Home for Christmas Read online

  “If you tell me I have to run your neighborhood in my pj’s,” Clare said, “I’m going to be very cold and very mad.”

  I waved my hand, dismissing the notion. “You’ll be plenty warm, Clare. We promise. Let’s go to the living room and I’ll grab what you need.”

  Clare looked at me sideways but didn’t say a word. She followed us out of the game room and into the living room.

  “You guys chill in here and I’ll be back in one sec,” I said.

  “Are you going to give me any hints?” I heard Clare ask the other girls.

  “How long have we been friends?” Khloe asked her.

  Giggling, I went into the guest room where Clare was staying and swiped her phone from the night table.

  With phone in hand, I went to one of the hall closets, where Mom kept a box of miscellaneous Christmas stuff. I dug through the random assortment until I found exactly what I wanted.

  “Perfect,” I said aloud.

  I put my hands behind my back and re-entered the living room. Clare was on the carpet in front of the fireplace with Khloe. Ana and Bri were on one couch, and Carina and Lexa sat on the other.

  “Who wants to explain?” I asked.

  The girls motioned to me.

  “Clare,” I said. “This is your dare.” I put my hands in front of me, revealing her BlackBerry in its cheery yellow case and a red Santa hat complete with faux-fur white trim and a white pouf at the tip.

  Clare frowned and scrunched her nose. “You want me to wear a Santa hat while I call someone?”

  I sat cross-legged in front of Clare. “Close. You’re going to wear the Santa hat, we’ll take a pic with your phone, and you’re going to send it to Garret with a holiday message.”

  Everyone but Clare burst into giggles.

  “Guys.” Clare’s tone was pleading. “Please, please, puh-lease! Not Garret!”

  Khloe shook her head. “Sorry, gorge.” She took the hat from me and placed it atop Clare’s head, adjusting it until it looked just right.

  “You look so cute!” Carina said. “Really! I don’t think this is a bad thing, Clare. Garret will think it’s awesome that you put yourself out there.”

  “Truth,” I said. “I know he likes you. The night of my birthday party was crazy, but I did catch Garret looking at you. A few times.”

  Clare tilted her head. “Really?”

  “Really,” I confirmed.

  Clare was quiet for a minute. “Okay! Anyone have gloss?”

  Brielle passed her a tube of Sephora gloss. Clare took the wand and swiped the peachy color across her lips. She dabbed a bit on her cheekbones, rubbed it in, and had an insta-glow.

  “Um,” I said, looking at Brielle and Ana.

  “Clare, you just taught us an EBT,” Ana said.

  “Essential Beauty Trick,” Brielle explained. “Lauren, Ana, and I have been trading those for years. Now we have a new one.”

  “Cool,” Clare said. “I just learned that from TeenStyle.”

  I waved a hand at Khloe. “Come out of the shot,” I said. “Clare, stay on the hearth. The fireplace gives off the perfect light.”

  I turned on Clare’s camera and pointed it at her.

  “You look ridic cute,” Khloe encouraged Clare.

  That made Clare grin.

  “On three,” I said. “One, two . . . three!”

  On three, I hit the capture button. I knelt down with the phone and everyone crowded around the screen.

  “Your first shot is perfect,” Ana said. “Lucky!”

  I nodded. “Parfait.”

  “You like it?” Khloe asked Clare.

  The blush on Clare’s cheeks that wasn’t from the lip gloss gave us her answer.

  “Now, what do you want to say?” Lexa asked. She lay out on her side, stretching her toes toward the fire.

  “Dreaming of you,” Khloe said, straight-faced.

  “Khloeee!” Clare said, lightly hitting Khlo’s upper arm. “Yeah, right!”

  “Our first dream kiss was amazing?” Khloe tried again.

  That made everyone laugh. Even Clare. I laughed so hard that my sides hurt.

  “Yes, Khloe,” Clare said when she had recovered from her giggle fit. “That’s exactly what I’ll say.”

  “I know! Kiss me under the mistle—,” Khloe said.

  “Stop!” Clare cut her off. “No. More. You’ve been quite helpful enough, thank you.”

  I passed Clare her phone, and we watched as her fingers hovered over the keypad. Suddenly she started typing. “There,” Clare said a few seconds later. “How’s that?”

  Lexa and I read the message to ourselves. This started as a dare, but I realized I rlly did want 2 say Happy Xmas. Not that I won’t c u b4 then. C u 2mrw.

  “Niiice,” Lexa said. “Send it!”

  Clare took a deep breath, held it, and pressed send. “Ahh!” she shrieked. She tossed her phone away from us and onto the couch, where it landed facedown.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Clare pulled the Santa hat over her face. “What if Garret has his phone near him right now? He could be looking at my message! Oh my God.”

  Khloe pulled Clare’s hands down from her face. “I hope Garret’s looking at it. It was a sweet message, Clare. There wasn’t anything embarrassing about it. In fact, I’m proud of you.”

  Clare looked up at Khloe. “Proud of me? Why?”

  Khloe sidled next to Clare and slung an arm across her friend’s shoulders. “Because even though it was on a dare, you made the first move. That’s so cool and brave. I know that I wouldn’t have the guts to send a guy that I was crushing on a message first.”

  “I had to,” Clare said, shaking her head. “It was a dare.”

  Khloe cocked her head. “C’mon. If you really hadn’t wanted to do it, do you think we would have made you?”

  Clare looked down at her hands, then back at us. “No. It was a good excuse for me to say something to Garret.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “This sounds so nineties, but girl power! Now it’s up to Garret. You put yourself out there in a very non-pressure-y way. I bet he’s reading it now and probably scared to respond.”

  Carina took a sip of my favorite holiday tea—Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie—and tucked her legs under her. “You think boys are scared to message us?”

  “Totes,” Khloe said. She leaned back against one of the brown leather recliners. “Think about it. The pressure is really all on them. They’re usually the ones to ask us out, so they have to deal with the possibility of rejection. We have all the power. We can ask them out or not, say yes or no.”

  “I never thought about it like that before,” Clare said. “If Garret’s reading my message, he—”

  Beep! Beep!

  All of our heads swiveled to the couch. Clare’s phone was blinking.

  “I’m not checking that!” Clare said. “I can’t! Not yet.”

  Lexa got up and bounded over to the couch. “Then I will.”

  “Omigod.” Clare pulled the Santa hat back over her head.

  Lexa pressed a few buttons on the phone, and I watched her face for signs of a good or bad response from Garret.

  Emotionless, Lexa cleared her throat. “He wrote back and attached a photo.”

  “What?” Clare asked, dropping the hat. “A photo of what?”

  “See for yourself,” Lexa said, a smile curling over her lips.

  Clare took the phone and her eyes scanned the screen before she looked up at us. “OMIGOD! LOOK!”

  Ana took the phone, and we crowded around her. There was a photo of Garret in a Santa hat! Thx, C! Tay had 1 of these @ his house, 2. C u 2mrw.

  “Clare!” I said. “This is awesome!”

  “He so didn’t have to take a pic,” Bri said. “It means that he majorly likes you. And he put a smiley face. Double points.”

  Clare looked from one of us to the next. “You think? He wasn’t just posing in that hat to spare me from being super embarrassed?”r />
  “Brielle is right,” Ana said. “This is great! You might be kissing a boy in real life—not your dreams—before Christmas!”

  “Cheers to that,” I said, holding up my mug of tea.

  “To kissing real-life boys, not just dreaming about them,” Khloe said.

  “And to Clare for sending the pic and message!” Lexa added.

  “To Clare!” we all said, and clinked our mugs together.

  16

  #CANTERWOODTAKEOVER

  Sasha

  TUESDAY MORNING WAS A BUSTLE of activity in my house. We’d all gone to bed super late after getting caught up in Heather’s game. I’d been too wired after my confession to sleep. But having to drink two lattes instead of one was a small price to pay for all the fun I’d had last night.

  All of the girls took turns in the bathroom. At one point, I was applying gloss and mascara almost cheek to cheek with Paige, while Heather sat on the edge of the bathtub and flat-ironed her hair. Finally I gave up on trying to squeeze into the bathroom. Pausing in the hallway, I updated my Chatter status.

  SassySilver: 1st morning @ Safe Haven 4 Thoroughbreds! Can’t wait 2 c what we do! Mayb we’ll c @LaurBell & friends. #CanterwoodTakeOver

  I hurried to grab a hair tie from my room. I passed by the living room. Eric and Jacob, already dressed and looking as if they’d been ready for hours, sat on the couch. They were on their phones and talking. I caught a snippet of “Internet game” and shook my head.

  “You guys are lucky,” I said, putting my hands on my hips.

  “How so?” Eric asked, looking up. An amused smile was on his lips.

  “You can roll out of bed five minutes before you have to be somewhere and you’re ready. You get dressed, run your fingers through your hair, brush your teeth—done.”

  “Wow. So you know our routines, huh?” Jacob asked. He traded grins with Eric. “You forgot that we use deodorant, too.”

  “Oh, wow,” I said, using Jacob’s word from earlier. “Sorry, that added seven seconds to your time. You have no idea what it’s like in the bathroom right now. Six girls. One bathroom. Hair. Makeup. Clothes. Like I said, lucky.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at Jacob as I started walking to my room. He loves me! I couldn’t help chanting that in my head.

  “Want us to get a camera in there and start filming?” Eric asked, stopping me. “It can be a new reality show. Six girls,” he said in a TV commercial voice. “One bathroom. Who will come out alive? Find out on the next episode of Girls Can’t Share: Death by Hair . . .” Eric paused. He looked at me. “Hair twirler tool? Curly hair wand?”

  I folded my arms and jutted out a hip. “Can I help you? Better question: Should I help you?”

  Eric hung his head. “I already totally blew my line.”

  I smiled sweetly. “It’s okay, Eric. You’re just a boy. What you were looking for, BTW, was ‘curling iron.’ See you in a bit!”

  I exited the room, leaving both guys mumbling something about “too many girls everywhere,” and I giggled to myself.

  Mom dropped us off at the front of Safe Haven at a few minutes to ten. The small paved parking lot was less than half full. An old red Ford pickup truck idled in its spot. Through the window, I watched a woman in the driver’s seat pull on leather gloves and a gray beanie and pick up a mug of something that steamed up the glass.

  It was barely forty degrees outside, and my teeth were chattering a little after just getting out of the warm car. At least there was no wind and not a chance of snow all week. I was glad I’d layered my clothes and worn tights under my breeches. Our name tags hung around our necks—I would have forgotten mine if it hadn’t been for Paige this morning. Each of us carried a helmet, too. I’d loaned two of mine to Paige and Jacob.

  “Do you think there aren’t a lot of adults on our shift?” Callie asked. “Or maybe most of the volunteers are dropped off like us?”

  Alison shook her head and shrugged. She’d braided her hair into a purposely messy fishtail braid that hung over her right shoulder. This morning, just like me, she’d put on breeches, a thermal shirt, and an extra-heavy wool sweater. “I don’t know, but this doesn’t look good to me. I understand that multiple shifts are scheduled and sure, a lot of riders are dropped off, but that parking lot is scary empty.” Alison chewed her thumbnail. “What if some of the volunteers quit already?”

  “Then we’ll just have to make up for them,” Eric said, looping a friendly arm through Alison’s.

  “He’s right,” Jacob said. “We’re not helping by standing here and worrying. Let’s get inside and see what we can do.”

  Just when my heartbeat had started thumping way too fast over the thought of the Safe Haven adopt-a-thon going wrong, Jacob’s words managed to calm me down. That and the swipe of Tarina Tarantino lip gloss in Neon Vanity that I applied. The bright tinted gloss made me happy just looking at the tube.

  We left the parking lot and started for the entrance of the stable. The barn was older and more worn than Canterwood’s stable. The main parts of the stable were painted an espresso brown, and the off-white trim amped up the warmth factor. The front sliding double doors were open and someone—there was a star on the name tag, so he had to be a coordinator—led two chestnut mares past us and toward a turnout pasture.

  “Need any help this morning?” an older girl, also with a star on her name tag, asked as she approached us.

  “Yes, we do,” I said. “I’m Sasha Silver and these are my friends. We’re here for our shift and we have our list of duties, but—” I looked at Heather.

  “We wanted to double-check with someone in charge to make sure we were headed in the right direction,” Heather finished.

  “Sure, no problem! I’m Quinn, by the way.” She stuck out her hand to each of us. “I’ve been with Safe Haven for years. It’s the best. Thank you all so much for volunteering.”

  “We’re so happy you had room for us,” Paige said. “Even people like me, who aren’t experienced with horses.”

  Quinn shook her head, her long black ponytail swishing. She was dressed in well-worn fawn breeches and paddock boots, and the white helmet under her arm had dozens of scrapes. “We need all the help we can get,” she said. “The holiday adopt-a-thon requires a lot of people who can do all sorts of things.”

  “But orientation was packed,” Paige said. “Won’t all of those people be enough?”

  Quinn gave P a half smile. “It would—if they all came back. We have a high dropout rate with the volunteers. I think a lot of them expect to ride a racehorse and that’s it. That’s what one volunteer said last year, anyway. A lot of people don’t come back once they see how much work actually needs to be done.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Brit said, pressing her lips into a line.

  Quinn put a hand to her cheek. “Oh, jeez. I hope I didn’t scare you guys off with that info!”

  We all shook our heads.

  “No way,” Eric said. “We’re staying.”

  I nodded. “We’ll be here for every shift and more if we can.”

  “You all are awesome,” Quinn said. “You seem a lot like me when I was your age. I got a degree in law just so I could help fight for the rights of horses like these. I graduated last summer, and I volunteer here almost every minute I’m not at work.”

  “That’s so cool,” Heather said. I looked over and almost did a double take. Heather Fox’s eyes were wide with admiration. She almost looked . . . shy. Like she had a zillion questions for Quinn but was too intimidated to ask. Heather. Fox. I’d never seen her like this.

  Quinn smiled. “Show me your schedule and I’ll put you to work.”

  I traded smiles with my friends as Jacob handed Quinn our schedule. We were from Canterwood—“work” wasn’t something we were afraid of.

  17

  SOMETIMES, THE BEST GIFTS AREN’T IN BOXES

  Lauren

  MY PHONE BEEPED AND I picked it up, my palm sweating a little. It was a text from Becca.<
br />
  Be home in 5!

  It was almost eleven, and because my friends and I had to get ready for our shift at Safe Haven, I’d stayed home with everyone while Mom, Dad, and Becs went to pick up Charlotte from the airport. We’d have only a few minutes to say hi before it was time to head to the stable. Ana had slept at home last night, and so had Brielle. Their parents wanted “bonding time.” So the girls and I would meet them and the boys at the stable.

  I sipped the Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer tea I’d made earlier. As if this was my first cup. It was my third. And a half.

  I started to click off my phone when I noticed an alert signal on my Chatter app. I opened it and almost spilled tea down the front of my sweater.

  “Guys! You guys, c’mere!” I yelled.

  Feet pounded on the carpet and down the stairs.

  “Lauren?! Are you okay?” Lexa called.

  She reached my side, with Khloe right behind her.

  “Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said to them. They dropped their shoulders and Khloe raised an eyebrow. “Everything’s okay,” I added when Carina and Clare hurried down the last steps from the second floor and ran over.

  “You better have, like, a new photo of a shirtless Hollywood hottie Aaron Hylend or someone equally as cute,” Lexa said.

  “It’s better,” I said. “Look!”

  I thrust my phone away from my chest so everyone could see. The girls peered at the screen, and Carina’s lips moved as she read the message.

  “Uh, that is way better,” Khloe said. “You’re in now, you know that, right? The Sasha Silver Chattered at you.” Khloe bowed her head, pretended to hold up a dress as she curtsied, and grinned at me.

  “Please,” I said, shaking my head at her. “I’m not in anything or anywhere. It’s just très exciting that Sasha knows who we are. Imagine if we got to watch her ride at a Youth Equestrian National Team practice or something. We would learn so much.”

  “I would do a thousand math problems every night if I got to see that,” Lexa said, her eyes still on my phone.

  “Chatter back,” Carina said.

  That made me need another gulp of tea. “What would I say?” I asked.