DISCLAIMER: I'm not Jewish. I had to do a bit of research on Hanukkah, including the dates from 2006. Please forgive me if there's any inaccuracies.

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ChapterSixteen-Hanukkah Comparison 

December 16th, 2006

 It's now December. UTurn are finally on full-promotion mode for their new music, but they're mainly staying in North America. But they still have school, so they can only promote their latest single, Thinking Of You, in New York City, Ontario, and Montreal. Luckily, most of the TV shows they're performing on are national shows.

 It's evening, and UTurn are in Boston, waiting to start their over-the-phone radio interview on Open House Party. Andrew went to Alyson's room with one of his hands behind his back. She asked, "Andrew, what's behind your back?"

 Andrew smiled as he replied, "It's that time of year again, well, for you and Amanda, that is."

 "What do you mean?"

 Andrew showed what was behind his back. It was a box that had an electric menorah. Alyson was shocked. Ever since UTurn got signed, she (and Amanda) hadn't had time to take part in the Jewish holidays. They could barely celebrate the Sabbath. They were just too busy.

 Alyson asked, "Andrew, how'd you know tonight is Hanukkah?"

 Andrew said, "The calendar said that Hanukkah was tonight. Look, I know you hadn't had the time to celebrate pretty much any Jewish holiday since we're busy with everything. And since I'm somewhat familiar with Jewish holidays due to the fact half of my ex-girlfriends are Jewish, I thought I'd do this gesture for you."

 Alyson squealed in excitement, and hugged Andrew. He said to her, "Now you have to teach me the customs for Hanukkah."

 "You do know I'm also Christian, right?"

 Andrew was visibly nervous. But she laughed, saying, "But I don't celebrate Christmas. I'm Christian, but I'm also Jewish. So, it's okay. Damn Andrew, you looked scared!"

 Andrew and Alyson laughed, and they went to the living room. They put in the batteries, and put the electric menorah in front of the window. Alyson turned on one 'candle'. Then the two teens kissed.

 Suddenly, Amanda entered the living room. She saw the teen couple making out, in front of an open-curtained window. She asked, "Um, what's going on? You know that the neighbors can see everything, right?"

 The couple, Andyson, stopped making out, and they closed the curtains. She asked another question, "Why were you two making out in front of a window?"

 Alyson beamed, "Andrew did the most sweetest thing ever!"

 Andrew said, "I gave her an electric menorah so she can celebrate Hanukkah."

 "And it works out since we're pretty much staying in Boston."

 Amanda stared at Andyson, and then she abruptly walked to her.

 It's now Monday morning. Amanda was walking by Alyson, who was squealing with Bailey and Stacie. She walked up to them, and asked, "What's going on?"

 Alyson squealed, "Like, OMG, Andrew is, like, so romantic!"

 Bailey said, "He gave her a necklace. See?"

 Alyson had the necklace her neck. She showed Amanda what was on it, which had a cross and the Star of David.

 Alyson continued, "He give it to me last night. He wanted to give me something that showed both my Christian upbringing and my Jewish heritage."

 Amanda then abruptly left to find Andrew. She found him entering a classroom. She stopped him, and took him aside. Irritated, she asked, "You gave Bauer a necklace?"

 Andrew, feeling annoyed by her, said, "Yeah, cuz she's my girlfriend, and I love her. Besides, I want to give her a gift for each day of Hanukkah."

 "You never did that for me."

 "Yeah, I did, but not on Hanukkah. You just don't remember cuz you always threw the gifts in the trash."

 Then Andrew walked into the classroom. Amanda quietly followed him as they shared a class together.

 It's now lunch time. The UTurners were sitting together. The members were talking about Andyson. At that moment, Amanda got up, grabbed Alyson, and dragged her out of the cafeteria. She said to Alyson sternly, "Okay Bauer, I think I should visit your family tonight for Hanukkah."

 Alyson asked suspiciously, "Uh, why?"

 "Cuz I wanna see how your family celebrates this holiday."

 "You're sure? My family are conservative Christian. Just to let you know, they don't celebrate Christmas. So don't expect to see a Christmas tree."

 "My family are liberal Jews. They could care less if I go to a Jewish Christian home."

 "Fine, we'll go. But make sure you straighten out your hair. It's a blonde mess."

 "Your parents wouldn't like my messy hair?"

 "They prefer a clean appearance. Besides, I hate how you let your hair turn into a rat's nest."

 Amanda groaned. Alyson continued, "Oh, and I'm visiting your family. Tomorrow night."

 "Fine."

 Then Amanda and Alyson walked back to their table.

 It's now evening. Amanda and Alyson arrived at Alyson's house. Alyson knock on the door. It was opened by her mom. She greeted the two girls, "Alyson, come in. And I see you brought Amanda."

 Alyson said, "Yeah, we're here to celebrate Hanukkah."

 Then Amanda and Alyson entered the house. Amanda was impressed. The interior was very classy and posh, and yet, it looked modest.

 Amanda said, "Alyson, your house looks..."

 Alyson said smugly, "Posh? Yeah, my parents like to keep this classy. Within their budget, that is."

 "And you wear designer clothes?"

 "Someone's gotta look their best."

 Then the two girls sat in the living room. Suddenly, a brunette girl entered in the room. It was Alyson's older sister Melissa. She greeted Alyson, "Alyson! I never thought I'd see you back. Aren't you on tour or something?"

 Alyson replied, "No, just trying to balance school and promoting music on TV. This is Amanda. She's here cuz she wants to see how we celebrate Hanukkah as Christian Jews. And she's-"

 "-Jewish. I know, she said it on a TV interview a few months ago."

 Then a group of people entered the house. The Bauer sisters recognized them, but Amanda didn't, so she asked, "Who are those people?"

 Alyson replied, "They're our grandparents. They're from New York City, and they're Orthodox Jews."

 Melissa said bitterly, "Why are they visiting us after completely disowning us about 10 years ago?"

 Amanda asked, "They rejected you guys cuz you're Christians, right?"

 Alyson scoffed, "Hell, they already rejected us since our parents converted to Christianity. And we weren't even born yet."

 Melissa said, "Alyson, watch your mouth."

 "I'm 17, not 7."

 Then the grandparents approached the sisters. They gave each other awkward handshakes. Then they saw Amanda, but they ignored her. Everyone sat down.

 Grandmother Bauer said coldly, "Alyson, you're now a pop singer."

 Grandfather Bauer added, "We don't like it."

 Alyson said nervously, "Okay, but let's see what my parents have to say."

 Alyson's parents pretty much said the same thing. Then they, along with Melissa and her grandparents, brought up Alyson' relationship with Andrew. They all criticized him from how he was brought up to his recent past as a bully. To Alyson, the criticism was a blur to her ears. So she spoke up, angrily, "Can you all back off of Andrew!? He respect my religious beliefs, he's sweet, he's everything I could ever want in a guy. He's the man I love. That's right, I love him!"

 Mrs. Bauer, Alyson mom, told her, "Alyson, you're just a teenager, and so is Andrew. You're both just kids who are very hormonal. You two will get over each other."

 "Mom! Andrew and I love each other very much! If it weren't for our fans and our publicist, we'd show the world our love for each other!"

 Then her dad, Mr. Bauer, asked sternly, "You're not having sex with this boy, are you?"

 The Bauer sisters and Amanda were shocked by this question. Alyson exclaimed, "OMG, dad! God, no! We're not having sex!"

 Amanda said nervously, "She's right. If those two were doing each other, we would've heard them."

 Then Alyson said, "You know what? I'm leaving! Amanda, let's go."

 With that, Alyson abruptly got up her seat, and Amanda followed her. Alyson's parents followed them, and called after her. Mrs. Bauer said to her, "Alyson, please stay. You're my daughter, and I haven't seen you in months."

 Alyson said sternly, "Until you accept my Andrew, you won't be seeing me at all. Happy Hanukkah."

 Then Alyson got in her car, and so did Amanda. As Alyson drove off, she blasted Britney Spears, and remained silent. When the two arrived at the UTurn house, she buried her head in Andrew's shoulders. He held her in his arms, and then sat on a couch.

 It's the next evening. Amanda is driving Alyson to her home in the Back Bay neighborhood. Alyson said, "I hope your parents are less judgemental than mine."

 Amanda said nervously, "Well, um, they didn't have a problem of me dating Andrew...or any other non-Jewish guy I dated, for that matter."

 "You're so lucky."

 "Yeah, we'll see what you'll say after you meet them."

 "Please tell me they're not red-necks."

 Amanda scoffed, "Would red-necks move to the most wealthy areas of Boston? Besides, there's a reason why my family and I moved from Pittsburgh."

 "New job?"

 "That's part of the reason, but not the main reason."

 Just then, the two girls arrived at Amanda's house. Amanda knocked on the door, and her parents let the two girls in. As they entered, Alyson felt herself blush. The interior looked posh, but that wasn't what made her blush. It was the sexually explicit artwork on the walls.

 Alyson whispered to her, "Amanda, your family has porn on the walls."

 Amanda responded by whispering, "I know, but they call it 'tasteful art'."

 Then the two girls sat at the table with Amanda's parents, and they had a conversation. For Alyson, she felt somewhat relaxed, that is until Amanda's parents asked her extremely personal questions concerning her relationship with Andrew. It's obviously about their sex life, which was nonexistent.

 Alyson kept trying to explain that she and Andrew hadn't had sex at all, but the Hale's weren't convinced. Soon, they talked about their own sex lives. Amanda had enough, so she stood up from her chair.

 She said angrily, "Stop talking about your sex life! No one wants to hear what you do! And stop asking about others' lives! It's none of your damn business of what they do or don't do! And guess what? I'm a virgin! I never slept with Andrew or any of my past boyfriends!"

 Then Amanda stormed off, and Alyson followed her to her room. She found her sitting on her bed. Alyson was surprised to see how simple and girly Amanda's room was. "This room is, like, so not you."

 Amanda scoffed, "This room is actually the real me."

 Alyson said smugly, "So, you're fake? I'm not surprised."

 "Yeah, yeah, be smug."

 "Why did you change?"

 "Since the day I found out that I didn't fit in with that f*cked up school. I wasn't pretty, smart, or athletic for them. So I rebelled. Oh, remember how I supposedly threw away the gifts Andrew gave to me?"

 "Yeah. Why?"

 "Look in my closet."

 Alyson walked over to the closet. When she opened it, she saw boxes, both small and large, crumpled and opened. They all had cards saying, 'From: Andrew, To: Amanda'. She was shocked, so she asked, "You've kept all of Andrew's gifts?"

 Amanda replied, "Most of them. I couldn't save the others. God, I felt so horrible, treating Andrew like shit."

 "So, it was all an act?"

 Amanda lashed out, "Can't you get through your head!? What, has all that blonde dye got into your brain? Do you know why I wanted to visit your f*cking, super-strict parents who probably are living in the wrong part of America?"

 Alyson, growing irritated, said, "Yeah, I'd like to know why."

 "Because I wanted to watch you squirm. You always complained how strict and super-religious your parents. And let's not forget that sister of yours. I swear she's a hypocrite cuz she acts like some fake, snobby Christian."

 "And why did you want to watch me squirm?"

 "Because I was tired of watching you gush all over Andrew!"

 At that point, Alyson was silent. She decided to let Amanda rant: "I'm gonna come out and say this: I wanted to be like you, but better!" 

 Soon, she started to calm down, "I somewhat knew you and Andrew had a history together. I could see it how you two acted around each other, yet you two pretended to hate each other. When Andrew asked me out, I accepted it. I thought that if I dated him, I'd be a better girlfriend to him than you'd ever be. But instead, I fell for the pressure of my fake-ass friends, and treated Andrew like he was just worthless trash. Now I even feel more like crap after being caught in your family hating Andrew."

 After a few minutes of silence, Alyson spoke up, while smiling, "I'm not surprised you wanted to be me. All the girls in school wanted to be like me. As for Andrew, he won't take you back. At all. Even if you told him the truth about the gifts. I've known him all my life, and what he hates are hypocrites, especially they're his girlfriends."

 "He dated girls who were hypocrites?"

 Alyson scoffed, "This is Andrew we're talking about. He dated just about every popular girl there was. So of course he dated girls who were 2-faced bitches."

 "I guess that's true."

 "At least your parents were supportive of you dating Andrew. Wait, did they try to get you to sleep with him?

 "Yeah, and I told him. He was too afraid to go there, and so was I. Hell, we were just 14 then. We were barely teenagers."

 Then there was silence, but eventually Amanda spoke up as she got up from her bed, "Are we friends?"

 Alyson replied, "How about we're just two Jewish sisters who tolerate each other."

 "That sounds about right. Let's get the hell out of here."

 So the two girls left Amanda's house, and returned to the UTurn house. Amanda hasn't told Andrew about the her closet filled with his gifts. She told Alyson to keep it a secret. Alyson agreed.