Secret Santa

by Sabrina James

  Noelle wanted to scream and beat herself up. How could she have been so stupid? She knew that Mrs. Grant always hung up mistletoe. She should have scoped out the Grant house when she first arrived to help Ryan wrap presents for the Toys for Tots program and made sure she was strategically standing under a sprig of the green stuff so Charlie could kiss her.

  But now the opportunity was gone because Charlie was on his way out the door, slipping into his navy blue peacoat, tossing a blue scarf around his neck, and pulling on a pair of black leather gloves. “I’m heading over to Party City for some balloons. Does anyone need anything?”

  Just come back, Noelle thought. Come back so this time I can be the one kissing you under the mistletoe!

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  When Froggy saw Charlie kissing Celia under the mistletoe, he wanted to run across the living room and pull him off her.

  If anyone should be kissing Celia, it should be him!

  Charlie didn’t need to kiss her. Mr. Hot Lips had kissed more girls than Froggy ever would.

  Why hadn’t he caught sight of the mistletoe? Why? Why? Why? It would have been the perfect opportunity for him to show Celia how much he cared about her.

  One kiss could say so much!

  But now the opportunity was gone. And none of the girls who had come to help wrap presents at Ryan’s house were going to be standing anywhere near the mistletoe now that Charlie was gone. Sure, Connor and Simon and Ryan were still here, but Charlie was the one whose kiss mattered.

  At least Celia seemed embarrassed by the kiss she’d gotten from Charlie. She was still blushing.

  That was the one bright spot.

  But Froggy still didn’t like that Charlie had kissed her.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  “Rein it in,” Lily whispered to Noelle. “Rein it in.”

  “Rein what in?” Noelle asked as she unrolled a sheet of red wrapping paper decorated with gold bells on the living room carpet.

  “You know what I’m talking about. The green-eyed monster. Could you be any more jealous of Celia? If looks could kill, she’d be dead meat by now!”

  “Can you blame me? She got the kiss I’ve been waiting eight years for and it didn’t even count! It was a mistletoe kiss. A freebie!”

  “I wonder if his lips are as nice as the girls say they are,” Lily said. “Maybe I should go ask Celia.”

  “Don’t you dare!”

  “Just teasing.” Lily grabbed a roll of wrapping paper decorated with candy canes, a bag of colored bows, scissors, and a roll of scotch tape. “I’m going to go work next to Connor. Maybe if I talk with him I can figure out what his next Secret Santa gift should be.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  As she predicted, Lily had a hard time trying to figure out Connor. Even though she was wrapping gifts right next to him, it seemed like they had nothing in common. Every time she tried to start a conversation, she’d get a few sentences out of him and that would be it.

  Simon, on the other hand, wouldn’t shut up! No matter what the topic was — movies, TV shows, music, videogames — he had something to say.

  What was surprising was that it was something she wanted to hear.

  Whether it was a discussion on who was more talented, Christina Aguilera or Gwen Stefani (they both agreed it was Gwen), the never-ending storyline on Lost (Answers! All they wanted were answers!), when Smallville would be heading to the big screen, no matter what she said, Simon had an opinion.

  And it was usually one she agreed with.

  “I’m lousy at wrapping presents,” Simon said, comparing a box he had just wrapped to one Lily had finished wrapping. The Scotch tape on his box was all zigzagging and the taped ends of the box were all puffy.

  “I don’t think the kids will mind,” Lily said as she added her perfectly wrapped gift to the pile. “They’re not going to be paying attention to the wrapping. They just want to see what’s underneath it. They’re going to be tearing like crazy.”

  “I can’t believe all the packages we have to wrap,” Simon said, surveying the rows of shopping bags in the living room.

  “We’ll get it all done.”

  “How come you sound so sure?”

  “We have to get it done,” Lily stated matter-of-factly. “Otherwise we’re going to have a whole bunch of disappointed kids on Christmas morning and we can’t let that happen!”

  Simon started wrapping another box, but he was doing such a lousy job that Lily took over. “Here, let me show you,” she said. “First, drape half of the wrapping paper over the package, then Scotch tape it into place and pull it tightly so the paper is smooth.” She demonstrated as she explained. “Then fold over the rest of the paper. If it’s a bit too long, you can fold it in half. Then Scotch-tape that side into place.” She showed him how. “Now all you have to do is make little triangles at each end, fold them in, Scotch-tape the bottom half, then the top, and you’re done!” Lily held out a perfectly wrapped package. “Ta-da!”

  “You make it all look so easy,” Simon said, taking the package out of Lily’s hands. “Doesn’t she, Connor?”

  Connor looked up from the model airplane he was wrapping and shrugged. “I guess.”

  Lily wanted to scream! Why wasn’t she connecting with Connor the way she was connecting with Simon? Argh! It would make shopping for him so much easier. Well, at least she knew what she was giving him tomorrow. She had remembered what Simon had said yesterday about the horror festival at the revival house and she was going to buy Connor two passes; that way, if he wanted to take someone with him — probably Shawna — he could.

  Hopefully he’d like this gift. How could he not? He was a horror fan! But if he didn’t, she’d only have one more chance to make things up to him before Friday night’s dance.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  If there was one thing Noelle knew Ryan loved to do at Christmas, it was sing along to “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” But he hadn’t when the song piped out of the CD player in the living room. In fact, now that she thought about it, he hadn’t sung along with any of the Christmas carols when they were playing, and he usually did.

  Even though he’d had a smile on his face when he’d let everyone into his house and showed them where all the toys and wrapping materials were, he was keeping to himself. Having known Ryan since the third grade, she knew when something was bothering him. Ryan was usually a people person. He loved talking and making people laugh. When he kept to himself, it meant there was a problem.

  “Did you forget the words to the song?” she asked him, joining him in the dining room where he was wrapping a pile of Barbie dolls.

  Ryan shrugged. “Guess I’m just not in the mood.”

  Noelle reached into a bag of bows and began adding them to the boxes Ryan had already wrapped. “How come?”

  “Something’s bothering me.”

  “What is it? Maybe it would help if you talked about it. You know you can tell me anything.” And it was true. She and Ryan often turned to each other when they had a problem too difficult to solve on their own. “Remember the time in seventh grade when you borrowed Charlie’s bike without asking and it got stolen? You didn’t know what to do and I told you to be honest and tell him the truth.”

  “My parents made me sell my bike so he could buy a new one,” Ryan reminded her.

  “That’s what happens when you don’t ask permission!”

  “Look who’s talking!” Ryan laughed. “Remember when you borrowed your mother’s gold earrings for Lily’s fourteenth birthday party without asking and then you lost one?”

  Noelle clutched her heart. “Don’t remind me! That was one of the worst nights of my life. I knew if I didn’t find that missing earring, I was dead.”

  “I helped you find it, didn’t I?”

  Noelle gave Ryan a smile. “Yes, you did. You helped me search Lily’s backyard with a flashlight for over two hours. It was pit
ch-black but you didn’t give up. You were there when I needed you. So come on,” she urged. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  Ryan shook his head. “I don’t think you’re going to want to hear this.”

  “Will you please just tell me?”

  Ryan sighed. “Can I give you some advice?”

  “Advice? What kind of advice?”

  “Advice that I think you need.”

  Noelle pushed aside a pile of gifts at the dining room table and sat herself down in a chair, propping her chin in her hand. “You’ve intrigued me. I’m dying to hear what you have to say, Dr. Grant.”

  Ryan twirled a piece of ribbon around his finger, not looking at Noelle. “I know you have a crush on Charlie, but he’s only going to hurt you. My brother’s not ready to commit to one girl. He likes playing the field. He always thinks that someone better is going to come along. That’s why he’s always going from girlfriend to girlfriend. I don’t want you to wind up being just another one of Charlie’s exes.”

  Noelle couldn’t believe what she was hearing. First, was her crush on Charlie that obvious that Ryan was able to notice it? And if Ryan was able to notice, who else had? Second, who was Ryan to be giving her advice about her love life? Who she decided to crush on was her own business, nobody else’s. Third, how dare he say what he did about Charlie!

  An angry Noelle bolted out of her seat. She jumped up so fast, the chair fell to the hardwood floor with a loud crash, getting the attention of everyone who was wrapping toys. All eyes were now focused on her and Ryan. “I can’t believe you would say such horrible things about your own brother!”

  “What I said isn’t horrible,” Ryan stated, gazing into Noelle’s eyes. “It’s the truth.”

  Noelle shook her head. “No, it isn’t. It’s mean and malicious.”

  Ryan threw his hands up in the air. “Why would I be mean and malicious? Why would I lie?”

  Noelle didn’t know where the words came from. They just spewed out of her. “Because you’re jealous!”

  “Jealous?” Ryan laughed in disbelief. “I’m jealous?”

  Noelle nodded. “That’s right. You’re jealous because girls aren’t interested in you the way they’re interested in Charlie.”

  “If girls aren’t interested in me,” Ryan shot back, “it’s because none of them will give me a chance! They’re all blinded by the great Charlie Grant. They all think he’s so perfect with his white teeth, shiny hair, and muscles. Well, guess what? Charlie’s not so great! He’s not perfect! I should know because I live with him! You don’t. So if I say my brother’s a player, you should give me a little credit and listen to me.”

  “I don’t want to listen to you and you know what? I don’t have to!” Noelle shouted. “I’m going home!”

  And with those final words, Noelle stormed out of Ryan’s house.

  After Noelle left, there was complete silence. Everyone stopped talking. Even the CD player was silent.

  “I better make sure she’s okay,” Lily said, breaking the silence and hurrying after Noelle. “You can handle the rest, right, Ryan?”

  Lily didn’t wait for an answer as she struggled into her coat and raced out the front door.

  Simon checked his watch. “I’ve got to get to work.”

  “Me too,” Connor piped up, checking his own watch.

  And then they were gone.

  “Looks like it’s just us,” Ryan said to Celia and Froggy as he filled a shopping bag with wrapped packages.

  “Actually, I have to get to work myself,” Froggy said.

  “And I have to get home,” Celia quickly added.

  “But I could come by tomorrow,” Froggy offered.

  “That’s okay,” Ryan said. “We wrapped a lot and my folks can help me finish up the rest. We’re in good shape.”

  Ryan walked Froggy and Celia to the front door. “Thanks for all your help. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

  As Froggy and Celia stepped out onto the front porch, they could see it had started snowing.

  “Oooh!” Celia exclaimed excitedly as she watched big white flakes fall to the ground. “We’re going to have a white Christmas!”

  As they walked down the darkened streets past houses lit with colorful Christmas lights, Froggy decided to ask Celia a question. “Did you really need to get home?”

  Celia shook her head. “No.”

  “Then why didn’t you stay? Ryan still had a lot of wrapping to do.”

  “I didn’t want to risk running into Charlie again.”

  “How come? Afraid of those hot lips?”

  Celia made a face. “I can’t stand guys who are full of themselves and Charlie Grant is full of himself. Besides, his kiss wasn’t that great.”

  Celia’s words were music to Froggy’s ears. She hadn’t liked Charlie’s kiss!

  “I bet if Noelle had been standing under that mistletoe, she would disagree with you,” Froggy said.

  “Noelle’s got it pretty bad for Charlie. I hope she doesn’t get hurt. Guys like Charlie are bad news.”

  “Sounds like you’ve gone out with a Charlie yourself,” Froggy said. Why should he be surprised if she had? Celia was beautiful. She’d probably gone on lots of dates when she lived in California and left behind a string of broken hearts.

  “No, but every high school has that type. You know, Mr. Gorgeous. Mr. Popularity who all the girls swoon over. Ours was named Sawyer Chandler. He could have been a movie star, he was so good-looking. And he knew it! Girls were always throwing themselves at him, including my best friend, Crishell.”

  “Did he break her heart?” Froggy asked as they reached the entrance of the town park and began walking down a winding path. Snowbanks were building and everything was covered with white. A group of ten-year-old girls were building a snowman and a bunch of boys were carrying their sleds to the top of the park’s hill.

  “Big time. Crishell’s a romantic, so on Valentine’s Day she made all these plans for them. Tickets to a play, reservations at a fancy restaurant. Even flowers and chocolates!”

  “So what went wrong?”

  “The creep sent her a text message on Valentine’s Day while she was waiting for him to show up at the theater,” Celia said. “He said he’d met someone else that day — that same day — and there was an instant chemistry between them. He said he couldn’t resist it.”

  “What a jerk!”

  “I know! He knew Crishell was waiting for him at the theater. He could have at least gone out on one last date with her and then broken up with her the next day. It would have hurt, but it wouldn’t have hurt as much as being by yourself on Valentine’s Day, standing with a heart-shaped box of chocolates and flowers, watching other couples make kissy-face at each other!”

  Celia looked up at the sky. “The snow is coming down harder.”

  Froggy scooped up a handful of snow from a park bench and molded it into a snowball. “It’s sticking,” he said, tossing the snowball from one hand to the other.

  Celia started making a snowball of her own. “I’ve never been around snow before,” she said. “All my life I’ve lived in California.” She showed Froggy her snowball, a mischievous glint in her eye. “What am I supposed to do with this now?”

  “I think you know what you’re supposed to do with it,” Froggy said, backing away. “But I should warn you. I’m a pretty good snowball thrower. So if you throw one at me, I’m going to throw one back at you!”

  “You mean like this?” Celia shrieked, throwing her snowball at Froggy and hitting him in the middle of his chest.

  “Yes!” Froggy exclaimed, tossing his own snowball and hitting Celia in the shoulder as he ducked behind a huge oak tree.

  Within seconds they were scooping snow off the ground and tossing snowballs back and forth at each other. Deciding to outfox Celia, Froggy ducked behind a low hedge and began crawling in the direction where she was hiding. When he was inches away from her, he made a handful of snowballs and tucked them in the crook of his
arm. Then he jumped up from behind the hedge with a loud yell, tossing the snowballs at a surprised Celia.

  “You rat!” Celia laughed, whirling around and trying to fend off the snowballs with her hands as she was pelted. She scooped up a handful of snow and raced toward Froggy, who had used up all his snowballs, crashing into him. Together they fell backward into a snowbank.

  “Hey! We can make snow angels!” Celia exclaimed excitedly, moving her arms up and down and her legs from side to side.

  Froggy turned his head to look at Celia. He couldn’t believe how much fun she was having in the snow. She didn’t care that her clothes were getting soaking wet. She was having a great time. Her eyes were lit up and she was laughing and smiling. Their faces were so close together that all he wanted to do was lean over and kiss her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her lips. They were so soft and pink. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but this wasn’t some fairy tale where the ugly frog turns into Prince Charming after getting a kiss from the beautiful girl. This was real life and in real life, guys like him did not kiss girls like Celia.

  No matter how badly they wanted to!

  “How come you’re looking at me so funny?” Celia asked, tossing a handful of snow in Froggy’s face.

  The handful of snow was like a splash of cold water, snapping Froggy back into reality. He jumped to his feet and then pulled Celia off the ground.

  “I’m late for work,” he said, glancing at his watch and dusting snow off his pants and jacket. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Bye!”

  And then Froggy rushed out of the park without even another look at Celia.

  Celia stared at a departing Freddy in confusion. What had just happened? They had been having such a nice time and then all of a sudden Freddy ran off like he was afraid of her. Why would Freddy be afraid of her?

  Seconds later a cold wind cut through Celia and she started shivering in her wet clothes. All thoughts of Freddy left her mind as she hurried home, obsessed with thoughts of a warm bubble bath, her fuzzy pajamas, and a hot cup of cocoa.