Author's note: This story is going somewhere. I promise. Nothing much has happened yet, because, well, its only the first chapter. If you guys like it I'll post more. If you dont... um. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Oh; and if you have a better suggestion for the title, I would love to hear it.

December 18th

“You guys are amazing.”

Four teenage girls were sitting on a picnic table in the middle of a white playground. Snowflakes fell from the sky, landing on the frosted grass and colorful coats the girls were wearing.

“We knew you’d like it Mona.” One of them beamed.

The four girls had been best friends for as long as they could remember; ten years. As similar as they were in kindergarten, the four grew up together, but in different way, and each was the opposite of the other.

“You guys are the greatest!” Mona squealed –an uncommon gesture on her part- and squeezed her three friends into a big group hug. Mona Leonard was sixteen, gothic, and on occasion was told to be insane. Her hair was cut short and dyed black with splashed of red, her makeup was composed mostly of black outlined eyes and crimson lips, and her style was fishnet, rips and lace –all in black of course-. Her hardcore gothic alter ego insisted on being called Desdemona, but around her friends she couldn’t care less.

“Well it is your birthday. What do you expect?” Maddie chimed. Madison Dalton was furthest from gothic as humanely possible. Her hair was brown with blonde streaks, her eyes were blue, her makeup was glittery and her permanent record was as close to perfect as it could get. No one knew however that Maddie was an impressive drunk when given too many Strawberry Daiquiris.

“Yeah. I mean what kind of friends do you take us for?” Chloe faked a shocked expression, before bursting into laughter. She replaced a curl of red hair behind her ear. Chloe Mackenzie was a genius with an IQ of 175. She was, although the same age, a grade higher than the rest of the girls, and prided herself on the fact that in first grade the teacher insisted she would fail her if she didn’t smarten up. Her eyes were the same color as the cloudy December skies.

“Yeah!” The final blonde asked, the same fake surprise in her voice. She stuck out her tongue to catch a snowflake, revealing a tongue piercing, with a stone the same color as her eyes, a misty green tinted with blue. Lena had hair that cascaded in golden waves down to her shoulders, one layer was her natural gold color, and the one underneath it bleached platinum. Lena didn’t think of herself as special –far from it-. She wasn’t particularly beautiful, or talented, she didn’t even have a defined style. She was Lena Matthews. Period.

The way she saw it, together they were the bold one, the pretty one, the smart one and the glue that binds them together and keeps them from killing each other.

“But still this is amazing. I mean really.” Mona was referring to the gift the three had spent their savings on. Maddie and Chloe had scoped out antique shops for weeks, searching for the perfect gift, but Lena had found it on her first try, in a shop suggested by a friend; a book, with a leather cover and old flimsy biding, filled with parchment-like paper coated with spells, legends and ancient ‘true’ stories, for those dedicated to the dark and the unknown – it said so on the first page. The three had haggled the price half of what it was originally, and still spent a small fortune. But it was worth it. Mona didn’t believe in ‘That load of crap’ but still found it fascinating. At least with the book her Desdemona ego could get some credibility.

“Well you’re worth it.” Chloe said, rubbing her bare hands together. “Ten years, Mona. That’s a long time.”

“It is. And I think this is the first year you’ve actually found the perfect gift.”

“Mads has a point. Although our younger gift giving skills weren’t so defined.” Lena said, between snowflakes.

“Well, I just hope you didn’t spend too much on it.” Mona added worriedly. At the puzzled expressions of her friends, she grinned devilishly between ruby lips. “You guys still each need to get me a Christmas gift in a week.”

Three simultaneous groans.

December 23rd

Chloe ignored the doorbell the first two times it rang, before deciding that it wasn’t a neurotic salesman bent on making some last minute Christmas sales.

“Aren’t you going to get the door?” Maddie asked between painting her toenails. She had crashed at Chloe’s house once she decided that she was madly in love with –yet another- boy. Madison can go through a crush a week, but had only been in a serious relationship once. It scarred her for life, and since any guy she’s drooling over gets their full inspection and seal of approval.

“Yeah. Ill be right back Mads.” Chloe stood from her desk chair and ran as fast –and as loud- as she could down the spiral staircase that connected two floors. She heard a shriek; the sound of falling dishes and the same dished breaking. She grinned.

“Hey Chloe.” A cold and nervous looking Lena said once the door was opened.

“Hey Lena! What brings you to my neck of the woods?” She stared at her as if she had grown another head.

“Oh, uh I was supposed to finish my Christmas shopping with Mona and then crash at her place, but she cancelled last minute and I went by myself except I forgot my keys and I'm locked out of my house.” She took a deep breath.

“You can crash here, Mads is upstairs, we were just discussing Josh.” Chloe said this as seriously as possible, but Lena laughed a little. She hung her coat up and removed her boots carefully, before following her friend up the stairs, joining her in her ruckus.

“Maria still afraid of stairs?”

“Uh-huh”

Maria is Chloe’s stepmother, and, as she put it, a total bitch. Maria had lived her life in apartments and condos, and therefore had never come in contact with many stairs. Whenever Maria was responsible for Chloe’s well being, Chloe made a point to make as much noise running up and down the stairs as possible, thinking that if she suffered a minor heart attack she would leave.

“Hey Leeeena!” Maddie cooed when they came in the room. “Come to crash our party?”

“I was supposed to go out with Mona, but…”

As she repeated the story to Maddie, Chloe couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her at times. Mona and Lena have been friends for longer than the four had known each other, and from the moment they met until today, Mona is the bold, exciting, dangerously sexy one, and Lena, well, Lena is the voice of reason, calm, shy and quiet, even when she’s drunk. To anyone else but the foursome Lena wasn’t Lena, she’s Mona’s blonde friend.

“You need to stick up for yourself darling.” Maddie added, putting a fresh coat of pink on her toenails.

“I know.” Lena sighed, and sat beside Mads on the bed. “So what party did I come to crash?”

“Josh.” Chloe said simply. That single word was enough to trigger off Maddie.

“Ooooh right. Well, Josh is like soooo much better than any other guy, I mean he’s sooooo nice and sooooooooo hot and one time he….”

Lena and Chloe exchanged glances. Maddie could talk about guys for hours on end, and completely zone out of her surroundings. If they stayed quiet enough, Mads would completely forget they were there.

“So Lena” Chloe whispered, “What did you get your family?”

“Chocolate all around,” Lena whispered back. “White for Rosie, peanut for Violet,”

“Whisky for Adam?” Chloe joked. Adam was Lena’s elder brother, and their official supplier of things illegal for the underage, mainly booze. As much as she hated to admit it, Chloe found her best friend’s brother fascinating. So did Mona and Maddie for that matter. Especially when he was drunk, when he took his shirts off…

“Uh, Chloe? Why are you blushing?”

“Oh. Um. Nothing. Heh.”

“And a milk chocolate reindeer for Max” She finished, then sighed. “I still think that I could have found something better if Mona showed up. She said she ‘had better things to do’, oh well.”

“Wow. That’s bitchy.”

Lena shrugged. “No big deal. I’m sure she did have better things to do.”

Before Chloe could respond, Maddie chimed in. “So what do you guys think?”

“He sounds nice.” Both replied with the same tone. Maddie squealed, pleased, and opened a bottle of blue nail polish for her right foot. The three resumed their chatting about both everything and anything, interrupted only by a Latino woman bringing in some snacks and an evil glare for Chloe, and later sharp shrieks from Lena’s cell phone.

“Hey mum… sure… right… whatever, ill be home soon.” She flipped her phone shut. “Sorry guys, the commander wants my assistance at home.”

“Babysitting again? I pity you, I thank the lord I'm a single child.” Maddie said Lena smiled sweetly.

“They aren’t that bad, as long as they stay sugar-free.” She put on her coat and sat on the edge of the stairs to slip on her shoes. “Ciao, girls”

“See you Lena,”

“Bye honey” Maddie added, then paused. “Merry Christmas too!” She beamed.