Planning Your Future

Thank Heaven For Christmas (Part 1)

December 22, 1990

Veronica's POV

I put my stuff by the door. Erika hugs me. "I'll miss you!" She squeezes me. "I'll miss you too!" I hope she'll let go, so I can breathe. She does. "Oh!" She runs over to her desk and pulls out a wrapped gift. "Open it." She pushes it towards me. I unwrap it to see a bracelet. It has aquamarine, my birthstone, gems on it. It has a charm on it of a small book. "Do you like it?" She asks. "I love it." I hug her. I remember that I had also forgotten to give her hers. I give her a small box. She opens it. I got her a charm bracelet as well. This one was an amethyst. I got a charm that had a cursive E. "Looks like we both had the same idea." I state. "Thanks." She smiles. "You're welcome."

Erika puts on her bracelet and looks at it. "It's so pretty!" She is clearly very exciting and happy about it. "Merry Christmas, Veronica." She jumps on me and squeezes me tight, yet again. "Merry Christmas, Erika." I hug her back.

I put my stuff in the car. We start driving. JD glances at my wrist. "What's that?" He asks. "A bracelet that Erika got me." I tell him. "It's pretty." He says. "Thanks." I kiss his cheek.

We get to Sherwood. Everything has lights. The shops, the houses, the restaurants. Even the prison is decorated. Jill has gone all out. JD rolls his eyes as we pull into the driveway. Jill comes out the front door. "Hey!" She hugs us both. "Merry Christmas!" She gleefully exclaims. "What's all this?" JD motions to all the decorations. "I wanted to decorate. And we didn't have anything. So I bought some things." She says as we walk inside. "It looks like you bought the store's whole supply." JD laughs. The inside isn't as heavily decorated as outside. There's a tree and some other stuff, but not too much. Though the tree is barely showing any of its natural green color with all the ornaments on it.

The next day, I go to the prison to see Heather. This time, it wasn't behind glass. I hand her a book. We had talked about books before. "'The Bell Jar.'" She reads. "Yeah. It's a bit dark but it's a good read." I read it the first time I was hospitalized last year and it was good. "Thanks, Veronica." She sets it in her lap. "I would've gotten you something, but..." She trails off. "It's hard to go shopping while you're in jail." She sighs. "I get it." I assure her. "So how's that roommate you were writing about?" Her and I have been writing since I went to college. "Good." I nod. "Did she like the bracelet you said you were getting?" She asks. "She liked it. And she got me one as well. I wanted to show you in person, but they made me take it off." I hold the wrist that I had it on. "Cool." She smiles. "So what are Ram and Kurt up to?" She looks embarrassed to be asking. "They're at Ohio State. Probably partying until dawn and football." I joke. She chuckles, "I wouldn't doubt it." We both laugh. I look at the time. "Well I have to go. We're having dinner with Heather." I stand. "Well, Merry Christmas." She says. We share a brief hug. I wave goodbye and go to the car.

JD and I get dressed and pick Heather up. We all hug and drive to the restaurant. "Get whatever you want. I'm paying." Heather tells us. I choke a little on my water. "Heather. No." I say. "No. I want to. I asked you to come. So I'm going to." She insists.

She grabs her glass once we get our food. "Merry Christmas, guys." She smiles. "It's our first college Christmas." JD notes. "As my dad says: "Thank heaven for Christmas." I say. "Is your dad from the 1800s?" JD laughs. "No. He's just well spoken." I argue. "Touché." He shrugs. "Well then, thank heaven for Christmas." Heather raises her glass. We clink our glasses.

In the morning, I go over to my parents' house. My dad hugs me. "Thank heaven for Christmas. Or else I wouldn't get to see you." He hands me a box. I open it. Inside is the necklace I wore to prom. My dad must have seen my face. "I know you wore it to prom. She never wears it. So I asked if I could give it to you. At first she said no, but I convinced her to let me. So it's also from her." He explains. "Thanks, Dad." I give him another hug. I gave him his present. It was a scrapbook with all the pictures I've taken since I moved out. He flip through. "Who's this?" He points to a picture of Erika and I. "That's my roommate, Erika." I say. "And this?" He points to a photo with me hugging JD and Erika and Kyle standing on both sides of us. "Kyle. JD's roommate." I tell him. "And you know who JD is." I'd hope he did. "I do." He looks at the rest. He stops at a few pieces of paper that are folded and glued on the page. He opens it to see my short story with an A on it. "Oh. That's the short story I wrote for my Creative Writing class." I try not to look too proud. "You got an A on it. Of course." He smirks. "Yeah. I wrote about Heather's murder and how I was framed." I will myself not to shudder over the thought of being in that god-forsaken prison. "I'm happy you're not there anymore." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "Me too, Dad."

We have dinner that night and watch movies until late. We wake up the next morning. Jill makes breakfast before we open gifts. I get JD a really nice case for his saxophone. It's seems like a slightly disappointing present, but the better present is coming. JD gets me another diary, since I was running out of pages. He also gets me a copy of Fahrenheit 451. "Look at the first page." He grins. I open it to see the author, Ray Bradbury's signature. "Oh my God." I jump onto his and kiss him. "I love you. So much."

I go upstairs. "Close your eyes!" I yell to him. I carry down a small cage. I sit it on the coffee table in front of him. "Open them!" He does as I say. A hamster sits in a cage. "Veronica. You realize we live in a dorm, right?" He looks up at me. "I talked to the Headmaster. He says you can." I say. "Well okay..." He grabs me and pulls me on top of him. He kisses me. "Now what's his name?" I ask. "Hmm... well when I was little, I had a hamster. But my dad let him out." Jill frowns, then smiles. "So...?" I wait for him to tell me. "His name's Slushy." He looks at the little hamster. I do the same. "Slushy it is." I kiss him on the cheek.

We spend the rest of the day upstairs. I read my book while he holds Slushy. "He looks a lot like the old Slushy." He notes. "I'm glad you like him." He turns his head, "Ronnie, come here." I get up and sit on his lap. He puts Slushy in my hands. "Aww. Hello." I pet him. "Merry Christmas, little guy." I say to him. "Merry Christmas, babe." I put my head on JD's shoulder. "Same to you."

So I was hoping to get this out before the 26th, and I did. But I was hoping for 11, but I'm about 10 minutes over. Oh well! Well I hope you enjoyed. And yes, I added Slushy the hamster into the story. And the title is from a musical I was in so you won't get it since I've searched the internet for it but it's just not there. So, no need to guess: it's from A Christmas Carol. Bye!