𝑬𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑴í𝒂 | ᴮᵒʸ ᴹᵉᵉᵗˢ ᵂᵒʳˡᵈ

10: Last Christmas

In class, we were reading "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Cory was facing Shawn and mocking Mr. Feeny as he read the story.

"And so ends Mr. Dickens' masterpiece "A Christmas Carol." Mr. Feeny ended the book, which caught their attention.

"Wait a minute." Shawn said. "That's not the end. Where's the Grinch?" He asked.

"Yeah, isn't the Grinch supposed to show up now and, like, take everything?" Cory said. Mr. Feeny looked annoyed and disappointed. "How come it's called "A Christmas Carol" anyway?" Shawn asked. "Yeah, there's nobody in this story named Carol." Cory said. "Miss Lawrence, would you please trade places with Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny said.

"All right." Topanga said. "I am a hyperactive, underachieving eleven year old boy." "I meant physically." Mr. Feeny said. "Oh, well, that takes less of a psychic toll." "Why do I have to move?" Cory asked. "We were just giving our view of the book." Shawn said. Yeah, I mean, you say literary masterpiece, we say..." "ANH!" Cory and Shawn said at the same time.

"Mr. Matthews, I'm less interested in your review than I am that you understand the material." Mr. Feeny said. "What. in your opinion, was Mr. Dickens trying to express in his Christmas story?" "That if you're a real butthead then neat ghosts will take you to cool places." Cory replied. "ANH!" Mr. Feeny mocked him and Shawn.

♥

The phone rang loudly. I ran and picked it up.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, baby." It was mom. "Hi!" I was excited she was calling. "Can you put your daddy on the phone?" "Yeah, hold on." I walked over to dad. "It's mom. She wants to talk to you." I extended the phone, and he took it with a sigh.

"¿Qué quieres?" What do you want? He asked her. "You want to what?" I perked up and tried to listen to their conversation, but dad moved the phone to his other ear.

"¿Estás segura?" Are you sure? He asked. "Alright, but you better keep that promise." He handed the phone back to me.

"Mami?" I said. "Guess who's coming over for Christmas." I gasped. "Really?" "Yes, I'll be there tomorrow night." She said. I smiled. "I got to go right now, but I love you, Adriana-Camila." "I love you too, mami." "Okay, bye-bye." "Bye!"

I heard the phone click, and I put it back onto the stand. "Mom's coming for Christmas! She's really coming!" I said excitedly.

"What's happening?" Eddie asked, walking into the living. "Santa's not the only one coming to town! Mom's coming for Christmas!"

He looked past me at dad and exchanged looked, but I didn't care. My mom was coming down for Christmas!

"Everything needs to be perfect by tomorrow night, and by everything, I mean everything." I said. "I have to clean my room." I ran to my bedroom as I heard Eddie laugh slightly.

I picked up the magazines off the floor and placed them in a stack on my nightstand, then I picked up my shoes and put them next to my closet.

I made sure to fix the frames on the wall so they were leveled and dusted everything possible.

♥

I sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, waiting for mom. I kept looking around the room, making sure everything was as perfect as possible. I got up and went over to the tree to fix the ornament that was facing the wrong way.

"You've messed with that tree so many times you might as well be a prop director for Hallmark." Eddie said, drinking his coca-cola.

"Everything has to be perfect." Eddie walked over to the couch and sat down. "No!" I said, pull him up to his feet. I fixed the pillows. "You can sit on the floor." "Adriana, I don't think she's going to care if the pillows aren't aligned." "Well, I care. It has to be perfect."

Eddie looked at the clock. "She was supposed to be here an hour ago." He muttered. "That's okay. She's probably not that far away. I mean, traffic can be crazy during the holidays like the store on black Friday." I replied.

He looked at dad, who was sitting in his recliner. "She'll be here. She promised. You don't break promises." I said, rubbing my forearms.

Eddie went over to dad and whispered. "If she's not here by nine, I'll break the news." "She'll be here." I said. "She said she would. She promised." Dad let out a sigh.

"Adriana-Camila, your mother has a history of making promises she never keeps." "Don't say that. She'll be here." "Adriana-" "She'll be here. She said she's coming over, so she is." I started to shake.

"You don't- you don't know what you're talking about. She'll be here. She told me she'd be here." I took between dad and Eddie.

"She'll be here..." My breath started to shake and slowly became too fast for me to handle. "Adriana." Eddie said softly.

"She'll- She'll- be here. She promised- She promised she would." "Adriana, I need you to breathe." "I am- I am breathing. Everything is fine. It's perfect- it has to be perfect." I stuttered.

"She'll be here. She'll be here." Dad lowered his head. "She won't be here. She's not coming." I said, shaking my head and lowering it. I began to cry. "She promised..." Eddie pulled me into a hug

I hugged him back and cried. "She promised. She promised." He walked me over to the couch and sat down. He held me until I calmed down enough.

♥

Someone knocked on the door. Part of me wished it was mom, and the other part wished it was just some carolers.

I opened the door and it was Shawn. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Cory's folks gave these to me to give to you and your family." Shawn handed me a box. "They're cookies." "Thanks. I'll make sure to tell them thanks, too." "I also brought these for you."

Shawn handed me a small bouquet of picked flowers. "They started growing outside my trailer, and my mom said to give them to you." Shawn said hesitantly. I smiled and took them. "Thank you." Shawn smiled awkwardly and put his hands in his pockets.

He began to sway a bit back and forth nervously. "I'm gonna go. Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas." Shawn left, and I closed the door.

"Who was it?" Eddie asked. "Shawn. The Matthews gave him cookies to give to us for Christmas." I said, sitting on the table. "Oh, well, that was nice." "Yeah."

"And the flowers?" Dad asked. I froze a bit. "Uh, from Shawn's mom. She thought I'd like them." "Do you like them?" "Well, yeah. They're pretty." I said in a low tone. "Hm."

A/N: I rewrote this chapter because I didn't like what I had written originally🤭