Noelle's Christmas Crush (2 page)

She sat on her bed and turned on the laptop, going right to the invitation site. She had a tentative guest list working, but she hadn't hit send yet. She stared at one name on the list: Noel Shepherd.

Just hit send,
she told herself.
What's the worst that could happen?

But she chickened out, just as she had yesterday and the day before that.

Maybe tomorrow,
she thought, and then she clicked over to the birthday recipe site.

“SO I STILL CAN'T DECIDE
between party decorations that are pink and purple or just picking one color and sticking to it,” Noelle said at lunch on Monday.

She sat at a round table with her three best friends, Jess, Alyson, and Hailey. All three girls had known each other since elementary school, which had made going to middle school a lot easier, Noelle thought. She knew a lot of girls who had stopped being friends once they got into seventh grade, but luckily that hadn't happened with them.

“I don't know about pink,” Alyson said thoughtfully, twirling a lock of blond hair around her index finger. “If everything is all pink, it could look like a baby shower or something, you know?”

Noelle nodded. “I know. But it's hard to choose just one color. I like them both the same.”

“Pick pink!” Hailey suggested. “It's the least Christmasy
one, and you're kind of doing an anti-Christmas thing, right?”

“Well, not
anti
-Christmas, exactly,” Noelle corrected her. “I mean, I still love Christmas. But I really want to keep my birthday separate.”

“I think you are birthday obsessed now,” Jess teased. “We'd better change the subject or else I won't be able to think of anything besides birthdays all day.”

“Can we talk about tofu turkey, then?” Hailey asked, holding up her sandwich. “As in, if I have to eat any more of this tofu turkey, I'm going to turn into one?”

The friends laughed.

“Mom slipped a turkey sandwich into my lunch bag without telling me,” Jess said.

“My dad did this,” Alyson said, holding up a fancy-looking little morsel. “He rolled up the turkey with some lettuce and cream cheese in a tortilla, and then cut it into little rounds. He calls it ‘turkey sushi'.”

Hailey got a dreamy look in her eyes. “Mmm, sushi. Mom used to pack me her Korean vegetable sushi almost every day. Just last week I told her I was getting a little tired of it. I think she's punishing me with tofu turkey.”

Noelle swallowed a bite of the turkey sandwich her dad had packed for her. “I don't know, I kind of like all the turkey leftovers.”

“That's because they make you think of Christmas,” Jess pointed out. “And you, Noelle, are Christmas crazy, I told you.”

“You said I was birthday party crazy,” Noelle reminded her.

Jess shook her head. “Both. How will we put up with you all month?”

“She's allowed to be party crazy,” Alyson said. “My Bat Mitzvah is in April, and I'm already planning it. This weekend I found the perfect dress online.”

Noelle sighed. “A dress! I haven't even thought about what I should wear. I guess I should match the decorations, right?”

“Can I come dressed as an elf?” Hailey asked.

Noelle laughed. Hailey was always saying random things like that.

“Why do you want to come dressed as an elf?” she asked.

“Well, I got this awesome elf costume at the mall, and I can wear it on Christmas and Christmas Eve, but that's
only two days,” Hailey said. “So your party would be one more day I could wear it.”

“Well, I guess you can wear whatever you want,” Noelle replied. “But I was kind of hoping there would be no Christmas stuff at this party, you know?”

“Whoa, harsh!” Jess said. “Noelle, you are becoming like one of those girls on that
Sixteen and Spoiled
show. Except you're not turning sixteen.”

“Hardly,” said Noelle, then she started to giggle. “Remember when that girl had a fit because she wanted an elephant at her party, and her parents wouldn't let her? Can you imagine?”

“I don't think you could fit an elephant in your living room,” Hailey commented.

“Ooh, you could be like that girl who made all of her friends wear the same color to her party,” Alyson said, excited. “You could make everyone wear pink.”

“Ew!” Jess said. She hated pink; her favorite color was blue, and she wore a blue hair band in her auburn hair every day.

She turned to Noelle. “No offense.”

“No, I know, that's too severe,” Noelle said. “Everyone can wear whatever they want. Even elf costumes, I guess.”

“You are too nice, Noelle,” Alyson said.

Hailey nodded. “That comes from being born on Christmas,” she added. “But I can leave my elf costume at home. It's no big deal.”

“Thanks,” Noelle said. “Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to wear.”

“Can I help you pick something out?” Alyson asked. “I have become a sort of fashion expert after the search for my Bat Mitzvah dress.”

“Definitely!” Noelle said gratefully.

Then the loudspeaker in the cafeteria beeped, and everyone got quiet, waiting to hear the announcement that was coming.

“Hi, everyone,” said a boy's voice. “This is just a reminder that we need volunteers to help out at the Student Council's clothing and food drive on Saturday. If you can help out, please come to the gym at nine a.m. on Saturday morning. Thanks!”

Noelle must have been blushing, because Jess said, “Oh wait, that was
Noel,
wasn't it?”

“Yes, it was Noel,” Noelle replied, trying to sound like it was no big deal. “Who else would be nice enough to make an announcement about the clothing and food drive?”

“He
is
supernice,” Hailey agreed.

“Sooooooo nice,” Alyson added.

“It's kind of weird,” Jess chimed in. “I mean, he's like, perfect. He's president of the Student Council, he's on the soccer team, and he volunteers for all kinds of stuff.”

“You forgot the most important thing,” Noelle said.

“What's that?” Jess asked.

“He was born on Christmas Eve!” Noelle reminded her. “That's why his parents named him Noel.”
And why we are perfect for each other,
she added to herself, and then she blushed at the thought.

“Well, I like that he's always smiling,” Hailey said. “Like you, Noelle. And he's always nice to me, even on that day in science when I accidentally set my textbook on fire and everyone was making fun of me.”

“You're right,” Noelle said. “That is the best thing about him.”

Then she saw Noel walk into the lunchroom. He had brown hair that sometimes got in his eyes, which were dark pools of chocolate brown. He was as cute as he was nice. Anyone else that cute and popular would have been stuck up, but Noel never acted that way.

“You know, I think I'm going to volunteer on
Saturday,” Noelle announced to her friends.

Jess grinned. “I bet I know the reason why. And it begins with
N
.”

“And rhymes with ‘coal,' ” Hailey added.

Noelle blushed. “The reason I'm doing it is that helping people is the right thing to do during the holidays,” she said. “And since I was born on Christmas, I need to do all that holiday goodwill stuff. It's in my blood.”

“We should all help!” Hailey suggested. “We could all use some good karma. I know I do after that brussels sprouts incident.”

“Hey, speak for yourself!” Jess said in mock offense.

“No, she's right,” Alyson said. “It doesn't hurt to have some extra good karma lying around.”

“Fine then,” Noelle said. “We'll do it for good karma.”

Then she cast another glance at Noel. He was laughing at something, and his whole face just seemed to light up when he smiled.

And the fact that Noel will be there is just a bonus,
she thought.

Jess stared at Hailey. “What exactly is the brussels sprouts incident, anyway?”

Hailey shook her head. “You don't want to know.
Let's just say that my little brother had nightmares for a week, and it was all my fault.”

The girls laughed.

“Now let's all eat our delicious turkey,” Noelle joked, and everyone cracked up again.

“NOELLE, DID YOU SEND OUT
your birthday party invitations yet?” her mom asked that night at dinner.

Noelle looked down at her plate of mac and cheese. “Um, not yet,” she replied. She hoped her mom didn't ask why, because it would be too embarrassing to explain.
Well, it's because I'm not sure if I should invite Noel Shepherd or not, because if he says no, I'll be supersad, and that's just weird and silly because I barely know him, right?

“Well, please do it tonight,” Mrs. Winters said. “The party is in a few weeks, and people need to make sure the day is free on their calendars. Plus we'll need to know how many people to expect so we can plan.”

“Everybody in the world already knows about her party,” Andrew said. “It's all she talks about.”

“It's not
all
I talk about,” Noelle protested, but then she added, “Well, mostly, I guess.”

“After dinner,” Mrs. Winters said, “okay?”

Noelle nodded and gulped.

So a short while later Noelle was on the invitation site on the laptop upstairs in her bedroom. She clicked on the guest list, but she still didn't know what to do.

She quickly texted Jess.

Sending out my party invites. Not sure if I should invite NS.

NS?
Jess texted back.

Noel.

Why not?

What if he says no? Rejection stinks.

Who cares? Party will be awesome anyway because

I will be there.

Noelle smiled.
LOL!
She texted.
Thx, Jess!

Feeling more confident, Noelle clicked on “Add Guest” and started to type.

N-o-e . . .

Then she stopped. She didn't know his e-mail address! All of the other kids she knew were in her directory from elementary school, but Noel had gone to the school on the other side of town.

It's a sign,
she thought.
It's not meant to be.

“Noelle, have you sent out those invitations yet?” her mom called upstairs.

“Just doing it now!” Noelle yelled back. With a sigh, she hit the “Send Invites” button.

At least I'll see him on Saturday,
she thought.

Knowing she would see Noel on Saturday was on her mind all week. When Saturday morning came, she woke up to the sound of a text from Jess.

Mom's picking u up at 8:45.

K,
Noelle texted back.

She climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans that was half hanging from one of her drawers and started to get dressed. There was a tap on her door.

“I'm changing,” Noelle called.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure you were up. Mom's making eggnog pancakes,” her dad answered through the door. “She wants you to eat before Mrs. Rubio picks you up.”

“Okay!” Noelle replied, and her stomach started to rumble. Her mom's eggnog pancakes were delicious, and they always put her in a Christmas mood. She opened a dresser drawer that was crammed with Christmas-themed shirts. People loved to give her Christmas shirts as presents, and it was starting to get a little out of hand. But today she was in the holiday spirit.

She flipped through the pile of shirts. Santa? Sparkly tree on a black background? Cute reindeer? Stylish flying reindeer? Snowman? Ho-Ho-Ho?

She finally decided on the sparkly tree and slipped it on. After all, it was a
holiday
food and clothing drive, and Noelle was kind of a pro at spreading holiday cheer. She brushed her hair and smoothed it down. She wished Mom would let her start wearing lip gloss. Oh well, it would probably come off when she ate breakfast anyway.

Then she bounded downstairs and wolfed down her eggnog pancakes. They were moist and fluffy and tasted like eggnog with a hint of nutmeg.

“These are perfect!” she happily told her mom. “Thanks!”

“Noelle, it's a nice thing you're doing this morning,” Mrs. Winters told her. “I didn't want you volunteering on an empty stomach.”

Then a car horn beeped outside, and Noelle rushed up from the table.

“Gotta go!”

“Brush your teeth first!” Mrs. Winters said. “I'll tell Jess's mom to wait, and I'll bring out that bag of food we're donating.”

A few minutes later, Noelle slipped into the backseat of the Rubios' car, joining Hailey and Alyson. Jess turned around from her place in the front seat.

“Is your breath minty fresh?” Jess teased.