“Come on, you.” Mum leant over. “Grace rang me.” And for once I didn’t care if anyone saw me get in. My first ever lift home from school. She hugged me. “I promise no talk about Christmas, Christmas songs, or what just happened … OK?”
I smiled. Sometimes, when Mum wasn’t leading a banjo chorus or moving light-up reindeer a few inches towards our front door in the middle of the night like a reverse burglar, she knew exactly what to say. She let me sit in silence the whole way home.
And at dinner Mum and Dad didn’t say a word about how I wasn’t saying a word.
And they didn’t tell me to put my phone away as I checked for the millionth time to see if a venue had replied. Or if Zaiynab or Matt had been in touch. Or to get the latest song on the “I Wish Christmas Could Be Cancelled” playlist Ru was sending through track by track as I’d told him I was having a rubbish day.
And they didn’t say it was a bad time to start baking when I whisked up a batch of biscuits at ten p.m. And even Tess, who had finished uni for the holidays, didn’t comment when I got excused from chores so I could go and “tidy my room”. Which we all knew meant get in bed. And when I got there, Tess had put her iPad on my pillow, a hot chocolate by my bed with the chunk of chocolate from her advent calendar melting in it. As I clambered under the duvet, Billy ran in.
“I was going to wait to tell you but I hate waiting, so is it OK if I tell you now?” She looked super cute in her reindeer onesie, and jumped straight on top of me. I gave her a smile. None of this was her fault.
“Tell me what?”
She clapped her hands – and all around my bed, fairy lights lit up. “I did them today! And you can’t shout at me because they’re not Christmas lights. They’re just lights. Really small ones. And they make everything look amazing.”
They really did. I gave her the biggest cuddle and let her fall asleep nestled into me as I propped up my laptop on the other side and typed with one hand. She didn’t even wake up when a screaming Grace called to drop the bomb that Elijah had said that Joseph D Chambers had agreed to doing the meet and greet auction! Harry said that apparently he’d recently lost his grandma so it “struck a chord”. Elijah even said we could do it online to raise more money. Guess if he couldn’t get a press story about Joseph and Maeve dating this could be the next best thing?
But I wasn’t moaning – for the first time ever I felt we really could hit our fundraising target, and that thought powered me on to google even more potential venues, sending out email after email. But as my eyes started to dry, I had to be realistic. No one was going to reply at 1:07 a.m. Maybe I should sleep and get up early? Yes. Sleep. I closed my laptop and flicked a leg out of the duvet. Then sneaked my arm out from under Billy. Then rolled over. Then counted sheep.
Sheep … like in the stable with baby Jesus.
After Mary and Joseph couldn’t find room at the inn.
Like I CAN’T FIND A VENUE!
This was ridiculous.
I opened my laptop back up and carried on the hunt. If today had proved anything, it was that I’d been right all along – only one person at school liked me for being the real me. Only one person would be there for me no matter what. Grace. And there was NO WAY I was going to let her down, even if my eyes were leaking in protest at me still being awake.
I typed away, feeling like I was the only person awake in the world. Well, and Ru – who was now adding motivational you-can-stay-awake songs to the playlist.
But eventually I drifted off. Thoughts swirling that Ru was kind of awesome, even if it was Harry who had come through with a prize for Grampy G’s Grotto and not him.
Even if I was a Jingle Lady who was never going to see him again.
CHAPTER
15
TO DO:
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Venue!!!!!
•Research catchment areas for new schools
•Or would homeschooling be better?
•Help Grace put JDC meet and greet auction online
•Make Ru a playlist – British bands for his flight home?
•Venue!!!!!
•Make 121 snowflakes
Why was Mum shaking me?
Why was Billy snoring in my face?
Why was I clutching Mr Nibbles, her toy horse?!
Why did I feel like a leftover Brussel sprout on Boxing Day?!
I sat up, panicked. “Has the penguin light set the house on fire?”
