It was 7:15 in the morning, and 3 girls were standing outside in the cold winter air.

"Ugh, why must they make us go to school at this ungodly hour in the morning?" one girl said, scowling angrily. Her hair was short and dark brown, with had a darker complexion than her other two companions.

"I don't know, Jamira. Why don't you ask someone who does?" the second on said. She had short brown hair and dark drown eyes to match.

"Knock it off, I am not in the mood to listen to you two bickering this early!" the third one said. She had long, dark brown hair and almost black eyes with a pair of red-framed glasses. Her hair was held in a simple ponytail.

"Aw, come on! Seriously, Tali, lighten up!" Jamira said, patting her friend on the back. "Even Krystal isn't this grumpy yet!"

"Hey!" yelled a fairly disgruntled Krystal. Tali started to laugh lightly. "Thanks, guys." They both smiled.

Another girl suddenly approached them. She had short, light brown hair that had blonde highlights throughout it and light brown eyes.

"Hey Tali, what's up?" she said, smiling and waving, although Tali noticed she had major bed-hair.

"Tawny, did you forget to brush your hair again?" Tali said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, ehehe…oops?" Tawny said, rubbing the back of her messy hair. The other three smacked their heads in unison.

"What? You three try having to wake up at 4:30 and trying to remember to brush your hair!" Tawny yelled indignantly.

"4:30? And I thought waking up at 6 was bad…" Tali said.

"Why that early? I would just die if I had to get up that early!" Jamira said, her eyes wide with shock.

"Paper route," Tawny said simply.

"I keep telling her to quit!" Tali said, crossing her arms over her chest. "She just never listens to me."

A loud bell rang out across the school grounds, signaling that it was time to face their ultimate doom: school.

Tali and Tawny went separate ways from Jamira and Krystal, who were still arguing about something or another. Tali and Tawny decided to start a conversation.

"Thank goodness, it's finally the last day before Christmas break!" Tawny said, spreading her hands out dramatically.

"Hehe, yeah, for once I agree with ya!" Tali said happily. "I just hope Mrs. Jackson doesn't give us a huge assignment before break. Remember Thanksgiving?"

Tawny shuddered slightly. "Yeah, 1 week wasted on some stupid science experiment, and it didn't even have anything to do with our studies!"

"Remember when that one kid bragged that he wouldn't do it, right to her face?"

"Yeah, that kid had detention for about a month after that."

Tawny smiled evilly. "Wanna know a secret?"

"…Sure…"

"I'm the one who set that kid up."

"Tawny!" Tali sighed, looking towards her best friend. She already knew Tawny had a bit of a mean streak, but that was bad, even by her very forgiving standards. Of course, Tawny already knew she was in for a lecture…

Tawny and Tali sat in their home room, Jamira and Krystal sitting a few rows over.

"Aw, Tali, why'd you have to punch me?" Tawny said, rubbing her now very sore shoulder.

"I told you I don't like swearing," Tali said, shrugging her shoulders casually. Tawny scowled slightly.

Tawny was about to shoot a nasty retort, but a loud speaker started to blare, signaling the start of morning announcements.

"Attention, students, don't forget about our special one week only Christmas cards! Get one for that special someone, and the student counsel will deliver it to the person of your choice!"

Tali sighed. She despised that dumb idea. Secret admirers; sheash, who came up with this crap?

Tali poked Tawny's shoulder.

"Heh, isn't that the dumbest idea you've ever heard?" Tali said, smirking.

"Yeah, really. Who would want a cheesy card, anyways?" Tawny said, returning her friends smirk.

The rest of the announcements went by uneventfully. The teacher walked into the room.

"Alright, children, let's get down to business…"

Tali, Tawny, Jamira, and Krystal sat at a huge round lunch table. Krystal was staring off into space.

"Hello? Krystal? Anybody home in there?" Tali said, waving a hand in front of her face, then pretending to knock on her head.

"Wh-what?" Krystal stuttered, sounding dazed. "Oh, yeah?"

"What are you spaced out about?" Jamira said. Krystal stared over to another table. The other three followed her gaze, until she set her eyes upon a boy. Tali recognized him as one of her classmates. He had spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"Roxas…" Krystal said dreamily.

"Oh, geez, Krystal, not him again!" Tawny said annoyed. "Now that Riku, he's something…"

"Knock it off! The world does not revolve around boys!" Tali yelled annoyed. "Right Jamira…. Jamira?"

Jamira was also distracted, however. She had her eyes on another boy at the table. He had shoulder length blonde hair and bright green eyes.

"Jamira, don't tell me. Please don't tell me you like Demyx?" Tali said, sounding exasperated. "Ugh, you guys are hopeless!"

Tali stood up and stormed away from her three friends. She didn't feel like hanging around 3 boy-struck teenage girls.

"God, those three need to get a life." Tali said to herself, scowling angrily. She was outside on the school grounds pacing around, her hands stuffed into her pockets for warmth. "I mean, those guys just don't get the fact that we're only 14. We do not need boyfriends yet!"

Tali's ranting was suddenly interrupted by a girl shouting out her name. Tali looked back to find a girl with short, messy black hair and bright green eyes, holding an envelope. Tali knew her to be Cassandra, a.k.a. the head of the student counsel.

"What do you want?" Tali said, extremely irritated.

"I was told… to give this… to you," Cassandra said between forced breaths. She had obviously ran the whole way from the cafeteria to the outside; not a smart thing to do on such a large campus. She held out the envelope.

"Ok, if this is one of those stupid cards, I don't want it," Tali said, turning away.

"It's not one of ours, but he told me to give it to you."

"He?" Tali said, sticking up one eyebrow in curiosity. "Who?"

"He didn't want me to say. He just told me give it to you, that's it," Cassandra said. "Listen, I got to go back. It's a mess in there, and we need all the help we can get. Bye, Tali!" And with that, she started to sprint back to the school.

"Should I open it?" she thought, staring at it. "What if it's just a mean trick from the popular kids, or something? Or what if it's just something mean?"

Tali finally decided that it would be better just to get it over with, so she ripped it open and took out the scribbled note inside.

Tali,

If you can, meet me at the square at 3:00, ok? I'll be waiting for you. Thanks.

"Geez, who wrote this thing? It looks like chicken scratch!" Tali said, staring at it. "Why does he want me to meet him? What would he want with me?"

Tali folded it up and put it carefully into the pocket of her short blue uniform skirt. "Boy, if this is someone's idea of a joke, I'll clobber 'em…"

Tali was sitting in her last period, math. Tawny and Krystal sat beside hr, and Jamira sat in front of her.

"So, where were you at lunch today?" Tawny whispered.

"Out," was all that Tali said.

"I heard she got a note. From a boy," Krystal said, smirking at the unsuspecting Tali.

"Krystal, how'd you know that?" Tali said, almost too loud. Luckily, her teacher was too busy writing on the board to notice.

"Cassandra. What can I say, I'm a gossip queen," Krystal said casually.

Tali stayed quiet the rest of the class, drawing on a piece of notebook paper out of her binder. Before she knew it, the bell rung, signaling the end of the day.

"Finally," thought Tali, standing up with her binders balanced on her arm while trying to put her chair up.

Tali walked outside and looked at her watch, which said 2:37.

"Good, I have about 20 minutes. I hope I'm not being tricked. I swear, if this is just a joke…"

She knew her way around this town by heart; she had lived here since she was born. Tali allowed her feet to guide her, finally arriving at her destination. She glanced at her watch again. It was only 2:50; she was 10 minutes early, so she sat on one of the many scattered benches.

"I wonder why he wants me here? If he wanted to talk to me, why didn't he just do it in school?" she thought, placing her hands folded over on her lap. Her legs were almost bare, considering the shortness of her skirt; why didn't they let the girls wear pants in the winter? And, to make matters worse, it started to snow, the flakes gently brushing up against her legs. Tali shivered slightly.

"Note to self; next time I walk home in 30 degree weather, change into pants before leaving school."

Her self pity party was interrupted by someone gently tapping on her shoulder. She looked behind herself so see a boy. She knew him; his name was Sora, Roxas's older brother. Sora was a year older than Tali, and he had spiky, light brown hair and really beautiful bright blue eyes. Tali had an extremely secret crush on Sora since last year, but only because he was so cute. She had never even talked to him much; sure, once or twice, but only a simple "hi," or "how's it going."

"Yeah?" Tali said, standing up quietly.

"Did you get my note, Tali?"

"What? You… sent it…?" Tali said, shocked. Why would Sora, of all people, want to talk to her? Sora was cute, popular, and, like his best friend Riku, could probably have his choice of just about any girl in the entire school; so why her?

"What wrong?" Sora said.

"N-nothing. I-I mean, I didn't think you…well, erm…" Tali stammered, her body suddenly becoming very tense.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Sora said, reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder.

"Yes… um, why did you want me here, Sora…?" Tali said, sounding rather unlike herself; that is to say, very shy and quiet.

Now Sora blushed a little, although Tali mistook it for the bite of the winter chill.

"Well, I, um…" Sora said nervously. Tali giggled and relaxed a little; she could tell he somehow felt just as nervous and awkward about this as she did. "It's ok, Sora, just say it," Tali said, this time smiling.

"I was sort of wondering if, um… well, if you wanted to maybe… um, well, go out sometime," Sora said, managing a weak smile at her. Now it was Tali's turn to blush; her cheeks turned bright crimson, although Sora could tell she was blushing.

"W-well, I mean, sure… if you wanna… but why me…?" Tali said, her eyes semi-wide.

"I've just seen you around school a lot with your friends. I know you're probably not interested in dating yet, but still…" Sora said, looking at the ground. Tali was surprised; it was almost like he could read her mind, in a way. Sora continued, "I knew that if I asked you in school, you might've been too embarrassed, or even worse, pressured into it by your friends." After that, he muttered, "I sure know how that feels."

"Hehe, Riku, right?" Tali said, smiling again; Riku had a bit of a reputation of forcing people into things.

"Yeah, pretty much," Sora said, returning Tali's smile with a warm one. "So, is that a yes?" he said hopefully.

"Hmm… yeah, alright! It sounds like fun!" Tali said, beaming; after all, she had gotten a possible boyfriend before any of her friends. Wait until Krystal knew…

Sora was also beaming; he had finally gotten a date with a nice girl. He looked closer at her; she was really pretty, too, the way her brown hair framed her face and her cheeks were bright red from the cold. It was snowing harder now, and there were snowflakes sticking in her hair and on her eyelashes; she almost looked like a Christmas angel.

Tali shivered a bit, her body shaking. She was still in a skirt, and it wasn't getting any warmer out here. Sora noticed her shivering and wrapped an arm around her in an attempt to keep her warm. Tali grabbed onto Sora's shirt and clung to him, mostly from the fact that she felt like she was going to freeze out here. Tali began to shake harder, so Sora did something in which Tali was shocked; Sora grabbed her legs and shoulders and started to carry her.

"Th-thanks, S-Sora," Tali said in between shivers.

"No problem, Tali," Sora said, carrying her into a small café about half a block from the square. He set her down carefully in one of the booths.

"Are you ok now?" Sora said, sitting down across from her.

"Yeah," Tali said, a little embarrassed by how Sora had held her like that. She stood up and walked over to sit next to him. "Hey, Sora?"

"Yeah, Tali?"

She blushed a little. "Do… do you really, really like me like a, well… girlfriend, or something…?"

Sora looked a little surprised before he said "Of course, Tali! What makes you think I don't?"

"Well, I just… didn't think anyone would really like a girl like me…" she said, looking down into her lap. Sora put his arms around her shoulders and smiled softly.

"Tali, how can you say that? You're a really great girl. I'll admit, we might not know each other very well, but it's just something that's so obvious," Sora said, speaking kindly to her. Tali smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Sora."

"No problem."

Tali and Sora were about halfway to Tali's house. Sora had an arm around Tali's waist, and Tali had her arm around his shoulders. It was still snowing, and it was starting to get a little dark outside. They were silent most of the way back to Tali's house.

"Hey, Sora?" Tali said.

"Yeah, Tali?"

"You think maybe you could stay over for a while? Please?"

"What about your parents?"

Tali smiled; one advantage of having a fashion designer for a mom was that her parents traveled a lot, half the time, leaving Tali home alone.

"Their not there. They won't be home until Christmas Eve."

Sora smiled. "'Kay."

Conveniently, they were now outside Tali's house. Tali pulled out a pair of silver house keys and unlocked the front door, only to find an unexpected guest in her house.

"Alexis!" Tali yelled, hugging the girl in front of her. Sora looked a little confused.

"Who's she?"

Tali smiled. "My older sister. She's home for the holidays, although I didn't think the colleges let out this early."

"Yeah, well, they don't. I sort of told them I had the flu," Alexis said, rubbing the back of her head. Tali smacked her head.

"Alexis, wouldn't they check your dorm…?"

"…Crap…"

Tali smacked her head again, this time though, Sora did too; even he was never that dense.

"Well, whatever, that's your problem."

"Wow, you seem concerned," Alexis said sarcastically. "Oh, and who's your boyfriend?"

"Sora, and he really is my boyfriend, for once."

Alexis looked shocked for a moment, before grabbing her little sister and ruffling her hair.

"Ha, I knew you had it in you!"

"Ow, ow! Knock it off!"

Sora couldn't help but laugh. Tali and her sister sort of reminded him of himself and Riku.

"Enough, you two," Sora said after about 2 minutes of her sisters remarks and Tali's repeated demands of her to stop. Alexis immediately stopped, leaving a disgruntled Tali.

Sora grabbed Tali and walked inside. It was a nice little house. It had a cozy-looking living room, along with a kitchen and a flight of stairs, probably leading to the bathroom and the bedrooms.

"Come on into the living room, Sora," Tali said happily, leading him inside.

Alexis followed.

"So, does mom know about your little boy-toy?" Alexis said happily, causing Tali to turn a deep shade of red.

"Alexis!"

"What did I say?"

Tali sat in front of a small fireplace and motioned for Sora to come sit beside her; Alexis tried to follow, but one intense glare from Tali, and she left the room.

Tali snuggled a little closer to Sora and wrapped her arms around him softly. Sora started to stroke her damp hair. Tali closed her eyes, cuddling up a little bit closer. Sora moved her bangs from her forehead and kissed her lightly, causing Tali to blush the same shade of red she was a few minutes before. Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned in and kissed him, except she kissed him on the lips. She then pulled back quickly and looked away.

"Sorry…" she said quickly. "I, um…" She was cut off when Sora pressed his lips to hers again. Tali, somehow, wasn't surprised. She quickly leaned into the kiss. They probably would've been at it for a while, but 3 voices interrupted them.

"Alright, Tali!"

"Way to go!"

"And you said the world didn't revolve around boys!"

Tali and Sora looked up to see none other than Jamira, Krystal, and Tawny.

"What are you guys doing here?" Tali said surprised. Her friends usually didn't come over without an invite, unless…

"Oh, Alexis called and told us you wanted us over pronto."

Tali turned a whole new shade of red, but not from embarrassment.

"Sora, do you mind…?"

"Go ahead."

"Thanks."

She stood up and calmly walked out of the room. Of course, about 3 seconds later, they heard someone yell; it could only be one person.

"Alexis! You are a dead woman!"

The others, even Sora, laughed at her semi-short temper with her sister, Sora secretly hoping never to face her wrath; she was as bad as Roxas and Riku put together.

Hope you guys liked it! R&R, please! It will make me…er, Sora happy. Yeah, Sora…. ;