Hey my readers! So I know this is going to be really AU for the past, but I really love this time of year and writing about our two lovebirds during this time of year. I promise to stay true to the characters as much as possible. I really hope you enjoy this first short story!

It's the middle of December and the last day of school before my elementary school lets out for winter break. Today in class Ms. Parker, my kindergarten teacher, said we could watch Christmas movies all day and bring our favorite Christmas snack. Mommy, Margot, and I have this yearly tradition called Christmas Cookie Bonanza where we bake a whole bunch of cookies to give to friends and neighbors. My little sister Kitty is still too young to participate, but Mommy said she could join us when she gets older. This year we made cowboy cookies, snickerdoodles, and chocolate chip cookies.

"I really hope they like these cookies," I said as I clung the container of cowboy cookies close to my chest as my mom was driving me and Margot to school.

"Trust me Lara Jean, if we can't keep your dad from eating all the cookies himself, then your class will love it," Mommy smiled at me from her rear view mirror.

" You can never go wrong with bringing cookies Lara Jean," Margot reassured me.

"I just hope they like it as much as I do," I clung to the container tighter.

Mommy dropped Margot and I at our elementary before heading to work. Margot walks me to my hall before going to the fifth grade hall. If she had it her way she wouldn't do so, but I begged Mommy to make her do it so I wouldn't walk alone.

"Lara Jean!" I was greeted by Genevieve as I entered the classroom. Genevieve is my very best friend. We do everything together: go to the bathroom, each lunch, and sit beside each other on the bus. She was with our group of friends waiting for me to come in.

"Hi everyone" I said smiling at all of them. Our group consisted of Me, Genevieve, Allie, John Ambrose, Peter, and Trevor.

"Hi," the rest of them said in unison.

"Ms. Parker wants us to set the desserts over there" Allie pointed at the back of the room. A bunch of desks were pushed together to make a buffet table of desserts.

"Okay thank you," I said and made my way to the back. Genevieve and Allie were following me everywhere I went. Even when I went to take my coat and backpack off at my cubby.

" So Lara Jean are you going to sit beside me during movie time?" Allie asked me. We usually have assigned seats, but since it's movie day, Ms. Parker is letting us sit wherever.

"I want to sit beside you!" Genevieve cried

"You can sit in the other side of me," Allie said trying to compromise

"But I want to sit beside Lara Jean too,"

" You always get to sit beside her!" Allie said in an "as if tone"

"I want to sit in the middle! I want Lara Jean beside me too" Genevieve pouted.

" I can sit beside you next time Allie. I promise," I offered. I really hate when Genevieve and Allie fight over my friendship. But usually if Genevieve doesn't get her way, the whole class suffers.

"Fine," Allie dropped the subject.

"Okay class! Let's take our seats so we can start the movie" Ms. Parker said clapping her hands for our attention.

Everyone took their seats beside who they want to sit beside. The order of our group was me, Gen, and Allie in the front and in the back it was Peter, Trevor, and John Ambrose. Ms. Parker put on How The Grinch Stole Christmas first for our Christmas movie marathon. This was one of my favorite Christmas movies; I could quote this movie by heart if given the opportunity. We were at the part when Buddy was exposing the fake Santa when I felt something hit the back of my head.

"Ow," I said, turning around to see who did it. Both Peter and Trevor were pointing at John Ambrose. I looked over at John Ambrose and saw him looking down

"It w-wasn't me. I w-was P-eter," John Ambrose always hated talking because he stuttered constantly.

I looked over to Peter and glared at him "why did you do that?!" I hissed.

"You're talking too loud. It's ruining the movie for me," he hissed back.

" No I'm not !" I was talking under my breath the whole time. There was no way for him to hear me from behind me.

"Yes you are !"

"No I'm not" I growled. Peter and I were glaring at each other. I tried to keep a straight mean face, but sometimes it's hard to do around a boy as cute as Peter.

"Will you both be quiet ?" Genevieve interrupter is and glared at me. Genevieve told me last week that she has a huge crush on Peter, pretty much implying that too much interaction with Peter was off-limits.

"Sorry Gen," I said and looked down at my lap. I could hear Peter and Trevor chuckling from behind. I hate when those boys tease me. Genevieve says they tease me the most because I'm too nice to them. Allie thinks it's because Peter and Trevor has a crush on me. I can't talk for Trevor— but we all know that Isn't the case for Peter; He has a crush on Genevieve, not me.

I tried to watch the rest of the movie in silence so I could get back on Genevieve's good graces again. When the movie was done, Ms. Parker let us use snack time to eat all the things we brought for the class. There was so much food to choose from. I ended up getting something called "holiday pop" (it was an arrangement of kettle corn, chocolate, and candy corn), a brownie, and some potato chips. Allie, Genevieve and I were eating our food and drinking our fruit punch when the boys came to our table.

" Did you bring these Lara Jean?" Peter asked holding up one of my cowboy cookies

"Yeah. Mommy, Margot, and me made them for Christmas cookie bonanza." I nodded with a smile.

"What's that?" Genevieve asked

" It's when we gather a bunch of cookie recipes and bake them for the neighbors and friends,"

" Sounds like too much work to me," Trevor was the laziest out of our group of friends. He always got in trouble for not doing his homework.

" It's a lot of fun! My mommy lets me and Margot stir the dough and pick out our favorite cookie shape for the cookies. Sometimes we get to lick the spoon afterwards" I said.

" They taste pretty good. Can you bring some more next time?" Peter smiled his cute-boy smile to me causing me to blush a little.

"They do Lara Jean. Th-thanks for bringing them in," John Ambrose added.

Genevieve, not liking the attention I was getting reverted the attention to her saying " Did you guys try my brownies? My mom and I woke up extra early today to bake them"

" Eh. It's okay,"

" That's mean Trevor! I think they are really good!" Allie said loyally to Genevieve

" Yeah I like them a lot," Peter added, which caused Genevieve to beam at all of us. I took a bite out of the brownie just to see if they were right. The flavor was really good, but the brownie itself was really dry.

"What do you think Lara Jean?" Genevieve was eying me, probably to make sure I don't say anything to make her mad.

" I really like them as well," I replied truthfully. Shoe doesn't need to know about the dry part.

Trevor rolled his eyes at all of us. He was the only person in our whole class that wasn't afraid of Genevieve. Maybe it's because he didn't really care about what she had to say. He was mostly in our group because of Peter. The rest of the day ended up going by really fast as we continued our movie marathon. Peter and Trevor would mess with me and Allie every so often during the movie by tapping on our shoulder and running away or stealing food from our plates. It was annoying, but at least they weren't throwing things at us. When the final bell rang, Genevieve and I made our way towards the busses,

" I can't believe that I'm not going to see you until next year!" Genevieve pouted. Even though we live in the same neighborhood and could see each other whenever, Genevieve's family isn't going to be in town for Christmas. Her and her parents are going to Disneyland for the holidays.

" I know. It's going to be a long break without you!"

" Want me to get you something from Disney?"

"Sure ! I would really like some mini mouse ears," I smiled at her

" Okay I'll ask my mom to get you that for Christmas

" I don't want to play at the recital party!" I pouted and stomped my foot at my mom. It was two days after Christmas and Mommy decided that she wanted our family to host a recital party.

" But you've been doing so good in class! Margot will be playing at the party," Mommy said to me gently trying to calm me down.

Mommy took us to target while Daddy and Grandma were at home cleaning the house preparing the food for the party. She thought it would be a good idea to enroll Margot and I in piano classes. Our teacher, Mr. Choi has been teaching the whole class to play Up on The Housetop and White Christmas. After hearing how good Margot has been doing with her lessons, Mommy had the idea to show off what we've learned. I was standing in the dressing room throwing a fit at my mom. I hate playing the piano, I'm not good at it.

" Only Margot has been doing good!" I yelled at her. Margot does everything really well. That's just the Margot in her.

" That's because you don't practice," Margot rolled her eyes at me.

" I practice!" I lied. I really don't like playing the piano. I'm only playing it because Mommy asked me to give it a try.

" Practicing during lessons don't count,"

" Yes it does!"

" Girls stop fighting," Mommy said trying to keep Margot and I on either side of her so that we don't wrestle in the middle of the store. Margot always gets at me for not being just like her. The perfect daughter she tries to be.

" Yes mommy," We said in unison and looked down.

Mommy knelt down so that we were face to face " Can you please think about playing Lara Jean? For me?" Mommy asked me nicely.

" Maybe. I don't know," I said, still unsure. This caused Mommy to smile, which in return made me smile back at her.

" Now let's pick out a perfect dress for you to wear,"

Mommy ended up picking this dress that was black on top, and had a red flowy skirt to it. It was one of my favorite dresses that Mommy picked out for me. Margot ended up getting the same exact dress as well. Mommy was so obsessed in making us match. When we got home, Mommy just asked us to make sure our rooms were clean (even though no one would be going upstairs. Mommy stayed in the kitchen to cook the remainder of the dishes in the meantime. People were expected to come over around six o'clock. I was looking forward to the party because my cousin Haven was coming over. Haven is only a few months older than me. Mommy and Daddy also invited a few people from work, some of the neighbors, and both Grandma and Nana.

Around five thirty, Mommy had me, Margot, and Kitty (in Grandma's arms) downstairs so that we can take pictures with Grandma. Mommy was obsessed with taking pictures of all of us. She said that when we look back at the pictures, we'll have memories of what we were doing in that picture. I was so happy when the doorbell rang. That means the picture taking will finally stop.

" Haven you're finally here!" I got so excited when I saw her and her parents at the door. I ran over to her and hugged her tightly. Besides Genevieve and Allie, Haven was my closest friend.

" Your dress is really pretty!" Haven said hugging me back. " Hi Margot!" Although I was closer to Haven in age, her favorite out of all of us is Margot.

" I like your dress too," I said back to her. Haven was wearing an all red, flowy dress with glitters all over the skirt.

" Did you bring your barbie?" I asked her and led her to the living room. I had my barbie and ken doll along with their doll house all over the living room floor.

" I did," Haven said, pulling her barbie doll out of her coat pocket. Haven and I loved to play house with our dolls, sometimes Margot would join us, but only if she said she had nothing to do.

While I was in the living room playing dolls with Haven and Margot when the doorbell rang. When the doorbell rang, I turned around towards the door to see who it was. I was hoping it would be Grandma or Nana, but instead Peter Kavinsky, his baby brother, and his parents were at the door. What is he doing here? I didn't even know that we knew his family outside of school.

" Lorraine, Jeff, you guys made it!" Mommy greeted them at the door. She let them in and took their coats " Lara Jean, Margot look who it is,"

" Hi Peter," I waved shyly.

" Hi Lara Jean," Peter replied looking down.

Mommy apparently knew Peter's dad from work. Mommy introduced Daddy and Margot to Peter's family as well. Peter's parents made their way to the kitchen while Peter took a seat on the couch. I just stayed at my place on the living room floor, stealing looks at Peter. Although Peter is one of my friends, I've never really spent any time with him outside of our group.

" Who's that?," Haven whispered to me.

" That's Peter. He's one of my classmates,"

" You are so lucky. He's so cute," She isn't wrong at all. Peter was the cutest guy in our class.

" Yeah but he's always messing with me," I rolled my eyes.

" Let's see if he wants to play with us!" Haven lit up. She crawled towards the couch and waved her hand in front of Peter's face.

" Hi,"

" Hello." Peter said looking a little uncomfortable.

" Want to play dolls with us?" Haven asked with a smile.

" No, dolls are for stupid girls,"

" No they're not," Haven glared at him. " You didn't have to be mean about it," Haven huffed and ,made his way towards me. " Never mind, he's really mean. I don't like him" She said really loudly for him to hear.

When it was time to eat dinner, Mommy sat me, Haven, Margot, and Peter all in the kids table. Haven was telling Margot everything she got for Christmas, I was picking at my food, and Peter was just eating quietly. There were a few times where I would stare at Peter, but look down as soon as he would look up. I wished Genevieve was here instead of Peter. She would prefer to play dolls with us, unlike dummy Peter Kavinsky.

After dinner, Mommy announced that the recital was going to begin. The lineup for the recital portion of the night was as followed: Margot was going to play White Christmas while daddy sings, Haven was going to play Jingle Bells on the violin, and Mommy was still hoping that I would change my mind and play Up on The Housetop. Margot and Daddy did such a good job with their performance that everyone was clapping when they were done. Mr. Choi was the one that clapped the loudest and gave Margot her first compliment when she was done.

Haven was next with her violin. She's been taking violin lessons ever since she was four. She's the best violin player our age. She was the only violin player that I know that's our age. While she was playing, Mommy came up to me and asked " So are you going to play for us tonight?"

" No Mommy, I don't want to play," I told her, getting nervous. I was okay with it before, but now that Peter is here, I don't want him to laugh or make fun of me. He'll probably tell Trevor and I'll never hear the end of it.

" Why not? Everyone wants to hear to play," Mommy pleaded.

" I'm not as good as Haven and Margot," I pouted.

" Would you play if Margot played with you?" Mommy always made Margot helped me when I needed whether it be homework help or tutoring on the piano. It drives the both of us crazy.

" No! Please don't make me play," I said, tears welling up in my eyes. I didn't want to play because I didn't want to look bad in front of everyone, especially Mr. Choi.

" Are you sure? It'll be fine,"

" I just don't want to play!" I said and ran up the stairs before anyone could see me cry.

I looked my room behind me before mommy could come in. " Please come back downstairs Lara Jean. I promise I won't make you play," Mommy said apologetically.

" I don't want to. I just want to stay up here," I sobbed on my pillow.

" Will you come down afterwards?" Mommy asked me softly.

" I don't know."

" Please? Haven will be really sad that you left her alone,"

" Later," I yelled back to her. I expected her give me another reason for me to go downstairs right now, but I didn't hear her anymore. She probably gave up on a bad daughter like me. This caused me to cry even more. I didn't want to ruin the recital party, but I couldn't help it. Haven and Margot have tried individually to come upstairs to talk to me to convince me to come down the stairs, but I wouldn't let them in.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on my door, I was expecting it to be Daddy next, but I heard a different voice. Peter's voice. "Lara Jean, can I come in?" Peter asked me from the other side of my door.

" Go away!" I yelled

" Please let me in. You're the only person I know here,"

I groaned and hopped off of my bed to go to the door to let Peter in. " What are you doing up here?" I asked him confused and a little annoyed. Mommy told me to never be rude to guest so I let him in even though I wanted to be left alone.

" It was really boring with just adults downstairs," Peter replied and tilted his head to the side while looking at me "Why aren't you downstairs Lara Jean?"

" Why are you trying to make me go downstairs too," I huffed at him.

" I'm just asking," Peter said holding his hands up in defense.

" I just don't want to play the piano,"

"Why don't you want to play?"

" I just don't want to!"

"Why?" Peter egged.

"Because I suck at the piano. Mommy wants us to show off what we've learned from lessons, but I'm not good enough to play," I pouted.

" Ah okay," Peter nodded and took a seat on my bed. There was an awkward silence between us. I still didn't understand why he wanted to be here and not downstairs. This is the most that I've talked to Peter by myself. I'm not sure of what else to say. " What did she want you to play?" Peter asked

" My piano teacher, the guy with the Korean guy black hair and glasses that's downstairs, taught us how to play some songs. Mommy wanted me to play Up on The Housetop,"

" Why are you being nice to me right now? It's weird" I asked Peter.

" I've been nice!," Peter scoffed.

" Not always! You and Trevor are always messing with me the most," I glared at him.

" It's all Trevor's idea,"

" Then how come you are always doing all of the talking?" I asked him, cornering him.

" Because Trevor hates talking,"

" Lies! Trevor talks all the time during class,"

" Fine! We mess with you because Trevor likes you," Peter replied. I tried to search his face to see if he was lying or not. It was hard to tell.

" Ewww!" I gagged and Peter laughed at me. " I'm telling Trevor you said that,"

" No don't tell him that's so mean!" I begged him and pulled on his arm.

" Fine I won't tell him," Peter grinned at me. He's hiding something.

"Peter it's time to go!" Peter's mom called from downstairs.

" I'm coming Mommy!" Peter yelled back to her.

" I guess I'll see you at school later," I waved to him

" Okay, I'll see you,"

" Wait Peter," I could feel my face growing hot. " Thank you for being nice to be today."

" Don't tell Trevor or else I'll say it's a lie," I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. " Bye Lara Jean," Peter waved back before going downstairs.

" Bye Peter," I waved back. I can't believe I really just had a conversation with Peter Kavinsky by myself. And he was also really nice to me.

A few minutes after Peter left, Haven came into my room " Have you been here this whole time?"

I just nodded back at her " Yeah I was hoping if I stayed here Mommy wouldn't force me to play,"

" Oh okay. Wait, I saw Peter coming downstairs. Was he in here?" She asked, putting emphasis on here.

" Yeah. He said it was boring downstairs so he just stayed here,"

" Oh you are so lucky. He's so cute. I wish I could have talked to him." Haven was oozing with jealousy. " He kept looking at you at today,"

" No he wasn't!" I was looking at him the whole time, there was no way that he was staring at me.

" Trust me Lara Jean, he was."

This caused me to go pink again. First he tells me that Trevor likes me, then stares at me the whole day. It's probably because I'm the only one here that he knows.

" I think he likes you," Haven smirked

" No he likes my best friend Genevieve,"

" Keep telling yourself that LJ," Haven rolled her eyes and grabbed my hands " Anyways, lets go downstairs and open our presents from Grandma,"

" Okay!," I said getting excited. I was expecting a lot this Christmas when it came to presents, but I wasn't expecting to be spending time with Peter Kavinsky.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading my cute little story. The idea came to me while I was on vacation to DC. The vacation really had me brainstorming. This story was supposed to be poster earlier, but due to the holiday craziness, it was delayed. Either way, I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas my loves!