Glistening snowflakes twirled down onto my eyelashes as I walked through my snow-cast town. I was being dragged around town by my excited best friend who just had to buy all of her gifts now.

“C’mon Kitty Kat!” my friend Julie exclaimed, “We’ve got to get to all the best shops before they sell out!” I rolled my eyes at her weird nickname for me and her energy. We were walking by Claire’s when an amazing necklace caught my eye. It was a golden chain with a rainbow heart in the center which said, “You make my world so much more colorful.” To tell the truth, I would’ve gone straight in the shop to buy it, but Julie kept tugging me away.

“I’ll be back for you!” I yelled pitifully towards the necklace gaining weird looks from many of the people around us.

“Oh! Wouldn’t that be like the best present ever?!?” Julie screamed pointing towards a princess tiara that would cost only 1,000 dollars. I gaped at it. My whole entire allowance wouldn’t be able to pay for that!

“Julie, before you pick anything, remember that your friend Melody doesn’t have that much money…” I whispered over her shoulder trying to be her conscious.

“Yes, but Melody should also stop pretending to be one of those tiny floating people in my head, I already have those.” We looked at each other and started laughing hysterically. I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t for the Christmas spirit, we would’ve been kicked out. We walked out to Town square (which made no sense because that place was totally a circle) and we saw a karaoke station. Julie and I looked at each other, and I knew she would make us sing. If my reflexes were a little faster, I wouldn’t be dragged onto that stage screaming. While I was being dragged, I saw a little girl in rags watching me with her big blue eyes. I waved at her before Julie practically flung me onto the stage. I sighed knowing there was no way to get out of this now. I saw a flash of brown hair and I instantly knew what I wanted to sing. I told the person controlling the karaoke machine to play “All I Want for Christmas is you.” Julie looked confused for a moment, but after glancing into the crowd, she smiled knowingly.

“All I want for Christmas is you, you- baby!” Julie and I did a cute anime pose to close it off as the crowd cheered. I walked off the stage dragging Julie with me. My other best friend, Akemi, came up to us clapping.

“You guys did really good!” he cheered looking at me tenderly. I blushed.

“Aww!! You two are like the perfect couple!” Julie said out loud. Akemi and I instantly blushed simultaneously. Julie smirked and I resisted smacking her. The little girl with blue eyes came up to me again.

“You’re a really good singer!” she said. I smiled sweetly; she was adorable!

“Hi, I’m Melody; what’s your name?” I asked. The little girl pondered for a while and said, “My name’s Kiwi!” she cheered with her two front teeth missing.

“You shouldn’t be out here all alone. Where are your parents?” Akemi asked pushing his brown hair out of his eyes. Kiwi simply grabbed my hand and led us to a little shed on the outskirts of town.

“Mommy! I made friends with a really nice girl! Come look!” An older woman of about 30 came out of the shed holding a baby.

“Kiwi!” the woman said, “I was so worried! Where were you?’ Kiwi just giggled and skipped inside her shed as her mother sighed. “Thank you so much for bringing Kiwi home. I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”

“She’s adorable! We’re glad to help!” Julie fake saluted getting a giggle out of the baby Kiwi’s mom was holding. We were about to go back to town when Kiwi ran back out with a rock.

“Wanna play with my toy??” she asked nearly breaking my heart. How could her toy be a rock? Akemi and Julie were just as shocked as I was as Kiwi went back into her shed happily. Her mother sighed again.
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“I wish we had enough money to buy her a real gift,” she thought out loud. Afterwards, she waved goodbye to us and went back into their shed. We went back to town slowly with all of us in thought until Julie broke the silence.

“That was so sad! How could that little girl have nothing but a rock as a toy!?!” Julie cried into my shoulder. Sure she was going a little overboard, but it was still a very depressing predicament.

“Her family doesn’t have enough money to buy her any real toys…” Akemi stated thoughtfully.

“This looks like a job for Super Friends!” Julie cheered pretending to fly. I just walked away from her into the nearest Build-a-Bear Workshop. I picked out a bear that reminded me the most of Kiwi. I picked a bear with blonde fur and blue eyes. After it was stuffed, I put my wish into it.

“I wish that you would make this Kiwi’s best Christmas ever.” I walked out of the store to find a fuming Julie glaring at me. She potted the teddy bear I had hid behind my back.

“Oh my gosh! That’s so kawaii!!” she yelled.

“Did you get that for Kiwi?” Akemi asked me flashing me his world-famous smile. I would’ve fainted right then and there, it we weren’t in a public area. The clock in Town Square struck 12 midnight sending me into panic mode.

“Oh no! Oh no! My parents are going to kill me!”

“Calm down Melody! I’ll just call a taxi!” Julie whistled and a one-horse open-sleigh appeared. I rolled my eyes at the irony as I was dragged into the sleigh by two overly excited people. Somehow, I ended up home 5 minutes later even though it was a 20-minute journey to get there.

“You just have to believe!” the sleigh driver shouted answering my question. He left and forgot to take Julie with him.

“Sleepover at Melody’s house!” Julie yelled. I sighed and followed her into my house. Akemi lived across the street from me so he just went home. Miraculously, my parents weren’t mad at me. So basically, that means I was free to keep shopping the next day. Today, I left without Julie in fear of being dragged around again. I went to the store of the tiara Julie wanted and sighed. This was going to cost me a lot of gift cards. With the tiara in my gift bag, I went off to find a present for Akemi. I knew I just had to find him the perfect gift. I found a digital Christmas frame. I picked it up knowing exactly what to do with it. I walked by Claire’s again gazing at that rainbow heart necklace. I felt a pair of hands cover my eyes and a voice say “Guess who?” I only smirked and flipped the guy over. Turns out it was Akemi.

“Owww… You know I wasn’t some random guy, right?’

“Of course I knew. What other guy would I ever flip over?” I giggled at Akemi’s confused look.

“I saw you looking at that necklace, is that what you want for Christmas?” Akemi looked me in the eyes and I felt a little flutter in my heart. We gazed at each other and slowly inched closer when…

“Hey!!” Julie popped up knocking me over out of surprise. “Guess what?!? Today’s Christmas Eve so that means Tomorrow’s Christmas!”

“We kind of already knew that,” Akemi chuckled. I sighed. We went and got pizza and we had to drag Julie out because she wouldn’t stop eating. I went home and started wrapping my presents. When I got to Akemi’s, I put a little heart on it. I tried to find Kiwi’s present, but it wasn’t there.

“Mom! Have you seen a golden teddy bear around here?”

“Yes. I sent it to the Dry Cleaner’s because our dog took it out into the snow. They’re probably done cleaning it by now. Could you go pick it up Melody?” I was out the door before she finished talking. I saw the Dry Cleaner’s and ran up to the door. They were closed and wouldn’t be open again until 5:00 a.m. for an hour. I sank down in disbelief. Why?!? I decided to wait it out. In the middle of the night, it got really cold and it was snowing harder than usual. I shivered.

“Melody, you gonna help us set up the tents?” Akemi asked me.

“Where did you-“

“We heard about the teddy bear so we decided to wait it out with you,” Julie cheered, “Besides, we can’t let you hog all of the cold to yourself!” I laughed. I felt drowsy so Akemi put me inside one of our two tents so I slowly closed my eyes. When I woke up, it was 9 a.m.

“Oh no! I overslept!”

“Don’t worry!” Akemi stated pulling Kiwi’s teddy bear from behind his back.

“We got your back,” Julie cheered giving me a thumbs-up. I smiled. We went back to my house and exchanged presents. Julie gave me a hamster. I laughed and named it Julie Jr. She pouted like a little kid. Akemi said he would give me my present later. Both of them loved their presents. Akemi took a picture of us to put inside of it and Julie even tried to make us her servants. Afterwards, we went to Kiwi’s she and walked in. Her family was eating some ham. Kiwi ran up and hugged us. I handed her the teddy bear.

“Merry Christmas!” She smiled so big, she probably would’ve outshone the sun. Julie was feeling so touched that she gave Kiwi her tiara. Kiwi got super happy and started acting like a cute little princess. I hugged Julie happily.

“Melody, can you come outside with me for a second?” Akemi held my hand and led me outside. He put the necklace I wanted around my neck. I gasped happily.

“Merry Christmas!” Akemi stated before kissing me under the snowy, moonlit sky. It was officially the best Christmas ever.