December Secrets

by Patricia Reilly Giff

  She put the pictures on Jill's seat. Then she went back to her own desk.

  Up in front Ms. Rooney had taken a bunch of plastic Baggies out of a big brown paper bag.

  The Baggies were filled with white things.

  Just then Beast came into the classroom.

  So did Noah and Dawn.

  Beast ran to Matthew's desk. He put a bottle on Mat-thew's seat.

  It was half filled with green liquid.

  Then Beast slid into his own seat.

  Emily wished Jill would hurry.

  Jill would be so happy when she saw Emily's pictures.

  The bell rang.

  The rest of the children came into the classroom. All except for Jill.

  Matthew took off his jacket. Then he looked at the bottle on his seat. He took the cap off and smelled it. “Phew,” he said.

  Emily looked at Beast. She hoped he didn't feel bad.

  But Beast was bent over his desk. He was drawing a picture of a Christmas tree.

  Jill came into the classroom at last.

  She had on a big blue plastic rainhat. It looked like the kind of hat Emily's mother wore in the shower.

  Jill took her hat off and shook the rain out of it.

  She was wearing four white ribbons on her four fat braids.

  She looked like a snowball, Emily thought.

  A big, fat white snowball.

  Jill had a brown paper bag with her.

  Emily smiled to herself.

  It was probably a present for Jill's secret person.

  Emily wondered who her secret person was.

  Jill went to her seat. She sat right on top of Emily's two secret person pictures.

  At the front of the room Ms. Rooney clapped her hands.

  “We're going to do something special today,” she told the class. “Something special for December.”

  Emily looked at Jill. She wondered if Jill would ever stand up so she could see her secret person present.

  “Who can tell us the story of Hanukkah?” Ms. Rooney asked.

  Noah put his hand up. “Once upon a time there was a good queen. Her name was Esther, I think. And then there was a very bad man. His name was—”

  Jill Simon raised her hand. She stood up.

  Emily leaned over to see what had happened to the pictures.

  The picture of the baby was wrinkled on the edge.

  “I think that's wrong, Ms. Rooney,” Jill said in a soft voice. “Noah's mixed up. He's telling the story of Purim. He's supposed to be telling the story of the oil.”

  “No, I'm not,' said Noah.

  Then he put his hand up to his mouth. “I guess you're right,” he said. He made a face at Jill.

  “I'm just trying to help,” Jill said. She sounded as if she were going to cry.

  Jill sat down again without looking at her chair.

  Emily sat back. She watched Jill open the brown paper bag.

  Jill reached in. She took out a chocolate chip cookie. Then she ducked down behind a book so Ms. Rooney wouldn't see her. She took a bite of the cookie.

  “Hanukkah,” said Noah. “Well. Once upon a time the Jews had to fight for their freedom. Then they won. They wanted to light the temple light.”

  Ms. Rooney pointed to the menorah on the blackboard. She nodded at Noah.

  “But there was only enough oil to keep the temple lamp lit for one day.”

  Jill raised her hand. “Let me tell the rest.”

  Noah sighed. “Go ahead.”

  “Very thoughtful, Noah,” Ms. Rooney said.

  “Even though there wasn't enough oil, the candle stayed lighted for eight days,” Jill said.

  “Now,” said Noah, “we light a candle every night for eight nights.”

  “And we get a present every night for eight nights too,” said Jill.

  “Lucky,” said Matthew.

  Ms. Rooney held up one of the Baggies. “We're going to make presents,” she said. “You may use them for Christmas or for Hanukkah.”

  Beast said, “I think it's time for gym now.”

  Ms. Rooney frowned. She looked at the clock. “Absolutely right, Richard. I guess we'll have to make our presents later.”

  The class lined up.

  Emily watched until Jill stood up.

  This time Jill saw the pictures.

  They were all wrinkled.

  Jill looked a little surprised. She looked at the pictures for a moment. Then she crumpled them up and put them into the waste-basket.

  Emily gritted her teeth. Just her luck to get such a dummy for a se-cret December person.

  Chapter 5

  The next day, after Mrs. Paris's reading class, Emily went back to the science table. She looked at the fishbowl.

  “Hi, Harry,” she said to the striped fish.

  She looked at Harry's eyes. They were always open. She wondered if Harry ever went to sleep.

  Emily tried to keep her eyes open too.

  She counted to thirty-four. Then she had to blink.

  “Hi, Drake,” she said to the other fish.

  Drake was the mean one. He was always eating.

  He never gave Harry a chance.

  Drake opened his mouth wide. Then he shut it.

  Pop.

  Emily did the same thing.

  Beast came back to the table. “Hi, Fish Face,” he said to Emily.

  Emily laughed.

  Beast took a little fish food in his fingers.

  He tried to drop it on Harry's side of the bowl.

  But Drake swam over quickly. He opened his mouth to grab the food.

  64Mean,” said Beast.

  “Did you get a present today?” Emily asked.

  Beast shook his head. “No. Well, maybe.”

  “What—” Emily began.

  “I found a Good and Plenty candy in my desk.”

  “That's not much,” Emily said.

  “No,” said Beast. “And I had Good and Plentys last week. This one may have been left over. Did you get a pre-sent?”

  Emily shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “I thought I saw someone put—” Beast began. Then he closed his mouth.

  “In my desk?” Emily asked.

  Beast pressed his lips together.

  “Who was it?” Emily asked.

  Beast covered his mouth with his hand. He shook his head. “Don't ask me,” he said.

  “All right, class,” Ms. Rooney said. “It's time to start our December presents.”

  All the children raced back to their seats.

  Emily reached into her desk. No present.

  Ms. Rooney held up one of the Baggies. “Guess what I have?”

  “Macaroni,” someone said.

  “Not just ordinary macaroni,” Ms. Rooney said.

  She held up some fat shells. She held up some short squiggly ones. Then she held up some wheels.

  Emily stuck her head into her desk.

  There was nothing special in the desk.

  Maybe she was nobody's special December per-son.

  “Take out your cigar boxes,” Ms. Rooney said.

  Emily went to the coatroom. She took her pink and green box off the shelf. Then she went back to her seat.

  6'Now,” said Ms. Rooney. “Will our glue monitor give out the glue, please?”

  Timothy Barbiero went to the front of the room.

  He gave out the honey-colored jars of glue.

  'This is easy,” said Ms. Rooney. She held up a box.

  “Ah,” said everyone.

  It was the most beautiful box Emily had ever seen. It was covered with macaroni. Macaroni shells. Macaroni wheels. Squiggly macaroni. Gold maca-roni.

  “How—” Beast started to ask.

  “Gold spray paint,” Ms. Rooney said. “I have gold spray and silver spray.”

  Dawn Bosco put her hand up.

  So did Emily.

  “I want gold,” Dawn said.

  Ms. Rooney frowned a little. “We're not up to that yet.”

/>   Emily quickly put her hand down.

  “This is our December present,” Ms. Rooney said. She pointed to her box. “It will be ready for the first night of Hanukkah. If you celebrate Hanukkah, you may take it home to your mother and father. Or you may save it for a Christmas present.”

  “Hey,” Dawn said. “Look at this.” She held up a blue barrette. “It was in my desk.”

  Jill looked as if she were going to cry.

  “I didn't get anything,” Jill said.

  Emily wanted to hit her right in her big, fat white snowball head. “You did so,” she started to say.

  Then she shut her mouth.

  Jill turned around. “What did you say, Emily?”

  “I said, I didn't get anything either,” Emily said in a cross voice.

  Ms. Rooney called Emily up to her desk. “You may pick a macaroni Baggie, Emily. Pour a few on everyone's desk.”

  Emily picked wheels.

  She poured a few on everyone's desk.

  She poured five on Beast's desk because he was her friend.

  She poured only two on Jill Simon's desk because Jill had sat on her present.

  She poured only one on Dawn Bosco's desk because she still remembered the green stain.

  Some of the other children were walking around the room. They were putting macaroni on people's desks.

  Matthew was giving out ziti.

  Dawn was giving out stars.

  “Hey,” Emily said to Dawn. “How come you gave me only one star?”

  Dawn put her shoulders up in the air. “How come you gave me only one wheel?”

  Jill Simon started to cry. “I don't have enough.”

  Ms. Rooney sighed. “I have plenty for every-one.”

  Emily picked up her glue. She poured some on her box. Then she stuck a wheel in the middle.

  Chapter 6

  It was Wednesday. Time for music.

  Emily gave Uni, her rubber unicorn, a gallop across her desk.

  She took a look at the window. The macaroni boxes were lined up on the sill.

  Hers was beautiful. It was sprayed with gold.

  “Hurry, everyone,” said Ms. Rooney.

  Mrs. Avery was waiting for them in the music room. 'Open your books to page twenty-one,” she said. “We'll sing a Christmas song.”

  Emily looked outside. It was starting to snow.

  It was starting to feel like Christmas. It was less than a week away.

  She opened to page twenty-one.

  The name of the song was “Rudolph the Red-nosed Rein-deer.”

  Jill was sitting in front of Emily. She was wearing three loopy red bows. She looked like Rudolph.

  One of the bows must have fallen off, Emily thought.

  She looked like a messy Rudolph.

  The class began to sing.

  Next to Emily, Dawn Bosco was singing. She was singing very loud.

  She had a terrible voice. Screechy.

  Emily tried to sing a little louder than Dawn. She knew her voice was nice.

  Mrs. Avery always said so.

  This time Mrs. Avery raised her eyebrows a little. “Dawn Bosco and Emily Arrow,” she said. “How about singing a little softer? This is not a shouting match.”

  Beast and Matthew started to laugh. They made believe they were boxers fighting each other.

  “That will do,” Mrs. Avery told them.

  Emily sang a little softer. She didn't have to look at her book.

  Dawn had to look at her book.

  Emily was glad she knew all the words by heart.

  She turned the page to see what came next.

  Someone had put a piece of paper inside her book. It was a picture of three girls. They were all wearing mittens.

  Underneath someone had written in blue crayon:

  Good Frineds

  Emily looked around. She wondered who had put the picture in her book.

  She turned the picture over. On the back someone had writ-ten:

  Good frineds let peple ahead of them in line.

  Emily crumpled the paper up. That Dawn Bosco.

  What kind of a present was that to give to a good friend?

  Emily marched up to the wastebas-ket.

  She threw the crumpled up picture inside.

  Mrs. Avery tapped on her desk. “Emily Arrow,” she said. “Why did you get up in the middle of our song? You know better than that.”

  Emily didn't say anything.

  She wanted to say that Dawn was the one who should know bet-ter.

  Mrs. Avery frowned at her. “I think you'd better go back to your classroom. Tell Ms. Rooney that you are not interested in Christmas mu-sic.”

  Emily hurried out of the music room. She didn't want eve-rybody to see that she had tears in her eyes.

  She didn't want everyone to think she was a crybaby like Jill Simon.

  Before she went back to her classroom, she stopped in the girls' room.

  She could hear her class singing.

  They were singing “It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

  Emily looked in the mirror. Her face was red.

  It was beginning to look as if she were going to have a terrible De-cember.

  Slowly she walked back to her classroom.

  She hated to tell Ms. Rooney that Mrs. Avery had said she wasn't interested in Christmas music.

  She was very interested in Christmas music.

  She was practically the only one who knew all the words by heart.

  Ms. Rooney was sitting at her desk. “What's the matter, Emily?” she asked.

  Emily started to cry. “Dawn tried to get me in trou-ble.”

  “Really?” Ms. Rooney said.

  “Yes,” said Emily. She sniffed a little. She needed a tissue. “Dawn tried to sing louder than me.”

  Ms. Rooney passed her the hankie box.

  Emily rubbed her nose. “Dawn doesn't want me for her secret December person either.”

  Ms. Rooney looked surprised. “Why do you think you're Dawn's secret per-son?”

  “I guessed,” Emily said.

  Just then Matthew raced in.

  He stopped when he saw Emily and Ms. Rooney. He put his hand over his mouth. “I didn't know anyone was here,” he said.

  “T'm here,” said Ms. Rooney. “Why aren't you in music? Did you sing too loud too?”

  “No.” Matthew smiled. “I asked to go to the bathroom.”

  He reached into his pocket. He pulled out a box of Good and Plen-tys.

  “I wanted to put this box of candy in Beast's desk.”

  “That's nice,” said Ms. Rooney.

  “Beast loves Good and Plentys,” Matthew said. “Yesterday I bought him a box too.” He put his shoulders up in the air. “I ate some before I got to school. I ate a lot.”

  Chapter 7

  It was hard to think of things to give Jill Simon.

  Last night Emily had looked through her closet.

  She had pulled out a pile of stuff. Shells from the beach last summer. Her old first-grade notebook.

  At last she had found some-thing.

  A pencil.

  It was a special pencil. Green. Her Aunt Helen had brought it back from California. It had a big, fat almost-new erase.

  It was long and very skinny.

  Maybe it would make Jill think about being skinny. Maybe it would make Jill think about a diet.

  When Emily got to the classroom, she looked at the pencil again. Jill would love it.

  But she might not think about being skinny when she looked at it.

  Ms. Rooney clapped her hands. 'Today we're going to talk about Christmas.”

  Emily loved to talk about Christmas. She closed her eyes for a min-ute. She could see the Christmas tree in her living room. She could see presents.

  She looked at the pencil again.

  Maybe she should write a little note with it. A note to remind Jill about a diet.

  44Who would like to tell us about Christmas?” Ms. Rooney asked.


  Quickly Emily raised her hand.

  Dawn Bosco's hand shot up in the air too.

  Ms. Rooney called on Emily.

  “Christmas,” said Emily slowly. “It's surprises. And a tree. It's getting lots of pre-sents.”

  Dawn waved her hand around. 44It's not just getting pre-sents,” she said. 44It's giving presents. That's the important thing.”

  'That's what my mother said,” Matthew told the class.

  Emily made a face at Dawn. She wanted to say “I was going to tell about the giving part next.”

  She wished she had thought of it.

  But Ms. Rooney was talking now. “Who can tell us more?” she asked.

  Beast stood up. “It's a birthday. A special birth-day. It's the day Jesus Christ was born.”

  “Exactly right,” said Ms. Rooney.

  Exactly right, thought Emily. She felt cross with herself. Too bad she hadn't thought about saying that.

  She sighed. She looked at the pencil for Jill again.

  Maybe she would write a poem to go with Jill Simon's se-cret December present.

  What went with skinny? Minny. Jinny. Linny.

  You won't look tinny when you're skinny.

  No.

  How about something with diet? Fi-et. Ly-et.

  She thought for a minute.

  How about:

  A skinny dress your mother will buy it.

  If you go on a diet.

  That was a little better.

  But not perfect.

  She looked out the window. The snow had stopped.

  How about:

  Try a diet

  Yes. That sounded good.

  She said it in her head a couple of times. Try a diet. Try a diet.

  Sherri Dent turned around. “Are you talking to your-self?” she whispered.

  Emily shook her head. Then she took out her notebook. She tore out a piece of paper.

  Ms. Rooney stopped talking about Christmas.

  “Who is making that ripping noise?” she asked.

  Emily ducked down.

  “Yes,” said Ms. Rooney after a minute. “We are very lucky. Mr. Mancina, the principal, is giving us a present. Our own class Christmas tree.”

  Everybody clapped.

  Emily clapped too. Then she frowned.

  Try a diet was no good.

  It would hurt Jill's feelings. She might cry for an hour.

  No. She peeked at Jill to be sure she wasn't looking at her.