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    The next day was a mere hectic one. The Christmas spirit Lex had wanted to appear was still nowhere to be found.

    When Lex and Fred walked into the kitchen for breakfast, everybody there was in a terrible rush. Lex’s mother was spreading sandwiches for Lex’s younger twin siblings, Jay and Izzy, while the twins themselves were waiting impatiently by the table, stuffing things into their bags. “Hey, Mom,” Lex greeted, as Fred sat down next to Jay. “Can we help?”

    “Oh, Lex, thank you. I’m really late for this meeting with the associates – do you think you have time to drop the twins off at school?”

    Lex was about to open her mouth and say that it was no problem at all but her mother was already in the middle of the next sentence, excusing herself for having to leave so sudden and then she was out the door. “Fred, we have time, don’t we?”

    “Of course,” he smiled, helping Izzy fit her notebook into the over packed knapsack.

    “I wonder where Robbie is? He could’ve given them a ride,” Lex mumbled, wiping some crumbs off the counter. Just as Fred got up from his chair to help her put things away, she accidentally knocked over the water pitcher, holding the orange juice. “Oh, no.”

    She could hear the twins giggling quietly and sighed forcefully. The perfect start of another disastrous day. Her shirt was soaked, while the juice ran out over the counter and floor. “Hey, don’t worry,” Fred quickly said, grabbing one of the kitchen towels from the wall to stop the flow with. “I can drive the twins to school. You’ll have plenty of time to go up and change your clothes. Just… leave the mess and I’ll take care of it when I get back.”

    “You don’t have to be nice to me,” she told him, knowing he wasn’t a big fan of cleaning. “I’ll clean it up. No problem.”

    “C’mon now, let’s get you to school,” Fred announced to the twins, waving at them to go to the hall. Lex stared at her now yellow colored socks, having a strange numb feeling going through her body. Fred leaned closer, giving her a kiss. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

    Lex let go of his hand and watched as he climbed over one of the chairs to avoid getting his feet wet. Fred was being annoyingly nice and sweet to her and she really wished he’d stop. It made her feel like she was ruining his days, too.

    Couldn’t just some simple thing go her way? Christmas used to be the most important holiday of them all. Nobody, least of all her, had any Christmas spirit this year. It was doomed.