Last Christmas (Book 1 in the Christmas Series)

Chapter Thirty-Six

"Right, we have officially seen all three of our performances and I have sat down with the other judges to decide our winner! All three groups kept to the theme of Christmas but without the clichés, though one took a darker turn then the others," Jason said, pausing to glare at us for a second. "Can I get a drum roll, please?"

In an over-enthusiastic manner, everyone in the room started to make a loud, almost thunder-like sound that echoed through the room. Although we were all standing up, we joined in as well, stomping our feet on the wooden floor and creating the loudest sound out of anyone else in the entire room. We wanted to know who had won, who had managed to convince Jason and the other two Drama teachers that they deserved to perform their piece at the Christmas fair. To be honest, I wasn't holding out for a win. We had had fun, but it drifted so far from Christmas to focus on a Halloween theme that a win wasn't likely.

For several seconds, the loud beating sound continued to reverberate around the room until Jason waved his arms to signal us to stop. He stood there for a minute, pretending to fumble with a fake envelope that held the results of the competition. Although he was trying to make it seem dramatic, it wasn't really working since there was no envelope and it wasn't as though we were winning an Oscar for our performance. Whatever his reason for dragging out may have been, it was annoying, and I wanted him to just get it over with. Mainly because I was tired but because we had planned a little surprise for Jason and I couldn't wait to get started.

"And the winner of this year's showcase and performing their piece at the Christmas fair on Friday is." He paused for dramatic effect (again). "One Christmas Night! You guys remained Christmassy whilst not bombarding us with a love story. Congratulations!"

We joined the audience in a collective applause for Ant and the rest of his group whilst they took a bow and tried to process the fact that they had just won something. I expected that Ant was also shocked that he was going to have to wear the Santa outfit in front of a lot more people than just us and some parents. I doubt the person who was regarded as one of the most popular kids in our year was pleased with something like that. Nevertheless, he looked chuffed. With Drama being one of the few things Ant considered himself good at, it was great to see him thrive at it even if it meant we had to lose. Then again, with the plan we had set up, I doubt losing was a problem.

With the winning group having been revealed, I gave the nod to Joel to get the plan in motion. We had been working in it for only a few weeks, but we were certain that whatever we had planned was going to work well enough to convince Jason that he had chosen the wrong group to win. Shooting a smile in my direction, he set about putting the plan in motion, though to anyone who didn't know what he was doing, it looked perfectly normal. Behind his back, Joel held a small joystick that once belonged to a remote-control car. With Joel's technical know-how, he had removed the motor from the car and it had been placed in something completely different. That something was slowly starting to make its way out onto the stage, though it was heard before it was seen.

"Play with me!" My voice echoed through the room, the same childish voice I had put on for our performance. Only my mouth hadn't moved, and I didn't have a microphone so there was no way my voice could have carried throughout the hall. Of course, only a select few knew that Jason didn't have a clue.

"Okay, Kenzie, that wasn't funny," Jason said, turning around to face me with a rather serious look on his face.

"Wasn't me," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"It was your voice."

"I didn't say anything, did I, Leo?"

"Nope, she was silent. I thought she had fallen asleep, to be honest."