Amber peered at Celia over the rims of her sunglasses. “Are those split ends, I see, Celia? We’re going to have to make an appointment for you with Javi. She’ll fix you right up. Friday night is the dance and we’re going to have to look our best. I figured we could all get our hair done Friday afternoon. Manis and pedis, too. In Manhattan. My treat. Daddy will have a limo take us. No Metro North for us! Those trains will be crazy with last-minute holiday shoppers.”
“Oooh!” Shawna squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. “Fun!”
Amber whipped out her cell phone. “I’m going to call now and make our appointments. Is there anything else you want done, Celia? A facial? Massage?”
Celia shook her head, suddenly feeling guilty for the not-so-nice thoughts she’d been having about Amber. Why did she always forget about the nice side of Amber? Just when Celia thought she couldn’t stand her anymore, she did something like this. She was always so generous, constantly inviting Shawna and Celia to rock concerts, movie premieres, the theater, and weekend getaways to her family’s second house in Pennsylvania, where there was skiing. When she was cleaning out her closets, she always gave Shawna and Celia first dibs on the clothes, shoes, and accessories she was getting rid of.
Of course, it helped that her father worked on Wall Street and made oodles of money. And Amber was an only child who was spoiled rotten.
Still, she didn’t have to share with her friends.
But she did.
That had to mean there was some good in her, right?
Shawna took off her sunglasses and tossed them in her bag. “So, who’d you guys get to be a Secret Santa for?”
Celia was about to answer Shawna’s question when Amber clicked shut her cell phone and announced, “Celia got Charlie Grant!”
∗ ∗ ∗
Across the hall Noelle couldn’t believe her ears.
She couldn’t have heard correctly.
Could she?
Celia Armstrong was Charlie’s Secret Santa?
Amber’s words echoed in her mind.
Celia got Charlie Grant. Celia got Charlie Grant. CELIA GOT CHARLIE GRANT.
No.
No.
No!!!
How could this have happened?
How could fate be so cruel?!
She stopped in her tracks and Lily bumped into her. “Hey, what’s with the lack of motion?”
Noelle turned around and pulled Lily by the arm to one side of the hallway.
“You’ll never guess what I just heard,” she whispered, making sure the coast was clear. She didn’t want anyone else hearing this, especially Mindy Yee, who was known for eavesdropping.
Lily’s green eyes lit up. If there was one thing she loved, it was gossip. “What? What? Spill, spill!”
“I know who Charlie’s Secret Santa is.”
“Who?”
“Celia Armstrong!”
Lily sighed. “Wouldn’t you know it? It makes perfect sense. She’s pretty. She’s popular. She’s just Charlie’s type.”
Noelle hated to admit it, but Lily was right. Celia was exactly Charlie’s type. His girlfriends were always gorgeous. They were always popular. He never went out with a girl who was ordinary.
Like her.
With her shoulder-length hair and matching chocolate-brown eyes, she was ordinary with a capital O. She knew she was pretty, but she didn’t have that extra sparkle, that extra zing! that certain girls had that made guys flock around them like bees around honey.
Charlie always went out with girls like that.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a chance.
There was always a first time.
“I bet he’s going to fall in love with her the night of the Christmas dance,” Lily said.
“Thanks so much for trying to cheer me up,” Noelle stated. “You are my best friend, right?”
“Hey, I’m just telling you the facts as I see them.”
“Facts can sometimes be changed,” Noelle said, a determined look on her face.
“Changed? How?”
“I’ve known Charlie for eight years. Who knows him better than me?”
Lily thought about it for a second. “Outside his family? Probably no one.”
“Precisely! So even though I’m not Charlie’s Secret Santa, there’s nothing stopping me from leaving him gifts.”
Lily gave Noelle a confused look. “Huh? But if you leave him gifts isn’t he going to think they’re from Celia?”
“My gifts are all going to have some sort of personal connection to Charlie,” Noelle explained, revealing the plan she’d come up with. “The night of the dance, I’ll be able to prove that I’m the one who sent them to him. Celia’s not going to be able to do that. My gifts will have meaning. And I’ll tell Charlie that I was too shy to tell him how I really felt and so I used the Secret Santa game as a way of letting him know my true feelings! How will he be able to resist that? It’s like something straight out of a movie!”
“I think you’ve been watching too many movies,” Lily stated dryly. “Okay, I’m going to say something and I don’t want you to get mad at me. Promise?”
“When have I ever gotten mad at you?”
“How far back would you like me to go?” Lily started counting off on her fingers. “There was the time in fourth grade when I didn’t pick you to be my partner for the class trip because I had a crush on Zach Goodson and I wanted him to be my partner. The time in seventh grade when I wouldn’t lend you my sister Vanessa’s high heels because I knew you couldn’t walk in them and would probably break them. Which you did when I finally did lend them to you so you’d stop being mad at me! The time in eighth grade when I told you I didn’t like your graduation dress because I thought the color was all wrong. Then there was the time you got a perm, dyed your hair red, and made the mistake of giving yourself a spray-on tan that made your skin the color of a pumpkin.” Lily crossed her arms over her chest. “Would you like me to go on?”
“Okay, okay, so we’ve had a few spats over the years. We’re still friends, aren’t we?”
“Best friends,” Lily stated. “And I’m only saying this because I’m your best friend and because I care about you. It has nothing to do with Jason and my broken heart and my down-with-romance feelings.” Lily was quiet for a second. Then she asked, “What happens if after you do all this, Charlie still doesn’t like you?”
“What?”
“You like Charlie. You’ve been obsessed with him for years —”
Noelle cut Lily off. “I’m not obsessed with him! If I was obsessed with him, I’d be stalking him all the time, my bedroom walls would be plastered with pictures of him, and my notebooks would be filled with hearts that say N.K. loves C.G. I’d be boiling bunnies on his stove!”
“I understand the whole knight in shining armor thing,” Lily said. “I was at the playground that day when he came to your rescue. But what else is there? Other than his good looks.”
“How do I explain it? Yes, he’s hot, but you don’t get to hang around Charlie as much as I do since we live right next door to each other. I get to see him all the time with his family. Sometimes he’s goofy and silly. Other times he’s kind and thoughtful. When I’m able to hang out with him, like if our families are having a barbecue together or there’s a party, he makes me laugh.” Noelle shrugged. “I just like him, and when I think about being with someone, of having a boyfriend, I think of him.”
“But is he going think of you as more than just a friend after all these years?” Lily asked.
“That’s the problem!” Noelle exclaimed. “Because we’re neighbors, he probably doesn’t think of me as anything but the girl next door. He probably doesn’t know that I have feelings for him. And if he’s ever had feelings for me, he’s probably brushed them to one side.”
“That’s a pretty big if,” Lily said.
“What do I have to lose? At least I have a plan. I’m finally going to do something about my feelings for Charlie. One
way or another I’ll know by Friday night whether or not I have a future with him. And if I don’t, well, I’ll be joining you in the down-with-romance club.”
Lily gave Noelle a hug. “I don’t mean to be a wet blanket. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I’ve been there. I know what it feels like. And I suppose your plan could work,” she reluctantly admitted.
“Yes!” Noelle gushed. “It will work. And when you see that it does, you’ll be ready to give romance another try.”
“I doubt it,” Lily grumbled as her ex-boyfriend, Jason, walked by with his arm wrapped around the waist of Sonia Lopez.
∗ ∗ ∗
“What did you say?” Celia asked Amber, not sure she’d heard her correctly. She couldn’t have said what she did, could she?
It made no sense.
She wasn’t Charlie Grant’s Secret Santa.
She was Jake’s.
“I’m not Charlie Grant’s Secret Santa,” she said as she walked with Amber and Shawna down the hallway to her next class. “Why did you say that?”
Amber stopped walking, causing Shawna and Celia to also stop. Amber looked around the hallway to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. Then she leaned in close to Celia and whispered in her ear, “You are Charlie Grant’s Secret Santa.”
“But I didn’t pick his name!”
“Yes, you did,” Amber explained, placing a slip of paper into Celia’s hand.
Celia knew whose name was going to be on it. She didn’t even have to look at it.
But she did.
And she was right.
Charlie Grant.
“I asked Mindy Yee to pull the names of the three hottest seniors out of the bag ahead of time,” Amber explained. “They’re great boyfriend material. And we can’t be Secret Santas to just anyone!”
“B-b-but that defeats the whole purpose of being a Secret Santa!” Celia sputtered. “Besides, you and Shawna already have boyfriends.”
“Who are sophomores,” Amber sniffed disdainfully.
That hadn’t seemed to bother Amber in October at her Halloween party when Simon had asked her out on a date, Celia recalled. It was the first time she’d ever seen Amber genuinely excited. But maybe now she wanted to move up to a senior. And after that? A college freshman?
“You can give me the name you already picked and I’ll have Mindy slip it back into the bag.”
Celia’s stomach dropped.
Give up Jake?
Absolutely positively not!
This was one time when she was going to stand up to Amber no matter what the consequences!
Of course, there was a certain way to handling Amber. You couldn’t ever let her think you were defying her or going against her wishes. Uh-uh. No way. She always had to believe that she was in charge and calling the shots.
Or else.
Celia knew she had to be careful with her next words. The last thing she wanted to do was piss off Amber. She noticed that Shawna had been quiet during the entire conversation, which made Celia wonder if Shawna really wanted to be a senior’s Secret Santa. After all, she’d been dating Connor since the summer. They seemed like they were happy together, but maybe they weren’t.
“I know you guys are looking out for me,” Celia said, looking directly into Amber’s face. She couldn’t look down or away because that would make it look like she was scared of Amber — even though she was! Her heart was pounding like crazy — because then Amber would pounce like a cat chasing a mouse and she’d be dead. She tried to keep her voice calm and steady. “But I’m really into Christmas and having someone else pick my Secret Santa spoils it for me. As cool as Charlie is, I can’t be his Secret Santa.”
“Whose name did you get?” Amber casually asked. “It must be someone pretty special if you don’t want to give them up for Charlie. I’m guessing it’s a guy? Maybe a guy who you like? It is, isn’t it? Have you been holding out on us, Celia? Keeping secrets? Who is it? You can tell us.”
Celia gulped, stunned at how Amber was able to figure things out when she hadn’t even given her a single clue!
Celia knew she couldn’t weaken. If she did, it was all over and any chance she had with Jake would be gone.
“You know I can’t tell you!” she laughed. “It’s all part of the Secret Santa game. It would spoil the surprise. You’ll find out at the dance!”
And with those words, Celia handed the slip of paper with Charlie’s name on it to Shawna. She was afraid if she tried to hand it back to Amber, her hand would shake and she’d be a goner. Amber was staring at her so intently, she felt like she was being studied under a microscope.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait until Friday night,” Amber said. “Who knew you were so into holiday games?”
Luckily, the bell for next period rang and Celia raced down the hall to her next class, Anatomy and Physiology. Even though she’d been dreading today’s class because they were going to be dissecting a pig, anything was better than being dissected by Amber!
∗ ∗ ∗
“Well, I guess Charlie’s name goes back into the Secret Santa bag,” Shawna said after Celia left. She was waiting for Amber to have a meltdown. It wasn’t very often that someone didn’t do what she wanted, and Celia had told her she wasn’t going to do what she wanted. It had been such fun to watch! Even though Amber had kept her cool, Shawna could see that she was pissed off. It was the little things that she knew to look for. The slight narrowing of Amber’s eyes. The digging of her nails into the palms of her hands. The tap, tap, tapping of her boot on the floor.
Shawna hated to admit it, but she really admired the way Celia had stood up to Amber. She wished she had the courage to do the same thing, but she didn’t. No matter what Amber wanted, they did. No questions asked.
There had been a time when their friendship was more of a partnership. Where they took turns making decisions. But in the last year, it was always what Amber wanted.
And Shawna was starting to resent it.
But what else was she going to do?
She couldn’t not be friends with Amber. That would be social suicide. They were inseparable. They’d been the two most popular girls in grammar school, junior high, and now high school. When people said their names, they didn’t say Amber and Shawna. They said AmberandShawna. They had a whole social network of friends. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want to still be friends with Amber. She was just tired of having her call all the shots.
Like with the Secret Santas.
She could care less about going out with a senior, but Amber recently made the decision that they needed to go out with older guys. She hadn’t made the decision without a reason. Amber had told her that they were the girls who other girls wanted to be. Those girls were jealous of them and they had to keep giving them reasons to be jealous. What better way than by dating a hot senior?
“Are you crazy?” Amber snatched the slip of paper Shawna was holding and replaced it with the one in her hand. “You can give that name back to Mindy. Unless you want it for yourself.”
It was on the tip of Shawna’s tongue to say that, like Celia, she was going to put back the name Amber had already selected for her. It was Dennis Donahue, North Ridge High’s star quarterback. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Dennis was a catch, but she liked going out with Connor.
“I’m keeping Charlie for myself,” Amber said. “Celia might be crazy enough to give him up, but I’m not. She’ll realize her mistake Friday night at the dance when she sees us with our hot seniors. Don’t you think so?”
Amber was giving her the look and Shawna knew what that meant. It meant Amber expected her to agree with her.
Because if she didn’t, she would think she was siding with Celia instead of with her.
The last thing Shawna wanted was to get on Amber’s bad side.
“Huge mistake,” Shawna agreed, nodding. “She’s going to be so jealous of us! You with Charlie and me with Dennis.”
“I can’t wait to see the look on Charlie�
��s face the night of the Christmas dance when he finds out I’m his Secret Santa!” Amber exclaimed.
The smell of formaldehyde was thick in the air when Celia arrived for Anatomy and Physiology class. At the front of the classroom, Mr. Seleski was peeling away layers of plastic that were covering a row of metal trays filled with gray lumps. She knew those gray lumps were the pigs that they would soon be dissecting. Ugh!
She hurried to the back of the classroom and took her seat next to her lab partner, Freddy Keenan.
“Hey, Freddy.”
Freddy looked up from The X-Files novel he was reading and gave her a nod before ducking his head back in his book.
Celia liked Freddy, but he hardly ever talked to her! Like today, he always had his nose buried in a book or was too busy taking notes to talk with her. Some of the other lab partners joked and fooled around with each other, but not Freddy. He was always all business. They’d been lab partners since September and she felt like she hardly knew him!
“So what do you think of this whole Secret Santa thing?” Celia asked, taking out her notebook.
Freddy shrugged, not answering.
“You must have an opinion.”
Freddy closed his book and pushed his glasses up his nose. “I really don’t.”
“All right, class,” Mr. Seleski announced. “Send someone up to retrieve your specimen.”
At those words, Celia instantly turned pale and her stomach began doing flip-flops. “I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered to Freddy in a panic. Looking around the lab, she was relieved to see that she wasn’t the only one freaking out. Some of her other female classmates looked like they were going to lose their lunch, too.
“Don’t worry,” Freddy said, “you can be my assistant. The way a nurse assists a doctor. I’ll do all the cutting. You can hand me the instruments, take notes, and make little flags for the pushpins so I can label everything. How does that sound?”
A smile washed over Celia’s face. “That sounds great!”
Freddy smiled back. “Then we’re all set!”
True to his word, Freddy did all the cutting and poking around inside. And he didn’t do anything stupid like wave pig organs in her face the way some of the other guys were doing to their lab partners. Through most of the period there was a lot of shrieking and squealing and eeewing, but finally it was over.
Secret Santa Page 3
