“Would love to chat some more, Mindy, but I’ve got to go,” Noelle said, gathering up her books. She saw from the clock above the front desk that it was 4:00. The mystery of whoever left her the note would remain unsolved.
As Noelle was leaving the library, she ran into Celia, who gave her a warm smile.
“Hey, Noelle!”
“Hey, Celia.” Noelle was surprised to see Celia by herself. With the exception of the Toys for Tots excursions, she was usually with Amber and Shawna. “What’s going on?” She had to admit, Celia wasn’t as bad as she thought she was. She was actually pretty nice. Of course, she was Charlie’s Secret Santa. She couldn’t forget that. “Are you excited about the Christmas dance tomorrow night?”
“I can’t wait! Finally all this Secret Santa suspense will be over! I don’t know about you, but it’s driving me crazy.”
“I can’t wait to find out who my Secret Santa is,” Noelle admitted. “He’s been sooo romantic.”
“I’ve been crushing on the guy whose name I picked,” Celia confessed. “I hope he feels the same way about me.”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much,” Noelle said gently. She didn’t want to see Celia get hurt, but Charlie was hers first! “After all, the guy you’re interested in could be involved with someone else. Or if he isn’t, he might not feel the same way you feel about him.”
“I think he’s interested in me,” Celia said confidently.
Celia’s answer stunned Noelle. “You do? How?”
Before Celia could answer, Amber showed up at the end of the hallway. “Celia! What’s keeping you? I want to get to the mall!”
Celia gave Noelle an embarrassed smile. “Sorry! Gotta go! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
Noelle didn’t want Celia to leave! She wanted to know why she thought Charlie was interested in her!
∗ ∗ ∗
Simon was stuck in detention, falsely accused of a crime he hadn’t committed!
He had been caught in the girls’ locker room, but he hadn’t been trying to take a peek at anyone! All he had been doing was leaving a Secret Santa gift for the girl whose name he’d picked. He’d been in the locker room just when all the girls were in the showers. Unfortunately, he’d been answering a call on his camera phone when Miss Ongstat, the girls’ gym coach, had caught him and jumped to the wrong conclusion: Teenage Boy + Naked Girls + Camera Phone = Naked Photos. She hadn’t believed his explanation, even when he’d shown her the gift he’d left behind. And his photo-less camera phone! Instead, he’d been given a detention slip for this afternoon.
He kept staring at the clock at the front of the classroom. Detention was for an hour and he wouldn’t be a free man until 4:00. That was another fifteen minutes away.
This ruined all his plans!
He had left Noelle a note in her locker at lunchtime, asking her to meet him in the school library at 3:00. How long would she wait before giving up? He was jarred from his thoughts when he heard Miss Ongstat, today’s detention teacher, shout, “What did I say about passing notes?” She jumped up from behind her desk and stormed toward Keesha Johnson and Dee Dee Howard, snatching up the note Keesha had just given to Dee Dee. “Just for that everyone is staying an extra fifteen minutes!”
Simon groaned. There was no way Noelle was going to still be waiting for him in the library. No way!
Finally, at 4:15, detention was over and Simon raced to the school library. Part of him was hoping Noelle would still be there, but she wasn’t.
She was gone.
∗ ∗ ∗
When Noelle got home from school, she found Ryan loading up the trunk of his car with wrapped presents for the Toys for Tots program.
“Need any help?” she asked, deciding to act like the fight they’d had the day before hadn’t happened. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he knew where Charlie was but she didn’t. She didn’t want to start World War III! And she was sure everything was okay with Charlie. If it wasn’t, Ryan would have said something
Ryan shrugged. “Sure. If you want. Thanks.”
She knew that was Ryan’s way of saying that he wasn’t going to bring up their fight either.
As if reading her mind, Ryan said, “Charlie was supposed to help me, but he had a surprise dress rehearsal for the Christmas play.”
Ah! That explained why he was a no-show at the library.
Noelle headed inside the Grant house where she found a pile of wrapped presents in the entryway. She loaded up her arms and headed back outside. It took six trips, but finally the trunk and backseat of the car were filled with all the presents.
“I have to drop these off at the post office,” Ryan said, slamming down the lid of the trunk. “Want to come along?”
“Sure. On the way back, can you drop me off at the mall? I have to pick up my dress for tomorrow night’s dance.”
Ryan held open the passenger door of the car. “Hop in. Your ride awaits!”
It was time for Shawna to pay up.
She and David were going out on their date.
There was no avoiding it. David had called her that morning and said that if she expected him to check out the girls who had left Connor gifts then they would be going out today.
If there was one thing Shawna hated, it was being told what to do. Even if she had planned on doing something, if someone told her to do it, she wouldn’t! That’s just the way she was.
But in this instance, she knew she had no choice.
Still, that didn’t mean David would be calling all the shots.
She agreed to the date but told him the what/where/when of it.
She had decided they would see a movie at the mall and would meet at the theater. She lied to Amber and told her she wouldn’t be around after school because she had an appointment at the dentist. To make sure no one recognized her, she disguised herself as best as she could. She hid her hair under a ski cap, wore a full-length down jacket with snow boots — thus making herself look shapeless — wrapped a scarf around the lower part of her face, and topped it all off with her huge Nicole Ritchie sunglasses.
She was completely unrecognizable. If she ran into anyone she knew, they wouldn’t look twice because she didn’t look anything like herself.
And that was the point.
Nothing against David, but girls like her did not go out with guys like him.
Besides, Connor was the only guy she wanted to date. And she certainly didn’t want him to think she was cheating on him! Even with David!
When she got to the mall, she found David waiting outside the movie theater. There was no mistaking him. His jeans were too short and baggy, the back of his shirt was sticking out from beneath his jacket, and his hair was a mess, sticking out all over his head.
She sighed. Didn’t nerds look into the mirror before going outside? Why didn’t any of them have a sense of fashion?
He was screaming for a makeover!
She stopped in front of David and he stared at her blankly. Then she lowered her sunglasses down her nose. “It’s me,” she said.
At the sound of her voice, his entire face lit up. “You came!”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“I wasn’t sure,” he admitted.
“I always keep my word,” Shawna said. “I hope you do the same thing.”
“Of course I do!”
“Good. Then before we buy our tickets, you’ll tell me what you found out about those girls from last night.”
“None of them are Connor’s Secret Santa.”
“None of them?” Shawna asked, dejected. “Are you sure? Completely sure? Because Connor’s Secret Santa left him a gift this morning. It was waiting in his first class.” Luckily, Connor hated horror movies and had given the movie pass his Secret Santa had bought him to Simon. Who was this girl who kept buying such lousy gifts? Her not knowing what to buy Connor should make her feel a little bit better, but it didn’t.
“I have some friends helping me out. Each
one of us has been following a specific girl. They did leave gifts today, but they were for other guys. None of them left a gift for Connor.”
Shawna sighed. “That means we’re back at square one.”
“Is it okay for me to buy the tickets?”
“Yes,” Shawna said distractedly, trying to figure out what her next move should be. The Christmas dance was tomorrow night. She had to find a way to neutralize Connor’s Secret Santa, otherwise she could lose him! Even if her gifts were lousy, who’s to say she and Connor wouldn’t hit it off? She needed to know who she was dealing with.
“I’ve got the tickets,” David said, handing one to Shawna.
“Okay, here are the ground rules,” Shawna said as they walked into the theater. “Are you listening because I’m only going to say them once.”
“Should I be taking notes?” David asked, patting down the pockets of his coat in search of a pen.
“You’ll be able to remember them,” Shawna said. “Or else.”
David gulped.
“There will be no hand-holding,” Shawna began. “No arms around the shoulders and no rubbing of legs against each other. And absolutely, positively NO kissing!”
“How about sharing popcorn?” David asked meekly.
Shawna thought about the question, then nodded. “Sharing popcorn is allowed but only if the popcorn is unbuttered.” She shuddered. “I hate that artificial gunk they squirt all over it.”
“Me too!” David exclaimed. “Is there anything else you like munching on when you’re watching a movie?”
“Well, I do like gummi bears,” Shawna admitted. “And Raisinettes.”
“Anything to drink?
“It would be nice to wash it all down with a diet Pepsi.” Shawna reached into her shoulder bag to give David some money, but he waved it away.
“Put your money away. It’s my treat.”
Shawna was touched by David’s generosity. She’d been on plenty of dates where the guy had expected her to pay for half of everything. Needless to say, there had been no second dates with those losers!
“That’s awfully nice of you, David. Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
“If that’s a hint for another date, the answer is no,” Shawna quickly stated. She wasn’t trying to be mean, but she didn’t want David getting his hopes up. Today’s date was a one-time and one-time-only thing.
“So what are we seeing?” she asked after David had gotten their snacks and they walked into the theater. She hadn’t been paying attention when he bought the tickets. Her mind had been elsewhere.
“Queen of the Fairies,” David said as they sat in their seats.
“A fantasy movie?” Shawna made a face, remembering the movie poster out in the lobby. It had shown a pink fairy riding on top of a blue unicorn. “Yuck!”
“You’re going to love it. Trust me. It’s very romantic.”
Shawna noted David’s use of the word romantic. She didn’t want him getting any ideas. “Remember the ground rules,” she reminded him, unbuttoning her coat.
“Am I allowed to breathe the same air as you?” David grumbled as the lights began to dim.
“Yes,” Shawna whispered, reaching into the bag of popcorn he was holding. “And we can even share the same popcorn!”
∗ ∗ ∗
Much to her surprise, Shawna enjoyed the movie. Granted, it was kind of weird, with fairies and elves and all sorts of creatures she’d never imagined existing, but David had been right. The story was very romantic. But it ended with a cliff-hanger ending. Did that mean she would have to wait until the sequel before finding out what happened next? She asked David that question as they were leaving the movie theater.
“You don’t have to wait until next year’s sequel,” David said as they walked out into the crowded mall, zigzagging their way around holiday shoppers. “You can buy the book.”
“There’s a book?”
“It’s a seven-book series. Come on,” he said, taking her hand and leading her into a bookstore. “I’ll show you.”
When they left the bookstore, Shawna had a shopping bag filled with the next six volumes of the series. David had told her that as soon as she finished the second book, she was going to want to read the third and the fourth and then all the rest. She very rarely bought novels, but if each book in the series ended the way the first one had, she couldn’t be left hanging!
“We can talk about them after you finish reading them,” David said.
“That may take a while,” she admitted. “When it comes to books, I’m a slow reader. I’m much faster when it comes to magazines like Vogue and US Weekly.”
“Trust me, once you start reading them, you’ll be speeding through them.”
“I suppose I could start with a chapter before I go to sleep at night and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.” Shawna and David had reached the escalators for the first floor. “Thanks for the movie. It was fun.” And it had been. David hadn’t been all gropey the way she had expected him to be. The date had actually been nice. Of course, it wasn’t a real date, but she hadn’t suffered through it the way she’d been expecting.
“Is it okay if I walk you home?” David blurted out. “Most dates end that way, you know?”
Shawna decided to be nice. After all, it was the Christmas season. “Yes, you can walk me home.” She held up a finger. “But there will be no kissing at the front door!”
“Who said anything about kissing?” David innocently asked as they stepped onto the escalator.
“I’ve been on plenty of dates. I know how guys think. They always want a kiss when they walk you home.”
“You gave me the ground rules at the movie theater,” David said. “I didn’t forget.”
“Okay.”
When they reached the first floor, they began walking past a number of shops. As they passed a boutique, Shawna pointed at a dress in the window. It was midnight blue, shot with strands of silver, with spaghetti straps.
“That’s what I’m going to wear to the dance tomorrow night,” she told David. “The store asked if they could leave it in the window until I pick it up tomorrow. It’s one of a kind. What do you think?”
Shawna didn’t know why she was asking David for his opinion. Maybe it was because he was a guy and she wanted a guy’s opinion. She wanted to look gorgeous tomorrow night — so gorgeous that Connor would do a double take and not want to break up with her. Because that’s the feeling she was getting. Connor was going to break up with her at the dance tomorrow night. Why else would he be making himself so scarce these last few weeks?
“It’s nice,” David said, his tone of voice flat. Shawna instantly panicked.
“Nice? Just nice?” She wanted to grab him and shake him and have him tell her what was wrong with the dress. “That’s all you have to say?”
“Well, if you want my honest opinion …” David began.
“Yes, I do! Honesty, please! You don’t know how important tomorrow night is to me!”
“It’s a nice dress, but why go with something so dark? Why not a lighter color?”
At first Shawna wanted to dismiss David’s opinion. But then she realized that what he said made sense. Perfect sense.
“How do you know about how a girl should dress?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I’ve been looking at girls for years. After a while you start to pick up a few things.”
“You mean drooling over girls for years,” Shawna teased.
“That too.” David gazed at the dress in the window. “So are you still going to wear that?”
Shawna shook her head. “No. I actually have a different dress like the one you’ve described. I was going to wear it to my cousin Andrea’s wedding next month, but I could wear it for the dance instead. I need to really wow Connor tomorrow night.”
“You care about him, don’t you?”
Until David said the words, Shawna didn’t realize how true they were. “Yes, I do.”
“Then wh
y don’t you tell him?”
Shawna shook her head. “I can’t. What if he tells me he doesn’t feel the same way?” She could never allow herself to be so vulnerable!
“But what if he does? What if he feels the same way you do, and he’s afraid to tell you how he’s feeling because he thinks you don’t care about him.”
“Then he should tell me!” Shawna exclaimed. “Don’t you think?”
“But you’re not telling him! It works the same way! Somebody’s got to take the first step.”
“Well it’s not going to be me!” Shawna tore her eyes away from the dress in the window and decided to change the subject. She didn’t want to talk about Connor anymore. “So what are you wearing tomorrow night?”
“Probably a suit.”
“Not that gray pin-striped monstrosity that you wore last year for the Freshman Awards ceremony?” Shawna gasped. “With the black shirt and black tie?”
“Yes. Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s five years out of style and you look like a gangster in it, that’s what’s wrong with it!”
Shawna grabbed David by the arm and pulled him into Abercrombie & Fitch. “Do you have an emergency credit card?”
“Yes.”
“Good! Because we’re going to do some serious shopping!”
Thirty minutes later Shawna had decked David out in a pair of khakis, a white shirt, a red-and-blue striped tie, and a navy blue jacket with gold buttons. After they left the clothing store, they stopped into a drugstore, where Shawna handed David a container of hair gel.
“After you get out of the shower, just put a dab of this in the palm of your hand,” she explained, “rub your hands together, and then run your fingers through your hair.”
“What’s that going to do?”
“It will give you a spiky look, but it will look much more preppy than your current stuck-your-finger-in-an-electrical-socket look.”
David gasped at the price of the hair gel. “Fifteen bucks?!”
“It costs money to look good,” Shawna said as she plucked David’s emergency credit card out of his hand and gave it to the cashier.
After leaving the drugstore, they stopped at the men’s fragrance department in Macy’s where Shawna suggested David spritz himself with a few colognes. “See which scent you like best.”
Secret Santa Page 15
