Off to the south, the Santa Monica Mountains rose in the distance, marking the barrier between the San Fernando Valley and the city of Los Angeles.

The sky was blue and flawless, palm trees rustled in the slight breeze, and the sun was warm on her face. The sea of laughing, happy teenagers swept through the halls and out the front door, delivering Lila into a typically perfect Southern California day. Such was Lila’s sudden rush of vacation-induced holiday spirit that for once she didn’t even find them annoying. A pack of drama geeks linked arms and sang “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in four-part harmony as they headed past the main office. The lacrosse guys jostled one another outside the classroom. Lila leaped from her seat and raced for the door, getting caught up in the swell of excited kids streaming down the hallway. For example, the biggest party of the year. Winter break was about to start and she had far more pressing things to attend to. She took the handout with a heavy sigh and scanned the first page, picking out the words global warming and polar ice caps before stuffing the article into her bag.

“He must be insane,” Lila Beckwith muttered to her lab partner, Denny. It was literally moments before the last bell was supposed to ring on the last half-day of classes-three seconds to Christmas break and the holidays and freedom-and the earth science teacher was handing out homework with every indication that he expected people to be paying attention. She has also written many other books for teens including Sweet 16 and Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys. Kate Brian is the author of the NY Times and USA Today best-selling Private series and it's spin-off series, Privilege.

Ex-mas by Kate Brian