Noelle's Christmas Crush (5 page)

“I have never seen you so focused,” Mrs. Winters said, shaking her head again. “But I'm impressed. Lead the way!”

They found the streamers first, and then the crepe paper balls. Noelle was starting to get excited. Everything looked so much cooler in person than it did in the flyer or in the pictures she had seen online.

Then they found the vases, which were cube-shaped and only four inches high. “I think we should get six,”
Noelle said, holding one up. “We can line them up along the food table.”

Mrs. Winters raised an eyebrow. “You said you have a coupon, right?”

“Thirty percent off the entire purchase,” Noelle reported.

“Okay then,” Mrs. Winters said, and Noelle happily put the vases in her cart.

“Now we need the flowers,” Noelle said. “They are the perfect shade of violet; I couldn't believe it when I saw them online.”

By the time they got to checkout, the cart was filled with everything Noelle had hoped for. She looked in the cart, pleased. “Flowers, decorations, napkins, plates, knives, forks, cups, favor bags, tablecloth . . . I think that's everything.”

“It better be,” Mrs. Winters said with a teasing grin.

When they got home, Noelle piled every bag in her arms, carried them to the family room, and threw off her coat. Then she started opening the bags.

“Noelle, what are you doing?” her mom asked.

“I'm putting up the decorations,” Noelle replied.

Her mom looked at the clock. “Your bedtime's in an
hour, and you still need to shower.” Then she laughed. “Hey, I just rhymed! But I'm serious. This is no time to decorate.”

“Please?” Noelle begged. “Can I just get it started? I'll do it all myself. And I'll stop in a half hour and shower. See? I can rhyme too.”

Mrs. Winters sighed. “Thirty minutes, and no more,” she said, leaving the family room.

Noelle looked around the room. She could set up the table first, she thought, but then she noticed that it was strewn with video game discs and open game covers. She marched over to the stairs.

“Andrew!” she yelled.

“What? I'm in the kitchen!” Andrew yelled back, annoyed.

She headed to the kitchen, where her brother was doing homework on the kitchen table.

“Andrew, you need to clean up your video games from yesterday,” she said crossly. “I need to decorate for my party.”

“Your party's not for like, two weeks,” Andrew said. “Besides, I'm doing homework.”

“But I only have a half an hour to set up!” she wailed. “It's not fair. Come on, please?”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Sergeant Birthday.”

He got up and started to walk to the family room.

“What does that mean?” Noelle asked.

“It means you are bossing everyone around about your stupid birthday,” he said.

He scooped up the games, brought them over to the storage cube where they were kept, and dumped them in. Then he slammed the lid shut.

“Happy, Sergeant Birthday?” he asked.

“Yes. Thank you,” Noelle said stubbornly.

Andrew stomped out of the family room, and Noelle began to unpack the bags of party supplies.

Sergeant Birthday.
Was she really that bossy? Her friends had teased her about being like those girls on that TV show. But those girls were horrible.

Noelle kept looking at the clock as she frantically tried to set up the tablecloth and the silver vases. She would never finish tonight, but she wanted to get as much done as she could.

It seemed like no time at all before her mom came into the room and said, “Okay, Noelle, time to shower.”

“Please can I just finish the table?” Noelle asked.

“We had a deal,” Mrs. Winters said. “You can do more tomorrow night when your homework's done. This is not the party to end all parties, Noelle. You need to relax and enjoy yourself a little.”

Noelle sighed. “Okay,” she said, reluctantly putting down the flowers she was holding.

Her mom just didn't understand. This was her first real, separate birthday ever. And on top of that, Noel was coming.

How was she supposed to relax?

ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, NOELLE
made sure to do her homework right after school so that she could decorate for the birthday party when she was done.

“Almost perfect,” she said, examining the room on Wednesday night. Hanging the pink, silver, and violet crepe paper balls hadn't been easy, but her dad had helped. They hung from the ceiling at different heights, making the room look really festive. The table was set with a violet tablecloth and the row of violet flowers in their silver vases. She had tried putting up the violet streamers in a bunch of different ways, but had settled for hanging them over the windows and the doorway.

She still hadn't found the violet lightbulbs she had dreamed of, but she had some ideas for that. Still, even without them, the room looked pretty good.

Andrew walked into the room and made a face.

“I can't even bring my friends in here now,” he said. “It's like purple and pink threw up all over. Thanks.”

“Well, I wouldn't want them in here anyway,” Noelle shot back. “They'll mess everything up.”

Andrew ignored her and left, and Noelle looked at the clock. She had just enough time to set out her outfit for tomorrow. The Holiday Heroes event was after school, and she knew it might be the only time all week she would be in the same room as Noel.

She stared at her closet, wondering what to wear. The days were getting colder now, so a sweater would work. Since it was Holiday Heroes, something with holiday flair might be nice. Just like with T-shirts, she had been given a lot of sweaters as gifts, and some from last year still fit.

She opened her sweater drawer and started rifling through them. Nothing green or red—that would be too much. Then she found a white one with a silver bell on the front. Perfect! She could wear her denim skirt and white leggings and her blue boots with the fuzz around the top.

Satisfied, she changed into pajamas and fell asleep, feeling excited about the next day.

When she woke up the next morning, she quickly got dressed. She checked out her look in the mirror, and she noticed a stain on the bottom of the white sweater that she hadn't seen before. Taking a closer look, she realized it was hot chocolate.

“Oh no,” she sighed. She ran to the bathroom and splashed some water on it, but the stain didn't go away, it just got wider and blotchier. Frustrated, she stomped back to her room and threw off the sweater.

What now? She grabbed the first sweater she saw, a red one with a green wreath on it, and put it on. Looking in the mirror, she frowned. It didn't go with the white leggings or blue boots at all.

Back to the sweater drawer. She pulled out a dark blue sweater with silver stars on it, but when she tried it on, the sleeves were too short.

“Oh, come on!” she complained. She went back to the drawer and frantically started pulling sweaters out of it, scattering them across the floor. But nothing else looked like it would work. Everything was green or red.

“Noelle, please come down for breakfast!” her mom called upstairs.

“Coming!” Noelle yelled back.

She stared at the pile of sweaters, wanting to cry. Taking a deep breath, she opened her T-shirt drawer.

“Gotta have something blue and white in here,” she mumbled, and then she found it—a light blue long-sleeved shirt with some pink flowers embroidered around the collar. It wasn't Christmasy, but it went with the rest of her outfit.

She put it on and looked in the mirror. “Per—” she began, but stopped. Her hair was a mess! It was thick and curly, and Noelle didn't mind when it got a little unruly sometimes. But all of that sweater-changing had made it look like a tangled bird's nest.

“Noelle!” her mom called up again.

“Just a minute!” Noelle yelled.

She went back to the bathroom and squirted some anti-frizz lotion into her hands and then ran it through her hair. That usually calmed it down. She ran back to her room and combed it through, and now it looked weirdly flat.

Headband,
she thought. That should work. She kept them on a hook hanging next to her dresser, but the pile
was all tangled. She had to unravel a bunch of them until she got to the white one she wanted.

She couldn't resist one last look in the mirror. She sighed with relief.

“Perfect!” she said, and then she ran downstairs.

Her mom was standing by the open front door, looking down the street, where the bus stopped for the middle school kids in the neighborhood.

“The bus just left,” Mrs. Winters reported, in that flat voice she used when she was trying not to get upset. “Go grab a muffin or something. I'll drive you.”

Noelle felt terrible. She knew that now her mom would have to rush to get to work, and this wasn't how she wanted to start her day. Luckily, Mrs. Winters didn't seem to be too upset, especially after turning on the Christmas music station while they drove to school. “I think it's wonderful that you're doing so much volunteering this season, sweetie,” she said. “I'm proud of you for really getting into the holiday spirit.”

“Thanks, Mom,” said Noelle, and kissed her mom good-bye. She felt bad about making her late, and a little guilty that some of her volunteering was motivated by Noel. “I'm sorry about running late. I'll try harder tomorrow.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” said Mom. “Have a good day. I love you!”

Noelle found her friends in the front hall.

“Hey, we thought you were sick!” Hailey said.

“Just late,” Noelle explained.

“You look nice,” Alyson remarked.

Jess wiggled her eyebrows. “Yeah, I bet I know why. You're volunteering today, right?”

Noelle blushed. “Can't I look nice for no reason?”

“You mean
Noel
reason,” Hailey joked, and Jess and Alyson burst into giggles.

“Ha-ha,” Noelle said dryly, but she knew her friends were right. If Noel wasn't doing Holiday Heroes, she probably would have just worn jeans and a goofy Santa shirt. She suddenly felt silly.

Is this what happens when you like someone?
she wondered.
You start acting all crazy?

Then the morning bell rang, and the girls all dispersed to their classes. Noelle's stomach was fluttery all day, but not just because she was going to see Noel. She hadn't really thought much about what it meant to volunteer for Holiday Heroes until today. What exactly did she have to do?

During homeroom, she looked over the instruction sheet she had received. The kids from the special-needs classes would be attending the fair after school, and a volunteer would be paired with each kid. Each volunteer should help their buddy find the holiday presents they needed. Sounded pretty straightforward.

But Noelle wasn't sure what to expect. What if her buddy didn't like her? This year she had a girl in her world civ class, Chloe, who had Down syndrome. Noelle had never really talked to her, but Chloe was friends with a girl named Andrea, and they always sat together. They talked and laughed just like Noelle and her friends did. Chloe was quieter than most kids in the class, but she raised her hand and answered questions and stuff. She was pretty much a normal kid.

Maybe I'll get someone like Chloe,
Noelle hoped.
That won't be too hard.

When the last bell of the day rang, she still felt a little nervous. She quickly adjusted her headband in her locker mirror and then ran to the school's multi-purpose room.

The large square room had a high ceiling and windows on one wall that let in the fading afternoon sunlight. Rows
of folding tables contained dozens of crafts handmade by students and parents. The proceeds all went to help the school.

Three moms were setting up cash boxes at a table on the far wall, and Mr. Clark was there again, getting ready to organize the volunteers. Noelle saw Noel across the room, but he was busy talking to some other kids and didn't see her. She started to move toward him, when Mr. Clark started to shout out instructions.

“Okay, here's how it's going to work!” he barked. “I need you guys to form a line at the entrance to the room. Mrs. Delgado is going to bring the kids in, and you guys can pair up with them one by one as they come in. So please put on a name tag and line up!”

Everyone obeyed quickly, but as they lined up at the door, Noelle found that she couldn't get near Noel at all. Then Mrs. Delgado appeared in the doorway, wearing a red sweater with a snowman on it.

“What a lovely group of volunteers,” she said. “Now, listen to what your buddy is shopping for and try to help him or her find the perfect present. There's a big selection this year. Let's start pairing you up.”

Noelle waited impatiently for her turn as she watched
Noel get paired with a boy and then head off toward the tables. Finally, she reached the front of the line.