All I Want For Christmas Is You

After another hectic school day of being bullied, tripped, poked, slapped, and verbally abused I ended up in Mrs. Canterbury’s class again. Karla was over at Mrs. Canterbury’s desk when I came in. I heard them whispering amongst each other. “What’s going on?” I asked, setting my bag down next to a desk. Mrs. Canterbury waved her hand, indicating for me to go to her. I walked slowly over there, but then Karla grabbed my arm and dragged me to her.
“Listen! Mrs. Canterbury has AMAZING NEWS!” Karla said almost screaming. I looked at Mrs. Canterbury and she held up two tickets…. Actually two backstage passes for a One Direction concert. I gazed at them and then back at Mrs. Canterbury with a shock. “How?” I asked, surprised that the school board would do such a thing for just a class of two girls. Mrs. Canterbury shrugged, “I had to do some talking, but hey, look what you got out of it,” she laughed. I grasped the pass and Karla grasped hers and she started hysterically crying of joy. I stared at her and back at the pass and I asked Mrs. Canterbury again. “Did Mr. Ruben disagree at first?” Mrs. Canterbury replied, “Yes, but I told him about how you are going to the University of London and he thought that was a big deal, so he thought this would be good experience for you,” I felt my face turn white. My mom wasn’t going to let me go to school there anymore. Especially not after that episode last night. But I defiantly wasn’t going to tell Mrs. Canterbury… or Karla at that.
“Oh my gosh! Awesome!” I said, as I walked over to my bag to put the pass in it, but before I set it in the bag, I read the fine print on the pass. It said the concert was at the O2 Arena in London… London, England on December 21, 2013.
“Mrs. Canterbury,” I asked, quickly hastening to her desk. She glanced up into my eyes. “Yes?” she asked, looking at the pass I was holding. I played with the nameplate on her desk before speaking, “It says the concert is in London… England?” I said kind of surprised. “Yes,” Mrs. Canterbury said, leading her voice into a higher octave as she scooted over to her computer. I stood there puzzled for a moment before I spoke again. “Are we seriously going to London, England? The school is paying?” I asked, very astounded at the measures the school was going for us. Mrs. Canterbury nodded. “The London concert was the only concert left on their tour,” she started as she clicked some things on her computer and then curled her finger to make me go to her. I went up to her and stared at the computer screen. It was on an airlines sight. “You and Karla are going alone, and I have already spoken to Karla’s parents, but not yours yet. Anyway, you girls are leaving the evening of the 19th and arriving around noon on the 20th. You girls will be there until the 22nd and then you will arrive back home in time for Christmas,” she finished, glancing up at me to note my reaction. I grinned and looked over at Karla, who was obviously tweeting about the backstage pass. I giggled and turned back to Mrs. Canterbury. “So where are we staying?” I asked, curious if she had even gotten that far. Mrs. Canterbury gazed back at her computer and typed a web address before clicking about ten times and she told me to look again. She pointed at the screen, which showed a lovely hotel with a fancy pool and hot tub. It had a quirky idiosyncrasy to it. It had also very pretty architecture. “You girls are staying here. All the hotel fees are paid for already, and the only thing you girls have to buy is your food. But the hotel has a complimentary breakfast. Oh and also bring money for souvenirs and stuff as well,”
I gave her an astonished look and glanced at Karla again, who hadn’t moved, she obviously wasn’t paying any attention to us. “This is completely amazing,” I said. “I can’t believe the school would do such a great thing for just two… nobodies!” I said excitedly. Mrs. Canterbury laughed, “You girls are not nobodies. You girls are better than three quarters of this school. You should be proud,” I giggled and walked over to Karla and gently kicked her leg. “Karla,” I said, trying to gain her attention. It wasn’t working, so I flopped myself down next to her and stared at her computer. Her background made sense now. It was the five boys I had looked up this morning. I smiled at the picture and named each of them in my mind. I had actually remembered. Especially Harry. He seemed special to me. I don’t know.

“So Karla, did you hear what Mrs. Canterbury said?” I asked Karla. Karla nodded without turning her face from her laptop screen. “Well I have to get my mom to speak to Mrs. Canterbury about being alone with you in another country,” I said, with a chuckle to her. Karla gave a slight grin but didn’t speak. Finally I got sick of her ignoring me, so I closed her laptop screen.
“HEY!” Karla interjected, pulling the screen back up, waiting for the screen light to turn on. She gave me glare and then typed her password. “Don’t do that,” she ordered, going back to exactly what she was doing before. On Twitter.
“KARLA!” I yelled grabbing her computer away from her. “What is SO important that you are ignoring me?” I asked, looking at what she was doing. “Cat! You don’t understand! One Direction saved my life! I try to gain their attention on Twitter, and I hope and pray they might see me one day, but still, stop hating on me for it!” she said almost starting to cry. I sensed her sensitiveness and handed back her laptop. She took it back gently and looked back at me. “I’m sorry Cat… You just don’t understand, I mean you barely know who they are. You probably don’t even know their names,” Karla said sadly to me. I gave a smirk and chuckled. “I know their names. I did some research. And Im doing more research tonight,” I answered and Karla stared at me in shock and then hugged me. “YAY! You are becoming one of the cool kids!” she said and I thought a nervous thought…. Oh God… what have I gotten myself into?

Notes