"As your best friend, it's compulsory for me to help you with girlfriend trouble."

"Hey, Kate. It's You-Know-Who!"

Protector of Silence

Chapter Sixteen – Preparations

Kellyn sighed as he looked out of the window at the pouring rain. The bus to Pueltown seemed to be taking forever, and the pouring rain meant the shopping trip would be dreary and boring. It was December 23rd: the day before Christmas Eve. Most of the students were taking the bus to Pueltown to get some last-minute Christmas shopping done. Kellyn had agreed to go along, but was starting to regret it. Kate and Starlight had both decided not to come, and since Luna declared she didn't like anything that moved and had an engine, he was on his own with only Keith, Liam and Nick. Said trio were squashed in the row of seats only meant for two behind him, playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Liam appeared to be winning and Nick was getting thrashed, but only because Liam and Keith were apparently cheating by adding extras to the game. Now the game was more like Rock, Paper, Scissors, Gun, Tornado, Water, Fire, Volcano, etcetera. Kellyn couldn't keep track of what beat what and was pretty sure they couldn't either.

Kellyn gave off one of his high-pitched sighs and let his head rest against the window. He lay like that for another five minutes until he heard someone plunk themselves in the bus-seat next to his.

"Hiya Kel!" Keith grinned "Any idea what you're getting for Christmas?" Kellyn just shook his head. "Alright then. So...who have you got for Secret Santa?"

Kellyn removed a small slip of paper from his pocket and read the name on it again. The boys had all drawn names from a hat that morning, having to buy a gift for the one who's name was on the paper you blindly picked. However, Keith seemed to have forgotten you were supposed to keep the person you got a secret from everyone else. So he shook his head again.

"Oh come on, you can tell me!" Keith grinned, then his face fell "Wait, you haven't got me have you?" Kellyn shook his head for the third time "Well then, who? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Seeing Keith wasn't going to go away, Kellyn reluctantly turned the crumpled piece of paper towards the ginger. On it were five letters written in black ink: PONTE.

"Ah, that one's easy, just give him a bag of cookies or something" Keith said, then looked down at his own slip of paper and groaned "I've got Isaac. I mean, what am I supposed give him that he likes but doesn't already have? I could get him an encyclopaedia, but he'd more than likely already have it. Possibly the only thing that would satisfy him if his own library of books...oh wait. He has one of those at school practically." Keith groaned, and mingled his fingers into his ginger hair. "Maybe I can ask Lind about it when I see him tomorrow."

Kellyn raised an eyebrow.

Who's Lind?

"My little brother" Keith answered.

Your names are Keith and Lind?

"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want" Keith snorted "Dad went to school with the two of them and after the whole Go Rock Squad thing, he wanted his two sons named after them." He sighed "Well at least we're not twins." He answered Kellyn's question gaze "Lind's eight."

Same age as Melissa

"Melissa...she's your foster sister right?" Keith asked. Kellyn nodded "Will you be seeing her tomorrow?"

Kellyn shook his head. Most of the students were spending Christmas Eve with their families, but he'd decided against it. Besides, Kate was staying at school too since her family was in Fiore (she was going back home for her thirteenth birthday around New Years however), and Starlight was obvious staying at school. The three of them could just hang out together and get ready for the Christmas party tomorrow night.

"So what else is up?" Keith asked "Come on, you never go into depression mode over such a trivial thing."

Kellyn sighed. Keith wasn't going to stop pestering him until they reached Pueltown in fifteen minutes, so he may as well tell him.

I want to get a gift for Kate

"Oh, so you want to get a Christmas present for your girlfriend do you?" Keith teased. Kellyn rolled his eyes, he knew this was coming "You know what, I have an idea of what you can get her."

Kellyn startled and raised an eyebrow at this.

"Don't you worry!" Keith winked at him "As your best friend, it's compulsory for me to help you with girlfriend trouble, and this is no exception! Don't you worry Kel! We're gonna get Kate the best present she's ever received!"

Kellyn struggled to fit through the cafeteria doors as the enormous build up of boxes in his arms obscured his vision. He squeaked for help as he tried to ram the door open with his back, only to almost drop all the boxes.

"Oh come 'er, weaklin'!" Starlight, carrying two presents under his arm, shoved the door open with his shoulder to let them in "Kate! You in here?! We have the stuff you wanted!"

"Up here guys!" Kate called from somewhere.

Kellyn struggled to look around the edge of his pile of boxes. He squeaked and tapped his foot, hoping Kate got the message.

"I'm up here!" Kate called.

Kellyn squeaked again, demanding a bit more of a specific answer.

"Put your boxes down!" Kate called.

Kellyn gave off a squeak that sounded as much like 'Where?' as possible, followed by a rough cough for his efforts.

"To your left. Just place them down there. I'll pick them up later."

"You're gonna pick these up?" Starlight asked as he carefully took half of Kellyn's boxes and placed them down to the left of the door.

"I'm gonna empty the boxes first, Genius!" Kate called down to him "Where's the tree lights' box?"

"You didn't tell me to...!" Starlight began, then saw it was pointless to argue with Kate and sighed "Fine! I'll go get it!" He disappeared out the doors into the cold, mumbling something like: "Stupid indecisive twelve-year-olds."

Kellyn set his boxes down next to the ones Starlight had put down and looked around for his friend. The cafeteria had gone under mass renovation for the Christmas party that evening. The tables had been pushed aside to make room for a dance space and there was a long table packed with food down one side of the room. A DJ box was at the head of the hall next to a currently bare christmas tree.

Kate was standing on a stepladder and hanging up silver tinsel on the upper part of the wall. She was wearing her school jacket, a white T-shirt and blue shorts with her ginger hair in a low ponytail to keep it out the way. He saw she was taping the tinsel up with masking tape. He also saw she was struggling to keep her balance. He grunted to get her attention, then pointed at her and tilted his head.

"I'm putting up decorations, make the room sparkle a bit more" Kate explained.

He walked as close to the ladder as he could, wrote a message and then stood on tiptoes to give the notebook to her.

You're going to hurt yourself

"I know how to put up tinsel Kellyn" Kate folded her arms. The stepladder creaked as she did so, making Kellyn wince.

I never said you couldn't. But do you want any help?

"Thanks for the offer, I'll call if I need you" she smiled "Can you sort the baubles for the Christmas tree out on that table? It'll be faster to decorate the tree if you do."

Do we have any food?

"Oh Kellyn, you're getting as bad as Keith!" Kate face-palmed "You're always hungry!"

I didn't have breakfast this morning

"Neither did I" Kate told him "You could've had some, but no. You had an amazingly important thing to do instead of eating the most important meal of the day."

Sarcasm isn't appreciated Kate

Kellyn felt a little hurt. The 'amazingly important thing' that involved him missing breakfast had been wrapping her christmas present that Keith had helped him pick out yesterday in Pueltown. But he couldn't let Kate know that, so he'd previously given her some excuse about studying in the library.

"Oh fine!" Kate sighed "There's a plate of cookies in the kitchen. You can have one. Luna, hand me that red tinsel please."

As the white Espeon trotted over to the boxes, Kellyn disappeared inside the kitchen. There was a plate of cookies on the work-surface. Deciding the party would still go ahead if one was missing, he picked one up and took a bite out of it. The cookies were quite small so he had finished it as he exited. It was a good thing too, or he might have dropped it in shock-horror. Kate was struggling to tape the end of a piece of tinsel to spot far from her reach. He squeaked and frantically shook his head, warning her she was going to fall.

"I can reach it" she told him. Kellyn shook his head harder, able to hear his heart pounding in his ears "I'm fine Kellyn. Honestly I'm—"

Kate's voice broke off as she fell off the ladder and began falling towards the ground a compiled by a heart-stopping scream.

"Peon!" Luna cried.

'Kate!' Kellyn rushed towards her.

Without any warning, Kate stopped in midair, frozen, the outline of her body glowing with a pale blue light. Knowing his triggered powers wouldn't hold her for long, Kellyn quickly ran under her and released her from her frozen state. He skidded to a stop as he held out his arms to catch her...

To his surprise, he did! Right in his arms! And he was even more surprise that he didn't fall from the force the older girl put on him when she landed in his arms.

Kate trembled as she gripped on tight onto Kellyn's shoulders, her baby-blue eyes trained on the ground as she shivered. Carefully he lowered her into a sitting position on the ground. They stared each other in the eyes for a few awkward seconds before Kate shakily asked:

"H-How did you do that?" Kellyn blinked at her question "Y-You stopped me from falling...before you caught me."

Kellyn swallowed nervously.

"Cat's outta the bag now, eh?" Luna teased from somewhere behind him.

'Oh shut up!' he snapped back 'I was going to have to tell her sooner or later!'

He sighed and looked over at a plate of crisps on the table, letting his eyes glow blue-white for the second time that minute. The plate slowly rose into the air. One crisps fell from the plate, but it stopped before it hit the ground and flew back onto the plate. Kate looked at it speechlessly, her mouth hanging wide open. The plate lowered back onto the table and Kellyn hung his head as his eyes melted back to blue-green.

"Whoa" she said and then, to his surprise, grinned "That was so cool! Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Kellyn blinked.

You don't think I'm weirdo?

"Well, that depends" Kate shrugged "You're a weirdo, I'm a weirdo, Starlight's a weirdo, Keith's definitely a weirdo...I suppose us weirdoes have to stick together."

Kellyn felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders, it felt easier with his best friend knowing about his abilities... wait a minute. Did he just say best friend? Was Kate his best friend?

There was a moment of awkwardness staring at each other, unsure of what to say. Fortunately for Kate, the ringing of her phone gave her enough of a reason to look away.

"H-Hello?"

"Hey, Kate. It's You-Know-Who!"

"H-Hey Keith."

"What's wrong? You sound like you've seen a Gastly."

"Oh. Well...I...um…"

"You okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine" she said as she began rubbing the back of her neck.

"Is Kellyn there?"

"Y-Yeah. H-he's here."

"Okey-dokey then! Put him on the line!"

A tense silence resounded as Kate and Kellyn stared at each other.

"Um, Keith. You do know Kellyn can't answer a phone" Kate told him.

"Why? Oh, wait. Ah, I get it. I'll just tell you this then, Kate."

"Fine, what is it?"

"Well, Isaac's taking the rest of us to go and see the place he wants to work at. Altru Tower or something like that. Anyway, we're taking the bus there, which is where I am now. We shouldn't be back at school until this evening, so you guys have all the time in the world to get that party up 'n' runnin'!"

"Er, right...thanks Keith" Kate said.

"No problem! ...Uh oh."

"What?" Kate asked "What's happening?"

"I think Becs and Liam are gonna brawl. Think, Becs just went and said something about Steelix being lame. Gotta split 'em up. Talk to you later, Kate, Kel. Hey guys! Come on! Can't we all just be mates?"

Kate heard Liam and Becs' voices yell:

"Shut up!"

in the background before disconnecting the call. It wasn't that long before the memory of what events had taken place before the call came rushing back to her. Kate and Kellyn continued to stare warily at each other.

"Um, thanks for saving me" Kate managed.

You're welcome

Another awkward silence followed. Thankfully this one was broken by the arrival of Starlight. The silver-haired teen hopped into the hall carrying a box of Christmas tree lights with tinsel wrapped around his neck, arms and torso. He was hopping because his left leg was wrapped in a knot of colourful lights.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Kate laughed.

"Unbelievable!" Starlight complained, setting the box on the ground before attempting to free his leg "First I fall down the attic's ladder and land on my head, then when I finally get up there I get tangled up in the tinsel and as I unwrap myself I almost get fried by the christmas tree lights!"

Both Kate and Kellyn roared with laughter.

"It's not funny!" Starlight complained. When they didn't stop, he pouted "You guys are mean!"

His attempts to untangle the wire around his leg had been unsuccessful and he had just trapped his hands in the green-plastic-coated copper too. Shadow then trotted through the doors with a wheel of tape in his mouth. He dropped it next to Luna and, seeing his master was in trouble, attempted to free him by yanking on the wire with his teeth.

"Well, we'll leave you two to your sticky situation" Kate giggled "Come on Kellyn. We can decorate the tree."

Decorating the tree was, in a word, eventful. Kate and Kellyn saw to the tinsel and it was Kellyn's turn to nearly fall off the step ladder. Once Starlight had untangled himself from the tree lights, they unknotted them and began to lace them around the tree. Then came the baubles, and that's when things got eventful. By eventful, I mean Kellyn levitating baubles and making them fly wildly around the room before hanging them on the tree. One almost fell and smashed, but just conked Luna on the head instead. That had, in loose terms, ended badly when she let loose a psybeam and shorted out all the lights. They had to find a Pikachu and some Pichu to get them working again.

Kellyn had just finished hanging up what Kate called a nutcracker (apparently Liam had taken that literally last year and tried to use one to crack Keith's head open to see if he was a 'nutter') when said girl came over to the tree. She was carrying two baubles in the shape of birds. Kellyn cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"These?" Kate held the baubles up, seeing his expression "They're called turtle doves. They're in the twelve days of Christmas, number two. They're symbols of friendship and lo—" She broke off and blushed furiously. Kellyn did too, guessing what she was going to say. Kate then gulped, trying to hide her blush, and carried on: "Anyway, turtle doves are the things chosen to represent that because of the affection they show for their mate. Here, do you want hang one up?"

She held one out to Kellyn. He nodded and took it. The two hung the turtle doves on the tree next to each other, the smaller one flying slightly higher than its companion and their beaks pointing towards each other.

"Awww, ain't that sweet?" The two turned around to see Starlight beaming at them.

They both blushed for the second time, until they noticed Starlight's hands were behind his back.

"What are you hiding?" Kate asked.

Starlight looked over his shoulder, checking on the object he was hiding before innocently asking: "Why Kate, I haven't a clue what you're talking about."

"Yeah right" Kate folded her arms "Come on, give it here."

She took a step forwards. Starlight cupped whatever it was in his hands and held it high above his head.

"Uh-uh! Never!" he cackled menacingly "Thy shalt never discovery it! Never!"

Starlight then fled the cafeteria cackling 'Never!' over and over again followed by Shadow, Luna and Kate who was roaring: "Get back here you silver-headed punk and give it to me!"

Kellyn sweat dropped at the whole scene.

'Well, at least they're having fun' he thought. He gently stroked the back of one of the turtle doves. He wondered whether he should chase after them 'Probably not. Starlight's secret can't be that life-changing anyway.'