It was Christmas Eve in the living room

The living room was dimly lit by one candle burning low in the kitchen and a small fire dying slowly in the parlor. The air smelled of roasted meat and ginger snaps. The silence was heavy, save the crackling embers in the fire grate, but you could almost hear the laughter and voices still ring out. All of the many bodies that had filled the house just hours before had climbed the stairs and slipped into feathered beds, cots and cradles falling into peaceful sleep.

All but two, that is.

One sat on the living room sofa, reading a book, while another lay wide awake in his bed, thoughts weighing heavily on his mind. After a while of thinking thoughts through, Chris stepped lightly out of bed and stretched a long leg over a sleeping Fred on a camp cot and left his bedroom.

As he crept slowly down the stairs he noticed a candle had been left burning in the living room. He went closer to the room and noticed that Betty was sitting on the couch, reading a book. "What are you doing up, reading a book at 11:30 at night?" he asked as he approached her.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Well, I was just thinking that if I stay up all night, that my wish will come true."

Chris looked over at her with a smile. "You know, I have been thinking about that too."

As he sat down, he looked at her. "So, I suppose your wish will be to be Head Girl for the rest of the year and to get all A's, right?"

She rolled her eyes. After this she smiled at hime and she noticed that he looked really nervous. "Um, are you okay, you look nervous about something?"

He looked up at her and said, "Um, yeah I'm fine. I just was thinking about something...about my wish."

"What about your wish? Can I hear it?" she asked him with great energy. "My wish is to..." as he said this, he put his hadn over hers, continuing, "to be the one for you."

After he said this to her, she looked at their hands and then at him. "You really mean that, you want to be the one for me?"

"Yeah, you have been there for me, you always supported me through everything and deep down I feel that I truly fancy you, a lot."

She smiled and she took their hands, entwined them, and said, "Do you want to know my wish?" He nodded, as she continued,

"My wish is have a happy life with you." When the last word came out of her mouth, she looked up on the ceiling to see a mistletoe, dangling there. She pointed her finger up for him to see it. As he saw it, he turned around back to her and kissed her. That was the first Christmas Eve that neither of them would never forget.

Ashley Shroyer
Lodi