“Yeah, it is.”
“Actually,” J.D. said, giving me that irritating smile of his, “that’s a myth. Poinsettias may make cats sick, but they probably won’t kill them. They get a bad rap for nothing.”
Not that I loved being corrected in public, but at least he didn’t share the mortification of me sitting on the floor as a bunch of dirt and pots rained down on my head. “Fine, maybe I just think they’re overexposed. There are a lot of beautiful red flowers. Why not a Gerbera daisy? Why does the poinsettia get Christmas?”
“Well,” J.D. answered, “because some say the shape symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem.”
“I was asking rhetorically.”
“Ignore him,” Teo said, coming to my rescue. “He just likes to pretend he’s the smart one in the family.”
J.D. shrugged. “If the shoe fits…”
Teo laughed. “Uh-huh. Want to compare grades?”
But Teo didn’t have to prove anything to me. I knew how smart he was; I had done my research. Top in his class, AP courses, and, if the rumors were true, an SAT score that had me salivating.
Reggie threw some money on the table and whispered something to Teo. I tried to make it out. It sounded like a few of them were going back to his house, but I clearly wasn’t on the short list.
“Okay, ride leaves now,” Reggie said.
Teo stood up, dropped some cash, and gave me a quick smile. “Sorry, I’ve—”
“Gotta go,” Reggie finished for him and basically ushered him out. About ten others left with him. When Teo got to the door, he looked over in my direction and shrugged in what seemed like an it’s-not-my-fault-don’t-blame-me kind of way. I tried to smile back, but I wasn’t really feeling it. Pretty soon the table was practically empty. Almost everyone else had filed out, too.
“How did we wind up in charge of the bill?” Morgan asked as she counted the money that had been left behind.
“I guess they know you’re good at math,” I told her.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.” She handed the money to Ira and asked him and J.D. to bring it to the register.
I didn’t like where this was headed. “I know what you’re thinking,” I said. “He didn’t say a proper good-bye, he just left me here. It wasn’t intentional. His friends swarmed him, it’s a big night for them, Teo just got caught up.”
“Charlie, I saw your face all night. After you came back from the Ms. Pac-Man game, you looked miserable.”
“Teo didn’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
She crossed her arms. “You are not like that.”
“Yes I am. Do you not remember when I spelled ptyalagogue wrong at the spelling bee? I stormed off the stage, and I was so angry I was shaking.”
She clutched the table. “That was five years ago, so: a) you really need to let that go; b) you are incredible, and there are a ton of guys who’d want to go to Noelle’s party with you; and c) a guy you are thinking about dating should make you feel special—not like you’re a distraction or something he can ignore.”
“He doesn’t,” I objected. “He’s just had a crazy day. You’ll see. Once he gets to know me, everything will be perfect.”
“And if it’s not?”
I turned away from her, tears threatening to fill my eyes. “It has to be. You know what happened with Zakiyah. Besides, Teo is a great guy. Have you forgotten the volunteering thing? Just please cut him—and me—some slack. You’ll see he’s worth it. Please?”
“Okay, sorry,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want to fight. Come over Monday. We can work on the paper, and then I’ll make the cookies for Teo. I’ll help you however you need.”
I knew she was talking about a lot more than Operation Secret Santa.
“Thanks,” I said as J.D. and Ira came back over to us.
“Ready?” Ira asked.
Was I ever.
Ira held up a cupcake in a little box. “Guess what I bought?”
“Why?” Morgan asked. “I can give you a million of those for free.”
He shrugged. “I want to support you. If they see they’re selling, they’ll order more.”
She wrapped her arms around him, and they walked outside.
J.D. and I followed. “Need a ride?” I asked him. He went out of his way for me today; it was the least I could do for him.
“Ira offered since I’m right next to Morgan.” He studied my face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just thinking about my next step in Operation Secret Santa.”
“Is that what we’re calling it now?” he asked.
“We are.” But the truth was, I was thinking about what Morgan had said. I watched as she and Ira walked ahead, arm in arm, talking and laughing. I wanted a guy like that—one who was there for me, who made me laugh until it hurt, who came out to dinner even though he’d already eaten just so he could spend time with me, who ordered onion rings just because I liked them, who bought a cupcake he didn’t need, because I made it.
Morgan didn’t seem to think that person could be Teo, but I did.
Now more than ever, I hoped I was right.
Seventeen
“No way, no way, no way, no way, no way,” I said as I got to my locker Monday morning.
Taped to the door was a red Gerbera daisy. I ripped open the note that was attached. It said: Thought you deserved the “new” Christmas flower.
Where was Morgan? She usually met me by now, and I needed her because there was a decent chance I was going to pass out. This flower had to have come from Teo. The only people at the diner who were part of the Secret Santa were Morgan, J.D., Roger, and Teo. And Morgan and J.D. already told me whose names they picked, Roger was sitting at one of the outside booths nowhere near me, so that just left Teo!
I knew I was right about him. He was a sweet, good guy. He was just crazed and in a football-winning high at the diner. And he was making up for it now.
I closed my eyes and took a long whiff of the flower.
“Look at you,” Morgan said. “It’s just what you wanted.”
And then it hit me. The Gerbera daisy wasn’t from Teo. It was from my best friend, who was picking up the slack for my Secret Santa. “You did this, didn’t you?”
“Wasn’t me,” she said, but she was all smiles, and I couldn’t tell if she was lying.
“You look guilty,” I told her.
“I’m just happy you got something nice.”
I looked from the flower to her. “And you had nothing to do with this? Ira, either?”
“Nope.”
I needed to be sure. “And neither of you told someone else to do this or what to get me?”
“Charlie, why are you acting like a bad TV show detective? Someone got you a gift; it’s a good thing!”
I lightly pulled at one of the petals. “I know, I just want to make sure this wasn’t you, because that means it was probably Teo!”
I explained my process of elimination, but she wasn’t nearly as excited as I was about the whole thing.
“That means he also gave you the crushed candy cane that you thought was pretty much the worst gift ever,” she pointed out.
“True,” I said, taking another sniff of the flower. “But that was also before last night. I’m telling you, we had a moment before he got all distracted. And now I know for sure that he felt it, too. See, he came through. You said I deserved someone who made me feel special, and he did. He showed he listened and went out of his way for me. You have to admit this is a great start. It makes up for Friday night.”
“All right,” she said, and linked arms with me. “In the holiday spirit, I will give Teo the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. You like him, so I like him.”
“Good,” I said as we headed to homeroom.
I kept the flower sticking out of my bag all day so I could sneak peeks at it. Every time I did, I couldn’t help but smile.
J.D. took the seat next to me in study hall and tossed his bag next to mine. “Careful,�
�� I snapped. “Don’t crush my flower.”
“Sorry.” He pulled it from my bag. “Since when did you start carrying foliage around with you?”
I grabbed it back. “Since my Secret Santa got it for me. It’s from Teo.”
J.D. didn’t look surprised, he just nodded, which confirmed my suspicions a hundred percent. Of course Teo would tell his cousin whose name he drew from the jar. It also explained why J.D. got weird when I told him about the broken candy cane. He knew who it was from. But it didn’t matter now; Teo was bringing his A game.
“Why are you sitting here anyway?” I asked.
Normally J.D. sat on the opposite side of the room.
“I can leave,” he said, and picked up his bag. “But then we have to spend our free time plotting ‘Operation Secret Santa.’” He made air quotes around the name. “Although we both know this is just an elaborate scheme so you can hang around with me more.”
I took his bag from him and put it back on the ground. I definitely didn’t want to have to deal with any more outside-of-school time alone with J.D. “Yes, you caught me. Why would I want Teo, when I can have his never-on-time, likes-to-push-my-buttons, irritating cousin? Don’t think I didn’t notice you were late for the last Sentinel meeting.”
“I was busy,” he said.
“But you have a commitment. And now you have even more responsibility. You’re in charge of all the photos in…” I stopped myself. I didn’t need to get into it with J.D. Not today. My day was going too well to ruin it by fighting with him. Instead, I changed the subject. “I took your suggestion. I went online and found a Donkey Kong Jr. key chain. You can actually play the game on it. It should arrive any day now.”
“Nice,” he said.
I was pretty impressed with myself. I did a lot of Google searching to find the key chain at a cheap price. It wasn’t Ms. Pac-Man (that one cost a fortune), but Donkey Kong was another eighties hit. I was confident that Teo would like it. With that and the cookies, I was good on the gift front. My problem was face time. I didn’t want to wait until the Sentinel’s holiday party to get some quality one-on-one conversations going. If I wanted him to take me to Noelle’s party, I needed to set that in motion much earlier. Fortunately, my ticket in had just taken a seat next to me. “Now I have to figure out how to get more Teo time.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
Was I sure? What kind of question was that? “Obviously.”
“You know he dates around a lot, right?” J.D. asked.
“Probably because he hasn’t found the right person. Me,” I said, pointing to myself. “But he’ll never know that if I don’t get to spend more time with him. I need to think of something special. Maybe something Christmasy. It’s supposed to be magical, right?”
“You could come over to my house tomorrow,” he said.
“Let me clarify. Something Christmasy with Teo, not with you.”
“No kidding,” he said. “But have you forgotten he’s my cousin? My family got our tree last night, and we’re decorating it then. Teo and his little brother, Dylan, are stopping by. That kid would decorate every tree in Sandbrook if you let him.”
I couldn’t blame him; I would, too. Only I wasn’t a little kid, so while the idea of decorating a tree with Teo gave me goose bumps, I couldn’t intrude like that. I shook my head. “Thank you, it actually sounds really nice, but I couldn’t…”
It was sweet that their whole family was doing it together. I was a little jealous, even though I knew I shouldn’t be. I got to decorate a tree with my mom. Sure, it was the shortcut version of what we usually did, but we were still together. That’s what mattered. Still, I missed our traditions.
“Earth to Charlie,” J.D. said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“What?” I asked.
“You should come join us.”
I bit my lip. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t tell if he was just trying to keep his part of the deal to get me time with Teo or if he sensed how down in the dumps I was about the holidays and was trying to do his good deed for the year by inviting me. But I didn’t want to be the weirdo popping by a classmate’s tree decorating. Especially when we weren’t even friends. “Won’t your family think it’s strange if I show up?”
“No, are you kidding? My mom will go crazy over having more people there. My parents aren’t picking up my sister from school until this weekend. My mom will love having a full house to help decorate. She keeps saying how it feels too empty.”
“But if it’s just me, won’t your parents and Teo get the wrong idea about us?”
“You mean you and me?” J.D. leaned back in his chair. “Worried they’ll wonder how you landed such a ravishingly handsome boyfriend with such a sharp sense of humor and artistic prowess?”
I gave him the stank eye.
“Fine,” he said, laughing, his dimple looking bigger than ever. “Invite Morgan and Ira, or someone else. Seriously, my parents won’t care.”
“And Teo’s definitely going to be there?”
“Definitely.”
This day had gone from great to spectacular. Not only was I going to get to decorate a real Christmas tree, but I was going to get to do it with Teo.
I looked at J.D. and smiled. “Count me in.”
Eighteen
Morgan shut her laptop. “I think that should do it. All the articles have been through copyediting, Zakiyah’s gossip letter contained nothing about you—”
“Because she knew I’d cut it,” I said.
Morgan ignored me and continued her list. “We did our editorial letter, the layout has been reset to include Teo’s article and the photo spread, now we just need J.D. to turn it in and this issue is in the can.”
“In other words,” I said, “we are a long way from done.” The last person we could count on to hand things in on time was J.D.
Morgan gathered up her stuff from her kitchen table and cleared off all the mock-ups we had printed. “We told him he has until next Wednesday night. As long as it’s in then, we can run everything Thursday and hand them out Friday.”
“Sounds to me like we’re cutting it awfully close.” I looked at my schedule and put a question mark near “finish holiday edition of Sentinel.” Unfortunately, it was no longer in my hands.
“Don’t worry, it will still fit your timeline.” She pointed to the paper in front of me. “Checking off who’s been naughty or nice?”
“Don’t make fun, this keeps me sane.”
“Believe me, I know,” she said.
Everyone who knew me did. I lived and breathed by my schedule, and I had a lot to do between now and Christmas. It was exactly two weeks away, and being organized was the only way to make sure I got it all done.
I looked over my list of things to do again. I had finished my English essay, was caught up on my studies for midterms, orders and invoices were up to date for our bakery business, so I was on track. The only thing I was falling behind on was getting Teo to ask me out. I needed to step up my game.
I placed my schedule back in my bag. “I should get going. My mom is actually home tonight, and we’re going to decorate a gingerbread house.”
Morgan raised her eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, don’t worry. We bought it premade.” Morgan knew my mom was about as talented in the kitchen as I was—and she saw the disaster we baked last year. “We’re just putting on tons of icing, gumdrops, licorice, and M&M’s, basically making a gooey candy mess.”
“I want pictures.”
“You got it,” I told her.
“Don’t forget these.” She handed me a container of Jim Dandies as I walked to the door. “Teo is going to love them. They’re delicious, if I do say so myself.”
If Morgan made them, I knew they were. “Thank you.” She really was the best.
I was pretty excited as I drove back to my place. Things were looking up. I was going to decorate a Christmas tree with Teo the next day, I ha
d his favorite cookies to surprise him with, and my mom and I were finally going to do one of our yearly Christmas traditions the right way.
My mother’s car was in the driveway when I got home. Yes! She made it back on time.
I rushed in the house. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw all the decorating supplies were already on the dining room table. This was really happening! I couldn’t wait. If last year was any indication, we were going to create the ugliest (but most delicious) gingerbread house in the world. There would be enough sugary snacks on it to give the tooth fairy nightmares and satiate my sweet tooth until next December. “Mom,” I called out.
There was no answer.
“Mom?”
She wasn’t in the dining room or kitchen. I poked my head in the living room and let out a sigh. She was on the couch. Fast asleep.
Part of me wanted to wake her up, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I knew how little sleep she’d been going on, and she looked so peaceful. I took the afghan off the recliner and covered her.
It caused her to stir. “Charlie?” she said, sitting up.
“Go back to sleep, it’s okay.”
“No, no, I was just closing my eyes for a second. I’m fine. I’m up.” Her words didn’t match her demeanor. She looked like she was going to conk out again. “We have a gingerbread house to decorate.”
I knew she wanted to spend the time with me, and vice versa, but not this way. How much fun was it going to be if she had to fight to keep her eyes open? “We can do it another time.”
“Come here.” She patted the seat next to her, and I went over, trying not to show my disappointment.
She put her arm around me. “I know this has been tough for you. It’s been tough for me, too. The new job has a learning curve, and not only am I doing everything this job entails, I’m handling all of my old workload, too. They have someone new starting after the first of the year, and things should settle down then. I know that doesn’t make it better now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
I nodded.
She pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. “I love you, sweetie, and I know this is your favorite time of year, and…” Her voice choked up. “And I’m so sorry that I’m ruining it for you. That’s the last thing I wanted.”
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