December Secrets
Patricia Reilly Giff
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Chapter 1
Emily Arrow bit down on her pencil. Then she started to write.
The firefighter is your friend.
He puts out fires.
He comes to school.
He takes you for a ride in his turk.
Something didn't look right.
Emily raised her hand.
“How do you spell truck?” she asked Ms. Rooney.
“Good question, Emily,” said Ms. Rooney. She wrote truck on the blackboard.
“The fire truck is in the schoolyard,” Emily whispered to her friend Richard Best. “I can hear the sirens, Beast.”
“Me too,” Beast said. He was drawing a big red fire truck.
Right then the firefighter was giving another class a ride.
One of the kids would be sitting up in the front with the firefighter, Emily thought. He'd be wearing the big black fire hat. He'd be ringing the. siren.
Ms. Rooney's class would be next.
Emily hoped she'd be in the front, wearing the big hat, ringing the siren.
She was wearing her almost-new pink sweatsuit. It had dark blue polka dots and a little green stain on one knee.
She hoped no one would see the green stain.
When they walked out to the fire truck, she was going to keep her knees together.
She looked around. Dawn Bosco was wearing a brand-new sweatsuit. It had a big D on the shirt. D for Dawn.
It should be L for Lucky, Emily thought.
Dawn Bosco always had the best stuff.
Even her middle name, Tiffanie, was great.
Her almost middle name.
Dawn's real middle name began with an M. But she'd never tell what it was.
Emily hoped it was something horrible.
“It's snowing out,” shouted Beast.
Everyone ran to the window.
Jill Simon looked as if she were going to cry.
Jill always looked as if she were going to cry.
“Maybe we can't go out to the fire truck now,” she said.
“Shh,” Emily said. “Don't give Ms. Rooney any ideas.”
Jill shook her head. She rubbed her eyes.
Emily looked at her for a minute.
Everything about Jill was fat. She had four fat braids. Two in front Two in back. She was wearing four yellow loopy ribbons on her braids.
They made her head look like a round yellow sun.
But her face didn't look like the sun, Emily thought. Her face looked like a big fat raincloud.
“Time to go outside,” Ms. Rooney said. “Bundle up. It's cold out there.”
Emily bundled up. She wished she had a long jacket. Long enough to cover the green stain on her knee.
She took Uni, her white rubber unicorn, out of her desk. She tucked him in her pocket.
She raced to get near the front of the line.
She made sure she ran with her knees bent. It made her jacket look longer.
She hoped the firefighter would see her up in front. She hoped he'd ask her to sit in the seat with him and wear the fire hat.
Dawn Bosco tapped her on the arm. “Can I get ahead of you, Emily?” she asked.
The line started down the hall. Emily made believe she hadn't heard Dawn. She hurried as fast as she could with her knees bent.
In back of her everyone was bunching up.
Everyone wanted to get near the front.
“Can I—” Dawn started to ask again.
Outside Ms. Rooney clapped her hands. “We're not going to a fire,” she said.
The firefighter laughed. She was a woman.
She helped Beast and Matthew Jackson climb up on the side of the truck. Emily was next.
Dawn quickly moved in front of Emily.
“Hey,” Emily said.
But the firefighter put Dawn up on the side of the truck.
“You're next,” she said to Emily.
“Can I sit in the front?” she asked.
“Why not?” she said. She let Emily climb up into the front seat.
Jill Simon started to cry.
“What's the matter?” the firefighter asked.
“I wanted to sit in front,” Jill said.
Big baby, Emily wanted to say.
“Plenty of room,” the firefighter said. “Move over a little,” she told Emily.
Emily moved over an inch.
Jill squeezed in next to her. “Can I wear the hat too?” she asked the firefighter.
“Hey,” Emily said. “I—”
The firefighter put the big black hat on Jill. She swung into the seat.
Emily looked at Jill.
Jill looked big and fat with the hat on her head.
She looked silly with all those yellow ribbons hanging out under the hat.
Emily looked down. She could see the stain on her knee. It looked very green.
She sighed. She'd have to wait a whole year before the fire truck came back to the Polk Street School. She'd have to wait another year for a chance at the fire hat.
Chapter 2
“That was really exciting,” Ms. Rooney said when they were back in the classroom. “Everyone's cheeks are red.”
Emily's hands still felt cold. She blew on them a lit-tle.
“It's the first day of December,” Ms. Rooney said. She looked at the class. “Does anyone know what happens in De-cember?”
Noah Green raised his hand. “It's Hanuk-kah.”
“Right,” said Ms. Rooney. She drew a candle-holder on the board. It had one big candle in the middle and four smaller ones on each side.
“This is a special sign for Hanukkah,” Ms. Rooney said. “It's called a menorah.”
Matthew raised his hand. “It's Christmastime too.”
Ms. Rooney nodded. She drew a green wreath on the board. “And this is a special sign for Christ-mas.”
Emily wished she knew something that happened in December.
Beast raised his hand. “One of our presidents had a birth-day in December,” he said.
“Very good,” said Ms. Rooney. “Woodrow Wilson was born in December. He was our twenty-eighth presi-dent.” She drew a flag on the blackboard. “President Andrew Johnson was born in December too.”
Emily looked at Richard. She wondered how he knew about the presidents' birthdays.
Ms. Rooney asked Richard, “How did you know?”
Beast laughed. “I didn't. I just took a guess.”
Emily tried to think of something to guess.
“I'll tell you something,” Ms. Rooney said. “It's the month that someone patented chewing gum.” She drew a square piece of pink chewing gum on the board.
Emily put her hand up in the air. At least she could ask what patented meant. It sounded like shiny shoes.
Ms. Rooney smiled at Emily. “Patent,” she said. “When you invent something, you tell the government. Then no one else can say they invented it first.”
Ms. Rooney looked at the big clock on the wall. “It's almost time for art,” she said. “So I'll have to tell you this quickly.”
She drew a line under the menorah and the wreath. “This is the time for giving,” she said. “It's a special time for making other people happy. And that's what we'll do in the class-room.”
“Yes,” Ms. Rooney said. “But we'll do it in a special way. Everyone will pick one person in the classroom. He will be your secret friend. And all through December you can do special things for that person. You can draw pictures for him.”
Timothy Barbiero said, “You can hide candy in his desk.”
“Nice,” said Ms. Rooney.
Dawn put her hand up. “You can pick up her book if she drops it.”
“That's the spirit, Dawn,” Ms. Rooney said.
Emily tried to think of something to say so that Ms. Rooney would say “That's the spirit” to her too. She raised her hand.
“Yes, Emily?”
Emily couldn't think of one thing to say. “I for-got,” she told Ms. Rooney.
“Think of someone to pick,” Ms. Rooney said. “Don't tell that person. Tell me.”
Timothy raised his hand. “You mean, that person will never know?” he asked. “I have to give him stuff and he won't even know it's me?”
“Oh, yes,” said Ms. Rooney. “Everyone will tell his secret friend on the last day of school before the winter vacation.”
She held up her hand. “But it doesn't have to cost money. Do nice things for your secret per-son.”
Ms. Rooney looked at the clock again. “One more thing,” she said. “Tomorrow bring a box. Bring a cigar box. Or maybe a writing-paper box. We're going to do something exciting with it.”
Ms. Rooney smiled. “Time for art now.”
The class lined up.
Emily looked around at everyone.
Beast was at the end of the line. His head was way back. His pink eraser was sitting on top of his nose.
Beast was a very funny boy.
She'd pick Beast for her special person.
She tried to think of ways to make him happy.
Beast loved to draw.
Emily had an almost-new box of crayons. All of the points were sharp.
Except for the red crayon.
That's because red was her favorite. It was also because she had drawn lots of red turkeys last month.
She'd give Beast the box of almost-new crayons.
All of them except for the red one.
The class marched into the art room.
Emily took her seat. Maybe Beast wouldn't see that the red crayon was missing.
“Guess what month this is?” asked Mrs. Kara.
“December,” everyone yelled.
“Very good,” said Mrs. Kara. She passed out drawing paper. “How about drawing some December things?”
Emily took her crayon box out of the art cubby.
She pulled out a yellow crayon. She'd make a big candle-holder like the one Ms. Rooney had drawn.
Matthew poked her in the back. “Can I borrow a green crayon?” he asked.
She passed it back to him.
“Guess what?” he said. “I'm going to pick Beast for my secret person.”
Emily frowned.
“He's my best friend,' Matthew said. “He invited me to his Thanksgiving sleep-over last week. It was the best party in the world.”
“Oh,” Emily said. She drew nine sticks for can-dles. She put big orange flames on them.
She tried to think of someone else to pick for that special per-son.
Dawn Bosco leaned over. She looked at Emily's picture. “That's very nice, Emily,” she said.
Emily smiled at her. Maybe she should pick Dawn.
Emily looked at Dawn's picture. Dawn had drawn a picture of a girl. She had a great big pink chewing-gum bubble coming out of her mouth.
“I like your picture too,” Emily said.
Dawn smiled. She drew a pink sweatsuit on the girl. She put blue polka dots on the sweatsuit.
“Hey, that's me,” Emily said.
Dawn picked up a green crayon. She drew a little green mark on the girl's pink sweatsuit. She drew it right on the knee. 'How come you didn't let me get ahead of you in line?” she asked.
Emily looked at the green mark. She didn't answer.
Mrs. Kara clapped her hands. “Hold up your drawings,' she told the class. She looked around. “Just lovely.”
Emily ducked her head. She hoped Mrs. Kara didn't know that Dawn's picture was supposed to be Emily.
Emily certainly wouldn't pick Dawn for her secret person. She'd have to pick someone else.
Chapter 3
Wayne O'Brien was a nice boy, Emily thought. Maybe she would pick him.
Wayne liked fish a lot.
She could cut out fish pictures. She could draw fish in a bowl. She could buy fish food so he could feed the class fish, Drake and Harry.
Wayne was a perfect special December person.
Emily waited until the bell rang. Everyone lined up to go home. They raced out the door.
Emily went up to Ms. Rooney's desk. “I picked a secret person,” she said.
“Nice, Emily,” said Ms. Rooney. She pulled out a notebook. “I'm writing down all the secret persons. That way, no one will get left out.”
“My secret person will be Wayne,” Emily said.
Ms. Rooney looked at her book. “Sorry, Emily. Someone chose Wayne already.”
“Oh,” Emily said. “I was going to pick Beast, but—”
Ms. Rooney shook her head. “Someone picked him too.”
Emily looked at all the desks. She tried to picture who sat at each one.
Should she pick Sherri Dent? No.
Linda Lorca? Not really.
“How about Dawn?” Ms. Rooney said.
Emily thought about the green stain. She thought about Dawn's picture. She shook her head. “No.”
Ms. Rooney looked at her book again. “I have a perfect secret person for you,” she said.
“Who?”
“Jill.”
“Jill Simon?” Emily asked.
Ms. Rooney smiled. “That's the only Jill we have.”
Emily smiled too. She shook her head a little.
Jill was a crybaby. A fat crybaby;
And fat crybabies were no fun.
“Yes,” said Ms. Rooney. “I think Jill would be a good secret person. And she could use a friend.”
Emily looked out the window. There were a few dots of snow coming down. “I guess I'll pick Matthew.”
Ms. Rooney looked down at her book. “Oh, dear,” she said. “Someone picked Mat-thew.”
Emily looked at the snow again.
Maybe she could be her own secret person, she thought. She could save her own money. She could buy herself some nice bags of chocolate candy.
She could buy herself a pretty notebook. A blue one with pink flow-ers. Nicer than the one Dawn had.
She cleared her throat. “Did anyone pick her-self?”
Ms. Rooney looked a little shocked. “No,” she said.
Emily made herself look a little shocked too. “That wouldn't be very nice, would it?'9
Ms. Rooney shook her head. “No.”
“No,” Emily said too. She looked up at the ceiling. “Who's left?”
“Jill Simon.”
Emily sighed. “All right,” she said. “I guess Jill will be my secret person.”
Emily zipped her jacket. Then she went outside.
Beast was standing in front. He was trying to scoop up snow from the grass.
“Not too much snow,” Emily said.
Beast shook his head.
“What are you doing here?” Emily asked.
“Waiting for my sister, Holly. She takes for-ever.”
“Who's your secret person?” Emily asked.
Beast looked around. “Matthew,” he whispered. “Who's yours?”
Emily looked around too. “It's Jill Simon.”
Beast grabbed his throat. He fell on the grass. “Yucko,” he said.
“Jill is a very nice girl,” Emily said. “She could really use a friend.”
“She could really use a diet,” Beast said.
Emily nodded. “What are you going to do
first for your secret person?”
Beast stuck out his finger and caught a snowflake. “My father has some after-shave stuff,” he said. “He never uses it. I think he'll give it to me for Matthew.”
“Matthew shaves?” Emily asked, sur-prised.
Beast shook his head. “No, he still wets the bed a little. I thought he could put on some of the after-shave stuff. It would make him smell bet-ter.”
“That's a good idea,” Emily said.
She started down the path.
Beast was lucky to have such a good idea.
It was hard to think of something to do for Jill.
Emily walked around a telephone pole. Too bad Jill was such a fat crybaby.
Maybe she could do something to make Jill skinny and happy.
What a wonderful December thing that would be.
She had some magazines at home. She started to run. She knew just what she was going to do.
Chapter 4
The next morning it was raining.
In school Emily hung up her yellow raincoat. She put her pink and green writing-paper box on the shelf.
She took the two magazine pictures out of the Baggie her mother had given her.
“Hi, Emily,” Ms. Rooney said. “You're early.”
“Yes.” Emily held up her pictures. “I have a present for my secret person.”
“Wonderful,” Ms. Rooney said. She put her um-brella in the coatroom. “Aren't you sorry it didn't snow?”
“I've been wishing for snow all week,” Emily said. She smoothed out her two pictures. Then she tiptoed over to Jill's desk.
Before she put the pictures on Jill's seat, she took a look at them.
One was a picture of a baby. The baby was fat. She was wearing a diaper.
She looked a lot like Jill. Except she was smiling.
On the bottom of the picture Emily had written Smile.
She had written it with her best red crayon. Her best red crayon with the yucko point.
It was a little hard to tell that the writing said Smile.
She had cut the other picture from a summer magazine. It showed a green cabbage and a yellow squash.
Emily hadn't written anything on the bottom.
She hoped that Jill Simon would think about eating things that would make her skinny.
Emily could hear children coming down the hall.
