"Alright no telling what gift you gave! That's the point of a Secret Santa," Mr. Howell spoke to his employees as he handed out everyone's gift. "And this is for you, my star pupil."

He hands Tiffany her gift and she nearly blushes when his hand barely grazes hers. It was a Christmas card with $40 inside. But written on the card said: Your real gift is on your desk, don't tell anyone! Merry Christmas :)

Tiffany discreetly snuck down the hallway to her desk and found a small gift-wrapped box. When she opened it, it was a rose gold Michael Kors watch. She immediately knew who her Secret Santa was. The gift-giving maximum was $30. This watch was over $200.

"I know I broke the rules," she heard Mr. Howell speak behind her.

"I-I don't know what to say," she chuckled. "Thank you so much, but I don't think I can accept this."

"No, no, it's yours. We pay you interns in peanuts, it's the least I can do."

"Sir, I still can't..."

Thomas takes a deep breath. "Alright then how about I treat you to lunch, anywhere you want, I don't care how expensive it is. And do not say Olive Garden," he chuckled.

Tiffany thought about it, he was trying to be nice. 

"Alright," Tiffany smiled. "We can do lunch. But somewhere there won't be paparazzi."

"Sweetheart, the paps don't care about me, I'm not a Kardashian or a Hilton."

. . . . .

Sam's surprise party is proving to be a complete success. He couldn't believe he was celebrating in Kylie Jenner's home. The whole night he stayed hugged up on Serenity unbeknownst to the occasional glances Stass was giving them from afar. But Stass kept herself busy by making sure the food table stayed in order and chatting it up with everyone she didn't know. Since Sam's birthday is in December, the party was holiday themed with Christmas lights everywhere along with silver, gold, and red decor.

Stass made sure to stand out the most with her dress which hugged and clung to every curve. She definitely caught the eye of most of Sam's football teammates. Even made some of the girls jealous & rude towards her regardless of the party being her idea. She sees Sammy leave Serenity to go get another drink out of the kitchen. So she picks up an empty platter and heads to the kitchen as well.

"Enjoying the party?" She places the platter down.

"It's amazing," Sam spoke in a drawn-out matter. He's clearly had enough to drink. "I'm truly grateful for all this. Thank you."

"Anything for the love of Serenity's life," she smiled. "She talks about you a lot, you know? She really loves you."

"And I love her." Sam pours some dark liquor into his cup, mixing it with Cola.

"Well," she takes a deep breath. "If you ever need anything in the future..."

Stass gets close to Sammy and takes the liberty to reach into his pocket, taking out his phone. It made him tense up with her hand being that close to him. She held the phone up and he pressed his thumb to it, unlocking it, and she puts in her number.

"Give me a call," she speaks softly, handing him the phone back.

After she leaves the kitchen, Sammy realizes he hadn't been breathing.

. . . . .

"Will you wait a minute," Gilinsky calls out to Vanessa by the pool area.

"What is it, Jack?" Vanessa is bothered.

"We shared that one night, that one special night. But ever since Halloween, you've been distant as hell. We used to talk everyday and now you're always busy. Which is bullshit, by the way."

"It's not bullshit," she snapped. "I'm just a busy girl!"

"Not too busy for Kalin." Jack crosses his arms.

"He's just there for me!"

"And God knows I've been trying to be! Just...talk to me, V! What's going on?" He holds his bottom lip in his mouth, anxious for her to speak her mind.

"I saw you with Madison, okay?" She blurted out.

"I mean, yeah probably considering she goes to the same damn school as us. You're making no sense."

"Not at school, you idiot!" Vanessa sighs and runs her fingers through her newly-dyed brunette tresses. "The night you claimed your car broke down, remember that? You stood me up just to be with her."

Jack becomes uneasy. He didn't want her to find out like this.

"It's not what you think," he responded quietly.

"Oh," she scoffed. "It's not what I think. By all means, fill me in."

"Madison and I met up that night to talk, that's it. She wanted to try and fix things and I told her there's nothing to fix. What she did was cruel and it was right under my nose. But we settled things on good terms. I go my way and she goes hers."

"But you still lied to me!"

"Would you react any differently if I told you upfront?! Think about it!"

Vanessa knew there was some truth to that. She'd still be upset.

"I just wanna be with you, Vanessa. That's all," Jack said.

Vanessa tears up.

"Please," Jack pleaded, holding onto her wrists.

"I can't hurt him," she cried.

"Wh-what do you mean you can't hurt him?"

"Kalin," she sniffled. "He's been so sweet to me. I can't break his heart. The other night, I told him I wanted to see where this all could lead to and we've been going on a lot of dates. He hasn't done anything wrong and I can't just drop him because I'm an idiot for assuming you and I were going nowhere! I'm not doing that to him."

Tears well up in Jack's eyes and he tries hard to stop them.

"You're not an idiot," he sniffled. "It's my fault. I should've...been truthful from the beginning. I'm the idiot."

"I'm so sorry Jack," she wiped her eyes.

Jack leans in and kisses her sweetly on the cheek. Without saying another word, he mopes his way back into the house, ultimately heading for the front door.

Inside the party, Johnson notices Gilinsky leaving while he slow dances with Kali.

"Are you ever gonna tell me what happened between you two," Kali asks him.

Johnson takes a deep breath and nudges his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well," Johnson nervously laughs. "It's complicated and weird."

"Ah," Kali nodded. "You do know that part of starting over is talking about our past, right?"

"Alright, alright. Long story short...it all started once Jack attended this girl's Bat Mitzvah. Her name was Jillian. He fell hard for her and they went out on these cute little dates. Only to find out this was the same Jillian I had met at camp the summer before that and we hit it off, had a thing that entire summer. So when I found out, I told him and...he basically cool-story-bro'd me, feeling no sympathy at all. He continued to date her and would bring her everywhere. It was pissing me off and I felt some kind of betrayal by both of them. Jillian still wanted to be friends but I wasn't havin' that. It was like a caked-on thing because Jack and I always had a history where he would get the girls more than me and show no remorse. He didn't seem like much of a friend."

"So you guys just parted ways?"

"Yep. It all ended with an ugly fight, some blows were thrown, Big Mike had to intervene. So I spent the summer alone eventually because one by one, every friend Jack and I shared started hanging out with him more. I was just the nerdy-lookin' guy that looked younger than he was. Come to find out Jack joined the football team in 10th grade and the rest is history."

"You don't have any friends at all besides me?" Kali softly petted the back of his head, a look of sympathy in her eyes.

"I mean, I'm cool with Cameron Dallas and clearly I'm cool with Vanessa since she invited me to her dinner. But my circle is pretty small."

"There's nothing wrong with that, babe," she grins.

"Thank you," he quietly spoke.

. . . . .

The next morning, Lucy is woken up by the sound of her phone. Kian was calling.

"Hey," she answered in a raspy voice.

"I'm climbing up," Kian said. "Don't kill me."

"The only reason I'd kill you is if you ever call me this early again," she joked.

She hung up and unlocked her balcony sliding door, plopping back into her bed immediately after. She didn't care about fixing herself up for Kian anymore, he loved her just the way she is.

Kian makes it to her balcony wearing his backpack with his skateboard sticking out of it. He comes in and locks the sliding door behind him. He drops his bag and slides into bed with her, his hand slipping around her waist.

"Hmm," he hums into her neck. "I must say I'm disappointed."

"Why?" She chuckled.

"Tank top and panties? I thought you slept naked," he shook his head.

"Well considering it was 64 degrees last night, I thought I'd cover up a bit," she winked.

"Tragic," he laughed. "I brought your Christmas gift."

Lucy gasped with happiness. "Gimme!"

"It's in my bag," he kissed her. "But first, I want my gift."

"I didn't buy your gift yet, Mr. Lawley."

"That's strange because it's right here." A sinister look grew in his eyes and he ducked beneath the covers to pull her underwear down.

"Kian!" She giggled. "You're so bad."

It tickled, the way his lips graced her inner thigh, making their way up. Lucy bit her lip trying to stay as quiet as possible.

"Kian," she whispered.

"Hmm?" He hummed from below.

"My mom's home you know."

Kian groaned and moved up from under the covers.

"I'm pretty sure mentioning your parents is the last thing to mention during this moment, babe."

"Just cuddle with me."

"Okay but I'm staying between your legs so you can feel my disappointment." He rested his head on her chest.

"You're such a freak," Lucy laughed & ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, it's still on edge in my 'humble' abode. Dad told Mom yesterday about Ty."

"Oh shit," Kian replied. "How is she taking it?"

"One day at a time. But she's willing to accept Ty as a part of the family which just...nauseates me."

"It is a little weird he randomly showed up but he doesn't seem that bad of a guy," Kian shrugged.

"Never judge a book by its cover," she chuckled. "I didn't buy his bullshit story about moving here for better opportunities and wanting to break into the music industry. He says he makes more money here than an in New Jersey, where he's from, and it's all to support his mother who's apparently sick."

"I mean why would someone lie about their mom being sick?"

"People can be twisted like that, I know you watch Law & Order. Anyway, I searched his full name. Turns out he had a brief stint in juvie being an accessory to home invasion & robbery."

"Did you tell your Dad?"

"Not yet, he's just been so happy lately. I mean, he thought the lady got rid of Ty before he was born, so..."

"I don't know Lucy. What if he made a turnaround since Juvie? He's in his 20's now, right?"

"22, to be exact." Lucy rolls her eyes. "I know some people can change but I'm just not sure about this guy, Kian. I get bad vibes about him."

"Just keep your eyes open," he moves strands of hair out of her face. "Don't make any bold moves without knowing for sure. Be smart about this."

Lucy exhales. "Fine."

"How about I go downstairs and get you a nice cup of orange juice," Kian suggested.

"And if my mom catches you leaving my room?"

"I'll be a ninja, don't worry."

Kian springs out of the bed and checks the hallway before leaving her room. Lucy gets herself together and gets out of bed, finding her pajama pants to put on. Just then, her phone rings, it's her mother calling.

"Mom, is there a reason you're calling me when we're in the same house?" Lucy answered the phone.

"I didn't feel like walking to your room," her mom laughed.

"You're so modernized."

"Listen, have you seen my Swarovski ring that your father got for me last Christmas? I can't seem to find it."

"I haven't seen it. Did you check if maybe it fell between something? Maybe the couch cushions?"

"I checked everywhere. I bet it's right under my nose, I hate when that happens."

Meanwhile downstairs, Kian is pouring the juice into a tall clear glass. He also stops to grab one of the cinnamon rolls left on the counter. On his way back to the stairway, he overhears Ty on the phone in the family room.

"Nah, it's no trouble at all," Ty says as he peeks out the window. "Just give me one more week. One more week and I'll get it to you. I'm so close."

Kian didn't like to assume but Ty sounds very suspicious and he has to tell Lucy. He makes sure to keep quiet as he goes back up the stairs.

"Hey," he hears Ty call out behind him, freezing him in his tracks.

Kian turns around. "What's up," he forces a smile.

"Kyle, right?"

"It's Kian. I'm...Kian."

"Were you eavesdropping on me, Kian?" Ty steps onto the first step.

"What? Pfft, no," Kian grinned. "I was just taking this quickly back upstairs to Lucy, she's not feeling too hot."

"Oh okay. Well good, no one likes an eavesdropper, right?" Ty laughed.

"Hate 'em," Kian laughed too.

"Alright well you get that juice on up to my sister, take care of her...even though she probably hates me."

"Will do."

Kian wastes no time getting back upstairs and in Lucy's room.

"Are you...okay?" Lucy asks Kian.

"Mmhmm," his voice squeaks. "Got your juice."

_____________________________

Author's Note:

And that's our season finale! Be sure to check out the debut of my new fanfic "The Letters". The first 3 chapters are up, be sure to tell me what you think!

Also vote & comment here too! Have a lovely holiday!

xx