Noelle's Christmas Crush (12 page)

Dad waved his new spatula. “I'm going to use this on the French toast,” he announced.

“Can I go over to Jess's after breakfast?” Noelle asked. “I want to give her the gift I made.”

Her mom looked at the clock. “We're heading to the pond around eleven thirty, so how about I pick you up from there?”

Noelle nodded. “Okay.”

They ate a big breakfast of French toast and sausages and fruit, and then Noelle got changed into her skating outfit—pale pink leggings with a purple skating skirt over them and a purple sweater with little pink hearts. Her
puffy white vest and pink gloves would keep her warm on the ice.

Jess was still in pajamas when Noelle got to her house.

“Merry Christmas!” Noelle cried.

“Happy birthday!” Jess yelled back.

Noelle stepped inside and took off her coat. “Aren't you going skating?”

“Soon,” Jess said. “But James and Taylor got a new video game, and we've all been playing it.” She nodded toward the living room, where her parents and two brothers were still in their pj's, laughing as they played the game. They paused briefly to wish Noelle a happy birthday, and then the girls went up to Jess's bedroom. Noelle promptly handed over the present.

“Open it!” she urged eagerly.

Jess ripped open the wrapping. “It's so cute!” she squealed. “I love her. I'm going to name her . . . Hoops!”

“Perfect!” Noelle said, and then Jess handed her a box to open. Inside was a little wooden box decorated with purple and pink gems.

“I make jewelry, so I might as well make jewelry boxes, too,” she explained.

“This is awesome!” Noelle said. “I'm going to keep all
the jewelry you've ever made for me in it.”

The girls sat in the room for a while, talking about what gifts they had gotten. Before Noelle knew it, her phone beeped.

“They're outside,” Noelle said. “Gotta go.”

“I think Hailey and Alyson are there already,” Jess informed her. “Hopefully, I'll be there soon.”

It wasn't a long trip to the skating pond, and soon Noelle was seated on a bench, lacing up her new pink skates.

“Perfect!” she said, smiling, and tying the final bow. Then she looked out at the pond.

Going ice skating on Christmas Day was a Winters family tradition, and a tradition for many people in Pine Valley, too. A shallow man-made pond maintained by the town, the rink hardened up nicely after a few days of sub-freezing weather. Skaters made their way around the circle in their colorful winter gear. Some went slowly, or held on tightly to their skating partner, while others effortlessly glided and twirled past her. A few little kids were just sitting on the ice. Gentle snow flurries danced in the air, making the whole scene prettier, like sprinkles on a cupcake.

She scanned the crowd, looking for Hailey and Alyson, when she spotted him . . . Noel! He wore a green-and-red sweater and he had that smile on his face that Noelle loved so much. His cheeks were pink from the cold, and his brown hair, dotted with snowflakes, was blowing in the wind.

He looks like a Christmas dream,
Noelle thought.
Only he's real!

She stepped onto the ice and, steadying herself, joined the flow of the crowd. Noel was up ahead, but then he rounded the curve . . .
he should be able to see me now, right?
Noelle wondered.
Should I wave? Call out his name?
She tried to skate a little faster, but she almost tripped. She quickly steadied herself, her heart pounding. She was a really good skater, and hadn't had a wipeout since she was a little kid.

She made her way around the pond again, still wondering what to do, when Noel's face lit up as he spotted her. He waved and then cut across the pond, skating toward her.

That's when Noelle noticed the girl skating just behind him. She had seen her before but now it was clear that she was definitely following Noel, not just some random skater behind him. A terrible thought hit her: Was she Noel's girlfriend?

But nobody had ever talked about Noel having a girlfriend. Unless it was a secret girlfriend? No, Noel wouldn't keep a secret like that. A cousin, maybe?

Oh, I hope it's his cousin!
Noelle thought.

Noel skated in a circle around her. “Happy birthday!” he called out.

“Hi, Christmas Eve birthday boy!” Noelle called back. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“We did!” said the girl, startling Noelle a little. Did she mean that she had the same birthday as Noel?

Noel grinned. “This is my twin sister, Christina,” he said, skating to a stop.

Noelle smiled shyly, trying not to stare. How did she
not
know that Noel had a twin sister?

“Hi!” the girl said brightly. She looked a lot like Noel, with the same sparkling brown eyes and brown hair and big smile. She had on a pink skating skirt and white leggings—and pink skates.

“We have the same skates,” Christina said, pointing.

“We totally do! I just got them for my birthday,” Noelle said. Then she turned to Noel. “I didn't know you had a twin!”

“I go to a different school!” Christina said loudly, and
Noelle realized that she spoke a little slowly, too. “I go to the Orchard School.”

Noelle nodded. The Orchard School was a school for special-needs kids.

“I like it there!” Christina said, beaming.

“It looks nice,” Noelle told her. “They have that great playground, right?” The school chorus had performed there once, and Noelle had always remembered the playground. It had all different kinds of cool equipment so that all kinds of kids could play on it.

“Yes!” Christina answered. “I go on it every day. The swing is my favorite because I can go really high.”

“Oh, I love to swing high,” Noelle replied honestly, thinking of the swing in her backyard. It was for little kids, but she still loved to swing on it and just look up at the sky, thinking. “I have a swing in my backyard and it's my favorite too.”

“Hey, Christina, Noelle's birthday is today,” Noel told her.

“It
is
?” said Christina, her eyes wide. “Right on Christmas? That's so cool. Ours is the night before. Close but not Christmas.”

Noelle laughed. She had never thought of it like that
before. “I guess it is pretty special.”

“I'm going to skate by myself, okay?” Christina asked Noel. “Watch me!” And she skated away to a woman who was waving to her. Noelle guessed that she must Noel and Christina's mom.

Noel skated up closer to her. “Thanks for being so nice to Christina,” he said.

“Why wouldn't I be?” asked Noelle.

“Well, she's different, and sometimes people don't know how to act or what to say,” Noel explained. “She just wants everyone to treat her normally. And really she's just like anyone else mostly, except that she does things a little more slowly.”

They both watched Christina skate. She glided smoothly on the ice and even did a little twirl.

“I always try to be nice to everybody,” Noel said, looking at his sister, “because I always want everyone to be nice to Christina.”

So that explains it,
Noelle thought. That's how he knew how to speak to Eliza and how he was so patient with James. What a sweet guy. Could he be any nicer?

Then Noelle thought of something. Noel didn't just share his birthday with Christmas Eve, but with a twin.

“So what's it like sharing a birthday?” she asked.

Noel looked a little sheepish. “Honestly?” he said.

“Honestly!” said Noelle.

“Well,” began Noel, “you know I love Christina and she gets really excited for our birthday. But just once I'd kind of like to have a birthday by myself, you know? Without celebrating it with Christina. And without Christmas on top of it.”

Noelle gave him a sympathetic smile. “You know, I was feeling sorry for myself about having to share my birthday with Christmas, but you have to share your birthday with Christmas
and
a sister. You totally win.”

They both laughed.

“Want to skate?” Noel asked.

Noelle grinned. “Let's go!”

They skated around the pond a few times, not saying anything. They stuck together as they dodged the little kids and the slow skaters. On the side of the pond, Noelle spotted her parents. They smiled at her, and her father gave her a really big, corny wave.

Noelle rolled her eyes and replied with a normal little wave. They headed down to the other end of the pond, where Andrew and some of his friends were taking
shots with Andrew's hockey stick in the area reserved for hockey.

It was busy and noisy but Noel and Noelle were still quiet as they circled the pond again, as if there was a little bubble around them. After a while, Noel's mother called out.

“Noel! We have to go get ready for Christmas dinner!”

To Noelle's delight, Noel looked a little disappointed at having to leave. She had to restrain herself from doing a little dance.

“Sorry,” he said with a shrug.

“It's okay,” Noelle replied. “We'll probably be going soon too.” They skated toward the benches and sat down on one right under a tree. Noelle looked up and saw that someone had hung a sprig of mistletoe there.

She froze, panicked. Did Noel see it? If so, what would he do? She sat there shivering a little as Noel took off his skates, but not because she was cold.

Noel looked up and saw the mistletoe, breaking into a grin.

“See that?” he said, pointing, and she looked up, trying to pretend she hadn't noticed.

“Um . . . ,” she began, but before she could even say
anything else, Noel gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“It's tradition!” he said, and his face was a little pink. “I hope you have a great birthday, Noelle!” and before she knew it he was hurrying away.

Noelle was so dizzy she could barely speak.

“Merry birthday,” she said, and it took her a second to realize that she had mixed up merry Christmas and happy birthday, just like Uncle Marty did.

Noel stopped and gave her a big smile. “That's perfect! Merry birthday, Noelle!”

Noelle sighed happily as she watched him hurry to catch up to Christina and his mom. Then she heard a voice behind her.

“Hey, you're not leaving yet, are you?”

She turned to see Jess, Hailey, and Alyson standing there, holding their skates. Noelle quickly scanned the pond and saw her parents skating in the center of the rink.

“Um, I don't think so,” she said.

“So let's skate,” Jess said, flopping down beside her and pulling off her boots.

“Are you having a good birthday?” Hailey asked.

Noelle looked around at her friends, who were all
smiling and talking about Christmas. Jess was telling them about the awesome monster Noelle made her. She watched the happy skaters on the pond and the gentle flurries falling down on the scene. Then she touched her cheek. She could still feel a little tingle where Noel had kissed her. She thought about how they skated around, and got a nice warm feeling inside.

Snowflakes were tumbling around, everyone was in a good mood, and she knew she was about ten minutes away from her mom's famous hot chocolate. Even if it wasn't as she had planned, so far her birthday was absolutely perfect.

Here's a sneak peek at the next book in the series:

Rachel likes Brody.

Does he like her too?

Rachel's Valentine Crush

“COME ON, ROBBIE,” RACHEL PLEADED.
“just eat two more bites of broccoli. That's it. Just two more bites.”

“Peas, peas, peas,” Rachel's little brother sang. “Peas, please. Peas, please.”

“We don't have peas tonight,” Rachel said for the hundredth time. “We have broccoli. Eat it up so you can have a special treat.”

“Peas!” Robbie cried hopefully. He banged his fork on the table.

Rachel leaned toward the sink and turned the water on full blast so that Robbie wouldn't hear her groan.

Bzzzz!

“How's that broccoli coming?” Rachel called out as she dried her hands on her jeans. Then she pulled her cell out of her back pocket. She could already guess that the text was from her best friend, Taylor—even though
Rachel had specifically said that
she
would text Taylor as soon as she was ready. But Taylor wasn't exactly the patient type.

Rach! U ready?

“Peas!” Robbie hollered from the dining room.

“No, broccoli!” Rachel hollered back without looking up from her phone.

No! Still doing dishes and Robbie still eating. Going as fast as I can!!!

But it starts soooooon! Hurry hurry

Believe me, I know

Rachel's phone was already buzzing again as she shoved it back into her pocket, but she decided to ignore it—at least until Robbie finished eating. She suddenly realized that Robbie was quiet. Unusually quiet. Rachel peeked into the dining room, hoping to find his cheeks puffed out with a giant mouthful of broccoli. Instead, she
found Robbie grinning at her with a broccoli floret sticking out of each ear.