And the song used in the last chapter when Leah and Jonah sings in church is snowflakes by Olivia Holt (It's probably a cover but anyway)

"Lex, Lex, Lex, Lex, Lex…" I continued while standing pretty much bouncing up and down on my toes and knocking the front door at the Hudmels', Jack was arriving tomorrow and I and Lex were having a sleepover at hers since we hadn't met since after the Christmas concert with glee, and I just couldn't wait to tell her about my Christmas present since I knew she loved the fault in our stars too.

"Lex, Lex, Lex." Ariel barked, she was probably going very confused from me bouncing like this. "Lex, Lex, Lex… Shut up Ari… Oh, hey… Finn was it right?" The tall boy nodded at me and stepped away from the door so I could step over the threshold and I continued inside where Carole, Burt, a girl and two boys I'd never met before sat in the sofas.

"Lex is upstairs fixing for tonight honey." Carole said. "She'll be down in a minute. And this is Rebeccah, Finn's girlfriend. Kurt who is Burt's son and his boyfriend Blaine. And everyone, this is Leah- Lex's friend and her dog Ariel. You can let her go honey, and God she's gotten so big."

"She has!" I agreed and took the leash off so Ariel could run over to first Carole and then Burt and then just started running around not so sure about who to greet first. "Don't worry…" I told Kurt when he pulled away from her. "She doesn't bite."

"Keep that flea bag away from me!"

"Hey!" I said kind of annoyed. "Ari haven't got fleas, she just wants to say hello." I sat down on the floor. "Ariel come here." I clapped my leg so she came running over to me. "That's not a nice boy who doesn't want to greet?" I joked with her and Kurt. "We're going to make him like you too before we left aren't we? Oh yes we are!"

"Hey Leah!" Lex came jogging down the stairs and sat down on the floor next to me. "Oh…" She eyed me up and down, from the sneakers, to the jeans, to the sweatshirt, to the beanie and the bag- and also the footed pyjamas lying in my bag everything was themed with the fault in our stars. "Christmas present?" I nodded. "Awesome!"

"Yeah," I opened my bag. "And I got this and a bunch of other the fault in our stars things as well." I held it up. "The rest from mum and dad, but this one from Jonah- as you probably understand!" Lex nodded- she knew Jonah so I guessed she could have guessed that. "How was your Christmas then?"

"It was great!" Lex pushed herself up. "Come on, let's go sit in the sofa instead of on the floor." I nodded and took her hand so she could help me get up- standing up could still be somewhat of a challenge if I had been sitting on the floor. "Thanks for the chocolate by the way." I had bought Lex about her own body weight of MnM's.

"You're very welcome. Thank you yourself for the leash!" I pulled the leash around my hand a few times so it wouldn't hang down on the floor. "The fun thing is, Megan- Jack's sister. She gave Ariel this collar, red with white stars, and this leash is white on one side, blue on the other- it's like… Right but wrong!"

"Nothing could be right and wrong… Mum… tell Leah to stop laughing at me! Stop laughing at me… It could be all right, all wrong, or half right, half wrong, but it couldn't be a hundred percent wrong and a hundred percent right… that would make like…. Two hundred percent… STOP LAUGHING!"

"I… I'm sorry honey." Carole laughed. "You're just… oh my God. Honey!" Carole ruffled in Finn's hair and sighed. "Don't feel bad okay!" Finn still seemed a bit grumpy, but let it go and turned to some football game on the TV just as my phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it up already knowing that it was from dad after he talked to my grandma and grandpa- again!

I talked to them, they promised they'd try and change this time too. They're looking forward to seeing you in January

I sighed and felt the usual clench in my stomach as usual when someone mentioned going to my grandma and grandpa while I thought out an answer. I knew it would make dad feel bad but, I guess I just couldn't really help it!

They're looking forward to see Jonah, as usual they're not even going to see me! Dad can't I just stay home by myself?

I laid the phone on my knee and barely thirty seconds had passed by when it beeped again.

Sorry honey, but not for that long by yourself. And maybe it would be better if you tried and believe in them! I'm sorry.

I sighed, and decided to just let the conversation go for now. "Are you okay Leigh?" Lex asked suddenly. "You look so… sad!" I shook my head and explained shortly to her, trying for it not to be loud enough for the others to hear it too. Because I had a good feeling about what Carole might do if she knew, and I did not want to be a burden.

"But what's wrong with going to your grandparents? After all they are your family!" I nodded, I knew and I knew I was lucky to have them. That they really loved me and I loved them, so I had to kind of brainstorm to come up with a way to explain to her why I didn't like Old Mr. And Mrs. McAllen.

"I love my grandparents." I said, a bit too loud. "Only I don't love the way they treat me- and not the way they treat Jonah- it's not that I'm jealous or anything… I just wish that they would at least act as if I was in the room instead of pretending as if I weren't even there!" I sighed. "I know Lex, compared to other things it's not too bad but I just… I don't like it!"

"What is it with your grandparents honey?" Carole asked, and the way she asked I understood she wouldn't give up unless I gave her an answer. The true answer! "Why is it you don't like going there?"

I sighed. "Whenever I go there Jonah does too, and they will spend all their time fussing over Jonah and never leaving him for as much as a second, and it wouldn't bother me- if it wasn't for the fact that it bothers Jonah. And for the fact that they act like I'm not even there… and it also takes us almost two hours to get to school when we're there."

Carole nodded, but didn't answer at first- even though I knew what she was thinking. "I know what you're thinking Carole and no, I'm not letting you take me and Jonah in for eight days. And my parents might let me but they'd never let Jonah stay for that long with people they don't know and all of his meds and monitors and God knows everything! Sorry now I'm babbling!" Carole nodded- I totally was.

"Can we speak alone just you and me?" I nodded and stood up and followed her into the kitchen where she closed the door so the others wouldn't hear us in the living room. "Leah… When you're talking about your grandparents I can see it in your eyes exactly how you think about going to theirs and do you seriously believing I would do that to my daughter's best friend?" I hesitated. "Do you?" I shook my head.

"No I don't. But it's not that bad really!" Carole just raised an eyebrow. "Okay… it is but… I just can't let you do that okay? You've already done way too much for me okay I… I don't want to be a burden!"

Carole seemed to be wondering about what to say next. "Look!" She said at last. "The choice is going to be yours but, I'm going to call your parents and ask them what they think okay?" I nodded and she patted my shoulder. "I'm only doing it to help honey!" I nodded- I knew, then walked back into the living room and looked to Lex, trying to explain too quiet for anyone else to hear what I said.

I sat in Lex's room, on the air mattress I was using for today, scratching Ariel and eating MnM's and chatting with Lex a while later, chatting about anything in between heaven and earth and waiting for Carole to come up and tell what she and my parents came to the conclusion about everything to when Carole came into the room still talking on the phone and then sat down by me and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello Tiger" I sighed at dad's usual embarrassing nicknames. "So… Mrs. Hummel explained to me and your mum what is going on with this dilemma about you and Jonah either going to theirs or to go to stay at your grandparents' it doesn't feel like it should be a hard decision to you!" Dad chuckled at his own bad joke. "I mean, staying with your best friend where people actually see both you and Jonah, you won't have to get up at four to get in time for school, and you will be in walking distance to home if you need something."

"Dad I don't want to be a burden!" I said, almost too fast and Carole sighed and looked mostly as if she wanted to shake me. "I mean… they've already done way too much for me. I didn't even know any of them six months ago. And you're the one that tells me you should never barge into someone's private life like that unless you're family or whatever."

"I know Leigh. But I think that staying in Lima, and not to go to your grandparents where neither you nor Jonah feel good is the best option here. Besides Mrs. Hummel is a nurse, so if there's someone who could keep count on all of his medicines and everything, and on top of that will easily get in contact with the doctors and everything just as good as I and mum does- I think it's her- she seems like a great person I think that if she says it is no burden… then she's speaking the truth and you should listen!"

I sighed tiredly- I had barely been able to catch a break since we went to Benton's harbor and now my head was starting to feel like my brain had been replaced by oatmeal. "Okay dad." I said at last and looked up at Carole. "And okay Carole, on one condition!" Carole raised an eyebrow and I heard dad sigh before he asked me what. "Just don't try too hard please Carole." She smiled and then it was somewhat decided that we would met up- both of our whole families to meet up some time in January to go through anything and everything.

"So I guess I won't have to stay at grandma and grandpa's then." I smiled and leaned my head backwards towards the leg of the desk. "I'm just…" I yawned. "I'm just so tired… I think I'll take a nap here… yep. Here's a good place to take a nap." I was fighting to stay awake but my eyes were already closing by themselves.

Lex laughed shortly and when I woke up, twenty minutes later I felt like I had only blinked- although I felt a lot more alert than earlier. And then spent the rest of the evening running around playing pranks on Lex's brothers, eating MnM's and watching my the fault in our stars movie- all of us, crying our eyes out at the sad scenes- and the not so happy scenes for that matter!

"Hey Leah." Burt suddenly exclaimed by the time the movie was over and we were just sitting talking and fooling around. "I think you managed to get Kurt to like dogs- well done! Or more likely- Ariel got him to like one dog." Burt pointed and I turned to see Kurt lying on the sofa- obviously far away in his sleep with one arm wrapped around Ariel's and his hand buried in her thick fur.

"Told you I would!" I smiled. "No one could not like Ariel could they?" The others agreed. And when Ariel lifted her head drowsily I clapped my leg and called out for her and she jumped down from the sofa and groggily stumbled over to me and jumped up in my lap. "Hey girl!" I scratched her in the ears and that very special spot she liked, and lied my head down on her back.

"Carole…" I mumbled and turned my head and rolled my eyes enough without actually sitting up or lifting my head. "Thanks… about… well, everything I guess!" She smiled and patted my shoulder. "You're all kinds of great you know!" Carole chuckled. "No! I really mean it!"

"Thanks honey." She yawned, "Well, I don't know about you two! But I will go to bed now!" she stood up and tousled in Finn's hair. "Honey, go to bed, you're half asleep already." Finn was in fact half asleep lying back towards the sofa, and Rebeccah had already gone off to bed. "Come on honey." Carole more or less pulled Finn up, but he stood up and followed her without protesting even when she let go of him.

"I'm going too." Just as we had heard Finn and Carole gone off to bed Burt stood up too. "Goodnight girls. Those two…" He pointed to Kurt and Blaine, both asleep in the other sofa. "… are already far away in their worlds so we don't need to worry about them. You two, try to not stay up for too long." I nodded, looked to Lex and then we stood up both at the same time- it was pretty clear that it was time for us to go to bed as well.

"Lex?" Well, what would a sleepover be without chattering after having gone to bed? "I was thinking about it earlier. I was wondering… what do you count as the best Christmas present you ever had? And when did you have it? I mean… how old were you?"

"The best Christmas present ever was last year when I was sixteen. And I had for Christmas that mum and dad were going to adopt me. So I guess… I kind of had a family for Christmas." Lex smiled, and even though she was too drowsy to smile big I could see her eyes just shining with the happy memory. "What's the best Christmas present you ever had?"

"Well… now it sounds like nothing compared to that but a few days ago I got this big box full with things with a theme of the fault in our stars. And one of the things was a copy of the book signed by John Green." Lex seemed impressed. "Jonah got him signing it, I don't know how though because he won't tell me!"

"Jonah's got a way with people!" Lex exclaimed, and I couldn't do else then agree. "Maybe it's a part of his lifestyle with never leaving anything unsaid and just say whatever he thinks that makes that!" I nodded and mostly just continued scratching Ariel even though she was asleep. "So… well, I'm actually looking forward to having you stay here in January!"

"I kind of am too" I agreed. "And Jonah texted that he's really happy about not having to stay at grandma and grandpa's again, and he also said that he thinks you're pretty. So he might give it a shot and compete against Tyler." Lex laughed out loud, too loud and Finn knocked in the bedroom wall and shouted at her to be quiet.

"Jonah's a great guy. But sorry, not a chance!" I laughed too. "Oh well." Lex yawned for about the tenth time in a minute. "It's late… Goodnight!" I was too far in my own thoughts to answer her, and the thing that woke me up was when she started snoring. Then I let hear a short laugh and turned on the other side and fell asleep.

"TEN"

On the night between New Year's eve and New Year's day we stood in the park by midnight. Me and my parents, Jonah, Jack, and just by a coincidence we had met Lex and her whole family along with Tyler and his little brother James and their parents.

"NINE"

I had Jonah on one side with his arm around my shoulders, Lex on the other and Jack stood a bit away with his hands in his pockets and leaning against a big tree.

"EIGHT"

Jack had for some reason seemed weirdly distant ever since he came here

"SEVEN"

It was almost as if he knew he had done something wrong but didn't want to tell me

"SIX"

I had chosen to just let go of it though. And just try and have a good time

"FIVE"

I looked around at all the people standing in the park, most of them I didn't know who they were. Most of them I'd never know who they were.

"FOUR"

But… with 2018, and the new start that came with every New Year maybe things would change.

"THREE"

Maybe… by this time next year I would know who that little girl sitting on her father's shoulders all dressed in pink was. Or maybe that bald old man picking his nose, or maybe that boy, around my age who sat on the ground and obviously was grumpy about being here and not with his friends.

"TWO"

Because I guess that no one could tell what was going to happen in this New Year

"ONE"

The last time we counted always gave me a special feeling of excitement and nervousness.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR"

So that's it. Well, well… Leah and Jonah won't have to go stay at their grandparents, which is good. Jonah survived another full year, which is good, and Kurt likes Ariel, which is good. But what is up with Jack? I know, and you're going to know too in some while.

Merry Christmas and happy new year