I could feel his eyes on the back of my head to my complete and utter annoyance. He seemed to also enjoy watching me hiss under my breath as I clearly noticed his eyes on the back of my head. I cursed him before I turned to face him with a smile upon my face, as I held up the tray of snack food.

“I got cheese and crackers,” I smiled sweetly towards him. He seemed to be amused bythe look upon my face. I cursed him again, for I knew he could see through my fake smile. I held the tray up to him. “Come on Justin, try one.”

He easily took one up and placed it into his mouth and began to chew on it. He took his eyes off me just for a moment, so that he may chew, as he looked off to something across the kitchen. I ignored it, but only for a moment, until his eyes went wide and he began to choke hard on the cracker. My eyes widened before I put the tray back down on the counter and began to help him, to prevent him from choking.

I patted his back more then once before he stopped coughing long enough for me to know he was now okay. He turned back to what I too was now clearly seeing. It was there that I saw Aumi in a heavy and deep lip lock with Derek. I was surprised, but only for a second. Directly above them was mistletoe, so I immediately knew she had played one of her tricks on the guy to get a kiss. She had gotten Derek into a deep conversation, had him walk around, and she’d stop, and gasp, and from there, all the lips did the work.

It was exactly something dear Aumi would do to get what she wanted. For months she had wanted to kiss the guy, and she finally got to, only after she tricked him. I chuckled slightly, amused that the one guy she did want, hadn’t tried to kiss her all the sooner. It was fairly amusing for me just because she was the most wanted girl in our grade at the moment.

“Sill, what’s so funny?”

I was surprised that Justin had even noticed what I was doing, now that I had returned to getting refreshments ready. I shook my head, “Nothing.” I began to mix the fruit punch into a large bowel, not really answering his question. He knew this all too well, as it was my own mysterious way, something he was well use too by this point in time.

Justin seemed to still be in a daze, watching Aumi, continue to play tonsil hockey with Derek. He seemed to think deeply in though.  What he was thinking about was a mystery to me all together. He was just so quiet. He rarely did open his mouth to anyone, despite him not being shy. He was quite open, and spoke his mind whenever he felt he needed too.  He slowly turned to me and peered over my shoulder as he watched me work. I began to curse once again, and again he began to chuckle as he did this to me.

“I can see why you were laughing at them,” he chuckled to himself. “They look like fools.”

“Of course they do,”I smiled to myself. “Aumi is an attention whore and Derek loves to make girls jealous. There perfect for the other.”

“And of all things, mistletoe,” he commented. “You know that mistletoe is poisonous right? That’s why they hang it, to keep away from children.”

I hid my smile from Justin as silently cheered to myself. It wasn’t often that Justin acted smart around me. He often put himself down and called himself an idiot, and it seemed that he never wanted to sound smart in front of me. O liked it when he showed his true side to me. “Kissing under mistletoe, what a bunch of bullshit.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mistletoe,” I repeated. “Its such a silly tradition.” I turned to face him as I began to talk to have this discussion with him. I placed my hands on my hips as I opened my mouth freely, “It makes no sense. You stand under a poisonous plant and decide to kiss? Where’s the knowledge in that?”

“Well, some people just see it as a way to show affection in another wise impossible way,” he explained. My eyes past from his gaze and I returned to watch Aumi and Derek, who had now taken there hockey game to the couch. I rolled my eyes as I realized how Justin’s comment fit in with Aumi all too perfectly.

I returned to finishing the punch and turned to give it to him. I smiled, “Can you take this out to the living room for me?”

He nodded and smiled at me, “Sure.” He picked up the heavy punch bowel from my hands, and held it as he looked down at me for a moment before he turned away and left to the living room with it. I turned back to the kitchen counter and began to lean on it, deep in thought to what I should make next.

I had lots of snacks left to make, and Aumi was no help, she had already moved her full attention to Derek, so there was little hope for her to help me, despite her this being her Christmas party. She was going to be no help, so I was thankful for Justin arriving right away when I called him up. Aumi had called Derek up with the same reason, but of course not the real reason.

I sighed as I took a seat on a chair next to the island. I placed my head down on the counter top, leaning onto one side, while my arms remained low by my side. I peered over to the doorway to where Justin had left, and hadn’t yet returned to. I sat up quickly as I heard Aumi scream. Before I had a chance to stand to see what the problem was, it was much too late.  The chair from under me had started to dribble, until my body freely fell hard to the floor. I sat up as soon as I gained my balance once again. I turned immediately to face Mikey who was standing in the corner of the kitchen smiling at me with a wide grin. “Mikey, you little bastard,” I cursed. He continued to stare at me and smile.

“You know that I’m the cute little bastard,” he grinned at me. “You forgot cute.”

I glared at Mikey as he started to skip out of the kitchen, down the hall to an unknown destination. Aumi suddenly flew into the kitchen, her long wavy hair flying in all directions, and her cheeks red with anger. Soon I could see a purple vein pounding on her forehead as she began to throw a fit and scream at Mikey.

Justin had arrived in the kitchen and seemed to pay no mind to the two fighting. I turned away and began to look around for something to do. Me and Justin both knew how this was going to end, Mikey was going to trick Aumi like she hurt his feelings, then he would get her. He did it every time, and every time he would get her.  

Justin stepped beside me, and began to pick up several of the dishes and move them out to the living room with the rest of the goodies. By the time I was done, Justin was done as well, making me glad to know Aumi and Mikey were done fighting, and Aumi had locked him up in his bedroom for the night.

Not long after Aumi’s friends began to arrive, so me and Justin were then locked in the basement by Aumi, who didn’t want her friends to see either of us. I was use to it, but Justin seemed rather surprised by it. I moved us into the small rec room downstairs and sat down on the couch before I sighed deeply.

Justin sat beside me before he leaned forward and grabbed one of the soda cans in front of me. He opened it before he took a long sip out of the can. I changed by position, so my legs were on the coffee table. It was rude I knew, but I honestly didn’t care, and neither did Justin, who soon joined me.

I soon turned the t.v on and began to search for something interesting on. I gave up after flicking through all the channels about twice. I smiled at Justin and gave him the remote. He immediately changed the channel to Discovery, to watch something he saw earlier.  I began to relax and eased into the sit and watch the program, quickly getting into the program. About fifteen minutes later, the loud music started up, and me and Justin could no longer hear, or enjoy the show, so we both turned it off.  We both sat in silence for a few minutes before we heard the basement door open. I sighed. “Its Aumi coming down to ask me of a favor I bet.”

“No doubt,” Justin agreed.

We heard the loud clogging of her shoes coming down the stairs. I held a chuckle in as she entered the room looking quiet panicked.”Sill, I’m sorry. Can you please come up stairs. I know I told you I wouldn’t bother you, but could you please sing a song. The speakers aren’t working so good.” I rolled my eyes at that comment. They sounded well to me. I thought that even the neighbors would agree with me greatly. I turned to Justin and looked for his opinion. “Justin, should I go up stairs and sing?”

He smiled at me, “Only if you can stay up stairs.” I nodded and turned to Aumi, looking for her answer. “Well? Can I?”

The look on her face clearly read displacement, but she was in a bind and knew she could do nothing to stop it. She nodded, agreeing with us both. “Stay, just calm the group down until the band fixes the speakers.”

“Alright,” I stood. “Lets go Justin.”

As we made it up the stairs we soon could hear the full blown blast of the guests speaking, and the loud speakers blaring through-out the house. I gasped for a moment when I saw tons of more mistletoe placed in between all the doorways. Though they weren’t what I noticed, it was all the couples making out in the doorway. I turned to Justin, and rolled my eyes, making him chuckle lightly. We pushed through the crowds of people as Aumi lead us, making us go to the head of the living room where the stage was set up.

Aumi smiled at the guy who held the mic and took it from him, taking his place from the stage. She smiled at the group, “We’ll have the speaker working soon. Until then, my sister Sill will sing for you.”

The displease of the group was obvious right away. The room was full of shouts from the crowd, displeased screams were heard. “Why the nerd?” was randomly heard in the crowd. I rolled my eyes as I placed both of my loose strains of hair behind my ear. I stepped forward, making them cry out louder, and meaner. I didn’t care thought. “Get someone better Aumi!” Another cried. I stepped beside my sister and smiled at her as she gave me the mic. “I got your CD set up,” she smiled in return. “Do your best.”

I turned to the crowd as I heard Aumi fool around with the CD player, getting my song ready. Justin has retreated to the back of the room, and was perfectly in my view. I smiled at him as my music started to play, quietly through the CD player.

“Your cruel device, your blood, like ice,” I sung low into the mic. “ One look, could kill.” The crowd still seemed rather upset by me preforming, but it left few shouting at me, but rather talking among themselves. “My pain, your thrill!” I got more use to the idea of singing in front of the crowd and began to move my hips to the music, as the music became more fast and bold.

“I wanna love you but I better not touch,” I sung as my hips moved side to side. Justin laughed to himself, calming me and making me feel better about performing in front of a crowd that didn’t seem to want me to perform for them. “I wanna hold you but my senses tell me to stop. I wanna kiss you but I want it too much. I wanna taste you but your lips are venomous poison!”    

Aumi cheered me on from the side of the makeshift stage. Her hands were in the air and chanted my name, in a serious, but cheerful way. I turned to face her in a smile, “You’re poison running through my veins. You’re poison! I don’t want to play this game.” I almost forgot about the fact that there were still some screaming at me, telling me off, in an attempt to get me off the stage. I was having a blast in a way. I was performing for them, and the popular crowd that gave me such a hard time, was bitching about it, but was also not doing anything about it.

“Your mouth, so hot. Your ware, uncaught.” Just as I had at the beginning of the song, I was singing low, once again. Almost talking to the crowd, rather then singing to them. “Your skin, so wet. Black Lace on sweat.” Immediately the beat picked back up and I was once again singing and moving to the quick beats. “I Hear you calling and its needles and pins. I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name. Don’t want to touch you, but you’re under my skin! Don’t want to kiss you, but you’re venomous poison!”

I was somewhat amused to find that at least a few of the people in the crowd was dancing, and not even seeming to care that a nerd was in fact singing it. “Running deep inside my veins. Poison burning deep inside my veins!” Justin from the back of the room was sending me a thumbs up as I returned it with my thumbs up as I sung in a low voice again once again, “One look could kill, my pain your thrill!”

I soon began to notice that the angry crowd was now in fact dancing, while the ones who still didn’t seem to happy with me were now all standing in a group in the back, no longer shouting things out. I smiled as I heightened my voice up higher. “I want ro love you, but I better not touch. I want to hold you, but my senses tell me to stop. I want to kiss you, but I want it too much.” I chuckled as I noticed how silly Aumi looked at she danced up and down, now with a friend by her side, both singing along with me. “I want to taste you, but your lips are venomous poison!”

I waited during the long break, but dancing slightly there on the stage as I waited for the last course to start once again. I smiled as I finished the last part of the song. “Poison! I want to love you but I better not touch. I want to hold you, but my senses tell me to stop. I want to kiss you, but I want it too much! I want to taste you, but your lips are venomous poison! “You’re poison running through my veins. You’re poison I don’t want to play this game!”

Aumi met me immediately in a warm hug, as she held me warmly in her arms. She released me and smiled, “Thank you so much Sill. Looks like you’ll be all the talk at school after the holidays.” I blushed, but nodded warmly.

“But we both know they won’t be getting a second chance,” I turned the crowd again, and began searching for Justin in the crowd. I spotted him and waved before I turned back to Aumi. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go hang out with my friend now.”

“Go right to her.”

“Him,” I corrected.

“Its slang,” Aumi eyed me, while I grinned at her. I jumped off the stage and moved through the crowd, ignoring the ones trying to talk to me. I made it to Justin, and couldn’t help but jump up and down. He smiled with me, but resisted the urge to jump with me. Instead he slowly inched me into the kitchen.

“Why don’t we play a game of chess?” Justin asked. “Leave the party animals to their silly traditions.” He pointed to a couple in the other kitchen’s doorway, kissing passionately, under the mistletoe in the doorway.

“Silly traditions is right,” I covered my mouth as I laughed with him. “Chess is a much better use of our time.” I took his hand, and lead him, past the couple, trying not to bump into them. We seemed to make it past them easily, and again headed back down the stairs, into the basement.

When we were at the bottom of the stairs, I turned to the back walk-in closest. “Its up pretty high, could you be my height?” He nodded and opened the door and stepped inside the dark closet. I followed behind. “It should be in the corner, by the Chinese checkers board.”

Justin searched, but couldn’t see it, even when he tried to fix his glasses. “Do you have a light?”

“Yeah, I’ll turn on the light,” I turned behind me and reached up to the long dangling string, and pulled, filling the walk-in closest with light. Both our eyes landed onto what was hanging by the light, and casted a large shadow across the wall. Both our mouth hung open, while my cheeks turned a red shade.

‘Aumi is going to die,’ I thought deeply. ‘Very painfully. Mistletoe in the walk-in closet, of all places!’

Slowly I turned to face Justin, who’s face thankfully wasn’t red, but made me blush all the harder. I ended up looking down away from him, to try and hide this. I just kept reminding myself about the silly tradition over and over again in my head. That was all it was. A silly tradition. He wasn’t going to kiss me, because we both thought it was a silly tradition.

That was where I was wrong. I ended up looking to face Justin when both his hands rested on my shoulder, holding me quite firmly. My eyes were wide and my cheeks grew warmer as he leaned down towards me. My heart began to pound hard as I felt his warm breath on my face, nearing my mouth.

My hands soon rested on his chest, pushing him away. I stared at him, deep in his surprised eyes before I answered, “Its just a silly tradition.” His right hand moved from my shoulder up to my cheek where he cupped my cheek, forcing my cheeks to warm again.

“I agree,” he replied as he again started to move in closer try and meet my lips again. “I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.” My eyes widened in surprise as he tilted his head his head to the side and slowly brushed his lips against mine. His hand traveled downward to my hip, where he pulled his closer to his warm body, while his other hand continued to cup my cheek and light caressed it as he kissed me. Soon my eyes closed, and I melted into his arms. ‘This doesn’t change a thing, its still a silly tradition,’ I thought. ‘But it’s a nice one.’