Just because Carli went to a Catholic school, didn't mean that she celebrated Christmas. For the Most part she didn't even realize Christmas had passed. Sure, every year the nuns gave her one present, a candy cane, and a few new school uniforms. Then they would walk her down to the church for the special Christmas ceremony. But other than that Carli wasn't really familiar with the Christmas spirit.
At home It was like Christmas didn't even happen. No trees or stalings. No presents or Santas. No singing Christmas carols and watch Christmas movies while counting the days till Christmas .In fact Carli had grown slightly apathetic to the entire holiday.
That was until one day when Carli was 12 she was invited to the Lambert Christmas! which included a sleep over from Christmas Eve til the Day After Christmas.
It was last day before Christmas Break and Carli was waiting in the 6th grade science class room for the Lamberts. Her birthday was earlier that week and Kally got her a set of Sparkly black barrets, which she was wearing right now. Every day she waited after school for an hour with the family. Even though Drake was gone off to college and Kira, Kylie and Ben started school with the rest if the Lamberts. Also Carli was now old enough to walk home on her own, but the nuns didn't think she should until she was 13.
The Lamberts piled into the room one by one from oldest to youngest up until little six year old Bennie walked in cuddling his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle backpack.
The group had changed a lot since they first met. Karen was the most popular girl in her year, 12th. She had learned how to roll her skirts to be short without the nuns noticing and how to apply make up better than a drag queen. Andrew was in 10th grade and hotter than ever. He was going through a goth/punk stage and it worked on him. His black eyeliner would usually look tacky and stupid but on him it was sexy. He was quite the player. He slept with most girls in his grade and a few in the grades above and below him. He wore chains on his uniform slacks and a leather jacket. Carli had a huge crush on him but she wouldn't let Kally know. Kally was really shy now. She wore uniform pants instead of skirts and ignored the boys. The little ones were still just cuties for now.
Andrew was leaning against a wall across the desk Carli was sitting on, "Hey Carls Kally has something to ask you."
Carli raised an eyebrow, "Then why doesn't she just ask me herself? Why do you have to announce it?"
Andrew smirked and folded his arms, "Because, squirt, I am the boss and I can do what I want."
Carli sighed, "Kally what is it?"
Kally smiled eagerly, "So, I know you don't celebrate Christmas at your house, so I wanted to know if you'd like to come over to my house for Christmas! Andrew can pick you up at 10 AM Christmas Eve morning and take you home 9 PM the day after Christmas. It will be awesome!" Andrew got his license a month ago and was obsessed with driving his black Cadillac everywhere.
"Ill ask my mom, but I'm sure she will say yes." Carli smiled. Christmas Eve was tomorrow. "What should I pack?"
Kally squeeled "Yay! Bring two sets of regular clothes, two pairs of PJs and two nice dresses for Christmas Dinner and the Christmas Eve church thing. Also a hairbrush, tooth brush and tooth paste, and George! Other than that-"
Andrew's laughing cut her off "You still have George? Why? He is so stupid."
Carli hopped off the desk immediately and glared at the ignorant high schooler, "What did you just say?" Her voice was dripping in annoyance as she took a step towards him.
Andrew smirked, not at all worried about the angry girl approaching him, "I said George is stupid and you're to old to have him still."
There was a loud quiet among the other Lambert kids. Even young Ben knew that you do not get in between an argument of Carli and Andrew. It was a deadly mistake. They didn't argue too often but they did occasionally. And when the did it was catastrophic.
Carli took another step forward. There was still about half a foot between them. "Andrew Micheal Lambert. What did you just say?" She gave him one last chance to redeem himself.
"I said Your stupid hippotomas is ridiculous and you are way too old to have him."
Carli let out a growl, and stepped really close to him, "You need to shut your mouth right now."
Andrew smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Or what?" he unfolded his arms.
Carli smirked, "This." She grabbed his arm and twisted it so hard and fast that he swung and faced the wall. Then she bent the arm and pressed it against his back. "George is a beautiful female hippo. She is not stupid and I am not too old for anything loser." When Andrew was thirteen he got in a lot of fights and also taught Carli how to fight in turn because some guys in her class were being mean to her. She never got in fights on campus, since bad behavour would ruin her nun scholarship, but off campus she kicked ass. Soon no one dared to mess with her. Andrew still got in a lot of fights but he now kept his fights off campus because he almost got expelled.
Andrew started laughing, "Good job squirt. Too bad I have 4 years on you." He pulled his arm out of her grip and spun around again. He picked her up and placed her on the desk again. "There you go you little Chihuahua. All bark and no bite. Well no bite, more of a nip." He tapped her head and walked away. Seems like Andrew won this round. Carli just folded her arms and seethed.
About an hour later the nuns came and picked up Carli and the Lambert's went home.

Carli's mom didn't get home until around 2 AM. Carli read to keep herself awake, but it was a struggle. When her mom finally got home she was almost asleep.
Her Mom shook her awake, "Honey? Honey? Why are you awake?"
Carli jolted awake, "Hey mom! Kally wanted to know if I can go to her from Christmas Eve until The night after Christmas. Can I please!?"
Her mom sighed, "Fine. Go pack then get to sleep."
Carli jumped up and hugged her, " Yay! Thank you! Love you, night!" Carli ran in her room and hurried to stuff clothes in her black backpac. She had a problem. She only owned one niceish dress. And even it wasnt that nice. She sighed and stuffed it in her bag anyway. She could always borrow one of Kally's many dresses. She zipped her backpack shut and layed it next to her bedroom door. She grabbed George and hugged her until she fell asleep.
Carli was rudely awaked by some one shaking her roughly, "What?!" She opened her eyes and Andrew was leaning over her, smiling widely. She jumped and fell out her small twin bed. "What are you doing in my room?" She blushed realizing she was just in her pjs, a shirt and mickey mouse panties.
"I'm here to pick you up, Mickey." He joked. "Also Im kidnapping George." Carli immediately looked around for George but found nothing.
"Where is she?" Carli glared.
Andrew smirked, "Hidden. You wont get him back until after Christmas."
"HER!" She growled.
"Here," he handed her some clothes, "Get dressed." He turned around and hummed while Carli scrambled to change into the clothes. It was a pair of black skinny jeans, a black tank top and a red and black plaid button up. She slipped on some black flats. After counting down from a hundred Andrew turned around. "Ready. Put on a coat and lets go." CArli threw on a black trench coat and grabbed her backpack. She yelled a good bye to her mother and got into Andrew's car. Sitting down, she realized she matched Andrew. He was wearing a leather jacket a red and black plaid button up, black skinny jeans and black vans. She didn't mention this observation out loud.
When they got to Lambert house, Carli jumped out and ran up the steps to the porch and ran inside the house. "Honey, I'm home!" She shouted jokingly. She loved the Lambert house hold even though it usually made her feel slightly less than.
Kally ran over too her and hugged her, "Carli! Marry Christmas Eve! Wait where's George? You would never stuff her in your bag."
Carli glared, "Your idiot brother took her. He's a jerk."
"I'm right here squirt. If you wanna gossip about how in love you are with me, do it in private." Andrew said, leaning against the wall next to the front door.
"As if." Carli scoffed. "Where should I put my bag, Kal?"
Kally smiled, "In the guest room right next to my room. Youll be sleep there, cool?"
"Cool. One sec, I gotta drop this off in there and I'll meet you in the kitchen for whatever you have planned." Carli walked over to the guest room and threw her bag on the bed before hurrying into the kitchen.
Kally and Mrs. Lambert were standing at the kitchen counter with all the other Lamberts, including Drake who's college was in the same city and Mr. Lambert, "Hi Carli, glad you could make it! Our first Christmas activity of the weekend is..." Mrs Lambert gave herself a fake drumroll, "Baking Christmas Cookies! We already have the batter ready so we just have to cut out shapes. The shapes we have are Christmas tree! Star! Heart! Dove! Animal thing! Angel! And wreath!" She held up each cookie cutter as she called their names. "Every one take turns and cut out cookies, we have enough dough for 30 cookies so that's three each! Now be nice and line up youngest to oldest." They lined up quickly Ben, Kira, Kylie, Kally, Carli (who was six months older than Kally), Andrew, Karen, Drake and Mr Lambert. Mrs Lambert was on the opposite side of the counter to help every one and reroll the scraps of left over dough to make the most out of it,
In life, Carli always seemed to be inbetween Kally and Andrew. Personality wise, clothing wise, additude wise. Even the room she slept in was in between their rooms. Carli thought it was unfair but she had grown accustomed to always sitting between them at the Lambert table.
When Carli got up to the cutting board, she cut herself a star, then returned to the back of the line.
While Andrew was still cutting his cookie, Mrs. Lambert let out a loud squeal, "Oh my goodness gracious!"
"What?" Everyone asked.
Mrs. Lambert smiled brightly, "Andrew and Carli are matching! Now isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen in your entire life?!" The Lambert's eyes slowly turned from Andrew to Carli and then back to Andrew. Andrew just smirked and walked the back of the line, settling behind Carli.
He lean forward and whispered to Carli, "We are totes twinsies." He said in the most Sarcastic voice possible.
Carli turned around, "You planned this didn't you?"
Andrew feigned innocence, "Now how would I accomplish that?"
"You picked out my clothes, idiot."
"I plead the fifth."
"Idiot," Carli mumbed.
After all the cookies were cut and thrown in the oven, Mrs. Lambert declared it was Christmas movie marathon time. In the living room there was two sofas and two loveseats. Mr and Mrs Lambert sat in a love seat. Ben sat between Kira and Kylie on other love seat. Drake and Karen sat on one couch, Carli sat between Kally and Andrew on the other.
"Our first movie is Roudolf!" Mrs Lambert annocced and turned it on. Carli looked at the huge 96 inch TV in excitement. She hadn't seen most popular Christmas movies or any at all, besides the nightmare before Christmas,
After about twenty minutes, the cookies were done. Everyone got there three cookies and went back to their seats. Carli had a star, an angel, and a strange unrecognizable animal shape, Kally had a dove, a tree, and a wreath, and Andrew had two angels and a star. Carli nibbled on her cookies through out all the Christmas Classic. But she left one cookie on a plate next to the Christmas Tree for Santa. The star, She knew Santa wasn't real, but growing up she never had the opportunity to believe in him. She wanted a chance to believe on her first Christmas.
"What are you doing?" A voice behind her said. She whipped around, Andrew. Of course.
"I'm leaving a cookie for Santa." She explained simply.
He laughed, "Why? You know he doesn't exist."
She frowned at him, "Shut up. Its my first Christmas. I should have the right to act like a little kid full of hope if I want to." She pouted at him.
"Whatever you say. You can act as little as you want. I have no say in the matter." He chuckled and stompted back to her room. She flopped on her bed for the weekend and welcomed sleep. But it wasn't coming. She just laid there and laid there. It must of been an hour of her just laying in the dark. She couldn't sleep. She reached for George but she was with her kidnapper Andrew. Carli hadn't slept without George in 8 years. George was the first Christmas present she ever got from the nuns, when she was four years old. Every night since then she has slept with George. No matter what she never skipped a night, She couldn't sleep with out her.
Carli slowly snuck out of her room and down the hall. She kept quiet as she crept down to the living room. She turned on the TV and turned the volume off, opting for the close captions instead. She found the Nightmare Before Christmas on On Demand and pressed play. This movie was an old favorite of hers. She watched it every Halloween and every Christmas. She adored it. She laid on one of the couches and pulled the blanket over herself. It was about 11 PM, when she started the movie. The movie wouldn't be over until a quarter after twelve, but Carli was ok with that. When the credits finally rolled, she was no closer to sleep. She was restless. She got up and paced back and forth. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't tired. She crept back to her room. Kally's light was off but Andrew's light was still on. Carli contemplated knocking on his door, but just went into her room and grabbed a book from her bag. She never left her house with out a book.
She tiptoed back to the living room and curled on top of the couch with her book. She started reading and reading, though Santa never came. It must have been 1 AM when she heard a door open. Carli froze. The TV was off now but she still had the light on, to read by. She was half way through her book. She heard the door close then foot steps coming towards the living room.
Carli stayed frozen, as if it would keep her invisible. It wouldn't. The footsteps froze in the living room door way. The silhouette was outside the lighting range of the lamp. The silhouette could see her clearly but she couldn't see them.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Drake asked, stepping into the light. That's weird, she was kinda expecting Andrew...
"Couldn't sleep."
Drake frowned, "Where's George? She's my favorite hippo in the whole wide world."
Carli glared at nothing, "She's been kidnapped."
Drake raised an eyebrow, "By who?" he had a good idea who the answer was.
"Andrew." she growled.
Drake laughed, "Why did he do that?"
"Because he is vile. He said I was too old for George and kidnapped him while I was sleeping, when he came to pick me up." she glared. Andrew may be very, very attractive, but he certainly wasn't pleasant.
"Aww poor little Miss Carli Ann Marie Fitcher," Whenever he was teasing her Drake called Carli by her entire name. It was a throwback to when they met and Carli introduced herself with her full name.
"Oh shut up, meanie. You know that I cant sleep with out George." She complained.
"Aww. Do you want me to go kidnap her back?" Drake offered.
"Yes please."
Drake laughed, "Fine." He turned around and walked back into the darkness. He was gone for a few minutes but on his way back, there was two sets of feet. Oh no. He brought Andrew.
When they walked into the light. Andrew was in just black PJ pants covered in skulls and stroking George's back like an evil villain, Drake on the other hand was in football footie
"Drake, I sent you to kidnap George back, not kidnap the kidnapper."
Drake smiled "Sorry bug, he was awake when I went in on the rescue mission. I had to take him with me. Now make happy, happy." He nudged Carli and Andrew together. They were matching again. Carli was wearing black pj pants with skulls all over them and a shirt with a winking skull with a bow on it.
"You stole George and you called her a him." she protested.
Andrew laughed, "So?"
Drake answered, "So, if you don't give George back, Ill help her kick your ass.." Drake said.
"Well... in the spirit of Christmas... No." Andrew said laughing.
Drake smirked, "Fine, then I guess I'll have to find a way to make you too settle this yourselves so I can sleep." Then he swung Carli over his shoulder and grabbed Andrew by the arm, "You two are having a sleepover." He dragged them down the hall and tossed them both in Andrew's room and shut the door before they could get out. He held the door closed with one hand and dragged a chair over with the other. He put the chair under the door handle and walked off.
Carli and Andrew were certainly going to have an interesting night.