The remaining days of school went by in a flash and the Christmas holidays were just about upon us. Everyone at the school was buzzing with the excitement of getting two weeks off school to do whatever they wished. For most of us, that would most definitely include sleeping in, gaming and even Christmas shopping once we got up the courage to try navigating the incredibly busy mall.

My friends and I all had plans to spend Christmas with our families, but we made sure to schedule a few band practices here and there, too. We wanted to be as prepared for the festival as we could, and that meant practicing as much as possible.

Speaking of the band, our YouTube channel had grown so popular over the last couple of months that we could finally start our own website. All of us helped to maintain the site, and since most of the people in the band had part-time jobs they were able to do so financially as well. We all had a hand in designing the site to fit the band's image and to make it accessible for everyone.

And surprisingly, it was a pretty fun process!

Now, it was the morning of the last day of school. Thankfully, the teachers at our school didn't seem to be in the habit of giving out assignments over the holidays. Considering all of our other plans, I think we were all really happy about that.

Classes weren't very eventful and I could tell that even the teachers were desperate for the day to end so they could get home. Last-minute assignments were handed in, units were wrapped up and free time was given at the end of each period.

On the way to lunch, Andrew brought up an interesting point. "Have you guys noticed that Vanessa and the others haven't bothered with us at all today?"

Two-Bit nodded as he cheerfully replied, "Yup. Scott and I were actually talkin' about that earlier."

"Vanessa's been weird all the time lately, though," I pointed out, "She keeps threatening to make my life hell and then doesn't act on those threats at all. Josh and I were talking about that; it's almost like she's looking for any sort of weakness or secret she could exploit and..." I trailed off as I realized I was beginning to ramble.

"If that's her only plan, then whatever she finds would have to be pretty substantial," said Kate as we all sat down at our usual table, "I mean, none of us really have any huge secrets, do we? At least not from each other."

I have my powers to keep secret, I thought, but I obviously didn't say so out loud. Nor did Lana and Jessie, who both knew better.

"I don't have any secrets, period," Jessie replied, and she was telling the truth, "I'm pretty much an open book. Same with Lana, here."

"I think she's trying to find a secret of mine," I said, "You know she always goes for me before anyone else, even if it's just to threaten."

"That's true," agreed Josh, "Let's figure it out after the holidays, though."

We all agreed with that wholeheartedly as Destiny changed the subject. "Is Abigail's boyfriend going to be joining you guys for Christmas, Alex?"

"He should be, yeah. I'm looking forward to meeting him."

That was the truth. The date he and Abigail had planned to go on didn't happen because she ended up being too busy with work and stuff. That meant I still hadn't gotten the chance to meet him yet.

Anyway, once the day was over everyone rushed to get out the door and make their way to their homes - myself included. Destiny drove me and the guys home since it was so cold, and Lana came along since she planned on spending the night at my place. Jessie would be joining us, too.

As the three of us were heading into my apartment, Jessie asked, "Hey, Alex, would you guys mind if Lana and I watched your next band practice? We both really want to hear you play live."

"Yeah, we checked with everyone else already and they said it was fine, but we wanted to make sure you were alright with it, too," added Lana.

"Yeah, that's no problem. It'll be good for the band to practice in front of an audience, even if it only consists of two people," I replied with a grin, setting my bag down on the floor next to my bed. Lana tossed hers onto my desk chair and Jessie put hers next to mine. "So, any ideas on what we want to do?"

"Want to watch a movie?" suggested Lana.

Jessie began to browse the DVD shelf next to my desk. "How about 'Pitch Perfect 2'? I haven't seen that one yet."

"Sounds good," I said, and Lana agreed with a nod. Jessie slid the DVD out and put the disc into the DVD player. As she was doing that, Lana and I went to go make popcorn for all of us. Abigail happened to stroll through the front door just as we were plugging in the popcorn maker. "Hey, girls," she greeted, "Where's Jessie?"

"My room," I replied. "So Ryan's for sure coming?"

"Yes, Alex, he is," Abigail said, pretending to be annoyed. I hadn't stopped asking for confirmation since she said he might be coming, though, so some of it was probably genuine. "Hey, Jessie!" She called.

"Hi!" Jessie's reply echoed down the hall.

Lana and I finished making the popcorn and brought it to my room just as Jessie was hitting 'play'. "Thanks for skipping through the previews for us," said Lana.

The rest of the night was a really fun one. We all had a blast watching the movie, and we even watched the Goosebumps movie together afterward since that was one Lana hadn't seen yet. At some point, Abigail went to the store and bought a few snacks for us, which we all thanked her for, and the three of us ended up staying awake until nearly 2:00 AM that night. Thankfully, Abigail didn't mind since we all knew to keep the volume down once she went to sleep.

A couple days later was the first band practice of the holidays, which Lana and Jessie accompanied me to as promised. The practice went very smoothly, and both of them were very impressed with how well we performed live. According to Jessie, I had incredible stage presence. And according to Lana, my vocals were the best she'd ever heard. 'Cast Me Not Away' and 'Misery' turned out to be two of their favourites when it came to our original songs. That was something I was glad to hear, as those two were close to my own heart as well.

It seemed as though we only had time to blink before Christmas morning arrived. Abigail and I didn't plan on doing anything huge since it would just be us, Ryan, Aunt Annabelle and Uncle Tom, who knew all about the magic that ran in our family since he was Annabelle's husband and all.

Everyone arrived at various times between 11:30 and noon, with Ryan being one of the first to get here since he didn't live that far away. I ended up being the one to greet him at the door. "Hi, Ryan," I said.

"Hey, Alex, it's good to finally meet you," he replied. He seemed really nice and I could see why Abigail liked him; he was also really good-looking.

"Likewise," I said, "Abigail talks about you a lot."

"Does she, now?" He looked over my shoulder at Abigail, who had just come in from the kitchen. She blushed when she realised we were talking about her.

"Can't help it," she said, "You're a great guy."

Of course, that wasn't the only bit of teasing Abigail would receive today. Uncle Tom did so every chance he got. Thankfully Ryan didn't mind - he knew like we did that it was all in good fun. Though, nothing stopped Uncle Tom from teasing me, as well. "Are we going to get to meet Josh today, or what?" he asked at some point over lunch.

"He's with his family," I replied, "You'll get to meet him soon, though, don't worry. He's in my band, so if you go to the festival you'll see him there."

"Oh, believe me, I'm going," he said, "Your great-aunt, too. There's no way we're missing you guys' performance."

"Thanks, Uncle Tom."

"Anytime, kid."

We did presents once Abigail and I got the kitchen cleaned up, a task which didn't take as long as we expected it to. Once we were all gathered in the living room, Uncle Tom handed me a box wrapped in deep blue wrapping paper with a pattern of tiny silver stars. A silver bow was stuck on the top, as well as a sticker that said To Alex, From Your Favourite Uncle.

He also handed one to Abigail, though hers was wrapped in snowflake-themed paper. "Thanks, uncle Tom," she said, and gestured to the tree where his gifts from us were waiting. He reached for them at once, while Ryan searched for one of his own to open.

I opened Uncle Tom's gift to reveal a really good-quality microphone used for recording songs, along with a stand for it that I had to put together myself. I'd been needing a new one for awhile, so his timing was perfect!

"Thanks so much, Uncle Tom, you're the best!" I exclaimed, giving him a huge hug. I also received a new outfit from Aunt Annabelle, complete with a new pair of boots, as well as a card containing $50 from Ryan (he wasn't sure exactly what I might like, which was understandable) and a box of some of my favourite Goosebumps books from Abigail. All of the ones she got me were about Slappy, which was pretty freaking cool in my eyes.

Later that night, Lana called me full of excitement, telling me how she'd gotten an Xbox One from her parents along with a couple of games for it. I was happy for her, too - I knew how much she'd wanted one ever since she heard it was coming out.

She also asked if she and Jessie could come to our next band practice, which of course I said yes to. I made sure to point out that they were always welcome to come and watch us practice, which made her the happiest person in the world.