A/N: Wake up Fredlex supporters it's time to clown :)
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Name: LilacBerry
Posted on: 22nd December. 7:44am.
Message: of COURSE some of the freshmen are doing the mean girls jingle bell rock dance for the xmas party lol
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➔ Name: TrueQuill
Commented on: 22nd December. 7:50am.
Comment: I mean it is kind of a tradition at our school now
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Name: CloudShift
Posted on: December 22. 8:00am.
Message: WHY IS IT SO COLD IM GONNA FREEZE TO DEATH LOL
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➔ Name: DollyLlama
Commented on: December 22. 8:03am.
Comment: DONT DIE NOW BC AT LEAST ITS WINTER BREAK NOW
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Name: BlueInk
Posted on: December 22. 8:05am.
Message: UGH why are so many Christmas songs love songs
like there are single people here :((((
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➔ Name: UndeadFox
Commented on: December 22. 8:07am.
Comment: There are a lot of xmas songs not about love... such as an entire genre about the birth of Jesus Christ for example
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➔ Name: CloudShift
Commented on: December 22. 8:08am.
Comment: yall giving me flashbacks to when I was dragged out for a carolling service. There's nothing silent about this night when we're singing in the streets
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➔ Name: LilacBerry
Commented on: December 22. 8:10am.
Comment: "there's nothing silent about this night" LOL?
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December 22. 9:11am.
Conner: HELP I CANT STOP LAUGHING
Bree: THE TEACHERS CHRISTMAS CHOIR IS ALWAYS SO FUNNY EVERY YEAR ANS FOF WHAT
Conner: IS SOMEONE WEARING A RES NOSED REINDEER WITH THE HORNS HEKDJHDHDBDHD
Bree: girl help why is the scary office receptionist lady dressed as a TURKEY
Conner: we're really going back to our old habits of texting each other during assemblies
Bree: "going back" Like we ever stopped??
Conner: STOPPPP THE SINGING IS SO OFFKEY
Bree: GHEJCJS BC JEHD
Bree: did they even rehearse. I have tears in my eyes
Conner: IM HICCUPING
Bree: IM TAKING PHOTOS TO BLACKMAILTHEM
Conner: ???? DONT BLACKMAIL TEACHERS?? SHOULD I BE CONCERNED
Conner: DONT GET CAUGHT USING YOUR PHONE!!!
Bree: Who cares ITS WINTER BREAK
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At the school's Christmas party, Arthur brought Alex around to his class. Which meant: Alex was a sophomore in a class full of juniors and she suddenly felt very out of place, so she stuck close with Arthur. Her hand shyly grabbed his coat.
"Oooh, it's the famous Alex Bailey!"
"Aww, it's Arthur's girlfriend. Cute."
They gushed and cooed over Alex even though she was just a year younger (but Alex understood how they were feeling because freshmen also felt like babies to her when she'd been a freshman a year ago).
So these were Arthur's peers that he interacted with a regular basis. Alex recognised a couple of them— one was the vice president of the student council, one was the chairlady of the community service team, and another one consistently won singing competitions. They were just a year older than Alex, but they seemed so cool.
Alex was glad that Arthur was introducing her to his friends, and she knew Arthur had put in effort to get to know her friends, so Alex should return the favour, right? Alex squared her shoulders and put on her best polite smile. She was wearing a turtleneck that day and maybe it could make her look more mature?
Even though the older students were all very nice and friendly, Alex couldn't help but miss her own class. It felt like she was in a whole new different world that she didn't have the right to intrude into. She idly wondered what Conner and Fred were doing.
"You feeling alright?" Arthur asked after he noticed Alex was being quiet.
"Oh, I was just spacing out," Alex dismissed his concern. "I might return to my class soon, gotta meet up with my friends."
Alex realized her last sentence sounded like an excuse even thought it wasn't one... except it kind of was one?
"Oh, sure, should I go with you?" Arthur asked like the kind boyfriend he was.
Alex really wanted to return to an environment she was comfortable in (or like her "natural habitat"), so she exhaled with relief and grinned up at Arthur. "Yeah, yeah, let's."
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Danielle was having a great time at the Christmas party but then a certain somebody barged in.
Arthur.
Danielle had been chatting with Bree, but then Alex returned with her beloved boyfriend in tow, and Arthur was always trying to befriend Alex's friends.
"If I ever date someone and they start doing crap like that, please murder me," Danielle muttered under her breath to her friend who was obsessed with murder mystery novels.
"Gladly," Bree returned nonchalantly, "but I'll probably murder the other person first."
The two girls watched as Alex and Arthur chatted with Conner. Danielle bit into a gingerbread cookie more viciously that was needed, creating a loud snap!.
"Do you dislike Arthur that much?" Bree asked.
Danielle furiously munched her cookie again. "It's mostly pettiness, I guess," she mumbled. "Like, you know how I feel about Fred. And I feel so stupid and immature getting mad for his sake when it doesn't even concern me. Technically speaking, this situation should "benefit" me (she made air signs) because Fred's crush is now taken but I don't like that because Fred looked so sad!!" Her volume was increasing, so Bree nudged her to remind her to keep her volume down.
Danielle took a deep breath. "And I also know Fred had it coming because he never made a move but I'm also emotional and biased as hell. And Arthur is trying to act... all chummy with us? Like, it's great that he's friendly, but something doesn't sit right with me..."
Bree pondered for a while and carefully thought about Danielle's personality and the current situation. "I don't think it's just pettiness," Bree told Danielle, "because I know you take time to warm up to people, especially when it comes to romance. I think you find it weird that they suddenly became so close after merely two weeks. As you said, that sort of quick progress is a red flag for you. Like, you've liked Fred for forever now, but if he suddenly went from zero progress to fully asking you out in two weeks, you would also run away." Bree's analysis was rational.
"True... but I'll probably run away no matter the time frame," Danielle admitted. "I'm just a scaredy cat... oh nooo, Arthur's coming over."
"Keep cool," Bree instructed her.
Danielle took a deep, calming breath, her body trembling. "I. Am. Cool."
"Hey."
Danielle jumped out of her skin and almost shrieked. "Fred! You scared me!!"
"You just weren't paying attention," Fred said nonchalantly. He'd popped up behind Danielle and he didn't intend to scare her, but Danielle was making it easy.
Danielle's cheeks coloured quickly. Her pulse drummed against her wrist as she absentmindedly twirled her hair. "Oh... hi. Y-you didn't hear what we were talking about earlier, right?"
Fred noticed how flustered Danielle was, but remained clueless. "Um, no?" he replied as Bree coughed.
"Cute accessories, by the way." Fred nodded to the two felt reindeer horns on Danielle's head. It was just a casual compliment and Danielle knew damn well he was this nice to everyone, but she still flushed to the roots of her hair.
But before Danielle could reply, footsteps sounded. Arthur had arrived, armed with a nice smile so it just felt mean ignoring him. Fred took a step forward, subconsciously acting as a barrier between the girls and Arthur.
"Hi," Arthur greeted them, genial and polite.
Danielle swallowed and tried not to avert her eyes. "Hi...?"
-
You have one new message from Dani >.>.
"EUGENE SAVE ME"
Sent: 10:40am
Received: 10:47am
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December 22. 10:47am.
Eugene: daniii what's going on
Danielle is now online.
Danielle is typing...
Danielle: ARTHUR.
Eugene: what did he do?????
Eugene: DO I NEED TO STAB HIM
Danielle: NO HES JUST EXISTING
Danielle: TALKING WITH US BC HES DATINF ALEX UUFHFHDHEHFH
Danielle: it's so awkward lol
Eugene: Is that what the "save me" was about
Danielle: yeah but i was a little over dramatic and after seven minutes of this it's become somewhat bearable
Danielle is typing...
Danielle: or ive just gotten used to it
Danielle: or lost my sanity
Danielle: idk
Eugene: Fine I'll come and save you
Eugene: since you're being such a whiny damsel in distress
Danielle: :(
Eugene: That's right, pout all you want, won't change a thing
Danielle: ok arthurs not the worst but the longer i stand here the more awkward it feels
Eugene: run away
Danielle: like that carly rae jepsen song?
Danielle: i like the saxophone tho
Eugene: BABY
Eugene: TAKE ME!! TO THE!! FEELING!
Eugene: I'LL BE YOUR SINNER IN SECRET
Danielle: WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OIT
Eugene: RUN AWAY WITH ME
Danielle: RUN AWAY WIYH ME
Eugene: ok im walking over
Eugene: oh no
Danielle: oh no what
Eugene: people.
Eugene: Ran into them. Social interaction. You know how it goes
Danielle: nooo
Eugene: there goes my plans of saving the whiny damsel in distress
Danielle: lol
Eugene: now it's YOUR turn to save me from social interaction
Danielle: AHA
Danielle: who's the whiny damsel in distress now :)
-
Danielle stared at her phone, waiting for Eugene to reply, but he didn't come online. He was probably "dealing" with socialising.
It wasn't like the situation with Arthur was super awkward. Danielle was learning to suppress her immature feelings and so she could laugh and nod along. At first, she felt more involved in the conversation, but as time went on, Danielle felt her relevance slip away. People were turning away from her and Danielle had learned from Bree that it meant they weren't talking to her anymore.
So Danielle busied herself with staring at her phone so she didn't look sad. Except, of course, Eugene wasn't replying. Because he too was busy socialising.
Technically, there was nothing wrong with Arthur. What Bree said about the quick romance was correct, but it wasn't like Arthur was romancing Danielle, and Alex was happy, so it wasn't any of Danielle's business. And Fred was reaching out an olive branch to Arthur, so Danielle had no right to be angry on his behalf. Arthur was... friendly. And charming. And supposedly likeable.
Unfortunately, he felt too likeable and charming, and Danielle felt slightly intimated. After all, she was a shy person and took time to open up to people (unless you were an annoying kid like Eugene who barged into her life and somehow stayed there). Danielle squirmed slightly, not uncomfortable yet but if it went on for five minutes more, she would probably find some dumb excuse to run away.
For some reason, Fred appointed himself as her dumb excuse.
Fred loudly exclaimed that he was going to the other class for something and dragged Danielle along. Danielle was so stunned by Fred (gently) pushing her back (even though Fred made physical contact with his friends all the time!) that her mind just blanked out and she let Fred do whatever he wanted. Once they were out of the classroom and out of earshot, Fred spoke.
"You feeling okay, Dani? You seemed like you were spacing out earlier."
He sounded earnest and genuine. Danielle swallowed. "Yeah... I guess I needed some air." Her voice was soft.
Fred titled his head (Cute, Danielle thought privately). "Dude, are you like, intimidated by Arthur or something?"
Danielle's face instantly felt hot. "I-I mean! He's a junior! He's a year older!"
Fred almost rolled his eyes. "He's just a year older. Like, it's not that big of a difference. I bet I can beat him in basketball."
Danielle snorted. Of course Fred, the basketball team captain, was saying that. "But he can probably beat you in soccer."
Fred raised an eyebrow. "Oho, really?"
Danielle patted Fred's shoulder in a good natured fashion. "I have faith in you though. You can destroy that Pendragon guy, I know it." Danielle grinned up at Fred.
"Yeah, exactly." Fred jokingly flexed his muscles to pretend to show off. "So don't be scared of him. Like how you were scared of me."
Danielle recalled the pool scene back in late October and she flushed even more (if that was possible). "Ohhh please, you and Arthur are on completely different levels," Danielle babbled.
Fred chuckled. "Good to know."
Then hurried footsteps sounded. Fred and Danielle rounded a corner to find Eugene running towards them, his cheeks red with exertion. "Oh, there you are!" Eugene breathed out, his eyes on Danielle.
Danielle blinked. "Eugene!"
"Hello," Fred greeted Eugene without missing a beat. "Wanna join us? We're just gonna pay the other class a visit."
Eugene's eyes flickered between the two of them, and then a small smile tugged on his lips. "Nah, I've got other stuff to do. I'll see you guys later."
Danielle instinctually frowned. "But, Eugene—"
But Eugene had already vanished. That guy was scarily good at disappearing into the shadows.
"Eugene pulling a classic Eugene move again, I see." Fred's comment was lighthearted, but Danielle wasn't as carefree as he was. Her fingers lingered on her phone and she wanted to text Eugene again. Was it just her, or did the situation earlier seem a little weird?
-
Eugene finally managed to shake off the crowd and slunk away to find his "whiny damsel in distress". Ugh, he knew he should interact with people more, but sometimes he just really craved an escape. He rounded a corner, his lungs burning, and—
Oh.
Of course Fred was there with Danielle.
So Fred had saved Danielle from Arthur before Eugene could get there. And Danielle looked like her usual happy, flustered self around Fred. She had that kind of expression that she only showed to Fred.
And who was Eugene to disturb them?
So Eugene did what he did best— run away.
She looked happy anyway. Eugene thought of Danielle's bright smile around Fred and his chest felt a little fighter.
He wasn't bothered by it.
He wasn't supposed to be bothered by it.
But then he thought of Danielle in her cute reindeer horns, then Fred next to her, and those two were chatting and giggling about who-knows-what—
Eugene resolutely lifted his chin.
... He really wasn't bothered by it.
-
The Christmas party was a roaring success and when it ended, it meant the holidays were finally beginning. The gang happily conversed as they walked towards the exit of the school campus.
When they neared the door, Arthur turned back to Alex with a grin. "I'm eating lunch with my friends, sooo see you soon?"
Alex beamed. "See ya!" She leaned in and kissed Arthur on the cheek.
"You guys are meeting up over break, right?" Conner asked.
"Ohhh, definitely," was Alex's reply.
"You know," Arthur gave Conner and Bree a glance, "we could do double dates."
Conner and Bree exchanged glances, and Bree replied for both of them. "Sure?"
"Anyways, I really have to go." Arthur gave them a warm smile. "We could work something out later. Bye and Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas!" Alex, Conner and Bree chorused in reply. But they were instantly distracted by another student gasping out loud,
"It's snowing!"
Amidst cheers and whoops, students instantly burst out of the building to play with the freshly fallen snow. School was finally out and they even had snow to celebrate the occasion. But they couldn't enjoy the peace for long, because everybody's instinct for violence kicked in almost immediately. Teenagers rolled up bits of snow and flung them at their friends, joking and teasing all the way.
"Hey! That's cold!" Bree laughed as Conner slipped snow under her collar. She retorted by throwing a snowball at him, which she narrowly missed.
Snowball fights were starting everywhere. Alex ducked and managed to dodge a stray snowball, but she couldn't stop laughing. Now it really felt like the holidays had truly begun. After their grueling exams, they were rewarded with unrestrained wintry fun, and to top it all off, they even had a ski trip in January and Alex knew everybody was looking forward to it.
Alex couldn't help think about how she felt in Arthur's classroom— like she was out of place and more immature than the rest. Was it a bit childish to play with the snow? Maybe, but everyone was doing it, and Alex wasn't going to be a stick in the mud. With laughter and shrieks in the background, Alex picked up a snowball and aimed for her brother. Conner screamed like a kid and instantly dodged behind Bree, using her as a meat shield.
"Excuse you!" Bree laughed, teasingly scolded him.
"Stop targeting me, Alex!" Conner cried out.
"You're my brother, how can I not?" was Alex's response.
Meanwhile, Fred was playing with the snow that had accumulated. He frowned and scrunched up his face as he attempted to shape the snow. He couldn't do it with mittens on as heat was needed to melt and compact the snow, so Fred sacrificed his hands for a few minutes of playing with snow. "My hands have literally gone numb now," Fred laughed.
"Don't get frostbite!" Alex cautioned him.
Fred responded by throwing some snow at Alex, who shrieked as she retreated. She then retaliated, the white flakes of snow landing on Fred's blond hair, making it shinier than usual.
It was a bit of chaos afterwards with snow flying everywhere. Alex felt a poke on her arm and turned to see a grinning Fred presenting her something in his palms. "Look at what I made!"
It was a surprisingly accurately shaped heart made out of snow. Judging by the redness of Fred's palms, he must have spent a considerable amount of time shaping it with his bare hands. Alex instantly cooed. "Aww, that's so cute, Freddie. Can I take a photo of it?"
"Sure, make sure to tag me." Fred had added the last request as a joke, but then he realised it probably wasn't appropriate for a taken person to be posting a snow heart and then tagging someone who wasn't her boyfriend.
"Aren't your hands cold?"
"They are, but I can barely feel anything now, so." Fred shrugged, seemingly nonchalant.
"Don't say I didn't warn you when your fingers start falling off," Alex said casually.
Fred snorted. "Wow, the way you just don't care," he joked.
Fred then went around his friends to presumably show them his snow heart, but ultimately went back to Alex. "Hey Alex!"
Fred was probably up to no good, but Alex looked up anyway, interested to see what amusing antic he had. Fred flung his snow heart at her like a snowball. Alex didn't move fast enough and it crashed into her leg. The snow heart fell apart and landed at her feet. Alex's jaw dropped.
"You ATTACKED me?!" Alex cried out, scandalised.
Fred grinned impishly. "Well, I threw my heart at you—"
Alex immediately gathered up the remnants of Fred's snow heart, roughly scrunched them together, and threw it back at Fred. Alex could be surprisingly savage sometimes (but she only showed that part of her to her closest friends). The heart hit his arm and broke even more.
Bree, who was next to them, gasped dramatically. "You returned his heart to him? And broke it even further?"
"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away," Conner automatically began to sing.
"Oh no! How could you!" Fred drawled, acting all sad. "Look at what you've done to my poor heart!"
Alex stared at the clump of snow that used to be Fred's snow heart. While she knew Fred was just joking, she did feel bad because of the effort Fred had put into shaping the heart. "You know, maybe it could be salvaged," she suggested and took a step closer to Fred.
"Nah, it's probably completely destroyed now, but I can try to make another one—"
Alex's boots skidded on the snow and she slipped. She crashed towards Fred, her hands pressing against his chest. Fred had quick reflexes and managed to catch her— a hand gingerly on her waist, another arm cushioning his fall as he leaned against a railing for support. Alex looked up at Fred, who was gazing at her with concern.
"Are you alright?"
Strange. Alex was having déjà vu to her middle school years when she was learning to ice skate and then almost fell. Except this time, she actually fell, and Fred was there to catch her.
Alex nervously stood up. "Oh, I'm fine! Thanks for the save, Freddie."
Fred instantly withdrew his hand from her like it'd been burnt. "No problem! Just be more careful."
"Haha, yeah." Alex looked down at Fred's hands. "Okay, but your hands do look really cold."
Fred frantically shoved his hands in his pockets. "Eh, I'll live."
The atmosphere slightly tinged with awkwardness. Alex thought Fred might run away (like he always did), so she told him, "Maybe you can teach me how to make a snow heart."
Fred scratched his neck but he didn't seem uncomfortable. "Nah, I've had enough of snow hearts now because mine was brutally and viciously destroyed."
Alex huffed. "Oh puh-lease, you're such a drama queen."
"Yeah, I'm over emotional and get caught up on little things." Fred had started his sentence as a joke but then started to contemplate if there was some truth in his words.
Alex glanced at the snow again. There wasn't a lot of snow on the ground yet, but a decent amount had accumulated on benches and railings.
"But honestly, it takes some skill to make that snow heart."
"Yeah, as you said it involves freezing my hands off," Fred drawled. "But I mean, I've come this far, I don't mind playing with snow a bit more."
He reached for a handful of snow and began to pack and shape it. Alex mimicked his actions, but on a slightly smaller scale. Fred produced a sphere of snow, and Alex made a smaller one. Her eyes lit up. "We can make tiny snowmen!"
"Careful, don't make them crumble," Fred reminded her as Alex placed the smaller snowball on top of the bigger one.
Alex grinned fondly at their snowman. "Aww, it just needs a face and arms now."
"Good luck trying to make a face on such a small surface."
"Yeah, you're right, I'll just go for the arms then." Alex plucked two twigs from a conveniently dead plant nearby and stuck them on the snowman. As she did so, Fred was busy making another snowman.
"What are you guys making?" Conner called from behind them. His footsteps approached them. "Oooh, little snowmen! Cute. I'm gonna make one too."
Fred shaped a new snowmen and placed it beside the existing one while Alex stuck twigs on it. Conner and Bree attempted to make their own snowmen with varying degrees of success (Bree's was oddly angular and sharp, Conner's was crumbly).
A yell caught their attention. The four of them turned around to see Danielle playfully dragging Eugene around by the collar, both of them shrieking and laughing. Bree grinned, amused. "Dani's always so violent when it comes to him."
Fred shuddered. "Geez! Remind me to never get on her bad side."
Bree cupped her hands and yelled, "Dani! Wanna come over? We're making snowmen!"
Danielle perked up. "Ooh, snowmen!" She dragged Eugene over with her, who had his hands raised in surrender. "I'm being manhandled," he drawled.
Fred was pointing to the snowmen. "So, the crumbly snowman is Conner, the weirdly shaped one is Bree, then this normal looking one is Alex, and this tall one is me."
(Coincidentally, Fred and Alex's snowmen were the ones with twig hands, a millimetre away from touching.)
"You two can build some," Fred continued. "That is, if you don't mind turning your hands into a popsicle."
Danielle and Eugene obliged, and they both ended up making smaller, rounded snowmen (fitting for their height, which no one mentioned). Danielle's was a little squished, and then it collapsed against Eugene's snowman. He protectively moved it away to prevent it from toppling. But in the end, they managed to make a line of snowmen (even if they were slightly wobbly and misshapen).
Alex was delighted. "Aww look, it's a snowmen family!"
Fred was attempting to take a photo even though he couldn't feel his fingers. "We look sooo cute here, haha."
Eugene peered at the line of snowmen. His and Danielle's were clustered next to each other, but Danielle's was also close to Fred's snowman. Eugene gave Danielle a knowing look and mimed moving her snowman closer to Fred's. She instantly flushed and slapped his hand away. Ahh, it was so easy to get Danielle worked up.
"You know, we can put this on a Christmas card," Conner jokingly suggested.
"Season's Greetings from the snowmen family." Fred continued with Conner's joke.
"Yeah, except they'll melt and we'll be left with nothing," Bree remarked.
Alex gasped. "That's so macabre of you!"
Bree shrugged, a grin on her face. "What did you expect from me?"
"Even if it's temporary, it's fun," Danielle piped in brightly. "Like, maybe it's the fact that it's ephemeral that makes it valuable."
Eugene thought of studying with Danielle, goofing around in rehearsals with her, all the little moments they spent together, and then how Fred was the one she liked all along and how Eugene knew—
"Yeah," Eugene replied softly. "Better hold onto these moments before you let them go."
-
A/N: Wrote a significant part of this battling a cold. The snow heart and snowmen family is actually based after irl events (but without the romance aspect which I'm just adding it in here for fanfic purposes).
Danielle was actually supposed to like Arthur and see him as the junior who adopted the sophomores but that... just didn't happen? She roasted him as a semi-joke and now it's not a joke anymore lol. I need a character to express my saltiness. I guess Dani is also following Fred's footsteps in "disobeying what I want them to do", those two characters truly made for each other /lh /j
Fred x Dani shippers please interact with me because it feels like I'm screaming in a void sometimes LMAO
I don't know why but it feels like this chapter took forever to write. It's probably because of Arthur. I'm blaming everything on him. Anyways, thanks for reading as always and Happy Holidays!! :D