Riley stared into space, deep in thought. What kind of ornament would Marcus like? He was really into sports—everyone knew that—but she’d already given him something with a soccer ball, so that was out. What else?
“Football, surfing, skateboarding,” Riley said under her breath… but none of them seemed very Christmasy. “Tennis, ski—yes! Skiing!”
“Huh?” asked Theo.
“I’ll make a regular snowman ornament for us—and a skiing snowman for Marcus!” Riley exclaimed, the words tumbling out in a rush. “He loves sports, all sports, and I think he’s totally into winter sports right now, because of course he is—it’s winter! I’ll make this skiing snowman with little skis out of Popsicle sticks, and poles out of pipe cleaners, and everything!”
“It sounds perfect,” Mom said. “Go for it!”
Riley didn’t need to be told twice. She was so inspired by her skiing snowman idea that she decided to make Marcus’s ornament before the one for her family’s tree. Using a fabric pen, Riley sketched a snowman shape on the white felt. Then she used her sharpest scissors to cut it out. Her thoughts drifted as she worked to what Sophia had said. By now, though, Riley was convinced that Sophia was wrong. There was no reason to assume Marcus wouldn’t like a funny snowman ornament that reflected one of his favorite things to do. Sure, some people at school liked to act cooler than everybody else—but Marcus wasn’t one of them; Riley was sure of it.
After all, there was a really good chance he’d chosen her name for Secret Snowflake, which meant that he was probably the one who wrote that poem for her. Anybody who would take the time to write a special poem for her Secret Snowflake gift clearly cared about Christmas as much as Riley did.
Tapping her fabric pen against the table, Riley thought about it. And the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that Marcus was her Secret Snowflake. He had to be… Who else could it possibly be? Who else in their class could write a poem like that?
Thoughts of the poem sparked a new idea in Riley’s mind. What if I make a book of Christmas poems and quotes for Marcus? she thought. I could look them up on the Internet and copy them over in my best handwriting, onto that really special rice paper Aunt Cheryl gave me for my birthday. It could be a book all about the spirit of Christmas. About everything that makes Christmas special. Marcus would definitely appreciate that, and it would show him how special he is and how much I appreciated his poem.
Riley was certain—she loved the idea. A handmade book of Christmas poems would be the perfect last gift for Secret Snowflake. Which meant it would be perfect for Marcus!
Feeling energized and more excited than ever, Riley finished her work on Marcus’s ornament, and by the time she was done, she had to admit that it might just be the best ornament she’d ever made! She’d created the snowman’s face out of little bits of felt and even added red stripes to his blue felt scarf to match the design Marcus had made on his snowflake. The Popsicle-stick skis had turned out great, and after several tries she’d managed to create perfect poles that tucked snugly inside the snowman’s little gloved hands. Riley was bursting with pride over the ornament—she just hoped she got to see Marcus’s face when he opened it!
The next morning, Riley made her second stealthy Secret Snowflake delivery. It was just as easy as the first one—and just as thrilling, too. By the time Secret Snowflake is over, I’ll be like a top spy, Riley thought with a grin. Just as quickly, though, she pushed the thought out of her mind. She didn’t want to think about Secret Snowflake ending, even if it did mean a big party and all the answers revealed. Riley was having way too much fun.
Out of habit, Riley peeked into her own snowflake mailbox—but it was empty. She wasn’t worried, though. Once again, she’d arrived at school earlier than most of her classmates, and besides, she’d already received one perfect present. Was it too much to hope for that her Secret Snowflake would bring her another gift today?
She went back to her seat to wait, drumming her fingers impatiently on the scratched desktop. One by one, the other students began to fill the classroom. Riley glanced up every time she heard someone in the doorway.
But Marcus still hadn’t arrived.
Riley watched Alice enter the room, walking with her head down. She tucked her backpack under her seat, then glanced over at the Secret Snowflake mailboxes. Then the weirdest thing happened: Alice didn’t even bother to check her mailbox.
Riley frowned a little. Isn’t she curious? she wondered. I mean, I check my Secret Snowflake mailbox, like, three times a day.
But maybe Riley was so excited to check her mailbox because she had an awesome Secret Snowflake. Her frown deepened. Has Sophia even figured out Alice’s first present? she thought. If not, Sophia would have to come up with something soon. There were only eight more days of Secret Snowflake until the big reveal. There was no set number of presents your Secret Snowflake had to give you, but going the first two days without receiving a present seemed like a long time to Riley.
There was something else going on, though. Alice wasn’t just acting like someone who hadn’t received a gift yet. She was acting like someone who didn’t expect to ever receive one.
I’ll ask Sophia when she gets here, Riley thought. If she still has no clue, I’ll help her make a present. We’ll figure something out.
The moment Sophia got to class, though, she made a beeline for her Secret Snowflake mailbox. Her excited shriek told Riley that Sophia had been snowflaked! Riley stood up, craning her neck to try to see. She didn’t want to rush in and crowd Sophia while she was still opening her present—but it turned out that Riley didn’t need to worry about that. Sophia practically raced back to Riley’s desk before she’d even opened her gift. In that moment, Riley decided to ask Sophia about Alice later. She didn’t want to dampen Sophia’s excitement over her first Secret Snowflake present.
“Riley! Look!” Sophia exclaimed. “I got a Secret Snowflake delivery!”
“Yeah, I had a feeling that was what happened,” Riley teased her friend. “What are you waiting for—open it! I can’t wait to see what’s inside!”
“Neither can I!” Sophia squealed. She turned the envelope over in her hand and tore a ragged hole along the side. In her excitement, Sophia tried to dump the contents in her palm—but instead they fell all over Riley’s desk! A swirling cloud of sparkling confetti spilled from the envelope and made an avalanche that tumbled into the aisle—and even onto Marcus’s chair!
“Oh no!” Sophia and Riley cried as the warning bell rang. They’d made a massive Secret Snowflake mess—and class was about to start. Mrs. Darlington would not be happy… and Riley had a feeling that Marcus wouldn’t be amused to find his chair coated in confetti and glitter, either.
Riley dropped to her knees and started to sweep the confetti into a pile with her hands. “Come on, we have to clean this up before—” she began.
But Sophia just stood there, looking dreamy. “It’s a gift card to the candy store in the mall,” she said. “You know the one where you can mix and match any candy you want? With the gigantic lollipops in the window?”
“Of course I know it,” Riley replied. “You had your seventh birthday party there, remember? Let’s hurry, Marcus is probably—”
“Probably what?” a new voice said.
Riley glanced up—right into Marcus’s face!
“We had a… confetti accident,” Riley said. She immediately stifled a groan. What a dumb thing to say!
But Marcus, amazingly, didn’t seem to think so. He laughed—and not at Riley. “Looks pretty bad,” he said. “A real confetti pileup. Was it hazardous conditions?”
“Oh yeah,” Riley said, playing along. “Really hazardous. The roads were covered in… glitter.”
Marcus chuckled as he shook his head and swept the confetti from his chair onto the floor. Then he sat down and pulled a comic book out of his backpack. Riley continued picking up the pieces of confetti from the floor around Marcus’s desk. Why is he just si
tting down? she wondered. Doesn’t he want to check his Secret Snowflake mailbox? Everybody else checks it the second they get to school! Did the confetti distract him? Did he forget?
“Here, Riley—let me do that,” Sophia said as she knelt next to her friend. “You don’t have to clean up my Secret Snowflake mess.”
“I don’t mind,” Riley said automatically. She tried to radio Marcus with her mind: Check your mailbox. Check your mailbox. Check your mailbox.
But he didn’t budge.
“I hope my Secret Snowflake doesn’t feel bad about the mess,” Sophia was saying. “I’d feel totally bad, if it was me. But it’s not like they can just come help clean it up with us…. I mean, that would be totally obvious…. I know I would be worried I’d give it away!”
“Hmm, yes,” Riley replied. “It is very surprising that we’re not being mobbed with offers of help. I know everyone likes cleaning stuff up off the floor.”
“You know what I mean!” Sophia said, laughing. “Anyway, listen, we have to go to the mall, because I can’t wait to use my gift card at the Candy Emporium….”
Sophia was still talking, but Riley’s thoughts had drifted off in a totally different direction. She was already going to the mall for 3C—and Marcus was sitting right there in front of her—
“I have an idea,” Riley said loudly. “I’ll be at the mall tomorrow afternoon for the 3C concert. You should totally come! It starts at five o’clock—in the plaza near the food court.”
“You guys are singing at the mall?” Sophia asked. “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a 3C tradition,” Riley said. “It’s really fun. Better than you can imagine! And we can hit the candy store afterward. Maybe you could even come over for dinner that night.”
“Cool. I’ll be there,” Sophia promised.
“Austin!” Marcus called out suddenly as one of his buddies entered the classroom. “Why are you wearing that ugly shirt again, man? Do you need me to buy you a new one?”
Riley glanced at the back of Marcus’s head. He was definitely sitting close enough to overhear every word she’d said about the mall. She was sure of it.
Now she just had to wait and see if Marcus would come to the concert.
Riley tugged at the sleeves of her sweater. She’d stayed up late the night before adding loops of gold tinsel to the neckline and each cuff—not because Jacob had joked that her 3C outfit might not be festive enough, but because Riley had decided that it never hurt to add a little more sparkle at Christmastime. She wanted to look her best for the 3C concert—especially if Marcus showed up! And Riley was really happy with her outfit—from her plaid skirt to her red sweater to her Santa hat to the best addition of all: a Christmas tree pin with blinking, rainbow-colored lights that had been left in her Secret Snowflake mailbox that morning!
Riley stood at the entrance to the food court and looked around for anyone she knew. The area seemed more crowded than usual, and not just with all the extra shoppers who were stocking up on Christmas presents. A cozy little cottage—Santa’s Workshop—had been constructed nearby, with the mall Santa sitting on a large green velvet chair. A line of cranky kids—who, coincidentally, were also decked out in their finest festive wear—and their tired parents looped all the way to the parking lot!
That wasn’t all, Riley noticed. A table near the sandwich place had been transformed into a gift-wrapping station, complete with another long line. The rrrrip of scissors slicing through rolls of bright wrapping paper could be heard over all the other noise.
Well, Mr. Mac was right, I guess, Riley thought. We’ll have a big audience tonight. And I guess Jacob was right, too, because I don’t think most of them will be at the 3C concert by choice!
Even though Riley had just arrived at the mall, she was already starting to regret her late-night crafting spree. The tinsel trim was a lot itchier now that she’d been wearing it for several minutes than it had been when she’d tried on her sweater last night.
Riley rubbed her itchy wrist, then glanced at her watch. She still didn’t see anyone from school, which made Riley wonder if maybe she had enough time to dash into one of the stores and ask to borrow their scissors. Then she could cut off all this scratchy tinsel and—
“Riley! Over here!” Mr. Mac called.
Riley’s heart sank, though she tried to smile. Just past Mr. Mac, she could see that almost everybody else was assembled. It looked like he was about to start warm-ups. She’d be stuck wearing scratchy tinsel for the entire performance.
At least Riley wasn’t the only one all decked out in her festive Christmas best. Pretty much everyone had a Santa hat, except the eighth graders, who were all wearing reindeer antlers instead. Riley wondered for a second if that’s what they’d been whispering about at 3C practice the other day. One of the boys in sixth grade was even wearing a light-up tie in the shape of a Christmas tree!
Riley hurried over to the group and took her place next to Jacob. He mumbled something under his breath.
“What?” she whispered.
“Nice pin,” he replied. “Is it new?”
“Yeah, thanks—I have a pretty great Secret Snowflake,” she replied.
Mr. Mac started playing the scales on his electric keyboard so the kids could warm up their voices before the performance began. Riley shifted a little and tugged at her collar, all the while keeping an eye out for Marcus. The warm-ups were in a side hallway that led to a parking lot. She didn’t have a clear view of the food court. Maybe Marcus and his friends had grabbed some pizza and were hanging out before the concert started.
Mr. Mac looked pleased at the end of the warm-up. “That sounded great—just great,” he said. “If you sing that well when we perform, the crowd will go wild! Now, we set up some risers between Santa’s Workshop and the gift-wrapping station, so let’s just make our way over there and get this show on the road.”
Mr. Mac had always coached the members of 3C that the performance began not when they started to sing—but when the audience first caught a glimpse of them. Riley put on her brightest smile as the choir members filed out of the hallway, toward the risers.
“Oh! Miss!” a voice suddenly called out.
Riley glanced around. Is she talking to me? Riley wondered.
Sure enough, a woman was approaching her. “Thank goodness you’re here. I’ve been waiting for more than ten minutes to have my gifts wrapped!” she said. “I simply cannot understand why the mall would understaff the gift-wrapping station this close to Christmas!”
The lady thrust an armful of shopping bags at Riley and waited expectantly. It took Riley a moment to understand. “Oh! I’m sorry—I’m not a gift-wrapper,” she explained as she tried to return the packages. “I’m here to sing.”
“Sing?” the woman repeated, looking confused. “We don’t need singing—we need gift-wrapping!”
“I—I can’t help you,” Riley stammered.
“Young lady, where is your manager?” the woman said sternly. “You are wearing the same Santa hats as the other gift-wrappers, and I think your manager would be very interested to know that you’re not willing to help a customer.”
“Come on, Riley,” Jacob said loudly. “Don’t want to miss your solo!”
Riley flashed him a grateful smile. She didn’t even have a solo, but he had given her the perfect opportunity to sidle away from the frustrated woman.
“Thanks,” Riley said under her breath.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jacob told her. “When I got here, some lady thought I was working at the Santa photos. She wanted me to throw away her kid’s dirty diaper!”
“Gross,” Riley said, shuddering. “We might need to rethink wearing such festive outfits to the mall. It’s just too confusing for all the frazzled shoppers.”
“No kidding.” Jacob chuckled. “We’d better start singing stat—before they start a shopping riot or something.”
“You know what they say,” Riley joked, “music has charms to soothe the savag
e beast.”
“And there’s no beast more savage than a Christmas shopper in the mall jungle,” Jacob said. His voice got all serious, like an announcer for a wildlife documentary. “Experts advise that you avoid disturbing the Christmas shopper in the wilderness of the shopping mall, where they are at their most ruthless and cunning.”
“Quit it!” Riley whispered through her laughter. “You’re going to make me laugh through the songs!”
Jacob’s eyes were twinkling as he pretended to lock his mouth shut, then toss the imaginary key over this shoulder. 3C’s steps made the metal risers clang as they filed into their places. Riley scanned the crowd and noticed several people she knew. Her little brother, Theo, was waving wildly from the front row—as if Riley could’ve missed spotting him! And Sophia was sitting next to him, subtly holding up her gift card to the Candy Emporium while giving Riley a thumbs-up. Becca and Marian from school were in the audience, too, and even shy, quiet Alice was sitting off to the side, all by herself.
What about Marcus, though? Was he there?
If the plaza had been less crowded, Riley would’ve known for sure. But there were so many people—and so many packages—and so many lines snaking back and forth, lines for gift-wrapping and lines for visiting Santa and lines for the food court.…
Riley caught a flash of red hair, and her heartbeat quickened. Was that Marcus? Maybe he had arrived just in time!
She craned her neck, focusing her eyes on the back of the crowd, staring so intently that she didn’t notice that Mr. Mac had raised his hands to start conducting.
Suddenly, Riley was surrounded by song. The beautiful voices of her friends in 3C spiraled into the air, performing just how they had rehearsed—except for Riley. She alone wasn’t singing.
Riley jolted back to the present, blushing as red as her Santa hat. She couldn’t believe she’d missed the cue for their first song—and all because she was trying to find her crush in the crowd! Riley flipped open her choir folder and forced herself to focus, pushing all thoughts of Marcus from her mind. Then she joined in the song, which made it easier than she expected to forget about Marcus.
Celebrate the Season--Secret Snowflake Page 4