Jace opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that his head hurt. A lot. Then he noticed that the room was kind of dark. The curtains on the window were black and closed, though given the amount of light he did have he could safely assume that it was near the middle of the day. He could distantly smell something cooking. It did smell good but at the same time it made him queasy. Whatever. I'm just gonna go back to sleep. I'll figure out how much time has passed later.
"Oh c'mon!" he heard Rick just outside his door, "I just wanted to see if he was awake."
"No. You want to see if you can be a pain in his ass," Jace recognized Tessa's hard voice and couldn't help but smirk. He remained quiet though so as to allow her to continue to think he was more than likely asleep. The blanket smelled like it had been recently washed. He yawned. I'm going back to sleep. He closed his eyes.
When next Jace opened his eyes the lighting of the room was practically the same. Did I really sleep that long? He got to his feet. His hunger drove him out of the room.
"Hey!" Rick was waiting for him. He picked Jace up and slung him over his shoulder without warning.
"Wha-HEY! Put me DOWN!" Jace started to struggle though he didn't put much effort into it. He wanted to be put down but not badly enough to hurt him.
Rick went tearing through the hallways yodeling about how Jace was awake and had decided to come out of the room.
"I said put me down!" Jace insisted. From what he could see it looked like the hotel but the world was very different when it was upside down.
"He's awake," Rick said. Jace could easily imagine the grin plastered on the larger and older boy's face. His eyes narrowed almost gleefully. He grabbed Rick's brown hair and pulled, hard. Rick yelped and almost dropped him, "Alright. I'll put you down." Jace turned away from him once his feet were safely on the ground and stalked away crossly. He could here Kyle laughing, "Finally he does it to someone other than me."
"It's almost Christmas!" Ral said excitedly. He got up a little too fast and had to sit back down before he vomited. He decided that mana poisoning was not something he wanted again. Ever.
"Alright and?" Lilianna looked at him, "I doubt you'll be doing anything anyway."
"Well," Ral grinned, "That doesn't mean we can't celebrate! We can have fun for the first time in MONTHS!"
Chandra cocked her head to the side, "We could."
Matching grins plastered themselves on Michael and David's faces.
"Not you two," Tina snapped.
Their grins only widened.
"See Ral!" Tina glared at the lightning mage, "Look what you did! We could have had a couple more weeks of peace if you hadn't said anything!"
"You know you miss it," Michael wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I do not," Tina crossed her arms over her chest angrily.
"Is Jace still pissed at Rick?" Michael asked.
Chandra glanced at the corner where their cat eared friend was sulking, "Nope. He's trying not to smile." She felt his blue eyes glaring at her back and smirked at him.
David suddenly leaped up, "I have an idea! How about for Christmas everyone gets a present for everyone else. That way everyone gets a present and-"
"Everyone gets a shit ton of presents that we won't be able to fit anywhere," Tina corrected, "Do you see the problem there?"
David grinned and shook his head, "Nope!"
Michael looked at her, "What's the problem with presents?"
"C'mon Lotus," Chandra smirked, "Help spread the love."
"I'm not buying presents for every god damn person in the city!" Tina snapped.
"Not the city," Lilianna shook her head, "We're talking about the school."
"Still!" Tina snapped.
Chandra smirked, "Fine then you don't get any presents."
"I'm fine without presents!" Tina insisted.
"Are you really?" Michael asked.
David smirked knowingly.
Tina growled at them, "Yeah!"
"Really?" Ral asked, "You seem kind of put out."
"Would you guys shut up ALREADY?!" Tine snapped angrily.
"But we don't want to leave you out if that's not what you really want," Michael said.
She gritted her teeth, "Fine. I'll get something small for everyone."
Michael and David grinned, "Of course!"
Chandra smiled, "Yay." She got to her feet, "Hey Jace."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm not celebrating just because you guys want to."
"Cat Ears!" Ral jogged over to him. He leaned against the wall closest to Jace, "C'mon! We're celebrating Christmas!"
"No. You're celebrating Christmas."
"And when was the last time you had fun?" Chandra asked.
"I'm not celebrating with you guys," Jace shook his head, "I'm not getting caught in one of Michael and David's traps. I'm not going to get caught in one of Rick's-"
"C'mon Cat Ears. Michael and David set traps but it'll be the entire school!" Ral insisted.
"No."
"Alright," Chandra smirked and held the medallion in front of Jace's face. He reached out to grab it but she pulled it away from him. Understanding dawned on him and he gritted his teeth, "I hate you so damn much right now."
"Jace. Language."
Jace turned in surprise, "Elspeth? It's not like it's not true."
Chandra smiled, "Celebrate Christmas with us and this will be your present from me."
Jace gritted his teeth and remained silent for a while. He hung his head in defeat, "Fine."
"Damn Be-"
"Ral. Language."
"Right. Sorry!" Ral sighed, "Anyway, that was kind of manipulative."
Chandra shrugged, "He's celebrating with us and it's not like the promise is empty."
Ral nodded, "Okay."
Jace growled, "I hate you. I hate. Hate. HATE you."
"It's so important that you had to repeat yourself three times before finishing the sentence?" Chandra asked. She whistled softly, "Wow."
Jace growled, "I hate you."
The four days till Christmas passed uneventfully. They had started rebuilding the school building and everyone that had been injured was healed enough to be able to be up and doing their normal activities without having to worry too much. The dorms hadn't been damaged thanks to the alloy Ral'd discovered and lined every wall with.
"Cat Ears! Get up! It's Christmas morning!" Ral started bouncing Jace's bed.
Jace growled and curled up tighter and deeper under his blanket. Eventually Ral annoyed him enough that he sat up, "I swear by everything that is holy Ral Zarek!"
Ral stepped back but his excited grin did not fade, "Remember you promised."
Jace gritted his teeth, "I remember. But does that mean you have to wake me up before DAWN?"
"Ral! Jace! C'mon!" Michael and David called from outside their room.
"See!" Ral shook the bed one last time before heading to the door.
"Whatever happened to your side of the room anyway?!" Jace snapped at him.
Ral shrugged, "The curtains gone."
Jace stared at him, "That shouldn't even be necessary anymore!"
"Apparently it is," Ral sighed, "C'mon Cat Ears! You're being slow."
"Fine. I'm coming. I'm coming," Jace muttered unenthusiastically. He followed Ral down the stairs and into the courtyard. A giant tree sat in the middle of the courtyard with lights and ornaments all over it. Jace had helped decorate it the day before though the fact that they were decorating a tree hadn't made any sense to him at all. A whole bunch of boxes were spread out under the tree and the first and second principals, now the principal and assistant principal respectively, as well as the PE teacher, Mr. Rice, Mrs. Hills, and a couple teachers Jace recognized but didn't know by name were all dressed up as different things that were apparently associated with Christmas. All of them had red and white hats on. The students gathered in front of them eagerly and impatiently. Jace still didn't get it thought the concept had been explained to him. He shrugged it off and assumed that the excitement came with having grown up with the holiday.
The PE teacher was dressed up as Santa Claus. Everyone else was a deer an elf or a snowman.
"Honestly I wonder if Beautiful followed through on her promise," Ral wondered out loud.
"She better have," Jace muttered.
"Alright. So in honor of our strengthened friendship, everyone has gotten a present for everyone else," the principal said, "If your first class of the day in the beginning of the year was English I want you to gather in front of Mr. Lazano. If your first class of the day was History, I want you to go to Mr. Rice. Math goes to Mrs. Hills. Science goes to Mrs. Elia. If you had an extra curricular instead of class you're with Mrs. Haliel. If you had an elective like Art or PE for first you're going to Jim."
Everyone gathered around their appointed teacher.
Mr. Rice cleared his throat dramatically, "If I butcher your names I'm sorry. I'm awful at names."
"You still can't say your own student's names Mr.," Erin muttered.
"That is not the point Erin," Mr. Rice said teasingly, "Anyway, everyone gather around. I will be handing out presents. I hope you can carry seven hundred or however many students there are in this school. And hopefully you can fit them into your rooms." He looked at Ral and Jace, "Without invading your roommates space."
Jace glared at Ral.
"What?" Ral asked innocently.
The presents were handed out slowly, especially by Mr. Rice who didn't know anyone's names and spent two minutes trying to pronounce the more complicated ones. Eventually everyone got their presences though. A giant group of all the students formed, all excitedly wanting to ask the others what they got. Jace sat a distance away, completely fed up. He didn't want to be outside anymore. He could already guess what Ral got him. It was wrapped but it wasn't a box and he'd heard the PE teacher cursing as he tried to wrap it the night before. All the wrapping paper was covered in designs similar to the tree's decorations. He knew he couldn't carry everything to his room and he didn't want most of it anyway. A lot of it was rather big. It wasn't like he had the room for all that stuff. He had the medallion but the sneaky little redhead had stolen the ring from him. He saw her smirking at him a little distance away. He growled and looked up at the sky. It still wasn't very late into the day.
"Hey Jace!" Michael and David hurried up to him followed by Yuri, Cain and Jenny.
"What did you get?!" Jenny asked excitedly. She started skipping around him.
Jace ignored them.
"C'mon," Michael wasn't going to bother working his way through the presents that surrounded Jace to reach him, "We want to know."
Jace shrugged, "Does it matter? It won't fit in my room. There's no reason for any of it and-"
"Of course there's reason!" David grinned.
"You're our friend and we care," Michael shrugged.
"C'mon," Jenny was not so against climbing over his presents. She shoved one at him insistently, "What's in it?"
Jace sighed and grabbed it. It was relatively small and from Alice. He opened it and cocked his head to the side. Inside the small box was a beaded bracelet. What's with all the jewelry anyway? I don't like jewelry. I've gotten a necklace from Chandra and one from Lilianna. Now I've got a bracelet from Alice. He shrugged and set it aside.
Jenny grabbed another present, "Next!" It was big enough lifting it required some effort and setting it down without crushing her, Jace or both was even more challenging. He sighed and took it from her. He set it down off to the side and opened it. Inside was a box that according to the packaging held a small bookshelf. Jace looked at Cain, who'd gotten it for him in surprise.
"I noticed your books were lying in and around your desk," Cain explained.
Jace shrugged, "Alright." Jewelry and furniture. Great. Where am I gonna put a bookshelf anyway? I mean it's small. There's only three shelves but where the hell am I gonna put a bookshelf.
The rest of the group that called themselves his friends, because he still denied to himself at least that they were friends, were beginning to gather. He suddenly realized how big it was. Nearly every kid from Ascension City and then Michael and David and their friend. There was also Ral, Lilianna and Chandra. He forced down the almost bubbly happy feeling that rose up inside him and watched Jenny sift through the other presents.
"If my calculations are correct then everyone has around seven hundred twenty for presents each," Cain said.
Jace had basically gotten a variation of the same thing for everyone. He'd asked Ral what a good idea for a present was and Ral suggested he get something small and simple. Hypocritical as it sounded he'd gotten a whole bunch of small stuffed animals unlike Ral who'd spent all his money on the biggest stuffed animals he could find.
Jenny picked up Ral's gift, "This one."
Ral grinned.
Jace rolled his eyes, "I don't have to open it." He set it aside, "It's a stuffed animal. I'll bet good money it's a cat."
Ral shook his head, "C'mon Cat Ears. Just unwrap it!"
Jace glared at him, "I already know what it is."
"Please?"
"Fine. As long as you shut up I'll open it," Jace growled.
Ral agreed silently.
Jace opened it. He was not wrong. This time it was large but smaller than he was. It was a stuffed panther. He set it aside again.
Jenny kept handing him presents and he opened them. Chandra gave him the medallion like she'd promised but she did have the ring which meant he was still at square one as far as that argument was concerned. He was still trying to figure out how she managed to get it. Michael had gotten him a stuffed animal just to annoy him. The card that came with it even said so. The blondie got a cold glare in response. David had gotten him a trampoline. Jace stared at him, "A trampoline? What in the hell am I supposed to do with a trampoline?"
David shrugged, "I don't know. It's made for jumping on."
Jace shook his head, "Whatever." Onyx had gotten him a set of arrows. How he found out Jace could use a bow he had no idea but apparently they were quite rare and extremely high quality. He rolled his eyes. I swear. He was pretty sure that information had come from Ral or Chandra. Lilianna was a possibility but Jace doubted it. He got a low of jewelry for some reason he couldn't understand. Maybe it's just that jewelry's easy to come by. It was mostly necklaces and bracelets. He sighed. A lot of the big stuff was completely random. There was a bike, a computer. He assumed that whoever got him the computer didn't know him all that well because he hated technology. There was furniture that he'd never hope to be able to fit in the dorm room. Why everyone insisted on that he didn't have a clue but since everyone was getting presents for everyone else things were bound tot get odd. He got a gigantic art kit that had everything from a sketchbook to clay from Erin. He also got books. Lots and lots of books.
Jace sighed in relief when he finally finished opening the presents. He had a whole bunch of stuff he didn't want or know what to do with and none of it would fit in the dorm room let alone his side of it. Ral of course jut got technology, technology and more technology with a few other things scattered here and there. His interests were easier to cater to. Jace had gotten a lot of books and bookshelf like pieces of furniture. Not as many as Alice but he wasn't as excited to read the books as she was either. She also had a roommate that didn't mind having books and bookshelves everywhere. If his stuff was everywhere then Ral's stuff would be everywhere and then they'd forget what belonged to who. I have to put the curtains back up. Jace really didn't feel like moving. He listened to the ambient conversation around him boredly.
"Hey!" Jade came out of the girls' dorm after having dropped off her stuff, "Melody's made sweets!"
The entire student body left the courtyard. Jace stayed outside along with a couple others enjoying the solace of the sudden quiet. His solace didn't last long. Michael and David came to get him and dragged him into the girls' dorm common room. The entire bottom floor had been cleared and rows of tables filled with Christmas themed sweets filled the room instead. The air was so cloying sweet that Jace gagged. He had never wanted to be in his room more in his life.
"C'mon!" Jade grabbed his arm and dragged him to the closest edge of the first table before he could argue.
Jace whined slightly in protest but didn't vocalize it otherwise. Michael and David followed and made him grab every single sweet that was available.
"Do you want me to get sick?" Jace muttered.
"C'mon. The whole point of this is to put everyone in a sugar coma," Michael insisted.
"I don't want to be in a sugar coma," Jace snapped.
"Melody made them. It's only fair that the three of us taste test everything that she's made," David added.
"Why me?" Jace asked.
"You've eaten her homemade cookies," David shrugged.
"You're a professional," Michael added.
Jade smiled.
Jace sighed, "Fine, but I'm definitely not eating all of everything. I'll eat like a little bit." Why the hell am I agreeing to this? This is stupid. I'm going to be so sick. The last time I ate anywhere near this much was because of Nix. And that wasn't all sweet. He shook his head, "I'm an idiot."
"By the way, Caedrus and Onyx volunteered to move all your heavy ass gifts into your dorm room," Michael said.
"Don't worry," David said as Jace turned to stare at them, "we told them to make sure it was on your side of the room."
Jace only relaxed a little bit. He stared at the tables of sweets they still had to go, "Can this be it for now?"
"No!" Michael and David continued to push him onward.
Jace gave in. He didn't bother thinking too deeply as to why he did so. That would probably lead to an answer he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. I'm going to be so sick after this. Hopefully Chandra won't make Nix look after me again. I don't want to go through that again. Speaking of which I think the dye might still be hidden in my dresser. I'll do that later.