"Aw, come on, Janine," Melissa whined as she tugged on my arm. "Pretty please?"

"No," I replied stubbornly, shaking my head, my hair whipping around my face. "I am not going to that party. You know I hate partying."

"I know," she dragged out, "But it's a Christmas party! You love Christmas!"

"Okay, I do love Christmas," I said. Melissa squealed. "But," I added on hurriedly, "That's exactly why I am not going to that party. I am not going to waste my time watching people get drunk and grinding against each other when I could be at home."

"Doing what?" Melissa challenged.

"Eh…" I hesitated. "Watching Christmas specials!" I grinned at her.

"But I can watch it with you later! I promise, I'll sit through any amount of Christmas movies with you if you'll go to this party with me." She stuck out a fist with her pinkie standing up. "Pinkie swear," she said, looking at me solemnly, all the while turning on her 'puppy eyes'. Crap.

"Let me think about it," I finally relented, turning away from her as I heard my phone chirp.

"Don't think about it anymore! Follow your heart!" Melissa exclaimed as she swooped down into my line of sight again. I turned away as I flipped my phone open. It was him. I opened the message.

Whatcha doing?

I smiled, and hurriedly typed a reply.

Nothing much, other than trying to think up an excuse so that my room mate would stop trying to drag me to a Christmas party.

"You know you want to go to that party, you know you want to go to that party," Melissa chanted as she dangled her silver bracelet in front of my face. Boy, that girl was persistent.

I rolled my eyes and swatted her hand away lightly. "Not working," I taunted in a singsong voice as I flopped belly down. My phone chirped again.

Is it Brady Rayworth's party?

I raised an eyebrow. "Mel, whose party is it?"

"Brady's. Brady Rayworth's. Why?"

"Nothing." Rayworth huh,I thought to myself as I entered my answer and sent the message. Melissa had gone blissfully silent, and when I cast a look in her direction, she was scrutinizing me intensely.

"What?" I asked, defensive.

"Nothing," she replied, turning away, no doubt to concoct up some more plans to con me into going to the party with her. Another chirp brought my attention back to my phone.

Hey, I'll be at that party too! Why don't you go with her? Maybe we can finally meet!

I felt my heartbeat increase as I read the message. Him, I finally had a chance to meet him! After months of talking via text messages, I could finally have a chance to meet him and find out who he really is! Instinctively, I was leaning towards a yes but there was a part of me that was doubtful.

What if he was no what I'd imagined? What if I wasn't what he had imagined? What would that do to our friendship? We had met purely by accident, when I'd entered a wrong number accidentally while tripping over my shoelaces, and while he and I had grown pretty close throughout the months, we didn't even know what each other looked like. Now that I think about it, I don't even know his name, that subject just had not come up and I had foolishly forgotten to ask for it.

I suppose it was stupid of me to go around talking to strangers, and even stupider to want to meet this stranger, but my instinct was telling me everything would be fine, and I was really curious to see who he really was. Furthermore, Melissa would be there too, so it should be alright, right?

-

I had my handphone in a death grip, chewing my lips anxiously while awaiting her reply. Knowing her, she would be thinking about how dangerous it was to meet strangers you know only via phone, and I desperately wanted to tell her who I am, just so that she knew there was no danger, that I was no stranger, but it didn't feel right.

I cast another look at the clock. Five minutes had passed since I sent the message to her. Would she come? I crossed my fingers. My phone vibrated and I jumped, startled. My fingers hesitated over the phone, afraid to see her answer.

Don't be such a wimp, I scolded myself. Taking in a deep breath, I flipped the phone open and upon seeing her answer, started jumping around the room in ecstasy, biting in the urge to shout out in happiness. Alright, it was time to get into action.

-

One problem down, another one to go. How was I supposed to tell Melissa I'll go with her, suddenly, without sounding too suspicious? I racked my brains as I thought of a cover-up, a way to sound unwilling even though I was all too willing and excited on the inside. What if she no longer wanted to go? I almost panicked at that thought.

All of a sudden, I heard music coming from Melissa's side of the room and turned my head, only to see her holding a comb to her mouth, twisting the lyrics of the song whilst begging me to go with her to the party. I couldn't help but grin at her antics, yet I felt bad since I 'forced' her to sing, which was something she hated to do.

"Alright, alright," I said, laughing, "I'll go with you."

Melissa stopped singing and threw herself at me, hugging me. "Oh my god! I love you, Janine! Come on, it's time to get pretty!" She called out as she dragged me towards the bathroom and shoved me in. "I'll make sure none of the guys can keep their eyes off you!" She declared. "Now, shoo, and take a bath!"

I chuckled and stepped into the bathroom, stripping down before getting under the shower. I didn't need all the guys to keep their eyes on me, all I wanted was for one guy to look at me.

Two hours later, I found myself standing in a red halter neck dress that flowed to a stop just above my knees. Melissa had dug out a silver necklace with a star that I didn't know I owned and looped it around my neck, fastening another simple bracelet made of two silver loops on my left wrist. For my feet, she had decided to grace them with a pair of her heels that wrapped my feet with silver ribbons.

Melissa looked great herself too, in an emerald green dress partnered with a thick black belt at her waist. She had three tiny golden rectangles dangling from each ear and a thick golden coloured band wrapped around her arm. As she slipped on her black heels, we were ready to go.

The party as held at a mansion, seeing as how Brady Rayworth, to quote Melissa, was "filthy rich". By the time we arrived, the party had already started, because Melissa had wanted to be "fashionably late", and furthermore, "nobody comes to these things on time", she'd added, snorting.

I followed her into the house and was hit with the sound of music blasting their way out of the stereos and people laughing. Melissa led the way, waving hello to people she knew, and I followed suit, exchanging smiles with people every now and then. We entered another room, which seemed to be the source of the music, and there were people dancing and grinding against each other in the middle of the room, which appeared to be the dance floor.

"This," Melissa said with a flourish of her arms, "is where all the fun is. Get ready to party!" She threw up her arms and dropped down into an armchair. I sat down on her other side, unsure of what to do.

"Okay, basic rules, don't ever drink anything that you have left alone, it's best to drink from freshly sealed and unopened cans of drinks, and someone is touching you inappropriately," Melissa's eyes narrowed at this, "slap him, or knee him. They should work. And, do not follow anybody, other than me, anyway. The people here may not all be good guys. Understand?"

I nodded, feeling like a little kid. "Are you going to dance?" She asked.

I shook my head. There was no way I was getting into that crowd of, grinding things. "You can go and dance if you want. I'll be alright." I made a shooing motion with my hands and smiled at her.

"Are you sure?" I nodded. "Okay then, just give me a call I you need anything, alright?" I nodded once again.

"Yes, I get it, mother," I pushed her lightly towards the dance floor, "now go out and have some fun!" Melissa beamed at me and waggled her fingers at me before she walked willing towards the dancers and got swallowed up by the crowds.

I sat back down in the chair, bored out of my wits. I could literally feel the music that was booming around in the room, and with each beat of the bass, my body vibrated like an empty cylinder. I took out my phone.

Hey, I'm at the party already. You?

While waiting for the reply, I watched the crowds, watched the way the ever changing lights played on their skins, turning their skin into strange hues of blue, red, purple, green and yellow. After a while, I got nauseous and turned back to my phone.

I reached a while ago. Where are you?

The dancing place. I replied, unsure of what this place was called. It looks like I was the living room. I offered.

Tell you what, could I meet you upstairs instead? First room on the right. I know it sounds strange and all, but I assure you I mean you no harm, Janine Highway. :)

How do you know my name?

In all truth, I did not doubt his character for a second, but the smiley face was reassuring enough. As I climbed the stairs, I could hear Mum's hear ringing in my head, chastising that this was how little girls got cheated – by believing that everything was fine. I shook my head and cleared the thoughts away.

I hesitated when I reached the room, hand hovering over the doorknob. This was it. Taking the doorknob firmly in my hand, I couldn't help but take in a deep breath before twisting the doorknob and pushing the door open.

The room was cast in a soft golden light, candles littered in bunches carefully around the room twinkled, enticing me to step in. Looking further, I saw beyond the couch in the centre of the room , the silhouette of a guy standing on the balcony. As I stepped into the room, he turned and my breath caught in my throat.

It was him?

Before I could say or do anything else, he walked forward quickly, grinning like a kid on Christmas, which he was, but that's besides the point, and cupped my face gently in his hands. He bent down, closing his eye as he dropped a soft kiss on my lips.

In shock, I could only stare at him as he straightened his body once more and let his hands drop to his sides. Looking a little sheepish, he grinned at me and pointed upwards with a finger, as though that was the explanation for everything.

I looked up, and my jaw dropped. Mistletoes attached to pieces of cloth hung downwards in waves from the ceiling, lining every single inch of the ceiling from the door to the balcony. Then again, the doorway to the balcony was not spared either, a single mistletoe hung in the middle of the doorframe, the most eye-catching of all the mistletoes.

"So," he started, and I turned back to him automatically. His warm brown eyes scanned my face before he continued. "Hello, Janine Highway. I'm Brady Rayworth and it's nice to meet you." He stuck out a hand and I took it in a handshake as one would normally do while meeting for the first time, although it wasn't the first time we'd met.

"Um, so I supposed I owe an explanation. Actually, I'd known who you were for a while. It was once again purely coincidental. Remember the last day of school, on the bus, I was right behind you, and I could see your text messages. Imagine my surprise when I knew it was you!

"It was a good kind of surprise though," he added quickly, "actually, I…uh…" here, he got stuck, the words lodged in his throat. He cleared his throat and swallowed, and the words he had wanted to say seemed to go long with it. He started over once again.

"I still remember the first time I saw you. It was in first grade, and you were sharing your crayons with the new kid in class, and I got a little jealous, which was why I did all the stupid things like pulling your hair and stuff. I really am sorry for all the pranks I pulled on you and I hope they didn't hurt too much, although you did get me back, but if you want to hit me now I'm really okay with it, especially since I just cheated a kiss out of you, even though it technically wasn't cheating since we are standing under a mistletoe and it's tradition to kiss when two people are sanding under a mistletoe."

I stifled a giggle but it apparently failed since he looked up and met my eyes once more. He grimaced. "I'm talking too much, aren't I? Okay, this is what I want to say. I've been wanting to know you better ever since the first time I saw you but ended up doing all the shit –" he blushed a little "I mean, stuff that probably didn't help much, so I was really glad when I found out the mystery person was you, because I did get to know you better. I didn't dare to reveal my identity to you, because I was afraid you'll ignore me after that, but now, as hard as it is for me to say it, what I really want to say is that you are the most beautiful person I've ever met, and I would love it a lot if you would go out with me."

He finished the last sentence in one breath and after he did, he stood there for a moment, silence falling upon us as he replenished his breath. To say that I was shocked was a complete understatement, but it was not because of his ability to say everything in one breath, but rather that he, resident prince of the school, wanted to go out with me.

Under his anxious gaze, I cracked and allowed a smile to form, before I walked forward and wrapped my arms around him.

"Do you know how cute you are when you ramble?" I teased, and the creases on his forehead gradually straightened out before his face bent into a smile and his arms tightened around me.

"You stupid idiot," I continued, and he stiffened, just ever so slightly, and I inwardly chuckled at how much power I seemed to have over him, after all the years of being is prey. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?" I reached upwards to give him a peck on his cheek. "It took you long enough, I've been so afraid all these years that it was just a one-sided affair."

"Although," I deliberated, "I guess I can safely say now that it was not a one-sided thing." I glanced upwards pointedly at the ceiling. "You really want me, don't you? I mean, that's really a lot of mistletoes and candles."

Brady grinned and leaned down to me once more, resting his forehead on mine. "Well," he breathed, "A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do to earn his fair lady."

He let me go for a while and went over to a radio, switching it on and soft Christmas carols flooded out into the room. Walking back to me, he bowed and lifted one hand towards me, palms up. "May I have this dance, fair lady?"

As unladylike as it was, I chuckled and grinned, placing one hand in his, and I spent my Christmas night in his arms, dancing to Christmas carols from the radio.

Although whether we did more dancing or kissing remains to be debated.