Waverly Hills

"Wake up! Mary, wake up!"
I could hear a faint voice in the back of my mind.
I slowly opened up my eyes to see Annie's face looking down on my with a radiant smile on her face.
"What is it?" I murmured sleepily.
"It's Christmas day!" she exclaimed.
I looked up at her, first confused, but then it all came back to me.
The dance yesterday, playing outside in the snow, the huge Christmas tree in the cafeteria hovering over the presents that lay under it.
I quickly sat up in my bed.
Annie was already dressed in a sweater and pants.
I turned towards Jame's bed, hoping I would see him there.
But surprisingly, all was there was a unmade empty bed.
Where is he? I thought to myself.
As if Annie could read my mind, she then said to me, "James is already down in the cafeteria where everyone else is, opening presents, eating Christmas breakfast, everything that we should be doing right now!"
She lightly pulled my arm so that I almost fell out of the bed.
"Wait!" I said. "I need to get dressed."
"No need." Annie said, still desperately pulling me out of bed and sleep. "A lot of people went down in their nightclothes."
I was shocked. "I don't want anyone seeing me in my night gown."
Annie gave me a dumb look.
"Well...why are you dressed?" I then asked.
"Because I had enough time to get dressed while you slumbered." she said pulling me harder than ever, making me fall out of my bed.
"Come on!" Annie said impatiently, dragging me along the empty hallways, towards the main place where all the commotion was for Christmas day.

When we got in there, the band from last night was still there, now playing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" while people ate at the tables, or sat on the ground cross-legged beside the Christmas tree as they opened presents and thankfully hugging or kissing the person who gave them the present.
"Where do you think he is?" I asked Annie, not having to say who I meant.
"There!" Annie pointed towards a crowd beside the tree, where there sat on a chair beside a vacant table was James, and in his hand was a present.
When he saw us, he started to walk toward us, but stopped when he saw us coming to him and sat back down.
I first went to the tree and looked for the presents that was from me. When I found them, I grabbed them before I was ran over the other people looking for presents and sat beside James, as Annie sat by me, a present in her hand too.
"Well...who is going to open them first?" Annie asked when no one else had did anything.
"Me first." I finally said.
I then handed one of the presents I held my hand and gave it to Annie.
"Awww, you shouldn't have." Annie said flabbergasted. "But you did." She added as she ripped off the wrapping and looked at what the present was.
"A box?" Annie asked confused as she looked down at the tiny cardboard box in her hand.
It was my turn to give her a stupid look, and then said impatiently, "You open the box!"
Annie smiled amusingly, and opened it up.
As she saw what was in it, her eyes widedened and her jaw dropped.
"Oh my goodness Mary...you really shouldn't have!" she said almost in a whisper as she picked up what was in the box.
What dangled between Annie's fingers was a gold chain. Dangling at the bottom of the chain was a golden heart that said in beautiful print, "I will forever be there for you".
I smiled. "My mom gave it to me a long time ago. She told me while she gave it to me was, "This will help you if you ever want to feel like I am there for you."
Annie looked at me stunned, and then handed the necklace back to me. "No. Mary I can't accept this!" She then started to thrust it back in my hand.
I pushed it back to her.
"Mary, your mom gave this to you in reassurance that she will always be there for you. I can't take it."
"Take it." I replied. "My mom gave this to me when I was little, because I always cried, believing that she was never there." I stifled a laugh. "I don't think that anymore. Now, I am giving this to you, telling you that I will always be there for you, whenever you need me."
Tears started to well in Annie's eyes, and then her hands came over my shoulders, and she embraced me.
I felt Annie crying on my shoulder. I started to cry too.
"Thank you." I heard her whisper in my ear.
I just hugged her tighter.
Then she let go as she wiped away her tears, as they were still running down her cheeks.
"Shouldn't wasted Christmas for everyone." she said as she handed me a present.
I smiled and opened it up.
There was a box too, but bigger.
I opened the box, and looked at what was inside.
Laying on top of styrofoam wrap was a china doll.
Her skin was pale white, and her dark brown eyes stared back at me. She had curly brown hair with a pink bow that sat on top of it, and she wore a beautiful Victorian dress.
"Annie..." I finally said. "She is gorgeous."
"She was my baby when I was little." Annie replied. "She was always there for me when.....well, you know, it's the same story as yours!"
All three of us laughed.
"Annie!" came a voice from behind us.
We all turned around to see the blonde haired boy from last night at the dance. He had just came in, and was waving towards Annie now.
"Who is that?" I asked jokingly.
Annie rolled her eyes at me. "It's David. We met yesterday at the dance. He has a thing for me." She replied, not sounding that interested in him.
"Well, you shouldn't keep him waiting." I said, nudging Annie.
She just gave me a glare and ran towards him.
"Hope she doesn't break his heart." James said to me, and we both laughed.
I looked down at the present he was holding and said, "So...who is the looking person to get that present?"
He smiled, grabbed my hand and said, "Come with me and you will see." He led me out of the cafeteria, and into the hallway.
We went up the stairs until we finally reached the 5th floor, and up onto the roof of the building.
"James, what are we doing up here?" I asked.
He didn't reply, just led me to the edge of the roof and stopped.
I gasped amazingly. Everything around us was covered in snow, including the trees, the floor, everything.
It was like a sheet of snow came on top of everything.
In the sky, almost covered by the mountains laid the bright yellow sun in the clear blue sky.
"Oh, James, everything is beautiful." I said, clutching his hand tighter.
"It is, isn't it?" He replied.
In the yard at the bottom of the building, we could see the children playing in the snow, laughing gleefully.
Far away from the kids, coming closer, was a sleigh riding through the snow with a couple of deers carrying it, and in the sleigh sat....santa?
"What is that?" I asked.
"It's Bill the Janitor, dressed up like Santa for the children." James replied, an amused sound in his voice.
I looked at him suspiciously first, then started laughing.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yep." James said.
Then we laughed together.
When we stopped, I finally said, "Well, are you going to give me the present or not?"
"Who said it was for you?" He said.
I looked at him, taken aback.
He laughed, and then handed it to me.
When I took it in my own hands, he put his arm around my shoulders.
I opened it up, and looked inside.
What was revealed was another necklace, but silver, and imprinted on the heart was and, "I love you".
I looked up at him. "Do you mean it?" I asked.
"How could I not?" He replied, and I smiled at him.
Then, we got closer to each other, his arm clutched me tighter, and our lips met.
At first, it was simple and sweet, but then he kissed me harder, and more affectionately.
We then parted our lips, and I handed him my present to him.
He opened it to find a picture of me. At the bottom of the picture was a handwritten, "Love, Mary".
He smiled, clutched it to his chest, and said, "I will cherish this forever."
I smiled at him, and we kissed again.
We then set down our treasures, and I laid my head on his chest as we looked out in the horizon.
"You know what the sun in the distance reminds me of?" James asked.
"What?" I said.
"The place we go when we die. Like our souls are just going to drift away from our bodies and we are going to live there forever." James replied.
"You mean heaven?" I asked.
"Yeah." He replied. "But it scares me. What if when we die, there isn't a heaven? I mean, I believe in one, but what if it's not true. And we just die and nothing is there? That's what scares me."
"Me too." I said. "But that won't happen. We will both die, and we will meet each other again."
"I hope so." He said, and he held me tighter as we were about to kiss again.
"Mary!" yelled a voice from behind us.
Me and James turned around to see little kids about 7 or 8 running towards us.
One little boy took my hand and led me towards the door.
"Come with us Mary! Come with us and play!" he said.
I laughed, and looked at James. He was laughing too.
"Santa is down there!" the kids exclaimed.
"All right, I will come!" I finally said.
The kids screamed in delight as the boy led me down the stairs.
James quickly took my hand, and he was dragged along with me to share the joyness of that Christmas day with them.