butterflies ⋮ sam evans

9 | "a very glee christmas"

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Christmas had always been one of Keilani's favorite seasons of the year.

When she was little, her parents struggled to make ends meet and as a result, Christmas wasn't always filled with gifts and beautiful trees. But they always found a way to still have that Christmas magic, whether it was spending hours on end baking cookies with an old radio playing classic Christmas music in the background or walking around neighborhoods with extravagant light displays. Even after her mom and dad found their current jobs and suddenly paying the bills wasn't the problem that it used to be, her family still held onto those traditions and that magic never really faded.

So when Artie approached the New Directions, needing their help to keep Brittany from finding out from realizing that Santa Claus wasn't real, Keilani knew she couldn't say no.

That's how some of the New Directions found themselves at the local Lima mall, waiting in line to meet Santa. Brittany was bouncing around, randomly pulling small candy canes out of her pocket and handing them to children in line. The parents looked at the large group of teenagers strangely, as they were the oldest people there by about ten years.

"Are we seriously about to do this?" Mercedes whispered to Keilani, who had been in the process of fixing her black knit tights and skirt.

"I think it's kind of fun, actually!" Keilani bounced a little out of anticipation. She had even dressed up for the occasion with her favorite red and white Christmas sweater and reindeer antlers, which was a lot more than some of the other members. "My parents make Keanu, Naia, and I take Santa photos every year anyways. With matching sweaters, too."

"I need to see those photos at all costs."

"They're on display in my house!" Keilani admitted with a laugh. "Just walk into the living room and you'll see them hanging over the fireplace."

"Guys, I'm not sitting on that guy's lap," Quinn grimaced as she looked up at the mall Santa while Brittany was distracted with talking with one of the elves. "Santas' laps are always really warm, and it's creepy."

Artie let out a loud sigh, a little annoyed with the group who had all agreed to come along with him and Brittany to visit Santa but were now suddenly backing out. "We all have to sit on Santa's laugh. If Brittany sees that we all still believe, it'll make her strong enough to withstand all the Santa naysayers in the world."

"Which is everyone over the age of six," Sam pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't going to work out," Tina added. "This guy doesn't even look like Santa."

"Trust me. All Brittany is going to see is the suit. She wants to believe in him." Artie turned to the one person in the group who was at least a little bit enthusiastic about the whole affair. "Keilani, get on up there."