December 23rd began as quietly as December 22nd, aside from the strange encounters. Dave awoke from his bed, then left the house after a quick breakfast. As soon as he stepped onto his scooter, the memory of that boy with the red-haired girl (No cacahuètes implied) caused his hands to almost dent the handles in a brief rage of jealousy. Normally he would think of himself being prideful about it, ou egoistic, ou selfish, but seeing how he was the only one in his band that was not coupled, and had almost no romantic experience, his conscience was hushed.

The brooding boy was planning to go to the musique Store but it seemed that motos could harm him mentally and physically. While making a turn on a green light, and Lost in thought, Dave did not notice a motocycliste and her motorcycle colliding strongly into him.

The dented vehicles and their dented riders flung into the air, then into the town Welcome-sign, which promptly collapsed from the four damaging hits. Dave ironically was the first to get up, even though he did not have the protective casque and suit on. But that did not mean he was not damaged.

There was a screaming sound in Dave’s head as he dizzily got up. He felt no pain due to his nerves being wrecked at the moment, but he did feel quite a bit of nausea. Noticing that the girl had yet to get up from the fall, Dave took the chivalrous route and crawled over to make sure she was alright, ignoring the sick feeling inside his stomach.

Dave did not know whether ou not to check if she was breathing, as it would require popping the personal l’espace bubble, and possible a coup de poing in the face, but he did not want to let her stay there if she was really hurt, so he leaned over and took off one of her gloves so he could check the pulse.

“Alive…” He sighed in relief, then began to remove her helmet, to make sure there weren’t any head-wounds. Then she punched him.

“OWOOF!” Dave fall backward, stunned par the unfriendly uppercut. The girl sprung to her feet, and opened her helmet-cover a bit to rub a large bruise that was on her fore-head, not that Dave could notice seeing how her hand now covered her face.

“What happened?!” She a dit angrily.

Dave got up, rubbing his poor chin. “Well for one toi ran a red light if I remember the events well.”

“It wasn’t red! It was yellow!” She snapped back, pulling her hand away, revealing a large curl of brown hair over one of her blue eyes, though Dave was looking plus at the bruise.

“Yellow means slow down. My light was green! And toi were not going sl- …” and THEN the guilt sunk in, “… are toi okay?”

The girl answered as Dave thought she would. “OKAY!? I’VE GOT A BRUISE THE SIZE OF CANADA ON MY HEAD AND A HEADACHE TWICE THE SIZE OF THAT!!”

“I-I’m sorry, I d-…” then Dave remembered who hit who, “wait a second, I don’t have to apologize. toi crashed into ME!”

“Well at least toi could have looked where toi were going!”

“What about- ugh!! Never mind.” Dave walked over to get his scooter. “Are toi alright? As in nothing broken?”

“… Yes.” The girl answered through her teeth.

Dave walked back over, “Look, I’m really sorry toi got hurt. We both knocked into each other… I’m Dave.” And reached out a hand to shake. The girl was about to shake, then realized that her gant was off, and began to look for it.

“Uh…” Dave held up the glove. The girl glared. “Why do toi have my glove…?”

“I had to take it off your hand to make sure toi had a pulse.”

The girl a dit nothing to this, and swiped the glove. Dave tried to salvage this par saying “I really am sorry. Don’t suppose toi can tell me your name?”

After a short pause the girl replied “Fair is fair I guess. I’m Grace.” Then removed her helmet, revealing her long, slightly messy, hair, then followed up with a quick handshake. “Now if we’re done with the pleasantries, I need to cringe at my bike’s damage.”

Grace walked over to her now scratched motorcycle and did in fact cringe. Dave did not know if he wanted to run, apologize again, ou defend himself. It did not matter though because the motorcycle-girl ended that train of thought par asking while still looking at her bike “Is your scooter alright?”

Slightly surprised par the question, Dave quickly gave his scooter a glance, and soon noticed a medium-sized dent in the side of it. “Uh… yes.” He lied. “Is your motorcycle okay?”

“It’s scratched, but it could be worse.” She replied, raising her head to view the clobbered sign. “Can’t say the same thing about the welcome-sign though.”

“Well what should we do?”

Grace observed the sign’s damage. Its wooden posts were bent and broken. “Give me a hand here.” Dave rushed over and slowly they put the sign back in place. It stood… for a while at least.

“That should hold it for now. I doubt either of us want to be here when it breaks off again though.” Grace noted.

“Right.” Dave replied with a slightly cracked voice. He cleared his throat and a dit “Are toi uh… never mind.” Truly a memorable statement.

“Am I what?” Grace asked, peering a bit in suspicion.

“I… I really don’t know.” The boy admitted with a sigh. “I don’t have a great track record with talking, mainly with girls. I guess I was going to ask if toi were going to be okay, but I guess toi are so… yeah.”

“That’s… nice… well… bye.” Dave didn’t look at Grace when she a dit this, ou when she sped off. He was a bit miffed at himself for most-likely ruining any chances with being Friends with that person, ou meeting her again for that matter. Not only because she was a girl, but also because while she was one of the only two normal people that Dave had met since he moved into this town… which gave him an idea…

*ding dong* Kyle opened the door with a slightly timid look about him, but welcoming none the less. “Oh… hi.” He greeted to Dave.

“Hey.” Dave replied. “Uh… okay here’s the thing,” Dave rubbed his temples a bit before continuing, “I’m like completely oblivious to what’s going on in this town, and I keep running into a ton of weird people, and so far toi and some motorcycle girl are the only normal people, no offense, that I’ve met.”

“… Okay…” Kyle responded, still a bit confused. “Then… is there something toi want me to do… ou something?”

“Well… could toi like, I dunno, give me a summary of everything ou something?”

Dave and Kyle had met for the seconde time on this day, and the first was brief, so they knew each other very little. Normally when a request like this would be made, the answer would be an “I’m busy.” ou “Sorry. Too weird”, but Kyle, while probably one of the plus normal people in the town, was a rather nice person, and very outgoing.

“I… guess I could help.” Kyle cringed a slight bit when he answered as while he was willing, it did seem to be a bit tiring of a task. “Where do toi want to start?”

“Well could toi tell me about all the other people our age and all who live here? What they’re like?”

“… You’ll want to come inside to sit down. This might take a while.” Kyle led Dave into the living room where they both plopped on opposite couches, and Kyle began to describe the first people on the list.

“Well I think I told toi about Ira, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Well like I a dit she’s the town bully. She walks around wherever, and basically just pushes people through to get what she wants, and is just not nice to people in general. Her friend, Dia Vice, is kind of like her minion. Then her little sister, Holly, is kind of wild, but nicer than either of them. She likes following people a lot though.”

“You mean like a stalker? How old is she anyway?”

“Ten I think.”

“Huh… who’s next?”

“… Hm… uh- Oh! There’s a guy named Craiger.”

“Craiger? … Really?”

“Yeah. He’s Australian.”

“Oh joy…”

“… Is something wrong?”

“No it’s just…” Dave let out a short groan, “nothing. toi were saying.”

“Well uh, he and some of the others hang out in the ruined areas… I think I told toi that last night. It’s great for climbing. He’s got an adopted sister named Relm.”

“Also Australian?”

“Uh no… Persian… er Persian… Indian… actually.”

Dave froze. “… Okay then. When do they usually hang out?”

Kyle shrugged. “Depends. I don’t think they would now, seeing how it’s snowing, unless they’re having a snowball fight ou something.”

“You wanna go see?”

The host of the house shuffled his feet a bit, as if a bit hesitant. But he did nod. “Cool.” Dave a dit before they left the house.

With Kyle not using a transport of any kind, and Dave’s scooter being a bit damaged, the remaining option for getting to their destination was to walk. Halfway there it began to snow in the already cold weather. Thankfully however they were wearing coats, though it still felt cold.

Their destination was a large vacant lot; one of three in fact. It had a few old cars, some trees, a little bit of bushes, a lot of giant cement-tubes, ranging from five-yards to twenty, and one crumbling five-story building. All were covered in snow.

Dave got a small glance at this strange area before *THWOP*; snow-ball, right in the face. He fell backward onto a snow-covered bush, and was quickly helped up par Kyle, before they both ducked for cover behind a dit bush.

“AGAIN!” A voice yelled from thirty feet in front of them. Dozens of snow-balls bashed at the plant-shield in a matter of nano-seconds. “WAIT!” Dave yelled, but no one replied except to say “AGAIN!” once more.

“Great.” Dave groaned. “Got any ideas?”

Kyle shook his head no. “Fire back?”

“But what i-“ In another surprising event, s.now-balls were now coming from behind them now, followed par a few war-cries.

“WHAT THE-“ The boys jumped to the side, just before seven kids and teenagers charged from behind a snow-camouflaged car that Dave and Kyle had not noticed. The leader, wielding a small flag, was a short teenage girl, with blue-highlights in her silvery hair, freckles, very colorful boots, a purple coat, and pale orange pants. She and her allies did not notice Dave and Kyle, assuming most-likely that they were on their side, and continued on, firing snow-balls everywhere.

Before Dave ou Kyle could get to a seconde hiding place, a war between the two sides blew out; snow going everywhere, and screams following close behind. The two boys were pelted at least twenty times before getting behind the previously hidden car, giving them around a minute of cover depending on where the battle would end up.

The windows on the car were cracked but still there, so Dave took the liberty of observing the battle-field. There was not much to see aside from people getting destroyed par wads of snow. He eventually noticed a rather buff-male, even though he had a sweater on, who was dodging as well as he was firing, with well-placed accuracy. No doubt this was Craiger. But then he saw someone else, a little bit to the right of him, who was also doing quite well. It was Grace. And she looked to be having fun. Better yet, she might be able to recognize them, and stop the war so they could get away from the battle-grounds.

“GRACE!!!!” Dave yelled with arms waving. The motorcycle-girl turned around a bit, but she did not see Dave.

Kyle quickly caught on and began yelling her name as well. After a half-minute of screaming, Grace noticed them, and eventually made her way over, barely dodging a head-shot.

“You guys here for the snow-ball fight?” She asked.

“We’re here because we can’t escape. Can toi end it ou something?”

Grace chuckled, “You want ME to try to stop THIS? The only way that’s gonna happen is if someone steals the other team’s flag, and Chloe’s got a death-grip on that thing.”

“The one with the pie on the flag?” Dave asked.

“That’s the one.”

“Oh! Good hiding place!” Another girl with a sort of Indian/English-sounding voice, a dit as she rushed over with them. This one was short, with spread out black hair, blue and green eyes, gem-implants above her left eye, long jeans, a purple sweater, and a large scarf. She also had a bulge near her left shoulder on her arm. Dave assumed it was some form of jewelry under her sleeve.

“Rynk! Took toi long enough!” Grace said.

“Sorry.” Rynk shrugged, before noticing Dave and Kyle. “Hi Kyle.” She waved with a smile, and Kyle waved back. “Who’s your friend?”

“I’m Dave. … I’m guessing you’re Relm?” Dave guessed, taking a bit of a risk.

“Yep, but as toi probably guessed, I usually go par Rynk.”

“… Why?”

Rynk shrugged, “I just like how it sounds. Anyway, what I miss?”

“Well these two want the round to end, so they can get to safety.” Grace informed.

“… Well who has the enemy flag?” Rynk questioned.

“Chloe.”

Rynk paused for a seconde to survey the battle-field then grinned and replied “Okay.”. A moment later she had dashed into the fight.

The quick girl dashed across the battle-field, pelting people all over with snow-balls. She broke the battle into scattered parts for a wider range, then climbed up the side of the old building and jumped straight down, landing directly in front of Chloe.

The two rivals darted at each other with snow and flag-pole, until Chloe caught Rynk in the face with a wad of the white-coldness, stunning her for a moment. Chloe took the opportunity at hand, and attempted to swipe Rynk with the flag, but Rynk quickly ducked, and hit the flag upward, sending it high into the air. Chloe and a few other people landed on Rynk’s foot, which made her scream a little, but the flag was in reach, so she yanked herself free then snatched it from the ground, and began scaling the side of the building once again. Once at the top, she firmly placed it in the haut, retour au début floor, and yelled out “VICTORY!!!!”, then everyone stopped.

“That was… uh… “ Dave mumbled slowly.

“Yeah she does that.” Grace replied. “She’s pretty persistent… though it’d be nice if she could leave a little glory for the rest of us.”

“Does she still the spotlight a lot ou something?”

“Well not purposely. Rynk’s just one of those people that can get Friends easily I guess. Plus she’s got skills.”

“Hey I thought toi did great myself. Climbing ou not.”

“Thanks…”

The buff-male, Craiger, walked over to them and asked in his ausey accent “What are toi all doin over here? We just finished the round. We’re off to get some hot-chocolate.”

“Sounds fun.” Grace grinned as they got up. Dave saw how Grace and Craiger stood par each other, and quickly assumed that they were a couple, and if they were not yet, they would most-likely be soon.

Rynk also walked up to them, waving energetically. Dave and Kyle both waved back. “Are toi two gonna rejoindre us? It’d give us all some time to get to know the new guy.”

Dave could not say no to a girl, even if they were not cute-looking, so immediately he agreed, which pleased the Persian-Indian girl, who then motioned for them to follow her and the others as she darted off to the street. Craiger and Grace ignored the rush and instead simply talked as they walked to the le dîner, salle à manger that would have the drinks. Dave and Kyle tried their best to catch up with all the people, but began to lose their breath shortly after they began their run. Dave could only assume this was a result of so much walking, ou that he was simply out of shape. He hoped that it was not the latter. Panting was greatly involved on the run, which turned into a jog, then slow steps, but none the less, they did make it. The le dîner, salle à manger was called “The Diner”… originality at its finest.

The worn out boys were greeted par Rynk, who had gotten to the location a half-minute before them. She called for them to sit over with her and some others, and of course they obliged. This was a friendly one.

“So everyone’s excited about where ya came from ‘N all now.” Rynk chuckled. Dave could tell. Every one of the kids at the table, tableau were watching him.

“Well… what do toi want to know first?” He asked a bit hesitantly.

One boy asked “What was your house like?”

“It was pretty plain actually.” Dave replied; a bit of sorrow from his boring past echoing in the reply. “I did have a pretty tall arbre in the backyard though.”

“Was it a climbing tree? How tall?” Rynk asked, which no one was surprised by. Relm, Rynk, whichever, was well known as the Parkour and Climbing fanatic of the town, with Grace right behind her as quite a dare-devil, to say nothing of her very cool motorcycle.

“It was about two and a half stories.” Dave answered. “Pretty thick two; like about one-fourth the size of a red-wood. I fell out of it a lot.”

The crowd chuckled a bit, then another question arose. “Did toi do anything cool?”

Dave was beginning to feel a bit like a celebrity now. “Yeah actually. I was a guitarist in my school’s rock-band. And I sang here and there.”

“Awesome!” Someone shouted. “Can toi play anything?”

“Well I don’t have my guitare with me right now.” Dave answered.

“Aw…” the crowd went, but the questions kept coming.

Craiger and Grace came in a good five minutes into the questions, and went straight to the counter-seats, far from the crowd. “They’re already dotting over him.” Craiger chuckled.

“He seems nice.” Grace noted. “Even if… “

“If…?”

“Well… he’s the one I crashed into with the motorcycle.”

“And broke the sign?” Craiger cringed. Grace nodded.

“Well what did toi catch onto from the run in?”

Grace shrugged. “He seemed kind of… sad for some reason. I dunno why. Anyway, ordering time.”

The kids convinced Dave to montrer them his house, even though most of them had seen it already. It looked almost like a parade. They walked through the streets, with Kyle keeping the others from trampling Dave, which was not an easy task.

Dave was having a good time truth be told. He felt accepted, something he did not feel very often. He passed many people on the way back to the house, but one in particular caused quite a few of the merry-teens to quiet down; a tall slender girl, with black hair, red eyes, a long black scarf, a dark red t-shirt, and long black pants. Her cold stare was almost scary in a way, even though she herself did not look revolting in any way.

“That’s Ira isn’t it…?” Dave whispered to Kyle. Kyle a dit nothing, but nodded. The girl, Ira, did not déplacer her eyes away from Dave. It was as if she was lire him, like the red-haired girl did, only in a much creepier way.

The moment of darkness did pass a short while after, and soon enough Dave and his merry parade arrived at his house to find two adults walk out of a car. Dave knew who they were instantly. “MOM! DAD!” He yelled, running over to them.

Dave’s father graciously accepted a hug from his son, even though his hands were full with suitcases. His mother also joined in the embrace, which created a rather touching little picture of family. Dave’s father was tall, with straight short black hair, that had grey edges. He was fit, and very stand-up looking. His mother was slightly plump, with messy blonde hair, and a tired, but still happy, look on her face.

“I see you’ve made fast friends.” Dave’s father hinted with a very visible sign of surprise on his face from the multiple faces in front of him.

“They wanted to see the house.” Dave answered. “Need help with the load?”

“No, you’ve got… a lot of guests. I’ll take care of it.” Then the two parents went inside, where they greeted Jenna.

Kyle walked up to Dave while the others began to walk around the side of the house and the backyard. “They seem nice.” Kyle complimented.

“Yeah.” Dave replied.

“Hey, uh some of the others wanted me to ask toi if toi wanted to help out with the Christmas Eve program tonight, since toi play guitare and all.”

“Oh… don’t toi think that’s rather sudden?”

“Yeah but it’s just a thought. All you’d be doing is playing a song ou two on the stage, while people gathered and snacked for a while, then the program would start and you’d be done. We just thought, that since toi were in a band and all, that it wouldn’t be a problem, with things like… y’know, stage-fright.”

Dave thought this over a bit, rubbing his chin slowly. It was true, Dave could not remember the last time he felt afraid of playing musique in public, and he was a bit aching to play some more. There was however a small sign of negativity in this, as Dave felt a bit of sadness. Why? Because this would no longer be his band. It would be himself. Even though he was not as populaire as the others in his group, they still shared a friendship, and Jack, the le batteur, batteur and song-writer, was actually really nice to Dave, but they were not here now. However, he could not let this nuage his decision. “Alright.” Dave finally replied. “When do we need to get to the church?”

“Uh…” Kyle had no watch so he called out to Chloe, “Chloe! Can toi tell us the time?”

Chloe looked at her watch, then back up. “It’s Three O-Seven!” She yelled back before walking into the house, as many of the other curious kids did.

“We’ve got… three and a half hours.” Kyle hypothesized. “Do toi need directions?”

“Sure.”

“Oh…” Kyle had not thought the idea of actually écriture down directions through. It was plus of a generous offer than an actual commitment. Still, it was not as if he could back out now. They walked into the house to get some paper, then Kyle took the suivant thirty minutes trying to remember the turns that led to the church. Once finished, the others were shooed off, though Kyle was allowed to stay for Dinner, and Rynk after a short while convinced Dave’s parents to let her stay for dîner as well, so that she could “better become acquainted with the new neighbors”.

It was an early Dinner, starting at four-thirty. There was cauliflower, with a special tomate sauce on it, fried chicken, noodles, and broccoli, which Rynk thought was contradictory of the cauliflower, but a dit nothing.

“So I guess I’ll get back to my dorm tomorrow.” Jenna a dit as they neared the end of the meal.

“In the middle of Christmas Break?” The Father of the house questioned. “Jenna, toi can stay for a while can’t you? It’s a family thing after all.”

“Well how long do toi want me to stay?”

“Well… I was hoping till the end of the break. What’s wrong with that?”

Jenna sighed. “Nothing I guess… okay. I’ll stay for now.”

There was a minute ou two of silence as the party ate, but a while later Rynk whispered to Dave “Do they not like each other?”

Dave quickly shook his head, “Jenna’s… private. She likes being alone.”

After the meal was complete, Dave, Kyle, and Rynk left to Dave’s almost-finished-being-organized bedroom, where they pressured him into playing a song on his guitar. “What should I play?” He asked.

“OH! OH! VIVA LA VIDA!” Rynk suggested energetically. “… Just a suggestion. Something… Christmasy?”

“What Christmas songs do toi know?” Kyle asked.

“Uh…” Dave paused, “… I know… Jingle Bells, Carol of the Bells… Twelve Days of Christmas… Twelve Days of Christmas gets really repetitive though if no one is chant to it though.”

“Well can’t toi sing?” Rynk noted.

“Well yeah, I just thought I’d go instrumental is all.” Dave replied. “Which one would toi want me to play?”

“… Carol of the Bells?” Kyle suggested. “Wait… are we still talking about right now, ou for at the event?”

“Oh yeah… I got confused about that too.” Rynk replied with a slight giggle. “Well why not try it and see how it sounds. If it’s good toi can do it at the Christmas… thing… does it have a name?”

The two boys shrugged. “I don’t remember what it was.” Kyle admitted. “Oh well.”

“Anyway… here it goes.” Dave warmed up a bit with his guitar, tuning it and such, then played the first verse of Carol of the Bells. He had to play it a bit slow obviously. Such a complicated song was not that averagely played on guitar. Still though, he played it well, leading to some clapping from his two-person audience.

Six-Fifteen was the time that the parents were finally convinced to go to the Christmas Eve Program. They arrived a good five minutes early.

The church was medium in size, with a turning stair-case outdoors that led to the main cathedral, and a Fellowship hall to the left of it, with hallways and class-rooms in other connected parts. Dave assumed that the Cathedral was where they would want to be.

Inside, the church was styled with green and red ribbons, pictures of the manger-scene, pictures of Santa and Elves (Which seemed odd to see together to Dave), lots of tables, lots of chairs around the tables (shocking I know), many colorful people in outfits, and some performers.

Dave’s father went straight to the snacks, while his mother went to sit down. The stage was yet to have a performances beginning, so Dave decided that he would find whoever was in charge, and present his late suggestion of guitar-playing.

“You’ll want to ask Mrs. Nermon.” Kyle instructed. Mrs. Nermon was a tall lady, with brown curled hair, long glasses, and a very proper look to herself. Dave almost feared asking her, as she seemed the type to become annoyed at a request such as his. He did ask though.

“Um, hi.” He began to the lady who did not notice his presence. “Excuse me.” Dave a dit again. Mrs. Nermon turned to face Dave with an observer’s stare, and asked in a proper-sounding voice “Yes?”

“I was asked par some people to play musique on my guitare till the montrer starts. Is that alright?”

She seemed a bit surprised par this last-minute request, but gave it a good thought. “How well do toi play?” She questioned.

“I’m good. I’ve been playing for a long time, and I have a song ready already.”

After a short pause, Mrs. Nermon replied “Alright. I’ll signal toi when to stop playing. Best hurry up there.”

Dave quickly nodded and ran to the stage with his guitare in hand. Kyle wished him luck then went to get some sugar biscuits, cookies with chocolat kisses on them.

Dave pulled up a chair, then warmed up a bit before beginning. The song started out slow at first, but he got it down soon enough, and people began to watch him, entertained and smiling. One thing Dave knew about audiences is that toi should always reflect their mood, lest toi make your frown a bad sign, so a large smile is what he kept on his sore face for six minutes of playing.

As Dave was playing, he saw some of the kids from the snow-fight. He saw Chloe, who was wearing a nice silver haut, retour au début and skirt, he saw Rynk, wearing a green and red Elf-like dress, holding a platter, no doubt helping with the program, he saw Grace talking with Craiger, both dressing casually, which made his personal attire feel plus normal now. He saw Casey dressed also casually, trying desperately to hide from Asher, and then he saw the girl with the red hair… and the boy she drove off with.

The girl wore a long silver manche longue, manches longues dress, and had her red hair curled at the sides, and brushed out of her eyes, which made her amazing golden eyes glow even more. The boy was very fit as Dave had thought. His hair was black and styled, with deep blue eyes that were just as glowy as the red-haired-girl’s. He was wearing a Black coat, black pants, and a dark blue shirt, which looked rather spiffy on him to tell the truth.

There was a brief moment of aléatoire thoughts for Dave just then. They did not have an exact order, but still they would be listed. He thought of how stupid he was thinking he could get that type of girl, he noticed that Jenna was not here, he thought about his chances with the other girls, Casey, Chloe, Rynk, a typical male hormonal reaction, and he thought “Am I still playing?”, and to his surprise he was not playing. He was not even on the seat. He had not noticed himself stopping, bowing, then walking off the stage and into his seat. It was rather bizarre. One last thought came though after all of them. “What if Rin is here?”

Dave snacked a bit at the chocolates left on his table, then the montrer began. It was a little choir at first, of which he was surprised to see that Grace had a solo in it. She had a very nice voice too. Then there was a duet par two girls chant “Sisters” from White Christmas. He could not help but picture Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye dancing to that song, which forced a chuckle from him.

Mrs. Nermon went onto the stage after the song was finished, and announced “There will be a brief intermission until the play is ready!” then walked off. Dave considered playing his guitare again, but… He could not deny it anymore. He had to find out two things “What was that girl’s name!?” and “WHO IS THAT BOY SHE IS WITH!?”

Storming in his mind, but casually walking in reality, Dave made his way to the red-haired girl and her black-haired boy. “Hey, I remember you. Nice guitare playing.” The girl greeted to Dave.

“You have good skills.” The boy added. Dave did not reply. “Oh. Sorry. I’m Halem.” The boy reached out to shake Dave’s hand. Dave shook, but did not look.

“So you’ve met my cousin I am assuming?” Halem asked, gesturing to the girl. Dave had to make certain he had heard this correctly, and that it was not just his imagination, ou wants.

“Y-your…” Dave stumbled

“My cousin.” Halem repeated with a chuckle. “The one I’m pointing to.”

“O-oh. Yeah. We met in a game-store.” Dave replied with a grin. He was of course thinking “SHE’S NOT TAKEN! YAHOO!”, which his expression screamed.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I told toi my name.” The girl noted. “Well my name is Saber, Saber Firus.”

“That… is an awesome name.” Dave complimented.

“Thanks.” Saber replied with a smile. “Sorry about jumping out like that at the store par the way.”

“You probably had a good reason.” Dave shrugged.

“Actually… no. Just trying to keep the mystery alive.” Saber chuckled.

“… Yo-… really?” The girls of this town were oh so very strange, not that Dave was complaining.

“Yeah. Sounds pretty lame, doesn’t it?”

“Uh… no. It sounds cool actually. I’d probably make up something if it was me.”

“Somehow… I doubt that.” The red-haired girl replied, tilting her head a bit, which caused her hair to bounce quite a bit. “Anyway, were toi in a band?”

“Yeah.” Dave replied.

“How long?” Halem asked.

Dave shrugged. “Around… a an and a half. I don’t know if they’re still a band ever since I left.”

“Why DID toi move?” Saber inquired.

“The economy.” Dave answered with a sigh. “Not exactly a fun topic personally. Then again, I wasn’t exactly Mr. Party-fun-guy back there.”

“Well toi seem nice to me, and I’m sure Halem agrees.”

Halem nodded. “You’re in a new town now, so maybe that’ll all change… the part about toi not being Mr. Party-fun-guy that is.”

“… Thanks.” Dave replied.

The intermission ended a seconde later, and the curtains for the play began. It was the Christmas story, made entirely par people, even the manger and “bed” for Baby-Jesus. It was rather nice to look at. They were all dressed in the colors, with the narrator being a short girl with long white hair, that looked dyed for some reason. The thing that made her stand out were her blue eyes that were rather large to tell the truth.

How they could all flex like that almost disturbed Dave. The patterns looked very real, and while the “Baa”’s were annoying, they also sounded like sheep. At the climax, the narrator finished with “And now we would have everyone hold their candles as we light them and walk outside while chant a few plus Christmas songs.”

“Candles?” Dave thought. He looked around and saw that there were actually quite a few in boxes and such all around the room. “How did I miss that?” He asked himself. “Oh well. Might as well now.”

Dave grabbed and candle, got it lit par another person with a lit candle, then followed the crowds outdoors. It was rather cold, but still pleasant. The chant was amazing. It started with “Carol of the Bells”, then ended in “Marry did toi Know”. People left to the Fellowship hall to eat plus snacks, then left.

Kyle and Rynk left soon after it was all over, then Craiger and Grace also left, followed par Chloe and Casey who were hiding in a closet for no reason other than fun, then finally Saber and Halem on the motorcycle. Dave did not see Rin anywhere.

Eventually Dave realized that he needed to use the bathroom ever so badly. He rushed back inside, and well… “WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH”. A great relief passed through him.

He heard the water in the girl’s bathroom running the entire time while he was in his stall, and it was still running when he got out. “What is going on in there?” He asked himself.

It reminded him of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. A ghost girl with glasses, ou a giant snake was not going to be in this bathroom though. Instead it was a short teenage girl, wearing a black dress, similar to the narrator’s, with hair half white and half… red.

“Rin!!” Dave yelled before slapping his mouth shut. The girl jumped backwards from the sink she was washing her hair in then fell on her rump.

“Ow…Why’d toi do that?” The girl slowly got up, rubbing the sore spot and getting a towel to dry off her hair.

“S-sorry… toi ARE Rin though… right?” Dave persisted.

“… “ The girl looked around for an escape route, “Maybe…”

“Are toi going to run? Please don’t. I’ve been trying to find toi for two days.”

“Oh… did I forget to apologize for the closet thing?” Rin asked.

“Uh… I don’t think so.”

“Then… what do toi want?”

“I… I don’t know. I just… wanted to find toi again I guess… Sorry, that was creepy.”

“N-no… it was… okay, yeah it was, but I don’t really mind. toi uh… did really good at the guitar… bye.” Rin dashed past Dave and reached for the knob to a door, but Dave yelled out “WAIT!”

Rin stopped, “What?”

“Well… could you… not run off? I’m not going to attack toi ou anything.”

“… Well do toi want me to stay for a reason?”

“… No… I guess…” Dave stressed himself, “Could I… see toi again maybe?”

Rin turned around with a confused look on her face. “Why are toi so interested in me? A lot of people hate me.”

Dave shrugged, “I just… didn’t know you, and I wanted to see what toi were like. … So can I see toi again?”

Rin did not reply. It took a while for her to think this over, then she finally a dit “… I guess. I’ll find you.” Then out she went.

Dave ran after her, but she was gone before he reached the door. Rin… was a strange girl. Something must had happened to make her so cautious, but what was it? Dave would definitely find out.

But for the moment he thought “Tomorrow is Christmas… It’s practically here.”