head, he smiled at the pair of watchers. While one clapped pleasantly, the other's mouth had dropped open.

"Care to give it a try Leshawna?" Harold smiled brightly at the shorter black woman. Shaking herself out of her daze his girlfriend gave him a look of skepticism. "Boy your crazy. "There's no way Shawnie's gonna go prancing around in some teeny weeny tutu and performing circus jumps!"

The plus sized sister's skinner friend Jasmine snickered. "Not to mention she'd break the ice." As expected LeShawna immediately turned to face the other girl. "I'm going to forget that you said that." LeShawna commented dryly.

"Uh for starters that "circus" jump was a double axel." Harold explained using his fingers for emphasis before continuing. "And the skating outfits are only for experts and wannabees." Harold finished gesturing to his own ensemble.

Unlike the heavy sweaters of red and teal that the ladies wore, the male teen wore a tight leotard, bright red with black vertical stripes. "This is just for practice and training purposes. The ones for competition are much more elaborate."

To punctuate his words another professional skater passed by dressed in what looked like a futuristic version of an old time cowboy and sea creature. However the frilly pantaloons mixed with a star trek like outfit and the scaly green make up and glittery accents left much to be desired. In unison both girls winced.

Harold though rolled his eyes. "Oh that's just Jonathan. Don't worry most of the outfits are okay. There just fancier and have a lot of sequins." Speechless his girlfriend and her friend could only nod. "Now are you going to try or not?"

After an hour had passed it became clear that LeShawna and ice were not friends. After the hundredth time of falling on her generous posterior she lost it. She was grateful when her man had suggested a break.

LeShawna smiled when Harold handed her a mug of hot chocolate and pulled out a plate filled to capacity with sweets. "And that's why I keep you around." Harold grinned back. "Because of my wickedly awesome skills?"

"And you're this extremely freaky and sweet white boy with eyes only for this big beautiful black sister." As the mismatched couple exchanged a kiss Jasmine winced. Clearly uncomfortable, she forced a smile on her face before changing the subject.

"So you guys will put in a good word for me right?" Harold exchanged a glance with LeShawna. "Uh for what?" Jasmine laughed. "For Season 2 of course!" Ignoring the stunned looks, the other teen continued with her speech unaware that her companions' cheeks were puffed out in an attempt to hide there laughter.

"And it would be the perfect alliance! With those two by my side I would so play that game." Jasmine finished. That did it. The couple broke down. Once the laughter had subsided some, Harold started to explain things to the indignant teen. "Uh for starters trusting Heather is usually a bad idea."

"Usually?! That girl is nothing but a two timing, prissy, man stealing, self indulgent sk-" Harold waited patiently for LeShawna's rant to end before continuing. "So that explains Heather. As far as Courtney goes she's….she's okay I guess…at least once you get her away from that IDIOT!"

"And that temper of hers! Psh! That girl is worse then the shoppers who wait til the last minute to get there child an ipod! Speaking of which how did you get tan girl to listen?" Harold blanched both from his girlfriend's look and then at the memory. Letting out a heavy sigh he started to explain.

Anyone who had met her knew that she was a near unstoppable force. For someone to harness that power was either very brave, very smart or very stupid. Somehow he had a feeling that it was all three.

It had been a very bad wakeup call to discover he had been tied to a chair in his pajamas. It was even worse to discover the biggest threat to his life was sitting directly next to him in her nightgown similarly bound. To add to the trauma factor, the chairs were attached to another rope and were dangling far above the ground. Looking down at them were the culprits.

"GET ME DOWN FROM HERE YOU STUPID HICK!" Courtney screamed from her suspended perch. Harold was likewise annoyed but remained calm. Or as calm as a person could be hanging from a makeshift ski lift.

"Noot until you knook it off with the war eh!" Ezekiel retorted from inside one of balcony railings. Tied tightly to one of the metal rails was one end of the rope. From another balcony the other end of the rope was secured with Izzy sitting on the railing edge grinning happily.

"Oh yeah we're like so tired of the whole he's a traitor bash bash blah blah and I would have won blah blah fishcakes! So until you kiss and make up you get to hang here!"

Courtney looked repulsed by Izzy's idea as did Harold. "I'M NOT KISSING HIM!!!" The CIT screeched out as Harold nodded. "IDIOTS! Only a lesser man would stoop that low. I on the other hand will never go astray from my fair LeShawna. GOSH!"

"Okay then eh." The prairie teen exchanged a look with Izzy, before the pair started to loosen the knots. As the chairs keeping them captive dipped abruptly the bound teens screamed.

LeShawna looked at him in disbelief while Jasmine was more then disturbed. "So when did this happen again?" Harold smiled back weakly. "Really late at night. Right before Duncan came to the resort. Izzy and Ezekiel kept us up there until I apologized for the zillionth time and Courtney accepted it."

"So you were up there until morning." Harold nodded. "By that time Courtney lost her voice and was more then ready to listen." LeShawna shook her head. "Well that's one way to get someone to cooperate." The large lady randomly grabbed a treat, but paused looking at the gingerbread man. The cookie was in a ninja stance and had been iced to look like her beau.

"Uhh… Harold?" The skinner teen grinned as his love held up the cookie. He had been surprised when a package from Ezekiel had arrived for him that morning. Smiling at the simple gift Harold explained. "Oh someone sent me this special package full of stuff that they made. I just brought this part to share."

Despite further prodding from his girlfriend, Harold refused to divulge any more information about the plate or the identity of the strange sender. On the plus side after chasing her boyfriend around the ice, LeShawna finally did learn how to ice skate.

Two plates. One foor the person I met on the island and the other to share with friends and family eh.

Happy Holidays, Harold

Ezekiel

This is SSBFreak from Canada. My favourite characters from TDI are Ezekiel, Harold, Izzy and Tyler. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!"

Imagi's Ramblings: Well I'm back! Vacation was fun especially since no yard work on Christmas day! Yippee! :D Hope everyone got what they asked for this Xmas! :)

Oh and the character Jasmine is LeShawna's best friend. She's in the video message from home to LeShawna. ;)

As I mentioned before yes I am continuing the story even though it's no longer before or Christmas time. Hopefully it will be all up soon…I'm working on the dreaded bad luck chapter now and with luck it should be done soon.

And points to logicaltiger for guessing the right comic strip! :D

See what happens with a relaxed Imagi? You get more updates. :D

Thanks all for the reviews…did I mention I love reviews? :D They are fuel. Energy to convince me to continue onwards into finishing this story! :) So yeah..review. :D

11 to go I am now officially HALFWAY! Hooray!!! :D Posting from another much older computer Roadblock successfully navigated! Now I can work on the next camper! :) Now onwards! :D

Imagi