David began grabbing bottles, spraying himself everywhere.
“No! No! No!” Shawna cried, horrified. “I said spritz, not take a bath in!” She snatched a bottle of Ralph Lauren’s Polo out of his hand. “Like this.” She aimed the bottle at his wrist and pressed down lightly on its top. “Let it dry for a few seconds and then take a sniff.” David did as he was instructed. “See? Doesn’t that smell nice?”
“I like it,” David said. “Let’s buy it.”
“It’s going to cost way more than hair gel,” Shawna warned.
“How much more?”
Shawna showed him the price.
“Yikes!”
“You don’t have to buy it,” Shawna said, putting the bottle down. “But a lot of girls like guys who smell good.”
David plopped his emergency credit card down on the counter.
“It also comes in scented soap!” Shawna added.
After leaving Macy’s with the cologne and soap, they went back out into the mall. As they were passing BRING THE BLING, a jewelry store, Shawna decided to pop in. She and Amber shopped in it all the time, and she still had to buy Christmas presents for her sisters. Maybe she could find something inside.
The first thing she saw was a display of earrings. The designs were wild and funky and she decided to buy a pair for Chloe. Her younger sister was a little too straitlaced. She needed to loosen up! For Cassidy, she founded a colorful beaded necklace.
After she paid for her purchases and the store clerk handed her a shopping bag, she took a closer look at Shawna. “You’re friends with Amber Davenport, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Is she liking the bracelet she bought?”
“What bracelet?” Shawna didn’t recall Amber recently buying a bracelet.
“The one made of glass beads,” the clerk said.
Shawna wasn’t sure she had heard the clerk correctly. “Glass beads?” The only glass-bead bracelet that Amber owned was the one her Secret Santa had given her.
Unless …
The clerk pointed to a display of beaded-glass bracelets … bracelets that were identical to the one owned by Amber.
“She bought it on Monday,” the clerk said. “In fact, she forgot her credit card receipt.” She handed it to Shawna “Would you mind giving it to her?”
Shawna stared at the receipt with Monday’s date on it.
Amber’s Secret Santa had given her the bracelet on Tuesday.
Or so Shawna had thought!
Instantly, all the pieces fell into place.
Amber’s Secret Santa hadn’t bought her the bracelet.
Amber had bought it for herself!
Which meant she had probably bought all her Secret Santa gifts.
“Why do you look so mad?” David asked as they left the jewelry store.
“I’m not mad,” Shawna lied, although she was. The entire week, Amber had rubbed her nose in the fact that her Secret Santa had bought her such expensive gifts, when all along she had been buying them. And then she had laughed at the sweet gifts left by Shawna’s Secret Santa! Yesterday afternoon her Secret Santa had left another lollipop at her locker, and this morning she had found a gift certificate for an ice-cream cone at Ben & Jerry’s.
For most of the walk home, Shawna was silent while David kept jabbering away. She wasn’t paying any attention to him. All she could think about was Amber. She didn’t know what she was going to do with the information she had found out, but she planned on doing something!
“Here we are,” David said, once they reached her front yard.
It had started getting dark and some houses already had Christmas lights on. In her front yard, Chloe and Cassidy had made a snowman, using rocks for his eyes and mouth and a carrot stick for his nose.
“Thanks again for the movie,” she said.
David held up his shopping bags. “Thanks for taking me shopping. Maybe you’ll save me a dance tomorrow night?”
“Since you can’t get a kiss, you’ll settle for a dance?”
“You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“One dance,” Shawna said. “And only after Connor dances with me first. That is, if he even dances with me.”
“I bet he does. In the meantime, I’ll still keep an eye on him. See if his Secret Santa leaves him any more gifts.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t, but I want to. And you don’t have to go on another date with me. Consider this a freebie.”
Just then Chloe came walking up the street, loaded down with her own shopping bags. “Guess everyone’s doing last-minute shopping,” she said. She turned to David. “Are you staying for dinner again?”
“I was just leaving,” David said. “See you tomorrow, Shawna.”
“Bye,” she said as he started walking away.
“Are you sure you’re not replacing Connor with him? You’ve been hanging out with him a lot lately.”
“I’m not replacing Connor!” Shawna snapped, hating when Chloe butted into her personal business. “David’s just a friend.”
Chloe held up her hands in surrender. “Touchy, touchy.”
As Shawna followed Chloe inside, her thoughts returned to Amber. For now she wasn’t going to let Amber know she knew her secret, but at some point she was going to let her know she knew it.
She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Amber’s face when that happened!
House of Fashion was a zoo. Noelle couldn’t believe there were so many girls still searching for a dress for the dance. She saw so many familiar faces from school. Luckily she had found her dress earlier in the week, and it had needed only a few alterations. Now it was ready to be picked up.
Ryan had dropped her off at the mall after they’d delivered the presents for the Toys for Tots program. They hadn’t talked much. Instead, they’d listened to the radio and talked about Christmas specials, like A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and their all-time favorite, A Christmas Story. Ryan had offered to wait around for her, but she still had some last-minute Christmas shopping to do and told him she’d get home with the bus.
Noelle was in the dressing room of House of Fashion, trying on her dress one last time. It was a plum satin slip-dress with spaghetti straps. Admiring herself in a full-length mirror, she loved the way it clung to her curves. She felt the dress made her look older. More mature. Like someone Charlie would want to go out with!
She still hadn’t figured out what she was going to do with her hair. Or what kind of jewelry she was going to wear. She and Lily needed to discuss that tonight.
She was taking one final look at herself in the mirror when Celia and Amber walked into the dressing room. Noelle tried to see if Celia was carrying a dress, but she wasn’t. Amber, on the other hand, did have a dress, and slipped into a changing stall. Seconds later she came out and made a face at her image.
“Blech! This dress is ugly! What was I even thinking trying something off-the-rack?”
“It doesn’t look that bad,” Celia said. “What do you think, Noelle?”
“I think it looks nice,” Noelle said. And she did. Amber had a gorgeous figure. She could wear a potato sack and make it look like a designer original.
“Nice isn’t good enough!” Amber snapped. “I have to wow Charlie Grant tomorrow night!” After taking one last look at herself in the mirror, Amber flounced back into her changing stall.
“What did Amber mean by her comment?” Noelle asked.
Celia made sure no one was around, then whispered in Noelle’s ear, “Amber is Charlie’s Secret Santa.”
Noelle’s mouth dropped open. “But that’s impossible! You’re Charlie’s Secret Santa.”
Celia gave Noelle a confused look. “No, I’m not. Why would you say that?”
“Because I heard Amber say you were Charlie’s Secret Santa,” Noelle explained, her mind scrambling over what she’d just been told. It couldn’t be. It just coul
dn’t be! “It was right outside the cafeteria on Monday.”
The confusion faded away from Celia’s face. “Oh! Now I understand.” Celia quickly filled Noelle in on Amber’s scheme of pulling out the names of three seniors ahead of time. “That’s why Amber is Charlie’s Secret Santa. But don’t tell her I told you! She’d kill me!”
Amber stormed out of her changing stall with her dress hanging lopsided off a hanger. “Come on, Celia. Let’s head back to my house. I guess I’ll have to pick one of the dresses my mother brought from Manhattan.” She pulled out her cell phone as she walked back out into the store. “Maybe Shawna’s back from the dentist and can help us out.”
Noelle watched them disappear, her head spinning. Amber being Charlie’s Secret Santa changed everything. Everything! She could handle Celia. She had a chance of outshining Celia “Beach Girl” Armstrong because of her shared history with Charlie. That gave her a tiny bit of an advantage. But Amber? Amber Davenport?! The girl was a she-wolf. A barracuda! A black widow spider. From as far back as seventh grade, she’d always gotten every guy she’d ever wanted and then moved on to the one she wanted after that! If she wanted Charlie to be her next boyfriend then Noelle didn’t stand a chance.
What was she going to do?
∗ ∗ ∗
Connor hated Christmas shopping. He always left it to the last minute. And because he did, he always had to do battle with holiday shoppers.
Luckily, he was almost finished. He just had to buy a gift for his mother and a gift for his father and then he could go home.
Oh, and then there was his final Secret Santa gift to pick up.
He had to admit, at first he thought the whole Secret Santa thing was dumb. But it was fun buying presents and leaving them to be found. Of course, his Secret Santa didn’t have a clue what to buy him, but it was the thought that counted. He’d have to remember that tomorrow night when he met his Secret Santa.
Deciding to pop into The Gap, he found a hooded sweatshirt for his father. He was waiting in line to pay for it, staring out in the mall through the store’s window, when he did a double take.
No, it couldn’t be.
Could it?
He thought he saw Shawna walking through the mall with a nerdy redheaded guy, but it couldn’t be her. Shawna would never be seen walking around in the outfit he had seen. And secondly, she’d never hang out with a nerd.
Or would she?
Was that why she’d been so distant lately?
He knew Amber and Simon were on the verge of breaking up.
And whenever Amber did something, Shawna did the same thing.
Was Shawna getting ready to break up with him?
Had she found herself a new boyfriend?
He left his spot in line and stuck his head out in the mall, searching the crowds for Shawna, but he couldn’t find her. He went back in line, but he couldn’t forget the question he’d asked himself.
Had Shawna found herself a new boyfriend?
If she had, there was only way to find out.
Tomorrow night at the Christmas dance.
∗ ∗ ∗
The last thing Celia wanted to do was shop. But Amber was on a mission. She had to make sure she had the perfect outfit for tomorrow night’s dance. After leaving House of Fashion, they had stopped in a shoe store and now Amber was trying on a variety of styles. Celia thought it was a little pointless, since Amber still didn’t know what dress she would be wearing, but she didn’t say anything. The only opinion that mattered was Amber’s.
After trying on ten pairs of shoes, Amber finally decided to buy three pairs. As she was waiting in line to pay for them, Celia headed back out into the mall. Even though it was the Christmas season, when everything was supposed to be happy and jolly, all she wanted to do was go home and cry. She had been so sure Jake was her Secret Santa. So sure he was going to reveal himself as her Secret Santa at the dance when she was going to tell him that she had been crushing on him for months. So sure that they were then going to kiss and start dating and become a couple. She had built up an elaborate fantasy in her mind, and now it was gone.
“What’s with the long face?”
Celia whirled around and saw Freddy standing behind her.
“Is everything okay?” he asked. “You seem upset.”
Celia could see the concern on Freddy’s face and it touched her. He thought something was really wrong. How could she tell him the truth? He’d think she was an airhead!
“It’s nothing,” Celia said. “Just something silly.”
“It can’t be too silly if it has you looking so sad.” Freddy took Celia by the hand and walked her over to one of the wooden benches scattered throughout the mall. “Anything you want to talk about?” he asked as they sat down. “I’m a good listener.”
Before she could stop herself, Celia blurted it out. “Jake’s not my Secret Santa, and I was so sure it was him!”
“How do you know it’s not Jake?”
“He was out sick today! That means he couldn’t have left me the daisies this morning. And if he didn’t leave me the daisies, then he didn’t leave me any of my other gifts.”
“That’s what’s gotten you so upset?”
Celia buried her face in the palm of her hands. “I know, I know. It’s stupid, isn’t it?”
Freddy slowly pulled Celia’s hands away from her face. “No, it isn’t,” he said. “Okay, so Jake isn’t your Secret Santa. That doesn’t mean you can’t tell him that you have feelings for him. That you like him. Who knows? Maybe he might have feelings for you. Did you ever stop to think of that?”
Celia shook her head. “I didn’t.”
“It’s Christmas!” Freddy exclaimed. “Anything is possible.”
“There you are!” Amber exclaimed as she hurried over with three shopping bags. “I didn’t know where you had disappeared to. Come on! I want to stop in the MAC store before we leave. I need to buy a new lipstick and mascara.”
“Don’t forget what I said,” Freddy whispered as he walked away.
After Freddy left, Celia mulled over his words. He was right. Just because Jake wasn’t her Secret Santa, that was no reason not to tell him how she felt. After all, she’d been crushing on him for months. She was going to have to do something about it eventually. Why not tomorrow night at the Christmas dance?
As Celia was leaving the mall with Amber, she caught sight of Freddy in a card store. He was waiting in line with a roll of silver foil wrapping paper decorated with white snowflakes.
He was such a nice guy, she realized. Always there. Always willing to listen. She was really lucky to have him as a friend.
She hoped he got exactly what he wanted this Christmas.
He deserved it.
∗ ∗ ∗
Froggy was a man on a mission.
After talking with Celia, he had come up with a plan.
A plan that would give her exactly what she wanted this Christmas.
He rang the doorbell of Jake’s house and waited for it to be answered. Seconds later, the door was opened by a sniffling Jake, who was wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a Scissor Sisters T-shirt.
“How are you feeling?” Froggy asked, stepping inside out of the cold.
“Just one of those twenty-four-hour bugs.” Jake blew his nose into a tissue. “What are you doing here? Did Gloria send you to check on me? Does she not believe I’m sick?”
“Gloria didn’t send me,” Froggy explained. “I’m here because I want to ask you to do something for me.”
“What?” Jake asked as they headed up to his bedroom.
Froggy took a deep breath and then said the words before he chickened out. “I want you to be Celia’s Secret Santa.”
Jake did a double take. “You want me to be Celia’s Secret Santa? Why? You’re her Secret Santa.”
“Celia has a crush on you,” Froggy explained, taking off his coat and tossing it on Jake’s bed. The room was a mess, with stacks of unfolded clothes all ove
r the floor, piles of CDs and DVDs, and a stack of empty pizza boxes. “She has for months.”
“Really? Huh.” Jake seemed thrown for a loop. “I didn’t know that.”
“Until today, she thought you were the one leaving her all those gifts.”
“What happened today?” Jake asked.
“I left her some flowers, and she thought they were from you until she found out you were out sick.”
“Oops!”
“Oops is right! But it’s nothing that can’t be fixed. So, will you do it? Will you be Celia’s Secret Santa and pretend you’ve been the one sending her gifts?”
“But I haven’t. Besides, what’s the point? You’re the one who has feelings for Celia, not me.”
“I know,” Froggy admitted. “But all I want is for Celia to be happy and what will make her happy is you. You have to admit, she’s pretty special.”
“She is kinda cool,” Jake said. “But I don’t feel about her the way you do.”
“That’s because you don’t know her,” Froggy argued. “You’ve never thought of her romantically, have you? But what if you did? You’d go out with a girl like Celia, wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe,” Jake slowly answered.
“Please, Jake,” Froggy begged. “Do this for me?”
“We already settled things up, remember? I was going to find stuff out about her so you could buy Secret Santa presents.”
“Consider it an early Christmas present.”
“Who says I was buying you a present?”
“I bought you one. Please, Jake? I promise I’ll never ask you for anything ever again.”
Jake sighed, running his fingers through his long hair. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it, but I can’t promise that this is going to lead to anything. I’ll tell her I’m her Secret Santa and I’ll take her out on a date, but if there are no sparks between us, that’s it.” Jake shook his head. “You must really care about Celia to give her up this way.”
“I do,” Froggy said, trying not to imagine Celia and Jake dancing together at the Christmas dance tomorrow night. It hurt too much. He wanted to be the one holding her close. He wanted to be the one whispering in her ear. He wanted to be the one to kiss her good night. But when you cared about someone, you made sacrifices. You put their happiness first. “I really do.”
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