December Secrets (5 page)

“Do you think we could stop for water?” Jill asked. “I'm dying of thirst.”

“A quick drink,” Emily said.

“Yes,” Jill said.

Emily took three gulps of water.
“Glunk, glunk,”
she said. “I sound just like a frog.”

Jill laughed.

Emily waited while Jill took three gulps of water.

Jill didn't look like a fat green lollipop when she laughed.

Her face made Emily smile. It looked like the happy faces Beast drew in his notebook.

They stopped to look out the window.

“I wish it would snow,” Jill said.

“Me too,” Emily said. “We could sled right across the yard.”

“Slide right into the flagpole,” Jill said.

Emily laughed, thinking about people banging into the flag-pole.

They knocked on Jim's door.

“Could we have the Christmas tree?” Emily asked. “For Room 113.”

“Please,” Jill added.

“Why not?” Jim said. He had a box of crackers in his hand. “Want some?”

Emily said, “Yes.” She took one.

Jill said “Yes” too. She took two.

Then they ran upstairs again.

“I'm dying of hunger,” Emily said.

“Me too,” Jill said. She broke off part of her second cracker. She gave it to Emily.

Suddenly Emily remembered Dawn's cookies. She won-dered if Dawn had found them.

“Let's hurry,” she told Jill.

They raced down the hall.

Back in the classroom everyone was working on ornaments.

There was colored paper on everyone's desk. And pieces of ribbon and lace.

“Wow,” said Emily when she went back to her desk.

Jill raised her hand. “I don't know how to do it.” She looked as if she were going to cry.

Emily sighed. Jill looked like a raincloud again.

“Alex will help you,” Mrs. Rooney told Jill.

Emily slid down in her seat.

She could see the cookies in Dawn's desk.

She wished Dawn would find them.

Emily went to her art cubby. She took out her scissors. She held them by the ears.

Ms. Rooney always made a big fuss if someone didn't carry his scissors by the ears.

Emily was so busy remembering how to hold her scissors that she didn't remember her crayons.

She went back to get them.

Ms. Rooney frowned. “Settle down, Emily.”

Emily rushed back to her seat.

She cut out a big blue circle.

Then she looked for her glue.

The glue monitor had forgotten her.

She thought about getting up to get some. But Ms. Rooney would tell her to settle down again.

Maybe she'd draw some pictures on the blue ball first. Too bad the red crayon was yucko.

She reached for her crayon box.

“Hey,” said Dawn. She pulled out the cookies. “Gorgeous,” she said.

Emily looked over.

“Aren't they gorgeous?” Dawn said.

Emily nodded a little. She smiled at Dawn.

Dawn took a big bite. “I wonder who keeps giving me all this stuff?”

“I—” Emily began.

Dawn held up her hand. “Don't tell me. I want to be surprised on the last day of school.”

Emily looked down at her crayon box. That Dawn Bosco. She knew very well who had made those cookies. She knew that Emily had baked them with her mother.

That mean Dawn Bosco.

She was making believe the cookies were a secret December person present.

Emily made a face at her.

Dawn stuck her tongue out at Emily.

Emily reached for her red crayon.

It wasn't hers. It was a brand-new one.

Emily put her hand over her mouth.

Dawn had given her a new red crayon.

She leaned over. “Dawn,” she said. “Would you like to use my red crayon?”

Dawn stuck her tongue out at Emily again. “No, thank you very much,' she said. “I have my own,”

Then Dawn put the rest of the cookies into her mouth.

Emily rushed down the hall.

She had a secret December person present for Jill. It was the last one.

Today was the last day of school before the holidays. Noah had told her that Hanukkah began tonight. And Christmas was in two days.

Today was going to be a very exciting day.

Jill's mother was coming to school. She was giving the class potato pancakes for a Hanukkah treat.
“Latkes,”
Jill called them. She said they were wonderful.

Emily had a little box in her schoolbag.

Inside the box were four pink ribbons. They were for Jill's braids.

They would make Jill look like a fat pink pillow.

So what?

Jill would look like a nice fat pink pillow.

Emily thought about the other day. She thought about Jill saying
“Glunk, glunk.”
She thought about Jill sharing her cracker.

Emily quickly opened her schoolbag.

Ms. Rooney came into the room. “Good morning.”

Emily said hello to Ms. Rooney. She put Jill's present in-side her desk. Then she raced to her seat.

Dawn slid into the seat next to Emily. She put a package on her desk.

Emily looked at it out of the corner of her eye.

She knew it was for her.

It was a secret December person present.

She smiled at Dawn.

Dawn smiled back at her. “Let's be friends again.”

“All right,” Emily said.

“How do you like this?” Dawn asked. She pointed to the package.

“Very pretty,” Emily said. She wondered
what was inside. She hoped it was something she liked.

Dawn leaned over. “It's a truck.”

“A truck?” Emily said.

“It's for my secret person,” Dawn said. “It's for Timothy Barbiero.”

Dawn went over to stand in the pencil-sharpener line.

Emily took her pencil. She went to stand in line too. “How come you gave me the picture?” she asked Dawn.

“What picture?” Dawn asked.

“The one with the girls and the mittens,” Emily said. “And the green stain on the knee.”

Dawn ducked her head. “I was mad at you. I'm sorry.”

“It's all right,” Emily said. “I guess.”

Emily let Jill get in line in front of her. Jill had her long skinny spe-cial pencil with her.

“Do you like that pencil?” Emily asked.

“I love it,” Jill said.

Emily wished she could tell Jill some-thing.

She wished she could tell her that she looked a lot better when she was smiling.

Jill was turning out to be a good friend.

Emily leaned forward. “You look nice when you smile.”

“Thank you,” Jill said.

“I wish you would smile a lot,” Emily said. “It makes you look pretty.”

“Glunk, glunk,” Jill said.

They both started to laugh.

Jill sharpened her pencil. Emily sharpened hers too. Then they went to look at their gold macaroni boxes.

“I love mine,” Jill said. She lifted the top to show Emily.

Inside she had colored the box with a blue crayon.

“Pretty,” Emily said. She wished she had thought of coloring the inside of hers. “Maybe I'll color mine.”

“Good idea,' Jill said.

'Til color mine red,” Emily said.

“I was going to do that,' Jill said. “Red is my favorite color.”

Then Jill put the top back on the macaroni box.

She didn't put it back right. The top fell.

A macaroni shell fell off. So did a wheel.

Jill looked as if she were going to cry.

“Don't cry,” Emily said quickly.

Jill tried to smile.

They went back to their seats.

Then Jill's mother came. She had a big box in her hand. “Careful,” she said. “They're hot.”

Emily took a potato
latke
. Mrs. Simon gave her a paper napkin with a snowflake on it.

The
latke
was wonder-ful.

Emily watched as Jill reached into her desk.

Jill pulled out the box of pink ribbons. She held them up for every-one to see.

Then Emily reached into her desk. She took out her box of crayons. She had a great idea.

She'd color the inside of her macaroni box. She'd color it red. Jill's favorite color.

Then she'd give the box to Jill. She'd get her mother something else.

She took another potato
latke
.

She wondered why Jill hadn't colored the inside of her box red.

Maybe she didn't have a red crayon.

Emily took a deep breath.

“Hey,” she said to Dawn. “I just thought of something.”

Dawn looked up.

“If I'm not your secret December per-son,” she said, “then who gave me a red crayon?”

“I can't tell,” Dawn said.

Ms. Rooney clapped her hands. She stood in front of the class Christmas tree.

It looked beautiful. Everyone's ornament was hanging on it.

Emily could see her blue one. It was next to Beast's.

His was green and red.

It was the best in the class.

“Now,” said Ms. Rooney. She smiled. “It's time for everyone to tell about his secret December per-son.”

Matthew raised his hand. “My secret December person is my best friend,” he said. “It's Beast.”

Beast held his magnifying glass up to his eye. “And my secret person is my friend Matthew.”

Matthew clapped his hand to his head. “I never guessed,” he said.

Emily stood up. “My secret December person,” she said slowly, “is Jill Simon. She's a very nice girl.”

Jill smiled. Today Jill was wearing her red ribbons again. But she had only three braids.

“Hey,” Dawn Bosco said.

Emily looked over at her.

“I thought I was your secret December person,” Dawn said.

Emily shook her head.

“But you baked those gor-geous cookies for me,' Dawn said.

“Yes,” Emily said. “Because of the fire-truck line.”

“Oh,” Dawn said. “That was very nice.”

“Yes,” Emily said again.

“Then next year,” Dawn said, “maybe you'll let me get ahead of you.”

“Maybe,” Emily said. “But I'm not sure yet.”

Jill Simon stood up. “I had a very special secret per-son,” she said. “Her name is—”

Emily looked at her.

“Her name is,” Jill said again, “Emily Arrow.”

“Wow,” Emily said. “Thank you for the red crayon.”

“You're welcome,” Jill said.

“And thank you for Uni's cover,” Emily said.

Jill laughed. She pulled at her braids. “I used one of my red hair ribbons.”

Emily finished the last of her potato
latke
.

She looked up at the Christmas tree. Then she
looked at her macaroni box. Jill was going to love it.

She leaned over to Dawn again. 'How about coming over to my house tomorrow? You and Jill and Beast and Matthew.”

“All right,” Dawn said.

Emily looked out the window.

It had started to snow.

“Jingle bells,” Emily sang under her breath.

Next to her Dawn started to sing too.

Emily sang a little louder.

“Let's all sing,” said Ms. Rooney.

Emily looked at Dawn. It was December. She sang a little softer.

Then Dawn sang a little softer too.

“Lovely,” said Ms. Rooney.

Emily smiled. She thought it was lovely too.