“Okay, you’ve proven your point,” Noelle grumbled, taking a tiny sip of her hot chocolate so she wouldn’t burn her tongue. “You know a lot about me. But I know just as much about you.”
“Prove it.”
“Hockey is your favorite sport, Jackass is your favorite movie, the only vegetable you’ll eat is celery, your favorite color is blue, you love horror movies — although I don’t know why, they’re so horrible to watch — and you’re very generous when it comes to helping others who aren’t as fortunate as we are.” Noelle popped an unmelted marshmallow into her mouth. “How’d I do?”
“Pretty good, but you still don’t know everything about me.”
“Like what?”
Ryan shook his head. “I’m not telling. You’re going to have to figure it out yourself.”
Noelle took another sip of her hot chocolate and noticed Ryan staring at her, his lips twitching. “Why are you looking at me so funny?”
“You’ve got a hot-chocolate mustache,” Ryan said, rubbing a finger under his nose.
How embarrassing! Noelle looked around for a napkin, but Ryan came to her rescue.
“Here, let me,” he said, gently wiping the mustache away.
“How long did I have that on my face?”
“Awhile.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“You looked so cute.”
Noelle scowled at Ryan as she took another sip of her hot chocolate, making sure she didn’t get any foam on her upper lip. Charlie would have told her instantly that she had a foam mustache, but not Ryan. He had to laugh at her, the way he used to when they were eight years old. Oooh, he made her so mad!
“Where’s your sense of humor, Noelle?” he asked with a smile.
“The Grinch stole it.”
“We’ll have to get him to bring it back.”
Noelle stuck her tongue out at Ryan. “Bah, humbug!”
Lily was totally confused. She had bought herself a brownie with walnuts and then joined Connor and Simon at the table where they were sitting. She had offered both of them a piece of her brownie, but Connor had passed.
“Are you sure you don’t want some?” she asked him a second time.
Connor shook his head. “I hate nuts.”
“You hate nuts?”
If he hated nuts, why had he checked out a copy of Nutty Desserts from the school library? And so much for her idea of buying him a stocking full of peanuts as a Secret Santa gift!
“I’ll have his piece,” Simon said, reaching for another chunk of the brownie.
“I’m going to see what other desserts they have,” Connor said, leaving the table.
What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t go running after him! Hopefully he’d come back.
“This is really good,” Simon said, inhaling Connor’s piece of the brownie.
Why did guys always eat so fast? Lily wondered. It was like they were afraid someone was going to take their food away!
Staring at Simon, a thought popped into Lily’s head. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? Simon and Connor were best friends. Simon probably knew more about Connor than anyone else.
“Doing anything special during the Christmas break?” she asked.
“We’re flying out to California to see my grandparents. How about you?”
“I’m going to be a couch potato. Rent lots of DVDs.”
“What kind?”
She knew Connor liked horror movies. Maybe she could start a conversation about them and find something out.
“I love horror movies so I thought I’d rent a bunch of those. I still haven’t seen Saw III or The Grudge 2. I thought I might also rent some old stuff. You know, Halloween, Scream, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street.”
“Have you seen Freddy vs. Jason? It’s wicked-intense!”
Was that some sort of new guy adjective? From the way Simon was grinning, wicked-intense must be a good thing.
Lily tried to remember the titles of a bunch of recent horror movies. Personally, she hated them. Whenever she went to see one in a movie theater, she sat with her eyes squinted shut, peeking from behind her hands. She hated when the killer would pop out unexpectedly. She much preferred renting them. That way she could fast-forward through the creepy parts.
Simon started telling her about horror movies she should rent. Each one sounded more gruesome than the next. How did guys watch them? But she pretended to be interested, hoping that an idea for another Secret Santa gift would pop into her head. She already had the idea she came up with at the toy store. She just needed to come up with two more Secret Santa gifts by Friday.
∗ ∗ ∗
Simon couldn’t believe how much fun he was having talking to Lily. It was very rare to find a girl who liked horror movies. And it was nice of her to share her brownie with him. Walnut fudge brownies were his favorite, but he loved any kind of dessert with nuts.
Why had he never noticed her before? She wasn’t as glamorous as Amber, but she was pretty in her own way. She could be a knockout if she wanted — but he got the sense that wasn’t her personal style.
“The revival house across town is having a horror festival next month,” he said. “You should check it out. I’m definitely going to.”
He hoped she picked up on the clue he’d dropped. After all, he couldn’t ask her out on a date. He was still dating Amber and he wasn’t the kind of guy who cheated. But who knew what might happen in the new year? He had the feeling he might be single again.
Dating Amber was becoming a drag. Yeah, she was one of the hottest girls at North Ridge High, but after two months of dating her, he’d come to realize that she was obsessed with herself and who she hung out with. Everything and everybody had to be A-list with her. Who cared as long as you were having a good time? Amber’s style was not his style. But as much as he wanted to break up with her, he couldn’t do it right before Christmas. That would be really low.
Lily was the complete opposite of Amber. Amber never would have given up an afternoon for the Toys for Tots program.
He remembered the way Lily was at the toy store as they were picking out toys. It was like she was glowing with happiness at the thought of helping the underprivileged kids they were shopping for. Noelle and Celia had been the same way.
After breaking up with Amber, he didn’t know how soon he’d want to start dating again, but with a girl like Lily around, who knew?
∗ ∗ ∗
“You are not going to believe this!” Amber screeched, coming to a halt in front of Icing on the Cake. She pointed at the plateglass window and Shawna pressed her face against it. Inside the coffeehouse, she saw Celia. And Simon. And Connor!
Amber flung open the front door and stormed into Icing on the Cake. Shawna hurried behind her, knowing a human volcano was about to explode.
“Do you know how long we waited at the mall for you and Connor?” she yelled at Simon. “You were supposed to help us with our Christmas shopping! When you never showed up, I started worrying.” Tears filled her eyes. “I thought something bad might have happened to you! Like a car accident!”
Shawna had to give Amber credit. She was quite the actress. And she was making sure to pile on the guilt before going in for the kill.
She wiped away her tears. “But no! There was no accident! You were here having a good time while we were worried sick!”
“Is it okay if I put these down?” David gasped, out of breath. He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he collapsed onto a couch, dropping the packages onto a cushion.
“I can see how worried you were,” Simon said dryly. “I guess you must have shopped through it.”
Amber ignored the comment, turning her attention to Celia. “And you!” she lashed out. “Where have you been?”
“I was helping with the Toys for Tots program. We all were.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me, Simon, Connor, Ryan, Lily, Noelle, and Freddy.”
“Was this some
sort of extra credit assignment I didn’t know about?” Amber nastily asked.
“No,” Froggy said, his voice cracking. “We were all doing something in the spirit of the season. You might want to try it yourself someday.”
Amber glared at Froggy. “I wasn’t talking to you, Toad!”
“We were just finishing up here,” Celia said, slipping into her coat. “Why don’t we leave together?” she suggested, hustling Amber and Shawna out of Icing on the Cake, with Simon and Connor right behind her.
∗ ∗ ∗
Froggy didn’t know where he had found the courage to talk back to Amber. The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, but he’d been so angry. He couldn’t believe how horrible she was and he couldn’t stand to see the way she was talking to Celia. But even more shocking was the fact that David was with them.
“What are you doing with Amber and Shawna?” he asked, racing over to David’s side.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” David asked as he got off the couch, loading himself back up with packages, his voice filled with excitement. “I’m getting ‘in’ with them!”
Froggy put a hand on David’s forehead. “Are you feeling feverish? There’s no way we’d ever be in with the two of them.”
“They don’t have dates for Friday night’s dance,” he whispered, eyes wide with glee.
“So?”
“So? So? Is that all you can say?” David grabbed Froggy by the front of his shirt and shook him. “Don’t you see? We can take them!”
“Okay, you definitely need to see a doctor because you’re making no sense. Girls like Amber and Shawna do not go out with guys like us. They go out with guys like Simon and Connor. Or guys like Jake!”
“Jake?” David snorted in disbelief. “What does he have that we don’t have?”
“Besides great hair, rock-hard muscles, a motorcycle, and lots of attitude? His pick of any girl in the place.” Froggy jerked a thumb over one shoulder. “As you can see for yourself.”
David glanced at the line of girls waiting by the cash register, all of them gazing dreamily at Jake. “Oh.”
Before Froggy could say anything else, Amber stuck her head back inside. “Donald! Are you going to sit on that couch all night? I want to go home and I want to go home with my packages now.”
“She doesn’t even know your name!” Froggy exclaimed.
“It was noisy at the mall,” David said. “She couldn’t hear me.”
Froggy sighed.
“Gotta go!” David said, staggering under his load of packages before finding his balance. “I’ll let you know what happens. Bye!”
∗ ∗ ∗
“Did you buy yourself a dress for the dance on Friday night?” Connor asked as they waited for David outside Icing on the Cake.
The words slipped out of Shawna’s mouth before she could stop them. “Why do you care?”
Connor gave her a confused look. “Aren’t we going together?”
Shawna shrugged. “I don’t know. Are we?”
“Hey, what’s with the attitude?”
Shawna could hear a pissed-off tone creeping into Connor’s voice. Which made her mad. If anyone deserved to be pissed off, it was her! “No attitude.”
“So are we going to the dance on Friday night?”
“I don’t know!” Shawna snapped, losing her temper the way Amber had a few minutes earlier. “You never bothered to ask me!”
“I just assumed we were going together.”
“Well you assumed wrong!” Shawna shouted before she could stop herself. Of course she wanted to go to the dance with Connor, but she wanted to be asked. She didn’t want to be taken for granted! How was she supposed to know he wanted to take her to the dance? He hadn’t taken her out in weeks!
“Are you saying you don’t want to go with me? Are you going with someone else?”
“You’ll just have to wait until Friday night to find out.”
Connor shook his head. “I don’t have time for these games,” he said, walking away. “I’ve got to get to work.”
“Me too,” Simon said, breaking off his own conversation with Amber and hurrying after Connor. “I’ll drop you off.”
“Great!” Amber exclaimed. “There goes our ride home!”
“Speaking of home, I better get going or I’m going to be late for dinner,” Celia said, starting to head off after Simon and Connor.
“Not so fast,” Amber said, sinking her nails into Celia’s arm. “We need to have a little talk.”
“About what?”
Shawna could see that Celia looked uncomfortable. She wondered why.
Amber tilted her head in the direction of the bakery. “That thug you were talking to.”
“Who?”
“Jake Morrisey. I also saw you talking with him at school this morning.”
“He was asking me when an assignment was due. We’re in the same Art class.”
“That’s why you were talking to him for so long?”
“Were you timing us? We started talking about other things.”
“Like what?”
“Are you my mother?” Celia asked, annoyed, shaking her arm free of Amber’s grip.
Shawna couldn’t believe Celia was talking back to Amber!
“Girls like us don’t talk to guys like Jake Morrisey,” Amber said.
“Why not? He’s a nice guy. What’s the problem?”
Oooh! This was getting good! What was Celia going to do next? Shawna wondered.
“Because we don’t!” Amber snapped, eyes blazing. “We’re A-list and Jake Morrisey isn’t even on a list.”
“I didn’t know,” Celia said softly.
Shawna was bummed. She had thought Celia might keep standing up to Amber, but like everyone else, she had backed down.
“Now you do.”
“I’ve got to get home,” Celia said. “I’ll see you both at school tomorrow.”
“How stupid could she be?” Amber muttered as Celia disappeared down the street.
“She made a mistake. Cut her some slack.”
“If guys like Jake Morrisey start talking to her, then they’re going to start talking to us. Do you really want that?”
“Jake is a hottie,” Shawna giggled.
“I don’t believe you!”
“Well he is!”
“Where is that nerd?” Amber huffed just as David came out with their packages. “It’s about time!”
“Sorry,” David apologized. “The boxes kept falling out of my arms.”
“You didn’t break anything, did you?” Amber asked. “Because if you did, you’re paying for it!”
“Nothing broke,” David promised.
To make David’s load easier, Shawna took two boxes off the top of his wobbly pile as they followed Amber down the street.
The first stop was Amber’s house. After dropping her off with her packages, David walked with Shawna three houses down.
“This is where I live,” she said as they approached a house covered with twinkling white lights. On the front lawn there was a lighted Mr. and Mrs. Snowman with a MERRY CHRISTMAS sign between them. After David walked her to her front door, she took her shopping bags from him. “Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime.” David stood in front of her, like he was waiting for something. He wasn’t expecting a tip, was he? Then a horrifying thought popped into Shawna’s mind. He didn’t expect a kiss, did he?
At that moment, the front porch light came on and Shawna’s mother stuck her head out.
“Shawna! It’s about time! Dinner’s ready.” She glanced at David. “Who’s this?”
“Someone from school.”
“It looks like he was helping you carry your packages.” She held out a hand. “I’m Darla Westin, Shawna’s mother. Why don’t you stay and have dinner with us?”
What was her mother doing? She didn’t want David to stay for dinner. She shot him a look that said: You will turn down my mother’s invitation.
“Wonderful!”
Shawna waited until her mother headed back inside. Then she grabbed David by the arm and pulled him to one side.
“Not so fast, buster,” she warned. “If you breathe one word of this dinner to anyone, you are a dead man!”
“Who would I tell?” David innocently asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m not going to be discussed in the boys’ locker room, got it? I will hunt you down and kill you if I find out you’ve told anyone about tonight. Got it?”
David pressed his lips together and pretended he was turning a key. “My lips are sealed!”
Shawna released David’s arm and walked inside, dropping her shopping bags at the foot of the staircase that led to the second floor. Then she sat on the last step and unzipped her boots, slipping her feet into a pair of fuzzy, blue bunny-rabbit slippers. She wiggled her toes. Sweet relief! Her feet felt so much better!
“Follow me,” she said as she headed into the kitchen.
Her mother was at the stove, filling a bowl with mashed potatoes. The smell of roast chicken was thick in the air. Already sitting at the table were Shawna’s two younger sisters. Chloe was a freshman at North Ridge High while Cassidy was in fifth grade. Shawna’s father was sitting at the head of the table, his face buried in the financial section of the newspaper. Shawna gave him a kiss on the cheek before taking her seat at the country-style wooden table.
“This is David,” she introduced. “You can sit over here,” she said, pointing to the chair next to her.
“Is he your new boyfriend?” Cassidy asked, staring at David.
Shawna choked on the glass of water she was sipping. “N-n-no,” she coughed as David started pounding on her back.
“Scary thought, huh?” David joked.
“Connor is still my boyfriend,” Shawna said once she caught her breath.
But was he really? They’d had two fights today. He wasn’t acting like he was her boyfriend. It hadn’t helped that she had been so awful to him during their last fight. But her feelings were hurt!
Secret Santa Page 9
