Technically, I'm the first one to arrive at the party but that was because I spent the night at Jenna's. Gerard and I were supposed to both go but he ended up not coming with, some urgent change in plans. I didn't question him though. Besides, he promised he'd be here today.

Last night, Jenna and I stayed up really late talking, even though we kept saying we should go to bed and get our rest. We slept in until noon, but it's fine because the others aren't coming over until 4:00. And they're staying the night too. Granted, I didn't take the second night into account when packing my clothes.

"Jenna, what are you doing?" Cody calls as she comes bounding down the hall while giggling. "What is that?"

She's holding an abundance of some green leaf. "It's mistletoe!" she cries out giddy.

Cody's face drops, staring at her in disbelief. "Okay, yeah, where did you get THAT much from?"

"I asked Dad to get some and I guess this is 'some' to him." She continues running down the hall and up the stairs with it.

Cody looks at me, unsure if he's shook or impressed. "Well, let's hope she forgets," he mutters.

"Oh, please. That'd be hoping for too much considering how giddy she is," I tell him.

He nods along. "Unfortunately, you're right."

"What's the matter, Cody?" I tease. "Don't want to kiss me?"

"Uh, I don't know...like-" I stare at him confused. "Wait! Not like that! No!" I start chuckling as he panics. "No, that's not what I meant. I just find it like...why is she doing that?"

I give a shrug. "Eh, it's the holiday tradition I guess. Besides, haven't you guys played spin the bottle before?"

Cody sighs, reminiscing the memory. "Ah, those were always hilarious. Especially as awkward 14-year-olds who didn't know what to do."

"I can only imagine what that would be like for you guys."

"See," he says, "I was just meh. Like mediocre and so was Gerard and Patrick." He starts chuckling and I smile, curious to what he says. "Hayley was always awkward about it, she would suck her lips in and be like holding her breath. Lynn was always dainty and delicate. Fucking Brendon would smash his face at us, that was scary."

"I can picture them doing that," I say, laughing along with him.

Jenna comes skipping down the steps, singing softly to herself. "Deck the halls with boughs of holly! Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!" Cody and I look at her. She's put on black leggings and is wearing a red, sleeveless dress that looks really cozy and she has a silk red and green ribbon in her hair. "'Tis the season to be jolly! Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

"Look at you all festive," Cody says cheerfully. "How did you change so fast?"

"If there's will, there's a way," she says.

After a couple hours, everyone shows up. Amelia comes a little early. Hayley, Brendon, Patrick, and Sarah are on schedule. Lynn and Gerard show up late but they do show up. The lot of us hang out in the rec room where there's a decorated tree with lights glowing. We store the secret Santa gifts under the tree and Jenna tells everyone she's hung mistletoe up in various places and we have to kiss.

"Yeah, what if it's you and Cody?" Hayley teases.

Both of them shudder. "NO! None of that!" Cody says shaking his head. "We don't do that in spin and not in this."

"Yeah, none of that," Jenna says with distaste. Gerard chuckles under his breath, finding their reactions humorous. "Anyways, moving on."

Brendon's eyes light up. "Hey, guys! What's that one-" his phone buzzes, lighting up to show a new text message. He pauses, glancing down at it but swiping it away. "What's that one Christmas movie?" he asks.

Gerard looks at him dramatically. "Oh, yes. Thank you, I know exactly which one-"

"Let me finish!" he shouts, covering Gerard's mouth. His phone buzzes again but he completely ignores it. I catch a glance at the notification. It's from Audrey. Brendon's ignoring her. "What's one that everyone ironically calls a great Christmas movie?"

"Oh! I know!" Lynn says. "What's it called...It's with...what's his name. Well, Snape from Harry Potter is the bad guy and the...Bruce Willis!"

Brendon's eyes light up. "Bruce Willis, yeah! Which one is that?"

"Die Hard?" Sarah asks.

"Yeah!" Brendon and Lynn say.

Gee rolls his eyes at them. "That's not a Christmas movie..."

"It's the best Christmas movie!" Lynn says. "Jen, do you guys have that?"

Jenna glances over at her. "Probably, you guys want to watch it?"

"I've never seen it," I say. Everyone snaps their head and me and I feel very small. Well, smaller than usual. "I mean, I've seen the newer ones but not the first one."

"I have failed you," Gerard mutters to himself.

"Dude, it's a classic," Patrick says. "Bruce Willis has hair in it!"

"That's...crazy."

"I'm getting it and we're watching it," Cody says.

Gerard crawls over to him with shame on his face. "You disappoint me," he says. The beanbag chair I'm sitting on shifts back when he flops down on top of me. I flinch away as he falls on my lap, his face resting on my lower stomach right above my belt. What is he... "Ow." He sits up, holding his face.

"What-what did you do?" I ask.

"I think I just hit my chin on your belt buckle," he says, laughing at himself.

Brendon turns around and stares at us with wide eyes. "Why is your head...there?" he asks.

"I miscalculated," he mutters. He glances at me, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry about-"

"It's fine, it's fine," I tell him. He drags himself up a foot and rests back down on me, his face on my chest this time. "Hi," I say, stretching my neck down to see him. I place my hand on his hair and move his bangs into his face. He closes his eyes and chuckles lightly.

Cody comes back with the movie. "I got it." He loads it into the Blue-Ray player and then Lynn switches off the lights.

The group of us end up watching the very Christmas movie Die Hard. Afterward, we have dinner, which included pizza rolls, chips, soda pop, and a really good salad. There's cake but we'll have it after the gift exchange.

The tree is decorated with blue and pink lights with purple sphere ornaments. There's everyone's present underneath wrapped nicely. Well, some of them are nice, others are...it's the effort that matters.

"Let's see, who's going first?" Cody says, crawling over to the tree. He picks up the closest one that is wrapped decently in the snowman wrapping paper I have at my house. That one's mine for Jenna. "Oh, Jenna, you going first?" he says, reading the name tag.

She looks at him awkwardly. "I don't know, I don't want to go first, pick a different one."

"Whatever," he mutters dramatically. "Here, Hayley," he says, handing her a flat box wrapped perfectly in blue paper.

Hayley takes it with a nervous smile. Sliding her finger through it. "Oh, it's a makeup palette," she says, forming a smile. "These are really cool shades. I only have neutrals so this is awesome." She looks around the room but it falls silent. "Wait, do I guess?"

"We'll do that afterward," Jenna says.

Amelia has a larger box, unwrapping a photography camera, high-quality lens. She's ecstatic but then becomes mad that someone got her that, being too much. But she's still grateful, cradling the box in her lap like a child. Lynn opens her charcoal set happily, accusing Cody, Gerard, or Jenna of getting it since they have art with her. Brendon gets a ukulele and he opens the case, taking it out and strumming along. Patrick has a flat box, opening up to a tablet. He's frozen, pushing the wrapping paper aside. I've heard Patrick saying how he couldn't afford a better phone so he doesn't have social media or any games because there's no room for apps. He's been wanting to get a tablet of some sort just to have more space but couldn't afford a quality one. I notice Cody smiling in the corner of the room next to Amelia while Patrick opens it. I got a skeleton hoodie where the rib cage is where mine would be. It looks really sick on the sleeves. Sarah got a pretty blue pendant necklace, a triangle frame with a blue teardrop dangling in the center. Gerard got a 20 pair package of Halloween socks and he loses his mind.

"Oh my god!" he screams out, rolling backward, his legs flying in the air. He does a somersault on accident, falling on the floor. "Look at all these socks!"

"Oh lord," Lynn mutters. "Why do you get so excited over socks?"

"It's so great! And it's Halloween!" He sits up, flipping through the pairs. "Look, it's freaking bats, I love Halloween."

"And now he's quoting vines again," Cody sighs. "You know, Gee, you're the only person I know who gets excited over socks on Christmas. Most people would be disappointed."

"Well," he says, snapping his head in Cody's direction dramatically, causing his hair to whip in his face, "I'm not most people."

Cody just rolls his eyes and passes Jenna's back to her. Jenna opens hers next, not sure what it is at first. "Wait, is it lotion?" she asks, peeling away and holding up the bottles.

"It looks like it," Amelia says, turning her head to the side.

Jenna flips it back, reading the label. "Volcanic ass?"

"Volcanic ass!" Brendon screams.

"Ash, I said volcanic ASH!" Jenna corrects, leaning toward him.

"It sounded like you said ass," Patrick says.

"Oh, whatever." I sit quietly, waiting for her to read what it is. "What kind of lotion is this?" she mutters to herself. "Wait, this is..." She glances around at us and I manage to keep a good poker face. "Who got this?" I don't say anything so the room stays silent. The others glance at each other so I look around too. "Wait, who did this?" Her voice is soft.

"Guess you'll find out later," Cody says. Jenna looks down, reading the bottle again. "What is it?"

"It's eczema treatment, scented lotion." She turns the bottle over. "I'm using this tonight, seeing how it works." She sets it down and grabs the last one. "Okay, Cody, you're the last one left."

His is floppy, wrapping nicely in snowman paper. "What's this? What's this?" he sings, the song from Nightmare Before Christmas. "It's an Aladdin blanket!" he cries out. He rips the paper off faster. A giant, plushie blanket with Aladdin on it. He opens it up, taking off the packaging and wraps it around himself. "This is my favorite movie as a kid."

"As a kid?" Jenna retorts, "it's still your favorite."

"So do we get to find out who gave us our gifts?" Sarah asks curiously.

"Did you get me this?" Lynn asks Jenna holding up the charcoal set.

"No, I did," Gerard admits.

Lynn's face lights up. "I knew it was one of you three! Thank you, Gee," she says beaming. "Okay, let's then go in order, your turn to guess, Gerard, and whoever has him then guesses."

Gerard sits up, looking at his socks then around the room. He pauses for a moment then starts smirking. "Hayley?"

"Yep!" she says giggling. "I saw those and I had to get them because it's your two favorite things."

"Hell yeah," Gerard replies, still holding them in both his hands.

Hayley got her makeup palette from Sarah. Sarah got the necklace from Patrick. Cody got Patrick the tablet. Patrick shouts at Cody, telling him it's too much but Cody just tells him he wanted to get it for him and he's glad it's something he wants. Cody thought the blanket was from Gerard until he remembers Gerard got Lynn's gift. Brendon got him the blanket and Brendon got the ukulele from Amelia. Jenna got her the camera and I told her I gave her the treatment. She hugged me tightly, saying it means a lot. I figured Lynn got me the hoodie since she was the only one left.

"You know, that worked out extremely well," Cody points out, still swaddled in his Aladdin blanket. "Like it was a big circle. I thought there'd be two people who got each other."

"I know, right?" Patrick says. "That was really nice, that was fun."

"What should we do now?" Amelia asks, lying on the floor and propping her legs against the wall. "You guys want to play a board game or something?"

"What game can fit..." Hayley pauses to count around the room, "10 people?"

"We could play DnD," Gerard whispers under his breath.

Patrick stares at him. "As great as that is, it would take way to long to teach them."

"I love DnD," Brendon and Sarah say at the same time. They look at each other and start laughing.

"DnD as in Dungeons and Dragons?" I ask.

"Hell yeah!" Gerard snaps his fingers in my direction. "But we can't, it takes hours just to make the character, that's not including spells. It'll take longer since not everyone knows how it works."

"And we don't have the dice sets," Patrick points out. "In the future. Now...Hey, don't you have all the expansion packs for Card Against Humanity?"

Cody and Jenna's eyes light up. "Oh yeah!" he cries out. "You guys want to play?" Obviously, we all nod. "Alright, I'm going to get it. Patrick, help me."

The two of them get up and start heading out the room. "Wait, guys, stop!" Jenna calls out. Both of them freeze in the doorway, turning around to look at her. Her mouth drops open. "It worked." She almost sounds in disbelief. "It worked!"

"What?" Patrick asks. Jenna bursts out giggling and then Lynn catches on. "Wait, what?" Patrick and Cody look at each other confused until Lynn points above them. The freaking mistletoe is hanging there.

"I hate you," Cody says with a deadpan expression. He looks at Patrick unsure.

"Do we seriously have to?" Patrick asks.

"Absolutely," Amelia says giggling. Cody looks at her almost betrayed. "You ain't using me to get out of this one."

The two of them look at each other sighing. Patrick is a couple inches shorter so Cody closes his eyes, leans down and pecks him on the lips. Jenna, Lynn, and Amelia start freaking out but Cody just laughs. "I don't understand the big deal you make it," he says. The two of them wipe their mouths then go downstairs to get the cards.

After an hour of cards, we go back down for cake while listening to Christmas music. We finish up, eventually just talking. Well, not really talking but just singing along to the music mostly or bopping around to the rhythm. Deck the Halls fades out and Coral of the Bells starts.

"Oh my god, I love this one!" Sarah says. "This is the epic one right?"

"The Trans Siberian Orchestra," Lynn says smiling. It's very soft and I don't know what they're talking about there's suddenly a bass drop 30 seconds in.

"Wow, this is awesome," I comment.

"Hell yeah, it is," Sarah says. The lot of us listen to is, swaying side to side as it plays, becoming more and more hyped up. The grand finale has violins and guitars playing the chorus and we are all headbanging and thrashing our bodies around to the beat. When the song ends, we all just lie back on the carpet laughing. Different songs come on but we lower the volume so we can have a conversation.

"It's crazy to think the new year is soon," Amelia says. "I can't believe the year's over."

"It's crazy to think of how different everything was last year," Lynn says.

"None of us were dating the people we're with now," Gerard says.

"Yeah...wait." Cody sits up and looks at him. "What do you mean by 'we'?" Gerard looks at him puzzled. "You said 'we', as if that included you. Who are you dating?"

"No, that's not what I meant, bucko! I don't date people."

"You could if you wanted to," Brendon says. "Look at you, you're hot stuff, got a nice booty."

"I-" he stutters and Gerard's face drops at his comment taking him aback. We all start chuckling as his cheeks redden. "Thank you? For that? But I'll pass."

"Why?" I ask softly, keeping my voice playful so it doesn't make me look desperate.

"Eh, too much work, too much stress. I can barely care for myself," he says. "But what I meant was like Jenna and Lynn we're together, they were in that crush zone but didn't tell anyone." Jenna and Lynn glance at each other, knowing he's right. "And Cody and Amelia, you guys were dating other people."

"Yeah, but I like it this way now," Cody says, leaning against her shoulder. Amelia smiles, glancing at him endearingly. "We didn't know Frank or Sarah, they didn't go to our school."

"I like it here so much better," I say. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You weren't like that at the beginning of the year," Jenna says, leaning close to me with a smirk. "You were pissed you were here."

"I mean, I was upset because I didn't want to be uprooted but I wasn't really pissed."

Lynn shakes her head. "Oh, no. You were super angsty in English on the first day. Like, you were definitely angry you were here."

I look down, smiling guiltily. "Okay, maybe, but I'm stubborn. I'm glad I got to come here and have been able to meet you guys. Coming here made me realize how much I actually hated it at my other school. And now I know what friends are supposed to be."

"I'm glad we got to meet you," Hayley says.

"Yeah, what school did you go to beforehand?" I ask Sarah.

"Oh, I was homeschooled before. But my mom wanted me in public school to, I guess, experience it," she says. "But I like it, it's exciting."

"Things change so quickly," Brendon says when a silence falls. "I mean, we're not the same people we were a year ago even."

"Yeah, we became gayer," Lynn says.

Most of us start giggling as Brendon stutters. "I mean, yeah, I think we all realized last summer most of us aren't straight and most of us came out of the closet but I mean, maturity wise. We can drive now, we can get jobs. Next year we'll be applying for colleges. It's things like that."

"You know what's scary?" Amelia says. "In one year from today, most of us will know where we'll be going away and some of us may be accepted already."

"That's crazy to me," I say. "It's insane to think how fast time goes by, how quick we've grown up."

"I don't want to grow," Amelia says. "I miss being a kid where we'd have recess in school and the best day was when you had Doritos or Oreos for lunch." She pauses, fidgeting with her nails. "We were cool if we were drinking Capri sons pouches, not from red solo cups. We used to think a kiss was scandalous and getting high was on the swing sets. Mom could fix any problem we had and we always rushed over when Dad came home from work. War was a card game, the worst pain was falling off the monkey bars and saying goodbye to people was just until tomorrow."