Silver Starling

Gift Time!

"Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life, you can barely remember what life was without them." _Anne Taylor

It was Christmas Day - the day of the party. All of my friends were coming: Jaden, Roxie, Layne, Iyla, the Whites, and some of my other friends, along with their families. I still couldn't believe that Iyla was coming; she hasn't been to a Christmas party with me since eighth grade.

Every time I heard the doorbell ring, I ran to the door and opened it, hoping Iyla would be there. My reaction was especially terrible when Layne came. To be honest, I think I was worse to Roxie.

When Iyla finally came, I went straight to hug my aunt, uncle, and finally my other cousin, Iyla's little sister Cheri, who we call Pie. By the time my Aunt and Uncle left, Iyla stood with her arms crossed looking insulted.

I shrugged, "What? Pie is my cousin." Iyla pointed her hands between herself and Cheri. "And I saw you last week." Iyla rolled her eyes.

Layne came up to Iyla, "You think she's bad like that. She literally groaned when she saw me." He put his hands up in exasperation.

Iyla nodded, "You are totally right. Not to be rude or anything, but who are you?"

"Oh sorry, the name is Layne Myers. I'm one of Sterlling's friends," he wrapped his arm around my waist, and I hugged him close.

Iyla scoffed, "Sure doesn't look like it." Cheri nodded her head in agreement.

I pouted, "Come on Iy, we are just friends."

Jaden came from the kitchen, "Iyla, I completely agree with them," he put his hand on Layne's shoulder. "Star and Layne are obviously friends," he coughed out the last part, "that dated."

Roxie walked over to us, "They did, but it only lasted one date. Right now, it just looks like the two are siblings. By the ways, I'm Roxie Fay. I heard that you are Sterlling's cousins, Iyla and Cheri."

Probably for ten minutes, Iyla and Cheri spent their time getting to know Jaden, Roxie, and Layne. For some reason, Jaden and Roxie seemed to be getting along more than usual; maybe they might have gotten past that awkward stage of small talk. Also, Jaden and Iyla seemed to get really weird when I talked about going to my room, and Iyla always ended up getting it for me.

When Iyla came back downstairs without the thing I wanted, she had a big smile plastered on her face, "Gift time for my Li-Li!!"

I looked at her, confused, "Iy, gift time is later, not thirty minutes in when it just started."

Jaden started to push me up the stairs, "Come on Star, I want to see what Iyla got you." Layne, Roxie, and Cheri agreed and rushed upstairs, not even waiting for me who was the actual recipient.

Once we got to the door of my room, Iyla held everyone back from the handle saying she was the only one who could open it because she was the one giving the gift. When she opened the door, the shock was written all over her face. I looked inside to see a stuffed black cat in the middle of a pillow wall covered by my blanket, and the cat sitting right on top.

I squealed, "Yeah, a cat for me!" I jumped on the bed into the pillow wall, which was not a soft as pillows were supposed to be. I'm pretty sure I heard someone groan beneath me. I got scared and screamed, running behind Jaden.

What I thought were pillows started to move about; I saw a hand come from under the blanket, and pull it off. With the blanket off, the pillows turned out a boy I missed very much, Grayson, but he had on those golden colored cat ear headband, and there was face paint on him to make him look like a cat with the whiskers and a black nose.

I pushed Jaden out of the way, "I got another kitty!" I tackled Grayson, making him fall back down. "Hi Goldie."

Grayson smiled at me, "Hi Silver." I nuzzled into his chest, and he petted my head like I was the cat and he wasn't. I stopped cuddling when we heard someone cough in the back. Grayson turned his head to see my friends and Iyla; he waved awkwardly, "Hello, I'm Grayson White."

Grayson is a very friendly person; he quickly became friends with everyone with ease. At some point, no one even cared that he had a cat face. As for Mr. and Mrs. White, they were very happy to have Grayson back. He would come back from his boarding school but, they would always go on trips so I could never see him. Mr. and Mrs. White spent the day with him and were happy to see Grayson with his friends.

Iyla, Roxie, Cheri, and I sat on my bed for some girl time. Grayson, Jaden, Layne, and Roxie's brother, Ray, were doing something I didn't care for.

I was getting curious about the love lives of my friends, "Iy, any man in your life?"

She thought for a moment, "My dad."

I groaned, "Pie, got a crush?" she averted her eyes from me, "Ooh, you do," I teased, "How about you Roxie? Anyone at school?" Roxie bit her lip. "Oh my gosh, there is someone? Who is it?" She didn't look at me; instead, she stared straight ahead at a picture of Jaden and I that I had put up earlier. "It's Jade isn't it?" she bit her lip, "It is Jade. That's why it's kind of awkward between you two."

Roxie finally admitted her feelings, "Yes, I like Jaden, but I don't think I could ever confess. What if she doesn't like me back? It's hopeless."

"No it isn't, he might like you back if you are like, 'Oh Jaden, I like you so very much.'" As I intimated Roxie, I heard footsteps come close to my room then stop.

"Yeah, do just that and you'll easily get Jaden," Iyla tried to encourage Roxie.

While she was talking, there was a knock my door, Grayson popped his head in, "Hey, I'm here to call you over for it's time to exchange presents."

"Gift time! Gift time!" Cheri squealed and sat down next to the tree; the rest followed her lead, including me of course.

Roxie looked at the tree and picked up the first gift, "This is for Jaden, from your mom."

He smiled and took it from her. Opening it, his smile grew bigger, "You got me a car!" He lifted up the gift, which was a car key attached to a keychain that said "Merry Christmas".

Mrs. Beckett grinned, "Well not really, that's your dad's old car, and now it's yours. You already have your license so I thought this would be a great present." Jaden ran over to Mrs. Beckett and kissed her on the cheek.

At last, everyone got their presents, except me. The last ones I got were from Iyla and Grayson. They came up to me with their hands behind their backs, and I sat there curious about what was behind them. Instead of a present though, they showed me their jazz hands.

"Our gift to you is that," Iyla started to speak. Maybe they hid the present somewhere else. I thought.

Grayson continued for Iyla, "Is that we are staying here!"

I screamed and hugged Grayson, who was right in front of me, and whispered, "You are staying."