Christmas Chapter
To those that have been reading my story, I apologized for being so late with my recent works. I managed to finish the other two on Christmas and this one before New Years. So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Nick’s POV
I walked into the kitchen to be greeted by a giant basket filled with pears and a box filled with pear based foods, like pie, cobbler, juice, even jelly beans, which Molly was stuffing herself with.
“Where did the pears come from?”
“Faye bought them!” Molly, mouth stuffed of jelly beans
“She did?”
“Both her and her father.” mom, who came from the next room. “Molly, leave some for the rest of us.”
I stared at the packages, uncertain about its products.
“Why pears?”
“Why don’t you ask?” mom asked playfully before walking into the kitchen.
The next day, I went to the Black Cat Cafe, carrying a bag. When I walked in, it was semi-busy, with many of the tables full.
“Hello Nick.” Mrs. McCalmont, from behind the counter.
“Hi, Mrs. McCalmont. Is Wil home?”
“No, she’s helping me with a delivery. Is something wrong?”
“Uh, no, um, here.” I handed her a bag of apples. “Mom says thanks for the pears.”
“Oh your welcome. Thank you.”
As she took the apples, I struggled to ask my question, even though it may sound rude.
“Uh, what are the pears for?”
“For the 12 Days of Christmas!” Faye jumped from behind the counter, surprising me.
“12 days of Christmas? As in the song?” I questioned “So, in the place of Christmas?”
“Oh no we celebrate Christmas. Think of it as a Christmas tradition. It gets everyone in the Christmas spirit.”
“Does everyone on Arcanos do it?” Looking around, making sure no one heard me.
“You can talk about Arcanos. There’s no rule about it not talking about it. Watch. ARCANOS!”
Everyone in the cafe turned to look at us.
“Faye, stop that.” scolded Mrs. McCalmont. “If it makes you feel better, we can go into the kitchen?”
I nodded and followed them into the cafe kitchen, where I saw stuff moving by itself. The food was cooking and wrapping themselves. I saw tiny fairies flying around the kitchen as well as multiple ovens and stoves, six at least. I could smell bread baking, chocolate melting and meat roasting.
“Wow.” I looked at the whole room in amazement. One of the fairies came up to him and landed on his shoulder. She looked at him curiously.
“I hope the fairies aren’t a health code violation.” I joked
“Those aren’t fairies. They’re pixies.” explained Faye “Fairies are much bigger.”
“I see.” I looked back at the kitchen. “It’s like Merlin’s spell from the Sword in the Stone.”
“It's something similar.” Mrs. McCalmont answered, putting the apples in the center table. “It makes work a bit easier.”
“So how does the 12 days of Christmas work?”
“Well, like the song, it lasts for 12 days, from the 12th to the 24th. For each day of Christmas, we gift that theme of the day. Like, a partridge in a pear tree.” she explained
“So, like you give out pear based presents?”
“Exactly. When I married my husband, we carried the tradition to his family, then decided to use it for the cafe as well.”
“Wow. So, if yesterday was pears, then today would be-”
“Doves!” exclaimed Faye
“Doves? Like turtle doves?”
“Uh-huh. Last year, my aunt gave me actual turtle doves.” she bragged
“Really?”
“No, she didn’t. Don’t tease him like that, or you won’t get any presents from Santa.” Mrs. McCalmont scolded
I chuckled to myself. Felicity is the same age as Faye, but doesn’t believe in Santa anymore. “You still believe in Santa?”
“Of course I do. Why should I not?”
“Because your getting older.”
“These pixies are real.” she pointed out. “So why shouldn’t Santa?”
She had me there. I glared at the pixie on my shoulder giggling at me.
“So for the second day, what should I give?”
“Why? You want to give my sister a gift?” Faye grinned “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…”
“What? No! I just saw Wil give something to Maddy today and yesterday. So, I was wondering, since its Christmas season.” For some reason, my cheeks were getting warm. Am I blushing? Why am I blushing?! Why does
“So what should I give her? And Maddy?”
“Well, the most common gifts would be turtle candies, dove chocolates, dove products or ornaments.” answered Mrs. McCalmont.
“That’s it?”
“Well, unless you have enough money to get her actual turtle doves…” she smirked “Oh, speaking of which…”
She went to the fridge and took out a paper bag. She gave it to me and I looked inside to see individually wrapped chocolate turtles inside.
“No one in your family is allergic to pecans right?” she gently asked
Christmas may be the time of generosity, but this is surprisingly generous.
Will’s POV
For the past couple of days, I’ve been getting presents. Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s Christmas season of course, but…
“Maybe you have your own Santa Claus?” questioned Maddy
We were walking through the downtown area of the town, in Arcanos. Like in Harry Potter, many of the lights and lighted ornaments were floating in mid-air.
I’ve been getting 12 days of christmas presents, but they aren’t from anyone I know. Why? Because I’ve been finding them, somehow in my locker. The same happened with Maddy, but the gifts were different.
On the 3rd day, she got 3 hen and chicks succulent plants, while I got French perfume. 4th day. She had a birdhouse, feeder, braille book and birdseed ornaments delivered to her house. I got cell phone accessories, including a diy phone case. 5th day. Five donuts were at Maddy’s desk. I got 5 rings, two hoops and a ring. 6th day. She got a recipe for eggnog, while I got chocolate creme eggs. By the 6th day, enough was enough.
“Like a Secret Santa? No way. Who would want to be secret Santas with me?” I questioned her
“Speaking of which, does Santa really exist in Arcanos?” she asked
“In a manner of speaking, yes. He’s more of a spirit now, than an actual person.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“And you know those snow globes from the movie Rise of the Guardians? There’s actual snow globes like them?”
“Really? That’s so cool!” Maddy thought for a minute. “So you really don’t know who’s been giving you those gifts?”
“I have an idea.”
“Nick?”
And this is why she is my best friend.
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Remember that bet we made on my birthday? He’s trying to romance me, like he does for Heather. I saw him giving her an “early” Christmas present. A plush reindeer.”
“So you aren’t upset that he’s courting you, even though he's dating Heather?”
“Not really. It’s not so bad.” I winked at her. “Plus, we're getting free stuff out of it right?”
“Hm. Good point. But are you going to get him something?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I got some ideas.” I grinned evilly
“Ooh, can I help? He gave me stuff too.” Maddy volunteered. I grinned.
“Hmmm, fair enough, alright. Come on, let’s come up with some ideas.”
On the 7th day, which was for swans, I left something in Nick’s locker, before quickly heading in the direction of mine. I turned the corner and waited until Nick came. Maddy stood next to me. After a few minutes, Nick came in with his group of friends.
“Is he here yet?”
“Yeah. Shh!”
We, well I, watched as Nick opened his locker, and a giant, white inflatable pool swan blew up in his locker. I used big magic to make it bigger. It bursted the door opened, surprising them and everyone else in the hallway. It kept growing and nearly filled the whole hallway. And here’s the best part. It fell right on top of Nick. I could barely contain myself.
“What happened?”
“It fell on top of him.”
Maddy started to chuckle too.
“Come on, let’s go.”
We hurried away to our lockers, then classes before anyone noticed.
Nick’s POV
I. Am going. To kill. Her. I don’t care what type of magic she used, I know she put that stupid swan in my locker. I even got in trouble with it. Twice! It made me late for class, since it took 15 minutes to deflate it.
What the hell?
I was trying to be nice and give her presents, and Maddy too, not because of that stupid bet, because its Christmas! Aren’t you supposed to give presents to each other on Christmas?
Fine. If she wants to be naughty, I’ll show her naughty. Ugh. That did not sound right.
Later that day, I watched Wil as she got closer to her locker.
“Uh, Nick?” I turned around to see Dylan. “What are you doing?”
“Shhh!”
I motioned him over, and we watched as Wil opened her locker and then- boof!
A small explosion of black power and black feathers covered Wil and some parts of Maddy!
“Wh-what the?”
“What happened?” asked Maddy
Me and Dylan quickly went behind the wall before we were spotted. We could barely contain our laughter.
“Holy Shit!” laughed Dylan
“How’s that for a black swan?”
“Are you out of your mind? You just pranked the Wicked Witch of Willow High.”
“I know. Just a little payback.” I turned to look at him. “Want to help me out with the next one?”
“Oh heck yes.”
The next few days continued as followed: on the 8th day, Wil got pelted with milk balloons, while Nick smelled like camebre cheese, after finding them in his pockets every five minutes. The 9th day, Nick’s locker was filled with ballet items, while Wil was scared by red dancing shoes. The 10th day, both found frogs and toads in their personal items. Wil in her book bag, Nick in his pants while in the bathroom. On the 11th day, Wil was scared by a sudden piercing from a recorder while in the bathroom, and the same goes for Nick while answering his phone. On the 12th day, Wil was woken by the sound of drums from metal rock, while Nick was kept up all night because of it.
Wil’s POV
“That’s it! No more pranks!” scolded Mom. I was keeping the pranks on Nick a secret from her, but she managed to find out. “It’s Christmas Eve! Now make up and give him a present as an apology and a sign of actual good will.”
“But mom,...” I didn’t want to, but… I really don’t want to.
“Do it or no Christmas.” threatened my dad
I groaned. Missing Christmas is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. I know there are thousands of people who have no choice but to miss Christmas, but its not fair for me either.
“At least call a truce for Christmas.”
I sighed. “All right. No more pranks.”
“And give him a present he’ll like, nothing cheap!”
The night before Christmas, and all through the night. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. And it was freaking cold! I got Nick’s stupid present, but I couldn’t give it to him at school. I wanted to drop it off at his house and that’ll be it, but my parents would not accept it. Dad even threatened to call them on Christmas, just to make sure I gave him the present. So, I’m here on my broom, at his house, at night, in the freezing cold! I clutched the present closer to my chest, debating whether this a good or bad idea. Groaning, I lowered myself towards his room window.
Also, if you all are wondering how I knew where Nick’s home or even his room is, thank Dalia, due to her mischief.
I knocked on the window with the curtains closed.
“Nick!” I quietly yelled, to prevent anyone seeing me.
I didn’t hear any movement, but the lights were on.
“Nick!”
Nothing. I reached into my pocket, and took out a hag stone. A hag stone is a stone that has a natural hole inside them. Depending on how or where the stones were formed, by looking through the holes, you could see various things. The one I have is similar to the one in Coraline. So think of the had stone as x-ray vision goggles.
I looked through it and could see past the house walls. I saw Nick in his bed, sleeping.
I knocked on the window again.
“Nick!”
Seeing that he wasn’t waking up, I tapped the window lock twice.
“Tick tock. Break the lock.”
The window unlocked and opened itself, and I climbed in.
His room is surprisingly clean, for a high school boy. I saw him in his bed and walked over to wake him. His snoring is as loud as a high school boy. I shook him as hard as I could.
“Nick! Nick! Niiiccckkkk!”
After some groans, Nick managed to slowly open his eyes. His eyes widened quickly when he saw that I was in his room.
“Holy freaking crap!” he yelled as he scrambled away from me. I just smiled.
“Merry Christmas!” I smirked
“What are you doing in my house?! How’d you get into my house?!”
“Magic. Duh.”
“How’d you even know where I live?”
“Dalia. Duh. Anymore questions?”
He was silent for a moment, before asking, “What are you doing here?”
“Come outside.”
“It is freezing outside. And it’s Christmas Eve. If this is another prank, can it wait until morning?”
“It’s not a prank. My mom wants us to call a truce for Christmas, so truce?” I ask while holding out my hand.
Nick looked at my hand, suspicious and hesitating for a bit, before taking my hand.
“Fine, truce.”
“Good. Now come outside. I have a present for you.”
A few minutes later, we were both outside in the cold. After explaining that I got him a gift, it turns out he got me one too. Then we both stood there awkwardly for the next few minutes.
“So, want to open them now?” Nick asked
“Ehhh, it kind of goes against my tradition of opening presents before Christmas. You?”
“Not my tradition.”
He quickly went to open his present.
“Woah, a toy motorcycle. Cool.”
“Press the button.”
He looked confused.
I took the toy, pushed the button, then put it on the street and stepped back. Moments later, it quickly grew in size to a rideable size. The look on Nick’s face shows that I gave him the right gift.
“I heard from Felicity that you got your motorcycle license, so I got you this.”
Remember the boat from Ponyo? There’s a toy company in Arcanos that makes toys inspired by the film. Cost a lot, but not as much as a regular motorcycle.
“What do you think?”
The next thing I knew, he was hugging me. An actual, no hesitation hug.
“Thanks.” he whispered
Turns out, he was saving money for a motorcycle, but wasn’t close yet. With this, he doesn’t have to save anymore. But for some reason, he now didn’t want to give me my present. He tried to take it back, but after some tugging, I won. I decided to leave before he tries to take it again, but before I did, I showed him how to make it small again. Before I flew away, I watched Nick go back inside and shut the window I opened.
The next day, on Christmas, I opened Nick’s present first. It was a ugly Christmas sweater, with a witch in a Santa dress and hat, on a broom, with a bag of presents behind her, flying through the night sky. A ugly Christmas sweater that's witch themed. After opening the rest of my presents, it was the only thing I didn’t have anything to say about. But, I wore it on the first day back at school.
