Celebrate the Season--Home for the Holidays Page 3

  “Thanks!” Becca beamed. “I love wearing green. I think it tricks my eyes into looking greener. When I wear brown, they look brown.” She frowned, and then a panicked look crossed her face. “Not that there’s anything wrong with brown eyes! Yours are nice! I mean, no offense!”

  Alyssa laughed. “None taken.”

  Becca looked relieved. She tilted her head and looked more closely at Alyssa. “Wait, you’re Alyssa Sing, Cody’s sister, right?”

  “That’s me,” Alyssa replied a moment later. She almost said “Guilty as charged,” but had stopped herself, worried that sounded nerdy. There was something about Becca that made her a little nervous, but she wasn’t sure why.

  As if Becca could sense Alyssa’s nervousness, she suddenly looked uncomfortable as well. Alyssa tried to think of something to say. “So, you’re Ben’s sister, then, right? Our brothers are, like, inseparable lately.”

  But Becca just nodded. “They so are. I think this was their third sleepover. Have you ever gotten stuck listening to them talk about video games?”

  “Well, I haven’t actually met Ben. But I have been stuck listening to Cody rampage about leveling up on his favorite game, so I can definitely relate,” Alyssa replied, laughing.

  The two girls fell into an easy conversation after that. And a few minutes later, Alyssa made her first sale! A man came up to her stand and said that his wife had mentioned admiring one of the scarves. “She doesn’t know this yet, but I am taking her on a ski vacation in January. It’s her Christmas present,” the man explained.

  “You should get the scarf and wrap it up with a little note telling her about the trip!” Becca exclaimed, thrusting the pink-and-blue scarf at him. “That way, she’ll have something under the tree to open on Christmas morning!”

  The man agreed that was a great idea, and Alyssa grinned at Becca. Her grin got even bigger when the man didn’t bat an eyelash as Alyssa told him the price of the scarf.

  “I owe you for helping me make that sale!” Alyssa said appreciatively as the man walked away with his purchase safely hidden in a brown paper bag.

  “You don’t owe me,” Becca replied. “But I wouldn’t say no to a Christmas cookie if you can take a break.”

  “Sounds good to me! Cody should be back in a couple of minutes, and I’ll ask him to man the stand for me.”

  As Becca and Alyssa continued to chat, Alyssa caught sight of Elle and Rachel making their way toward her stand with a man who Alyssa assumed was Rachel’s dad. Alyssa made eye contact with Elle, who was taller than Rachel, so her head stuck out above the crowd, and smiled and waved. Elle returned her smile. Alyssa felt a surge of excitement—she couldn’t wait to introduce Becca to Elle and Rachel. Maybe all four of them could go have cookies together. But then something strange happened. As Alyssa watched them make their way toward her, she saw Elle’s face cloud over. She stopped in her tracks a few stands away and said something to Rachel. Rachel frowned as she looked over. Moments later, Rachel waved apologetically at Alyssa and then turned and walked in the other direction with Elle, dragging her very confused-looking father away with them.

  Becca, who had been talking about what she wanted for Christmas, stopped speaking as she noticed the crestfallen expression on Alyssa’s face. “Is something wrong?” she asked, the concern obvious in her voice.

  Alyssa wasn’t sure what to say. What had just happened with Elle and Rachel? Were they mad at her for some reason? She didn’t think that was it, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they had turned around when they saw her talking to Becca.

  Alyssa knew she couldn’t tell Becca that and was grateful when Cody showed up a moment later. “No, nothing is wrong. Let’s go get those cookies.”

  “Look, it fits perfectly!” Alyssa exclaimed.

  It was a few hours later and after finishing up at the holiday festival, Alyssa, her mom, and her brother had headed to the local Christmas tree lot to choose their Christmas tree. In the past, the choosing of the Christmas tree had been far more complicated, as Cody and Alyssa usually chose different trees and their mom was stuck casting the deciding vote. She usually chose an entirely different tree to avoid playing favorites. But this year, the choice had been quick and easy. Alyssa spotted the perfect tree moments after they pulled into the lot. She ran over to it and declared, “This is the one!”

  Cody took a long look at the tree and after a few moments slowly nodded in agreement. “Let us mark this momentous occasion,” he announced dramatically. “Alyssa Sing has, for the first time in the history of Christmas, chosen the perfect tree!” he teased.

  Now, back at home, everyone was happy to see how well the tree fit in the designated corner in the living room. In their old house, the tree always went in the entranceway, but this house was set up differently and didn’t have enough space by the front door. But that was okay with Alyssa.… She liked knowing that the tree would be the first thing she saw every morning when she came downstairs.

  While Cody went up into the attic to lug down the boxes of Christmas ornaments, Mrs. Sing got busy in the kitchen preparing a special surprise for them to enjoy while they were decorating. Alyssa wasn’t sure what it was, but it definitely involved using the blender.

  “No peeking,” Alyssa’s mom yelled when Alyssa appeared in the kitchen.

  “I promise I’m not peeking!” And to prove it, Alyssa clamped her hand over her eyes and carefully made her way over to the door. “I just wanted to go outside and see if the kitty came back.”

  Outside it was nearly dark, but there was still enough light for Alyssa to look for the calico cat Cody had seen.

  “Here, kitty, kitty,” Alyssa called. “Are you out here? I’d love to meet you if you are,” she said in her most friendly voice. Alyssa sat down in her driveway to wait and see if the cat might make an appearance. She’d read a lot of articles and books about cats and she knew they could be pretty picky about who they chose to spend their time with, but in her experience, cats almost always liked her. She just had a feeling this cat would, too. She waited silently, keeping her eyes and ears alert for any sign of the cat. A few minutes later, Cody stuck his head outside the door and announced that they were ready to begin decorating.

  Back inside, Christmas carols were playing and Cody had put one of their favorite Christmas movies—Elf—on the TV with the volume off and the closed-captioning on. Mrs. Sing’s surprise turned out to be frozen cocoa. It was like a cross between hot chocolate and an ice cream shake. More important, it was delicious. Alyssa had to fight the urge to chug the whole cup in one gulp, it was so good!

  “This tastes like a delicious new holiday tradition,” Cody commented as he nearly drained his glass.

  “I’d like to propose a toast,” Mrs. Sing said, raising her frosty mug. “To the Sing family Florida Christmas, new beginnings, and new traditions! May the laughter, light, and love of the season fill our hearts, and our new home, all year round!”

  “Hear, hear!” Alyssa and Cody called in unison. They clicked their glasses together and then slurped up the last of their frozen cocoa.

  Alyssa was sure that she was in for another new beginning at school tomorrow, too.

  An hour later, the tree was decorated. Alyssa, Cody, and Mrs. Sing stood back to admire their work.

  “I think this is our prettiest tree yet,” Alyssa observed. “The white lights really put it over the top.”

  “You say that every year,” Cody teased. Just as Alyssa was about to protest, he held up a hand. “Let me finish! You say that every year, and this year you happen to be right! The white lights were a great choice. That’s twice in one night you were right, Alyssa. It’s a Christmas miracle,” Cody deadpanned, throwing the pillow back at her.

  “No throwing of the pillows, please,” Mrs. Sing said, but she was chuckling. She excused herself to go finish up some work on her laptop.

  The family ritual of decorating the tree together had been more fun this year than ever, Alyssa thought as she settled on
the couch to watch the end of the movie with Cody. Between reminiscing about memories attached to the different ornaments and reciting lines from Elf while the movie played in the background, Alyssa couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a fun evening. It had helped to take her mind off of worrying about what had happened at the holiday fair. Now that she was thinking about it again, though, she couldn’t help but wonder. She was really looking forward to having lunch with Rachel and Elle tomorrow… but what if they had decided they didn’t like her anymore? At her old school, there had been some pretty complicated social dynamics between different kids, which made it hard to be friends with everyone. Alyssa had stayed out of all the drama—being best friends with Ryder and Lauren helped a lot because they just did their own thing—but Alyssa didn’t really know what the deal was at Palm Meadows Middle School. She wondered if maybe there was some history between Rachel, Elle, and Becca. There had been some situations like that at her old school, where kids weren’t friends in middle school because of something that had happened when they were younger. She hoped that wasn’t the case… or that if it was, that whatever it was could be fixed. She wanted to be friends with all of them, and hoped maybe they could all hang out together. She didn’t want to have to choose between her new friends.

  Then again, she reasoned, maybe Elle and Rachel didn’t know Becca very well. Alyssa’s first impression of Becca had been that she wasn’t that friendly, when in fact she’d turned out to be one of the friendliest girls Alyssa had ever met. So maybe Elle and Rachel just needed to get to know Becca.

  Alyssa stole a look at her brother as he sat at the other end of the couch, absorbed in the movie, even though he’d seen it at least a hundred times. She wondered if Cody might have some insight into the situation.

  “Hey, can I talk to you about something?”

  Cody hit pause on the remote and looked away from the screen. “Sure, what’s up?”

  Alyssa explained what had happened at the fair. “I’m positive Elle saw me, and I got the feeling that she and Rachel purposely avoided coming back to the table because Becca was there.”

  “Maybe they don’t like Becca,” Cody said, shrugging.

  “Cody!” Alyssa exclaimed. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about! What if that’s true? I was hoping maybe they just don’t know her. What am I going to do if they do know her and don’t like her?”

  “What can you do, Alyssa?” Cody tapped the remote control on his knee. “Who knows what their history is? Don’t forget, they’ve probably known each other since they were really little. Maybe they had a fight in second grade because Becca stole their Play-Doh and they never got over it. You can’t worry about these things.”

  Maybe Cody is right, Alyssa thought. She doubted if their conflict had to do with Play-Doh, but maybe something had happened in the past. Cody started the movie, and Alyssa grabbed the remote and paused it again.

  “Can you ask Ben? Maybe he knows if something happened…?”

  Cody sighed and looked at his sister. “Alyssa, I don’t think it’s your business—you barely know any of them. I also think you’re ‘getting way ahead of yourself.’” He used air quotes at the end of the sentence because that was something their mom often said to Alyssa when she was worrying about something she couldn’t control.

  Don’t get ahead of yourself, Mrs. Sing would say.

  “I don’t see why you’re so worried,” Cody said a moment later. “I mean, Becca has friends from the soccer team, so you don’t have to worry about her. It’s not like you think Elle and Rachel are bullies or anything, do you?”

  “No, definitely not,” Alyssa said quickly. “At least, I hope not. They seem so nice. But so does Becca, and I just want to be friends with all three of them.”

  “Then you should be,” Cody replied. “Elle and Rachel can’t tell you not to be friends with someone. And if they do, then…” Cody sat up straight and waggled his finger at Alyssa in a bad imitation of a grown-up. “Then they’re not really your friends after all.”

  Alyssa giggled as Cody tossed a throw pillow at her. “Look, just see what happens at school tomorrow. If it’s really bugging you, tell them you don’t want to be involved in any drama.” With that, he turned the movie back on. It was almost the end, and Cody turned the volume up as the characters in the film sang “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” to power Santa’s sled.

  Alyssa told herself Cody was right. There was nothing to worry about.

  “Your essays will be due on Friday the twenty-first,” Mrs. Ramirez told the class. “That’s the last day of school before the holiday break. Now that might seem like it’s far in the future, but use your time wisely. I want you to spend some time really thinking about the subject so you can write thoughtful, heartfelt essays.”

  Alyssa wrote the date down in her notebook and underlined it twice: DUE 12/21.

  The assignment was to write about your holiday wish. Mrs. Ramirez told her students it could be about anything they were wishing for, but that she hoped the students would challenge themselves to come up with wishes that were in the spirit of the holidays and focused on things like friends, family, or helping others, rather than wishes for material things.

  Parker James, a boy in Alyssa’s class who was a bit of a class clown, raised his hand and asked, “Does that mean I can’t write my essay about why I really, really wish to get a Nintendo Switch for Christmas?”

  Mrs. Ramirez smiled patiently. “I would prefer if you wrote your essay about a wish that’s a little more meaningful than that. It can certainly be something personal that you are wishing for yourself, but please let’s try to avoid wishes for things like toys and clothes, okay?”

  Alyssa didn’t need to write that part down—there was no way she’d use her holiday wish for something like clothes. But the question was… what would she wish for?

  Later that day, Alyssa walked into the cafeteria with a knot in her stomach. The knot had started forming at the end of fourth period, and now that it was lunchtime it was super tight. She hadn’t brought her lunch with her, so she would have to buy it. But that wasn’t what had her worried. She didn’t know if she should go sit with Elle and Rachel, and that was the source of her concern.

  She didn’t have to think about it for very long because a moment later she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Elle.

  “Hey there! Rachel and I always sit right over there.” She pointed to a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. “I’m going to get my lunch. Are you buying today, too?”

  Alyssa confirmed that she was indeed buying, and the two girls headed to the hot-lunch line. Alyssa allowed herself to exhale. Elle was being so friendly. She certainly didn’t seem to be upset with her.

  While they were waiting, Elle asked her if she’d sold any of her scarves at the fair. Alyssa explained that she’d sold two—one to the man who was buying it as a gift for his wife, and then a second one right at the end of the day to an older woman who wanted to send it to her daughter in the Northeast as a Christmas gift.

  After selecting their lunches—Elle promised that the macaroni and cheese was the way to go—the two girls headed over to the table where Rachel was waiting for them. She’d already dug into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  Just be yourself and don’t worry, Alyssa told herself. Say whatever pops into your head.

  “We weren’t allowed to bring PB&J at my old school,” Alyssa told them as she took a tentative bite of her macaroni and cheese. It was actually really good. “There was a kid in my grade with a really bad peanut allergy, so we weren’t allowed to bring any peanut products to school.”

  “Yeah, my cousin has the same thing at her school,” Rachel replied. “Lucky for me, Palm Meadows is not a peanut-free zone because I could not live without my peanut butter sandwiches!”

  Elle and Rachel asked Alyssa about her old school, and Alyssa told them all about Ryder and Lauren and their knitting club.

  “You were best friends with a boy?�
�� Elle’s eyes widened. “What was that like?”

  Alyssa shrugged. “I don’t know.… It wasn’t any different than being best friends with a girl. Ryder is just a cool person! And he started the knitting club at my old school and taught me everything I know about knitting. I guess we kind of bonded over our love of yarn,” she joked.

  “I get it. It’s just a little different.” Elle wiped off her apple with a paper towel. “But very cool,” she added.

  Rachel nodded in agreement. “Plus, you have a brother, right? So, you’re used to being around boys.”

  Alyssa thought about that for a moment. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Cody is pretty cool, too, for an older brother. He’s really into soccer. He made the school team.…” Alyssa’s voice trailed off at the mention of the school team. She wondered if Becca, who played for the girls’ team, might come up. But Elle and Rachel just nodded and chewed. Alyssa tried to think of another way to bring Becca up. Their conversation switched to the essays about holiday wishes. Rachel and Elle weren’t in Alyssa’s class, but apparently the entire seventh grade had received the assignment. The girls began brainstorming ideas, when suddenly Becca appeared at the table.

  “Hey, Alyssa,” she said, a friendly smile on her face.

  “Hi, Becca,” Alyssa replied. She waited for Becca to say hello to Elle and Rachel, but she didn’t. She looked at Elle and Rachel to see if they were going to greet Becca, but they both seemed to be staring very intently at their lunches.

  “So, listen, I have some amazing news for you! Can we talk after school? Maybe we can meet after seventh period? I can take your bus home—I live, like, four blocks away from you. I just have to text my mom to let her know.”

  “Um, sure…” Alyssa thought she could feel the tension coming off Elle and Rachel in waves. This was so awkward! She swallowed and cleared her throat. “Do you want to sit down and join us?” she asked.