Spending the holidays with Strangers

Spending the holidays with Strangers  

Blue Tullis 

It's so close! I sit at my desk, glaring up at the clock. Only a couple more seconds... 

RRIIINNNNGGGGGGGG 

“YES, YAHOO!” I jump out of my seat and run for the door, “Christmas break!” 

“You wish,” A squeaky voice says behind me and laughs, “, you are going to have to wait a few more classes until you can go.” 

“Ugh,” I sigh, “I know, I was just practicing for later today.” I roll my eyes and wrap an arm around him “It's a good thing, Camy, that you're always here bring me back to reality.” 

“My name is Cameron.”, Cameron swipes my arm off his shoulder and walks in front of me. 

“Aww, come on Camy, I can’t even call you that for the holidays?”  

“How about,” Cameron stops so suddenly I almost snow-plow him over, “if you see Santa Claus, you can call me that,” he makes a repulse face, “...that name, for the rest of the year.” 

“Deal!” we shake hands and continue to our next class. Camy has been my best friend since I moved in the neighborhood, about 4 years ago. We are now 16 and barely surviving through Junior year, wait let me rephrase that, I am barely surviving through junior year. Camy is an awesome student and gets the best grades, he's not just a nerd though, he is a really good at biking! I love to go to his biking races and embarrass him like crazy. He does the same for my Cross-Country races, so it's pretty even. We are the Shady Sparrows, yes, what a great name for a high school, Shady High School.  

“What are your plans for Christmas?” I ask, trying to stay discreet, but Camy already knows the true meaning behind this question. 

“We are going up to California for a couple days before Christmas, to see family, then coming home for the average sleep under the tree, wake up and open presents routine. If I had it my way though, I would stay here where there is snow in skiing.” he lets out a big sigh and dreamily says, “Ah, I love Colorado.” As soon as he finishes, I try to hide my eager expression as he says, “What are you doing for Christmas, Sophia?”  

“Well, I thought you would never ask Cameron! This year we are going to have all my siblings over and extended family, mom’s side,” I pause for a second, but then get right back into it, “I know that everything is going to be perfect and I am so excited to give everyone my presents! I picked them out, very, very carefully and with much thought.” 

“You asked me so I would feel obligated to ask you, didn’t you?” 

“I sure did!” I love to smile and it makes me want others to smile. I try to always stay positive and be kind to others, especially now that its Christmas, everyone should have a chance to be happy. “I will see you later Camy, luv ya brother!” I pound my chest once and send a peace sign his way, then run off to my next class as I listen to him laughing in the hallway. 

_________ 

“I”M HOMMMEEEE!” I walk through the front door and toss my backpack on the couch. I coast around the kitchen for a bit trying to find a good afternoon snack. I open the fridge, the pantry, I open the fridge again to make sure nothing new walked in while I was looking elsewhere, then the pantry again, and the fridge once last time. Aha! I swear that eggnog wasn’t there the last two times! I swish some eggnog in my Christmas mug and take a sip. This is true vacation, I think to myself and mold myself into the downstairs couch, locking down for the big binge of the season. In order to have a good binge, you must first find a good binge. So naturally, I spend about 30 minutes looking for the appropriate show.  

After another 30 minutes of watching trailers and taking notes for finding the perfect Christmas binge, I hear some voices and footsteps.  

“Sophia? Are you home yet?” I run upstairs towards my mother's voice and suddenly stop when I hear an unfamiliar sound. A heavy voice with a hint of fresh accent, it was followed with the sound of dense boot heels hitting the floorboards. 

“Mom? Who's here?” I turn the top step and I am a bit surprised to see that the sound must have come from this handsome man. He has a broad face with a chiseled jaw, a thick nose, and two bright green eyes, which were staring right back into my dull gray eyes. He had blond, nicely cut hair atop his head, and what looks like, an expensive outfit. 

“Hi honey,” my mom looks at my nervously as I frown at the stranger in my house, “This is, uh, Jason,” she looks down at her shoes, “...my boyfriend.” There was a second of awkward silence as I blow a small raspberry and say,  

“Yeah right, mom, this is your boyfriend,” I rolled my eyes jokingly, but stop when I see that they are serious, “, you can’t be serious mom...you're just telling me this now?” She can’t be serious, it wasn’t right, it didn’t feel right. 

“It's Christmas time sweetheart, the time for family and holding those you love close to you.” 

“Exactly mom, it’s the time for family, I mean, when are you going to tell Juniper, she can’t be ok with having, this stranger in our house.” I gesture towards the man, who I refuse to come in the way of Christmas.  

“Well, actually, Juniper already knows and Lily has seen Jason a couple of times too.”, so I was the only one who didn’t know. 

“Why didn’t you tell me? Are you scared of me or something?” I can feel my face burning and my eyes sting as I say this. 

“How could you say that Sophia? Of course, I am not afraid of you, your reaction to change is always very strong and I knew you would be against this so...” I cut her off 

“‘You knew I would be against this’,” I scoff, “Who said I was against this?” I force a smile and a laugh, “This is fine, this is perfect, Jason is just....great!”  

“Honey, are you ok?” my mom looks concerningly at my face, “You don’t have to force yourself into this, you know, this is your life too, if you aren’t happy with it, I can’t be happy either.”  

(Authors note: I wasn't able to finish the story all the way, but let me know what you think so far)