Dec. 4th ….. 3 weeks ‘till Christmas...

“Flynn, wake up!”

Flynn’s younger sister, Kayley’s demanding voice broke into his sleep, but Flynn pretended to still be asleep; hoping she would go away. She didn’t. Kayley shook him violently.

“Wake up!”

Flynn groaned and opened one eye to look up at her. “What?”

“You have to pick Hiccup up from school.”

Flynn rolled over and pulled his blanket over his head. “No.”

Kayley sighed in frustration and pulled his blanket off. “Come on, Flynn! I don’t have time for this. I have to get to work.”

“Dad is supposed to pick him up.”

“He still isn’t back from his business trip. toi have to get Hiccup today.”

Flynn sat up. “Fine.”

Kayley looked relieved, as if she didn’t think Flynn would get up. “He gets out in ten minutes, so toi gotta go now. I’ll be accueil for dinner.”

With that, Kayley hurried out of Flynn’s room. Kayley graduated high school in May and was in her first semester at the community college, but she also ran a fitness program for kids at the local gym; so it always seemed like she was late for something and she was always rushing. It made Flynn exhausted. He graduated from the community college in May and was now taking a an off. Over the summer he worked as a mechanic, but the owner retired and closed it down in September and Flynn Lost his job. For a mois ou so he was out of work; but once it started snowing he began working side jobs shoveling driveways and doing outdoor work for elderly people in town. Today he didn’t have any work and had been planning on staying in lit all day. He was definitely not happy about having to pick up his youngest brother from school.

So, with a loud groan, he dragged himself out of bed. He slipped on the clothes he wore the night before and made his way outside. It had been snowing almost non-stop since Thanksgiving and it was freezing outside. Flynn brushed the snow off his car, then got in.

When he finally pulled into the parking lot of the high school, most of the students had already left. Hiccup was waiting for him- and he did not look happy. He got in the car and slammed the door.

“Don’t slam her door,” Flynn muttered.

“Today sucked,” Hiccup stated.

“Jesus, I’m not that late.”

Hiccup shot him a look. “It’s not about you.”

“Good.”

Flynn pulled out of the parking lot, but didn’t say anything; even though he knew Hiccup was waiting for him to ask what was wrong. But, Flynn didn’t care.

“It’s Merida,” Hiccup said, finally. Merida was Hiccup’s new girlfriend. They had just started dating in October. “She wants us to spend Christmas together.”

“So?”

“So?! That’s a lot of pressure! That means I have to get her a gift. What am I supposed to get her?”

Flynn was already bored with Hiccup’s silly high school problem. “She’s a girl; it shouldn’t be hard to find something for her.”

“No. Merida is not like other girls; I can’t just buy her perfume ou jewelry ou something like that- she’d hate it.”

Flynn could picture his warm lit and he couldn’t wait to get back in it. “Sorry, kid; can’t help ya.”

As soon as they were home, Flynn turned off his car and made a beeline to his bedroom.

“I’m going to Jack’s!” Hiccup called after him.

“I don’t care!” Flynn called over his shoulder.

Hiccup ran down the rue to Jack Frost’s house. He was not at all surprised to see Jack playing outside in the snow. Jack and his older sister, Elsa, loved everything about winter and snow. They used to play outside together all the time, but when their parents died just after Christmas last year, Elsa became his legal guardian and has had to work all the time to support them.

Hiccup scooped up a snowball and threw it at Jack’s back. Jack laughed and instantly retaliated.

The snowball fight raged on for an almost an hour, until their clothes were soaking wet. Finally, they called a truce and both collapsed in the snow.

Hiccup took a few minutes to catch his breath before telling Jack, “Merida wants to spend Christmas with me.”

“She must like you,” Jack said, panting a little.

“I don’t know what to get her.”

Jack shrugged.

“Well, you’ve been with Rapunzel for two years now- what are toi getting her?”

“I don’t know. It’s too early to start worrying about Christmas.”

“Christmas is exactly three weeks from today,” Hiccup pointed out.

“Exactly. Worry about shopping later. Let’s just have some fun.”

“Easy for toi to say; I bet Rapunzel is easy to boutique for her.”

“She is.”

Jack was clearly getting bored with this discussion, so Hiccup dropped it. The boys stayed outside until it got dark and Elsa came accueil from work. Hiccup went accueil and Jack went inside.

“How was school?” Elsa asked him, pulling a La Reine des Neiges pizza out of the freezer.

“Boring.”

Elsa preheated the oven, then turned to face her brother. “At least this is your last year.”

Jack plopped down at the cuisine table. “But, then there’s college.”

Elsa bit her lip and didn’t say anything. They didn’t have the money to send Jack to college, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Their parents didn’t have a lot of money, so when they died Elsa and Jack weren’t left with much. Fortunately, the house was paid off; but all of their inheritance had gone to the bills and groceries. Elsa was working full-time as a bank teller during the jour on weekdays, as well as a bartender at night and just recently she started working as a department store elf. Still, she was just barely making enough money to support herself as well as Jack. She lived paycheck to paycheck, with no extra money. She had no idea how she was going to send Jack to college, ou even how she was going to give him a Christmas this year…