SisQo's Perfect Christmas: SAUCEBERRIe MOON, #4

By Tilesha Brown and SisQo the Dragon

How far would you go for a perfect Christmas? For one family, the moon is the limit!

When it looks like R&B recording star, SisQo, is about to miss yet another special holiday with his family because of work, his youngest daughter takes matters into her own hands! QoQo makes a very special Christmas wish that sends her entire family on a cross-country adventure complete with crashing sleighs, flying golf carts, and a sneak peek into how Christmas wishes really get granted while we all sleep peacefully every Christmas Eve!

Plus, this Dragon Edition of "SisQo's Perfect Christmas" includes a lost chapter that you won't want to miss!

It's SisQo like you've never seen him before... and a Christmas Eve you'll never forget!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tilesha Brown
• Release date: Dec 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393839316

Book preview

DRAGON EDITION

Written by

Tilesha Brown & SisQo

Cover & Insert Illustrations by

Savannah Alexandra & SisQo

Chapter Illustrations by

Eric Savage

SAUCEBERRIe moon | LOS ANGELES

Copyright © 2019 by Tilesha Brown.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written per-mission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Tilesha Brown/SAUCEBERRIe MOON PUBLICATIONS, LLC

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Some names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes.

Los Angeles / Tilesha M. Brown — First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Twinkle, Twinkle QoQo Star

All I Want for Christmas is Food!

The Gift That Keeps On Spilling…

Tingles All the Way…

Crashing Through the Snow?!

I’ll Be Toast for Christmas

QoQo Star Is Coming to Town!

It’s the Most Terrible Time of the Year…

(A Very) Silent Night

For my family, who has given me a collection of perfect Christmases and the invaluable gift of storytelling.

And for the Andrews, who support and inspire me daily.

-Tilesha

Dedicated to my family… I love you.

-SisQo

PROLOGUE

Twinkle, Twinkle QoQo Star

It all started with mooncakes… on a snowy Christmas night.

QoQo tried her hardest to get the sprinkles just right.

With her daddy gone and her mother asleep…

It was her job to make sure they were perfectly sweet.

See, QoQo had been planning this for a very long time,

She'd covered all her tracks and practiced every line.

She was just the baby, but tonight was the night…

That she'd become a star… the brightest of the bright.

She'd heard of Genie Moon only through the grapevine,

But she thought, If she could grant my classmates' wishes, she could grant mine.

So it was off to the kitchen to prepare her favorite snack,

She'd practiced for days— mooncakes back to back.

First, she'd whip up the batter with care,

Then, whisper magic words into the night air.

She'd sit real tight for the sign that meant yes.

And she'd smile to herself, knowing what was ahead.

QoQo's plan was quite brilliant, you see.

She had a plan to bring her father home on Christmas Eve.

He had the incredibly cool job of a rock star, she knew.

But having him gone on holidays was always so cruel.

So she wished and wished with all her might.

And to be sure, she'd practiced until it was right.

There was no way they'd open up their presents alone.

Not without daddy safe at home.

But that wasn't all, no- that was just the half…

She had one more wish… and it could turn out bad.

For, this one required great sacrifice.

And if things didn't go right, she'd pay with her life.

But to her, the reward was so worth the risk.

And if it worked out, it'd be her very last wish.

She'd worked it all out with Genie so far:

Tonight… she'd trade her dad's gift for her very own star.

If all went well, she'd become just like him

She'd travel the world, sing with her own flash spin.

But if it didn't go so well… then, all would be lost.

They'd fall from grace… and it'd be all her fault.

But she couldn't dwell on the bad, she had to believe.

With Genie Moon on her side, she could do anything.

So at 8 on the dot, as she saw a star fall,

She wished that by morning, she'd be the biggest star of them all.

1

All I Want for Christmas is Food!

Lightning never strikes the same spot twice... unless you were Kimiqo Andrews.

In her case... she found that six times was, in fact, the limit.

That's exactly how many times lightning struck the big house on Sweet Maple Drive on the days leading up to Christmas Day. Every morning, her mother would go out to the mailbox and find it burnt to a crisp where the lightning had hit it. She'd scratch her head in confusion and then call the city to repair it. By the sixth day, which happened to be Christmas Eve, her mother had screamed so loud that she thought the roof might blow, but QoQo (pronounced just like the warm drink) just sat quietly at the table eating her breakfast, smiling ever so slightly to herself. For this, she thought, was how she knew her most important wish would come true that very night. It was what people called a sign. And she was ready for what would happen that night.

Or so she thought.

You see, that night, as the sweet smells of milky coconut and syrupy sugar drifted out of the kitchen, she tiptoed from one corner of the room to the other… carefully, carefully preparing the most special snack. Everyone had gone to sleep early, but every once in a while, the little girl they called QoQo raised her ear toward the stairs to make sure no one was awakened by the clouds of sweet and nutty smoke floating through the air. Each time she was sure that no one was up, she breathed in the magical scent of her grandmother's famous Vietnamese snow skin mooncakes with special coconut filling into her tiny little nostrils. Her soft waves were held up by pink rubber bands on either side of her round face, while her eyes seemed to fill with the creamy smells of the cakes she was making.

Now, it goes without saying... QoQo was no ordinary girl. In fact, her father had insisted on naming her QoQo Star after an actual star her mother had given him on his birthday before QoQo was born. And then by QoQo’s second birthday, she’d sealed the deal by singing the letters of the alphabet in the perfect key. Unbeknownst to her, this was a test that SisQo had done with all three of his children. His first daughter, Shaione, had been able to sing the alphabet song in perfect pitch. Her brother Ryu was OK, QoQo guessed, but now she’d passed the test too! He officially declared her a star. That was a special day for QoQo because her father was also no ordinary man.

No, he was one of the biggest stars… a rock star, to be exact.

He traveled all over the world performing and making music for people who went crazy over his songs. Sometimes she even got to see him on TV. So if he said she was a star, she believed it.

The only problem was… he was always off doing star stuff, and she was always stuck at home with her brother Ryu, who was not a star by any means, in her opinion. She guessed he was OK. He could recite all of the planets by heart, and he did go to the big kids' school. But he wasn't special like her…not if you asked QoQo. And what had really made her mad… madder than she'd ever been before… was that last month, her dad had called Ryu up on stage at a show to perform with him in front of everyone.

Ryu got to do the super-cool-flash-spin with Dad and everything!

It just wasn't fair. If anyone was meant to be on that stage that night, it was supposed to be her. And for months, she'd plotted her revenge. She was going to take this star thing to a whole other level, and she didn't need help from her uncool big brother to do it. She was going to do it all on her own.

The only thing she needed was a mooncake… or ten!

And a footstool.

Well, she'd already found the footstool behind the couch and was pushing it into the kitchen when she decided to go back over the plan in her head one more time. See, it all started months ago when she'd overheard Betsy Carter talking on the playground at pre-K. At first, she thought she'd heard wrong. She was only three years old, but she knew that magic wasn't real.

Her mom had told her that it was nice to think and dream, but you had to always be smart and have your head on straight when it came to real life. Real life stuff was making sure you finished your homework and double checking that you looked both ways before crossing the street. Fairy godmothers weren't going to magically appear to help you do those things, her mom had said. You had to rely on your own self for real life stuff like that. So for QoQo, her dreams of magic stayed inside of her head or in the books she read at the library.

That was, until the first week of February. She'd heard Betsy talking to the other girls at school about Genie Moon… how if you had a wish, any wish, you could call on Genie to grant it. The only thing was that you had to know the magic words and you had to know the kind of payment Genie accepted. This made QoQo perk up. She'd heard her grandmother talk about Genie Moon once or twice, but she hadn't paid it much attention. But now that Betsy was talking about it… she thought long and hard. She had a wish, alright. It was a wish that she knew nothing but magic could make come true. What she didn't know was what the magic words were. And what kind of payment did the moon accept? Later that night, she looked up at the glowing ball of light and wondered… how could she figure this out?

Well, little did she know… the answers were about to drop into her lap...or if we’re being honest… they dropped into her dinner.

Here’s how it happened.

It was another night that her father was away. She knew he was working, but she wanted him home because it was about to be Chinese New Year and she wanted them all to celebrate together. But he was working, and that was that. She was sad, but she'd learned that if she was a big girl while he was away, they would play extra long when he got back.

It was a cold night, so pho (a very delicious Vietnamese soup) was on the menu. And tonight, they were ordering it in from a restaurant so, of course, with it came fortune cookies. This was QoQo's favorite part. No one could ever resist reading those little strips of paper that tell the future. And this was especially true for QoQo. She absolutely loved cracking open those fresh, buttery cookies and finding out what the universe had planned for her next.

But nothing could've prepared her for what this particular cookie said that day.

Now, since QoQo was only three years old, she couldn't read yet. She was still working on that, but her mother never minded reading her fortunes to her. And even Elizabeth was surprised by what seemed to not just be written, but inscribed onto the white piece of paper that was tucked inside of the small pastry.

"Your wishes will be granted at the second floor window on September 24th.

-G.M."

And that was it. It was the day her life changed. Of course, her mother hadn't understood. Elizabeth crumpled up the piece of paper and mumbled something about it being a mistake before throwing it away. But after dinner was over, after the dishes had been put away, and QoQo had been tucked into bed, she'd