Before leaving the house, she gave herself another look in the hallway mirror.
Not great, but better than before.
It was the best she could do on such short notice.
Back outside, Charlie and Ryan were emptying out the trunk of the car. She could see they were carrying bags of groceries. Mrs. Grant, who worked full-time in Manhattan as a legal secretary, must have asked them to stop at the supermarket.
“Need any help?” she called out.
Charlie slammed down the lid of the trunk with one hand and headed inside. “Nah, we’re all set.”
“How about you?” Ryan asked, walking over to Noelle’s house. “I saw you carrying some boxes. Need some help?”
This was a new side of Ryan. Growing up together, he had pretty much been her nemesis. The bratty brother she never had who was always looking to make her life miserable. When they were younger he would kidnap her dolls and hold them for ransom. When Lily would come over for tea parties in her backyard, he’d always crash them, pretending he was King Kong or Godzilla and throwing over the table, stomping on her dishes and cups, while roaring like the monster he was pretending to be. At school he would slip spiders into her lunch box or worms down her back, laughing hysterically when she would freak out. During the summers, he’d squirt her with the hose while watering the front lawn or toss her into the pool in his backyard. With all her clothes on.
But in the last two years Ryan had stopped teasing and tormenting her. In the beginning, she’d been suspicious, wondering if it was all part of some elaborate scheme meant to catch her off guard before he lowered the boom.
But it hadn’t.
Ryan had finally grown up.
The last box in the garage was the Christmas tree. It was too big and bulky for her to carry out by herself. Once it was inside and assembled, she could start decorating it and get rid of some of the other boxes.
“Some help would be great,” she said. “Thanks.”
“Let me just bring this bag inside and I’ll be right over.”
Whenever Noelle thought of Ryan and Charlie, she thought of famous brothers. Like Nick and Drew Lachey. Nick and Aaron Carter. Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon. Rob Lowe and Chad Lowe. She didn’t know why, but the older brother was always the better-looking of the two, and the younger brother was always the pale imitation. It was the same with Charlie and Ryan.
Ryan’s hair was blond like Charlie’s, but it wasn’t light blond. It was more of a dirty blond. Unlike Charlie, Ryan’s hair was never neatly combed. It was always a tousled mess that looked like it needed to be cut. His eyes were green but not a bright, shiny, emerald green like Charlie’s. More of a softer, paler sea green. Charlie’s clothes always looked liked they came right off the pages of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog while Ryan shopped exclusively at Old Navy, always wearing T-shirts, plaid shirts, and cargo pants that were wrinkly and screamed to be ironed.
Ten minutes later, Noelle and Ryan were carrying the Christmas tree into the house. They left it in the hallway outside the living room, while Noelle started moving the love seat that was in front of the living room window.
“Wow!” Ryan whistled. “Look at all these boxes. Are they all filled with Christmas decorations?”
“My mom is a Christmas freak,” Noelle explained. “She likes decorating every room in the house. And she lives for after-Christmas sales. The number of boxes grows each year.”
“How come you guys don’t have a real Christmas tree?” Ryan asked as he opened the box holding the pieces of the tree. He took out the stand and slipped a long green pole down the hole in its center.
“My dad’s allergic to pine so we can’t have one.”
“Oh.”
Noelle started helping Ryan add the snow-covered branches. Within minutes a lush tree was standing before them.
“Now for the fun part!” Ryan exclaimed, rubbing his hands together.
“You don’t have to stay and help. I can handle the rest myself.”
“Are you kidding? I love decorating Christmas trees. Just tell me what you want me to do.”
Noelle shrugged and pointed to a pile of boxes. “You can start with those if you want.”
Ryan started peeking in boxes. “Hey, I remember this!” He held up a snowman made of cotton balls and twigs. “You made this in the fourth grade.”
Noelle looked up from the knotted string of Christmas tree lights that she was trying to unravel. “We made those in Mrs. Fleishman’s Art class. You dabbed your snowman with red dots. You said he was a snowman soldier who’d been in battle and the red dots were blood.”
“My mom still has it,” Ryan said, hanging the snowman on a bottom branch.
“She hangs it on the back of your tree. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
Ryan held up a Styrofoam cup covered with bits of colored tissue paper and a yellow pipe-cleaner hook. “What’s this supposed to be?”
“A Christmas bell! Don’t you remember? We made those in third grade.”
“I was out sick with the chicken pox that December. I must have missed the class.”
Noelle laughed. “That’s right! When I brought over your homework one day, your face was covered with pink calamine lotion and your mom had covered your hands with white tube socks so you couldn’t scratch yourself.”
Noelle finally unraveled the tangled Christmas lights and began wrapping them around the branches of the tree. “So what’s new with Charlie?” she asked, hoping her question sounded casual.
“What do you mean?
“Is he excited about graduating this year?” She finished wrapping the lights and plugged them in. Instantly, the bright-colored lights began blinking on and off, on and off.
“I guess,” Ryan said.
“Does he know where he’s going to college?” she asked as she began hanging ornaments on the tree.
“He’s been filling out a lot of applications. He says he wants to go out of state.”
Noelle gasped, but quickly covered it up with a cough so Ryan wouldn’t get suspicious.
Go out of state? Charlie wanted to attend college out of state? But if he did that, she’d never see him except during summers and when he was home for the holidays. And what if he decided to take summer classes? Or not come home for the holidays? What if he met a girl at college and he went home to her family? No!!!
“Is he dating anyone new?”
Ryan rolled his eyes as he began draping silver tinsel on the tree. “Who knows? Girls call our house all the time. Their voices all sound alike to me. You know Charlie. It seems like every week he has a new girlfriend.”
That was so not what she wanted to hear!
“But he’s not serious about anyone, is he?”
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Ryan looked away from the glass ornament he’d just hung. It was a midnight blue ball sprinkled with gold glitter. “Why so many questions about Charlie?”
“I haven’t seen him in a while,” Noelle said as she hung an ornament shaped like an icicle and then added one shaped like a snowflake. “I was just wondering what was new with him.”
“How about asking what’s new with me?”
“I see you every day. What could be new with you?”
“I’m heading up the school’s Toys for Tots program this year. You’re familiar with it, right?”
Noelle nodded as she added a wooden soldier to the tree. “Sure. They collect toys for needy kids.”
“Tomorrow afternoon I’m going to be shopping for toys and then I’m going to have to wrap them. Want to help out? I could use any many hands as possible.”
“Okay.”
“Maybe you might want to mention it to Lily.”
“Sure. Are you asking Charlie?”
“I already did, but he’s too busy. He’s playing Scrooge in the school Christmas play and he has rehearsal tomorrow.”
If she’d known Charlie was going to be in the Christmas play, she would have auditioned for a part herself!
Ryan checked the time on his watch. “I better be getting home. I’ve still got homework to tackle, and my mom and I are doing some Christmas shopping at the mall tonight.” He took a step back and admired the decorated tree. “Not bad. There are few spots that still need to be filled in, but looking good, don’t you think?”
Noelle walked over to Ryan and gazed at the tree. “I agree.”
“It’s just missing one thing.”
“What’s that?”
Ryan gazed around at the boxes before finally finding the one he was searching for. Lifting off the lid, he pushed aside sheets of tissue paper and removed a Christmas angel. She was wearing a light blue gown and her wings were silver. Ryan stood on his tiptoes and placed her on top of the tree. Then he took a step back.
“The finishing touch,” he said. “What do you think?”
“Perfect!” Noelle exclaimed. “Absolutely perfect!”
“My dress for the Christmas dance needs to be perfect!” Amber exclaimed to Shawna. “Absolutely perfect!”
Amber and Shawna were standing in Amber’s walk-in closet. Surrounding them were racks of dresses, sweaters, skirts, tops, jackets, jeans, shoes, and sneakers. It was like being in a mini–department store!
“These are what I’ve narrowed my choices down to,” Amber explained as she removed a bunch of dresses off a rack. “We could go sparkly.” She held up a sequined wool jersey in silver, then a white silk organza shift with black embroidered swirl details, and a yellow lace minidress.
“Those are definitely eye-catching,” Shawna said, knowing that Amber had bought all the dresses during September’s Fashion Week. Amber’s mother, Yvonne, worked as a writer for a fashion magazine and always had a seat at all the shows. Often Amber got to go with her mother and once or twice had even invited Shawna to come along.
“Or I could go with a floral look,” Amber said, showing Shawna a peach baby doll dress decorated with tiny rosebuds and then a creamy petal-like scalloped dress.
“Those are nice, too,” Shawna offered.
“Or I can go va-va-va-voom with something low cut.” Amber held up a violet dress and an emerald green dress, both with plunging necklines. “I think I’m leaning toward the low cut, even though my mother told me she might be able to bring home a few new dresses before Friday. Something low cut will definitely get Charlie’s attention, don’t you think?”
“He won’t be able to take his eyes off you,” Shawna said. “Speaking of Charlie, do know what you’re going to buy him as his first Secret Santa gift? I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out one for Dennis.”
Amber stopped hanging the dresses she was putting back. “You’re not serious, are you? You’re crazy if you buy him more than one gift. Girls don’t spend money on guys — guys spend money on girls!”
“Does that mean you’re not going to be leaving Charlie Secret Santa gifts all week?”
“That’s right,” Amber said, turning off the lights in her closet and heading back out into the bedroom, which was Amber’s favorite color, pink. From the walls to the rug to the bedspread, pink was the dominant color.
“In fact, the only gift Charlie will be getting from me will be a kiss under the mistletoe at the Christmas dance.”
“But we’re supposed to buy at least one gift,” Shawna argued.
“My gift to Charlie will be looking gorgeous!” Amber proclaimed, staring at herself in the mirror over her dresser and fluffing out her hair.
“I’ve already gotten a gift from my Secret Santa,” Shawna confessed. “It was waiting for me when I got home from school.”
“What was it?”
“A tube of peppermint-flavored lip gloss,” Shawna said, reaching into her shoulder bag and showing it to Amber.
There had also been a note, but Shawna didn’t want to tell Amber what the note said. She didn’t know what to make of it yet. Shawna could still remember every last word of the note: There’s nothing I love more than a Christmas kiss. Especially one that tastes like a candy cane!
Was her Secret Santa someone who had a crush on her? He definitely wanted a Christmas kiss and she’d be happy to give him one … if he was worth it. She’d have to figure out how she was going to handle things on Friday night.
“A tube of lip gloss?” Amber sneered, snatching the tube out of Shawna’s hand and turning it over before handing it back. “That’s what your Secret Santa left you? Talk about cheap!”
“Huh?”
“That lip gloss can be bought in any drugstore.”
“So?”
“I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it!”
“That’s right, I forgot,” Shawna said, trying not to sound sarcastic and failing. “You only buy your makeup at department stores.”
“You get what you pay for,” Amber sniffed.
Shawna disagreed. When she did wear makeup, she wore Revlon and Cover Girl and always liked the results.
“You’re not the only one who got a gift from their Secret Santa,” Amber announced. “I did too!”
“What’d you get? What’d you get?” Shawna asked excitedly.
Amber reached into a dresser drawer and pulled out a beautiful silk scarf in a black-and-white polka-dot pattern, waving it in the air.
Shawna’s eyes bugged out when she saw the scarf. “That must have cost more than we’re allowed to spend!”
The rules of the Secret Santa exchange said that store-bought gifts couldn’t exceed more than twenty dollars. Multiple gifts were fine, and gifts could be homemade, but there was a ceiling on how much could be spent. Of course, nothing in the rules said you could get in trouble for over-spending. Which was what Amber’s Secret Santa had obviously done!
Amber shrugged. “What can I say? I’m worth it!” She waved the scarf in Shawna’s face and it was all Shawna could do not to tear it out of Amber’s hands. She couldn’t stand it when Amber was gloating. “Obviously my Secret Santa thinks I’m worth more than yours thinks you’re worth!”
∗ ∗ ∗
“That will be ten dollars,” Froggy said, handing over a white box of cupcakes.
It was early evening, and Froggy was working as a cashier at Icing on the Cake, a bakery/coffeehouse. The store was super busy with tons of Christmas shoppers coming in for cocoa, hot apple cider, coffee, cupcakes, as well as other yummy homemade desserts.
Froggy had been working at the bakery part-time since early June. He liked the job because his boss, Gloria, was cool and never had a problem if he needed to change his hours because he had a test to study for or a paper to write. And the coffeehouse was such a warm, cozy place. There were tons of oversized couches and armchairs filled with throw pillows, the walls were painted a sunshiny yellow, and the coffee tables were piled with the latest magazines and newspapers. There was always the tap-tap-tapping of people working on their laptops and music always filled the air. Gloria usually preferred to play something mellow and easy listening, although sometimes he and his coworker, Jake Morrisey, would be able to slip in a more modern CD like Scissor Sisters or The Killers.
Tonight Gloria had chosen a Christmas CD, and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was playing.
After finishing with his customer, Froggy popped into the kitchen, where he knew Jake was working. When he walked in, Jake looked up from the chocolate cupcakes he was icing with white frosting. He held one out to Froggy. “Want one?”
One of the perks of working at Icing on the Cake was all the cupcakes he could eat. That fringe benefit had quickly worn off after two weeks of stuffing his face. Now Froggy couldn’t even stand looking at them.
“I’ll pass.”
Jake placed it on a tray with the other cupcakes he had already frosted. “Hey, I got a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“I picked a girl to be a Secret Santa for. Any ideas on what I should buy her?”
“Do you know anything about her?”
Jake shrugged. “Not a thing.”
“If you don’t kno
w much about her, you can’t go wrong with candy or flowers. That’s a good start.”
“Thanks, man. You always have the answers for me.”
Froggy and Jake had become friends from working together at Icing on the Cake. Like Froggy, Jake was low man on the North Ridge High social ladder, but that was by choice. Jake wasn’t a nerd but a bad boy. With his black leather jacket, motorcycle, and endless afternoons spent in detention, Jake pretty much did as he pleased. He wasn’t flunking out, but his grades could be better and Froggy sometimes helped him with his studying.
They had bonded Froggy’s first week on the job. Froggy hadn’t gotten a grip on how to use an icing bag, so when he decorated cakes his little swirls and rosebuds looked like big blobs.
“Here, let me show you how to do it,” Jake had said, taking the bag out of his hand. “Think of it like writing in script.” He demonstrated. “See?” He handed over the bag. “Now you try.”
Froggy kept Jake’s comments in mind and tried again. As he created a swirl around the bottom of a cake, he noticed the T-shirt Jake was wearing. “You like Duran Duran?”
“One of the best bands of the eighties. I saw them last summer in concert at Jones Beach.”
“Me too!”
Within seconds Froggy and Jake were talking about their favorite bands and the next week they were exchanging CDs and telling each other about groups the other one hadn’t heard of.
“What brings you back here?” Jake asked. “Things quiet down out front?”
Froggy looked over his shoulder. “For the moment. But I’m sure it’s going to get busy again.”
“What’d you need?”
Froggy felt shy asking the question but who else could he ask? So he plunged right in. “What do you do when you like a girl, but you don’t know how to tell her?”
Jake shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never had that problem.”
“Duh! No kidding,” Froggy said. “You’re Mr. Irresistible.”
It was true. Girls not only from North Ridge High but also some of the other local high schools were constantly coming to the bakery and staying in their seats long after they’d eaten their cupcakes or finished their hot drinks. When Jake was behind the counter, they took an extra long time to make up their mind when ordering and then they’d flirt and talk with him while waiting for their order. Jake would usually flirt back because it meant he’d get a tip. And sometimes even a phone number!
Secret Santa Page 5